Step away from the Curtain!

I am currently living in a totally pleasant sublet in my favorite/preferred neighborhood of Greenpoint-Near-Franklin, however my room is behind a curtain.

I am the Wizard of Oz.

me and my roommate, just relaxin'

Give me a call if you need courage, a brain or a heart or whatever!

Forces of the internet

Hi! I live in Brooklyn.

So Miss Roz is blogging (and let us all congratulate her for getting selected to go to something at some Doctorly Iowa Writers Workshop conference thing for her doctor poems - which I really like so you should read them) -- and I just saw that other poet friend's got a poem up in the Washington Post (the newspaper of the town where my kid sister - who may be my biggest internet fan and student - lives...about a 5 minute walk from where MARVIN GAYE went to high school) --- what does it all mean?

I think it means the forces of the internet are beckoning me back to the blog. Hello, world! and hello words. Clackety clack.

I tried to constrain this a bit to being "about" something -- but until I figure out what that something is, I'm just gonna tell you 3 folks who read this how I'm doing and what I've been doing.

I'm also keeping a daily one page PAPER journal that I got for Christmas - I try to write one sentence at least in it every day (so far I've been writing in it with a pen that MY FAVORITE BAPTIST CHURCH gave me ). Oh the discipline. Come to think of it i need to write about yesterday.

Let's get interesting

Hi guys, it's me.

I've been a little busy and a little harried for the past month or so, but that's not to say I don't like you! I've really been thinking about what I want to do for this blog and how I want to use it to oh, I don't know, help me help myself and help whoever needs help.

Help help help.

I do not want this to be a business only blog, but i like smushing it into things - we all ahve a platform, right?

I have an amazing gig right now at the Majora Carter Group doing new media strategy and development. Words cannot express. I get to do branding work AND potentially small-city online organizing. DREAM. Also, CHALLENGE beyond measure b/c it is so dreamy.

I've been really looking within and without at ways to really set up this business online in a way that makes them seem as amazing as they are in real life! I tell you it is crazy - I've been working with them, and they're actually better offline than they *seem* like online (and they seem pretty typically great anyway, in that TED speaker kind of way). How many times is the opposite true -- i.e. either brands/businesses are LAME IRL but seem so great online...or, they seem great enough offline and online you discover they have a cringe-inducing personality.

MCG is exactly what you'd hope it would be - vulnerable, brazen, constantly learning and changing, vibrant, diverse, empowering, creative, sensitive, practical, real and unpretentious. Also, the curtains are really pretty. But these qualities aren't coming through online as much as I want it to (as much as they really should). Future clients must know! When there can be some real shysters who know how to slap together an ad-hoc branding campaign that makes them "seem" amazing, MCG is amazing and it's work is even more so. So, it will soon have an online presence worthy of the group's pioneering presence in the Main Street environmentalism movement (to coin a phrase)....if I have anything to do with it, and I do!

I've just been looking into how to really do it right. How to do right by MCG and by the communities that have no training in the community tools and organizing and facilitating and commerce-supporting platforms that are present on the interwebs. I think of this and my mind explodes with joy at the possibility of making real the online community and infrastructure - similar to what humidbeings and all those in that galaxy are up to....but everywhere! Not just in San Francisco and New York. In Elizabeth City, North Carolina. In Easton, PA! In Kansas City In ST LOUIS! (ps Alderman French is totally giving us all a head start there guys)!

And it's so overwhelming that I sortof want to sell myself as a mail order bride right now (the glamorous alternative would be to marry a prince who would discourage my pursuit of anything but expert needlepointing and glamorousness). But this is not the answer.

I've turned to friend of a friend (i.e. trust!) Armano, whose advice-storytelling goes down easy, and to Oliver Blanchard, who is absolutely terrifying and social media career existential crisis-inducing, but sortof in the way that the ropes course at 6th grade camp was terrifying...get through it and you're out of the awkward phase, and on to something more comfortable. He keeps it real and I can appreciate. I'm reacquainting with other trusteds.

All this browsing and research has helped me figure out where I'm going with MRVG for now - I want to show that awkward phase in between Social Media rookie to actual director-level quality non-charlatan real deal-type person. Aspirational! Also hard to find. You either get experts yelling at charlatans and telling them not to be so obnoxious...or you get charlatans yelling at everything that they ARE experts. It's a little bit looking glass.

I want to show (maybe you, maybe my grandkids down the line) those "lost" kind of years in between being young and free and being an established elder statesman. I'm fascintated by these years.

I am IN these years.

Its not quite a not-a-girl,-not-yet-a-woman-type scenario, but it's approaching that. I want to become better at social media. I want to do it for brands. I want to do it for CITIES. (even more difficult, i want/have to advocate for cities i no longer live in, nor am I close to them. oh the questions you'll ask that begin with HOW.) I want to have a career. I'm approaching all these personal platformy things.

Anyway, I'm here I'm real, I know some things about things, and I'm trying to learn more. I love using metaphors to tie the room together, but in the interest of your cheese factor-o-meter, let's just say that a river (maybe similar to that big one found in that big valley) runs through everything - and it's where the water gets dirty that things get interesting. So...let's get interesting.

South Bronx

Briefly checking in from work at The Majora Carter Group - the sun is shining and I'm near an industrialized riverfront! The Bronx and the STL - well there may be ties that bind (at least in my mind). So sure, things have been shaking up since I up and moved to New York (earlier than I thought I would be, but opportunity came knocking), and sure I'm feeling that lovely combination of energized and slightly freaked out...but the general vibe is one of the muses returning, to the Mississippi River Valley Girl and to just life in general.

