They Make Bluegrass Cool

My whole life I remember sitting around and listening to what my family called mountain music. My grandmother would sing it and my stepdad played it. Being from WV I have been around "mountain music" my whole life. Of course, most people know this type of music as bluegrass. As I have gotten older and my music tastes have changed I kind of drifted away from this style of music, choosing to listen to alternative and contemporary folk instead. Then along came Nickel Creek, a trio of musicians, from California of all places, who embody the spirit of my hometown music in a whole new way. Modernizing bluegrass is not an easy task. The technical skill required to play the instruments involved (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and bass) is tremendous. To play these instruments with such passion and excellence while also transforming a style of music is simply miraculous.
Last week, I had the chance to see this group live and in person for perhaps the final time. I attended a concert in Covington, KY on Friday night, which was a stop on Nickel Creek's Farewell (for now) tour. The show was general admission and Daniel and I spent two hours enthralled by a group that was a mere 10 feet away as we stood with other admirers spitting distance away from the band.
I won't get into a critique of their music here, but go to amazon or itunes and check them out. If you are at all musically open minded you will find them just talented, passionate, and revolutionary as I do.
So, in closing thank you Nickel Creek for these years of ridiculously amazing music and for a great show on Friday. You make me proud to be a mountain girl.
I hope to see you together again one day.

Live Small

My life is small. I am a short person, my house is small, my car is small, and unfortunately my income is small. In short, the old Disney song, "Its a Small World" fits me to a tee. I like it this way, but it seems that for the last years the whole world was telling me that small is bad. Bigger is better. You can never be too thin or too rich, but don't forget about too tall. Suburbia just wasn't complete without its caravan of Caravans and its McMansions sprawling through land that once cradled wildlife and livestock, and supplied nutrient rich produce, at least in this part of the country. In other parts, the sprawl spans across what was once great hardwood forests, which provided shelter for wildlife and a welcome refuge for us city dwellers. And still in other parts it threatens to mar beautiful landscapes, so that those with money can have the best view. Thus undermining one of our county's great national wonders. Refer to
Developers moving in on New River Gorge
As an opponent of sprawl and everything that it stands for, when it came time for my husband and I to buy our first house we decided to buck the system and head for "greener pastures" at least in our way of thinking. Amid the jokes about our move to the "ghetto" as many of our friends call our little neighborhood just on the outskirts of downtown, we found a small little cottage on a great street where we could officially begin our life together. My husband's commute is miniscule...about 5 minutes to his downtown office, and mine was small around 15 minutes to an office just outside the old city limits. We were very happy this way, and as of right now my husband's commute remains the same, mine however has changed. I needed a new job and when one was offered it was much farther into the suburbs than I like and it takes me about 30 min to get there from our house. Unfortunately, that seems to be a phenomenon here now. Businesses are locating themselves farther out instead of closer in, therefore exacerbating the problem of decentralization.
Our house is around 1200 sq ft, which is "small" when compared to the huge 3000 sq ft monsters in the burbs. For us, this house is perfect. Even once we have our first child it will still be managable. There is no excuse for a family of two, three or even four to occupy 3000 sq ft of space on this planet. It is simply conspicuous consumption and it must stop if we are going to survive on this planet for many generations to come. Not only do these monstrosities subvert good architecture (meaning they are ugly), they also use the resources for three houses rather than only one.
In closing, there are arguments for the burbs, such as lower crime and better schools, but urban neighborhoods could be just as crime free and have great schools if people lived here and cared about what was happening instead of "flying" out to "better" neighborhoods. If people just cared and put a little effort in we all could live better, less polluting, and smaller lives.