First off, so nobody misses this posting... click here to find out how you can be in the next Schoolyard Heroes video, which films on Tuesday in Seattle. I'll be there!
Back to the bullshit:
Friday night was Chadae's birthday party at Angels & Kings, which also ended up hosting the Cursive Afterparty as well. Gurj DJed an amazing set of cheesy hip hop that had the place finally dancing. Yay better sound system. Yay awesome dj. Yay air conditioning!
My former roommate/one of my best friends/muse, Sarah Wilson was in town to cover the last ever Siren Festival (*cry* say it aint so!!!) and brought her boyfriend's band Cursive with her to AK. Drunk shenanigans are always on hand whenever Sarah's around... followed by deep talks and mass confessionals about things we realized about our pasts now that we're older. About two years ago Sarah moved to Omaha and I wanted to visit her, but work kept me busy and poor. In May or June, she and her boyfriend Tim moved to LA and I've already seen them three times! It's amazing how many times you can see someone when they move to the right city. Anyway, one characteristic ... i wont say flaw because it's not really a flaw or maybe I'm in denial... that sarah pointed out was that I surpress my feelings. I thought I had overcome that issue (I've been told numerous times in the past by friends that I dont let my guard down and tend to hide sadness, but as to quote Roddy Woomble "I'd rather have hope than sadness"). I guess she's right afterall. If you asked me 2 months ago how I was doing, I would've said "really awful. i'm depressed," and then somehow, miraculously, I woke up one day like i had been hypnotized by the dude from "Office Space" and was loving life again. Even now, in my personal life i'm experiencing some strife, but I'm really optimistic about the situation... or maybe surpressing it. Still, I'll say hopeful.
That was besides the point, i guess. the bigger point is that we were there together, dancing to "Umbrella" ella ella eh eh. And Chadae got to celebrate her 22nd birthday with a bunch of friends And I got to put Chadae in a taxi with her friend that was more interested in flirting with the bartender and walking home at 330am -- even after i told her about 20 times that there was a rapist in the area who was attacking girls right by her apartment -- omg, sometimes little girls freak me out.
It was fun.
It was almost as fun as the Best Bar Mitzvah Ever! that Karen and I threw for Dimitry!!! last sunday. I havent danced like that since the Orchard Bar days a few years ago. I was all sweaty in a prom dress with the biggest smile on my face, looking at my friends who had even bigger smiles on theirs. Switches played that night and were fantastic. It was like watching an early incarnation of Supergrass. We're working on throwing another one next month for Andrew Borin who is a recent convert (literally, he converted recently after a life of wearing pink yamulkes and spraypainting stars of david with his hasidic gang friends in LA... OMG, I'M SO HAPPY THAT I'M NOT MAKING THAT UP). He requested to have either a No Doubt or Blink182 cover band play. If you want to celebrate your Bar Mitzvah again, or for the first time, email me at Sarah@stolentransmission.com and let me know which month and what you want.
Check out Switches... I put one of those inflatable microphones on the singer's mic stand:
On monday I got to ride in an ambulance with a friend. It was bumpy.
On tuesday I went to Leslie Simon and Trevor Kelly's book reading-thingy for their book Everybody Hurts (which you SHOULD BUY ASAP. IT'S HILARIOUS. it's like the preppy handbook for emos... so even if you dont like emo culture, it's still laughable in irony). Dashboard Confessional (just chris and his guitar) performed. It was pretty amazing, but after not eating that day and 2 or 3 drinks, I had to leave a bit early with Gurj and get some El Topo rolls at Sushi Samba.... MMMM..... so good! Then Erica and Jessica Are I's came by to freshen up before heading out to Rob Hitt and Alex Sarti's party, Trainwreck Tuesdays at AK. I, in the meantime, kapooshed. 11pm. I'm old.
On Wednesday I went to Brooklyn with the my gang to see the XYZ Affair at Union Pool. We arrived early and so we decided to get some quick tacos around the block. The poor waitress was the only one working that night, and had to serve like 30 people, make all the drinks, and probably cooked the food as well. So having 45min to spare for food wasnt enough and we ended up missing most of the band's set, sadly. The best part about this evening was this poster in Union Pool:
Oh, and this was on a lamp post:
On Thursday I went to Brandon's parent's place in Long Island and cooked up my specialty of tuna steaks, mashed potatoes, and stringbeans. Brandon ended up getting the worlds biggest steak filets on earth, so we were full and passed out by 11... AGAIN.
Friday was talked about uptop.
YESTERDAY Karen and I, aka the Tarts of Pleasure, DJed Siren Music Festival in Coney Island. Now, think about this: I was at work by 10:30am on friday, worked til about 7, had a "work meeting" until about 1030pm, cabbed it to the LES where I showered and threw on blue jeans (the first time i've worn pants in months cos i'm so fucking scared of this rapist), and cabbed it to AK where I hosted/DJed until 4am, then finally managed to fall asleep by 5am, and awake by 930am to leave the house by 10 am to get to Coney Island by our soundcheck at 11am and DJed until about 8pm between bands. I didnt make it home until about 10pm. Can you imagine how well I slept last night????
Anyway, I got to see a ton of amazing bands last night and have some great experiences that I'll cherish, so it's all worth it.
The first band I saw was The Twilight Sad from Glasgow. When they took the stage, I had opted to get some much needed food in my belly and was beckoned to the audience by a text message from Karen saying something along the lines of "the singer is gorgeous". So I ran out, and yes, he was infact gorgeous, but i couldnt see that until the 2nd song into my arrival since his back was to us and he was facing a wall or banging on drums with a stick. He sung like Roddy Woomble meets Ian Curtis. The band sounded like a songstructured Mogwai. Ah yes, heaven. Later, the band came up to compliment us on our dj set. They loved Lush and L7. "You played 90s music!" to which we answered "Yes! That's our thing!"
The next band I saw was the Noisettes, who were also fantastic. They kind of reminded me of Elastica and the singer looked like a Black English version of Ollie Oohlas. I watched her backstage as she was being interviewed -- while holding the tape recorder in one hand and a joint in the other -- and thought she also acted like Ollie.
Karen, Cornbread, and I ran over to the Stillwell stage to catch as much of Elvis Perkins' set as we could. He played a cover of a song from the 1800s. God, I love him. He looked like Harry Potter grown up. I wish that I got to hear him perform "All the Night Without Love"... I also wish I had my camera and that I had taken a photo with the Chris Black look-alike.
Anyway, here's a bunch of photos.
