Dawn Xiana Moon: Melodic folk pop infused with passion and honesty. From Chicago.

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Saturday, October 29, 2005

The Confusion of Transportation

Things can get rather complicated when you're a touring musician without a car (or a guitar, for that matter, but various people have always been generous enough to let me borrow one). The plan for this (extended) weekend is to drive to Cincinnati with Mike D., have him take my keyboard back to Michigan when he leaves tonight, drive to Chicago early Sunday morning with Shelley Miller and Kara Kulpa, two other musicians playing both the Cincy and Chicago Indiegrrl shows, borrow Bryan's keyboard there, and take the train back to Michigan on Wednesday. So much of this boils down to having amazing friends. And I am blessed.

^ Top | 3:52 PM | | |

Friday, October 28, 2005

Leaving New York

Monday was the last day in New York, and Ryan and I had lunch at Le Petit Cafe (after spending an hour first trying to find an open Thai restaurant in Brooklyn and then trying to figure out where the cafe was, stopping at a wine store to ask for directions since I figured if the restaurant was French, there was a decent chance they might know it). I wish I could remember the name of that section of town; it reminded me of Europe, complete with old-fashioned streetlights and bakeries every few feet. But the French-named cafe served American food and was run by Latino staff. Truly a melting pot, and it worked. Perhaps the best part was the miniature train that ran around the entire length of ceiling.

Later, Alex and I tried to catch up with David for dinner, but alas, that was not to be. Between traffic, rain, an inability to find open restaurants in downtown Manhattan that seemed appealing, needing to get on the road back to Michigan, and poor planning on my part, we were only able to talk for a bit as we wandered in search of food. But we did meet at Chocolate Haven, a store Emily sent me a New York Times article about months (even a year?) ago. The chocolate was excellent, the misadventures somewhat humorous.

But in retrospect, the most humorous part of the trip was the 10-hour drive home. Right around hour six, Alex and I started going through his iPod and playing every musical theatre song in there that we both knew well enough to sing. And for the rest of the drive, we belted out showtunes at the top of our lungs. It's his fault that I'm now on a Jason Robert Brown kick (he's one of the new school of musical theatre composers--absolutely brilliant writing, both lyrically and musically; I crewed a production of Parade a few years ago and was first introduced to him then) and can't stop listening to songs from The Last Five Years. If you've ever had a theatre audition or had aspirations of acting, listen to "Climbing Uphill."

^ Top | 1:34 PM | | |

Thursday, October 27, 2005

On Performing in New York

On Sunday I had my first taste of performing in New York City; eight Indiegrrls came together to raise money for musicians in New Orleans. Earlier in the day, Alex was near Otto's Shrunken Head (of course, "shrunken head" worked its way into the improvised song that night) on the East Side and called to warn me that bringing the keyboard in the car and trying to park it would prove nearly impossible unless I was willing to spend $30 on parking--which I wasn't, since my set was only 25 minutes long and it was a benefit (i.e. I wasn't getting paid, but we were raising money for a great cause so that was fine). Guitarists travel so much easier than pianists. Unfortunately I'm both, which can be a pain--but I grabbed the guitar and lugged it through the subway and streets, which wasn't bad.

Before the show I met up with an old friend, another former intern with the University Musical Society who moved to New York years ago to work in arts administration. Jen's since decided that she needs to get out of the city and go back to grad school for psychology. It was wonderful catching up, especially since we hadn't talked much since she moved--you have to appreciate friendships that remain comfortable even with so much distance. Back when she was in Michigan she claimed one of my songs--"Freedom"--as her own, so that night I dedicated it to her onstage.

As much as I love New York and enjoyed performing with the other grrls that night, it seems like it'd be harder to do music there than many other places--it's oversaturated and from what I hear it's difficult to build an audience because there's so much competing for their attention. So it looks like New York is moving down on the list of places to settle, though I anticipate touring there often.

After the show, Alex, Jen, her boyfriend, and I headed off to find some food--and our trip was brought to an abrupt halt when Alex discovered that he'd lost the plastic bag containing $35 worth of comics he'd bought that afternoon. So we retraced our steps and he examined--yes, even reaching inside, using his cell phone as illumination in the dark--every garbage can and pile of trash, just in case he threw the black bag away. Half an hour and six garbage cans later, we found the bag in front of Otto's, where Alex had put it down in order to take a group photo by the venue.

Finally we got food at a pizza place, and my first thought walking in the door was "this reminds me of NYPD (New York Pizza Depot)," a restaurant in Ann Arbor. Technically, it was the other way around, NYPD being inspired by NYC, but it was good to know that they'd gotten it right. The décor was similar, as was their method of serving the pizza and other foods.

