"I Don't Know," Lisa Hannigan

Jamie and I are notorious in our house for causing trouble and odd mishaps, usually because of our combined tendencies toward a lack of physical grace, poor measuring and estimation skills, and precious little attention to detail. For example, while I may have *technically* been the one to set a sock on fire in the microwave, it was Jamie's fault for telling me the wrong amount of time to heat it. Similarly, we managed to make a one hour bus trip to North Minneapolis last three hours because of our inability to differentiate between N and NE Lowry Ave on the MetroTransit website.

So when you see us in this video:

keep in mind that life in our heads is a strange place and that we were left to our own devices, unsupervised, for several hours. Dressing up in costumes and making music videos for The Internet is, comparatively speaking, not that bad for us.

Note: We made this video in the fall and lost it in the recesses of Jamie's harddrive. It resurfaced when we made the new ones on Monday. Also, please admire the great skill with which Anna plays the egg shaker. It's a lot more difficult than it looks.

"The Way I Am," Ingrid Michaelson

We didn't have to do quite as many takes on this one as we did on "SAIL," which was good. I think Dan was happy that we moved on to a new song. I don't know if you knew this, but our couch is lower than we thought and Jamie felt really scrunched up the whole time, I was hunched over because the keyboard was too low and Anna and my elbows kept bumping. Oh, well. We've learned for next time.

What's that? There's a next time?! Of course there's a next time. This was way too much fun not to do again. We take requests and hopefully guest artists- you know who you are, LVC musicians!- so please come over and participate.

SAIL by AWOLNATION

Oh, I warned you. For community night tonight I made broccoli and cheese soup, and we spent a couple of hours making music videos. This one is dedicated to our fellow LVCers, especially Fran, who has never heard the original or seen the ridiculously awesome video made by Shawna and Tessa, otherwise known as Nanalew and Meekakitty.

Coming soon: "I Don't Know," "The Way I Am," and "Winter Song."

Please forgive us for these.

Oops.

Remember when I used to update this blog? Yeah, me neither.

Sorry about that, my loves! I was so distracted by the epic life adventure at hand that I forgot about the internet! (My housemates disagree with this statement. They know me too well.) Okay, okay, I got lazy, but it's a new year and a new leaf so let's get cracking.

we earned $1 and a piece of lefsa!

With Or Without Dan made a sparkling debut at the Midtown Farmer's Market in the fall. Our dedicated fans put up with the cold, the lack of power leading to a keyboard malfunction, and our panicked attempts at playing things completely differently than we had rehearsed.



best fans ever! way to brave the nasty weather!

Smaller formations of With Or Without Dan, also referred to as Definitely Without Dave, have made appearances at the Holiday Bake Sale and Craftacular and at a fancy French dinner hosted by the McGowans on Summit Avenue. Our repertoire has expanded to include "La Vie En Rose" and our all time favorite, "SAIL" by AWOLNATION. (Okay, it's MY all time favorite.) Video updates to come. Consider yourself warned.

this night also featured a cereal box party game, and
one Rosie in particular punching patriarchy in the face.
we'll let you decide who it was.

We also attended a number of fabulous parties, including Wellstone House's spectacular Halloween party where we dressed up as Rosie the Riveter with special guest Uncle Reuben! At the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota's holiday party, we acquired a piece of Great Art on which to mount the rack from the deer Anna killed for us. Our bellies have been very happy with the venison she has provided.

Speaking of holiday parties, no end of the year update would be complete without a note about Christmas. Everyone in Beth Shalom was raised in some sort of Christian environment, so we put up a lot of paper chains and Christmas lights, decorated a real tree, and had a cookie making extravaganza with some members of Wellstone house. If you needed another reason to not let Jamie into a kitchen without supervision, her version of "frosting" should cover it for you.


it's too liquid to be spread.
why yes, those are chunks of butter floating on top!

Stay tuned for more frequent updates (new year! new leaf!). By the way, if you have questions about LVC, one of our placements, or things you'd like us to write about- and by us I mean me, but I'll happily bother the others for relevant information- leave a comment or send us an email!