little red fox

trying to sleep

Download 01 Floating

Download 08 The Nightingale

...but its not working out.

Listening to Julee Cruise. I do love her. A breath of my non-conformist New Orleans beginnings/youth...seemingly calming but maybe not?

Those of you who have trouble sleeping--how do you attempt to remedy it? I think I may spend the rest of my life trying. Teas, pills, music, meditation...sigh.

The one great thing about not sleeping--besides the strangely lovely feeling of being the lone soul in your parts--I get so many wonderful ideas of things to make and do. It might even be the most creative time for me. So I really can't complain. But it does feel lonely every once in a while.

I've stopped sewing for the time being. I had two-too many road blocks that made me mad and so I'm done for the forseeable future. I've moved on to drawing for now. I've resumed work on my comic book-slash-illustrated novel about angry dolls with missing parts and my childrens' book about the little girl with the peg leg. Screw sewing. Too anal for me all of a sudden. Plus I have what feels like 11 minutes of the day to be creative (when I'm not on stage) and I need a portable project that can be worked on backstage and the pressure of squeezing in sewing-machine time was getting stressful. I still have a jumper outfit profect but it is officially on hold until I am more pleasant in regards to sewing.

Also I'm tired. Very tired.

Sweet dreams to the rest of you for whom sleep comes easy and for the rest of us...well...

 

P.S. I attempted to attach two Julee Cruise songs for you up there at the top. I think they open up in a separate window if you care to hear and be hypnotized...

some things making me happy...

This wonderful gift from my sweet mom for Christmas--a set of 100 markers. She knows me well! 

This outrageously wonderful outfit that I stole from one of your blogs but forgot to note which one! Who did I steal it from? Let me know so I can give you proper credit...but this is perfection. Head to toe. (UPDATE: Rachel was very sweet and reminded me that I found it off her blog here. Unfortunately she didn't note where she found it from, either, but it sure it cute! And thank you, Rachel :)

This dress from Anthropologie that will be mine. Even if I have to make it. It. Is. Mine. That ruffle and collar? Cupcake perfection.

New shoozies! These are the most perfect little ankle boot with a spat-like feature that just thrills me. 

Bessie Smith. I just purchased the complete recordings on iTunes and she has been my soundtrack the past few days as I piddle about in my craft room or walk around the city... I have an old vinyl LP that I love but record-playing is rather site-specific so I took the plunge and bought it. She's just incredible. Sultry and sexy and hilarious and just a powerhouse. I'm so comforted by the lack of "production" in music like this: it's just her in real time, with minimal accompaniment belting it out from way down deep. Magic.

• Also on my happy-making radar: This sweet tutorial from Poppytalk (if your name is Mr. Wood DO NOT LOOK AT THAT LINK!!) 
• This recipe is extremely exciting to me. Stay tuned for its debut in the Garrison/Wood household. 
• This silent movie which I just bought and warrants an entire post unto itself.
• AND! Thanks to all you lovely, smart ladies I learned that the style of champagne glass from my last post is actually referred to both as a "coupe" and a "saucer." I love learning new things! So thank you for your help! (Here is a helpful blog post about it--including the mythical "origins" of its provocative shape ;)

way to go, girls!

The girls were so wonderful last night! They sounded and looked beautiful and I just could not be happier for them.

I am a very lucky lady to have so many incredible friends in my life. En masse they are an embarassingly rich collection of beauty, talent, intellect and crazy fun times and two of these dear, dear friends have a star on the rise and it's so exciting to watch. They are consistently classy, gracious, kind, sensible and where a lot of celebrities in real life can be disappointing (and believe me, I know), these girls get better the more you know them. And it's comforting to me to see great things happening to people who truly deserve it. At least parts of the universe function like you think it should :) Their new album is coming out in February--so keep an eye out and if you buy their music, know you are supporting some ladies who are salt of the earth sweethearts who have manners and were raised right.

Also thrilling was getting to meet the adorable Juli Anna! A fellow blogger and all around good soul who was so sweet to introduce herself after the twins played. One of the more amazing aspects of writing a blog is the gift of meeting like-minded people and feeling connected in a world that can sometimes give you the opposite sensation. It really is a present. In the midst of a big life adventure, the writing on her blog is always so positive and fresh with a serious intellect cooking underneath--and as I came to find out last night--unsurprisingly she is a writer as well! She also looked absolutely adorable but I have no proof as neither of us thought to get a picture of us together. Next time, Juli Anna! And truly it was so nice to make your acquaintance :)

After I forced a ridiculously healthy smoothie concoction down their throats (it's hard to eat well on the road!) the twins sped off into the glorious afternoon on their way to the next tour stop. Safe travels, girls! We're all so proud of you both.

