Thinking About the Weekend.....Already

Three very good things to choose from for the upcoming weekend and all in my neck of the woods. First, the Best of Missouri Market at MOBot. I love going to this but, in recent years, have skipped it cause of the enormous crowds. We're members of the garden, so maybe I'll try the "members only" hours. Second, is the historic Shaw Neighborhood's Shaw Art Fair. This I will attend definitely. Lastly, is the, also historic, Soulard Neighborhood's Soulard Oktoberfest. Not as sure about this one, but will look at the band line-up and activities list more closely on their web site to make my decision. Anything of interest that I missed? Comment me.

Where You At?

Because I've spoken before of my love of all things artsy and crafty, it will come as no surprise that my weekend plans involve things artsy and crafty. Strange Folk Festival is this weekend. Yeah! It's big, and looks to have gotten larger this year. If you love original, interesting artsy and crafty things, you should totally check this show out. I know that I am.

Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev, and Palin.

The Palin-Russian connection? Does it extend beyond geography? My connection to Palin? Well, she's a blogger too!

Nerd Alert! Lord of the Rings Symphony

If you hit the streets of St Lou tonight or tomorrow night, you will probably notice the absence of J.R.R. Tolkien-lovin', Rings-theme-a-hummin' nerds. Why? They've all congregated at Powell Symphony Hall to listen to Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings symphony as performed by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra. So, what's my story you ask? Well, I do like Tolkien and I did like Peter Jackson's screen version of his books, but I'm no professional sci-fi geek. Neither is Bill. But we do support SLSO (we've been season ticket holders for years now). And since they're trying some new programming ideas to attract a more diverse crowd, we wanted to support their efforts. Plus, I knew the music would be great as would the people watching opportunities (and, boy, were they ever!). And, *nerdy-nerd alert*, both shows are already sold out! Good for SLSO! And, good for me that I thought to buy my tickets ahead of time.

How I Spent My Sunday

Henske Three went to the Duck Room this morning to see Ralph's World. Great, great show! I'm amazed at how good some kid's music has gotten. For example, They Might Be Giants has put out several kid's albums, all of which sound great and are genuinely fun to sing along with. I also recommend, if you need a starting place, the kid music of the Wee Hairy Beasties, Elizabeth Mitchell & Lisa Loeb, The Terrible Twos, Barenaked Ladies, Little Mo'McCoury, and Jack Johnson. As for Ralph's World -- they have a Squeeze/Crowded House vibe that you can't help but to sing and bounce along with. For more solid recommendations in the latest in kid's music, go to Zooglobble.

(Above) Willa onstage with Ralph's World)

(Above) Just like Mom in her old days....drink in hand, on the floor, center stage (Willa is 2nd blonde from the right).

Frost/Nixon at The Rep

The 2008/09 season at the Rep starts tonight for us. I'm excited because tonight's performance is Frost/Nixon. Looks awesome so I'm sure that I'll post a later review. Update: Frost/Nixon was riveting! Here's the gist -- Frost and Nixon: both from humble beginnings, both compelled to prove their worth, both fallen stars. The unlikely pair meet after television host Frost successfully arranges a series of sought after interviews with the newly resigned former president. Nixon agrees to the interviews, hoping that they will re-establish his political reputation and power. For Frost, the interviews represent an opportunity to reignite his credibility and celebrity in the US. Yet, they soon realize that in order for one to succeed, they other has to fail.

STL Art Fair 2008

Art falls into 3 categories for me: #1, LOVE IT! Gotta buy it!, #2, Interesting...I'll make a mental note, or #3, You gotta be kidding me--this is awful!. Yesterday, at the STL Art Fair in Clayton, I saw approximately 4 - LOVE It! Gotta buy it! artists, about 10 - Interesting artists, and a whole big o'bunch of you gotta be kidding me's. Here are my 1, 2, 3, and 4 favorites that I wanted to purchase a piece from but didn't. I did buy another Marvin and Wendy Hill -- a mermaid woodcut called Le Mer -- for Willa (yes, mer is feminine for you francophiles out there yet this print was named as though the word were masculine). I didn't make it to Art Oustide this year so I hope that I did miss a lot. At least I have these events to look forward to -- Strange Folk and Rock and Roll Craft Show.

Art O'Liscious

We have traditionally reserved the weekend after Labor Day for the St Louis Falcons annual Polish Festival. The super awesome sausage, sauerkraut, pirogi, and pastries are very tasty and very popular. Then we took note of two other now-favorite events, the St Louis Art Fair and Schlafly's Art Outside, both of which seemed to pop up on or around the same weekend. The challenge? How to fit all three events into our schedule. This year, we'll definitely be at the St Louis Art Fair tomorrow morning (This is who I bought a piece from last year). And, I'd love to go to Art Outside tonight. But between the kid's ballet and soccer, I'm not sure that the Polish Festival is going to make the cut.

Soccer Mom

I've always taken the back seat driver approach to other people's motherhood -- butting in with little jewels like, "what do you mean you're not using cloth diapers? shame on you for ruining the environment like that!" "not breastfeeding, what? you want a sickly slow kid?" "nice clothes? crazy! my kid's going organic cotton caveman style until kindergarten." You name it, I could find something to say about it. But, now that I find myself actually walking down that road, I try to watch what I say a little more carefully because I know that it's likely that I'll have to retract some earlier proclamation. So, where is this post going you ask? Well, tonight I attended my 3, almost 4, year old kid's 2nd soccer practice--thereby sucking in the parenting gems about over scheduling kids and spending my hard earned money on plastic team sports (I shudder when I say that!) equipment. I mean, really, who even knew that kids could even play soccer at this age! And, that they'd find 21 girls for a single school team! (Bill says, you can't go to Catholic school in STL and not play soccer. I guess he's right.). So what does this mean for me? Well, I guess it means that, at least until November, I'm a mom with a kid playing soccer. Just please don't call me a soccer mom ..... ugh!