Sunday, October 29, 2006

time to move on...

I’m seeing a Sunday evening blogging pattern. I might have to rename the blog Sunday Afternoon Driver or something equally as witty.
This was a weekend of good-byes. I always joke that I drive men to move out of state, but it really is true. My long-time boyfriend AVS moved to Austin, TX two years ago. It was a great move for the guitar-playing-rock-star-younger-than-me man. He got to tour this summer with Susan Cowsill, the youngest member of the iconic family band The Cowsills. Things are going really well for him. None of that stuff would have happened if we were still sitting on his sofa watching Law and Order and reading library books.

I’ve only really dated two people in the four years since AVS and I broke up and both of them are leaving Indianapolis this week. I met MC at the coffeehouse I was managing. You can tell a lot about people in the ninety seconds that you see them in the morning. MC is handsome, polite and funny. Of course I had a terrible crush on him. MC is moving back to his native California to be closer to his parents, children and grandchildren (I’m old enough to date a grandfather—holy moly!). I’m thrilled for him and he’s been working toward that goal for a long time. MC and I went out right after AVS and I broke up. I was so nervous on our first date that I tripped on the way in to the restaurant and broke my foot. My foot hurt like hell but I didn’t say a word all through dinner. How goofy was that? MC is one of the nicest, best people that I know. I was not emotionally ready for a relationship. I was still pining for (and still occasionally seeing) AVS. I thought I was ready for a more intimate relationship with MC. MC was mature enough to not take advantage of that. He was the voice of reason. I am so grateful to him for the respect he showed me. He and I became good friends and confidantes and I will miss his friendship. We had breakfast and took a walk this morning. He said some thoughtful and amazing things to me this morning. He has always been sensitive and in touch with his emotions, pretty much the opposite of me.

Dr. TW and I dated for a bit last year. He looked great on paper. He is a therapist and musician. He’s age appropriate and well read. Somehow we never quite clicked. I tend to move and react pretty quickly (follow me if there is a fire—I’ve already scoped out the exits and have an emergency plan) and I’m a “glass half full” person. TW is very deliberate and skeptical. I didn’t help that I thought the pauses in conversation were because he was analyzing me. I broke out in hives on his birthday and took that as a sign that the relationship did not need to go farther. TW took a job in Italy, taking the moving out of state to a new extreme. He and I had a farewell dinner Friday night…and no hives appeared.

I guess it is time for me to meet another man to have an awkward relationship with. Wish me luck!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Darden Smith - From despair to hope

First printed in NUVO newsweekly 

by: Nora Spitznogle

Old Centrum

Sunday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m.

$15

Austin, Texas, native Darden Smith has been performing for more than 20 years. He was named for a rodeo rider, and his first songs naturally had a country tinge. His excellent songwriting skills have stayed consistent over time, and his sound now leans toward adult pop. Smith spent the summer touring Europe and playing festivals with musical greats Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, Jackson Browne and Loudon Wainwright. He has great stories from the tour; from the bad — stolen suitcases (and wondering why they didn’t steal his CDs), bar fights and blackberry patch break-downs — to the amazing — sitting off stage being inspired by Richard Thompson, drinking the perfect Guinness (and missing Kenny Rogers’ set) and sitting on the cliffs of Galway.

Smith’s latest CD, Field of Crows, is much like his tour, shifting from despair to hope. This album was borne from the war in Iraq, the tsunami in Southeast Asia and the 2004 election. “It always strikes me that in times like these, with all the craziness in the world, all the personal loss and tragedy, hope holds a high value. It means something when there seems to be so little of it,” says Smith, talking about the album.

Smith is playing as part of the Acoustic Café Series housed at the Old Centrum Auditorium, 520 E. 12th St. You can expect to hear songs from Field of Crows and music from his expansive catalogue of original songs.

