Sassistas! Our dish on the social soup.

Resonate

Like, I'm so sure.

Even if you don't like the band, Journey, you totally have to watch their new video above. It's like, soooo bonus.

Remember the Salahis and, like, how they crashed a White House dinner?  Turns out Michaele Salahi left her husband Tareq (his name is so gross!) for Journey's guitarist Neal Schon!!!!  So, like, on Valentine's Day, the band released the video to their latest single, "Resonate". It is SOOO AWESOME.  Michaele and Neal make out and EVERYthing on the beach. Just like I do!!!  It is so totally awesome!

But Tareq (that name is so barf) has filed a suit for $50 million against Michaele for "a lost-reality show contract for $150,000".  What-EVer.  He's so mean because the video is, like, KILLER.  I'm in junior high school and I should know when something is like, really, really, really good.  

One of my friends (NOT!)  asked me what "resonate" means.  As if!  Who cares if you can make out on a beach?????!!!!! Duh! That is so totally rez!

 

What Came First?

 

The 54th Grammy Awards were celebrated last evening and the Sassistas! -- desperate for a Madonna-inspired Super Bowl spectacle -- stupidly watched the red-carpet arrivals. Last year, if you recall, Lady Gaga arrived in a large egg from which she emerged later on stage (see top photo). Kinda hard to "beat" that, we thought . . .

 . . . until Nicki Minaj arrived on the Grammy red carpet last evening with . . . . her father?

CAPTION, PLEASE.

We Bought A Zoo

 "What do you like better? Animals or humans?"

That is the question at the heart of a surprisingly sweet and very smart film, "We Bought a Zoo," that Flannista saw yesterday afternoon with treesta. It was the perfect cure for a sucky year. If you want to know why you like animals and love humans, if you want to know why good writing makes all the difference in a film, if you just want to feel frickin' grateful to have 20 seconds in your life when you do something outrageously courageous, drop everything and see this film.

I loved it, and so did treesta as we dabbed at our happy tears as the credits were rolling.

The movie, based on a true story, is about a father named Benjamin (Matt Damon in a winningly likeable performance), a lonely widower with two kids -- his wife died six months before -- who revives his lust for life by purchasing a ramshackle country house with a dilapidated zoo attached. Bottom line, a depressed dad comes to life and lemme tell ya, I bought it big time. There is darkness in life, but that doesn't mean there can't also be harmony.

Contributing to the whimsy and beauty of the film is a soundtrack by Jonsi, the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros.  I was first introduced to Jonsi in June, when my artist friend, Tim Lowly, told me to drop everything and buy Jonsi's latest CD, "Go".  I did, and it is one of my favorite CDs of the year.  Click here to hear "Why Not" -- a cut from Jonsi's soundtrack to "We Bought A Zoo".

I could go on and on and on . . . but won't.  At the moment, I'm so grateful to feel happy about the warmth and beauty that is as close to me as the local theater and my iTunes library.

But back to the question at the heart of this film: What do you like better? Animals or humans?"

No, No, No

 

"They tried to make me go to rehab,

but I said, 'No, no, no.'"

-- Amy Winehouse, composer/performer "Rehab"

1983-2011

 

Whip It

On Saturday, good neighbor Sassley celebrated her 40th birthday with a party for which guests were asked to come dressed as someone (or something) from the 1980s.  The Sassistas! first thought of going as a couple of the Iranian hostages, but thought that would be a bummer.  Then Matissta had the brilliant idea of going as Devo, the art punk American band whose single, "Whip It" reached #14 on the Billboard chart in 1980. She emailed me the photo below, but we were worried . . . how would we EVER make these costumes, especially those hats?!

HOME DEPOT TO THE RESCUE!

Flannista showed the photo to a couple Home Depot employees and in 30 minutes we had everything we needed: two pair of KLEENGUARD White All-Purpose Coveralls, two plastic planters, one roll of self-adhesive door insulation tape, one roll of red duct tape and one can of Apple Red spray paint.  Then we whipped it all together.

If you had attended this party, what would you have gone as from the 1980s?  Or what's the craziest way you ever put together a costume?

