book club selection 1: on the road by jack kerouac

good morning everyone…i am so excited to announce about the launch of the book club! we have chosen on the road by jack kerouac as the first book featured in the free people book club! this is one of my favorite books of all time, and I can’t wait to hear what you all have to say about it.
since we’re new at this, we’re just going to learn as we go…if you look to the list of categories on the right you’ll see we’ve created one for the book club. you will still be able to see the posts on the main page, but if you ever want to see only book club posts, click there.
here’s how it’s going to work:
on the road is broken into three parts, so we’re going to give you all some time to read the first part and then we’ll start discussing! check back for a post – maybe in the form of a question, a highlight, not quite sure yet – on monday november 23 about part one of the book, and leave any comments you have in the comments section as you normally would. but make sure you don’t spoil the ending for anyone who might not be finished the book yet…
happy reading!

yoga for a cause

do you love animals? do you love yoga? do you live in philly? then you’ll love this event…

this saturday, practice yoga studio and the monster minders present upward dog: a yoga benefit for paws. the event will take place in the beautiful sanctuary at fleisher art memorial (8th and catherine) at 4pm, with two full hours of yoga led by ellen greenberg, owner of practice yoga studio on fabric row.
this event is free but there is a suggested donation of $25 that will go to the philadelphia animal welfare society to aid in their efforts to save shelter animals.
you can rsvp for the event here.
sounds like a win win situation to me :) is anyone attending any cool yoga events this week/weekend?

my kind of stamps

i have always loved album covers…i think they’re a very special form of art that tends to get lost in all the online sites that allow you to download music these days. having the actual album means something to me, and to a lot of people who still insist on buying them, and when my dad gives me his old record collection one day (i hope…!), a lot of the albums are going in frames and up on my wall.
so i think it’s really cool that next year, britain’s royal mail will launch a new series of stamps that celebrate ten classic british album covers. for the near-impossible task of selecting which ten to use, they did a series of polls and conferred with music editors, designers and writers. the stamps will have the unique shape seen in the images above, allowing for the vinyl disc poking out of the sleeve.
here’s the full list:
the clash – london calling
rolling stones – let it bleed
led zeppelin IV
david bowie – the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars
pink floyd – division bell
blur – parklife
primal scream – screamadelica
coldplay – a rush of blood to the head
mike oldfield – tubular bells
new order – power, corruption & lies
don’t be too shocked that no beatles albums made the cut…they have already been on stamps.
do you agree with the british choices? if they did this in the US…what classic album covers would you want to see on stamps?
this would be at the top of my list:

tunesday: monsters of folk

i saw the monsters of folk last night at the academy of music in philly, and i was so impressed that i felt compelled to write about them today. MOF is a “supergroup” consisting of jim james (frontman of my morning jacket), m. ward, conor oberst and mike mogis (brighteyes), all of whom have had great success in their respective careers. so it seems odd then that they’d put their main projects on hold to record an album and tour together, but seeing them live makes it clear why, as they have amazing chemistry together on stage. they each bring something different to the table, and they feed off of each others talents to create a sound that is incredibly unique – sometimes folky, sometimes it rocks out, sometimes you’re not really sure what it is (“dear god”)…but it’s always good. what i also really enjoy is that they don’t lose their individuality, and seeing them live is almost like seeing several shows in one, as they play a mix of their new music along with my morning jacket, conor oberst and m. ward songs.
i highly recommend checking out their album, monsters of folk, which was released this fall, and seeing them if they play in a town near you! in the meantime, you can watch this video for the song “the right place.”