Liner Notes: March - Mitski/The Tansy House/Cats/Nothing's About to Happen to Me

We've come to our final week of the Mitski liner notes. Here's our first song:

And our second:

One of the things I love about Mitski is that we share a love of cats. She has two, and her newest album, Nothing's About to Happen to Me, features two songs about cats. I heard an interview with her about the cats on this album, and she talked about them not being obedient and how they live independently. Mitski said, "They love you how they love you, and they do what they want." It's the perfect description of a cat and of being a cat's person. She goes on to talk about how women are often criticized for the same behavior and going against the norm. That was the concept for this album and it resonated with me so much. 

I think I said early on that listening to a Mitski album feels like being in her apartment with her, observing her life and experiencing love and loneliness right along with her. Nothing's About to Happen to Me moves us from an apartment somewhere to a house, the Tansy House. It's not a real house, but in the album art and the songs, you get the sense that the Tansy House would fit nicely into a Shirley Jackson novel or maybe as a visual guide for a stage production of "The Yellow Wallpaper"or maybe the house in Grey Gardens. The house is haunted by its former residents and Mitski is its current resident and caretaker. There are animals all over the place, particularly two cats, and she's also pining for someone who isn't there. 

The album art is just spectacular. If you buy the vinyl edition, it comes with the pieces to make your own Tansy House diorama (fun article about the album design). There's also a Tansy House exhibition in some of the cities Mitski has visited since the album came out so you can experience it first hand. 

I bought the album on vinyl but have not yet assembled my diorama. I have nowhere to put it so I'm just leaving it alone for now, but it's beautifully crafted and gives each one of us the ability to create our own Tansy House.

When I set out to create my Mitski liner notes, I had a completely different vision for what this was going to be. I was going to include elements from each of the albums I talked about and maybe some lyrics, but when I found the background fabric and started working on it, I realized I was creating my own version of the Tansy House instead. 

I included two cats, although mine are much sillier than the ones that live in Mitski's Tansy House. There's a rug, like on the album cover. This week I created a weird portrait. The color scheme feels a little "faded house that used to be glorious." I added flowers yesterday and more weird art today. I didn't set out to create Tansy House, but I did. 

One thing I tried this week was using a binder ring to make a frame for the weird portrait. I saw this on Instagram and now I can't find the person who did it (they used a key ring). It's similar to the hot glue technique but the stitching is smoother given that the ring is metal. I'll definitely use this technique again especially with old key rings. 

Here's the final week of the Mitski liner notes:

March 22

March 23

March 24

March 25

March 26

March 27

March 28 - Her name is Amelia Waldo. She looks like the love child of Amelia Bedelia and Where's Waldo.

March 29

March 30

March 31 - I wanted it to look like the wall border was growing and starting to attach itself to the art.

March - Mitski

Up Next: Florence+the Machine

GalaxyCon, Woodlawn, WIPs, and Other Small Joys

I basically survived GalaxyCon. I ended up with a terrible cold that morphed into a sinus infection last week, and I don't want to blame GalaxyCon, but it was probably a factor. Other than the getting sick part, it was really fun. I had zero expectations of what this would be like since I've never attended any sort of fandom convention. We drove down Friday evening so we could get to the convention center early on Saturday. We were able to find parking, walk to the convention center, and get in before all the stuff opened at 10 am. Not too bad for complete newbies. 

One of the primary reasons we went to GalaxyCon was because my brother looks like Brian O'Halloran, the actor who played Dante in the Clerks movies. I was in high school when the original movie came out, and all of my friends called Scott "Dante." Anyway, he came into work last year sometime and said "I've not even supposed to be here today" as he was coming into the building, and this ended up with him befriending a coworker who occasionally acts as Brian's handler at conventions. She's been trying to get Scott to come to an event, and we finally decided to go to the one in Richmond. My friends were hoping that bringing the two Dantes together would somehow reset the timeline we're currently on. I'm not sure it did, but it was funny. I also treated Scott to the Clerks cast photo op; Kevin Smith is a hugger. Apparently.

 

I also treated myself to a photo op with Luke and Kirk from Gilmore Girls. They were super nice. I'm a little disappointed that none of the other GG fans knew my shirt. Emily gifting Lorelai and Christopher Kiki Smith's painting "Wolf Girl" in season seven is one of the best moments of that entire season. I expected more of my fellow fans. 

Would I go again? Maybe. It was fun and I'm glad we did it. I also found some really fun presents for friends and saw a great panel featuring Edgar Wright. And there were some great costumes.

I also volunteered at the Woodlawn Needlework Show with my local EGA chapter. It's the one EGA event I can do during the year, and I enjoy talking with visitors. More people talked with me this year than last year, so that was fun. I also have a few ideas for my entries for next year. 

I'm slowly making my way through To Anyone Who Ever Asks, Howard Fishman's book about the life and music of Connie Converse. I think Converse and Mitski would be friends. Converse basically disappeared in the mid-1970s but her music was rediscovered in 2009. Third Man Records recently reissued the album How Sad, How Lovely and I was able to finally listen to it over the weekend. It's really beautiful and fun. It's a shame Converse wasn't recognized during her time as a songwriter and singer. She was doing something so different from the normal music coming out in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Her songs are short, but pack a punch. I would highly recommend picking up Fishman's book and the reissue of the album. 

Her whole story makes me think about how people remember us and what we create. I think about that a lot as an artist. Does anyone really care about my liner notes or the fortune cookies or all the other things I create? I care, so that's probably all that matters. I can't imagine not trying to make all the things in my head. One of Converse's poems may find its way into a piece I've been thinking about. 

Whimsy is also on high alert in my house. I've recently started replacing the light switch plates with whimsical ones. I may end up making a few of my own or using a few little odds and ends to make them more interesting. This is the one that arrived on Friday.

This is in my bathroom. They're fantastic. 

I made some progress on my mushroom needlepoint piece. I really want to finish it in the next two weeks since it's supposed to hang in my kitchen. 

Bea was a very good nurse this past week. She doesn't know how to make tea, but she does know how to cuddle and to make weird faces that make me laugh. That's basically the same thing. 

I hope spring continues to bring us some lovely weather and more flowers. The redbud tree at work is looking absolutely beautiful this week!

Programming Note: There will be a new post up on Saturday to start the new liner notes stitch journal page. It'll probably be a shorter post, but will set the stage for the month of April.