If you're celebratin'...

Happy Easter from Big Miffy the Badass Bunny.

Contemplation night

Kat here.  I will tell anyone that rock + roll is my creator and savior, to put it in some terms that people understand.  This will never stop me from learning all I can from any variety of other practices, religions and belief systems, which is why I finally got around to attending the contemplation night at the local Unity church last Wednesday. 

Here are my notes:

I sat down in the sanctuary and the woman facilitating the contemplation session put on some relaxing music.  The music started out slowly and made me want to listen to some Pink Floyd, which opened an internal discussion of what music I’d play if I were facilitating a similar rock + roll contemplation session.  If you've got any suggestions, leave a comment! 

The next question my Pink Floyd thought provoked was that of drugs.  Do they have a place in contemplative rock + roll?  The reply in my soul was that contemplative rock + roll is not straight-edge, but neither does it have a high tolerance for any drug that removes one from one’s own connection to the life-saving force of rock + roll.  Drugs can connect a soul to rock + roll, but I suspect for the most part it connects to the variant of rock + roll that tears apart, the sex, drugs and rock + roll kind. I respect that, too - I'm just meant to work on the other side of the coin.  

Next, the woman lit a stick of incense and walked with it throughout the sanctuary and the altar.  It wasn’t the intense, nauseating incense of my Catholic upbringing, it was the nag champa that the Band of Heathens (and many other bands I’m sure) always lit on stage before their performances.  It was a nice reminder of the reason I was there. 

The woman opened the session and throughout, maybe every 10  minutes or so, said a few words about peace and abundance and God, but I heard rock + roll every time.  Contemplative rock + roll is aligned with universal truths, so many things about it will coincide with conventional religions.  

Being my first contemplation session, I’d not yet let my mind slip into the quietude that I one day will.  But as I sat there, I considered the monks who exist and with spend their entire lives meditating and praying with the goal of raising the consciousness of the entire earth and all mankind.  How much time could (can!) I spend contemplating rock + roll with the goal of raising the rock + roll consciousness of the planet?  

So I know that as I go forward, part of this crazy mission will be creating a quiet space for rock + roll.  Different than the traditional “If it’s too loud, you’re too old” rock + roll.  This is about getting quiet enough to access the inherent rock + roll in your soul so you can bring it out into the world.  And I do believe that requires a quiet space.  Or, earplugs in a very loud space.  Anything that lets you go into your own soul with a clear head. 

I’m planning to go back next week.  

Vintage Video Friday

Before Blake Shelton was the mouthy country judge on the Voice, he had a mullet and sang a song about a dog in heat. I know this all too well because Ol' Red was a cover song that my neighbor in Iowa was quite talented at singing because he practiced it VERY regularly. Jacob, this post is for you ;)

Sharing the Love

I love to thrift cards. I can barely remember the last time that I bought a brand-new card. Here are some of cards that I fell in love with and am sending out this week. Happy Easter!

$.10 for a still-in-the-package Papyrus card. Originally $4.95.

I love Peanuts! 

For my mom.

Generic Gary Larson to send to my brother.

WetDesert is pulling double duty today with blog link-ups. Please stop by, leave some comments and we'll be certain to respond, I promise.

Thrifty Thursdays with Anchors and Honey, formerly Lara's Vintage and the GypsyBee. What did you thrift?!?!

Linking up with  Just Dawnelle and Westover Manor. Let's be friends :)

What is Contemplative Rock + Roll?

Kat here.  The full working title is What is Contemplative Rock + Roll?: One Woman's Search to Figure Out What In the Hell She's Talking About.

I am a prophet of contemplative rock + roll.  According to Merriam Webster, a prophet is “one who utters divinely inspired revelations...one gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight.”  It’s not me, though, it’s the rock + roll working through me. 

I have known that my life’s work is to carry out a rock + roll campaign and I’ve meditated on what that could possibly mean.  In the last two years, it has become the specific crossroads where spiritual contemplation and rock + roll meet. 

I am coming to understand that I cannot wait any longer to start pursing this more actively and publicly than I have been.  I think I thought I had to understand it before I started sharing it, but when approaching mysticism, that’s probably not an effective technique.  

Contemplative rock + roll is life-saving, not life taking.  It’s not the rock + roll of sex, drugs and rock + roll, it’s not the killing kind.  Some people are on to this, but I don’t think anyone’s really talking about it - at least not with me.  I don’t think anyone’s brought the contemplation element into it as much as it is in my visions.  

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers stood on the stage of Gruene Hall a couple years ago and told a story I wish I had bootlegged about how rock + roll was the thing that kept him from turning up dead of self-destruction.  The line I remember, paraphrased, is, “And every day that I wake up, rock + roll saves my life again.”

That’s a good enough place to start this discussion. 

