Last night at our Epiphanie get-together I was crowned for my second consecutive year as le roi de la fève. If you're not familiar with the King Cake tradition it's fun to read about; you and your family/friends each eat a slice of cake and one of you finds the "fève" inside and becomes king. I first learned about it in highschool French class and I can't believe it's a relatively normal once-a-year part of my life in France now. Anyway, behold the glorious hunk of gold-colored metal I could have easily broken my teeth/choked to death on; my first day as king and I'm already thwarting assassination attempts. Last year it was a tiny ceramic butterfly; perfect for shattering and cutting me to ribbons from the inside. Hey, nobody ever said being the king was easy.

If I could have any job I wanted, I would be El Colacho, the guy who dresses up like the devil and jumps over babies to cleanse them of evil.


( A few more pictures... )
I've read about this Spanish tradition every Spring for years and years now, and every time I see it I want to send them my résumé. I believe I am highly qualified.

Two very important things I learned last night (completely unrelated to the Nick Cave concert):

1. The French don't have the Tooth Fairy, they have "the little mouse." Otherwise, it's the same exact procedure here inre: tooth, pillow, cash. I still have no idea why a fairy or a mouse would want little kids' teeth.
   
   
2. French cats only have seven lives, as opposed to nine lives for cats in the States. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Anyhow, The Nick Cave show was great! Concert recaps are boring so I'll skip it for the most part. It was an amazing night, and I was no more than twenty feet from Dr. Cave for the whole show. He played a lot of guitar, surprisingly, and they mostly focused on faster, rocking, noisy songs. I usually prefer the sad/quiet/slow stuff, but it was okay, I was in the mood to rock. Papa Won't Leave You Henry was probably the hightlight of the night for me; they tore the house down with that one. Mick Harvey looks (more than ever) like somebody's dad hanging out with all these creepy rockers. And I miss Blixa. And Warren Ellis is downright amazing. Okay, that's enough.