Observation

Ferran Illa : He talks about Food in Briatin. He was nervious, but I really like it.
Jordi Marias : He talks about Animals. He is very good.
Júlia Masó : He is good and interesting.
Francesc Rigau : He was a good. He didn't read and he is very interesting.
Ferran Veciana : He talks about Animals. He was nervious, but it's good.
Ivet Sànchez : He is a very good presentation, there is excellent.

Houses of Interest in Nauvoo

The Willard Richards Inn is currently a place people can stay when they visit Nauvoo. Willard was single when he called as an apostle. Susan Easton Black said, "I know why he was single, he weighed over 300 pounds." He did marry, however, and his wife, Janetta is buried on Hwy 96 as you come in to town and you can see her grave from the road. He was with the prophet, Joseph Smith and the patriarch, Hyrum, at the time of the martyrdom. Prophecies concerning his safety were fulfilled as his earlobe was only grazed by a bullet and no other damage occurred. He later served as a counselor to President Brigham Young and hiked up Ensign Peak when the brethren hiked to survey that Great Salt Lake Valley.

The David Yearsley Home was built in 1840 and was the tallest private residence in Nauvoo. It is believed the foundation rests on solid rock. In 1854, the basement of the house was used as the Nauvoo City Jail. Currently it is missionary housing for the YPMs. The top floor is not usable because there is not an outside fire escape.

This is the Orson Hyde home. He was one of the original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He went on a mission to Palestine and in 1841 on top of the Mount of Olives dedicated the Holy Land for the gathering of the Jews. This home was built in 1843 and occupied by his family. He was also the Apostle that publicly dedicated the original Nauvoo Temple on May 1, 1846. Currently, this home serves as the Nauvoo Pageant offices and is occupied by my dear friends, Elder and Sister McMinn.

This is the Newel K. Whitney home. He was the Presiding Bishop of the Church for many years. His story is more magnificent in Kirtland, but Elizabeth Ann Whitney was chosen by Emma to be one of her counselors when the Relief Society was first organized. One thought to ponder: Emma chose counselors in whose homes she had lived at one time. She knew these women and trusted them. They were faithful and loyal friends.

This is the Coolidge house, later purchased by Johann Georg Kaufmann, as you can see written on the house. Joseph Coolidge and his wife were friends of Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma. He was construction contractor, cabinet maker and joiner. It was built in 1843, but purchased in 1848. The German on it says: I was here and whoever is reading this was also here. This house is mine, but really not mine, and who comes after me, will also be so fine. When I'm on the wagon tour, I read the German to people and then give a rough translation,which they seem to enjoy. I know, "Stick to the script, Sister Geilmann." I wasn't very good at it on my first mission and I'm not any better at it here.

Simeon Dunn was baptized in 1839 in Michigan by his brother, James. He wanted to meet a living prophet so he walked 500 miles to Nauvoo and moved his family here in 1840. Some of my friends live in this house, Elder and Sister Anderson. This is also the home in which the spice tins were found that are now housed in our little bakery.

Memorial Day Weekend Plans

[Charles] So judging by the trickle of traffic on Florida Avenue, we will assume that everybody that isn't already out of town will soon be heading out the door. Tampa Street Market will be closed from Friday to Monday for a much needed long weekend. In order to help you fine folks find something else to do besides come visit our little shop this weekend, I've assembled a list of things that could be worth doing this weekend with help from many of the media outlets available from my little computer here.

How about....

Music and Art with Heart

Friday, May 28

Music and Art with Heart benefits Mote Aquarium and clean up efforts for the Gulf Coast Oil Spill. Live music and live painting from local artists and a silent auctioned of all created works.

Contact:

Dean Johanesen
(941) 730-5322
djohanesen@yahoo.com
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=120862691269952&index=1

Venue:

The Back Alley

121 bridge street

bradenton beach,, FL 34217

Phone: (941) 778-1800

-----

I'm just gonna guess that the crowd will be thin this Saturday at the Seminole Heights Community Garden Saturday morning so if you are in town, bring gloves and a hat!

