still more dd

Chris Conway's DD report now online.
Phil's DD report now online.

Oh dear. I took a nap yesterday at 8 pm, intending to wake up an hour later and do more work. But I must have mis-set the alarm because I didn't wake up until 5 am the next morning! Argh. Jeff didn't wake me up because he figured I must have been tired (apparently I slept through the phone ringing beside my head, too).

More chocolate in our office now...Doug brought in about a zillion boxes of Smarties (to you Brits..Smarties come in boxes here, and look like M&M's). I am hoovering down way too much chocolate since I got back from the UK, so am desperately trying to offset the results by hoovering lots of fruit as well. (ha!)

Today's Blatherchat picture is from the cover of Tim and Annie Walker's WILDERWOOD: Dreams Incarnate CD, which I bought in the UK. Great CD (and certainly shows how versatile the Walkers are in terms of different types of music). To find out more about Tim and Annie's music, see http://www.weyrd.demon.co.uk/.

p.s. I just read Annie's Witterings. You do SO have a veryvery cool house, Annie! And wow, were most of those instruments really all yours?!? Do you know how to play all of them??

UK Trip Highlight(s) Du Jour Phoenix Concert: I already picked up their CD a while back so already knew these people were talented, but WOW...I was so blown away by their live performance at Digeri-Douze. Everyone absolutely must MUST hear Phoenix live in concert...it's worth the trip to England, really! Rafe, Dave Clement, Chris Conway, Jodi, Allison and I sat in the front row...SO much fun. I had heard rumours that Phoenix was "loud" but y'know what? I found them *exactly* loud enough. I've been to rock concerts which left my ears ringing even when I carefully sat far from the speakers...this didn't even come close; I thought the sound levels were great. These people have so much energy I'm surprised they don't explode on stage. :-) Especially Annie...whoa. (!!!) I had met Annie once before and she came across as a fairly quiet person. HA. The transformation of Annie-on-stage was truly astounding. Wildly teased hair, make-up, heels, painted-on leather look, the way she fairly crackled with energy as she gyrated and danced...this woman was MADE for the stage. All the Phoenix crew were excellent, and you could sense the fun they were having as they performed; it was infectious. The crowd was dancing, cheering, clapping their hands, yelling...it was a great party. Surprise of the concert for us...they did a KILLER version of "The Lady", with a rock guitar solo that had us melting all over the place. Wow...I really, really loved this version. I have to confess that my favourite piece of the concert was Phil's "Thank You For Your Music", which is one of the most brilliant parodies I've ever heard (ABBA tune), and SO well-done. The only problem with the concert, I found, was that my cheeks were in pain by the end...from all the smiling I was doing throughout. And yelling and screaming (esp. during Tim's gyrating Elvis number) and laughing, of course. Lissa was a dynamo on the drums and on stage...I wish she sang more! All the Phoenix crew played many instruments...I was really impressed (and felt hopelessly inadequate, of course). Yes, I'm a Phoenix groupie! I admit it!!! For more info about the group, see http://www.altrion.org/phoenix/.