^ Top | 6:27 AM | | |

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Arriving in New York

Alex joined me at the Bowling Green show, and afterward we left (at 2:30am) to drive straight through to New York City. Neither of us slept that night, but we made good time and arrived at Ryan's apartment in Brooklyn in nine hours (including the inevitable half hour of being lost), better than Google's estimated 10. There were the usual moments of near-death speeding down a rainy highway--it rained most of the trip--and the not-so-usual moments of awe at the autumnal foliage. The mountains of Pennsylvania were beautiful, covered in rich shades of orange, red, green, and the trees were so full they seemed like colorful cotton balls.

Me: It's like an Impressionist painting.
Alex: God's an Impressionist. Who knew?
Me: I knew I liked him.

In the end, I didn't sleep that day at all, heading out for brunch with Ryan at a wonderful French café where I had the most incredible Eggs Benedict. (Alex took a nap on the floor of Ryan's room and we didn't see him again until the next night's show.) We wandered around the Village afterward and made it back to Brooklyn in time to navigate traffic to the Saturday night show in Allendale, NJ.

Leena Gilbert joined me on violin that night; she used to go to church with me in Michigan, but about a month ago she moved to New York for music. She's an incredible improviser--actually we weren't able to practice before the show but she was able to jump in and it sounded wonderful; in particular, she definitely sells the jazz songs (so that masters in jazz does come in handy). We had a nice turnout and it was fun for me to play at Holy Grounds, where I'd spent many hours practicing with a band one summer. The café is decorated with sections for the countries that Touch the World, the organization that runs the coffeeshop, works in: Scotland, Africa, Japan, the US.

At almost every show these days I improvise a song made from words provided by the audience; that night, I didn't have much to work with for humor--of the five words solicited, I got "savior," "Yeshua," and "God" before getting anything in the usual vein, like "Michigan." They were a fantastic audience, just not particularly great in terms of picking words. So later that night, after I almost fell asleep on the road, we picked up one of Ryan's friends who'd missed the concert and wanted to hear me play. Of course, something about that woke me up, and we spent the next few hours making up songs in Ryan's living room. They got progressively more outlandish--think Princess Bride-style duels and postmen who turn out to be fathers--until we finally crawled into bed.

^ Top | 8:37 PM | | |

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

College Memories and Towns

It's funny what can change in a few years. Back in my sophomore year of college, when quite honestly I wasn't very good, I played a set during the U-M student-run State Street Poetry Project, just starting to become comfortable writing songs and performing as a songwriter. That night a voice major named Kristy Hanson performed and wowed us all with her jazz-tinged folk. At a concert a couple of months later, I bought her first CD.

Fast forward to Friday night. Kristy and I both earned our way into Indiegrrl, a network and forum for female independent musicians, and shared a show in Bowling Green, OH as part of the larger Indiegrrl national tour. We'll actually be sharing few other shows as part of the tour--Cincinnati this weekend (she's a last-minute addition to the bill as Courtney C. Patty had to cancel), and Lansing and Ann Arbor the next. In some ways, things have come full circle.

A reporter from the BG News made it out to the concert, so there may be a review of the EP in there soon. For now, you can read Friday night's preview: Chick Rock Hits Easy Street.

^ Top | 10:16 PM | | |

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Stratford #4

Last weekend I made my fourth annual pilgrimage to the Stratford Theatre Festival. This year's trip had the distinction of being the most relaxing, probably because in the end we only saw one play, and the cast of characters featured a nice mix of old and new personalities from each excursion. Mike D. made his first visit to the festival, while Melanie returned from last year and James returned from the trip two years prior, although he kept saying "last year," forgetting that he'd missed one.

We left Ann Arbor on Friday evening and drove through the endless tedium of farms and fields to arrive in Canada via Port Huron. But where in the past that route seemed uninteresting, the conversation that filled the car was sufficiently energetic to alleviate any potential boredom with the scenery. None of the others had met before, so we made a road trip game out of my introductions, including facts that were and weren't true while the others guessed as to their veracity. It was like a narrative version of "Two Truths and a Lie."

Continuing traditions, we stopped at a diner whose name I can't recall for dinner. It was no Betty's, but that restaurant cum gas station would have been impossible to find again. Our waitress kept apologizing for delays that we didn't notice and the water tasted like sulfur, but the food was good, if not healthy. Everyone except for James ordered items battered and greasy, and I indulged my addiction to fried chicken.