More later. And this time I mean it.

My Great Aunt removed once or twice-ish was awesome

So on a whim I just started a little genealogy project on Flickr in honor of visiting the place where I'm pretty sure my grandparents fell in love.

And I found this. (Edna Purviance! I like her makeup, it's daring and bold.)

Hi, so yeah, that is Charlie Chaplin totally adorabling all over someone I'm related to.

This Just In: Greenbriar Estates is NOT South County (also it is on fire)

St. Louis remains St. Louis

Dispatches from my Mom

"Greenbriar Estates on fire. News says its in South County. The website is overloaded, not with people concerned about the house fire, but with irate calls screaming that, "This is NOT South County! " hysterical yes, but I must admit it is the first thing i thought of too!"

Twitter

You think twitter might save journalism b/c now no one bothers to blog anymore?

Clap your hands

Remember how stressed out you got during that scene in Peter Pan (I think) when all the fairies were dying?! And then Pete saunters in and is all "just clap your hands and say you believe in fairies!" and it was all cool again? Who would not want to be that guy!? What a bad ass. Or at least be someone who's a part of starting the chorus of hand clapping and believing in fairies hollerin'. Are you picking up this sophisticated metaphor?

When I think about the state of cities like St. Louis, I get all questiony! Ack! I have so many questions! No one can answer them. Seriously, I cannot find answers. So I will eventually have to answer them myself.

Do I know how?
**especially since I no longer live in St. Louis?**

Nope. But I'll figure something out.

David Letterman and Alicia Keys

Since I have still not decided upon divorcing my new media marketing/urban planning blog from my self-self blog, indulge me. Consider these windows into the inner-workings of the lori! They're like blog outtakes. AND now I will no longer make excuses for liking the stuff i like and reading the stuff i read and watching the stuff I watch. *

So, these are two couples (one both unlikely, odd and not-actually-a-couple-couple but still) that will make you love everything.

Ed & Ginny!
(obsessed with their sultry georgia wedding WHOA)


and Dave & Alicia
(Were you ever...lonely? hehe dave)



I would love to have a Kathy Griffin esque dinner with these people and ask them many questions about how they are so awesome.

*for more stuff i like, TUMBLR -- it's blowing up like, every day

conviction, table of everybody

I miss blogging, y'all.

Do you think it would be possible to create a site that effectively gives a city infrastructure where it does not have it? A sortof "if you build (online) it they will come" philosophy? Is Outsite.in already doing this? What of cities, small and large, who don't have Four Square or the locals who even care about exploring, but would like a bus system? Could you integrate some sortof CityApp with an Urban Planning firm on execution? (omg this would combine everything i ever loved ...well only if someone wrote a song about it, too) Could it be scalable to other smaller/less infrastructured cities (memphis, detroit, cincinnati)? And I'm not talking like, autocad model lets look at it an dream. Something alive! Something useful. Pre-reality stuff. Hm. I always look at online communications like a small town (i'm not the first, i believe I got the idea from gonzo mkting - lawd i felt like such a bad-ass reading that book on my marathon french speaking,teaching/self study extravaganza of 06-07...masters degree in school of hard-ish knocks and improrevising) so ...how to extrapolate that out...?

I have been wondering about this. I feel as though it may be my destiny to answer these questions. This of course fits in with my destiny that I've had to somewhat (impro)revise -- improrevise! That's a word made by me, for me -- that involves technology, cities, St. Louis and other fancier-schmancier cities. All of which I am embracing at once, though at times...remotely. (here's looking at you, St. Louis) In the meantime I am moving *back* to Brooklyn (yay!) to return to my fighting quaker (code for UPENN friends!) bretheren. Hey-o!

I feel presumptuous to talk of things like I'm anything but a dreamer, but as the magical and wonderful Ben Zander says, "one of characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the peaople he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming... imagine if martin luther king* said 'I have a dream! ... of course I'm not sure they'll be up to it!"So I present you with some conviction, take it or leave it. It is genuine. We will see where it leads.


*not implying that I am as cool as MLK, & though such thoughts did not stop beyonce (upgradeU)...they will stop me...i am humbled!

I mad men'd myself!

It was awesome.


and my sister madmen'd herself!




I know, a little random. In other news, I'm feeling the need to switch to tumblr for this blog. I may sleep on it. Many things to update.

I took pictures on the way to work today! It felt kinda great, though I was for sure in a hurry.

On being a sponge

I can't quite get a handle on why I've been rolling my eyes so much lately. There's so much going on in this town, why don't I find that at all energizing?! I'm at least slowly learning new things (and learning of new things to be learned, possibly elsewhere) at work, too. More or less. I don't know. Compartmentalize, Lori. Maybe I need an attitude adjustment.

Ugh, what a terrible voiceover for this movie of my life. Cue record scratch sound.

Anyway, I was talking to my sister last night (during which she recited for me the first 5 chapters of these BRILLIANT Twilight series recaps --ladies, give this link to the man, or just plain friend, in your life who doesn't want to read all 6 billion fursploding sparkly vampire family angsty pages Twilight-- my sister's read all of the books, I got through the first one...though now that I know there is apparently werewolf TYPOGRAPHY, I might have to indulge) -- so anyway, I'm talking to the sister and she's all, you never take pictures anymore, and I'm like i know, its a crazy weird symptom, i have never not liked taking pictures. And she's like I still check your flickr every day in the hopes that it will once again become awesome.

Clunk. It's not just the internet feeds that have lost their pizzazz, either! arg!