Hump Day Inspiration

Hot blondes

Sparkly earrings 

You can check out the links to these black and white photos on our Gorgeousness board.

The earrings are courtesy of MJ's closet :)

Good stuff

Waiting.....

I think change may be in the air. But what will the changes bring?

Waiting is the vocation of the soul. 

Waiting is the tending of the fire of faith.

Captions above are from the Wednesday, March 20 reading in Forward Day by Day.

Gruene in the Afternoon

Spent the afternoon at Gruene Hall the other day. No cover, cold beer, great tunes.

It's the oldest dance hall in Texas. All of the tables have a certain patina.

Empty when we got there.

Ted Russell Kamp playing some California Rock and Soul. We actually met Ted years ago
when we lived in IA and he played with Shooter Jennings and the .357's.

Sunday in the Shop

One of my favorite things in our shop: a vintage lucite napkin holder. Check it out here.

Vintage Video Friday

Ahhh, Dierks Bentley's first big hit.  Anybody else remember this one?  While this song was still popular, MJ and I went to see him at the First Avenue Club in Iowa City.  I think it was a Labor Day weekend, 2003? 2004?

Falling for Fridays

I'm sharing my very own new favorite drink for this Falling for Friday :)

Dill Pickle Bloody Marys

Dill pickle juice with a splash of vodka. I even added the garlic and dill from the pickles. 

Fill the glass up with Clamato. Savor every drop!

Linking up with  Just Dawnelle and Westover Manor. Let's be friends :)

Five (or rather Ten) Things

The lovely Maggie of Mad Dream Design invited us to participate in the 5 Things game. We're so happy to play along and make some new blog friends :)

1. MJ loves the water but can't swim.

2. MJ's high school graduating class had only 15 students.
Fox Valley High School in Milton, Iowa. Class of 1998.

3. MJ believes that Ben and Jerry's Phish Food is the GREATEST ice cream in the world.

4. MJ's very first concert was seeing Barbara Mandrell when she was 4 years old.

5. In the past 10 months, both Kat and MJ have both changed careers in order to focus on more authentic pursuits. This may not be news but it's incredibly important.

6. Kat and MJ are both the babies of the their families.  Kat was born in 1980 - her brother was born in 1969 and her sisters in 1968 and 1966.  This sounds impressive until you find out that MJ was born in 1979 and has four brothers born in 1964, 1962 1960, and 1958!!  High five!

7. Kat has a penchant for having her picture taken in wooden cutouts.  Many of them are available on vacations to the Gulf Coast, particularly in Port Aransas, Texas.

8. Kat loves 80s hair metal.  When I was in kindergarten in '86, my big brother was a senior in high school, and because he is the coolest person on the planet, I liked about everything he likes.  This includes, but is not limited to, Iron Maiden, RATT, Poison, Warrant, White Snake, Cinderella, Dokken, and Slaughter.  In the summer of 2010, I got to see Iron Maiden (picture above) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.  My brother saw them on the same tour where he lives in Japan, so it was kinda like we actually got to go to a show together!

9. Kat was raised on the farm in Northeast Iowa that has been in the Hrdina family since the 1880s. In fact, the new kitchen addition went up in 1911.  This is a sunrise looking over the front yard, taken in June of 2011 (one hundred year anniversary of the kitchen addition!).  And said big brother is pictured holding me for the very first time in our living room in 1980.  In case you are wondering, that same wallpaper is still up today.

10. Kat loves to drive.  19 times out of 20, I'm happier driving than riding.  My favorite thing to drive is my 2001 Ford Ranger 4x4, and my second favorite is pictured here - MJ's Monte Carlo.  I'm a restless passenger and I get nauseous if I try to read on the road.  If I'm driving, though, I'm calm.  My mind can rest and I just concentrate on the road and the scenery (for the most part).  I'm sure that may be different if I had to live my life on the road...but I'm still considering becoming a truck driver when I grow up...

Last Friday night in Austin

...outside the G&S Lounge on South First - hanging out back during the not-official, NotSXSW showcase.   That's probably a sufficient explanation...

Sunday in the Shop

Sky blue vintage sportcoat 

Stylin' lapels

Love the inside pattern of squares and circles

Gold buttons on the cuffs

Nice backside

Sleek inside pocket for a fine-lookin' man

Falling for Fridays

Amazingly gorgeous purple leaves.

Musician Leroy Powell and his gorgeous beard. MJ once spent a summer going to his shows. Sadly, he didn't fall in love with her. 

Jase Robertson of Duck Dynasty AND his gorgeous beard.
Seriously, were he and Leroy separated at birth?

I live in South Texas so I could only wear this beautiful, Aztec-print sweater
about two days a year :(

I'm intrigued by this back-bow top but could I actually lean back while wearing it?

Perfection

Linking up with  Just Dawnelle and Westover Manor. Let's be friends :)