Willo O'Brien

Not much to say but that I’ve been keeping really busy. I have so many fun things happenin… but the to-do list never ends and having Aimee here this week has been making it a tad more challenging to knock out the things I need to be doing. She’s been having fun though!

Yesterday I sent her out on my bike and she rode from the Giant’s Stadium/Embarcadero all the way to Chrissy Field/GG Bridge. On the way she saw all the sites in the Wharf, Palace of Fine Arts and the Exploratorium. I live in such an awesome city!!!!!!

Lastnight we went out for some TASTY sushi at Hamano. One of my favorites. It was hard to decide where to take her – there’s so many great sushi places here. Aimee said that the rock & roll they serve at the place she goes to in New Orleans is more of a shrimp tempura roll w/ veggies and snow crab. I told her I don’t believe it :p She said “that’s wierd, huh?” And I said no, it’s just plain WRONG! What kind of sushi joint are they runnin over there? I thought that was the same everywhere – but I guess not. Weird huh?

Anyway – lastnight’s sushi was amazing. Hamachi Nigiri is one of my favorites – and their Maguro was melt in your mouth yummy and fresh, too. Mmm… my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

p.s. if you like sushi or wanna learn more about it, go check out Jason’s rawfish.tv. Once again one of those things he did that made me wish I did it first :p

Today I took Aims to Boogaloos for breakfast and we walked down Valencia St a little bit. Aaah, the pleasures of being self employed! On the flip side I am going to be working my arse off when she leaves!!!

This weekend should be fun tho – some happy hour fun times, a BBQ and then we’re hittin North Beach, too. Tonite however is chill night. We’ll probably watch one of my DVD’s… Spirited Away or Bottle Rocket. She hasn’t seen either!

Later gators

Lastnight Aimee & I met up with Jane for a small bite to eat and then headed over to the Make-Out Room to see my friend David Hopkins play.

Beam was playing when we showed up, and they’re really good. The lead singer, Helene Renaut, is french and has a very pretty voice. Very Mazzy Star-ish. Later on I chatted with their drummer, Russ, about my desire to become a drummer and asked him if he he ever got tired of just keepin the beat. He said that was all part of it, and that it’s all worth it when you get a few “moments” (to jam).

David Hopkin’s drummer has played with the Counting Crows, apparently, and he was really good. Especially on a song that David proclaimed he didn’t especially like… I loved the drum beat on that one cuz it was really up and everyone was enjoying the jam. David actually had a whole team of talented peeps up there. Aimee and I were quite impressed with every one of them, and were especially impressed with his guitar player, Mike Papenburg, who did this great slide guitar move that sounded like a cello. (I’m sure someone knows what this is really called, so lemme know) David says there’s no special name for it, he calls it the “Mike P Special”. :)

