SOUNDTRACK: LILY & MADELEINE-Free at Noon, World Cafe Live (February 22, 2019).
I was pretty happy to be at my desk for this Free at Noon show today. After seeing Lily & Madeleine Wednesday night, I was keen to hear them live again.
I was also happy that a lot more people showed up for this show than my bad-weather event.
They played a truncated version of the show that I saw–nine of the fourteen songs. Can their real set only be five more songs? They focused entirely on new songs, except their encore, and wound up playing all but two of the new songs.(Circles and Bruises).
The sisters aren’t the most dynamic performers. They are quiet and somewhat subdued–look to guitarist/cellist Shannon Hayden for the action. But they more than make up for it with their voices. Once again Lily & Madeleine sounded great and their harmonies were transcendent.
Their new songs are really great live–the addition of the cello really fleshes out their music beautifully. And their drummer (who goes by one name and which once again I didn’t understand (Coffee?)) was fantastic.
They played the first three songs as my show. They skipped the older songs and went right to Analog Love. I was surprised they played “Supernatural Sadness” right after “Analog Love” because they are very different. Analog is, as the chorus states, “slow and sweet” whereas “Supernatural” has a much more dancey, almost disco attitude,
They ended the set with “Pachinko” and then the band left so the could play “Go” with just the two of them.
After Helen Leicht came out to thank the band for coming, they did one more song, an encore of “Blue Blades.” This song sounded amazing when I saw them both because of their voices but also because of the awesomely echoed cello. And she had that same effect on the song here–it just sounds massive and almost otherworldly. It’s amazing.
Definitely check them out, they are terrific live (this will no doubt be posted soon enough).
- Self Care
- Just Do It
- Canterbury Girls
- Analog Love
- Supernatural Sadness
- Can’t Help the Way I Feel
- Pachinko Song
- Go
encore - Blue Blades
[READ: February 20, 2019] Kitten Construction Company
I loved Green’s previous book Hippopotamister and I was pretty delighted with the premise of Kitten Construction Company. But I had no idea how funny it would be.
The city of Mewburg (I only wish it was Mewlinburg) is preparing to build a new mayor’s mansion. The city planner is looking at excellent design plans for the mansion. As he talks about how wonderful the designs are, he pulls back the paper to reveal Marmalade, an adorable kitten. He stops what he is doing to marvel at her cuteness. Marmalade is upset by this.
Even more so when the city planner says they can’t have a cute kitten as an architect–“you’re just too adorable to be taken seriously.”
Marmalade stomps off (cutely) muttering that she went to school and she has a degree. While she is trying to drown her sorrows in milk, she meets Sampson. a dishwasher who is actually an electrical engineer. They are sick of not being taken seriously so they decide to start their own firm. But first Sampson has to finish his shift (which is adorable and hilarious).
Finally they meet Bubbles, who always wanted to work with plumbing. And off they go.
They find a job site and are hired immediately. It’s the job site to build the new mayor’s mansion! But the jobs they get are meaningless–I especially liked the electrician’s job of untangling Christmas lights. And when they look at the plans, they see that they are total garbage. They don’t want to work on this! But what can they do?
Enter Professor von Wigglebottom. But he is NOT a professor, he is a carpenter! And he knows of an abandoned job site and a bunch of strays who are willing to get the job done.
The kittens are serious and they get right to work. Even the city planner takes notice–it cracked me up that his phone has pictures of real cats on a construction site. But don’t forget they are not the official architects–and wait till you see what the official architects deliver.
I love that the cats do a great job but also can’t resist some of their natural urges (catching moths (enh! enh!) or a laser pointer.
And also that even after they are done, some people can’t believe they did it. I don’t know if it’s a stretch to say that this book addresses sexism in the workplace, but I think it does, but in an adorably sweet way.
I am so looking forward to book two.
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