The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room (The Whole Wide Whit)

Much anticipated Ms. Whiteaker post to follow:

But first, a retraction. There is NO EXCUSE for not including the Black Key's album Brothers on my best of 2010 post. This humble apology is all I have to redeem myself.

I guess I do have an excuse actually (albeit a lame one). This album never got on rotation and I kept waiting and waiting. Then my "best friend" kept telling me over and over that she would send it and I kept waiting and waiting. Finally my man bought it for me for Valentine's Day (2011 - two months after my best of post was written).

So anyway, with deepest apologies to Dan, Patrick & all you readers, the album is amazing. Track after track: Everlasting Light, The Next Girl, Tighten Up, Howlin' For You, Ten Cent Pistol, Sinister Kid..... Just what you would expect, but better.

Check out this video, this is one you are going to want to watch. My only complaint is that it isn't a real movie.

Black Keys - Howlin' For You
Did you catch Shaun White in there? Love me some Shaun White.

Also, if you haven't seen it check out The Next Girl video - features the same dinosaur puppet who is named Frank.

I have a question. Why is the name Frank uncommon in the real world but the name of at least 10% of all fictional male characters?
Case in point, how many Franks do you know personally?
I know one - my husband.

Conversation with my stepbrother circa 2008:
Aloof relative: "I hear you have a new boyfriend."
pigeon: "Yes, that is true."
AR: "So who is this guy, what is his name?"
pigeon: "His name is Frank."
AR: "How old is he, like 60, 70?"
pigeon: "No, he is 32. Why would you say that?"
AR: "Just didn't know they still were naming people Frank."

However, half the weird, evil or quirky characters have this name.

 Pitch: Crotchety, crazy father for Larry David character... how about Frank?

"When it touches the lips, it tastes so good."

Let's go streaking. We're all streaking

Let's try the name Frank. 

Creepiest villain = Frank?

 Oh, wait there is creepier Frank.

"Lizard, am I standing in poop?"

One of my favorite characters of all time.

And last but not least:

Johnny Depp in the Tourist, introduces himself to Angelina's character:

"I'm Frank."

"That's a terrible name."

WTB, Angie? 

I happen to think that Frank is a fantastic, sexy name. Case in point:

My Frank.

So, I have more excuses. I haven't written my blog about the Ms. Whiteaker pageant yet for two reasons.

1) We were really rushing to get over there after the radio show as it started at 9pm so we did NOT want to miss the talent portion. Because my husband's truck doors do not lock and we live in the Whit and were going deeper into our wonderful neighborhood, we had to go home first to drop off our laptop and stack of records from that night's show. I asked him to grab my camera when he ran in and he forgot.

So I have no pictures and I have been patiently waiting and checking flickr and the like for some gems to show up and I have finally found them, although they are copyrighted but check them out here.

2) Because I didn't have my camera and there were several drinks consumed, I took notes on my BlackBerry for my dear readers.

2b) Said phone was LOST a few days later. That is a WHOLE nother story for another day. Happy ending = iPhone.

So this pageant is like a display of neighborhood pride. You guys probably know I really love my neighborhood. To paraphrase a contestant asked what she loved most about living in Whiteaker, this neighborhood makes me feel normal (by comparison).

We unfortunately did miss the talent portion but were in attendance for the "late" evening wear (think freakish lingerie) and the Q & A portion. There were about seven or eight lovely ladies with different levels of commitment to the competition. The place was packed. Sitting next to me was a paraplegic with quite an ingenious set up of carabiners and a Nalgene and heavy duty straws rigged up for his beers. The evening was hosted by the charming publisher of BoozeWeek, local celeb (Missoulians, think Nate Schweber status) Elliot Martinez.

The ladies were wonderfully dressed - really, check out the pictures. One had a huge papermache vagina. One had the Ninkasi logo shaved and dyed into her hair. Lots of bustiers, tutus, mohawks (real, not faux), '80s prom, lots of skin (tattoo covered skin)... it was all there.

Our mayor, Kitty Piercy, was there as a judge.

A sweet older lady asking questions like "If you could change one thing about the Whit, what would it be?"

Some of my favorite answers -
"Too much ribald activities during the day. Night is ok, but please, pants during the day."
"People leaving stuff outside their cars. And meth."

We figured that the complaint about the leaving stuff is referring to the frequent occurrence in these parts of people "cleaning" out their cars and leaving their junk on the side of the road (or in our yard as the case may be). Personally, I have never had a problem with this, since someone else always comes by and picks it up within the hour.

Another contestant suggested as an improvement to have fountains filled with free Ninaski.

After the winner was crowned, local punk band Soothsayers played and a friend of ours met us down at Sam Bond's Garage and we stayed up real late listening to records.

I haven't had what I like to refer to as a "record party" in a LONG time. Record parties cannot start before midnight and/or at least three drinks.To give you some perspective, the two ladies I last had a record party now have children. One of them has two. And I am still having record parties. Sigh.

It's my birthday today.

xo pigeon xo