How Does it Feel

to sleep on a concrete banquette while stranded in JFK for 20 hours? No, how does it feel in my arms...

I've been wondering who sang the song that I've been hearing all over Europe, and of course it's Kylie! At first, I didn't find it exciting or annoying- it was just there. But then the chorus got into my brain, and I started humming it after passing the last of the sausage stands all blasting it from the same radio station. Now I'm getting emotional listening to it. I'm in America now, where some people love Kylie, but where her face isn't plastered on public transit. Here it is:



And here's the video for her cover of "Locomotion," one of the first pop songs I remember hearing in my life. 1987. Whitney was my first tape, and Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine was my first concert. Hehe. Anyway, in between these two videos was the time period when INXS' Michael Hutchence made the famous quote about his favorite hobby- "corrupting Kylie." Hot. I once knew a guy who had At Folsom Prison and Kick prominently displayed in his room- I thought that was hot too. I digress.

I just wrote a paragraph complaining about missing the flight and blah blah, but fuck it. I am truly pissed about waking up every hour on the hour (to vacuums, screaming children, angry airport workers, snoring-of-dude-next-to-me, arcade games, men screaming into walkie-talkies, chipper early morning travelers, etc) for my 28th birthday, but I don't feel like expressing any further negativity. I'm anxious enough about returning to Seattle that it's easier to just take a Zen approach to it all.

In my waking times since arriving at this airport, I've read about Timbuktu and Patagonia in Vogue, gossip in the New York Post (why is Page Six on pages 11-12?), some fantastic Open Letters by former Czech president Vaclav Havel, and listened to some African jazz via Matos, as the sun rose pink and gold. I fantasized that I was off to another locale.

***

Aside from some hellacious cab fares due to my not-subway-friendly luggage, NYC was a lovely sojourn. Annie and I found each other pretty quick despite our phones not working, and made our way to Jersey City to stay with her awesome friends John and Beth. We hung out in the West Village and LES- piano bar, wine bar, and some burlesque at the Slipper Room for my birthday! Best stage name I've heard in a long time: Clams Casino. She did acts to Van Halen's "Jump" and Hendrix's "May This Be Love (Waterfall)" that were great. Janice de Milo did a hilarious act to one of my favorite songs, the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" I can't give away the secret, but her sense of humor in regard to the song was perfect. I met a woman taking the workshop with Jo "Boobs" (NYC's Miss Indigo), the woman's bf formerly of Seattle, and then Jo herself. Awesome! Then Annie's friend Brian, who had joined us for the show, took us around and I felt like a local. I love it that every time I go to NYC, I spend time in completely different neighborhoods.

The show got me excited to get costume-crafty...right before I left Prague, I used my limited Czech to buy some very Bohemian/sound-of-music-esque ribbon, cloth roses and yellow rhinestones with which to make a hip belt. To have success with a transaction significantly more involved than "sunkou a syr bageta, prosim" was awesome. I actually had a few moments like that in my last week- the beginnings of what felt like conversation with people. Of course, when I'm about to go...

Two blog things I want you to see:
this picture post from Christine.
My new friend Fantastikoi Hxoi's latest LP and art, available for your download, which you will not regret.

Also: what should I do with this blog, now that I'm no longer in Prague? I could let it go to the graveyard like other variations on 'Prague Rock' blogs- there are a bunch that were obv. intended to document a specific time and haven't been updated since. I have lots more Prague pictures and stories I could retroactively post. Or I could keep posting and change the title. Anybody?