—Nora Spitznogle

Sunday, October 22, 2006

taking my sweet time

I really thought I'd be better at updating this. I have not had the time to figure out how to add links and all of that snazzy stuff, so I've gotten a little frustrated with it.
It has been an incredibly busy week. We had a big fundraiser for Second Helpings on Friday. It was a success...I only had to drive one volunteer home (it was a wine tasting event). I worked on Saturday and have spent a chunk of today writing a music preview for NUVO, a weekly arts and entertainment paper. The story was assigned to me. The guy promoting the show kept bugging the paper for a piece. Once it was assigned neither he or the musician would return my calls/e-mails. I wound up writing it from information I found on various Web sites. It felt slightly like cheating, and it took me three times as long to do as it should have, so I'm not feeling the love towards this particular singer/songwriter.
I'm off to do some house cleaning....Chez Pez needs some dusting...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Amy Speace - Coming into her own

first published in NUVO newsweekly 

Amy Speace

Indy Hostel

Monday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.

$5

From playing at CATH coffeehouse to opening for Judy Collins, Amy Speace has come a long way in the last five years. CATH Inc., the acoustic venue at 54th Street and College Avenue that closed in September 2004, was the second stop on her first-ever tour. Speace has spent the past year as Judy Collins’ opening act and winning folk festival and songwriting awards. Her latest release, Songs For Bright Street, is on Collins’ Wildflower Records.

When asked about Judy Collins and Wildflower Records, Speace felt like she was giving a pageant contest answer: “It really has been a dream to open for Judy. She’s one of the first voices I remember from the radio … and she has always been that voice, so iconic.

“As a singer-songwriter working in a folk-based idiom, there are maybe a handful of artists that all want to hear us and nod their approval, and Judy is certainly in that group.”

Speace says that standing backstage listening to Collins sing is incredible. The first time she met Collins, she was distracted by the color of her eyes. Speace managed not to blurt out “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes” and instead greeted her with a very proper “nice to meet you, Ms. Collins.”

Songs For Bright Street is a great collection of Speace’s songwriting talents. Her music is pop-folk with a bit of alt-country tossed in. She will be performing that album and has promised some new songs.

Speace is looking forward to playing in the house concert intimacy of Indy Hostel and enjoying a good run on the Monon Trail.

For more information go to www.indyhostel.us or www.amyspeace.com

—Nora Spitznogle

Sunday, October 15, 2006

my first time...

...and there is a lot of pressure.

It took me forever just to sign up for at blog. I couldn't get past what to name it. Or the address to pick. I protested for the longest time about picking a user name. What do you mean that my name can't be Nora? A name with four letters is not good enough? I've got plenty of letters in my last name...Don't need so many in my first.

Naming the blog was a challenge. I felt like I was choosing my identity for life. I am many things, and PEZ dispenser collector is one of them. And that is not the nerdiest. Trust me.

I have a great job that I love as the director of volunteers for a food rescue, job training and hunger relief agency in Indianapolis. I write an observational column about music for the Broad Ripple Gazette, a twice a month newspaper. I occasionally write music previews for NUVO, the weekly arts and entertainment paper in Indianapolis. If that is not enough, I work most Saturday nights at the Red Key Tavern, an Indianapolis institution. The Red Key is a great bar frequented by neighborhood folks, politicians , musicians, writers and cool kids. The owner is eighty-eight (and a half), curmudgeonly as hell, a WW ll POW and one of my favorite people.

I am very active in my neighborhood. I managed a group of coffeehouses and a bakery for eight years. I became president of my fairly powerful neighborhood association (one of the first non-attorney ones and the only one who *gasp* rents her house).

I'm a old punk-rocker that now listens to angst-ridden singer-songwriters

As you can surmise from the above, I'm single and have no children.

I'm sure this blog will be about my many jobs (I didn't mention Marigold yet--it gets a little embarrassing to tell folks that you have three jobs), music stuff that does not fit in to the paper, my neighborhood and the challenges of being forty-something and dating. Or wishing for a date.

Phew, not that that is over I can move on. Or at least start writing my column that is due...um...now.