#spark #muse #etc

Yesterday, I was moonlighting as a music video art director for uber-pal, Haviland on her upcoming single "Muse." In case you missed it, she released a fierce/catchy/inspired dance album called Spark a lil bit ago. I'm a privileged bitch, so it's been on my ipod for about a year now (at least pieces of it) but now it's available on itunes and whatnot. 

For the video, she wanted to keep it simple and easy to do. Just the idea of a modern muse. We used water (because we had it) and lights and Hav's natural je ne sais quoi. 

Haviland had been raving about the photographer who did her most recent set of headshots, Elliot London, and I was excited a finally got to meet him on this shoot. I quickly learned he's just my kind of creative dude: casual, innovative, and creative as hell. Just jimmy-rig it until it works. That's my motto. And the stuff he got was SO beautiful! Doesn't Hav look so preeeeety? I can't wait to see how it turns out!!

I can't really tell you how proud I am of her for this album and all the work she put into it. She's a mover!

Get Muse on her album here!

Bonus Vid! 

**Disclaimer: Boss the Chihuahua isn't actually in the video. His fee was too high. So he just supervised. 

Tigerlily is THREE

Happy third birthday to my favorite human, the one and only Miss Tigerlily. No one on Earth makes me as happy, as easily as this crazy girl. I was with her on her actual BIRTH day, and I'm wishing we could hang out an invite some fictional characters to a tea party on military time today. But alas, duty calls. Rain check, Tigs! Hope your costume for the day is extra wacky!

Stillwell At Rockwell - TONIGHT

An exciting night awaits me -- and all who care to join me!-- at Rockwell TONIGHT for the latest concert from the lush and luxurious Haviland Stillwell. All of Haviland's concerts are a treat as far as I'm concerned, but tonight will be extra special since Haviland is singing one of our new songs from Nicholas & Alexandra, "Release Me." (AKA my anxiety anthem. For a preview, here's the first time it was ever sung in public. Did I mention that was at Lincoln Center? I blush.) 

You can also rock out to Haviland's new singles. Both songs are written by Haviland Stillwell and produced by Mike Schlosser, with cover design by Heather J. Weiss and photos by Sabrina Bringuier. Buy them on iTunes ("MKE"; "Infinity") or stream them on Spotify ("MKE"; "Infinity") and pump yourself up pre-show. I know I will be!

Get your tickets now if you don't already have them and hope to see you tonight! McC and I will be clapping loudly and gettin' rowdy in the front. Shoes will be thrown. 

Haviland Stillwell & Amir Levi perform live at Rockwell: Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, April 23 at 8pm (Amir Levi) and 9pm (Haviland Stillwell). Haviland and Amir will be performing with Anthony Starble (piano), Alex Vega (drums), Kristy Hanson (guitars and vocals), Ed Goodman (guitar), Julia Davis (vocals) and Lauren Lograsso (vocals). Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on Rockwell's ticketing site.This is the Facebook invitation.

And here's a little ditty we wrote just for her awhile back. With my signature lyric!

Hollywood Baby

She hiked all the way up with us. Like a boss.

LA Furniture Angel - Disregarden

Winter '12-'13 will probably go down in history as the winter of the Melrose Trading Post. I've circled that place with various friends nearly every Sunday of this colder than I'd expected Los Angeles season. The biggest score came the first weekend, though, when McC and I discovered Disregarden and we added a lovely hand painted dresser-turned-sideboard to McC's new dining room. (Which they so kindly delivered. Big news from a flea market.)

But Disregarden had so much more to offer. And if they'd had any piece I actually needed for my house, (or could have fit) I would have walked away with something myself. Disregarden is an adorable husband and wife team who source, restore and style awesome furniture pieces and accessories. Jessica not only has awesome taste and a wicked sense of humor (the quotes on their framed chalkboards were off beat to say the least. I loved 'em!) but also, curly blonde hair, which of course an early indicator of badassery. They do other stylings and even furniture rentals. So check them out. Because they pretty much rock. 

But I Have Been Privy To Something True...

I remember with utter clarity the moment Sophie first performed "Something Old, Something New" for me. She had just finished it, Mama Louise was consulting on the newest additions, and we were at Bamff in the Morning Room. Everything was cast in a kind of golden/pink light. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. It came to symbolize something. Something old and something new-- and all the "splendid times that would probably ensue." (And they did!) I beamed, still stunned and still wondering how I had fallen into this surreal crevice of people who seemed to be just embracing me all the time. And I remember thinking that I needed to pay attention to this moment because Sophie's album was going to be something so special. So unlike anything in contemporary song writing. 

