In Which MTV Interviews My Husband and a (Semi-)Secret Is Revealed

Why, yes. That IS a picture of my husband being interviewed by MTV at the Chicago Hilton.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Oh. Holy. Monkeys.

This would be the "VERY exciting news" I mentioned last week. It's time to come clean. Ah-hem. As many of you know, my husband drums for a local band, Lewis (which is, er, on temporary leave as everyone is out of town for the summer & they're replacing a member).

Well. For the last year and a half, my husband has had an alternate musical career. A successful musical career. A (semi-)secret musical career.

Jarrod is a WIZARD ROCK STAR.

That is to say, my husband writes and performs songs about Harry Potter. His band is called Gred and Forge, and he creates music from the perspective of the Weasley twins.

You read that right.

(Cough cough.) Perhaps now that you have the definition, you understand why I haven't mentioned it here before. I mean, it's kind of exhausting/irritating to defend yourself. But now that HE'S BEEN INTERVIEWED BY MTV (!!!), it's time to come out of the broom closet.

But before I get into this crazy-great week we just had, how about a Wizard Rock Primer for the Uninitiated?

In 2002, two brothers -- Joe and Paul DeGeorge -- created the band Harry and the Potters for a backyard summer cookout. Basically, they sang songs written from Harry's point of view. The response was a LOT bigger than they had anticipated and, encouraged, they made an album and took it on tour, playing at libraries across the country.

Harry and the Potters (with Gred and Forge, of course!)

Demand grew, a second album was recorded, tours were continued and . . . two years later, The Whomping Willows and Draco and the Malfoys emerged. Shortly followed The Remus Lupins, and a movement had begun.*

Now there are 450+ bands. Yes. Over four hundred and fifty bands are writing music just about Harry Potter! That's a LOT of music being created.

The community is pretty incredible. Anyone can take part in it. Some bands are as complicated as full on drums-bass-guitar and others are as simple as one guy singing into his computer's microphone. And everyone supports everyone.

But WHAT'S THE POINT you might ask? Well, to steal from The Wizrocklopedia:

"At its most basic level, wizard rock celebrates and promotes literacy . . . but wizard rock fans and creators are involved in other socially conscious endeavors as well . . . The HP Alliance seeks to motivate fans to take a stand against tyranny, genocide, global warming, and more, using parallels to the book series . . . [bringing] light to the fact that the challenges and horrors Harry faces are similar (if not reflective) of those that we face in the real world. The music and the fandom celebrate standing up for what is right, making a difference in the lives of others, and putting a stop to the evils in the world."

Pretty sweet, huh?

My own wonderful husband donates 100% of the profits from his CD sales to Book Aid International, and last Christmas he took part in Jingle Spells, which raised over THIRTY THOUSAND dollars for the same charity! WOW!

So we Potter fans may be nerdy -- and quite aware that this is the equivalent of Trekkies with guitars -- but we're also Pretty Darn Good People.

Here are some of my favorite songs, all very very funny, which you can listen to in their entirety on MySpace:


"Save Ginny Weasley" -- Harry and the Potters (the song that started it all)
"My Dad Is Rich" and "Your Family Is Poor" -- Draco and the Malfoys
"Draco and Harry" -- The Whomping Willows (my VERY favorite)
"P is for Patil" -- Tom Riddle & Friends
"Teenage Werewolf" -- The Remus Lupins
"Krum" -- Justin Finch Fletchley and the Sugar Quills
"Cedric" -- The Moaning Myrtles (nice Twilight jokes in this one)

And, of course, Gred and Forge. My favorites online are "History of Magic" and "Our Fireworks Say Poo."


So when Jarrod started this a year and a half ago, we had NO IDEA what was coming. My husband signs autographs. Receives fan mail. Tours across the country. At shows, HUNDREDS of people sing along to his lyrics, and people approach him shaking with nervousness. One girl even got a tattoo of his album artwork! Talk about feeling humbled. He's been interviewed by this magazine and now . . . MTV.

So. MTV.

He was invited to play at Wrock Chicago, the 30-band festival that kicked off Terminus, a ginormous Harry Potter conference. Normally, he goes solo, but for this he recruited the hilarious dudes from Tom Riddle & Friends and Bryce of The Quaffle Kids to back him up. His set was awesome, and I've never been so proud!

Ty, Shawn, & Jarrod

Check out the crowd! There were at least 300 people jumping and singing along to his music! He had one of the largest (THE largest?) crowds of the afternoon.

It wasn't until after his set ended that I found out the GIANT CAMERA that had been blocking my view the whole time was freaking MTV! And they had taped his whole show! They took his phone number and asked to set up an interview the next day.

