OTBKB is giving away two pairs of tickets to Danya Kurtz’s show at Union Hall on January 9th and 10th. That’s next Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Here are the rules. You must email me at louise_crawford@yahoo.com. You must give me the best reason why I should give the tickets to you (which I will post on OTBKB). You must really be able to go to the show. You must write me and tell me about it.

Danya Kurtz is a local singer/songwriter with a huge following in Europe. Here’s a review of her recent album, Another Black Feather, in the Boston Globe.

A guitar lazily strums, and a clarinet blows mournful circles in anticipation of the coming squall. A personal prayer for healing turns into a bitter call for vengeance against the gods of war on “It’s the Day of Atonement, 2001,” the centerpiece of Dayna Kurtz’s often-magnificent fourth album, “Another Black Feather,” and a funeral breaks out at a singer-songwriter’s convention. The coolly mournful klezmer sound, the squawking clarinet contrasted with the gentler trumpet tones, is deliciously out of place here, an outbreak of Eastern European tristesse for Kurtz’s fusion of the personal and the political. Nothing on “Another Black Feather,” out Tuesday, is quite as magical as Kurtz’s Yom Kippur invocation, but songs like “Nola” and “Banks of the Edisto” betray a knack for melody matched and complemented by her husky, nearly masculine voice. Kurtz is a confirmed New Yorker, but her songs are homesick for foreign climes: New Orleans (pre-Katrina) in “Nola,” which she imagines as a refuge for tired souls; a fond daydream of “Venezuela” (which she describes as “look(ing) like Brooklyn”; and the touching tribute to a banjo-picking friend on “Banks of the Edisto.” Surprisingly, for a performer whose previous album (“Beautiful Yesterday”) was composed entirely of covers, Kurtz’s own songs — textured, deeply melodious, with a slide-guitar underpinning reminiscent of Lucinda Williams and Chris Whitley — overshadow the covers here, of Johnny Cash’s “All Over Again” and Bill Withers’s “Hope She’ll Be Happier.” Kurtz’s own songs, unassuming at first listen, burrow under your skin, tiny nodules of melody and stray lyrics refusing to let go before receiving a blessing of approval.

Barbara Rushkoff may have to change the name of her Babble blog. As noted on OTBKB as well as many other blogs, her husband Douglas Rushkoff was mugged at gun point on Christmas Eve. They’re both mad as hell and can’t take Brooklyn anymore.

Brooklyn, Schmooklyn. Yeah, it’s pretty here, but we are surrounded by crime. Kings County (Brooklyn’s county) is one of the highest crime areas in the country. Insurance is more here than almost any other place. It costs $2000 a year to insure my wedding ring. Most other cities it would cost $150. The other day we saw a coke deal go down in front of the post office while Bugaboos passed. The diner up the street (the one next to the hospital) was robbed on Friday night. Nah, I am not liking it here much now.

She makes a good point. And getting robbed at gunpoint just made matters worse.

It’s not cowardly to leave a place you love because you have a family now. I say it’s brave. It’s hard to leave what you know, who you know, the city you once loved, for a calmness, a stability, a not so fast pace that might be a little boring. But we are a family now, and it’s not about being close to Manhattan. Mamie doesn’t know from Manhattan. She wants to be outside and not in a park where rats roam as soon as the sun goes down. She wants to be a kid. And I want to give that to her as safely as I can. Is it worth staying here knowing that she will most likely see muggings, and most likely get mugged herself? Do I want her seeing dope deals go down right around the corner? Will I have to buy her pepper spray for her bookbag? I don’t want to think about things like this, but if we stay I will have to.

Yes, I’m upset, and yes, I may be overreacting. But man, I am too old and tired for this.

We outta here.

I wonder where they’re going?

Lake Superior State University has a list of overused words that should be banished in 2007. LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2008 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit.php.

GITMO — The US military’s shorthand for a base in Cuba drives a wedge wider than a split infinitive.

"When did the notorious Guantanamo Bay Naval Base change to ‘Gitmo,’ a word that conjures up an image of a fluffy and sweet character from a Japanese anime show?" — Marcus W., St. Louis, Missouri.

COMBINED CELEBRITY NAMES — Celebrity duos of yore — BogCall (Bogart and Bacall), Lardy (Laurel and Hardy), and CheeChong (Cheech and Chong) — just got lucky.

"It’s bad enough that celebrities have to be the top news stories. Now we’ve given them obnoxious names such as ‘Bragelina,’ ‘TomKat’ and ‘Bennifer.’" — M. Foster, Port Huron, Michigan.

"It’s so annoying, idiotic and so lame and pathetic that it’s ‘lamethetic.’" — Ed of Centreville, Virginia.

AWESOME — Given a one-year moratorium in 1984, when the Unicorn Hunters banished it "during which it is to be rehabilitated until it means ‘fear mingled with admiration or reverence; a feeling produced by something majestic." Many write to tell us there’s no hope and it’s time for "the full banishment."

