MMMBOP

THIS POST WAS WRITTEN LAST NIGHT AND I MEANT TO POST IT THEN, BUT I COULDN'T GET MY INTERNET TO WORK. SO GO BACK IN TIME FOR A SECOND.

Last night I took a delightful $20 cabride to the Lower East Side, thanks to that nicely planned MTA Transit strike. Oh, guess who loves spending $40 a day on cab rides? Not me, that's who. Bowery Ballroom is about 7 blocks from my house, so no matter what, if I went to the show or not, I would've had to spend that money getting from my office to downtown. Freezing temperatures makes walking in this weather not really an option. Every penny matters to me (as it does for most people), so that $40 (that it cost to get to and from work) represented $40 I wouldn't have for rent, dinner, plane tickets, and other luxuries like, say, somebody's christmas gift.

Seeing Nightmare of You play one of the best shows I've ever seen them play made up for it. All that touring has whipped my little boys into shape, making them tight like a man's anus. Brandon, high on excitement, was, dare i say, sexy on stage. Whoa. Minus that moment when he snot rocketed. Not so sexy.

After their set I met up with Brandon upstairs for a drink when Dennis from the (International) Noise Conspiracy approached us. "You know, I'm pro-strike," he said, "I think it's a good idea." Having just had my wallet totally raped (not to mention TOTALLY LOVING MONEY), I wasn't about to let that comment go unchallenged.
"You would!" I replied, "All you want is a controversy, you dont even know what you're talking about."
"You would strike too if you were promised things and didn't get them."
"Those people make more money than all of us [They make roughly $50k/year]and I just spent $40 getting to and from work. Other people don't have that money. They could've done something else like slowed down service."
"Yeah, well, I'm pro strike. I think it's a good thing and I'm going to say so on stage."
"Go ahead, and while you're at it, why don't you give all your fans $10 vouchers for cabs so they can get home."
"I gotta go."

Fuck that shit. Fuck being told by someone who doesn't even live here that this strike is a good thing, particulary when he probably got driven around everywhere by a town car paid for by his record label. Fuck that shit while his fans had to pay an arm and a leg to get to his show. You want anti-capitalist ideals? How about sharing the profits you make on the 93 different T-shirt designs with all the bands on tour? I'm typing this while stuck in a cab that will cost me another $20 ... that I've been in for the past hour. I've got to pee and I'm not exactly stoked.

On a totally different note: I DJed the SPIN Magazine Year In Music Party at Rothko which featured 2 Stolen Transmission bands: The Five O'Clock Heroes and the Spinto Band. The Heroes' single will be available for purchase in January and well, if you're smart you will have already downloaded the Spinto Band's "Oh Mandy" or more ideally, purchased it. As Karen says everytime she writes about the Heroes, I can't believe they're not signed. I can't believe I didn't sign them. Shit. Wait, maybe I should. Maybe East West should. Somebody should, this shit it stupidly good.

We Are Scientists also performed that night, but Brandon and I had had too much to drink that we actually managed to time travel and I don't remember their set at all. I think at one point I may have tried to make out with my friend Vinny, but I'm not 100% sure. I definitely sent him a text message at some point that he resent to me the next day that made absolutely no sense. I wish I knew what was going through my head at that point, and I also wish I knew what happened to an hour of my life.

Tomorrow I'm going to Albany with Alex to see Monty. They're like cartoon characters to me. I fucking love those boys. If you get a chance, go to their site and check out the videos they posted of their recording sessions. We all had a two night slumber party last week and despite sleeping a total of 4 hours in 3 days, I'd sit at home at 4am waiting for them to all arrive so we could totally goof off for a few hours. I la-la-la-la-love them.

Also, i forgot if I mentioned this or not, but Yes, Virginia are now called Permanent Me. It's so hard to get a band to pick a name sometimes. Yeesh!