-----

From Creative Loafing's Green section

Proper Composting Workshop- Saturday, May 29; 12-2 pm. Join us at Twigs and Leaves Nursery for a unique two-hour composting course. Attendees will learn proper composting methods for quality and safety. Composting is an integral part in remediation of waste and reusing of vital nutrients. Topics to include: proper composting, composting manure and meat, creating a home compost, worm composting (vermiculture), and the future of composting. The course will take place on Saturday, April 24 from 12-2pm. Course fee is $35 per person or $100 for a four-course series, Student fee $20 per course or $75 for four-part series. For further information or a class schedule, visit www.FireofHope.org or 727-793-5766. Twigs n Leaves Nursery- 1013 Dr. Martin Luther King St. South in St. Petersburg.

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Sweetwater Organic Community Farm’s Sunday Market- Every Sunday (through May 30); 12-4 pm. Our on-site market features organic produce harvested fresh from our own farm, as well as organic fruits and veggies from other farms. Every week you can enjoy native plants, organic vegetable transplants, and unique products from green vendors and artisans including; fresh baked goods, local honey, homemade soaps, handmade jewelry, organic coffees, veggie burgers and fruit smoothies. You can also enjoy our wonderful ‘Sweetwater Sunday Music Series’ featuring some of the best local musicians and our popular open mic. So come check it out! Shop for your produce and environmentally-friendly products, have a picnic lunch, meet like-minded individuals, and enjoy our orchard and gardens under the trees all while listening to some great live music! Bring your friends, family, and leashed dogs. It’s a great way to support local programs, agriculture and business. Last Sunday market for the season and “clean the fields” harvest bonus share, first come first served. 6942 W. Comanche Ave, Tampa.

Monday Weekend Roundup - Hub Grub II, Oil Spill Photos, and a little Lucero

Not sure who to credit the photo to, got it via email...

[Charles] Here's the latest from some of the blogs I read:

Alan from Bicycle Stories has some great photos from the Hub Grub Ride II which drew out over 120 people this time with a biking politician in tow -Linda Saul Sena and the new police chief Jane Castor.

I am so disgusted and depressed with the oil spill and the damage it is causing on our shores that I can't even stand to write about it right now. Instead I'll send you to some of the shocking Photos from a Treehugger reporter on the spill.

Maybe Kevin Costner can help with the cleanup? From Core77

And if you need something to listen to check out 9Bullets' discussion on some of their favorite bands tunes including Lucero and Drag the River.

Carl Sandburg in Galesburg, Illinois

This is the birth home of Carl Sandburg, poet, and biographer of Abraham Lincoln. He was born and lived for many years in Galesburg, Illinois. This city is also the home of another famous American--Nancy Reagan. She and Ronald, long before they met walked these streets and didn't even know it. Amazing what you learn!!!

Remembrance Rock is where his ashes are interred. His wife and daughters also have their ashes interred under this rock. It's a beautiful garden behind the house and there are stepping stones around it with quotations from some of his most notable poems etched in them.

This was the kitchen of his birth place. Most of the things in this home were owned by his family. They may not have been in this home at the time he was born, but they still belonged to his family, which was interesting to see.

This was one of his guitars. Another thing I didn't know about him before I went to his home was that he was quite a folk song singer. In fact, he collected a whole book of folk songs while he was traveling the railroad as a hobo. He spent a lot of years collecting them and put them into one book. He even gave some concerts, not like we know concerts, but it was amazing to learn the skills this man had.

They had about thirty magazine covers on which Carl Sandburg was pictured. The amazing thing to me was that he had not submitted his work for publication initially, it was his wife. She was the one who received all the rejection letters. What I wonder is how the publishers felt after they realized who they had turned down.

This is a picture in the visitor's center of Carl Sandburg adressing a joint session of Congress. I didn't know he was a socialist. I'm surprised they didn't have a picture of him before the McCarthy committee. Anyway, notice the president of the Senate, then Vice-President Richard Nixon.