Looking at the landscape of music during my lifetime, I have a hard time naming many, if any, lyricists who leave their guts on the table the way Sophie does. F. Scott Fitzgerald said that price you pay for doing first rate professional work is that you've got to "sell your heart." Sophie does that and somehow manages to keep it too. She is unflinching from the grief she's experienced. And even though I missed that darkest chapter in her life, when Fred was quickly and unexpectedly taken from her, I can't help but know -- because she has succeeded in conveying to me through song and soul-- the strange dark place she journeyed through.

In "Something Old, Something New," the vivid New York she experienced in the aftermath of Fred's death is perfectly etched, and we see the city as a perfect conduit to move her into the alternate version of her life without Fred. And the friends who would help her. The upside down bridal imagery is arresting. It breaks and eventually raises my heart to think of her re-imagining her wedding and her future. 

"Song I Never Wrote For You," was the first original song off the album I heard. And also, the last song I heard Sophie play live on my last day in Scotland. She was just wrapping up recording the album. I heard some not-quite mixed tracks. And on Dublin street, as I went through clothes to give away, her simple, pure piano version echoed down the hall to me as she played. I thought about Fred and I thought about Sophie and how I would miss this part of my life so dreadfully. No part of my American life is as simple, or bare, or uncomplicated, or earnest as any moment I spent with Sophie. Except for when I listen to her album from my house in Hollywood. 

Sophie Ramsay is a blessing to this or any life. Add her to yours. 

BaubleBar is Hiring!

Perhaps it is a contradiction in terms to post one day about the high price of materialism and the next about jobs in consumerism...however! Everybody's gotta get paid and most everyone wants to look pretty. And at the fundamental level, I'm super proud of one of my oldest and bestest pals from childhood, Daniella. Her company, Baublebar, is like the gold standard in affordable jewelry. And you can flip a page of US Weekly or whathaveyou in the line for the grocery store (actually, they don't have that at Trader Joe's and that's the only place I shop, but you get the idea) without spotting pictures of every starlet on that planet wearing some gorgeous morsel from Daniella and Amy's venture. 

Daniella and I became friends in junior high because we were neighbors, sort of. We'd walk home from school a lot together until we both finally got cars. I rolled in the same group of girls for pretty much my entire childhood. A gift I didn't realize was so valuable at the time. Daniella and I had a lot of the same irritations with adolescence and high school-- wanting to get somewhere that valued people for their brains, etc etc. She went to Penn and the Harvard. I went to Rice and the St Andrews, but we were neighbors again for a long time in the East Village too, when she had a sweet deal on a place on 4th and A....and I did not have a sweet deal on either 4th and B or 4th and Second. But, ah, that delightful neighborhood!

Anyhow, BaubleBar is hiring! Most notably for anyone reading this blog, the Social Media Coordinator. New Yorkers, get on this one! I know I'd probably be all over it if I were there. I like their style, and by that, I mean their attitude. I think it's a really good sign when a company asks you what your 'at-bat' song would be. 

They also just opened their first brick & mortar store on Fifth Ave this fall!

Americana, Man

One week ago, my dad and his surrogate (my surrogate) family, in addition to some culture-shocked Scots, were rocking out to Steamboat Springs at the Myrtle Beach Depot. There was free New South Beer (Red Ale = delicious) and Red Velvet cake and brisket and pretty much everything amazing. 

Dad rocked out in all ways, as usual, but most especially, Statesboro Blues. And I got a little teary, as I always do, when they played Music Man in honor of Jeff. His son Hunter is practically a man now, and I hope a few more of these concerts and we'll have that college fund of his taken care of. 

My family's never quite been the same since my Grandfather died. It's hard to know what to rally around. But these gatherings somehow always clear up the confusion for me. I am enormously grateful for them. And for all the effort of so many people to make it happen. 

I'm not sure that my Scottish friends really appreciated what was going on. Perhaps its kind of an inside joke. But for some just off the boat Scots (And one who's reluctantly heading back) I can guarantee they witnessed some some m-f-in' Americana, Man. 

This Boat Is Real. Halifax Boat Cruise at Sunset

Are you guys sick to death of my travel photos? Can one even get sick of beautiful locales? I'm going to hope your answer is no and keep editing and moving through some of these, but I also promise that I'll be taking some quality alone time in Brooklyn this weekend while I housesit for one of my favorite people to hit you with some real writing or whathaveyou. 