I don't know what to do! I try. I will keep trying. There must be some sort of perspective I'm not peering from that's making me extra angsty and also extremely boring. I used to be a total sponge, soaking up my favorite weird parts of whatever with my notepad and camera, using it to fuel my work in business and community organizing and writing and dancing and art appreciating...but now - thud...clunkclunkclunk. I don't even have the energy to fake it till I make it here anymore.

So, confessional over. I will fake it. And I will make it. Altogether now.

I'm beginning a 12 week study-a-go-go for some standardized tests...if you've read this blog (which probably means we're friends), the gradutat work pursuit will feel like a natural progression. I hope I get to teach! I was once pretty great at studying, so we'll see how this pans out. It's nice to have goals! I'm also pretty stoked for the essays both on the test and on the applications (which I actually have to save up for, applying to schools costs hundreds of dollars...wtf) b/c dang.

In other news, I'm going to be learning Spanish - 3 for 1! (would you like to teach me?)- so I can go all Enrique Penelosa (roll call - Van Jones and Majora Carter) on you.

Study with me.

Life in Chicago

Well it's not like I have just been sitting around here, folks! And you know I'm working on some (outside-of-work-work) work projects (that I love!) when I take a study break to write here.

In a vague/vain attempt to fit in here or find a niche, I have:

• joined and then reluctantly un-joined a gospel choir (only b/c of scheduling! I will rejoin in a month, i love being a methodist - don't get creeped out, i could care less if you worship cheddar cheese squares every Sunday, I'm just saying. Methodists. It works for me. I still would kill to start an acapella quartet or duo...y'know in my free time)
• joined a Go-Go dancing group
• took up flamenco
• re-launched guitar lessons
• bangs
  
• lived in Lincoln Park for 3 weeks, Logan square for 5 months, and now will be in Andersonville (IT IS THE CUTEST) until the winds finally blow me out of this town
• been to like all the record stores ever and they're weird (and i haven't found one where they have turntables so you can listen to the records before you buy them WTF)
  
• While i lived in Logan Square, got to know the owner at Rosa's and he is great and a total bad-ass italian conga player
  
• soul night at The Hideout and Dannys = :/ (you really can tell folks who didn't grow up with the music, they dance completely wrong...personal opinion, and I'm allowed it)
• decided where/whats as far as graduate school goes...GRE and GMAT here i come
  
• I saw Rahm Emanuel in a coffee shop
• Met some Dap Kings (who bought ME a drink! hehe!) and one Shay J, and all i have to show for it is a pencil drawing of the Hollywood Bowl. In other words, all i have to show is amazing. All I have to remember is amazing-er.
  

Only thing left on my list here really is to figure out what the deal is with the Numero Group.

And I'm looking forward to Whuffaoke coming to town next Thursday! We will sing.

Chicago on the whole is not singing to me. But I'm trying to focus on listening, b/c maybe it's a song I've never heard, and it has to grow on me. The effort of really owning a city and all it has to offer may be too much to ask from me for this town. I sound so grouchy! I'm keeping an open mind, especially since the weather stays over 55 degrees most days now. That makes it easier. I really have had fun. Just not fun owed to Chicago being Chicago necessarily. Maybe that's a detriment of a Big Town, and neighborhoods that would rather be a part of Chicago than a part of themselves. THEORIES! I got'em.

To be fair to Chicago, I also got to spend some seriously magical QT with some friends of mine who come to town (as my grandma Nannie, who used to live more or less in Englewood for like 1 year in 1939 or something, says - "Oh Chicago ...it's really a better place to visit") ...from varied locales - St. Louis to DC to Brooklyn ....will you be NEXT to spend 7 hours drinking beer and dancing with/for me?

B/c that is **my** regional specialty and it is what we would do if you came to visit.

also, MAJORA CARTER, please recognize

DING DING!

This is amazing.

ben at his own grave

"this is probably pretty trippy for you, Ben"
- H. Alan Scott

My Trip To Philly

well, part of it.

Lori & Scott present: a Ben Franklin History Moment from lori white on Vimeo.

FYI

I saw that y'all were searching for some daptone blogspot situations - and while you can find really great updates on daptonerecords.com , there's also
http://naomisheltonandthegospelqueens.blogspot.com/
and http://sharonjonesandthedapkings.blogspot.com/

You get the format. Now go get some records!

St. Patrick's Day

i spend many many hours just kindof meandering and sometimes things get pretty. (pretty cold, but also pretty)

Taking myself seriously

I'm at the Atlas Cafe (best turkey sandwich i have EVER EATEN EVEReverever) attempting to work, but wanted to touch base briefly.

Still don't quite have internet connection at apartment (working on it).

I was taking a Twitter work hiatus today when I was struck be@benjaminreese's tweet

"Okay, so I was up all night working on concepts and proposals with @heynathan @crushlovely - sorry for being out of the loop. #buriedinwork"

and I'm not gonna lie (and I told him myself) I was JEALOUS.

Jealous in a nice, thought-provoking way, though (thanks, ben - a wake up call of shoulda had a v8 proportions!). Realizing that taking yourself seriously and actually making sh*t happen is not from without. as a wise man once said, the magic is in you.

Which of course means I have to take up my pal on that $1 bet to write a song or write a story (the song one's on ME and I will win this dollar).

Digressing. I *love* St. Louis and my mississippi river valley b/c being there, DOING there always felt so god damn purposeful. (Cementland dances a soft-shoe in my waking dreams) Sure, I live, working for a batch of former i-bankers, in a town that is more or less "complete" to me -- at least in terms of having a working eco-system (and a job market, touche ok? touCHE). I like that, but what I miss is that blank slate St. Louis had. That NOLA has. Memphis is having a startup weekend starting tomorrow. Ah! All I want is to get enough experience and money and whatever that X factor is that no one probably figures out ever except maybe Paul McCartney and return from this exile. arg!