This is his old Remington typewriter. I think that's the kind of typewriter I had when I was growing up and I wasn't born nearly as long ago as he was. Little did I know our typewriter was an antique. But my old Apple IIe is an antique now.

The many faces of Carl Sandburg. This was a picture hanging in the main entryway of the visitor's center. The visitor's center is a home that is older than his by about 5 years and is about twice the size. They showed an interview with him and Edward R. Murrow as you enter and then you can look at the memorabilia and the orginial home.

Hub Grub Ride II: The Trek Strikes Back

[Charles] The Seminole Heights Bicycle Club and Alan Snel, our neighbor, bike blogger, and one of the fearless bicycle advocates in Tampa, have put together another Hub Grub Ride for this Saturday. It sounds like they are heading out from the Garden Center at 2:45 and heading through the neighborhood en masse. They will head to Reservations, Starbucks, Viitals, Smoking A's, The Front Porch, Ella's Folk Art Cafe, The Refinery, and The Independent. It's easy to look at this as a way to shamelessly promote our neighborhood businesses, but the larger point is to shamelessly promote our neighborhood's bike friendliness!

We will probably miss out on all of the fun because we'll be working at the shop but feel free to stop by and say hi. I'll even refill your water bottle for you if you're running low. With that many stops and possible beverages available I'll be happy to help with hydration. Also, if you don't have a water bottle, I'll offer half price to anybody that wants to buy one if they are participating in the ride! How's that for service?

Enjoy the ride folks and enjoy the beauty of our neighborhood. There's something about the way the neighborhood looks from a bike that is so different from the view of a car. Please allow me to get philosophically sidetracked as biking always reminds me of the start of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

"In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. " - Robert Pirsig

Hannibal, MO.

About 60 miles south of Nauvoo lies Hannibal Missouri. I suppose if one is not a Mark Twain fan, it wouldn't be worth the drive, but to anyone who appreciates his work, it is such a great place to remember the fine works of a great author. He only lived here about 10 years, but the people of Hannibal knew a good thing when they saw it and declared themselves his hometown. This was Mark Twain's desk. It is located in the museum that houses many of the things that belonged to him and his family. There's also a large riverboat steering wheel and a riverboat whistle here. They have Norman Rockwell pictures that he painted to illustrate Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. There's a stage coach, an ongoing movie of Huck Finn, and a representative cave along with posters depicting the novels of Mark Twain.

This staircase leads to a lighthouse that stands of the top of the hill. It is listed on the National Historic Register. It's 244 stairs to the top and another 244 back down, but we made it. Half way up is a small portion of the original Mark Twain Memorial Bridge built as one of the FDR projects of the 30s. A new bridge has replaced it. When you get to the lighthouse, you have the most spectacular view of the Mississippi River. The light house is no longer in operation, but it stands as a reminder of the many years of service this great river has given to America.

This statue stands at the end of the street where all the boybood memorabilia is located. I think it's so great that they included two of the most notable Twain characters. I caught myself singing some of the songs from the muscial Tom Sawyer.

This is Grant's Drug Store, most probably where Aunt Polly got some of the "remedy" she fed to Tom, who, in turn, fed it to the cat. There is a great Rockwell painting of that incident on the wall behind my vantage point. There was a small tape playing while we were standing there that said most of their medicines were about 75-95% alcohol. No wonder people felt like they needed to keep taking it.

This is Judge Clemens law office and court. When I looked inside, I thought of some of the John Grisham works I have read describing a law office in Mississippi. Judge Clemens never was very successful in his lifetime. In fact, he ended up closing the office "due to the lack of interest".

The haunted house described by Twain in Tom Sawyer. When I was here 10 years ago, you could walk through this wax museum. If you look really hard at the right window, you can see Injun Joe. Now you see the For Sale sign in front. Many of the attractions in Hannibal have been closed because people can't afford to keep them open. In fact, Becky Thatcher's house is in need of several million dollars for rennovaton, so it sits closed.

