mipmup.

the free tickets.

remember how i was caller 2 this week? the concert was last night (after trying to get ready while the electricity on our block was out) and we have discovered a new favorite artist: shemekia copeland (who was not the headliner, by the way).

describing her voice is powerful is an extreme understatement. her voice is everything a blues singer's should be: deep, intense, strong, or as her bio states more accurately it's a "huge, blast-furnace" voice. she played just five songs from her volume of work (three albums to date), but those songs left a great impact on my better half (a musician) and i. perhaps my favorite song was "ghetto child" written by her late father, johnny clyde copeland, a texas blues guitarist. not only were the music and lyrics incredibly moving ("but i went to school one mornin'/and the teacher she told me/when you come back child, have on some shoes/i'm just the ghetto child/somebody please please help the ghetto child/i'm just the ghetto child/in this so-called, in this so-called free land"), but she went off-mic during the song and her voice resonated throughout the auditorium loudly, deeply and intimately.

she is backed by an excellent band and a standout drummer, barry harrison. i liked that she was very respectful of her band, letting their solos take the limelight, following with their names and allowing them to shine, too. i could see how someone with that voice could be bigger than life and have that get in the way of the core musicians that make it happen.

i did feel that her stage presence was a little uncertain at times; like she needed to just let go, but that she felt awkward. she commented that she couldn't see us because of the lights and that we were very quiet. i think she needs the energy of a club venue perhaps. next time, i would like to see her at a venue a bit less stodgy that the luckman fine arts complex auditorium at cal state la (albeit a nice one). blues just begs for more loose environs.

check out her albums on amazon or on her own site (i was disappointed that she is not on itunes).

more info on the artist and tour dates.

(shemekia was followed by headliner, taj mahal who gave such a lackluster performance that we left three songs in. he had a whole jimmy buffet vibe, a sloppy drummer and a whole lotta nothing going on.)

art credit: shemekia copeland.

the russian had me at "would you like to try some hand cream?"

following my own simple shopping advice, i went to my local whole foods market today to buy some much-needed face moisturizer, eye make-up remover and shampoo. not only am i out of the formerly worn $100-moisturizer i use, but i am looking for more natural skin care products so i thought that would be a good place to start.

well chance would have it that a russian skin care company, mirra, was having an in-store demo today. i spent 15 glorious minutes with paulina, the russian-accented skin care expert who made me want to go into a yummy, drool-filled slumber as she carefully espoused the benefits of about 10 products. (sometimes when certain people talk to me, i just get all glowy and light inside. it's like being told a story when you were little. something about it and this paulina had it. i totally wanted to be her friend and have lunch with her or something. the whole thing reminded me of keri smith's grapefruit experience.)

i learned a lot while talking with her. the company is new to the us, but has been around for eight years in russia and throughout europe. currently, the products are available at southern california whole foods stores. mirra uses special "cold emulsification" technology to create their products without employing heat. according to their literature, all ingredients are plant based (except some have milk or caviar in them — they didn't stink, don't worry, but just the thought of fish egg extract on my face had me thinking "no thank you."), have no artificial coloring, contain no hormones or pharmaceuticals, are naturally preserved — and they do not test on animals. and their unique packaging employ pumps to avoid nasty germs and such — you can't contaminate them.

first, the products smelled delicious. i have never been a synthetic fragrance type of person (i don't/can't wear perfume) and so i tend to shy away from products with lots of strong scents like those by lancôme paris. paulina tried the products on my hands and i did not want to wash them — they smelled that good. clean, fresh and natural, almost like fruit.

she was very helpful and detailed in her explanations. i wanted to try out the products before i bought them because well, you never know. since the sample sizes were all reserved for the upcoming trade show (see below), she just went to the salad station and packaged me up a bunch in to-go salad dressing containers. they must be kept refrigerated and only last three days like that, so i'll be using them starting tonight and letting you know how they are. these products are also very affordable, which fits in nicely with my goals. no product is over $50.

i will be trying:

• cleansing lotion, $23 for 4.2 ounces. this herbal cleanser is a bit different. it's a non-foaming liquid that is applied with a cotton ball and swiped across the face. this will be a change for me, so we'll see how i do.
• tonic lotion, $23 for 4.2 ounces. this is a clarifying toner and it was perhaps my favorite product. it had notes of grapefruit (my favorite) and just left my hand feeling really clean, but not dry.
• madonna, moisturizing day cream, $25 for one ounce (but i think whole foods had it on special). this is a very lightweight moisturizer that i could wear every day. i can imagine it would be especially good in the summer/fall when it's really hot here in la.
• bifiron balm, intensive skin softener with cultured bifidus, $26 for 2.5 ounces. this felt really good on my hands, very rich and creamy, yet not too oily. but, it does have dairy in it (bifidus products are produced from concentrated milk). not sure how i feel about that yet.
• mummiyo, anti-aging cream. $37 for one ounce. this product contains shilajit, which means "conqueror of mountains and destroyer of weakness" in sanskrit. in addition to "conquering the weakness" of aging by renewing skin cells (please let it be true), paulina said since shilajit contains 85 minerals, it was good for people with skin conditions like psoriasis and rosacea, so i'm going to tell my sisters, both sufferers, about this one.

in store, i tried their eye cream ($43 for one ounce), which made my undereye area feel a little cool and refreshed; their hand cream ($22 for 2.5 ounces) which smelled good enough to eat; and their eye micro-emulsion ($25 for .10 fluid ounce), which would be perfect for sleeping on.

if you're interested, the company will be exhibiting next week (5-7 march) at the natural products expo west show in anaheim, calif. it looks like they allow "outside industry" guests.

i hope the products live up to the in-store experience. i've never been so excited to wash my face!

ps as for the eye make-up remover, i am trying herbessence makeup remover by aubrey organics, saving about $15 from my usual soothing eye make-up remover by dermalogica (who does not test on animals, but i'm switching to save money). as far as shampoo, this whole foods only carried a couple of kiss my face shampoos and the ones they carried had eucalyptus in them (not for me). so i chose nature's gate herbal shampoo with chamomile, saving about $6 from my usual terax product (again, they don't test, but i'm trying to save some coin and go with more natural products). i'll keep you posted on those, too.

---

update: after three days of using these products, i can tell you that i fully endorse them. the cleansing lotion and tonic are by far my favorites, followed by the madonna and mummiyo lotions. i found the bifiron balm had a bit too much moisture power for my skin type. i really like these products because they are very, very light and not the least bit greasy. i've already told you about the smell; it was just heavenly closer up. while my better half did not notice any difference (no big surprise there), i felt like my pores (how he has described innocently as "big" in the past) were smaller. the products felt like they were actually working too. a little tingle. a little cool. my skin just felt fresh — like after you get a facial. i will be going back to purchase said items this week.

on the eye make-up remover front things went pretty well with my little experiment. i have to work a little bit harder with this remover to get my mascara off, but on the whole, my eyes felt really good and were not irritated at all. i also feel like i'm getting a little bonus because the oils in the remover serve double-duty as moisturizers, too.

the shampoo didn't give me goosebumps, however. it left my hair frizzy and dry. plus, i needed a lot of shampoo to get the sudsiness that i crave. i will be moving on and will post my next trial here.

shampoo update: i decided to go with my old standby, aveda. i had originally boycotted them when they switched their distribution to "concept salons" only. i could no longer go to my local beauty supply or order online to buy their products, which was quite inconvenient for me. luckily, there is a salon very nearby now, so i don't have any heartburn when i need a refill. i am using their sap moss shampoo and shampure conditioner. i really love the shampoo. it is helping my dry hair. the shampure is great, though i may get the rosemary mint conditioner next time. and for deep treatment, i have my eye on curessence.

off the richter.

how much do you love the video for "hey mama" by bep? the energy. the moves. the groove. the clothes. (ps i so want to be fergie — she rocks! instead, as my better half sweetly and - i'm pretty sure - jokingly - pointed out, i'm more of the josie grossie variety.)

this band is amazing — the whole album just rules. and check out the down-to-earth gallery on their site. they are keepin' it real yo. i really just ♥ them. i mean, i'm feelin' them. yeah. that's what i'm doin'.

art credit: black eyed peas/interscope.

trash or treasure?

i'm officially part of the grocery list collection! see my list in section 401-450.

what is the grocery list collection you may ask? well, according to the very talented bill at keaggy.com:
"i found an abandoned grocery list in a schnuck's parking lot in st. louis in 1996 or 1997. i decided to keep them every time i came across one. and the internet is a great place to do stupid things. so here it is."

it's pretty fascinating.

send your list to bill at keaggy dot com.

thanks to my friend at life begins @ thirty for the "random interesting link" that led me there.

