herbiehancock

a few years ago dannon and i heard an npr special late one night when we were working on an art project.  it was  the perfect mix of soul, bluegrass, and indie, all played on the cello!   we were amazed and instantly in love with ben sollee 's music. a few months later, ben came to san francisco to do a show at a small theatre by my house, so we went and hung out with him for a bit after.  he's the nicest guy in the world, incredibly humble, and a fantastic musician. not to mention he's a huge environmental activist, choosing to tour the entire country by bicycle... with his cello in tow.  yup, amazing. do you guys remember that imaginary art space i built here on my blog last week?  well i've decided to throw a concert with ben sollee, and all of you are invited.  so put your dancing shoes on and get ready to have a blast! and if you want to hear ben sollee in concert for real, check out his current tour dates .  he's even coming to th...

it's the end of another week! actually, with my odd-houred job, the end of my week is now saturday afternoons.  this has taken a bit of getting used to since i grew up in a religion that kept saturday as the sabbath.  even though i left that religion, i continued to keep that spiritual practice and it has been an interesting process to decide where i want to set my boundaries.  as sad as i was to lose my day devoted to loved ones and self-reflection, i'm thankful it happened because it helped me figure out what is most important to me {i'm not planning on working saturdays much longer}. here are some other things i'm thankful for: * serendipitously discovering a pretty bridge {the shakespeare bridge} tucked away in our neighborhood. * everything working out perfectly with an event which i was totally anxious about. * clearing out some stuff from our home {de-cluttering feels so good}. * discovering this very cool and very helpful writing tool . * that i found a job whic...

i had an amazing weekend! as i'm sure you can imagine, a large part of that was due to our concert with  joe gil  at the hotel cafe.    everything went fine and it was fun to see so many friends {and even some family} there supporting us.   i couldn't hear any of us very well {the sound guy was less than stellar}, but i had oh so much fun singing up on stage again.  i really do miss that, and the passion within me to perform has definitely been reignited.   look out world! { mr. joe gil }    { me + dannon } a few other fun musical things from my weekend... running into  sia  at intelligentsia {one of my favorite artists & activists}, learning to play " the cowboy song " on the ukulele {from joe vs. the volcano}, getting to hang out with the incredibly sweet guys from  the daylights , and experience the awesomeness/beauty that is their concert! seriously, if you get a chance to see the daylights, DO IT. { thes...

have you heard the amazing collaboration of thao nguyen {of thao with the get down stay down } and mirah ?   i am completely in love with both of these girls on their own, so when i heard they had come together to form the most awesome musical union i was squeeling like a school girl. i have such special memories with mirah's music.  i first discovered her 6 years ago, during my first few months living in san francisco.  i was fresh out of college, had just sold everything i owned to fly clear across the country, and didn't know a soul.  i moved into a room in a house on treasure island where i met one of my favorite people ever, the coolest girl in the world, my friend kristle.  she was a fashion designer who created amazing robot art and listened to a whole lot of mirah.  over the years of being friends, mirah was often the soundtrack to our lives.  eventually we finally got to one of her concerts at bottom of the hill, a super small venue, where th...

i have some exciting news! if you follow me on twitter, you probably already know about this, but i can officially tell the world now that i am part of a band! i get to dive into music again and sing with a very talented singer/songwriter...  in front of real live people! at the hotel cafe in hollywood! bonus - the music is truly absolutely beautiful. this singer/songwriter that i'm talking about is joe gil .  he's an up and coming musician, having just had one of his songs picked up by mtv, so he's beginning to get a bit more exposure.  his music is just lovely and perfect for long drives through the country or nights in reminiscing with old photos.  you can hear all of his songs by clicking on his name above, which i highly recommend.  i have also added one of my favorites of his here for your listening pleasure: { i know, it's so amazing right?! } we met joe at a friend's concert only to discover we have several friends in common from back east.  th...

dannon and i have been mumford & sons fans for a few years now, ever since they were a little unknown band in the UK.  so when we saw that they were doing a tour-by-train with edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros and old crow medicine show a mere two weeks before the mister's birthday, we knew we had to go. so friday we drove over to the ship yards of san pedro and wandered around the docks for a bit before making our way into the giant parking lot... er,... concert venue. since we were there early, we found a spot right up front.  this was fine for the first two acts - not too crowded, fun people surrounding us, plenty of room to dance - but come mumford & sons and we found ourselves packed in like a japanese commuter train.  after a few songs up close {with dreamy stairs at the keyboardist - swoon!}, we made our way farther back where we could once again dance the concert away! {*} all the bands were completely amazing. we had heard old crow medicine show...