Giddily, we moved on to the big show, the six headliners. Jarrod had toured from Phoenix to Boston this summer with The Remus Lupins as their drummer, and was asked to drum again at the conference. Woo hoo!

While waiting for the show to start, I met Xaiver, my hair twin. And then I made this weird face.

YAY! The show begins. And they ROCKED!

I never heard the final numbers, but there were between 800 - 1000 people sharing the HP love that night.

And the next day? The phone call from MTV. I swear, I don't remember the last time I was so excited. They wanted to interview him! For music HE WROTE AND PERFORMED! And though MTV doesn't mean the same thing to us that it did when we were in middle school, it was a huge honor and dream come true.




I totally embarrassed him. I was like, "Can I take a picture of him holding the microphone?" I mean, COME ON! That's the microphone of my youth. They were quite polite and understanding, but Jarrod insisted on making a funny face.

Sorry, hon!

So that's my news. The rumor is that it'll be used for a new segment, "Wizarding Wednesdays," after the success of their "Twilight Tuesdays" this summer. They taped a few different bands and are editing them into a small series.

Keep your fingers crossed that they don't cut his words to make him sound silly! (Or turn it into a "look at all of these dorks" kind of thing.) I'll let you know when they air. I don't know whether it will be online or on TV or both or what, but whatever happens...

I am SO PROUD of my Rock Star Husband.


* = Technically, The Switchblade Kittens were the first to write about HP with their song "Ode to Harry" in 2000, but Harry and the Potters are credited with creating the wizard rock genre. Which was proved when hundreds of people rocked out to the Potters at Terminus, compared to - oh - about 30 for The Switchblade Kittens. Yikes.

There Will Be Blood (And Milkshakes) Party

Speaking of Pie & Bedazzler parties -- last post -- my fabulous friend, Sara, recently emailed me pictures from our There Will Be Blood And Milkshakes birthday party last April.

This is only half of the milkshake ingredients. Why yes. That IS an empty box of pumpkin-flavored Jell-O pudding.

Sara and her husband, Jeff, in their campaign for Cutest Couple Ever, have the same birthday. How cool is that? And not only are they amazingly talented musicians (Sara is the greatest piano teacher EVER, and Jeff writes moving, dark country, both solo and with Creech Holler), but they are also ridiculously attractive:




See? Don't be jealous my friends are so hot.

Although, I am not sure how it happened, but ALL of my friends happen to be extremely good-looking. Really. All of them.

Which means if you're reading this, YOU must be my friend, therefore, YOU are Very Attractive too.

Congratulations! You're hot!

Anyway.

To celebrate their Big Day, we made, like, twenty milkshakes and watched There Will Be Blood. Because nothing says "Happy Birthday!" like Daniel Day Lewis bursting a vein.

"I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!"

The overall consensus was that it was good, but nothing we need to see again. The highlights for me were:

Paul Dano - weird and cool, as always
Jonny Greenwood's dark, string-heavy soundtrack
The plaid suit Daniel Day Lewis wore to the premiere:

Seriously. How awesome is that?

As far as the MILKSHAKES were concerned, Jeff won with a scrumptious peanut butter/chocolate ice cream/coffee ice cream combo.

The loser was my nasty concoction:

We may look like drunk sorority sisters, but really we're just laughing at how disgusting it is.*

It's a pretzel milkshake.

I thought, mmm, I like chocolate-covered pretzels. What about pretzels and chocolate ice cream? Gotta love that salty chocolaty combo, right?

WRONG.

Pretzels + Ice Cream = Mealy Sludge



And now you know.


* My hair is in its in-between stage here. The first time I went to Beauty Parade (gotta love a retro-themed salon), I asked for a HINT of blue. I went back only four days later because it was so awesome, I needed more! Plus, er, everyone just thought I was wearing a headband.

Mmm, Strawberry Season!

The strawberry man is back.

Aw hells yeah.

In May and June, the strawberry man parks in front of a nearby gas station and sells the most amazing, freshly-picked-that-day fruit. The first time I tasted one, I had a total food-gasm. Juicy, tangy, sweet, light as air, warm as sunlight.

We got two buckets last year - one for freezing (smoothies!) and one for baking. This year, we're doubling it. I've already frozen the two pictured above, and I'm anxious for more.

I'm thinking: Strawberry pie. Strawberry jam. Strawberry shortcake.

No. Not her. What's up with the sweater tied around her jeans? Strawberries = summer. Aren't long sleeves more than enough? I mean, does she have a circulation problem? Should I be concerned?

Sadly, not her either. Although I never realized (until now) what a peculiar combination of Holly Hobbie and Raggedy Ann she was. And what's she hiding under that muffin-top hat? A herd of Oompa Loompas? Personally, I hope she's dreaded like an Irish Bob Marley.

