Saturday Social Club

Many of you may be out enjoying the weather and not at home reading blogs, but I thought I'd do a little post in honour of what has become a bit of an HQ summer tradition, Saturday Social Club! Almost every Saturday during the summer some of my girlfriends will pop into the shop for some hanging out in the sunshine, clothes trying on and sangria drinking. If I won the lottery HQ would provide the sangria each and every time, but as it stands now everyone just pitches in a bit, and I provide the pitcher itself.

The "club" started out as myself, and my friends Jill, Judy and Amanda, but has now expanded into any and all girls who want to stop by and have a fun little saturday. Today we're doing an impromptu Etsy photoshoot, since I've been sewing up a secretary blouse storm. Hopefully we'll have time to also shoot some of the fun dresses and vintage sunglasses we have in the store, and I can post all the pics for you to see.

In the spirit of Saturday Social Club and all things girly, I'd also like to let you all know about some lovely music to listen to when hanging out with your lady friends. A lot of you will probably already know about She & Him, but if not you're in for a treat! Here's how they describe themselves on their website:

She & Him made their debut record as a love letter to the musicians who inspired it. Volume One introduces a boy and girl choir hell-bent on making music the old-fashioned way: by hand - and with as few machines as humanly possible. The She & Him story begins when in 2006 , renowned one man band M. Ward, recorded a duet with a girl named Zooey Deschanel. A delightful recording session, the experience lead to a dialogue between the two about collaborating further.

This, in turn, led to Deschanel admitting to secretly making dozens and dozens of home demos and hoarding them like acorns for the winter. Sick and tired of being stingy and secretive about music, Deschanel realized that if songs were acorns then this was indeed her wintertime: she sent the recordings to Ward and these demos became the basis for their first record, entitled Volume One. Ward’s unique arrangements and virtuostic guitar playing paired with Deschanel’s affinity for vocal harmony give Volume One its characteristic sound .

Ward and Deschanel share a mutual affection for the songs they grew up hearing on Los Angeles radio stations - and keep in their hearts the records that most DJ's aren't playing anymore: Les Paul and Mary Ford, The Ronettes, Nina Simone, Chet Atkins, Linda Ronstadt, the Carter Family and about a hundred others. Aiming to achieve the warmth and charm of pop and country records from the early and mid part of the twentieth century.



Ward, who also produced the record, and Deschanel, who wrote most of the music, called upon the help of a number of extraordinary musicians including: Rachel Blumberg, Adam Selzer, Mike Coykendall, Tom Hagerman, Peter Broderick, Mike Mogis, and Paul Brainerd. Without whom this record would just be two people with no drums, bass, strings or pedal steel. California-raised and Portland-based, M. Ward has released 4 records with Merge, his latest was Post-War (2006). He has collaborated with the likes of Neko Case, Conor Oberst, Jim James, Nels Cline, and Jenny Lewis. California based Deschanel spent much of her early life singing in choirs, which is probably why she likes harmonies so much. She also enjoys reading, dancing and playing the piano. She & Him have performed together on occasion over the last year and enjoyed it very much.

Zoey Deschanel is also a super stylish lady, which is another reason I would totally invite her to come drink Sangria with us at Saturday Social Club. So if you're a lady, come on down on a sunny saturday, feel free to bring something delicious to drink! We'll keep it cool in the fridge for you while you have a little browse around the store, cool off in the gallery basement, or catch some sun on the sidewalk.

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