On that note though, I return to my concepts, to my proposals, to blogging about neighborhoods and 2.whatevers, and the interviews! oh the interviews! unwilling to insidiously self-edit and apply ROI to my own frickin' life. To my LIFE! I could go on and I should and I will, but I'm returning briefly to the bread and butter, bringing home the bacon (2 for one last night at Jewel BTW) and frying it up in the pan. (and as my mom suggested, we'll take out that part about how that shows that you're really a man -- or maybe we'll leave it in. Or maybe the judester just made that up. Either ways, it all works, really.)

I can't help but think I may be stealing a little bit of magical inspiration-thunder from my pal Blythe, whose birthday is today and whose blog is private (boo), and who (in a wonderful festschrift-esque letter to me before I left for europe that was well, Pretty Much Amazing) once advised me to be my own doppelganger. I'm trying Blythe! Even in Chicago.

Magic feathers!

I *AM* able to briefly and slightly clandestinely keep my tumblr up to date. Check there for the baby seeds of this blog - follow me, heart me, I'm a pinball wizard and there is no twist. I really love my tumblr and will show it to my sons and daughters when they're 26. If you like this blog-extendo version, you'll like you some Lolololori tumblr. Just FYI!!!

Sister Synergy

Look where Meredith was last night!











We tend to use touring bands as a means of communication. So much better than postcards!

Reculturing

Online citizen journalists are on the front lines of reculturing forgotten cities like StL, Detroit, (Memphis, NoLa...you know I was going there) etc...so much in the same way we all became obsessed with the finer nuances of Never Gonna Give you Up....so can we come to realize that Rock and Roll was born in st. louis. Ike Turner AND Chuck Berry. !

Wherefore and whence cometh? Well, a lot of time on the bus. Also, a friend of mine wanted to have a St. Louis themed party and claimed (though he didn't really mean it, he was just being thought-provoking, I'm sure - bless him for living in Chicago and being a St. Louisan) that St. Louis didn't have commoditizable culture. I disagree, but it's time to think about it a little more, eh? And come up with some good ones, b/c they're there. In a real-life and online world of sharable objects, what does st. louis have to share? Isn't that what the web's about --- crystalizing experience into awesome little sharable  nuggets so we all feel that Vonnegutian solitary-beam-of-light humanity (that was so amazingly portrayed in the NEW STAR TREK-don't -get-me-started-it-was-awesome*)? 

*actually do get me started I could talk about it for hours

There are less interesteing sharable nuggets than rock and roll saw it's genesis because of your city's culture...("Chuck! It's your cousin, Marvin! Marvin Berry!")...and no culture's dead when there's someone with a blog (navel gaze! sorry) to give a crap.  Share that nugget.  Reculture our city, life's just one big theme party anyway.

Instrument Time

Christmas Instrument Time at The White House.

Gotta love that YouTube nostalgia.


I'm home in St. Louis for the weekend, and I've gotta catch the bus back to frosty Chicago "Just wait for the summer, there are SOOO many festivals" Illinois in a couple hours. It's annoying. The White Sisters and company will hopefully be returning to St. Louis for a few nights in June, so stay tuned.

Lovers and Fighters

St. Louisans!



I totally love the way Michael says New Orleans. :)

SaveDaptone.com

SaveDaptone.com

I made it. I did it. It worked. (mostly thanks to facebook...and the kindness of strangers with good taste - some combo!) It was so awesome to see that whole "the internet brings us closer to the better parts of community rather, not further" principle play out so beautifully and for such a good reason. Way to rally, everyone! 

Secret is out! 

Wanna know more? I'll tell ya. Soon.

Climate

I don't like the weather here. 

Lori Confessional, Re: CHICAGO

Some of you will be getting this letter, but in case you did not, here it is! 

Hi! Lori here. 

So ok, Whether you know my favorite cheese and my favorite Beatle (Tomme de Savoie and Paul, respectively), or whether you've just figured out that my hair is brown, I wanted to be clear. I have moved to Chicago. More precisely, I've moved to Chicago because I'm pursing a pretty intriguing career opportunity at a small tech startup just about 6 blocks up the street from Threadless.com. Cool, huh? It's called Perkspot.com. 

Yes. I know these big ol' lumped together emails can seem impersonal, so if I haven't spoken to you in a bit, feel free (actually please do) contact me via phone, email, postcard ... I'd love to tell you, in that long-winded, parenthetical and personal way I have of telling things (case in point : this email), all about how and why I ended up here. (short story: on a plane from NYC and for a job after being laid off in December by Moosylvania Marketing, respectively) 

Worse things have befallen a young lady than a new job in a new town, though at times I really do feel bereft for having to leave St. Louis.  But I'm comforted knowing that helping myself is helping St. Louis (and if you're from St. Louis, or anywhere for that matter, and find yourself needing help - holler! lori.e.white@gmail). But I'm up to some good things here. 

Anyway, I'll be posting updates here on MRVG and pictures of my beloved Flickr, both which, like myself,  may go through a slight existential crisis, but not to worry, you will like it and all the nuggets you've come to know (in both the blog and the Lori) won't be much different. They'll just be wearing more layers in wintertime, b/c frankly, it is way colder here than anywhere I have ever been ever. Seriously, ever. I think my corneas froze once.