thank you SO so much everyone, for sharing all the good news yesterday!   it's kind of funny, but i was having an absolutely terrible day, full of frustrations and depressing events.  life can be such a struggle sometimes right?  luckily i had a blog post full of your amazing positivity to remind me that even though life can be really hard, it's not hard forever.  so truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for doing a good deed this week through your sharing! the rest of this week will be devoted to my job hunt.   i have my camouflage makeup on, my spear has been sharpened, and i'm ready to get out there in the wild.  actually, i was really hoping that my job hunt would be more like a lion chasing a gazelle - action packed, fast moving, take a big leap and acquire the target!  but unfortunately, i'm finding it's more like dear hunting - be really really really ridiculously patient as you wait for a super long time before you even catch a glimpse ...

last weekend was the film portion of sxsw and the music portion is happening RIGHT NOW! [ gasp! ] oh how i wish i could have gone to it all! but alas, i am stuck in LA. [ big dramatic pause, hand to forehead for effect ]  so to make myself feel better, [ regroup, smooth out skirt ] i've decided to throw my own music festival right here on my blog.    so grab your dancing shoes and join me if you'd like!  you can throw on your sunglasses and pretend you're dancing in a crowd full of tattooed hipster types,...  ...without a care in the world! or maybe you're sitting in the grass, sipping pbr and chowing down a vegan corn dog on a stick {or are those only at california music festivals?}.   whatever the case, you should totally rock out to this fun playlist i whipped up for the occasion.  {some of these bands are at sxsw this weekend, and some are just favs of mine.} and to simulate the actual concert experience, i recommend turning the volume up real...

hey, remember how a few weeks ago we helped our friends make a music video for jesca hoop ? well, it's been officially released - woohoo!   the song is about the homeless living on skid row, and if you live in los angeles, you'll understand the reference to the phrase "city bird" {also known as "ghetto bird"}.  for those of you who don't live in los angeles, let me explain.  in all other cities, firetrucks and cop cars are the first responders to accidents and criminal activity.  here in LA, however, helicopters are the first responders, and let me tell you, there are helicopters flying around all. the. time!  especially in our neighborhood which is still pretty... well, gritty {don't worry, it's not skid row}.  we average about a dozen helicopters a day {half of those in the middle of the night}.  typically, they fly in tight circles with search lights right above our houses, sometimes the really fancy ones hover in one place {although those ar...

have you heard of jesca hoop yet?  she's lovely!  back in august, kcrw put her album up on their album preview page.  i listened to it over and over as i worked on all our wedding decorations.  i let her gorgeous voice soothe my pre-wedding stress.  then about a month ago, kcrw had jesca do a live performance on morning eclectic.  she sounded just as wonderful in person as on her album {the sign of a true musician in my book}. so you can imagine my excitement when we got a call from one of our favorite friends here in LA, inviting us to help him make a music video for her.  over the past week we've been taking trips to my friend's adorable house to help.  there were only a few people working to create the gorgeous set {led by my mister} and capture the stop-motion filming, all of whom are so incredibly talented!   here's a little sneak peek: { the house that dannon built... and then slightly demolished... being captured by the talented ca...

hello everyone!   it's the weekend before valentine's day , and even though i don't usually ce lebrate the day, i have seen so many cute things around the blogosphere that i just had to share.  plus, they're things you could use to celebrate v-day with ALL the people in your life, not just a significant other.      like these adorable  cup wrapper printables from eat, drink, chic ! they're free and can be printed separately. wouldn't this be such a cute way to dress up a coffee date with a friend? or how about whipping up some nice goodies from one of the many amazing recipes on pizzelles  to share with your neighbors? then you could add these cute free tags from the nimbus factory when you package up your treats.  you could also set up a dreamy fort {found on wild & precious} !  you could have a slumber party with some friends or your kiddos, and watch favorite love movies! and if you need a few suggestions, how about......

on sunday, we did something we never do.  we woke up, grabbed breakfast at a favorite cafe, and cozied up with a movie!  it was the perfect way to spend a rainy sunday morning.  so far, this week has been pretty busy... and it's only tuesday!   such is life i suppose.  but all this busyness, plus the fresh memory of our lazy sunday,  has definitely got me craving more cozy down time.   { warm woolly sweater: h&m, baby doll dress: gap, belt: f21, jeans: urban outfitters, boots: target, earrings: an old etsy shop which, sadly, has closed. } some of the things i love to do when i'm super busy, stressed, or overwhelmed are: put on my favorite sweater play sweet sweet music read a totally frivolous magazine draw with pastels sip tea do yoga watch an indie film look at pretty pictures on  j'adore twirl in a swooshy dress read my favorite blogs play with chloe cat watch a fire in the fire pit window shop on  ruche  and  modcloth and ju...

