Jackie I have met the Gracewood's. I used to flat with one of them. Did you know they used to be Wood's but changed their name to Gracewood to save their mother's maiden name Grace? I have always liked that story and now they have this great unique name except Greg who rebelled and stuck with Wood. I remember talking to Jolisa at her parents wedding anniversary and when I found out that she was living in Ithaca the only thing I could think of that I knew was there was the Moosewood restaurant. I asked if she had been and she said she had but it was a bit disappointing and it was better to just enjoy the books. I also remember that night because Jolisa’s sister in law was playing Carla in Shortland St at the time and her character was a real terror but we had only seen the beginning of what she had to offer. A couple of us asked Carla (real name Elizabeth) what was in store which she would not tell us of course but alluded to much more to come which there was. She is still one of the most memorable Shortland Street characters I think but I have not watched the show for a very long time.

Sorry joining this discussion a bit late. I hated the way Rolling Stones was seated. We felt like we were the plebs behind the chain fence when there was lots of space on the flat. It really was not an enjoyable way to watch the show. The last Rolling Stones gig we had been to at Western Springs I don’t remember the chain fence. We had cheap seats at that gig too but had the concert stairs/seats to sit on. People who sit in a GA standing area should totally expect that people will stand in front of them.
We had great seats at Lucinda, second row from the front and near the middle. I didn’t mind that it was seated as I don’t really think of dancing to Lucinda. That being said I did do a lot of wriggling in my seat and my mother who was next not to me could not contain herself a couple of times and jumped up briefly and danced, shouted and clapped as she does at concerts. I hope Lucinda does not take to long to come back for another concert. There are so many more of her songs I wanted to see her perform.

p.s The New Yorker article made us feel that our baby could be a lot worse.

p.p.s We tried soothing music with our baby but then found 'Sleater Kinney' worked a treat, calmed him right down and sent him off to sleep. Who would have thought.

Sorry for my tardy response to this brilliant post. I have only just found time to read it.
I agree with Danielle (who is the most well researched person I know musically) about country music. I started off like alt country like Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams but do like the old school stuff as well and have even found I like The Dixie Chicks.
Re badly behaved babies, around the time our baby had what we presumed was the mysterious 'colic' my mother gave us an article to read from the New Yorker. ('The Colic Conundrum' The New Yorker (Sept 17, 2007): p46.) Here are two excerpts from that article. The first is from a woman who had one baby with colic and then later twins with colic. It lasted 6 months each time and they cried continuously:

"I got sick of hearing about easy babies," Amanda told me. "One said, 'My son is like a Buddha--he just sits there and smiles.' I wanted to chop her head off."

This second excerpt is quite disturbing:

The United States military has reportedly used the sound of wailing infants as an instrument of psychological stress, piping recordings of their cries into the cells of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.