That being said,  I welcome your hellos, and most importantly (to me) look forward to your thoughts on my thoughts on the old blog which will be "eloquently" translating the transplant of one Mississippi River Valley Girl to the fertile technology corridors of the Great-Lake(s)-that-pretty-much-look-like-an-ocean. 

Come visit, say hello, scold me for leaving, congratulate me for breaking free, express your indifference, poke me on the facebook, & email me for my address if you care to send any toasted ravioli.

Repping the 314ever,

Lori

And so I'll leave you (for now) with a slideshow of my stl pictures (oh there are plenty, and there will certainly be plenty more...though I'm really going to try to take pictures of Chicago as lovingly as I did of St. Louis...a challenge!)

peace out.

Coffee commute

Man! I would consider taking the midnight train to get to this. 

From the urban studio cafe, whose fuscia and marigold paintjob I miss...

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE URBAN STUDIO CAFE... THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 14!!!

Hello, friends! We know you are anxiously awaiting the grand opening of the Urban Studio Cafe, but in order for this to happen, we need YOUR help! 

We are currently in the finalist round of THE LARGEST SOCIAL ENTERPRISE COMPETITION IN THE WORLD, the S.E.I.C.  If we win, we will receive enough operating capital to open our doors. However, some of the judges are concerned that not enough people would be willing to come to a cafe in Old North St. Louis. 

Hogwash!!

We know that if we build it, you will come, but we must convince these judges. So here's the plan.  We are having a photo shoot on Saturday, March 14 from 10 am to noon. Stop by for a few minutes, get your picture taken and be a part of our ad campaign that says YES! I DO LIVE/VISIT/WORK IN OLD NORTH AND I LOVE COFFEE/TEA/HOT COCOA!!!

Thanks!!! We can't wait to see you on Saturday!!!

(Contact Claire Wolff at claireawolff@gmail.com for any questions)

hi, phil. 

I actually had a great time at the Urban Studio cafe a year ago when I first met four-eyes up there. 

I guess it's appropriate that an internet blip from a fellow KA winner would remind me that I miss writing and oughta get back to it (first step - resolve shared/stolen/broken internet problem at apartment!) even though I live in Chicago, & thus have a radically and ridiculously altered worldview. 

The move has shaken up some loose things, rearranging them in an intriguingly weird, but useful way.  I *think.* We'll see. You can take the girl out of the mississippi river valley, but you can't take the MRV out of the girl! Proverbial.

Daptone Studios Broken Into

Hi. I know I've been pretty MIA lately, lot of stuff going on. I will fill you in, I promise, as things settle. But I am not important now. 

Daptone Records was broken into! 

This is NOT COOL. 

I don't mean to wax poetic here, but Daptone records is more than a record label/studio, it's approximates my favorite kind of community - the kind that does their thing, and to hell with the rest. They're a cultural model ok, so don't get me started. And I'm so flustered, it's making ME inarticulate.   

I know times are tough, and we're all feeling cold, Februaried and depressed,  but out of adversity comes opportunity -- to save Daptone! Charity concerts, whatever -- if you like things and people with SOUL, you know what to do. If there ever was a cause that encapsulated every other cause I stand behind, well there ya go...

Read more below (and set up some RSS feeds on nyc craigslist, ebay, etc... to make sure none of their stuff slips through) 

Sigh. 

"Friends and associates,

As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged. It is going to take us a while to go through everything and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints so we can only guess what’s missing from some mic drawers and cabinets.
And, no, we did not have insurance. We had been shopping around with different companies earlier this month but had not signed a check, so nothing was insured. We are working on replacing the gate in front, installing an alarm system, and getting insurance, but it is President’s day so it’s not going as quickly as we would have liked.
Nydia’s computer was stolen (which wasn’t backed up) and the modems/ phone system was ripped out, so we’ll be relatively out of commission for a few days.

I would like to ask for everyone’s help first in keeping an eye out for all of our stuff showing up on ebay/craigslist/local music shops, and secondly (and more realistically) keeping an eye out for good deals on headphones, mics, pre-amps, etc. I could really use a heads up on any kind of studio package for sale or studio equipment to be possibly bought or borrowed as soon as possible. We have a session scheduled for Friday to lay down some music for (I know this sounds
surreal) Rod Stewart, and I’m going to have to get the studio running by then. I know I’m going to need to find headphones, cables, mics, and pre-amps by then. I’m not sure what else yet.

Upon first glance we are definitely missing:
Fender Super Guitar Amp in case
Fender Deluxe Guitar Amp
A whole bunch of headphones and wires
Nydia’s HP laptop computer
One Desktop MacIntosh Computer
One Purple Audio API style lunchbox with
four Purple Audio Biz mic pre-amps
2 Yamaha NS10 monitors
Vintage Harmony Rocket Guitar
One steel string acoustic guitar
Martin Tenor sax in a gig bag
Technics 1200 turntable
Ion USB turntable
Teac Receiver/stereo amp
Sony dual deck CD burner/player
All of our modem/phone system stuff was ripped out and taken.
A whole bunch of condensor and dynamic microphones (I still need to
figure out exactly what’s missing)
The power supply for my Trident console was tossed and the board was
moved (probably not gently) so the status of that is still questionable.
A baldwin organ was tossed and is probably broken.
Lacie External hard drive

Over the next few days, as we sort out the rubble, we are going to
figure out what else we lost.

We are putting in a roll down front gate, alarm system, and finally
getting our insurance happening this week. We are also going to hire
a security guard to watch the house for tonight as the cops and alarm
guy seemed pretty confident that they will be back with a truck now
that they’ve seen what’s in here.