(P.S. I'm actually not sure how this works, but Little Red Fox is on Facebook's Networked Blogs. You can follow it here if you like to do that sort of thing. Maybe you already subscribe to the RSS feeder thing? With Networked Blogs, it might be similar--I imagine you would be notified when I post but I'm not 100% sure. Isn't this the vaguest offer of not-quite-sure-what-ness you've ever kind of gotten or not gotten?? Sigh. I'm just trying to keep up. :)

the boswell sisters

I am becoming a obsessive weirdo about music from the 1930s and 1920s and I just can't help it. It's a very specific feeling unlike anything I get from contemporary music. I've always been nostalgic when it comes to music and clothes--in high school I listened to the same music my parents listened to in high school. It's not that I don't appreciate modern music, I like some of it a lot but this stuff takes me somewhere else entirely. And I am especially fond of these ladies above, so I had to share.

If you don't know who they are, you can check this out. They actually had far-reaching influence on quite a few people, musically and were big radio stars. And--crazily enough--the lead singer, Connie was in a wheelchair the whole time. But it was mostly on the radio so no one really knew.

I had heard them before, but didn't know who they were until I bought this compilation from iTunes (best ever introduction to this period--highly recommended):

(How weird is this album cover, by the way? It's like psychedelic 30s.)

What caught my ear about the Boswell Sisters instantly was beyond nostalgic--something was so intimate and familiar and I felt incredibly wistful and wasn't sure why until I realized--it was the accent of my grandmother Mae-Mae. The Boswell sisters are from New Orleans (like me) which has a very specific sound and to  my ear--it's apparently associated with Mae-Mae first. It was pretty amazing. She's been gone a long time but for a second it was like I was listening to her.

Anyway--all that aside--they have the coolest sound. Their songs and harmonies are divine and if you are at all a fan, or even just interested, listen to "The Object of My Affection" or their spooky rendition of "42nd street" or even "Coffee in the Morning and Kisses in the Night" which I think is pretty sexy for its day...

oh, betty...

This is too weird and wonderful not to share...(and you should pause the site's music player to the right so as not to miss ONE MOMENT of Cab Calloway's genius...) The cartoon is long, but the 'Minnie the Moocher' portion is so crazy and amazing. And they used Cab to animate all the movements of 'Bimbo' the walrus. So weird...

trouble in paradise, indeed...

 
The above is the Ernst Lubitsch 1932 film "Trouble in Paradise" which we, as a cast, viewed today as research. The author of our play, Sanson Raphaelson, also wrote this gem. And I have to say, I think it might be one of my favorite movies of all time. It is absolutely hilarious--and not in spite of, but I think because of our modern sensibilities, surprisingly. It's so incredibly strange, and very sexual (it was pre-Hayes act, thank goodness!) and the performances are absolutely divine. I think it's easy to forget that people had incredibly sophisticated, wry, weird and wonderful senses of humor back then--because some of them did and made movies. If you like classic movies and you haven't seen this one--run, don't walk. Apparently it's considered one of the very first forefathers of what we think of as "modern comedies." Look at this shot:

Almost looks like a shot from a Hitchcock film, doesn't it? But it's a comedy! So great. It stars the absolutely mouth-wateringly beautiful Kay Francis, the delicious Miriam Hopkins (perhaps the most aggressive hummer in film history, by the way) and my new hero, Herbert Marshall. And they are all on the same weird, hilarious page, style-wise--which is no easy feat. It really blew my mind. I came home from rehearsal today and immediately ordered a copy for my very own :) And if I got this too it's only because Amazon bewitched me with their blindingly fast one-click ordering....

But really--the purpose of this post is to share with you my new, current, old-timey obsession which I am almost--but not quite because I'm so grateful now--mad I didn't know about before and it's this: Radio Dismuke.

Oh, my word. What you have here is a free, 24-hour, 365-day streaming radio station of 1920s and 30s music. It is heaven on your computer. As I type this, I am listening to Debroy Somers and His Band: The Night Love Was Born. Candles are burning, a glass of wine is winking at me, and I am about to finish up buttonholes on a dress from a vintage pattern. Does it get better than this??

(My expression:)

Have a wonderful day/night wherever you may be!! oxxoxooxo

i'm so grateful people can sing/play/make/record music

Because then we get to listen to this... (Thanks to Milla for posting and sharing :) And this... I will be back tomorrow with 943 items I might not be able to live without for Saturday covets (I've been storing up!). Plus more delicously new (to me!) etsy purchases, as well as a few newly-discovered blogs that I am completely utterly off-the-hookedly obsessed with. As for now--I am off to be a social butterfly! It is Friday night in the big city, after all :) Bon nuit!