To celebrate the season, I thought I'd share the recipe for the world's best strawberry pie, received from a coworker via copious amounts of begging.

(By the way, I'm still looking for the world's best strawberry rhubarb pie. Do you -- or your grandmother -- have a favorite recipe you'd care to share?)

Lynn the Librarian's Strawberry Pie

1 qt. strawberries
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup water
1/2 - 3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 9" baked pie crust (I use the single pie crust recipe from ye old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, but any HOMEMADE crust will do.)


Wash & stem berries.

Mix 3 cups of berries with powdered sugar and let stand one hour.

Cook remaining 1 cup berries with 1 cup water until soft. Rub through sieve; save liquid.

Mix granulated sugar & cornstarch with liquid from powdered sugar & strawberries. Add to sieved strawberry mix. Bring to boil & cook until clear and thick.

Arrange whole berries in pie shell. Pour hot glaze over & chill.

Eat & weep with joy.


*****


Oh, and it has been brought to my attention that I am missing a CRUCIAL BLUE-HAIRED CELEBRITY. Gwen Stefani!

Sorry, Gwen. Welcome to my menagerie.

I think I forgot about her because I prefer her platinum look. (Though the blue is still excellent, and the pink was also pretty great.) But what girl at my high school didn't want to be Gwen in the "Just A Girl" video? She was so wicked cool. She dated the cute bassist, had amazing abs, wrote kick-ass girl power lyrics, rocked some tall hair, and MADE HER OWN CLOTHES!

Gotta love a girl who can DIY. She really loved her Bedazzler.

Maybe I should get a Bedazzler.

"I'm in the lab all day/I Scrabble all night/I got a Bedazzler/So my outfit's tight."

Hmm. I wonder if Gwen -- or Adrock -- has a strawberry rhubarb pie recipe they'd like to share with us?

(OH MAN. WE SHOULD TOTALLY HAVE A PIE AND BEDAZZLER PARTY.)

Last Weekend + Blue Hair Update

Last weekend, Jarrod and I found a store I've heard rumors about - a bulk Amish foods store in Mars Hill. And check out our haul! We went in for a treat or two and wound up with more than we could carry. Super cheap organic bulk food, plus lots of Amish goodies (pumpkin butter & fig jam & cheeses) and dried fruit (mangoes & papayas & strawberries). YUM! We'll definitely be going back.

Afterwards, we drove into downtown Asheville with the vague idea of buying some art. Our walls have been looking bare lately. Nothing sparked our interest, but I DID find a pretty necklace at Woolworth Walk. It was made by Honeybee Handmade Jewelry, and it has blue and green and teal beads on crocheted copper wire. It matches my hair! You can sort of see it in this picture:

This is the first picture of myself on this blog. It looks like one of those restaurant reviewer pictures in the newspaper, although I'd be a pretty terrible reviewer with my blue hair. Couldn't exactly be sneaky.

So speaking of BLUE HAIR, an update:

- I LOVE IT! So, so happy. I've decided to keep it for (at least) the summer. Probably longer.

- I have to remember to pick up fallen hair in the bathroom. If I leave any in the shower or sink, they leave little blue trails behind when swept up!

- My hair grows fast. I already have considerable roots. Poo.

- Midnight blue fades to blue-blue which fades to peacock blue. But all of the colors match my new necklace! Ha ha!


And I have a few more celebrities to add to my Blue-Haired Menagerie:




Aquamarine! A mother and daughter duo reminded me about her at work. Which made me happy, because that movie was totally a guilty pleasure. Tween movies always are. Shh, don't tell.




Cia Soro from the Swedish ex-band Whale. One of my husband's favorites. (The band AND the girl.) You may remember their single "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" from the mid '90s. And if you don't, you think I just made that name up.




Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk! Dude, I loved this movie. I watched it like four times in the theater and played the soundtrack to DEATH. Would I still like the film today? Who knows, but I do still love his hair. How could I have forgotten Stevo?


Time to bake some cookies. Let me know if I'm missing someone...

My Grandfather Was a Smurf

Good news, everyone. I have blue hair!

Okay. It's not ALL blue. It's streaked like my friend Tibby's hair:




Rather than blue-all-over like my friend, Clementine's:




But it's blue!

And I know I'm supposed to be an adult now, and therefore, Mature. But whatever. I HAVE BLUE HAIR! WOO HOO!!

Perhaps some back story is necessary for you to appreciate my joy.

I'm a redhead. And just like every other redhead I know, this one thing has defined my life. I'm not the tall girl or the girl with the glasses or the girl who just tripped over that box (although all three are accurate descriptions) - I am The Redhead.