Thanks for keeping eyes open for us. AND PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE
ALONG TO ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP US.

Thankfully, we all still have our health, ambition, tape machines, and
sense of humor in tact. You can slow us down, but you can’t stop
us. Sleep well knowing we here at Daptone will continue to…

Keep putting Soul up,

Gabriel Roth

P.S. On a lighter note, it seems like the burglars did drop a few
items in order to lift Alex’s old safe out of here, which was VERY
heavy, VERY unwieldy, and also VERY EMPTY!"

If you have any info to help, try contacting Daptone.

Magical Missouri

I TOLD the band Missourians liked to dance.

I'm number one.

Guess I'd better keep up the blog if I expect to keep my number one position (much love to Lori White, Inspirtational Speaker, Singer Humorist...I seriously have GOT to catch one of your shows soon.) I've got a little different perspective happening of late, may end up rather interesting.

Plenty going on as I find myself far far from the Mississippi river valley, sigh.
Updates soon as something update-worthy happens!

Until then, there's always twitter.

I see America

This picture makes me so happy

Fresh Paint was powerfully awesome.

Are you there Jane Jacobs?

It's me, Lori.I'm not usually one to lament, and maybe it's the full moon... but all these pictures of the old stl riverfront/french quarter (as much as the Arch is pretty much amazing) makes me think of singing a different tune for just a little bit. Look at all the places you could walk!

hat tip to dotage

PubDef on twitter

Why are more people not following him?
His live-tweeting of the alderman meeting going on RIGHT NOW is pretty much amazing.



May be preaching to the choir here, but give him a look on the Twitter, and go to pubdef.net if you haven't already.

50 people, 1 question

By the end of today...


Fifty People, One Question: New Orleans from Benjamin Reece on Vimeo.

ht blake and voodooventures

Good song

powered by Splicd.com

Not the kind I usually like best, but today I like it.

Interviews comin' up

So I've always been really into (in case you haven't noticed...ahem) the mythical, imminent convergence of the great cities along the mississippi into a "mega region." It's gonna happen in the next 5 years, just wait.

So, now I get to talk to people about it. This is truly wonderful. First up, the venerable Chris Schultz of New Orleans' Voodoo Ventures. He recently posted about a tipping point that's been happening in Louisiana ...

I was having the conversation on Friday night about if we are getting close to a tipping point here in New Orleans and in Louisiana with regards to technology and startup culture. As I’ve been talking about for a while, we need an ecosystem. Entrepreneurs need to know one-another and they need to know whats going on. We need organizations and a government that support startups. Its happening right now.

Don't ya think that's interesting? I'll be sending him questions soon (and posting them soon-ish), so if you've got some questions about startups, technology, social media, gumbo or humidity (or perhaps you'd like to discuss the better merits of dixieland trombone, or the best way to have a crawfish boil...or maybe you'd like to ask him just what it DOES mean to miss new orleans.) ...he may have some insight for ya.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing different kinds of people hang out in real life, thus my enthusiasm for barcamps, coworking, and bar-hopping -- reminds me...were you at the record spin? b/c yeah, it was like that, so maybe you should've COME! ---so hey, the time is now for this site to be a place for me to bring all the people that I think should meet -- in REAL life -- to meet in the almost real life of the Mississippi River Valley Girl blog.

I've emailed Dick Fleming of the The St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association (RCGA)-- so here's hoping he takes a break from his busy remarkably connecting and pod-casting schedule to answer some questions, too.

Stay posted. Send questions! Send suggestions. It's Fine in '09!

Top 5 People who have changed my life through dance

So for a while there I was in a musical (High Fidelity, the musical, to be exact), and I blogged about it. In an effort to share all that subjective goodness, I'm going to re-post some of those old posts here. Just b/c I read them recently, and hey, they're relevant. Be warned. It's youtube time.

Straight from June 21st, 2008...the Top 5 People who have changed my life through Dance

…in no particular order.

1. Paula Abdul


2. Robin Berger of Leaping Lizards Dance Studio

3. Britney Spears
/>
ps it is a BLESSING that such as site as The Briney Vault exists.

4. Fatima Robinson (choreographer of Dreamgirls)


5. Frankie Manning (old school lindy hopper from the 30’s I met when I was 16 at the CASA LOMA BALLROOM)


also...



DUH.

Don't get me started, there's more youtube out there. I will refrain.

Petition Will Ask City to Cede Land for Homeless Camp

From the RFT -- St. Louis - Stlog - Petition Will Ask City to Cede Land for Homeless Camp

photo c/o The Riverfront Times STLog

Adding flame to the (inside my head) fire that St. Louis is really like the Village in the 80's. Doubt me? Check in to the film 200 Cigarettes (especially when they're "past avenue B") and/or the part of RENT where everyone's protesting to keep "Tent City" ... indulge me briefly.

Benny, that attitude toward the homeless is exactly what
Maureen is protesting. Maureen is protesting losing her
performance space, not my attitude.
           
CIose-up: Benjamin Coffin III.
Our ex-roommate who married Allison Grey
of the Westport Greys. His father-in-law bought
severaI buildings on the block and a nearby vacant Iot,
home to Tent City.

I'm not a RENT head, and I'm not trying to torture you via outdated musical theatre and odd parallel worlds...but think about this. Substitute some words and what have you got? If you're a friend or a rando reader (which means you're a friend, sorta!)...let me know what you think. Blythe? Weigh in! Is STL just NYC but 25 years ago? What's that mean?

