DANCE IN THE UNDERGROUND

I’m writing from London right now and feel like I’ve been on tour for the past month. The weather has been absolutely amazing the past few days (save for today when it rained) and I’ve gotten to see a lot of my favorite people. Saturday night I met up with Kim, David, Bruce and Jaya at Yo! Sushi and had about 8 plates of conveyor belt sushi (hear that Karen? I beat my last round I think), and then headed over to FROG to DJ with Imran. He and I stood in the DJ booth getting excited by the few people who would start dancing here and there… I turned to him and bet him that I could get the crowd dancing in 3 songs. I ended up winning after just playing “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division. Such a cheap shot, but it always works. That’s one of the best songs on earth in my opinion. I ended up following it by “What You Waiting For” by Gwen Stefani and “Decepticon” by Le Tigre. Imran dropped “Y-Control” by the YYYs, and the kids ate it up. I love watching people dance, it’s one of my joys in life. Seeing people have fun just makes me so happy and acts like a drug in my brain.

Our DJ set was followed up by a set by the Delay who played a flawless set of songs from their current album and one or two new ones. Sometimes when the singer sings he makes an “O” with his mouth and it makes me think of a SouthPark character singing Christmas carols. OOOOOOOOOh. He also sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks.

I spent the night at Imran’s and went to Spittalfield’s market with him the following afternoon. I should’ve listened to Kim and David when they told me to skip Camden Market the day before, Spitalfield’s was ten times better with far better clothes and homemade delights. After shopping for a bit we met up with Tim, the man who brought us together in the first place, and had a proper English Lunch across the street at some fancy restaurant and caught up on our lives. There were arguments about the Killers, the Bravery, the Kaiser Chiefs… there were pretty much arguments about every popular band out now… I loved it. I loved debating shit with them, it made me feel alive to be around people who shared a different opinion about pop culture than me.

Apart from shopping, eating, and Djing, I’ve been spending a lot of time catching up on rest with my friend Tom, whose house I’m staying at. Tom is insanely good looking (picture Ewan McGregor mixed perfectly with Jude Law) and has nothing to do with, and wants nothing to do with, the music industry at all, which is a really fucking nice change of pace. I met him in February 2002 and we’ve remained friends since (and had a few friends in common by total chance). He and I have been watching a lot of Curb Your Enthusiasm (I realized that I’m gonna have a marriage just like Larry David’s… it worries me), and sleeping til 1pm everyday. Well, I’ve been sleeping til 1pm, and he just patiently waits for me to wake up.

Tom has also helped me discover that my alcohol tolerance is zero. Since I dont really drink anymore, give me a pint or three and the chances of me staying up an hour past my third pint is unlikely. Tom said that last night I fell asleep sitting up while watching some movie. I was snoring. He woke me up and urged me to get in my pajamas, I told him i wasn't sleeping but infact, watching tv. Fun. I went to the bathroom and pretty much forgot why I was there. This is why alcohol is bad. BAD. Stay away from it.

Tonight I’m going with my friend Ollie to dinner and then to check out Tom Vek at Trash. Tomorrow I go back to NYC and next week I’m off to LA to visit my other friend Ollie. Ollie2Ollie.