Category: One and Done Sunday

One & Done Sunday #22

Hey. It’s One & Done Sunday. One picture, and five (if you do math creatively) links that are worth your time.

Here’s your picture.

Photo: Elizabeth Cooper

Isn’t it amazing? It is a direct result of today’s first link.

Author/blogger Roni Loren was recently sued for using a photo on her blog without permission. The fact that she credited the photographer turned out to be irrelevant, and that was news to most of us in the blogosphere. This week, Kristen Lamb rallied her WANA troops to create a safe place for bloggers to share photos for the express purpose of using them on their blogs. Check out the details here. I’m most grateful for this resource because, let’s face it: if someone sues me I can pretty much only pay them in dirty laundry and dust bunnies. That’s probably not going to be okay.

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In that realm of pictures and permissions, there’s an event that happened that I really wish I had pictures from but I don’t because I didn’t go. It was the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in Canada, honoring, among others, theater director Des McAnuff, of Tommy and Jersey Boys fame. Des has a habit of taking the majority of our show’s band away with him to play events such as these. We do the show in their absence with other talented musicians and give them a hard time when they return.

But this time they got to meet Rush and play on stage with Pete Townshend, and frankly, I’m not speaking to them anymore. Neil Peart, drummer for Rush, mentions the event in his blog post: Where Words Fail, Music Speaks.

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I love Betty Londergan. She’s a Heifer volunteer and is traversing the globe looking in on many of their projects. Heifer is an amazing organization- the real deal. They don’t give handouts; they teach people how to be self-sufficient, help their neighbors, and be responsible to the planet. Reading her blog always feeds my soul. This post is simply a collection of amazing pictures that she took in her trip to Romania: La Revedere, Romania!

While you’re there, she has a whole series of recent posts on Heifer work right here in America, in the Appalachians, and my current favorite is Bikers for Broccoli.

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Matt Lambros is a photographer in New York who has a blog solely devoted to “photographic documentation of years of decay and neglect in some of America’s greatest theaters.” His blog is called After The Final Curtain, and here is a short history and some really cool pictures of the dilapidated Shore Theater on Coney Island.

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A great post by Deborah Bryan about clearing: The Imperfect Art of Letting Go

Happy Sunday.

One & Done Sunday #21

Welcome to One & Done Sunday. One picture, and five links that are worth your time.

#5 told me recently that one day my jokes are going to come back to haunt me. I really have no idea what that means, but I’m looking forward to the day when it happens. I hope it’ll be like an acid flashback.

I read him a whole chapter in Harry Potter on the nights I’m home tuck him in. We’re on Book Three right now. He has this whole convoluted routine for how we have to share his bed when I read to him so that he can move around, but still be under the covers after I sit down. He hates to be trapped and thinks he has to make an awful lot of concessions to accommodate me– or, as he correctly specifies, my butt– so that I can sit on the bed.

He told me the other night:

If your butt was evil, it would take over the world.

I’m not entirely sure what that means either, but I suspect he’s right. I’m also not convinced that my butt isn’t evil; more will be revealed.

That also could turn out to be like an acid flashback.

None of that has anything to do with this week’s picture, which is, simply, summer in my kitchen:

 

Yeah, I totally didn’t grow any of that stuff. In fact, it’s a miracle that that basil didn’t jump right off the counter and throw itself in front of a hungry puggle.

 

Here are your links:

An interview with a Hospice volunteer: The Death Writer

I thought I had an interesting life, but this guy has me beat for sure. The blog is Hot Milk For Breakfast, a weird and unique look at Afghanistan. The Question of Why.

Because I love gospel music like I love opera, and differently from how I love heavy metal. Jamie A Hughes has a well-written article about a very inspirational couple dealing with Alzhiemer’s: I Sing Because.

 

I took a Law & the Arts class back in college, back before there was much of a digital anything. The same copyright rules still apply today; stuff’s just way easier to steal now. But you can totally get sued for using pictures without permission on your blog, even if you credit the photographer (I actually didn’t know that part). Best-selling author Roni Loren shares her experience in this must-read for anyone who posts stuff on the interwebs: Bloggers Beware.

 

Winston. He works at a call center, dealing with stupid people all day. He’s going to be pantsless one day. ESP: I’ll Sue Your Pants Off!

 

Happy Sunday.

One & Done Sunday #20

Welcome to One & Done Sunday. One picture, and five links that are worth your time.

Here’s your picture:

It’s a total geek shot of my Superstar console. The question people always asked when they saw it was, “Why does it have so many colors?”. Looking at it from this angle, it kinda looks like the venue we performed in in Berlin last year. There’s a very Euro-techno feel to it. Plus, it’s dusty.

Earlier this month, we played our final performance of Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway. It was bittersweet, as I guess these things always are. I’m better for having this opportunity to work with such talented–and nice, being that they’re largely Canadian and if they’re not nice enough they get kicked out of their country– people.

There was a party afterwards. I’m not big on parties and went to a yoga class instead, planning to swing by the party on my way home.

When I walked into the locker room it was nearly empty because I was running late and made it just in time. Something caught my eye: a prosthetic full leg, from just below the hip, on the floor against the wall.

Because the natural state of my mind is to be small and boxy, I couldn’t imagine anyone who actually needed that prosthetic would be down in the hot room to do yoga. My first thought was that it was some sort of prop, a possibility since this midtown yoga studio caters to a lot of performers.

They say yoga expands your mind.

I went downstairs and set up my mat. I looked to the right of me and there was the woman to whom the prosthetic belonged. She was tall, strong, and determined and there to do Bikram. I was humbled and inspired. I could not in good conscience sit out of a single pose that class.

It was an immediate and complete shift in my perspective.

I wished that I felt confident enough to speak to her after class, but I didn’t. I didn’t have confidence in finding the words to convey what I felt without those words being condescending, insensitive, or disrespectful. But in my eyes she was a goddamn rock star.

I don’t know if I’ll see her again or not, but the memory remains. I’m grateful for it.

The next day when I was extra sore from the extra effort I put out in that class, I thought of that badass woman and smiled.

Namasté.

Here are your links:

I just came across this post this morning and it filled my soul. Not much makes me happier than when one of my kids likes my music (and props to this kid for being a RUSH fan!): Pretty Girls Make Gravy: The Day She Discovered Led Zeppelin.

When your kid has to write an apology letter on the last day of school. Sh*t my 6-year-old-says: Apology Letter

Maybe some are staged, but I prefer to believe they’re not. 21 Pictures that will restore your faith in humanity

Get schooled on heavy metal: LA Weekly (thanks Deathrow Dan for the link).

This entire blog is worth reading, so I’m linking to the home page: An Athlete’s Journey Through Breast Cancer

Happy Sunday.