Also like, check old newspapers about NYC in the 80s (when it was "scary") and valid sources and whatnot b/c that's *maybe* better than a movie only you and your High School friends watch and a musical.

I'm right, though.

iTap in the Gumbo Flats*

500-beer bar coming to Chesterfield Valley | Off the Menu | STLtoday:

"Just got a very interesting note from the PR person for Brad Lobdell, who intends to open a bar called the International Tap House at the corner of Edison and Long roads in the Chesterfield Valley by the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.

Some tidbits about the place:
# Serves no food, but patrons can order from three other menus from nearby restaurants.
# Serves every beer in its proper glass (flute, tulip, pint, mug, pilsner, etc.)
# Non-smoking.
# Drink-in or carryout.
# 40 of the 500 beers are on draught.
# The place will go by iTap for short.

More as I learn it."

Oh, now that doesn't sound obnoxious AT ALL.

EDIT July 19th, 2009: Hey, if you live in Chesterfield, you should of course go to iTap! Business is good when business is business. I just wish I could hear about businesses like these opening up in lovely, walk-to-it-able downtown St. Louis neighborhoods. That's all.

*more on the gumbo flats

Printer's Row

I remember one of the things I loved in Philly was that the districts/rows were actually districts...i.e. fabric row actually had loads of awesome mom&pop fabric stores (and I could walk to them/publicly transport myself to them)...now, fabric row i remember in particular --- probably because it contributed to my She-Ra costume and was just south of South street and just north of South Philly (& the awesome italian market).

Which is why I sortof love that Cherokee street is becoming Printers Row. It's charming, it's old school, and I like it. Imagine every old business district in town having a commerce niche. IMAGINE IT! It will be great. Imagine the college kids taking the bus to this row or that row to shop b/c it's clear, and they know what they'll find there and might even wander the neighborhood and buy more things...not like it's never happened. Never in my wildest would i have thought, hey, printing presses will be the start. But life is strange sometimes.

Just found out about Sleepy Kitty (moved on down from Chicago to better weather and better people...oh snap!) via SauceMag's "Sip of the Hip" --- hoping this type of commerce never ever reaches critical mass.

St. Louis - A Place for Entrepreurs and Investors

Hm.


St. Louis - A Place for Entrepreurs and Investors* from lori white on Vimeo.

Made by Invest Midwest, and found (along with a long list of Venture Capital firms in St. Louis ...actually they're mostly in Clayton... via the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association. So many old white guy networks, SO LITTLE INTERNET!)

UPDATE: The whole video's up. If you can sit through it.

“The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.” -James Brown

On that note, come on by The Royale tomorrow night 7pm-10pm and say hello.
Seriously! My lovely sister and I will be spinning records and WE WANT TO SEE YOU.



We're bringing our tambourine!

London Calling is moving!

To Cherokee. To the new Stable Loft.
Interesting.

AMAZING open mic, Cafe Soul's first comedian - Scott

My pal, Scott (better known to the masses as H. Alan Scott) PERFORMED AT CAFE SOUL LAST FRIDAY NIGHT. OMG.



He is the coolest! Also, DJ Needles was PMA (Pretty Much Amazing) that evening as well. Mr. Needles will be at the Upstairs Lounge (and therefore so will I) on December 26th starting at 10pm. I might get there closer to 11, let's be honest.

Cafe Soul was at Lucas School house for the last night tonight...LSH is CLOSING! :( ... so if you have an event space that's big enough for some amazing talent, you should probably email cafesoulstl at yahoo.com and claim this WONDERFUL evening for yourself. Or you should just email them to tell them that they are awesome. OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD GO TO THE NEXT ONE B/C IT IS AMAZING. sorry, shouting.

Anyway, back to Scott... He'll be at Bill Chott's Improv Jam on the 23rd at the Mad Art Gallery. Scott talks about it (more or less) here.

Bill Chott is great. He is a Good St. Louisan. (also, he has met Dana Carvey & MORE!) He teaches comedy classes on Cherokee Street. He puts on some great comedy Monday nights at Atomic Cowboy, too. YOU SHOULD GO. WHY HAVEN'T I SEEN YOU THERE? sorry, shouting again.

Laughter will be home for Christmas. Well, it's always home, but moreso now for the holidays. I went last year (i wore purple) to the Comedy Improv Jam at Mad Art and actually *won* a raffle and got a coffee mug (a travel one!)...this should let you know just how magical it will be.

Come to think of it, last time I was at a Bill Chott hosted thing - everyone's fav poet/person GAVE me a book! Maybe you will be next to tangentially get something free (besides laughs, which are, i hear, the best medicine) at a Bill Chott event. Maybe, b/c I have not seen you, I am getting YOUR free things! Don't let that happen.

B/c I will take them anyway and not even text you about it.

well, this is awkward

global live christmas songwriting

A little internet magic for Christmas.

I'm sorry, but this is live xmas songwriting business JUST TOO COOL.

Rise and Shine (livestream here) is changing my life and I owe it all to John Cleese. (crazy)

here's the podcast:

Get this widget!

I love America

and this is why.

Unchain Your Heart-Shop Local

...just passing along some wise words from your favorite local record store...

As your friendly neighborhood record store we are grateful for your biz and know that we've survived the national record store slaughter because of you. So we'd like to thank you and remind you that, while we may all be spending less this season, it's important to make it count more. So, we urge you to shop local businesses this holiday and avoid chains. Here are some facts:

1-Local stores and restaurants keep their profits here in town and that money circulates back into the community. It's called the multiplier effect. When you spend a dollar at a chain, part of that money is sent out of town as profit. When you spend it with a local business, the profit stays here and adds to our economy. Right now millions of dollars a day are sent out of St. Louis by Wal-Mart, Best Buy and the other chains. That money is lost to our local economy. Studies across the nation confirm that more than three times as much money stays in the local economy when spent at locally owned independent businesses versus national chains.

