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A Red Gingham Wedding

Posted on August 19th, 2009 in behind the music- personal stuff, favorite pieces, the folk we frolic with, we like to gather with 3 comments

From Amber
A while back I wrote in The Goodness Of Gingham about my mad search for the perfect red gingham dress. Then last month my husband Graham and I went up to my home town of South Lake Tahoe for the wedding of two of my dear friends. I had brought three dresses with me, unsure of which one to wear. I had planned on having at least an hour at my mom's house to decide on a dress, but traveling with a two-year-old = CHAOS sometimes and we got to her house with about 15 minutes to get ready. I was near panicking.
My mom had told me on the phone that day that she had bought a red dress for me and left it on the bed. Well, lo and behold, she didn't tell me it was a red GINGHAM dress! (<– exactly what I texted her later. Turns out my post had lodged in her subconscious and resurfaced when she found this dress at, yes, Ross). When I walked into the room and saw it on the bed I straight up squealed with delighted surprise and serious relief. My decision was made, I immediately put it on and didn't take it off until about 1am.
Here's me and my sis, adorning ourselves with some table settings. (A few glasses of wine in):

Me and my girls Meg and Steph from way back in the day pose in all our red, white, and black glory!

Graham and our friend Jeremy called this my American Apparel modeling moment. Note the change in shoes from the picture above as the chilly Tahoe evening descended. (I also love how you can see all the times I changed my hair in these pictures. It finally stayed in the braid when it came time for me to bust some sweet moves on the deck built especially for that purpose):

What can a girl do in a dress such as this at a beautiful, friend- filled wedding on a perfect summer night but flirt, flirt, flirt… even if it is just with her own darling husband?

;-)
Moral of the story: Yes, says Amber, it is okay to wear gingham to a wedding. Summertime is best for this, especially red gingham, and an outdoor setting also lends some credibility to such an outfit. As long as you strive to look polished, make it to the church on time, and don't try to make out with the groom on the dance floor, no one will question your choice of attire!

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Summertime In my Hometown

Posted on July 19th, 2009 in behind the music- personal stuff with 6 comments

From Amber

Yes, I am alive! While Sasha has been R-O-C-K-I-N-G the shop and the blog I have been a busy lady packing for an upcoming move, mothering an almost-three-year-old, trying to get through all my library books, suddenly taking an interest in learning to cook new foods, and making many trips out of town.

Thus far the two weeks spent in my hometown of South Lake Tahoe, CA have been the best part of my summer. My dad moved away from there a few years ago and my mom is moving out in a couple weeks, so this was truly my last hurrah in the beautiful lake town where I was born and raised!

Mycelia and I went up there in late June for my ten year high school reunion and had a blast. Here are some highlights from that trip…

My sis works at an Old Time Photo Booth at Stateline:

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Loud, Proud, and Dancing Like Crazy

Posted on July 2nd, 2009 in behind the music- personal stuff, local artists, musicians, & other creative folk, music, the folk we frolic with with 1 comment

From Sasha

Whoa! Somehow the weekend is racing towards me, and I haven't even caught up from the last one! If you're like me, a member of the technologically co-dependent generation, you don't quite feel ready to move into the future until the recent past is uploaded.

Sidewalk Art, Dolores Street

Last weekend was Pride in San Francisco, the biggest celebration in the whole world of the awesomeness that is the gay/lesbian/bi-sexual/tran-sexual community. Gay folks may be more present than ever before in the media and American consciousness, but (as I often have to remind people), it is seldom easy in our culture to grow up gay. There is still so much shame and fear around the expression of different sexualities, if not the experience of downright social ostracization and violence.

You might wonder why I am standing on my soap box in my fashion blog to tell you something you already know, but there is still an incredible amount of ignorance around this subject. In my small town the "cool" post-person raised is eyebrows sky-high when I told him where I was off to for the weekend, and even in the Bay Area I have known of people who have been beaten up, had rotting veggies thrown at them, etc., just for being "queer". So many of my friends are gay/lesbian, and I feel very strongly that they deserve all the rights afforded to "straight" people. This is not just a theory, it is a conviction that comes from life experience– try counseling a dear friend who, as a lesbian mother, lost her child when her wife left her, because gay marriage isn't legal in California and she had no legal custody. I could really go on. But let's talk celebrating!

Here I am at The Roxie on 16th Street… my friends Kymmie and Denah made a film (with me in it) called Devil's Dairymaid, which showed at the prestigious Frameline Gay/Lesbian/Trans-gender film festival, as part of the experimental film shorts program.

There's (left to right) Inbar, Chris, and Jessie, and Amy; thanks to everyone who came out and made it a full house!!! You cheered so loud for me and that butter churn… gotta love it.

Me and my dear friend Armelle, who came down from Oregon to visit with me and our mutual friend Terese– here we are waiting for the 24 Divisadero!

My friends have the cutest kids…

The girls reunited: me, Terese, and Armelle!

Andy from the SF band LSD and the Search for God (I can feel my father's comment coming here- I dunno Dad, you're going to have to ask Andy yourself!), Chris, and me… musical buddies 4 ever!

The Dyke March!

Ladies…

Rockers! These are my friends who play in the all-girl SF band Excuses for Skipping. They rocked the whole parade as it marched by!

For those of you who want to see it in action, here's a video snippet from their amazing cover of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean!:

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The Gunne Sax That Made The Big Time

Posted on June 22nd, 2009 in behind the music- personal stuff, local artists, musicians, & other creative folk, prairie with 1 comment

From Sasha

So my radable-awesome friends Kymmie Sioux and Denah made the coolest short film in REAL 16mm, starring me as, what else, The Devil's Dairymaid (no I didn't have to apply for this position, I admit… it was an inside job!). Their film has been chosen to show as part of the Canyon Cinemas Queer Underground Showcase at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, this Friday night the 26th. I will be there to catch it on the big screen, and I'd love to see you there!

You might note, watching the trailer below, that one of the most important visual elements is a gorgeous white full-length Gunne Sax dress! And yes, I do spill milk VERY clumsily all over it… but I'm supposed to be kind of, um, possessed, so you have to forgive me.

The other films all look amazing too. For tickets and more info go HERE…