"art" (and shopping) credit: me.

prince!

ohmygod! prince is touring starting tour march 29 in la! he is one of my all-time favorite artists. i hope its his music from the early 80s. was never a big fan of the "around the world in a day" stage. i can already hear "private joy," "when you were mine" and "d.m.s.r.!"

my sister and i even used to love, love, love watching "purple rain." don't laugh. we thought apollonia was so hot! remember "sex shooter?" shootin' love in your direcshown! the purple motorcycle? the feud with the time?

i have to get tickets. the end.

support iraqi women's rights.

got this in my inbox yesterday from the feminist majority foundation.

us may overturn iraq's vote to put family law under islamic law
the chief american administrator in iraq yesterday told a group of iraqi women that he will block any attempt to make islam the main source of law in iraq's constitution. iraqi women's rights activists and us women's groups such as the feminist majority have been protesting the iraqi governing council's recent vote on resolution 137 to place family law under the jurisdiction of sharia law. bremer has to sign into law all the measures, including the interim constitution, voted upon by the 25-member us appointed iraqi governing council. learn more.

take action to urge the bush administration to use its authority to overturn the governing council's vote to cancel current family laws in iraq.

join or donate to the foundation.

sign-up for the foundation's email updates.

desperate.

i am desperate for help here. please, any propeller heads, i beg of you, assist me before i jump out my first story window into the brick patio below.

i'm a mac os x v. 10.2.8 kinda gal, but i have to deal with just one pc (for finance stuff) running win98se (ugh, i know). i am pulling out my hair because i cannot get wireless internet access through the pc card (linksys wpc11) since i recently switched to a netgear router (model mr814v2, 802.11b cable/dsl wireless router). i have tried changing the card to a different slot, reinstalling software/drivers, spoofing the mac address, ensuring wep was correct, reconfiguring the network/lan settings and still can't access the internet. i can ping the router though. this pc from hell is basically why i switched in the first place, but that's another rant.

to make matters worse, when i contacted linksys tech support, their livechat does not support safari nor explorer for the mac, so i had to install the 50+mb netscape 7.1. then when i tried to chat i kept getting a "java not enabled" error message, when in fact, java was enabled. so i sent an email. to which, i will most likely get an autoreply based on keywords in my message. at which point, i will be in the same quagmire i'm in right now.

arghhh!

if anyone can suggest something to try, i would really appreciate it. i haven't found that much myself, except this (which i tried) and this (most of which i tried).

ps all of this plus target was out of tp today. how can target be out of tp?!

i was caller 2.

to begin: first, i never call radio stations (ok, well i haven't since i was like 12). second, i never win anything. not at holiday parties. not at bingo. not the lottery. not superbowl pools.

after a quick trip the farmers' market today — with haley huddled in the tolittleforher backseat — for some staples (organic herbs, lemons, yu choy, purple garlic), i headed home with the jazz station playing. when i started the car, i just heard the tail end of the announcer saying "...the next five callers will win tickets."

so i dialed. somehow, i just knew i should.

five rings later, "can you hold? you're caller two."

so i have a date on saturday night with my better half to listen to some jazz.

maybe the universe has changed its mind about me after all.

marriage leads to murder! film at 11!

ok, guv, this is not one of your movies. just wanted to get that straight. unfortuately, california's governor (and "mr. tree" in the photo most likely) actually "fears unrest unless same-sex marriages are halted". certainly there's drama at city hall, but not that kind of drama. talk about extremes. brothherr.

oh and now, bush has put a stake in the ground. great.

those kooky celebs!

in today's "daily dish" victoria beckham thinks a little chemical tanning is safe and claudia schiffer says, "like many mothers, she is having problems gaining weight because she had been breastfeeding her son."