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June
8, 2004: Pretty, Pretty Ring
Last
Sunday, we put a big old exclamation point on the last day of
the Georgia
Renaissance Festival. Huzzah! I do enjoy my days as Joni Minstrel,
Village Protest Singer, but I am also glad to be able to turn
my focus back to being Lindsay Smith, Prom Queen Wannabe. (Will
you believe me if I swear that I am not as out of touch with reality
as I seem?)
The
big news from the weekend, though, is this (and I'm sorry if you're
reading it here first; I tried to make sure I called everyone):
I am engaged! Derik
Rinehart asked for my hand in marriage, and I said yes, and
now I am wearing the prettiest ring ever in the world on my left
hand. I am obsessed with my ring and can't stop staring at it.
It is white gold with three oval sapphires leaning into each other
and two little diamonds underneath. I love that it's so unusual
and doesn't look like a traditional engagement ring; my boy did
a good job! My preciousssss.... Whether this momentous, grown-up
step will precipitate a decline in my musical ambitions, as some
have theorized, remains to be seen, but I feel more energized
than ever at the moment. I have a partner in all things, and I
feel like I am all the more likely to succeed by virtue of not
having to do everything alone. Just as soon as we find a house
to move into and get Derik's drums out of storage, we will continue
work on our project to take over the world, or at least our small
corner of it.
Even
though I've been busy with the Renaissance Festival and my sister's
wedding, Were You Prom Queen? has continued to gain fans.
New reviews have been posted recently in Collected
Sounds and in Skratch
Magazine. (That's two comparisons to Courtney Love now. When
I decided to use the prom queen theme, it occurred to me briefly
that that might happen, but I thought, "Nah. Musically, I
have nothing in common with Courtney Love." Shows what I
know.)
Michael
McGough, former co-worker and inspiration for the song "Mr.
McGoo," came to work to visit everyone last week, and I was
reminded again that I just have to tell this story. When I told
Michael that I'd written a song called "Mr. McGoo" but
that it wasn't really about him, he was skeptical and did not
seem eager to hear more. However, he liked the CD when he got
it and took it home to play for his wife, Courtney. He told her
that their last name was the inspiration for the song. This was
her reaction (I'm paraphrasing, as I sadly did not have a tape
recorder when he told me this at the lunch table):
"When
I was in kindergarten, they made us act out the story of the
old woman who lived in the shoe, and I had to be the old woman,
and all the other kids were my children, and they said the old
woman was mean, and they made me spank the other kids. I didn't
want to do it, and they made me. I was completely traumatized.
I hate this song!"
Awesome.
I'm
giving myself this weekend off to do nothing but whatever I feel
like doing at any given moment. Sure, it's lazy, but do keep in
mind that Saturday will be my first day off in eight weeks. I
think Derik and I are going to get caught up on our movie watching
(gotta do it now while I've still got tip money in the jar); I'm
dying to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and
Mean Girls, Derik hasn't seen Shrek II yet (I saw
it last week on the spur of the moment with Larry, who volunteers
at the opera), and we're going to see all three of the Lord
of the Rings movies (yes, again) at the Fox Theatre. I'm looking
forward to seeing them again, even though I've already seen them
so many times.
Friday
night, I went to hear the Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra perform the music from The Lord of the
Rings, with Howard Shore conducting. I've never had an experience
quite like it; it was like listening to a piece of music that's
one of my favorites but that I've never really listened to before.
They projected slides of Alan Lee illustrations during the concert,
and there was some mood lighting, but I didn't really like that
part. I wanted to concentrate on the music. I tried to figure
out whether I would have liked the music as much as I did if I
hadn't seen the movie, but it's impossible to say. The weakest
part of the concert was the music from The Return of the King,
in my opinion. We'd already heard all the main themes at that
point, and it was mostly just battle music, over and over. Then,
of course, you've got the sweet, soft happy ending music that
goes on and on and on, just as the plot of the movie does. But
I loved the rest. I actually hadn't been to the symphony in a
long time, which is no good at all. Going to see an orchestra
play will always and forever remind me of my father, who plays
cello in the Mary Washington College Community Orchestra in Fredericksburg,
and whom I still always catch myself looking for when the orchestra
begins tuning. Hearing an orchestra tune always makes me feel
excited and happy and nervous and sleepy, all at the same time,
not in my head or in my heart but in some visceral part of me
that I cannot even name. When I was a child, that sound meant
music, and it meant my father, and I still get that crazy feeling
of excitement in that moment just after the concertmaster gives
the first note, when all the instruments begin tuning at once.