Today, on the other hand, let's bliss out on a Canadian Seaside Sunset. We took a boat cruise the first night I arrived in Halifax. It was chilly and brisk and the air smelled salty and fresh and amazing-- a welcome contrast to the 12 hours I'd just spent in NYC, the 8 hours on a plane, and six months of rain in London before that. 

We danced, drank a strange Coors Light Iced-Tea beverage, let our hair frizz, and caught up with people, some of whom we hadn't seen in years. Obviously, because let's face it, Aly and I take the opportunity to sing "I'm On A Boat" even when we're not on a boat, even when we're somewhere like a Madrid Roof terrace, we sang snippets of our jam allll night lonnnng. It's a joke obviously, but then the thing is, I'm sincere about it. No matter what the body of water: The Seine, The Thames, The Tiber, The Hudson, or Halifax Harbour, there's pretty much no where I'd rather be than floating on a boat on the water with my friends. 

This float was special, too, in that we even saw a Mountie Wedding. That's right! A Royal Mounted Canadian Police (did you know that they're called, amongst themselves, "The Force?" Hardcore.)  getting married in full costume. Most of the Haligonians said it was pretty much the first time they'd ever seen a Mountie in that get-up, but nevertheless, it didn't feel like we could have gotten much more Canadian than that. 

The Ballerina Project

Have you heard about the beautiful Ballerina Project from Hawaiian/New Yorker photographer, Dane Shitagi? If you read this, I bet you're the kind of person who does. But oh, you must go look again. For a couple of years now, he's been taking gorgeous pics of dancers in natural spaces, their homes, in inclement weather, draped over a refrigerator door on a hot day.... 


I've been meaning to blog it about for ages now. When I have a tough day in the city, sometimes I just go and scroll. My stepmother was a dancer and I've always been a bit envious of them. I never really had the body type (let's not even get into issues of coordination) but I always wanted to live in toe shoes. 


Instead, I had a year long phase where I rocked tap shoes everywhere I went. I'll allow your imagination to how endearing (annoying) that was for everyone around me. At least I had ringlets. And that's why they called me Shirley Temple. 


In any case, check out Shitagi's work. You can purchase them as well. 


I promise I'll be back to blogging at a decent hour tomorrow. 

My College Roomie Won a Grammy!

Man, I had better get my ass in gear! You may have seen when I posted this. I could not be more proud of my lovely, quirky, snoring first Rice room mate. I was fortunate enough to see Sasha's performance as Kitty Oppenheimer in Dr. Atomic. It was inspiring and beautiful. Just like Sasha is every day. Couldn't happen to a nicer person. You go, Sasha! 


Also, Happy Birthday to another beautiful and talented red-headed songstress, Autumn Hurlbert!! 


And since it's Tuesday, don't forget to check out my SMASH recap over on BroadwaySpotted!

Crush Week: Ioan Gruffudd

Sometimes, when Zaza and I have been separated by our various travellings, we feel the need to overcompensate with an extended series of girl-time sessions. This week, we started that bastion of late 90's-ness, Hornblower, featuring the hottie Ioan Gruffudd in his younger days. 

Zaza is who also taught me how to pronounce Welsh, so for you Americans reading this, the double d is pronounced like a "th." (Side note, the one Welsh sound my mouth just won't make is the "Ll" which is essentially the sound of a loogie. The name Llewelyn has lost all its charm.) So but that makes Gruffudd is just "Griffith." 

Homeboy is a serious hero. He's always saving someone. He's always, like, the only boat going back for Titanic survivors. Or looking for downed Black Hawk planes. He plays roles like "Lancelot" (you might have heard of theguy) or "Mr. Fantastic."  You see where I'm going with this... 

(Only notable exception: Tony Blair in W.)

Anyhow, personally, I prefer the man in his current more weathered, manly incarnation. But the boy charmer who starts as a seasick, stuttering midshipman and ends as a heroic captain in the 18th Century Royal Navy is also good fun. Those curls. The swashbuckling. It's pretty dreamy. 

And even though the hair still manages to look nineties-ed-out, (even with extensions and wigs!)  and even though there's one shot where you can see a trailer park in the background, Hornblower is stil first rate costume drama fun. In fact, there is a little thing called HAW-- that's Hornblower Appreciation Week. I shit you not. Peep that if you get the chance. Along with any of Ioan Gruffudd's other performances. Your eyes will thank you. 

