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Artscape was a blast! I wrote about it in detail on my car site, so here I'll just add a few personal notes that aren't related to art cars.

We stayed with our friend Pru, who has two daughters: Hunter (age 9) and Logan (5). Logan seemed to attach herself to me. I think because Georg is Hunter's favorite "Uncle Georg," so maybe Logan decided that I was going to be her favorite. Or maybe because I asked Logan for her opinion on what shoes to wear to the car show on Friday night. She seemed thrilled to be able to give fashion advice.

Logan told me at some point that she's "a girly girl," who only likes girly things. When I asked her for specifics, she said "Pretty things. Things that are pink. Like Barbie." I hate to hear a child so young pigeonhole herself like that. So I told her that computers are very girly, that I'm a girly girl too and I love computers. And asked her to help me with my website because all girly girls are good with computers. Just doing my part to subvert harmful cultural stereotypes.

They have a dog, a foxhound named Pigeon. Pigeon is totally devoted to Pru's husband Joe. She's clearly primarily Joe's dog. On Saturday morning he took the girls to Pru's parents, and Pigeon went ballistic. She spent a good fifteen minutes running back and forth between the back porch (where she could see the empty driveway) and the front door (where she could see the road), wailing and caterwauling her dismay at "the man"'s having left. She sounded positively heartbroken.

It was kind of odd being around a young, highly energetic dog. It made me wistful for the days when Thirteen and Lina were young and playful. But mainly, it made me appreciate the more sedate pace of older dogs. No crazed running around the house, no begging at the table, no trouble getting them to come back inside, etc. All my dogs want is quiet days lying around the house, the occasional ride in the car, and a lot of good tummy rubs.

The evening after the parade we went back to Artscape to see Thievery Corporation on the outdoor stage. I must say, I'm really impressed with the quality of the musicians they get at Artscape. Last year we saw Karsh Kale; this year they had Los Amigos Invisibles (who we missed), Afro-Celts (whose show we caught the last few minutes of), and Thievery Corporation. They don't get acts like that at street festivals in Durham!

The show was at night, and way more crowded than Karsh Kale's afternoon performance last year. Still, by watching for people leaving, we managed to work our way into a decent spot to the right of the stage. The seating was on a rather steep grassy hill. The slope was nice because it meant you never had to worry about tall people sitting in front you and blocking the view. The only problem was that the only comfortable way to sit was with your knees up. Which is rather too revealing when you're wearing a short skirt, as I was! I struggled to find a comfortable sitting position that didn't leave me flashing everyone sitting below me. Finally settled on putting my camera bag behind my feet to block the view. Note to self: next time, pants.

Anyway, Thievery Corporation. I wasn't sure how their sound would translate to a live outdoor performance, but they were fabulous. Very energetic, very fun. We wondered if it was just going to be two guys and a computer, but they had a band -- two percussionists, a guitarist, a horn section and a guy who played guitar and sitar -- and several vocalists. Lou Lou and Pam Bricker, who both appeared on The Richest Man in Babylon, sang for the first half of the show, and the second half really ramped up the energy level with a pair of reggae/rappers. (I didn't catch their names, but I got the impression that they're DC guys who work with them live. On the album those tracks were done by Notch and Shinehead.)

The coolest part is that Thievery Corporation use a TiBook! It was on the table with them. It was hard to see from so far away, but I think it was a 15" TiBook. Which is what I use! Theirs is probably way more loaded than mine, but still. I have the same computer as Thievery Corporation! Woo!

I tried to take pictures but without a tripod, it wasn't easy. It was so dark that I was getting exposures of .25 to 1 second, which is way too long for holding the camera in your hands. I tried resting the camera on my legs and holding my breath during the exposure. Not a perfect solution, but I got a few passable shots. Here's one with Lou Lou, the Iranian singer, performing "Omid." That's my favorite track from The Richest Man in Babylon, so I was really glad they played it. Rob and Eric (Thievery Corporation proper) are the two guys in back who aren't playing instruments. The TiBook is between them.

I also took a bunch of photos of the reggae guys, but they were so energetic that with the long exposure they ended up just a blur of arms and legs. I might post one anyway, it's kind of cool looking.