In each of the rooms of the boyhood home of Mark Twain, they have a statue of him standing by a quotation from one of his books. This was the library of the home. They have glass keeping you from walking into the rooms and it is all a self-guided tour as you walk through the home. He worked in a printing shop for a while as a boy. I found the comparison to Ben Franklin amazing. Maybe there is something to putting words together literally that helps to make literary genius.

This is the Huck Finn House. He was a real person with another name. His life was pretty much as Mark Twain wrote about it. They were very poor. His mother died, so it was just him and his "pap", and often they had very meager settings on their table. It's a two room home, one where you see each window.

This is a model of a statue that was planned to be built in Hannibal, but it was too expensive. This is just a small part of it,but notice the characters that are included from his books, with Mark Twain and Tom Sawyer in the very center. You'll, of course, recognize the prince and the pauper, Becky Thatcher and Cousin Sid, as well. It really is a remarkable walk down memory lane of some of his most notable books.

Gettin' Wild With It!

As promised, here's the second post about the Wild Fibers LYS 

(Local Yarn Shop)

and its hotshot owner, Sarah Parker. ;0) 

She's a bonafide Wild Woman... let me show you why!

Remember that display above from my YMN Conference stage presentation? 

Sarah took notes. 

And created THIS in her store window:

Yes, Sarah took my inspiration and ran with it. 

Right down to having her very own giant knitting needles made! 

The giant purple 'work-in-progress' hanging in the window, 

with a cheerful chartreuse wall as a background, 

is positively traffic-stopping from the outside.

From the colors used to the needles to the 'yarn balls',

every detail  is perfect.

Oh, and then on the other side of the entrance
{with the purple-painted door!},

she put this together:

Notice that she provided two viewpoints for this window display:

From the front, out the window, AND from the back - 

because inside her shop, on your way out the door.

you walk right.past.this.display ;0)

It's a WONDERFULLY inspiring view 

as customers leave with their purchase in hand... 

and don't you think that kind of visual 'goodbye' 

makes them want to come BACK?! Yes!

But wait... there's MORE!

These photos show a huge cabinet that Sarah found in a thrift shop. 

It was green. An 'OK'green, which caught her eye, 

but it wasn't really 'HER' yet. 

After a few coats of chartreuse green paint, 

and having a mirror cut to fit in the back space,

it's definitely her!!!

It serves as a great visual draw as you enter the store - 

it beckons you in and connects visually

to the chartreuse color on the logo wall further back.

If you look at the bottom photo very closely,

you can see the vibrant purple paint 

on the wall of her classroom at the back of the store.

This connects visually to the front door, and to her logo wall.

Sarah has created a brand image of color, creativity, and energy

and immersed her customers in it
from the moment they spy her front windows.

Yup. She paid attention. ;0)

Join me, won't you,  as I offer a standing ovation
to this well-deserving young entrepreneur?
I expect continued creativity and success from her!

Way to go, Sarah!

Visit Wild Fibers in Mt.Vernon, Washington 

and online at www.WildFibers.net

{image credits: DWK for Wild Fibers; used with permission;

all rights reserved by Wild Fibers}

Do Florida politicians understand waste at all?

Photo from Robin Milcowitz of SHCG

[Charles] I've received a couple of emails and faxed a few protest letters this week against a bone-headed bill called HB 569, as in "569 ways to waste mulch". Let me be clear, I'm not a very good gardener or protester, and my cop-out answer is the same for both, because I'm soooo busy! Right, I know, everybody's busy, and that's why this year I resolved on Earth Day to do more letter writing and email forwarding on environmental issues. (I decided that this year I would make an Earth Day resolution as my contribution to the celebration, but that's a different post)

So anyhow, these people, we'll call them "legislators" for lack of a better term, have decided that one of their very favorite ways to champion alternative energy is to use something we call waste to energy. I like to refer to it as "wasted energy" because honestly it's sort of like saying well, "I'm going to burn tires for heat this winter to cut down on all those nasty emissions from the coal plant." So "waste to energy" is the darling of waste management folks in many places including Florida because you can avoid making a new landfill and burn bad stuff and make energy, and who wouldn't like that? Well, what if the fuel in your fire was say... dollar bills? That's not something I'd want to make a log out of, but what do I know right? That's silly anyway, nobody advocates burning dollar bills for energy do they? Well... If you are one of the thousands of gardeners and landscapers and farmers that uses the mulch that is generated in our system right now that is exactly what you are talking about.