Like most redheads, I HATED my hair as a child. Red hair is a magnet for the elderly and the creepy. But, like most redheads, I grew into it as a teenager. And I learned to love it for the special, neat-o, cool thing it is.

Because it is. Red hair is awesome. Just as J.K. Rowling.

Anyway, the year I learned to love my hair was the same year Green Day released Dookie. Suddenly all of the girls in my school had crushes on Billie Joe and Manic Panic was the thing and my friends were bleaching their hair and dyeing it hot pink and swimming pool green and, yes, electric blue.




And I helped them, I LOVED to help them, but I was always afraid to reach for the bleach myself. Because I had red hair, and it was special. Right? I mean, who would I be if I weren't a redhead? And what if I were some kind of genetic freak, and my hair grew back a different color?

In other words, terror kept me a redhead.

A few years later, those mascara wands for your hair became popular. They were thick and goopy and no hair bleaching was necessary for them to show up and they washed out in a single shampooing. Oh, happy day! I had them in maroon and forest green and sparkly gold and - yes - bright blue. And the blue was my favorite, the only tube I used up. And I remember thinking, Maybe someday I will be brave enough to get the real thing.

And in the meantime, I oogled Clementine and Tibby and Ryan Phillippe's character from Playing By Heart:




(Anyone remember that movie? Dr. Greene from ER and Jon Stewart and an undiscovered Angelina Jolie? It was pretty good when I saw it, but I have no idea what I'd think of it today.)

Only now - a decade and a half later - have I finally convinced myself of the obvious. It's just hair. And if not now, then when? I realized that if something were to happen to me tomorrow, I would be very sad if I had never had blue hair.

So I know it doesn't sound like a big deal. People dye their hair every day. And it's not like I even dyed the whole thing. I'm still 85% redhead. But to me? This is HUGE. On par with tattooing my cheekbones or piercing my elbows. Very scary and very brave and very exciting.

And I'm so proud of myself.

Five People I've Been Compared To

I'm told that I look like someone based on one thing alone: hair. Here are five people that I've been told I look like, in order from least-suggested to most-suggested:

(5) Rogue

Sadly, I haven't been compared to the Absolutely Adorable Anna Paquin of the movies, but a coworker once said that I looked like Rogue from X-Men (and pointed at a comic book to prove his point). I think it was this particular Rouge, but sadly I don't know the name of her illustrator. I thought it was cool being compared to a superhero. Plus, I like her stripes.

(4) Pebbles Flintstone

In middle school, I pulled back the front of my hair with an elastic every day. So I had this little POOF of something, right on the top of my head, which led to several Pebbles remarks. Once, I wore a little white rubber bone in my hair just for the heck of it. I kinda liked it. Pebbles had it goin' on.

(3) Clara Bow

As a silent film fan, this one is exciting despite the fact that, no, I don't look like her. I wish I had It, but I can't say that I ever have. But she did have short red hair, and I do have her famous bow lips.

(2) Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink

My sister gets this one, too. I got it again just last week. In fact, I honestly cannot count how many people have said it — department store clerks, teachers, customers, friends, strangers on the street. I don't look like Molly either, but since she's the most famous short-haired redhead, she's the celebrity most people think of first. The strange thing is that it's rarely, "You look just like Molly Ringwald." It's always, "You look just like Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink."

So where's my bad prom dress? Where's Duckie? If I were Molly, I so would not have chosen Andrew McCarthy.


(1) My Granddaughter (or A Girl I Used to Date)

Grandmothers can't control themselves around me. Nearly every week, one mentions that their grandchild has My Exact Same Shade of Hair. Hmm, I say. No really, they reply. It's just like yours but a little lighter/darker/oranger. Which makes it not so just-like-mine, but okay. I understand wanting to talk about your grandchild.

However, I CAN'T STAND IT when people bring up the ex-girlfriend thing.

Enter strange man. "You know, I once dated a redhead . . ." Then they go off and tell me either one of two clichés: (1) She was a bitch or (2) She was a slut. And then they imply that, It's true what they say about redheads, meaning I'm either mean or sex-crazed.

Thank you, creepy old man. Thank you.

Two Looks For Two Sexes

Two looks I dig on both men & women:

(1) Chunky Glasses — as modeled here by Elvis Costello & Lisa Loeb

(2) Tall Hair — as modeled here by Zach Braff & Gwen Stefani

Two things I learned while putting this together:

(1) Tall hair pictures are hard to find. Poor Gwen. I liked her hair best in the drunk picture. And there's a sad, sad lack of Scrubs pictures online, so I had to settle for this so-so one. Where's the J.D. love? His hair rocks so much that he has a hairmet, for crying out loud.

(2) It always takes longer to post something than you think it will. I was supposed to get the laundry started two hours ago.