Autumn & Tim- Wedding!

Mostly, I'm trying to contain tears today at not being at the wedding of one of the brightest lights in the world. (They're partying it up right now, NYC time.) While I have a casting director to thank for Autumn's presence in my life (well, that and my constant love of redheads) I feel like destiny would have found some other way to put us together had it not been for the first industry reading of VOTE!


Once Steven and I got to know her, we knew she just had to be Alix in Nicholas & Alexandra. And the first time I ever heard her rehearse "In Your Name," I knew something really special was happening. I talk about those moments a lot-- where the right song aligns with the right singer. This was definitely one of those times. You can tell that everyone in the room is floored and I almost dropped the camera because my hand was shaking. 


Professional interests being the least important element here, Autumn is an emotionally giving friend in a way that I have rarely encountered. In the kind of way that someone like me both yearns for/recognizes, and is also skeptical of in others. I can be pretty guarded of my heart. I don't like asking for things. I am wary of being taken care of.  I tend to be skeptical of people who just freely share and shower me with love and friendship. But Autumn just does that and once I learned to soak it up, I've been relishing in one of the better female friendships ever. 


It meant a lot to be able to share her struggles and be present as she and Tim fell in love. I remember when they had their first date, when she was excited about him and we looked him up on facebook so I could vet him. I remember loaning her a shirt on their first serious date (his house. He was cooking.) Tim & Autumn helped me move to Scotland. They even took over my apt. In a way, I like living vicariously through my friends better than living my own life. Seeing the people I love happy is better than anything I could do myself. 


Autumn's bachelorette party in NYC this summer was one of the funnest nights. Bittersweet too, when I think of what I miss everyday not living there anymore. But at least I got to partake in some of the wedding festivities. And even though the really annoying fact that I am (still!) not rich (or famous) is preventing me from being there today, as she marries Tim so good in a bookstore (cutest bitch ever) in one of the prettiest dresses I have ever ever seen (can I borrow?)... I am there in spirit. And I have spies. 


Autumn & Tim-- so much love to you both! Here's a Scottish wedding poem from Thomas Campbell (they love these rhyming ballads!)

Freedom and Love

How delicious is the winning 

Of a kiss at Love's beginning, 

When two mutual hearts are sighing 

For the knot there's no untying!

Yet remember, 'midst your wooing, 

Love has bliss, but Love has ruing; 

Other smiles may make you fickle, 

Tears for other charms may trickle.

Love he comes, and Love he tarries, 

Just as fate or fancy carries; 

Longest stays when sorest chidden, 

Laughs and flies when press'd and bidden.

Bind the sea to slumber stilly, 

Bind its odour to the lily, 

Bind the aspen ne'er to quiver, 

Then bind Love to last for ever.

Love's a fire that needs renewal 

Of fresh beauty for its fuel; 

Love's wing moults when caged and captured, 

Only free he soars enraptured.

Can you keep the bee from ranging, 

Or the ringdove's neck from changing? 

No! nor fetter'd Love from dying 

In the knot there's no untying.

Bachelorette Parties- Autumn Sparkles

Last night, I got to celebrate that my sparkly friend, Miss Autumn Hurlbert is off the market and getting married this fall. Kind of kismet that it worked out the party fell while I was in town so I could whoop it up with such a great set of girls at beautiful Megu in Tribeca. We had so much fun eating rock meat and phallic asparagus and telling off-color jokes. Sometimes I miss this life. Last night was one of the times I wished I was here more often, but at least I didn't have to miss. 


Thanks to the lovely Meredith Forlenza for planning and best wishes to Autumn & Tim.

Happy Hat Friday- Miriam Robertson

For years, I've been on a quest to become a hat person. It hasn't been easy with the mess of curly hair that I have. Living amongst Brits has certainly helped though, because (as anyone who watched the royal wedding knows) Brits have a much more extensive flair for hats. (Before you bring it up, Americans, the tendency to wear baseball hats does not count.) 


More than even just the variety of quality products, there are simply more occasions where it's acceptable to wear a hat. And the lovely milliners making bespoke head ware are to be highly valued! We are not just talking about gluing ribbons on hats, here. 