2-It's eco-friendly. We, like most local businesses, work hard to find local suppliers and recycle as much as possible.

3-We provide good jobs and personal service. Small businesses are the largest employers in America. Local businesses supported raising the minimum wage in Missouri. The big chains fought us every inch of the way, so they could send even more profits out of state. Our employees know that our store only survives if they give you great service.

4-Local businesses give up to 4 times as much to charities. Hey, we live here. Making our city and state better is a big part of our job. We're proud that every month Vintage Vinyl donates dozens of items and gift cards to charity fundraisers all over the St. Louis area.

Shopping locally is an opportunity to contribute to stability in the economy that affects us every day during these tumultuous times.

Enjoy the holidays..We hope to see you soon.

For those of you wondering just what to get ME for my birthday in a week (December 15th!) or for christmas for that matter... I would like a tambourine.

Mary and Marvin

It was kismet that my "hey love" radio station on Pandora led me to this awesomely early R&B sound duet between Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye on the same day I watched this.

I spliced for your convenience, but I strongly recommend watching the whole thing, though. That is, if you're interested in things I'm interested in. If not, enjoy the kismet.

Obama under St. Louis arch.

The person taking this picture must have dug a hole in the stairs, b/c when have you EVER seen the whole arch in a picture! ??! I, too, have laid down and tried to get the whole arch to no avail.

Must be that Bararch Obama magic.

sam & dave

The Menahan St. band record spin dance at Halo after the Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings performance was... nothing short of transcendent.

...and if you look closely at the above photo, you'd probably guess (correctly) that a good deal of that transcendence is owed to Vintage Vinyl, from whence the dudes gleefully returned mid-set with a familiar, santa-claus-on-xmas-eve-full brown paper satchel. Thank heaven the daptone boys don't know about the record exchange. (who am I kidding, they probably do, but just couldn't walk there) Look out bloomington indiana, they're coming for your records ...soon!

I'd also recommend hiding your women, as they are rakish and distant, but most significantly, boys can dance! What to play, how to dance to it. thank you.

So I had some good dances.

Do I need to summarize that it was a good night? it was a salve! an antidote! a remedy to many first-world troubles. It will save the economy. Almost makes up for missing Eli, too.

Adding to the daptone charm (aside from SHARON in general - I, like Annie Z of the RFT, would like to be her when I grow up) was their bongo player Fernando's beverage of choice all evening (including onstage) - SCHLAFLY! He said he always drinks local. Class act.

Also, I got some 45s for my jukebox! SCORE. I am cautiously overjoyed with life.

Fun fact: One of my mom's best friends named her twin boys Sam & Dave.

ok fine

So "Suddenly, Senior (Matt Klapper, Your Emails)" has been going *slightly* viral on the facebook - at least between the singing/dancing/comedian/ridiculous set of "intellectuals" I spent 4 or so years with back in college...and far be it from me to deny this nugget to those not tuned into my facebook news feed (as so many are!).

Alex, Spencer, Megan and I wrote this little reworking of the alan menken classic, Suddenly Seymour, for the performing arts night during out last week at school. This is the result.

It's basically college in a nutshell -- a song and dance nutshell. (the best kind!)


Suddenly, Senior from lori white on Vimeo.

3 things for those of y'all who weren't lucky enough to be UPenn Quakers so you can laugh, too: Shatte is a psych professor everyone was inexplicably in love with (my guess is he was brain ninja), "Bursar" is the student ID card checking account a lot of rich kids parents paid for, and Matt Klapper was our class president -- and therefore sent us a LOT of emails (and they totally provided sweet understanding). For further insight, please refer to the IM conversation (magically saved!) from whence this song sprang.

WHYS

You know I need to tell y'all about my recent visit to the SYMPHONY, but due to some recent upheaval (ever seen Burn Notice?) over here in real life, I'll just leave you to ponder this list, written by the folks at the ideavillage in NOLA.

Why I am here...

…because life is too short and too precious to claw my way through Wall Street. Because the Pyramids were not built treading along in a hamster wheel.

…because I figured a 1500-mile road trip to begin a new life in an unfamiliar place would make for a unique story. I am proud to live somewhere where such a tale has become blasé.

…because New Orleanians open their doors, pour stiff drinks, fill plates high, and demand little of their guests beyond an adventurous tongue.

…because the architecture is the most amazing I’ve seen. Anywhere.

…because the city is in dire need of a brewing co-op and I hope to provide it.

…because I have an eye for what makes a city work, having lived in Boulder, Seattle, and Saratoga Springs, and because New Orleans has ten times the intrinsic charm of these other cities put together.

…because Cajun slang is interesting, southern drawls pacifying, and Yat dialects just downright bizarre.

…because there is real soul here: a tangible and visceral loyalty to a dynamic cultural ethic.

…because there are real minds here: those who heed the calls of intellectual adventure and find deep satisfaction through attacking problems at their roots.

…because a potential roommate warned me recently of the seeming permanence of endemic poverty and government corruption, and of the futility in wasting a swollen heart on a city with real problems. It sounded like a dare, and I never turn down a dare. *

-Jeff Sandman

*sound familiar?

Is it strange that I look to Nola? Is the urgency to innovate and revitalize stronger there? I don't know, but if more people thought about it as much as I think about it...we both might get somewhere. :)