Grace

Tim Lowly shared that his daughter, Temma, smiles "once every nine months or so." Last September, on their wedding anniversary, Tim and his wife, Sherrie, witnessed Temma laughing for the first time. Tim videotaped those moments, blew out the color, and then set the footage to music.  Although this video is posted on Youtube, Tim only shares it with close family and friends who know Temma. The Sassistas! are grateful for his permission to post it here.

Below is a painting in Flannista's collection done by Tim.  It is called, "Between" and captures the 24-hour period between Temma's birth and her shattering cardiac arrest.

 

Singing to You

On Tuesday evening and Wednesday, Flannista hosted Tim Lowly and one member of his band Baby Mountain -- Karima Walker -- in Flannista's home.  It was one of the most beautiful experiences of Flann's lifetime.  

But this is not a post about house concerts.

This is a post about finding beauty in unthinkable circumstances.

"Baby Mountain" is the nickname of Tim's daughter, Temma. Within 24 hours of her birth, Temma went into cardiac arrest and is now -- in Tim's words -- "profoundly other" (Tim prefers that phrase rather than "profoundly disabled"). The clinical term for Temma's condition is "spastic quadriplegia with seizure disorder and other complications."  Temma is deaf, blind and completely paralyzed. She is fed through a valve in her stomach.

She is now 25 years old and still lives with her parents. Her life is a source of great mystery to all her encounter her. Temma and her parents spent the night in my home about 15 years ago.  I remember what seemed like constant "electrical storms" in her head.  Her soft moaning. How she always responded to the touch of her mother and Tim's wife, Sherrie, now an ordained pastor.

Tim shared openly how much Temma is the subject and inspiration of both his art and his music.  Tim is a highly-respected and nationally-recognized artist with paintings in permanent collections such as the Metropolitan in New York City and the Chicago Art Institute.  Click here to visit the website that focuses on his art. Pictured above is a pencil drawing entitled, "Imago Dei" that Tim completed in 1991.

About 10 years ago, Tim began to seriously pursue his music as well as his art and two years ago, released his second (or third) CD, "Chasing Brother Angel".  To hear, "Sandro," what I consider to be the most beautiful song on that album (in an album of great beauty), click here.  

On Tuesday evening, Tim and Karima played a short and lovely set to about a dozen of my neighbors. My favorite song of the evening was, "Singing to You," a song accompanied by a painting of Temma as a baby lying in a desert among ashes and the broken pieces of ancient body armor.  Click here to listen to a recording of Tim and Karima singing it at another house concert (which explains why its quality it not as good as "Sandro"). Following are the words to "Singing to You":

Are we more than questions in the back of your eyes?

Is there more to living than this fight to survive?

Will the morning roll you out like the tide?

Where are you going tonight?

 

[CHORUS]

I am singing, I am singing, I am singing to you.

 

Which of these stories is best left untold?

What is dross?  What is gold?

In the face of fire, will we stand and be bold?

What is this treasure that I hold?

 

[CHORUS]

I am singing, I am singing, I am singing to you.

 

Each of these steps puts us back at the start --

We’re pulled together. We’re torn apart.

Though in this dark I cannot read all the cards,

I know you hold the answers in your heart.

 

[CHORUS]

I am singing, I am singing, I am singing to you.

 

"In the face of fire, will we stand and be bold?  What is this treasure that I hold?"  

So many of us are facing fire these days.  We are pulled together.  We're torn apart.

Let's keep singing.

Desiring

We don't know about you, but the Sassistas! need a break from the national budget, taxes and Middle East unrest. Last week, barista sent us the above video and it brought us much peace.  Flannista especially has watched the video several times this week to maintain some semblance of peace in the midst of her professional responsibilities and travel, especially her trip tomorrow to the New Mexico desert with PEACEsista to see Gwendolyn.

The song you hear in this video is "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."  What song might you have chosen to play using this method?  Flann is thinkin' something from Nine Inch Nails.  

What about you?

Polka Party!

 

The Sassistas! would like to acknowledge and thank half-a-sista for this special post to honor babysis' birthday tomorrow!  Half-a-sista has been doing some heavy lifting in the sassosphere the past 10 days and we appreciate it from the bottom of our sassy hearts.