As far as the performance of The Lord of the Rings goes,
I'm still not sure whether I'd call it a great concert or not.
Obviously, the music isn't designed to stand on its own; it's
designed to act as a score for a film. Still, I think some of
the themes he composed are really beautiful, and others are really
stirring. He uses all the clichés of composing for the movies,
but he uses them so well. When we're supposed to feel sentimental,
we get a solo flute, when we're supposed to be swept away by emotion,
we get all the strings playing in unison, when we're supposed
to be tense or frightened, we get relentless drums, and when we're
supposed to cry, we get a boy soprano.
I've
always been a sucker for the sound of a boy soprano. It's what
I always wished I could be and what I almost was when I was a
child. I remember once in high school, we were almost done with
classes before Christmas, the teacher was sick of dealing with
us, and she showed a video in class. The movie was The
Snowman. It was a cute, funny, animated movie about a little
boy and a snowman, and I liked it OK, but it wasn't rocking my
world or anything, and then suddenly the snowman was taking the
boy flying, and there was a lovely boy soprano voice singing,
and I started to cry. I was so mortified. The lights were off,
so everyone else in the class was passing notes, whispering, napping,
or causing trouble (and the teacher wasn't about to care), and
I was just sitting there with tears streaming down my face, praying
that nobody would look in my direction and see me getting all
emotional over a song in a cartoon movie.
Anyway,
the Lord of the Rings concert was really fun, and I'm so
glad I went. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus sang at Carnegie
Hall in New York and at Westminster Abbey in London, but the idea
that I could have spent time learning the vocal score for The
Lord of the Rings was the first time I've really regretted
having left the choir. There's no way I can judge Shore's work
by divorcing it completely from the films; I just can't do it.
In this case, my analytical skills are not as strong as my love.
Since
you've made it to the end of another entry of The Goober Diaries
(and you can always check out my LiveJournal
if you miss me when I'm gone or if you want to read the full accounts
of my recent proposal and my sister's Memorial Day weekend wedding),
I shall reward you with my two new favorite links.
First,
the Viking
Cats. Turn your speakers up for this one.
Second,
I direct your attention to the Shizzolator.
This web site will take the web site of your choice and translate
it into "Snoop Dogg." It has limitations; it can't deal
with frames or flash. Aside from that, though, we're talking hours
of fun. Some of my favorite examples:
The
"page not found" message on WeddingChannel.com:
"We're sorry, but da page yo' ass requested could not be
found, know what I'm sayin'? In a few seconds, yo' ass will be
redirected da WeddingChannel.com crib page. Or, yo' ass can click
on da 'back' button on yo' browser return da previous page, know
what I'm sayin'? If izzle crib page does not appear, click here
or use da shortcuts below visit some of izzle favorite sections."
The
Georgia Renaissance
Festival web site: "Bored wit da 21st Century? Travel
back in time 'n experience izzle daylong adventure of fun! Before
yo' ass know that shiznit yo' ass'll be caught up in da merriment
of da renaissance! Thrill da jousting knights 'n let yo' spirits
soar at da magnificent Birds of Prey Show! Feast like a king on
a massive roasted turkey leg 'n shop like a Queen in izzle sprawling
artist market n' shit. Kids of izzall ages will love da excitement
of da rides in izzle medieval amusement park, know what I'm sayin'?
Jugglers, magicians, strolling minstrels 'n action packed swordplay
await yo' ass at da Georgia Renaissance Festival!"
A
link on Microsoft.com: "More Microshizzle Informative Shiznit,
know what I'm sayin'? ..."
And,
of course, I had to check out my own web site (actually, Nancy
did it first): "Listen clips from Lindsay's new album Were
Yo' ass Prom Queen?"
Have
fun, y'all!
What’s
in my stereo at home:
What’s
in my car:
What's
in my CD player at work:
What
I'm reading:
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