January 27, 2004

Last night

My sister's show last night was SO great!! I was so proud of her. There was a nice crowd, too - most of them for the other musicians in the line-up, but everyone hung out and listened to everyone else - and it was such a nice supportive atmosphere. I loved it. Siobhan played "Pseudo Southern Run", one of my favorite songs of hers - I had not heard it in a while. Basically, Siobhan feels that she should have been born in the south, her soul is southern, even though she's from New England. It's a great tune.

"I know I'm a northern girl
But I pretend I'm a chosen one
I'm about as far from the Mason-Dixon as a gal could be
Tryin' to figure out if this is real or a memory..."

Rachel and I sat at our little table, jamming out, singing along. It was nice, too, looking around at all the strangers in the audience, seeing them jamming out, too, tapping their feet.

Another big event: MIKE TOOLE SHOWED UP. Mike Toole has very quickly become a celebrity in the O'Malley family. We read his stuff, and then email each other about it, laughing. It was so great to finally meet him!

I was so excited to meet him that I basically talked AT him for 20 minutes. I am sure my conversation sounded like, "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!!! You know? Blah blah blah BLAH BLAH blah blah blah! Ha ha! Blah blah blah."

Forgive me, Toole. I was just excited.

Posted by sheila
Comments

Must be nice aspiring to be a southerner without actually having to live in the South. I'll have to ask her if we can trade places.

Posted by: Dave J at January 27, 2004 09:31 AM

Dave J -

I'm sure she would love that! There have been times when Siobhan has slipped into a Southern accent ... and we're all like ... "Uh ... you're from New England..."

That's okay. After a week in Ireland, I was talking in a brogue. Couldn't seem to help it.

Posted by: red at January 27, 2004 11:31 AM

Sheila - ever read "A Cosmopolite in a Cafe" by O. Henry? As a Southerner exiled to YankeeLand, when I read this post, the following passage came to mind:

"Pardon me," I said, "but my curiosity was not altogether an idle one. I know the South, and when the band plays 'Dixie' I like to observe. I have formed the belief that the man who applauds that air with special violence and ostensible sectional loyalty is invariably a native of either Secaucus, N.J., or the district between Murray Hill Lyceum and the Harlem River, this city.

Posted by: John at February 2, 2004 01:23 PM

John -

No, I haven't read that story - but I like that. It's funny.

We are all exiles, in one way or another.

Posted by: red at February 2, 2004 01:25 PM

America is the land of exiles, it is one source of our identity. I have an especial love / hate relationship with the Northeast, however.

I went to college in the Midwest (in a city I refer to as the "Strange Smell on the Wabash"), have lived in the Soviet Union (when such a country existed), and have lived in Japan (mix in equal parts Russian, German, and Chinese and you get their mentality). No other place seemed as strange to this Rebel as Connecticut. Why has a Yankee state not heard of that new-fangled invention, road salt?

Posted by: John at February 2, 2004 03:51 PM

Obviously you have never been to Rhode Island then. Where the rock salt is ubiquitous!

Posted by: red at February 2, 2004 03:54 PM

We on this side of the border drool with envy of the RI snow clearing system. It stands in sharp contrast to the solar powered system in CT. The only thing keeping me from relocating to RI is that I'd have even further to drive on the hated I-95 in order to see the kinfolk.

Posted by: John at February 2, 2004 04:05 PM