"The kind of tennis shoes you wear, no matter how cute, don’t fit the majestic design of the word." — Leila Hill, Damascus, Maryland.

"That a mop, a deodorant or a dating service can be called ‘awesome’ demonstrates the limited vocabularies of the country’s copywriters." — Tom Brinkmoeller, Orlando, Florida.

"Overused and meaningless.’ My mother was hit by a car.’ Awesome. ‘I just got my college degree.’ Awesome." — Robert Bron, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand.

GONE/WENT MISSING — "It makes ‘missing’ sound like a place you can visit, such as the Poconos. Is the person missing, or not? She went there but maybe she came back. ‘Is
missing’ or ‘was missing’ would serve us better." — Robin Dennis, Flower Mound, Texas.

PWN or PWNED — Thr styff of lemgendz: Gamer defeats gamer, types in "I pwn you" rather than I OWN you.

"This word is just an overly used Internet typo. It has been overused to the point that people who play online games are using it in everyday speech." — Tory Rowley, Corunna, Michigan.

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS — Heard in movie advertisements. Where can we see that, again?

"How often do movies premiere in laundromats or other places besides theaters? I know that when I want to see a movie I think about going to a shoe store." — Andrea May, Shreveport, Louisiana.

WE’RE PREGNANT — Grounded for nine months.

"Were men feeling left out of the whole morning sickness/huge belly/labor experience? You may both be expecting, but only one of you is pregnant." — Sharla Hulsey, Sac City, Iowa.

"I’m sure any woman who has given birth will tell you that ‘WE’ did not deliver the baby." — Marlena Linne, Greenfield, Indiana.

UNDOCUMENTED ALIEN — "If they haven’t followed the law to get here, they are by definition ‘illegal.’ It’s like saying a drug dealer is an ‘undocumented pharmacist.’" — John Varga, Westfield, New Jersey.

ARMED ROBBERY/DRUG DEAL GONE BAD — From the news reports. What degree of "bad" don’t we understand? Larry Lillehammer of Bonney Lake, Washington, asks, "After it stopped going well and good?"

TRUTHINESS – "This word, popularized by The Colbert Report and exalted by the American Dialectic Society’s Word of the Year in 2005 has been used up. What used to ring true is getting all the truth wrung out of it." — Joe Grimm, Detroit, Michigan.

ASK YOUR DOCTOR — The chewable vitamin morphine of marketing.

"Ask your doctor if ‘fill in the blank’ is right for you! Heck, just take one and see if it makes you ‘fill in the blank’ or get deathly ill." — R.C. Amundson, Oakville, Washington.

"I don’t think my doctor would appreciate my calling him after seeing a TV ad." — Peter B. Liveright, Lutherville, Maryland.

CHIPOTLE – Smoked dry over medium heat.

"Prior to 2005 . . . a roasted jalapeno. Now we have a ‘chipotle’ burrito with ‘chipotle’ marinated meat, ‘chipotle’ peppers, sprinkled with a ‘chipotle’ seasoning and smothered in a ‘chipotle’ sauce. Time to give this word a rest." – Rob Zeiger, Bristol, Pennsylvania.

i-ANYTHING — ‘e-Anything’ made the list in 2000. Geoff Steinhart of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, says tech companies everywhere have picked this apple to the core. "Turn on…tune in…and drop out."

"Banish any word that starts with it. i am just tired of it. it’s getting old. — Brad Butler, Adrian, Michigan.

SEARCH — Quasi-anachronism. Placed on one-year moratorium.

"Might as well banish it. The word has been replaced by ‘google.’" — Michael Raczko, Swanton, Ohio.

HEALTHY FOOD — Point of view is everything.

Someone told Joy Wiltzius of Fort Collins, Colorado, that the tuna steak she had for lunch "sounded healthy." Her reply: "If my lunch were healthy, it would still be swimming somewhere. Grilled and nestled in salad greens, it’s ‘healthful.’"

BOASTS — See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in "master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces — never ‘bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,’ or ‘kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets.’"

LSSU accepts nominations for the banished-words list throughout the year. To submit your nomination for the 2008 list, go to http://www.lssu.edu/banished/submit.php.

Issue Project Room presents, "THE INDEPENDENTS" is mammoth month long festival of independent music or all stripes, including the following artists: Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham, Phill Niblock, Leif Inge, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Zeena Parkins, Gamelan Son of Lion, Richard Bishop, Loren Connors, Peter Walker, Charles Gayle, Paul Flaherty, Bern Nix, No Neck Blues bands and more…

Check the schedule at their web site. Admission: $15 bucks. Well worth it.

Citing its charming Victorian brownstones, stimulating cultural scene, family-friendly ambiance, the oldest and largest food coop in the US, Park Slope has been selected by Natural Home Magazine as one of America’s top-ten eco-Neighborhoods.

Park Slope is #4. Asheville, North Carolina is #1, Austin Texas is #2, Bozeman, Montana is #3.  Here’s what they have to say about us. See the rest here.