I'm stuck inside this evening because the sky is opening up. I've been reading Dostoevsky but my brain has become too scattered to continue. Instead, I've decided to write a mindless blog about Myspace, of all things. I guess it was my scatter-brained mindless browsing on Myspace this evening that led me to this scatter-brained mindless blog. I think the appeal of Myspace is that no matter how scatter-brained and mindless you think you are, you're always a mere click away from someone much more scattered and much less...brained. Or so you think.
The best people to click on are people who you haven't seen in a few months or more and you go to their pictures and think, "Damn. You got crazy." You're probably reading this thinking I mean you and I don't. Unless you happen to be that crazy ass person I know who is gradually taking on the personality of some delusional muppet...according to Myspace.
"Damn. You got crazy," is one of the five seemingly automatic responses that I have to any given person on Myspace, the others being: "Oh hell no." "Why must you be gay?!" "Why did I do that with you?" "Why are you a DJ?!?!!" Other than that, it's just guttural noises.
Why do people have pages and pages of pictures that they took of themselves? I think it's OK to have pictures like this...like one or two, not ten pages of them. And why do boys that I've hooked up with have to look like freakin creeps in pictures?! Maybe I just like creeps. No. You know it's not a good sign when you shriek and shut your laptop as soon as your eyes come across a picture thumbnail. "I swear he was hot when"...finishing that sentence is like most depressing MadLib ever. "...when I was drunk...when we were twelve...in that basement..." all the same person, of course. Wild times when I was twelve.
The worst is when you figure out that all of your friends basically know each other in some way or another. It's like Oldboy or something. Gross.
Yesterday, Travis, Dante, and I decided we would go to the top of the Empire State building. After we found out it was $18 per person to ride an elevator, we decided against it. Instead, we walked to Central Park where we took a canoe out. After a lot of sugar and Sparks, we thought it was a good idea to walk the 50 blocks to Columbia. Now that I'm looking at the pictures Travis and I took, I see I'm wearing the same thing I did last time I did this walk. Walking through sketchy neighborhoods at night wearing a little dress makes me realize how lucky I am to have friends who can protect me. Speaking of cute little outfits...
Last night was ROUGH! My neck hurts so bad from being front and center for not one...not two...but three amazing performances from UK's finest. That sounds like I'm not complaining, but I am. My neck hurts so bad right now. I'm going to cry.
Franz Ferdinand kicked the night off at The Bowery Ballroom. They were good fun. I must say that I never understood why people found Alex Kapranos so attractive, but now I do. Man's got sass. I only knew two of the songs they played. I'm sure there are thousands upon thousands of die hard Franz fans around the world who want to kick my ass knowing that I stood mere feet away from these Glasgow gods of theirs. I should really just rename this blog to "I'm Sure You Want to Kick My Ass".
After their set, I piled into a cab with a bunch of crazy girls to jet down the the Knitting Factory. I walked in the door at the same moment The Pigeon Detectives walked on the unlit stage.
They were amazing. The stage there is so small and it was a completely different experience from seeing them in Austin a few months ago. They're so unknown in America and don't have a record label here which is a shame because they're really a head above a lot of the same old UK bands in terms of their live shows and quality of their songs. What I mean to say is I likes 'em! And after an endless night of upbeat Brit tunes, their songs are the ones still stuck in my head this morning.
The Rakes were the headliners at this show. One look at Alan's wrist told me he had been at The Bowery Ballroom earlier that night too. The Rakes are another fantastically underrated UK band. Kill the sound guy at The Knitting Factory for drowning out the vocals with way too much bass the entire show. I was jazzed to see them play but by this time, my neck was already killing me and I was standing next to drunk girl. It was that girl who my mom always warned me never to become and after a few minutes I was sworn off of alcohol all together. Click the captions for all the pictures.
Last night, after some serious rule bending, Eric and I saw Akron/Family play at Bowery Ballroom. The two of us don't exactly have the best history of success with this sort of thing, so I was relieved when we got inside unscathed. I had never heard Akron/Family before and I found them pretty impressive. They were like voodoo bluegrass sonic animal youth collective...only not as good as that. Don't get me wrong, they were really good but voodoo bluegrass sonic animal youth collective sounds like the best sounding thing in the world that certainly would have melted my brain five times. It was amazing how into it the kids at this show were...certainly the biggest audience reaction to a band I've seen since Gogol Bordello...maybe not quite that intense, but seeing a bunch of white kids break out into tribal dance seemed pretty intense at the time.
