Flint Knits

Just a quick post to say that my band is playing at a crappy little basement bar in the Village tonight.

Lit Lounge.
Doors at 8:30.
$6.

And obviously I will buy any knitter a beer. xoxo

I was very, very lazy with the blog world this summer. I mean, I didn’t even read — I made you do it for me.

But that ends today. My last bit of catching-up is to thank the three awesome women who have nominated me as a “Rockin’ Girl Blogger.”

Knittymama, Jillian, and Crystal are super rockin’ themselves, so the virtual love is much appreciated. Thank you!!

Sadly, my summer of actual rocking has also ended. When I got home in August, I had a bit of post-tour malaise — it was strange to wake up in the same bed every day, with familiar and mundane tasks (dishes, for instance. god, I hate doing dishes.) stretched out before me, instead of the adventure and surprises of the road.**

And now it’s back to teaching classes and trying very hard to get work done on the dissertation. The last gasp of my rock star summer took place over Labor Day weekend, when we shot a super-low-tech-low-budget music video. And I got to knit in one scene!

See that? It’s the back of my tweed sweater, which by now is almost done — just one sleeve to go!

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** Road Lust not helped on Saturday by the Food Network’s Feasting on Asphalt marathon. Man, oh man, do I love Alton Brown.

But I was also irritated to see, yet again, Minnesota food and culture being only and always thought of as Scandinavian. Dude, they were in the Twin Cities, home to the largest Somali and Hmong communities in the U.S., along with a heap ton of Latinos and Native folks. And they chose, again, to feature effing ludefisk and smorgasbord?

And then, when that smorgasbord included a great big dish of native wild rice, they dismissed it as simply “Minnesotan,” instead of focusing on it as a food with a long and complex history, politics and culture (including current legislation! I mean, when was the last time a law got passed about ludefisk?). Maybe the Food Network should send a nutritional anthropologist along next season.

So, BEFORE the drama of the break-in in New York, I had an awesome second date with Minty. We met up near Harold Square, and walked to a great Korean restaurant, where I ate way too much of every little dish, plus a huge bowl of soup. SO good.

We then zipped over to Purl Soho so I could find some yarn to coordinate with my lavender-grey Koigu (didn’t find any, but I did get two other skeins of Koigu).

Then she bought me a lemonade at a street fair in Soho, and we snapped this picture. Minty is, of course, the queen of self portraiture.

Then I went home, and left the next day for a week in Hawai’i. Vacation photos on Flickr if you’re interested.

Hawai’i is, of course, beautiful. It’s also home to some of the most destructive, racist, and all-around fucked-up tourist practices in the world. If you’re interested in such things, you might check out Stephanie Black’s excellent documentary Life and Debt, Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, Michelle Cliff’s The Land of Look Behind, and/or Haunani-Kay Trask’s From a Native Daughter.

Also, one of my favorite knit-bloggers, Desiknitter, has been sharing the most thoughtful and thought-provoking posts about her recent travels in India. Check it out.

Anyway, then we went home, and left the next day on tour. Again. I’m in Madison, Wisconsin right now, after having rocked Peoria and Keokuk. If you’re interested, the remaining tour dates are listed at myspace.com/emptyorchestra.

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So I thought to myself, “self, you’re going to be on the road for weeks at a time this summer, with nothing to do between shows but sit in the tour van and occasionally drive. Think of all the time you’ll have for knitting and blogging!”

Not quite.

I have been knitting a bit, but blogging? Duh. That takes a computer, and an internet connection. At the moment, I have 236 unread emails in my inbox, and 660 unread blog posts in Bloglines.

Damn.

So I’m going to have to beg your patience and forgiveness — there’s just no way I can keep up with all the fabulous developments on Flickr and your blogs. If you create something spectacular, or there are major life changes I should know about, please email me or call! xoxo

The unofficial Summer of Rock Shows and Knitblogger Meetups begins tomorrow. The knitblogger part of the tour might be a disaster — mostly because it won’t be until the last minute that I know details like when we’ll be arriving in a city, or leaving it, or whether there will be any time for knitty meetups and fun.

Then again, all that time on the road means lots of knitting (I hope). For updated July and August tour dates, see myspace.com/emptyorchestra. It looks like we might have a free day to spend in the DC area! Woo hoo!

Attn: Philly folks! Our show at The Fire has been rescheduled for Friday, July 20. Also, I have 10 discounted tickets (at $2 each instead of $7) that I can sell to anyone who wants ‘em. If you’d like me to set one aside for you, email me!

Would it be possible to gather together a few of you zillion Philly knitbloggers for dinner on the 20th? If so, (1) who’s in? and (2) got any suggestions for veg-friendly restaurants close to The Fire?

(Sadly, this means that the Bridgewater, NJ show was canceled. But we’ll meet another time, Kristy!!)

Oh, and lest you think it’s been all rock and no yarn, look what I just started for the second time. I’m using fatter yarn and fatter needles, so let’s hope this one fits.

I’m playing at rockstar this summer, and the band might be coming to your town! If we are, let me know — most shows will have guest lists, plus I hope to make time for crafty meet-ups in between all the chaos of touring.

July’s schedule below. We’ll also be out for 3 weeks in August — I’ll post those dates in a few weeks.

Jul 13 2007 Paulies, Bloomington, IL
Jul 14 2007 The Whatever, Kankakee, IL
Jul 16 2007 Dayton, OH?
Jul 18 2007 The Camel, Richmond, VA
Jul 19 2007 Grog and Tankard, Washington DC
Jul 20 2007 The Fire, Philadelphia, PA
Jul 21 2007 The Knitting Factory, New York, NY

Jul 23-30 I’m at a conference in Honolulu