last night we had a lot of weekend type fun with some friends in our neighborhood.  and by "weekend fun" i mean dinner and a concert, not the typical post-workday downtime.  i guess it helps when you and all of your friends are either unemployed or have really weird jobs.  whatever the case, it was a whole heap of fun! we've recently been making a lot of friends, some of whom actually live in our neighborhood, which makes for very exciting local adventures.  for dinner we met up with some friends at masa , a local bakery and restaurant that has the most amazing deep dish pizza outside of chicago. truth!   then we met up with even more friends for a free show at the echo .  this was our first real concert venue that we've been to since moving to los angeles, and it was just as awesome as everyone said it would be.  what's better is it's only a few blocks from home! we saw foster the people ,   lesands , and hot as sun .  my current favorite s...

i feel like i have been so productive this week with my do to lists and with my personal growth.  i still have so many unanswered questions and all sorts of life paths before me from which i could choose, but i'm taking it all in stride. 2011 is definitely off to a great start! { the neighbor kitty paying me a visit while i work in the yard. } lately, i have been listening to a lot of joyful, fun, & inspiring music.  this is the music that has been energizing me to get stuff done, explore new ideas in life, and remain hopeful for good things that i know are right around the corner.  so i thought it was fitting to share these songs in my first playlist of the new year.  some of it is french canadian, some swedish, some british, and some good ole american.  some of it i have posted about a long long time ago, but thought it was perfect for life at present. i hope you enjoy! { grooveshark can sometimes be a little finicky.  if it stops playing, just ...

my poor husband has been working long hours at a place where they play christmas music 24/7.  luckily they play everyone's favorite holiday classics {bing, frank, nat}, but if you listen to the same songs, done in the same style, by the same people, for 9 hours a day everyday, it will make you go insane!  so when the mister told me he didn't want to listen to any christmas music at home unless it was completely different from {but equally as good as} from the music at work, i said, "challenge accepted!!"   { photo } so i pulled together some great songs for a very delightful, yet unique, christmas playlist.  it's perfect for an evening in by the fire with a hot drink, baking those christmas goodies, or wrapping up gifts for your loved ones! of course it was tough to pair this playlist down.  for more holiday music, i recommend checking out the following albums { grooveshark  is a great place to find these}:  +  sufjan stevens ' box set...

today is all about the baking of sweet treats for christmas {that's right family, you can expect some yummy goodies in your mailbox next week}!   {photo by zuppaartista & you can buy it here } baking is one of my favorite things about the holiday season.  it can be so relaxing and it fills our little house with such scrumptious smells!  i have a few awesome recipes i cannot wait to try.  if all goes well, i'll do some food posts next week {that's so unlike me, i know!}.  so keep your fingers crossed my candy adventures are successful!  and for a lovely treat for your ears, here's the music i'm listening to today while i bake.  it's some of my current favorites.   i hope you enjoy! { grooveshark can sometimes be a little finicky.  if it stops playing, just refresh the page and start where you left off.  sorry for the hassle! } for more of this fantastic music click on the band names: ohbijou , papercuts , joanna newsom , the mi...

can you believe it's friday again? and what's more - can you believe next week is {american} thanksgiving?!?! that is something which only occurred to me yesterday. even though i've just begun thinking about the holidays, i'm already pretty excited. and that's not all making me happy today... { photo } things to be grateful for this week: * pouring through all my wedding photos for the first time - yay! * catching up with a very dear friend on the phone * finding two more songs to learn on the ukulele * all the times i've laughed this week {this week was hilarious!} * finally getting my therapist registration number {that means i'm a totally legitimate therapist now!} * exercising regularly again {i'm back on the wagon} * the enormous bundle of cuties dannon brought home - enormous! * discovering new music {music is life} * the hummingbirds who visit our window several times a day * two {count em - 2!} date nights with the mr. * unexpectedly finding b...

the topic this week on red boots' series, this is my tuesday , is happiness! i must say, choosing only one photo to tell the story of happiness in my life was quite difficult - there are so many pieces of joy in my life right now! but i suppose, as far as problems go, this isn't too bad. here is the photo of my happiness: that's right, it's a photo from my wedding, when dannon and i literally tied the knot! we decided to have a short ceremony which mostly consisted of our vows. while we were promising to love each other {and to be the killer of spiders - thanks dannon!}, our friend larry bound our hands with a long strip of fabric, which i had pieced together out of fabric sent to us by our friends and family. this was a powerful symbol of both being bound together for eternity and being wrapped in the love of so many wonderful people who supported us over the years. this photo is not just an example of happiness because i'm a newlywed, but a reminder of how mu...