London!

Greetings from London! I'm working in the Expedia office by day, squeezing in sightseeing by night. Tonight a couple girls from work took me out for dinner (yummy veggie pie!) and a walk around... And look, St. Martin in the Field! I might go back for a concert tomorrow... Or might go for another walk... So much to see!

Mobile blogging

This is a test. I'm about to spend a month in Europe, and thought it might be nice to blog with my phone. Here's a picture from my phone: I'm outside of the grounds of Graceland, in Memphis. That was in March.

Stats

It's election day again. But let's not go there.

About two years ago, I started this blog because I lost my job and needed something to do/write about. Since then, I've had two contracts -- although the second one is currently lasting longer than two prior "full-time" positions.

So my work life is good, and I can focus some more anxiety on music-making endeavors. But how is everyone else doing?

Google public data explorer (beta) has charts on all kinds of interesting subjects, such as unemployment (by state and nationwide), population, greenhouse gas emissions, even the rate of sexually transmitted diseases.

Wow, Nevada.

Also check out the minimum wage chart for Europe... if things go really bad, I can always go wait tables in -- Luxembourg. Dang, Bulgaria is lowest on the list.

Grant -- dun!

I just submitted an application for the Jack Straw Artist Support Program, for Dunava. If we get selected, we'll use the Jack Straw studio to record a second, more professional-level CD. (We love our first CD, but it was recorded in a home studio, and it shows... or rather, is audible.)

This is the first time I've applied for *anything* for Dunava, and it feels like such a milestone. Being accepted would be exciting just for the validation or vote of confidence from a group that is not our immediate fan club. We love our fan club -- all the Balkan music and dance people in and around Seattle -- but we want to be interesting and compelling to people new to the musical genre as well. That seems more like a worthwhile "mission:" to make Balkan songs beautiful and enjoyable to a wide spectrum of people, without compromising its character.

This is also getting me to finally think outside the box for the choir. The box = the local gig circuit we've been doing, including Folklife and the occasional little concert here and there. (We're at Empty Sea on November 13.) What else could we do? Could we do other folk festivals, like the one in Vancouver BC? Could we draw a crowd in Portland and Eugene?

Could we travel the world? Could we rehearse twice a week? Maybe let's dream in small increments...

The next gig?

Yes, there are still gigs! Check this out:

http://bucharestdrinkingteam.com/

I'm out of town for the Bellingham show, but will sing some songs at Hale's Paladium on September 10. Locals, come on by!

Transliterate

You knew about Google translate. But did you know about Google Transliterate? I just discovered this the other day. Seriously cool. Well, if you find yourself needing to write in another alphabet on occasion, but don't want to go to the trouble of downloading the keyboard settings for Hebrew/Hindi/Arabic/Russian, this is a lifesaver.

No Bulgarian yet -- then I'd really be ecstatic.

Dos and Don'ts when driving with paint

• DO: hammer the paint lid shut solidly before you put it in your car.
• DO: check and see what fell over in the trunk when you are driving with half-full paint cans in your trunk. (Or: DON'T wait to check, only to discover the spill when you finally get home after running errands all day.)
  
• DON'T: attempt to wipe the spill up with rags. It will take forever, and you'll spend much more time rinsing out rags than actually wiping up paint. And you won't get it all.
• DO: drive to a self-service car wash, after having emptied out the trunk of all the other garbage that's in there (and now yellow).
• DO: take out the spare tire and the jumper cables before washing out the trunk.
  
• DON'T: pull the trigger on the power sprayer when spraying out the paint in your trunk. It will squirt paint and dirt back in your face.
  
• DO: figure out a way to drain the water/paint from your trunk. If you don't, read on:
• DO: use the vacuum hose to suck up the paint puddle in your trunk, where your spare tire used to be.
• DO: drive away inconspicuously as the yellow water starts leaking from the vacuum machine...