When I got back last night, I nearly cried when I found out that The Pigeon Detectives had played Knitting Factory with The Rakes. This morning I see they have decided to make it a two night affair. Small problem...Franz Ferdinand. Dear Franz, please finish your set before 11pm so I have a chance to run down to Tribeca and see The Pigeon Detectives. Pleasepleasepleaseplease!!! Hmm, I hope that works. I saw The Pigeon Detective at SXSW and they were the shit. Great live band.
Earlier in the day, I went to the Museum Mile Festival for the free museums and block party only there was torrential rain leaving me with Poiret and two inches of water in my shoes.
Get it? Take two!!?! Shut up! Continuing with my never ending yesterday, I headed down to Nacoteque around 1AM...so I guess that's technically today...still counts! Since I started yapping about this party, about a dozen people promised to come with me, but all of them mysteriously never showed up. Jerks! Their loss, it was fun as fuck. It was the CD release party for Bonde do Role and I took half a dozen CD's at the door out of my love for them.
Last night I went to see Beat Up Old Fellas open for The Spinto Band. They only played new songs. While they did attempt to play around different beats and distortions, they have seemingly abandoned the danceable catchy tunes that made them worth listening to in the first place. It was like Bloc Party part II, ignoring what your good at in favor of slower, longer, zzZzzz...Ouch! It pains me more than anyone (except Shelana) to say this about a band I loved BUT there are so many bands and musicians out there. SO MANY! There has to be a reason for me to listen and watch and last night it was hard to find one.
Soon after I broke Shelana's heart with a single text, Jay came and hung out with me on the American Apparel bench for a while and I took a really cool picture of him...
If you couldn't tell by now, Ross and I figured out how to take these weird night pictures with my camera. Observe our experiment from earlier in the day but be warned of its overwhelming attractiveness...
MOVING ON! I went back to Mercury Lounge to catch The Spinto Band play to a half empty room.
Mere days after spotting Mr. Pugh out and about, someone at imeem offered me a pass to Tomorrow Unlimited. Small world, right? Yesterday I went to view the gallery and listen to Gareth Pugh and Matthew Stone discuss their artist collective beginnings as squatters in London. It made me think I need to move to London because paying no rent whatsoever seems ideal.
Yesterday was kind of the longest day of my life. It started with breakfast at the horribly overrated Spotted Pig with my brother, Ross, and our godmother in the wee hours of pre-noon and continued endlessly from there. I'll post the lot.
Last night, all the town's people came out to Darkroom as it was Sophia Lamar's birthday. I was jazzed to see Gareth Pugh there...and no, that does not count as a name drop as I didn't meet or talk to him, but rather pointed and giggled with glee and awe of him and his genius. The usual suspects were there to take photos so you know where to look if you're really that interested. For now, enjoy the few snaps I took while getting my nightly dose of second hand smoke.
Hey kids, meet Raphael...
Raphael likes to take retarded pictures of me....
Raphael is my dear dear friend and he always captures my down's beautifully.
OK, I'll admit I'm not the biggest Franz Ferdinand fan. I mean I like them alright, I'm just not die hard like a lot of people are for them. They always make me think of being eighteen years old at Club Bang in Hollywood trying my best not to crack a smile lest the scene kids find me weak. That being said, I couldn't resist the chance seeing them play Bowery Ballroom next week. COME ON! Seeing a band that normally plays air fields playing at a venue this small is just too enticing. It sold out in less than a minute so I'm feeling extra proud.
I definitely fell into my bed at 6 AM this Monday morning after several hours in the dark dungeon that is Home Sweet Home. It was the last Sunday for Young Lords before they switch to Saturdays and they let me have a go at being real pretend NYC DJ for a little bit. After a few thoughtful selections, I couldn't resist playing Heartbeats if only to truly feel for one sweet moment that I was a real pretend NYC DJ. Harrr.
It's getting really hot here in the city. I can't complain because anything is better than cold in my book. Summer has started...even though technically it hasn't, I can definitely feel Summer in the air.
Last night, Animal Collective played for free at South Street Seaport. It was threatening to rain on my parade all day but it never did. It was a beautiful night to enjoy three guys making sounds. While walking back uptown, Eric and I decided that it was necessary to have a strange sound contest. The true winner of that competition would likely be the people of Chinatown who were lucky enough to be awoken to the sweet sounds our vocal experimentation.
Earlier in the day, I went to a photo shoot for Vice. They said that they were using my clothes, hair, and overall likeness for a Sim-like character that people can choose to explore a virtual L.E.S. scene with on their website. Ummm...yeah...I got fifty bucks, so I'm set. So I guess keep checking their website for a chance to virtually be me and virtually do things Vice thinks I do!
