Brooke just came out with a new ep of songs on July 9, called Architecture. Her music can be soft and sweet, but often with a salty, melancholy texture. I think Brooke’s sense of rhythm is unique in the world of folk-music, and it shows in her masterful guitar and tenor ukulele playing. The spare recordings on Architecture also feature a xylophone and the percussion of popcorn popping. (No really! Check out Track #2, Taxidermy Heart…)

I wanted to blog about Brooke because, well for one thing, I want everyone to hear her music, but also because Turtle Love Co. loves to support independent artists. I remember when Brooke was making her first album, Treading Water. As a culmination of her senior year at college, she recorded, edited, and produced the entire album herself using our school’s small recording studio. She enlisted the musical talents of our friends to fill out the sound of her quiet, thoughtful songs, resulting ina beautiful first album that was a truly grassroots effort. What an amazing accomplishment!

Brooke’s music is available at CDBaby – do check out Architecture. I can’t stop humming In the Bar Light and Your Body Lost…

Born in the dorm room of a University of Southern Maine student back in the 70’s, WMPG broadcasts all kinds of eclectic music and talk radio shows. The musical preferences of the community station’s djs range from acoustic folk to blues, hardcore metal, indie rock, and a show dedicated entirely to Frank Zappa. There really is something for everyone at WMPG, and I’m really proud to be a part of such a diverse, grassroots, music-loving family!

My own eclectic music show, called Vox Pop Radio, airs on Mondays from 1:30 to 3 pm (you can actually listen to all of our fabulous djs by streaming WMPG online!) and travels through geography, time, and genre willy-nilly. Well, it’s usually not willy-nilly to me, as I hear all kinds of threads connecting kora music from Mali to, say, the soul music of Otis Redding. It’s sometimes hard to explain why I like the music I like – so maybe I’m not a typical dj. I just hope the music I play will resonate with someone else out there. Sometimes a song just hits you, wham! like it reached inside of you and plucked a string that makes a beautiful note. Those are the songs I try to play.

Here’s a song called La Llorona by Beirut, one of my past and current musical obsessions. I like this song, from the album March of the Zapotec, because Zach Condon plays with a 19-piece band from Oaxaca, Mexico. I’m a big fan of genre-bending musicians!

A lot of towns have great community radio stations. Get involved! All of those dedicated djs who volunteer their time deserve dedicated listeners.

Michele designs and creates her fabulous pieces in her studio in Venice, California. Within a two-minute walk from her studio, she can find any three of her current favorite meals: sushi, Argentinian tapas, or freshly-made, cinnamon-sugar-dusted mini-donuts. In her spare time, Michele likes to dance salsa, read fiction, and walk her dog, June, on the beach. Michele describes June as a “terrible guard dog, but nobody knows.”

We love Michele’s jewelry for a lot of reasons! The matte-finish on her pieces is simply luscious, and the designs are whimsical and unique, calling to mind the world of fairy tales. She also uses conflict-free diamonds in her work, which are certified as having eco- and people-friendly origins.

Portland, ME, home of Turtle Love Co.

If there was an online dating site to match people with places, this imaginary online business would certainly match me up with Portland, Maine. We are a match made in heaven, because this place is heaven (see pics). It’s got the ocean in the air. It’s got red brick sidewalks and cobblestone streets. It’s a mecca for environment-lovers. It’s a hotbed of creativity in all forms, from musicians to jewelry designers (wink, wink) to installation artists. I recently discovered an interesting article in Portland Monthly about other creatives (Yoko Ono, Tippi Hedren) who have been similarly affected by this magical locale, so I guess I’m not alone. I think I’ll stick around forever.

View from Willard Beach

How did people come to believe that birthstones had certain powers? Well, those stories came about some time during the writing of the book of Exodus in the Old Testament… Something to do with the breastplate of a high priest of the Hebrews. Perhaps that’s a story for another day.

In any case, it’s June, and that means we get to talk about pearls and moonstones! Pearls and moonstones both have a beautiful iridescent sheen, and they are the centerpiece for a couple of our more unique designs, the Nested Pearl Ring, and the Monhegan Moonstone Engagement Ring. The moonstone is a particularly beautiful type of feldspar that seems to glow quite like the surface of the moon. Many ancient civilizations attributed spiritual understanding, good health, and longevity to the moonstone.

We love pearls not only because they’re beautiful, but because they come from something as unassuming as an oyster! (Or mussels in some cases.) A pearl forms when something gets inside the shell that isn’t supposed to be there. Gradually, over years, the foreign object is covered with many layers of a protective coating called ‘nacre.’ When light interacts with all of these overlapping translucent layers, we see the iridescent luster that makes a pearl what it is. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that, upon being born from the ocean like in Botticelli’s painting of Venus, the goddess of love cried tears of joy. As her tears fell back to the water, they hardened and became pearls.