In The Cut

I just heard an advertisment for a movie called "In the Cut" and thought...as in Susanna Moore's amazing erotic thriller 'In The Cut'???? And it IS!!! A few years ago, someone left the book at an "L" stop on a bench or something when I was still in Chicago. The cover looked interesting, so I read the back and then decided to take in a few pages. The book was finished by 5pm! I loved this book, I do wonder how it will translate to the silver screen though, just because a lot of the great writing was internal dialogue if I remember correctly. Maybe I'll pick up the book tonight and re-read it before going to see the movie tomorrow. Sometimes Hollywood impresses me...

Once again, I'm trying to reconcile my travels with studio time and availability. Even if it kills me I promise to get my next CD out before summer.

Back to writing

I've been absent for about a week. Sorry, too much to get done in so little time. My kitchen is repainted, my yard is raked, my house is winter ready and I'm done with house projects...for a while anyway.

A friend recommended a good book "When the Storm Breaks" by Heather Lowell - it's one of those reads you don't want to end. I found myself consciously slowing down to make the book last longer. I can't remember ever doing that before. Hopefully the next year will pass quickly so I can pick up the book and read it all over again.

The staged reading of "Juan Gelion" is this evening at the Playwright Center in Minneapolis off Franklin right by 2nd Moon Coffee (one of my favorite haunts). I wrote music for the piece and I have a nice little part in the play. Show time is at 8pm I believe. Should be interesting....

Mr. Manager is off working the Bare Naked Ladies show after 2 days of Simon and Garfunkel. Sooo, not much news for annedeming.com. We'll survive.

Steve Earl

I stopped by First Avenue last night on a whim and witnessed a remarkable show! Steve Earl - what a songwriter. Garrison Starr opened, but I missed that part. Thankfully she came out to join Earl on a song or two as the evening wore on. Kinda low-key and I have to say I've never seen so many mullets in one place, but definitely a noteworthy show. My weekend dilemma is the fact that both Vienna Teng and Beth Gibbons (front woman for Portishead) will be playing this Friday night in Minneapolis - well, one in Minneapolis the other in St. Paul. That makes things tricky...ahhh, decisions, decisions....

Weekend

Last weekend I relaxed...this upcoming weekend my father is coming into town to make me a yard slave. I'll be fine I'm sure, a little manual labor never hurt anyone. As long as the bugs are gone I'll be fine. I have dinner with a friend this evening and then some serious lyrical work for late in the evening. Wouldn't it be great if I was actually creative in the morning instead of between the hours of 9pm and 3am. Odd. I've been working my way through every single Kay Hooper book out there. Spooky, catchy...some are more interesting than others but she has a gift for story telling so the read is always enjoyable. I wonder if I could ever get paid to review books - seeing as I read so many of them...hmmm...

Weekend

Interesting weekend. Friday night...I think I did nothing except read. Saturday was a glorious rain storm. Rain always puts me in the mood for shopping so I ended up with a sofa bed/ottaman combo impulse purchase from Marshall Fields. Don't worry, my sanity is intact and I'm very happy about the furniture - even though it was a bit odd. Saturday night Mr. Manager and I headed down to First Ave for the Melissa Ferrick/Anne Heaton show. Good music. Melissa was acoustic for the first time in FOREVER so it was a strangely intimate show in the mainroom. I miss Brian, her drummer, however and the heat of the entry... In the past it's just been such a perfect combination that I find it hard to give up. Anne Heaton was low key, but entertaining. Not really my style, but I'm definitely prejudice after opening for Melissa so many times. Ignore me...just posting my random thoughts. Sunday night, we headed off to St. Paul for the WILD hockey game. Fight, fight fight...I've never seen so many gloves littering the ice. Even the ref went down on his tushy. Minnesota lost *sigh*. I'm off to work out now. Too much yoga over the weekend has rendered my arms useless...seriously, I can't move them. Oh well.

I'm just out of sorts

Maybe we all have mood swings or bouts of laziness that border on depression, but it's very rare for me. So I'm having a hard time feeling yucky. I'm just really down these past few days. Music is my solace though; hopefully some good writing will come out of this emotional funk. Sinead O'Connor seems to get me up and moving though...but she always has.

Slayer

Mr. Manager is working the Slayer show in St. Paul this evening so I'm practicing solo on the guitar. I've reached page 350 in Stephen King's 'Gerald's Game' - yikes, gross and frightening, but I'm still enjoying the read. I wish I could hire someone to name my song's for me...it's the least fun and most difficult aspect of songwriting, for me at least. Admiting it makes me feel awfully lazy, but I'm just being honest...

Sleepy

I'm very tired, I can't even spell today. Gilmore Girls is on this evening *smile* That show makes me happy. I started reading Steven Kings "Gerald's Game"...it's weird. But I'm rather sure that it's supposed to be...weird that is. I have to sleep more.

Irish Pubs

Well, to start off with, I set my hair on fire this weekend. Not on purpose of course, but it happened. No worries though - I'm fine. I played Keegan's Irish Pub on Friday night and still encountered the world's rudest drunks. Fate has decreed that I should simply steer clear of that place. When a man close to a seniors discount rate starts bellowing Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire' at you in full voice...you know it's time to get the hell out of dodge. Maybe it was only offensive to me, but in the future I need to avoid situations like that in order to preserve my sanity and prevent myself from getting arrested for assaulting the inebriated. I was able to maintain composure but...*sigh*...it was a long night!

On Saturday morning Mr. Manager and I headed to Chicago for my gig at Nevins. In a word, it was GLORIOUS! Great crowd, great sound, great fun. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to everyone who came down to support me - It was quite an honor to play to such an enormous audience. Gotta love that. After my set, after selling CD's and after saying hi to those interested, I sat back to enjoy Mason Jennings on stage. Mr. Manager was kind enough to offer up his stool for me to rest upon, but little did I know that as I sat down my hair fell into a flaming votive candle on the ledge behind me. As I mentioned before, no worries, I patted my hair down quickly and contained the flames, but I do believe this in now the 3rd time in my life that this has happened to me. Maybe it's a sign to cut my hair short? Or perhaps just a danger of keeping hair long? Who knows. I'm very much exhausted this morning due to travels and gigs and drunk audience members but I feel wonderful. I love Chicago with it's music and vibrance. December is so far away...my next gig in the area is December 5th at UnCommon Ground.

Okay, I'm off to sort some receipts now. Peace, Love and such....

Songs

I was inspired, began and finished a song in about 5 minutes flat last night. Creativity has never been that quick for me...or that painless. I kept thinking 'this is probably a bad song' but...I like it. Fun to play, cool to sing. Who knew?...I celebrated with a cocktail at about 11pm. Not a bad nightcap. No books to read right now, but I've passed off 'Angels and Demons' and 'The DaVinci Code' to several friends already. It's a good conversation/debate topic. Plans are in the works for heading East again in December, hopefully I'll be teaming up with some West Coast talent. Details later.

By the way, M. Doughty's new CD, "Rockity Roll" is very cool, it has some 80's dance beats, but his fabulous voice and funky guitar style still shine through...genius!