I got a copy of David’s unreleased CD about a month ago, and it’s been in heavy rotation. So hearing him play songs I know (and really dig), was excellent. He’s playing again at Beth Waters CD Release party at Cafe du Nord this Saturday. If you like Nick Drake, Elliot Smith, David Gray or just damn good music (since he’s not really as mellow as those might sound)… you won’t be disappointed.

~~~

Speaking of good music, check out this cool San Francisco music calendar I just found.

There’s this one song I keep hearing and I love it – but haven’t been able to figure out who the band is. Finally today I caught it & found out. It’s a song by Kings of Leon. It’s called Molly Chambers. It’s awesome!! Apparently they just played Lalapalooza and are going to be at the KROQ show Jee and I were thinking of headin down to (but now it’s sold out! darn! lemme know if you can get us tickets!)

anyway, I’m diggin that song by Kings of Leon… I hope the rest of their album is as good!

Most people are out enjoying their [labor] day off, but as an independant contractor, my freelancing biz takes priority these days.

After taking a nice hike with my friend Rachel, I’ve been home all day knee deep in contracts, timelines and deliverables for a handful of clients. Feeling quite licit, really. :)

My friend Aimee arrives in town tomorrow from New Orleans. She’s never been out here to visit, so I’m looking forward to having her here and showing her the sites! That’s also another reason I’ll be working my butt off today :) I have to get work done so I can play just a little bit this week!

So far the only things planned are to try to hit the Daniel Lanois show on the 3rd or 4th – and then I’d like to try to get out & see David Hopkins play this weekend at Cafe du Nord. I also had a painting date with Trina planned for Friday, so I’ll see if Aimee is so inclined :) Otherwise my friend & I will make it another time. I’m looking forward to beginning to paint more!

Jane actually recounted it well here, however I have to say I am now dreaming of a certain someone with more desire than ever before. Wait till you see my dorky photo with him. I really wanted just to lay one on him, but his wife probably wouldn’t have liked that :)

Guster was great live. Definitely pick up their new album. It’s different than there stuff before somehow. It’s really good… the lead singer has a great voice. They did a Talking Heads cover today (Jane smartly pointed out as I knew it sounded familiar but it took me a second). All I could say to that is “I love David Byrne.”

The movie we watched tonite was soooo cute and sweet and wonderful. I definitely recommend it (despite us not liking the ending, but don’t listen to that, just rent it and watch it. Guess it just goes to show we were sucked in so much we wanted to have it keep going. But grrr is what we say to that kind of ending!)

I was actually supposed to join Brendan in his 3rd Annual Dive Bar Pub Crawl tonite.. but alas I didn’t feel like drinking so I bailed on the plan. I tried to talk myself into it, I really did – but even after getting the faithful “heads you go” on the quarter, I just couldn’t stop the whining voice inside my head begging me to lay low and watch a movie instead. I feel bad I bailed on Brendan, cuz I’ve certainly given him shit for not coming through on his word, but I knew I wouldn’t be any fun if I weren’t really down for some serious drinkin’.

Oh – and I found out my Mom discovered my blog today. Hi Mom. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!!!!!!

G’night everyone.

At one point I had contemplated going to Burning Man… and if I had, I’d be there now. I have a large handful of friends who did go… I can’t wait to hear the stories & see the photos!

I decided that I wanted to travel instead, which I’m STILL going to do! Despite the leading vote being for Italy, I think I want to visit Greece. However in looking at airfare it’s way more expensive than I’d like. Oooh suuuugaaar daaddy where aaaare yoooo???? hahhaaa. Just kidding. I’m a successful business woman, on my own, I can do it!

*sigh* We’ll see.

Lastnight I hit the Marc Chagall exhibit at the Moma. I was psyched to see it, as I’d even received emails saying do not miss it. I thought it was good. My museum buddy and I did the audio tour, which was great because I learned a lot more about Chagall than I would have otherwise. It’s nice to see a whole lifetime of someone’s work, and in Chagall’s case how the war and his wife’s death effected his art.

I fancy modern art quite a bit myself. I love Robert Rauschenberg the very most. His work is so varied and explorative.

I wish I could see the current Whitney exhibit in NYC. Apparently Sarah Sze is there now, whom my friend has been raving to me about. I was reading about it in the New Yorker this morning over coffee and it made me want to go visit! Matt gave me this mag to read the article on Chan from Cat Power (and she’s showin a little riskee area that is quite fun to see). There’s also an excellent story written by David Sedaris in the issue, too. He rocks.

Today I didn’t actually get out of the house till this evening, to go meet up w/ a friend. He had picked me up a Pacific Sun from Marin, that apparently has some leads for my wall painting biz. A nice mellow evening w/ tea and a slice of carrot cake. mmm!

Now, if I can pull myself away from the computer, I might tackle organizing my CD’s that are stacked up all around my house. I’m all book, so between having a party and being lazy putting them back, it’s a mess.

Checking out Bishop Allen.

Today I’m feeling kinda sad. I’m having urges to medicate (however, I know no drug or drink will really help, so I don’t). I want to be around people who I can relate to – whom I know, they know me, they interest me, they want to hold me and love me… and I want to be loved by them.

I feel like crying. I feel a big lump in my throat.

I am remembering old memories. One I will never forget was when my family and I were moving out of our small duplex and into a house in town. I was about 12 or 13 at the time and the 40 something year old lady who lived in the other side of our duplex was more my friend than my parents. She was from the east coast. She was independent, creative and told it like it is. She also had this cool bed type of recliner that you could turn on and it massaged your whole body, with a neat remote to control it’s speed and rhythm for your neck, back or legs.

When I was home sick and my parents were at work, she would come over offering me her yummy homemade soup. I was sure it was her soup that made me get better every time. I found out after a couple weeks of spending time with her that she was fighting cancer. She would often talk about loves she’d had in her life and comforted me through my adolescent ordeals by reminding me that life would always change and I would grow up and every passing month and year would bring something new. That life as I knew it, and all the pain that occasionally came with it, would eventually pass.

When I found out we were moving from that duplex, I was sad that I would no longer have my wise friend next door. I knew I had to start packing up my room and found myself really overwhelmed. I didn’t like that nothing would ever be the same. The thought of change wasn’t comforting anymore, but instead felt scary and big and made me want to keep everything in my room just as it was and never leave.

My friend reminded me of how wonderful moving can be. That my new place was better and I’d have a new view out my window, and be closer to my school. She helped me with my anxiety of packing by suggesting I didn’t have to organize or preserve anything in any certain way… Pointing out that I was moving so close, all I really had to do was throw everything in boxes and I could unpack it and organize it on the other end, in my new home. It helped. I didn’t have to think about what I was packing or how it was going to arrive. I all of sudden realized that everything around me was a part of me and as long as it was going where I was going, no matter how perfectly arranged or packed, that it would still be with me and everything would be ok. And it was.

Today I feel like I want someone to comfort me through these changes in my life. Remind me that it’s just right the way it is and that everything is going to be ok.

This is awesome! I say dammit cuz it’s one of those “Dammit! Why didn’t I do that first!!?!?” type of things :)

But, moving beyond my envy, check out this awesome integration of video in Flash MX on Ellen Degeneres’s site. Fun huh!? If I go to LA, I’d go to a taping.

I love Ellen… I actually ran into her on the streets in LA once and stopped and talked to her (like the outgoing vivacious 20 year old in a mini-skirt that I was).

Maybe I could go down to the screening and in the middle stand up & start waving my hands in the air to get her attention and yell “Hey Ellen! Ya, remember me? Ya! It’s Willo, we met like 8 years ago, and I was walking by and you were sitting there out in front of that cafe on S. Beverly with your girlfriend, and so I stopped and said hi cuz I was a big fan of your HBO special…!”

She’d love that right? ;)

Well for what it’s worth she was very nice.

Wasn’t she just the BEST as “Dory” in Finding Nemo!?! LOVED THAT!

Go Ellen…. Go Ellen!

[link from jasonzada.com]

Working from home I quickly realized my kitty, Kazoo does nothing more than SLEEP all day long!!!! Sleep, eat, clean himself, look out the window, sleep some more. Some hard life this fuzzy pants has!!!!

LOOK! Kazoo Wallpaper!!