ByGD
In 2012, I excitedly bought tickets to see Lamb of God and Gojira play Showbox SoDo. What a lineup! But LoG was unable to play that show, as Blythe was indisposed. When they finally came through about six months later, there was no way I was going to miss it. But I wasn’t the only one stoked, and this was as close to the stage as I got. A decent zoom lens could have handled it, but Showbox doesn’t allow detachable lenses. Boo!
ByGD
I’m working on an article about Pacific Northwest Ballet’s new production of the Nutcracker right now. They are hard at work rehearsing George Ballanchine’s choreography and putting together new sets designed by children’s author Ian Falconer, of Olivia fame. I’m excited to see what they come up with. But I’m also going to miss this.
ByGD
In the white, liberal, upper middle-class circles I usually inhabit, safety trumps all other values. Helicopter parenting has become the standard for responsible parenting, despite data to the contrary. Schools and parents are increasingly making decisions based on the fear of lawsuits or the fear of disapproval from more safety-conscious parents instead of their own best judgement. So this quote from Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book struck me as particularly meaningful.
“I wanted to keep you perfectly safe,” said Silas. “But there is only one perfectly safe place for your kind and you will not reach it until all your adventures are over and none of them matter anymore.”
We should not seek perfect safety for our children, or for anyone we care about.
ByGD
In January of 2013, I saw the brilliant, short-lived Rose Windows at Showbox. Poor Moon and the Cave Singers also played that night. I had recently returned from a solo trip to Iceland for the Airwaves Festival where I saw over 40 shows. But I was already on the bus downtown before I realized that this was the first show I had ever attended by myself in the United States.
ByGD
When I came home from Iceland Airwaves in 2012, I had prepared some hair of the dog. In this case it was tickets to see Neil Young with my mom at Key Arena on Saturday, and a show with my husband at El Corazon on Sunday. We were there to see Insomnium. I had forgotten Epica was on the bill until I stumbled on this picture.