Wasted money - You see, in Tampa I can put out a separate can of yard waste - leaves, limbs, and grass clippings and those travel separately to a mulch maker like Mother's Organics out in Seffner that upcycles them into mulch and compost that they can sell back to customers like gardeners and farmers and me. This is apparently a waste of a perfectly good source of methane though. Yep, if we could just get this stuff into our landfills and let it ferment then we could make one of the most noxious greenhouse gases around. Wait, what?! Yep, that's right we can make good ole clean burning methane (except it's not so clean and pretty hard to capture). On top of that in Florida, they don't really want to tap methane, they just don't want to have to send two separate trucks and deal with two separate waste streams.

That means that all of that useful organic material that we work hard to harvest from our yards will go right in the pile of stuff to burn. How about this for a protest? How about let's all pile up our leaves and sticks and go right back to burning them in our yards like we did in the 50's? That way at least I don't have to buy back the energy from them after they burn it for me!

Okay, now that you are as annoyed as I am, please take sixty seconds and follow the link below and pass along how you feel about this bill to those folks in Tallahassee that know so much more about what's good for Florida than you or me...

Mulch not Methane...

or link here...

http://greenflorida.wufoo.com/forms/mulch-not-methane/

This easy link was setup by the amazing folks at Green Florida that have been instrumental in projects that we proudly support like our Seminole Heights Community Garden as well as all of the community gardens that they have helped grow. For additional info on Green Florida

For more information, the original letter from Green Florida is here:
http://green-florida.org/uploads/Veto_HB569.pdf

Also, to get involved with our Community Garden here: http://seminoleheightscg.ning.com/

"There's An App for That!"

Have you been taking my advice on where to get unique, inexpensive props for your displays?
If so, there's a new resource available online that can help you find garage sales, thrift shops, and flea market sales in your area! Check out Garage Sale Tracker online.

AND, to help you make locating great sales even easier, they've created an iPhone App!!!

To promote it, they are GIVING AWAY AN iPHONE! 

Click here for details on how to win, via Twitter and Facebook. 

Contest runs May 4 to June 4, 2010.

I am not involved with the company or the contest, 

they just asked me to help promote it. ;0)

{Image credits: GST; used by permission}

A Walk on the Wild Side

I spent today with a retailer who is determined to do everything she can 

to make her business succeed. And it's working! 

Sarah owns Wild Fibers, a wonderful Local Yarn Shop in Mt. Vernon, Washington, and we met at the YMN Conference in Seattle in March.  At the close of my presentation there, Sarah hired me as a color consultant to help her choose effective paint colors for her retail space. I helped her create a palette of colors that reflect her business brand {which is bright, happy, cheerful, and much like her own bubbly personality}. She has been busy painting for a month, utilizing them in the various areas of her space to direct attention and gain visual impact. {Including a purple front door. Oh yeah!} Sarah told me that she's had many suggestions and a lot of feedback regarding colors for her store - I can't wait to hear some of the comments she gets when her regulars get a load of that door!!!

Today, I painted her business logo on the wall behind the cash wrap.
Doing this accomplished several objectives: 

*The color is a vibrant visual draw, and pulls people toward the back of her long store. 
After looking at it, the eye travels to the products displayed beyond it - and people walk over into that corner.

*The shop name on the wall also helps her build brand image. 
A graphic like this puts an indelible picture in the minds of customers - when they leave, that colorful bright graphic image sticks in their minds' eye. When they hear the word 'wild' or 'fiber', this image will immediately come to mind and remind them of the shop.

