Grade 2

After a minor crisis in which she realized she has lost the backs to her new earrings, and therefore might possibly lose the ability to show off her new pierced ears on the first day of school (she opted to wear them backless and live with the risk), I got her off to grade 2 without incident. This stuff is whirling by. It's brutal.

Next Tooth's Away

She finally wiggled this one out herself at school after I failed two nights in a row to extract it using the door/twine method. I still can't comprehend why this is such a milestone for kids but she's really happy about it.

You Just Know

Claire's newest song is a foray into more dance pop territory. Expect this single to storm the club charts in coming weeks. My favorite part: Claire's faux-echo effect produced by simply repeating the ends of phrases in a way that gradually trails off.

Claire Johnson "You Just Know"

Claire Recording Her New Hit Song

Claire in the Studio from Daniel Johnson on Vimeo.

It's almost a bummer when she notices I'm filming her because I took her out of her totally pure moment of get-down.

The girl's got moves. She gets it from me.

Father's Day

I love these pictures that Kirst took of Claire and I yesterday. Claire's missing tooth makes her look like a deranged, but adorable hillbilly. I sometimes forget how much we laugh together until someone shows me a picture of it. Also, handmade cards are the best.

Before, after

In the end I used the string tied to the tooth, tied to the door handle which is then slammed method. Worked like a charm.

My Baby is Seven

Pipe Down

I should explain before you see this video that we have a family inside joke in which we constantly tell each other to pipe down. It's become a game to see how unexpected you can make a "pipe down" come for the recipient, or to use it in a creative way. For instance, Claire might say, "I would love a glass of chocolate milk right now," and I would reply, "Too bad you're getting a glass of pipe down instead."

Anyway, this is just Claire in one of her amped up moods, which she's pretty much in every time we sit down to dinner or to play a game. I don't know what to do with her. In case you can't understand it, her joke is that when her hair finally grows down to her feet, she's going to let her grandpa mow it with his lawnmower.

Chicago Never Lets Me Down

Saturday, Kirsten and I drove to Chicago to stay with my old comrade in arms, Charlie, and his squeeze Leah. They have a new apartment together. It was very stylish.






The following morning we had an epic brunch at Treat with Charlie, Leah, Megan and Colleen. I ate what was essentially a salad on a piece of toast but it tasted like candy. Megan shocked everybody by whipping out two bottles of champagne from her purse. We made samosas. Everybody had fun.







Then for the main event. We headed to the Aragon ballroom to see Thom Yorke's new band, Atoms For Peace. I was surprised to find out on arrival that Flying Lotus was opening the show. Flying Lotus is an LA-based DJ who makes seasick beats. It's gross. It really inspires me to be more creative with my programming. His show was fun as well as apocalyptic. The venue itself was as pretty as a cathedral. The sound was disappointing (mostly drums, not enough vocals) but Atoms For Peace turned out to be even more about rhythm than melody and it was enough to feel the energy of what they were cooking up and watch them all dance their asses off like funk Muppets (as the shocking video below will attest).










Then, before heading back to reality (which is actually a pretty good reality), we had breakfast and did some rush shopping. Kirsten is always taking pictures of our food for her vegetarian blog ieatveg. If she's not careful she's going to make us rich with all this cooking stuff.

Nica High Contrast

We've been back a day and I still haven't gotten Nicaragua out of my system. It was such a real place. Real places mark you for life and when you leave you want to feel like you're an expert, because you feel connected to and changed by them. But I'm no expert, just someone who got a taste.

What struck me about Nicaragua was the high contrast. Not just in the bleached-out images I caught with my camera, but in everything. Deep poverty, high pride. Freezing cold beers and warm swimming water. The roads are jagged but the life can be smooth. So tranquilo. At night, when bats are flying through the kitchen and the stars are shivering over you, big as oranges, there's a bittersweet smell in the air: a mix of woodfires and burning trash.

We spent many long, lazy hours reclining in whatever chair, pool or hammock we could find, and yet it still feels like we saw a year's worth of sights in a week. We stared into the mouth of an active volcano, peed on the ruins of the revolution and, one night coming home from the bar, met the eyes of a pack of wild dogs.

I'm already thinking of ways to get back.