My friend Miriam, of Miriam Robertson Millinery is definitely one to note. (Seriously, she's so adorable. She's half French and half Scottish.) I just saw these lush gorgeous photos of some of her new stuff and am brainstorming how soon I can flat iron my hair and get to an outdoor event worthy of one of them . 


Her website is just lovely and has little numbers for occasion wear and day wear. (I'm in love with some of those!) Also in day wear-- if you still just can't bring yourself to take the leap into statement head dressings-- are some awesome headbands, etc. Check it out and have a great Friday! 

My Favorite Holiday

Even though there are a lot of holidays I don't care for so much, there is one that is my absolute favorite-- it's today! Father's Day! I'm all about celebrating them.


Father's Day always reminds me of those last days with my grandfather, when I sensed the end was near, and frantically wrote the longest letter I've ever written (which is saying something, since I tend to specialize in long letters) and mailed it from Japan. I still write him a letter every year around this time. I had a lot to say to him this year.

I don't normally get to spend Father's Day with my dad, but I am sending love from a far. And one of the coolest things about my dad is that he understands exactly why I can't stay, could never stay close to home. This Father's Day (and probably a few more) sponsored by Skype. 

My dad wrote me the above message in high school and it goes with me pretty much everywhere. 

Here, also, as requested by several people is the Steamboat Springs Band version of "Statesboro Blues." Featuring my dad on a smokin' steel guitar (I made him that lightning bolt) and on lead vocals. For a little white dude, Pops can sing the blues. Happy Father's Day-- to him and all the other dads out there who know what's up. 

Dublin Castle

Dublin looks different than I imagined it. I suppose I thought it looked a lot like Glasgow, and so I was really thrown by all the brick. Even the Castle is largely looming brick buildings surrounding a court yard. It's more colorful than I thought, with one whole side of the castle looking a bit like Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

After our extensive tour of Dublin courtesy of Erin, we chillaxed in the park on an awesome sunny day and tried to prepare for the amount of sun we'll be getting for the next week. Everyone told me Dublin was expensive, but I sort of thought they were exaggerating. They weren't. The drink prices, combined with my company-- the best New Yorkers-- made me feel like we were back in the Big Apple like old times. I could get too used to having these two around all the time. See you in Madrid!

Childhood Imagination Spaces

Looking back, I can't remember a single one of my childhood bedrooms before I moved in with my dad. And yet I know I had a million imagination spaces. Places where I would go to be by myself and daydream. Most of them were outside actually. I'd spend a lot of time looking for hideaways hidden in hedges or up in an apricot tree. Stairwells that were mostly hidden. Or even the adobe hut I built in my backyard. (Yes, real adobe.)


I think these spaces are really important for children. I know that's where I let my brain/imagination go wherever it wanted and it's probably part of why I'm a writer. I remember that Emily's little sister, Olivia (though we called he almost nothing but Yaya when she was little) had the most amazing dreaming nook. It was really just a little crawl-space closet under a stairwell, but Emily's mom painted it lavender and decked it out with all kinds of things for Yaya to love and dream to. I secretly covet that space even today, and used to crawl into it just for a minute, up until I was about eighteen. 


Where was your childhood imagination space? Wouldn't the room above be amazing? Even though there's pretty much no chance, due to the unfortunate decorating trends of the 80's, that my room ever looked like this, I'm going to dream that it did. I'm going to pretend that curly haired little blonde girl was me and this was one of my rooms I can't remember. 

Alison Krauss & Union Station- Paper Airplanes

Alison Krauss was a pretty big part of my childhood. I remember my dad and I playing her very first CD full blast on brisk, bright Las Vegas weekend mornings shortly after I moved to live with him. Alison had a really bad perm then and I actually think she looks younger now than she did then-- almost twenty years ago. 


I'm always really glad when she puts out a new album with Union Station and this time I'm super super especially glad because she's sort of quoting me with the title. (VOTE! in St Andrews is next weekend, too, by the way. Get your tickets here for Saturday & here for Sunday. )


I'm still listening to Alison Krauss twenty years later on a bright, brisk morning here on the Isle Skye. Hope you're having a great Sunday!

A French house party

Some of the most fun we had in Paris was doing the local thing with my friend, Kate. She took us to a lot of great places (more on the later) including a fun birthday party for her friend Margaux in Republique. I'm not normally much of a dancer, but my baby-faced, chain-smoking, blonde, curly-haired French twin, Raphael was so much fun with the playlisting (including La Roux!), I couldn't help but boogie. 

Hope you have a fun Saturday!