*And on a practical note, Sarah will never have to answer the question 'Who do I make the check out to?' again. It's right there in front of her customers as she rings up their purchases.

This is a great shot of the logo wall, the warm & cheerful colors chosen to accent the space, and the power of color on a display fixture. I'm going to share more of Sarah's displays with you in a coming post.... she has always done a great job with her windows and I know you'll find her latest creations very inspiring. Visit her web site to see a few before & after shots of the store.

By the way, Sarah created her own FABulously professional logo.
I told you she was determined!

{images by Debi Ward Kennedy for Wild Fibers}

GHC: Gross & Horrific Chumps

The tagline: Is it coincidence or a bad pun

that it appears over ads for male enhancement drugs on the GHC site?

Dear Gift and Home Channel,
(henceforth to be thought of in my mind as 'Gross & Horrific Chumps")

In 2008 I was speaking at a retail trade show, and met a man who was passionate about a new online 'Resource for Retailers' called the Gift & Home Channel. I threw my backing behind Ray Gaulke's new project and helped him spread the word about it through my blog and speaking engagements beause I believed in it's potential to help the little guys. I did that without compensation. When he asked me to become a guest blogger and Retail Expert for the web site, I did without hesitation. I contributed a blog post every week, and participated in forum discussions on GHC. Without compensation.

When this man told me he wanted to work with me to create video content for GHC, I developed a project, fleshed it out, and pitched it to him. He presented the idea to the board, and they approved my six-video project. Though Ray was removed from the project just before we filmed at the Farm Chicks Show in 2008, replaced by the young assistant to the guy running the show (whom she later married), he remained in the loop on the project. It is only because of him going to bat for me with the head office that I was paid at all. Young assistant renegged on every agreement and promise she made to me and to the people who helped make the filming successful. I had to write a blog post on GHC that included the names & web links for each of the six business women who contributed to the videos for them to receive credit - because GHC refused to include that info in the video border. 'Conflict with ad revenues', you said.

I reviewed two version of the 'newly revamped' GHC web site without compensation, yet never received a thank you or acknowledgment that I had done so. GHC later removed this man's founding presence from all involvement with GHC. Immediately after that, GHC removed the editorial director. Following that, I started to receive cryptic emails from two shady characters about the 'new direction' GHC was taking and how they valued my input so much that they wanted me to help develop another 'off branch' web site. I declined to provide any further expertise, content, or time to GHC at that point. And yet, I still promoted them via my online marketing.

I noticed long ago that the forums have had no activity for over a year, and that no new members were joining. I noticed that blog posts by other members and 'experts' were basically advertisements to hire them for services, or to buy their books;/books on tape/videos/tutorials, etc. I noticed that the profiles and pages on Facebook had incomplete information and no activity.

Now I have noticed the appearance of advertising presented as GHC 'blog posts' by members. That in an of itself is annoying - but to log in and find not one, not two, but DOZENS of duplicate ads for male enhancement drugs is offensive beyond measure. Clearly, GHC is not only not functioning as intended - an online 'Resource for Retailers' - but it is not being monitored by anyone with a brain. Tell me: is it pure coincidence or a perverse sense of humor behind the new GHC tagline ' Helping Retailers Grow' and these sophomoric ads????

I will no longer support or promote GHC, link to it from my business pages & sites, or list it on my resume. I'm keeping the embedded players for the video series I filmed (hosted by another web service, not GHC) because I know it offers helpful information to my readers... but every other bit of promotion for GHC is being removed from my professional resources.

While I am proud of my contributions to the original site and purpose, I do not want to be associated with the disaster that it has become of late. What a sad reflection on those involved at the top level, and a slap in the face to all of us who contributed of our time, energy, experience, and knowledge to help make you what you WERE. You used us, and now you abuse us. Unacceptable.

I have to ask:
Craig Park, Brittany Lund Park, are you even there anymore?
Do you have ANY IDEA what is going on at GHC? Do you CARE?

