Siamese Dream Turns 20

Happy 20th birthday to one of the best albums of the 1990s, and in my opinion, of all time.

Siamese Dream trivia:

• Right before the release of the record, Smashing Pumpkins were hyped to be “the next Nirvana”.
• Today was the first song written for Siamese Dream and although it sounds upbeat, is actually about depression and self mutilation.
• The band was highly dysfunctional at the time of recording: Jimmy was battling heroin addiction, James and D’arcy had just broken up, and Billy started seeing a therapist to help his suicidal depression.
• After Jimmy disappeared for a few days on a drug bender while recording, Billy “put the hammer down” and made him play his drum parts for Cherub Rock until his hands bled.
• Billy overdubbed his own playing on top of James and D’arcy’s for much of the album.
• Billy worked overtime, practically living in the studio. He and producer Butch Vig would sometimes work on the same 45 seconds of a song for two days to get the sound Billy wanted.
• Butch Vig stated as many as 100 guitar parts would be compressed into a single song.
• The album took 4 months longer to record than it was supposed to and went $250,000 over budget.
• This is untrue.

 

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Babymoon

Have you guys ever heard of a “babymoon”? It’s when parents-to-be take one last relaxing trip together before a baby is born. Nick and I decided to take ours a little early for maximum relaxation and headed to Newport, Rhode Island for four days last week.

We took the train there on Wednesday morning and arrived at our hotel that afternoon. After unwinding a bit in our room, we set off to explore the waterfront area we were staying on. Most things were in walking distance and there were a ton of restaurants, shops, and boat tours to be found. Thanks to Yelp, I found us our first delicious dinner spot, The Midtown Oyster Bar.

I had the scallops which were amazing and had the lowest mercury on the menu, and Nick got to go a little crazier with oysters. (Yes, we went here twice – it was delicious!)

After dinner, we walked further into Newport and treated ourselves to some ice cream for dessert.

Nick knows how to vacation, am I right? I finally tried the Liz Lemon frozen yogurt – SO GOOD. So worthy of the Liz Lemon name.

It was so nice to be somewhere that actually cooled off a bit at night!

The harbour had hundreds of boats in it. Very pretty.

The next few days consisted of more of the same: sleeping, swimming, eating, and walking. I also had my first prenatal massage and we finally watched Mud on our hotel movie channel.

Our hotel was right across the street from Cardines Field, so we decided to watch a college league baseball game with the Newport Gulls. Half of the crowd was just little kids, which was adorable. I was able to buy home made chocolate chip cookies at the refreshment stand, which was even cuter.

During our last full day, Nick and I walked from one side of the island to the other to see some of the famous mansions.

Since we didn’t do a group tour, we could only see the outsides, but that’s okay. The best part was actually walking to the end of the road and getting to the cliffs.

My Moves App let me know that we walked almost 14,000 steps that day! Naturally, we ate more to celebrate.

Newport, you’re such a cute town! Maybe we’ll be back one day with Henry, so he can watch baseball for $4 too.

6 Months!

On Wednesday, I hit the 6 month mark in my pregnancy! The second trimester is just flying by and will very soon be over.

What’s new in babymaker land:

• Nick and I went stroller and crib browsing on Saturday. Even though it was overwhelming, we have a much better idea of what we’re looking for in both categories now. (It’s looking like this stroller & something like this crib.)
• My appreciation for working from home only grows as wearing a bra has become torturous. (Imagine fitting the bottom of a bra around the growing top of that bump, pictured above!)
• Henry is moving around my belly more and more. Little kicks, pokes, punches, and what feels like somersaults happen regularly.
• I’ve (temporarily) lost more Ashtanga yoga poses and am not always able to fold forward to touch my head to my knee anymore.
• I have started taking prenatal yoga, sometimes even with my doula, a few times a week which is very nice. I just have to remember it’s not Ashtanga and no need to go nuts.
• I’m reading this book in preparation for labour.
• I’m helping the web company I freelance Social Media for find a replacement while I take maternity leave. If you know anyone, the job description is here.

Have a great Monday evening and stay cool, friends.

TURF Festival and Toronto Visit

Nick and I flew up to Toronto for two days this past weekend for what would be our last trip home before Henry comes. Since it was such a short trip and we were actually going so that Nick could see some bands that he works with, we stayed downtown the whole time, which was a nice change.

Despite a delayed flight, a fight against traffic to get from the airport, and waiting for an hour to check into our hotel, we made it to Fort York’s Garrison Commons for the first ever Toronto Urban Roots Festival.

We saw one of Nick’s favourite clients, Frank Turner, play plus Matt Mays & El Torpedo, and a few others. The best part for me was seeing all the Canadian music industry friends I hadn’t seen in quite some time. It was overwhelming having my ex-coworkers and all the other great people there, each one a surprise to run into! One of the best moments: Nick telling me how much he loves to watch me interact with “my people”. Ha!

I also ran into some friends like Alex and her cute little family. Her daughter, Addie, is Frank Turner’s #1 fan.

On Sunday, we got lunch with Julia, Jay, and Karen at our favourite spot. Then I headed back to TURF without Nick to meet up with friends, even though the sky looked threatening…

I got there in time to see Yo La Tengo and meet up with Alex, Jana, Sarah, and more (thanks to Sarah for the photo!) We got in some hangs before the skies opened up.

That night, we headed to Lee’s Palace to see Frank Turner, Northcote, and Larry & His Flask. You may ask “Hey wait a minute, aren’t you nearly six months pregnant? Where did you find the energy to do all of this, plus attend a wedding on Friday night?” Well, I was just so excited to see as many people as possible that I pushed on through two days of festivals and two nights of club shows. By 9:30 on Sunday night though, my belly felt strained from yelling over loud music and I was getting a headache so I sent myself home.

Sadly, I didn’t get to see everyone I hoped to, but I didn’t want to hurt myself. I had such a great time there though, and I’m so glad we got back home to Brooklyn before the massive storm and flooding from Monday night!

I love you, Toronto! The Storches will be back when we can.

Happy Canada Day!

Did you know…

• There’s more people in the state of California than all of Canada.
• After the 9/11 attacks, Canada launched “Operation Yellow Ribbon” which took in redirected flights of Americans trying to get home. Then for days afterwards, entire communities took in these 33,000 passengers, providing food and housing.
• The coldest day on record in North America took place in the Yukon: -81 degrees!

This video is perfect for all my curious American friends and even for Canadians who want to learn more about their country and the relationship between Canada and America. (BFFs!)