On Wednesday, March 9 and Saturday, March 12 during Bikeweek, coleslaw wrestling returns  to Sopotnick’s Cabbage Patch in Samsula, Florida. (Remember my "Slaw and Odor" post from last March?) If the Florida sistas hurry, they could make the Saturday afternoon wrestling events with the Cuervo specials and all the used coleslaw you can eat at the end of the event (just kidding about the free, used coleslaw). Don’t take the children though. It’s an adults-only event. But that’s not what I want to talk about.

The Sassistas! have shared several stories about misconceptions made about people and here’s another one I want to shatter. What would you think the guy who brought coleslaw wrestling to his part of Florida would be like?  He owns the bar and has come up with slogans like, “We have  done for cole slaw what the moon did for rocks.” (I’m still trying to figure out the similarities between those two things.) He holds events like the thong pull, where a woman pulls a pallet of beer with a cord tied to her thong. Wet t-shirts for women are de rigueur.

In looking at the Patch’s web site a few days ago before someone updated it, I discovered that Ronnie (Ron) Luznar was inducted into the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame in Euclid, Ohio on November 28, 2009 for preserving and promoting Slovenian Cultural Heritage. You can look at photos of Ron a long time ago and now and see pictures of the awards ceremony by clicking here.

Click here if you want to hear Ron and his polka band in action.  We knew Ron liked cole slaw, but who knew he liked music?

Happy Birthday, babysis! Save a dance and a shot of Cuervo for me.

(P.S. Remember you’ve got to get the tickets for the Monster Truck-a-thon.)

Body Talk

Yesterday in our sass stream to Justista's post, "Tattoo or No Tattoo", Matissta wrote: "Flann tells a funny story of a man she met who was filled with tattoos on both arms. I'll let her tell the story, but she had pegged him wrong and vice versa." Following is that story.

Flannista is often upgraded to First Class and about a year ago on a flight to MouseLand found herself seated in First Class next to a gentleman she first thought was the rap star, 50 Cent (pictured left). He was huge and muscular and was wearing a black tank top, a scowl on his face and scores of tattoos on his arms, several of which were dates, i.e., 11/4/94 and 6/27/98.  

I assumed the dates marked successful "hits" in his "hood."

Clearly nervous, I asked him if he was the air marshal who often sits in a First Class aisle seat.

"No," he responded in a tone that told me that better be the only question I would ask him.  He looked me up and down and then buried his face in the latest issue of "Iron Man" magazine.  At the time I was dressed in professional garb (not my typical blue jeans and sneakers) because I was going directly from the airport to a meeting. If there ever was a time I regretted looking like I'd stepped out of a Ann Taylor store, this was it. I even had on a Nordstrom designer straw hat with a perky bow.

About a half hour into the flight, the gentleman got out a MacBook Pro, some headphones and was obviously editing some music. When the flight attendant interrupted him for his drink order, I asked him if he was a music producer.  He replied that he was and when I asked him what kind of music he was editing, he responded:

"Nothing you would be familiar with."

"Try me, I listen to a lot of music," I replied.

"You don't listen to rap, I know that," he said.  When I told him that I did, he asked me to name some of the rap music I listened to.

"Well, I can't keep track of all of it, but let me get out my iPod," I said.  I pulled up my Rap Music play list and said, "Everyone thinks Eminem is the best, but I think Dr. Dre and Jay-Z have it all over him."

"Are you kidding me?" he said.  "You listen to rap music?"

"Yeah, I love it," I replied.  "So what song are you mixing right now?"

"A song for the next album of a musician you've never heard of -- she's from Sweden.  Her name is Robyn."

"The New Yorker just did a little review of her first album," I said.  "They loved it, so I ordered it."

"Are you kidding me?" he said.  You've gotta be kidding me."

We laughed and then he handed me his headphones so I could listen to the song he was mixing.  A short while later I asked him about the dates tattooed on his arms.

"Well, this one was the day my daughter was born," he said, pointing to one date, "and this one was the day my son was born.  This one was the day my daughter rode a bike for the first time.  Here is when I got married.  My mother died on this date . . . ."

I looked at him and said, "I was so wrong about you."

"Man, was I wrong about you," he replied.  "I'll never do that again."

"Neither will I."

Robyn's latest album, Body Talk, was released this summer to rave reviews.  The song my rap friend was mixing was "U Should Know Better."