* A former GHC staffer contacted me and said that it is her belief that this 'company' is no longer in business, nor is anyone administrating the site. Whomever has control now has disabled member passwords - so I can't log in and delete my content How nice that all of us contributors were left to be forever associated with a spam ad site. *

My Plan for Tropical Heatwave this Saturday

Ella is in for it this weekend... My daughter doesn't know it yet, but I'm dragging her and her mom to one of my favorite events of the year.

WMNF's Tropical Heatwave is our community radio station's big fundraiser/concert/block party in Ybor City. This is something that is well covered by the official media with lists of bands not to miss and all that.

Some of the things that they don't talk about in all of the news coverage is the unpredictable and outlandish fun that is inherent to this show. The volunteers at WMNF are really dedicated folks who pour their hearts into this event with decorations and details to handle for months in advance. The funny thing is that all of that love and good spirit flows over to the crowd and for the most part, this will be one of the nicest blend of crowds all year. Parents with kids stand shoulder to shoulder with old hippies and young rockers in a real testament to the way this music overlaps and influences each genre.

Also, don't forget the food! Vegetarian options are usually well represented at WMNF shows. I remember crouching down on the sidewalk last year and sopping up tibs from the Queen of Sheba restaurant with some of their world class injera bread.

For me, I want to see lots of bands, but also, I realize that you don't want to spend the whole show just juggling for position and running up and down stairs at the Cuban Club. My plan (which will definitely fall apart by Saturday) consists of catching a few bands I want to see and not running around too much because I'll be wearing a backpack with our little Ella in it and she'll be wearing the adorable pink ear protection seen above.

My Heatwave plans basically consist of deciding where I want to be and who I really don't want to miss. My personal preference is to stay near the Cuban Club and not slog too far afield.

Here's my plan so far:

5:00 -- 5:55

Tomas Delamnoy & Somos Musica

Salsa and merengue - Cuban Club Bandshell

(catch the first part of this set, I hear they are amazing)

5:25 -- 6:25

Nervous Turkey

Raucous blues - around the back at El Pasaje Plaza

(we'll get here in time to catch all of Ernie's fun and full on harmonica action )

6:20 -- 7:35

Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge

Latin jazz - Cuban Club Bandshell (top notch latin jazz and representative of the Saturday Latin Jazz and Salsa show on WMNF - one of the best shows on the radio anywhere)

(I'm already in too many places at once!!!)

6:00 -- 6:55

GreyMarket

Electronic rock - at Crowbar

(hope to catch them although Crowbar might be too much of a haul and it'll be time for a beverage...)

6:50 -- 8:10

Ruthie Foster

Blues, folk & R&B - Back at El Pasaje Plaza

(I saw Ruthie back in the day in Texas when I was in college - she was awesome then and she has only gotten better, this is one of my do not miss shows of the day)

8:00 -- 9:05

Rachel Goodrich

Quirky folk-pop - down in the Cuban Club Cantina

(this looks like a fun show and I've heard good things about her - check out her Youtube videos from her New World Brewery shows)

8:10 -- 9:15

Lumiscent Orchestrii

Romanian Gypsy punks from New York City - Cuban Club Ballroom

(there will be dancing and this is one of the best rooms for dancing in the city, honestly this room always makes me happy I came to the show - it just sends your mind spinning to ballroom dances of a bygone era)

After that it is useless to plan. We might be worn out by then, or we might go on to see something at a far flung venue. I have never made it to the end of the night at Heatwave and that always means I miss someone I would love to see. This year with my new daughter I don' t expect to make it much past 9:00. That's okay though, the music is contagious and I know that these are the experiences that will shape her mind and tastes whether she remembers it or not.

With such a great selection of bands and the friendliest concert goers in town, I wouldn't have her first real concert be anywhere else... See ya Saturday!!!

http://wmnf.org/heatwave/

Photo from the amazing local photographer Elawgrrl who will most definitely be at Heatwave...

Check her out at Flickr -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elawgrrl/2435053879/in/set-72157623530835658/