A couple of hours later, we made it to London and Steve's new place, a friendly co-op. But this Canadian co-op was of a vastly different variety than the Ann Arbor species; instead of cramming as many (hippie) students into one house as possible, the co-op was a set of normal-sized apartments connected in a real community. Steve and his roommates don't believe in locking their door--apparently one roommate didn't even have a key for his first few months--so they have a constant stream of visitors, known and unknown. (Yup, that includes random people crashing on the couches in the living room.) We stopped at the store to acquire scone-making supplies (Steve's scones are legendary) and I was excited to find chestnuts, which I promptly bought and roasted (none of the others had ever eaten them before). Hours later, the guys made use of the couches at Steve's while Melanie and I made our way to Steve's neighbors' apartment and slept on the futon in their basement (much more comfortable, I'm sure). It's funny, we only met those neighbors twice briefly all weekend, but they were incredibly hospitable.

The next day, Steve made his famous scones for breakfast and we visited the Bat Cave, an apartment full of girls who have a cardboard Batman rumored to be a wonderful cuddling partner. We made our way to Stratford and ate fish and chips at Molly Bloom's, another longstanding tradition, and continued another hapless tradition by being late to the theatre. This was the culmination of a number of small events: the food took forever to arrive (at least 45 minutes), though James, cheering on his team in the U-M football game, and Steve, trying to convince the staff to change the channel so he could watch hockey ("they have to, we're in Canada and hockey's Canadian!"), barely noticed, and then James was convinced that the show was at the wrong theatre. And since lateness always occurs when I'm involved, I'm sure the heavens conspired to make it so.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was mediocre--the production wasn't entirely engaging, despite Tennessee Williams's lyrical writing. Cynthia Dale's Maggie was overwrought; we missed the first ten minutes of the production, but when we entered she had already hit her emotional peak and had nowhere to go for the rest of the performance. The most notable feature of the production was the design; the set was beautiful, with a dreamlike, symbolic quality that was enhanced by the lighting. (Funny moment: after the second act, Mike thought the play was over and was confused as to why there was no curtain call.)

After the play we drove back to London and visited a pizza parlor with perhaps the largest slices of pizza I've ever seen, and then made our way to the Symposium, an upscale café with wonderful desserts. We spent hours there in conversation before exploring the University of Western Ontario campus, where we stumbled across a group of students surrounded by dozens of cardboard boxes; they were raising money for the homeless and had committed to spend the night outdoors as though they were homeless. However, the house of cardboard boxes had blown over shortly after its construction and they'd given up on that idea, instead snuggling close to each other for warmth amid much laughter, guarded by a fellow conspirator in camouflage. We explored more of the school, tiptoeing through a tower that should have been locked, dancing on a stage in an empty auditorium (Melanie and I saw the stage and immediately and simultaneously ran to it and began performing to a non-existent audience), climbing the catwalk of the small theatre. Finally everyone was tired enough to head back to Steve's apartment, where of course we spent more time in conversation rather than sleep.

The next morning, Melanie and I were awakened by Steve and Mike serenading us on guitar with improvised emo parodies. (Emo= angsty melodic punk. It's often quite good, but it's also incredibly easy to poke fun at--just be as melodramatic as possible while half-singing over power chords: "This solitude cuts like a knife / Like the knife you used to cut out my heart / And you're tearing me apart and I feel so alone.") We--the Americans, that is, since Steve had to study--drove back to Stratford and spent the rest of the day exploring the town and its culinary delights. And taking ridiculous photos.

A sampling of quotable quotes:

Steve:

Mike:

Steve:

Mike:

Dawn:

^ Top | 7:00 AM | | |

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Dawn's Top 10 Science Fiction Shows of All Time

After having so many issues with Boston.com's Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows of All Time, not the least of which is the fact that half the shows listed aren't even SF, I've decided to compile my own list. So without further ado, I present to you Dawn's Top 10 Science Fiction Shows of All Time.

#10 Roswell
This probably seems like an odd inclusion, and I will admit when I first heard about the show I thought it sounded like Dawson's Creek with alien teenagers (needless to say, not a promising premise for quality SF). But I was surprised to find that Roswell was intelligently written, rising above its potentially maudlin plot, and you had to appreciate the chemistry between Max, the once and future king, and Liz, the girl who falls for him after he saves her life. However, it had just a bit too much romance and melodrama to earn a higher spot on the list.

#9 The Outer Limits (new)
What made the Outer Limits unique was that every ending had a catch--and more often than not, it revealed humanity's darker side and propensity for miscalculation and arrogance. But the aliens were not benevolent either; they came to conquer, to destroy, to eat rather than to enhance our knowledge.

#8 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
This series got off to an unimpressive start, but by the end the writers were juggling three simultaneous plots and dealing with an intergalactic war. It's not the best of Trek, but it was a worthy contribution.

#7 Dark Skies
TV shows created with a story arc in mind are rare. But as conceived, Dark Skies, which aired in 1996, placed its characters in the 1950's, right in the middle of a conspiracy surrounding the events at Roswell--and would have caught up to the present day by 1999, complete with aged characters. But like all good things, it was canceled after only 20 episodes.

#6 Red Dwarf
What's not to love about a British comedy that involves a chicken soup machine repairman (possibly the last man alive in the universe), a sequin-wearing quasi-human resulting from three million years of evolution originating in his cat, and a senile computer?

#5 Star Trek: The Original Series
It had to get props somewhere. TOS was revolutionary in its time and has influenced every science fiction show from its creation in 1966.

#4 Space: Above and Beyond
Here's another show that met its demise far too soon. SAAB was a well-written, gritty show about a group of marines struggling to defend Earth against invaders who struck without warning. This was one of the most hard-hitting military shows to air on TV, and the main characters were not immune from the possibility of death.

#3 Star Trek: The Next Generation
Hands down, this was the best of the Star Trek series. It had the best writing and the best captain--and the Best of Both Worlds, Parts I and II.

#2 Battlestar Galactica (new)
Battlestar= crack. (Thanks Bryan.) I wasn't expecting to be impressed, but the episodes fit together into a continuing storyline and the acting, writing, and directing are superb. And we have character development! If it keeps this up--the show's been running for just over a season--it may even challenge my beloved B5.

#1 Babylon 5
JMS planned the show with a five-year arc so that events and comments that seem insignificant in the early seasons have large ramifications later. Although the thrust of the story revolves around a climatic battle that involves the entire galaxy, it's the characters that drive the plot and not the other way around. With its exploration of human nature and spirituality, this show had more depth and complexity than most of TV. And here we have it, the best SF series ever.

^ Top | 5:33 PM | | |

Sunday, October 09, 2005

More Quibbles with Best Sci-Fi List

This is a rant. This is a rant and I'm not even arguing that any show should have ranked higher than another. The problem is that some of the shows shouldn't have been on the list in the first place.

I finally browsed through the entirety of Boston.com's Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows of All Time--and realized that their net of "sci-fi" is rather broad. They've included shows in a number of genres: horror, comic book/superhero, and adventure. Since when did Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Tales from the Crypt, Xena, or Batman become science fiction? Even IMDB doesn't list them as such. (Seriously, people--Lost? How on earth could some editor have thought it belonged on a list of SF?) And then there are the questionable entries: does 3rd Rock from the Sun (number 48) count? Although its characters were aliens, the show was more sitcom/comedy than science fiction.

Although the stereotypical fan boy who loves his Star Wars (which is classified as Fantasy by the purists rather than SF because it doesn't deal with science at all) is likely to watch the aforementioned shows, that criteria is a poor one on which to base a Top 50 list. That would broaden the possible inclusions to anime and video game spinoffs (remember the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter movies?) as well. But hey, why not? We've already started to include all adventure, horror, and superhero shows in our definition. It would have been more accurate for the editors to consider their list one of works that include elements of the fantastic, which would include science fiction and anything that deals with the otherworldly or supernatural. But then we would have to include magical realism and things like the filmed play of Kafka's Metamorphosis (which stars Tim Roth)--and we might as well, since it would fit with the offerings that made the ranking.

Perhaps I'm too concerned with semantics. But I'd like to think that a respectable website would be as well.

^ Top | 10:34 PM | | |

Thursday, October 06, 2005

The Best Sci-Fi Show of All Time

Last week, Bryan (the one from Chicago) sent me a link to Boston.com's (associated with the Boston Globe) recent list of its Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows of All Time. One minor quibble: the word "sci-fi" connotes B-movies and pulp, primarily from the Cold War era; the preferred term for current usage is "SF" because it's more refined and there is a good amount of intelligent writing that wears the label "sci-fi" poorly.

Anyway, the editors rated Babylon 5--the best science fiction series ever--as a mere #5 on the list, after the new Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek (both the Original Series and The Next Generation), and the X-Files. I hadn't seen the new Battlestar, though I wanted to--I used to watch tapes of the old one as a kid--but Babylon 5, though not as groundbreaking as ST:TOS, was much better put together than the rest, with better writing. But I won't go into that debate here.

Yesterday, I got a package in the mail from Bryan, who is well aware of my obsession with SF. Guess what was inside? The entire first season of Battlestar Galactica on DVD, out of the blue. Which makes him the coolest friend ever.

^ Top | 5:18 PM | | |

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Anecdote

Apparently Alex mentioned to a girl at his church that I'm one of his (seven) roommates--to which she responded, "Dawn Xiana Moon? Isn't she famous? She writes and does music." Hilarious--I don't think I've even met her. Maybe I'm moving up in the world....

^ Top | 10:26 PM | | |