tuesday, july 31, 2001
on this day in 1975, leanne hope milway popped out of linda milway. and leanne, as you can see below, was born to rock:::

m. matos reviews a bunch of indie-rock EPs (wrong! d-plan's "crush" is brilliant!) and the new built to spill (i find it boring, frankly, with the exception of the first track, and that "pretty little miss" song is just embarrassing).

while i am plugging the work of friends, let me also mention that pete bothum interviewed anthony michael hall about his role in a vh1 movie about def leppard. he uses the word "bullocks." did he mean "bollocks"? hmmm...

i am worth almost $2 million. how much are you worth?

this is very insidious stuff, here, people: there is a new form of web advertising where they are making certain words hyperlinks, adding a new advertising angle to whatever you're reading. invading the fiber and changing the meaning of the web page. someone could even be visiting my page (or yours) and see the word "music" and have it link to BMG without me knowing about it. i.e., totally warping my freedom of expression. evil evil evil and must be stopped!!!

how much does rhett miller love me? this much: august 17, eight p.m.. oh yes.

monday, july 30, 2001
some dumb hooters waitress is suing the restaurant chain, claiming she was promised a new toyota as the winner of a beer-sales contest. guess what she got instead. heh.

so i saw pete yorn at the bowery ballroom last night. the show had been moved there from the mercury lounge, where his three-night stand sold out practically instantaneously. and then last night, the adoration the crowd showed for this well-connected, mtv2-sponsored dirty-boy-done-good, and the number of people dancing ecstatically, was just astonishing. also perplexing, and pretty damn irritating. in that order. it didn't help that holly and i were unable to get a drink for a good half-hour, due in no small part i'm sure to the overabundance of barbies in tube tops. but i went in kind of liking pete yorn and i left not really liking him at all. see, the drums were turned up way too much, as if trying to approximate the well-produced sound of the album, which album is good, i will admit. but damn, it was like living in a bad music video for 45 minutes. he was just trying so hard to be a rock star. and if you only have one album, you better not be letting the crowd sing the chorus to your current hit single while you bask in the glory. that's just obnoxious. also: it's nice to speak to the crowd a little, so that even though you're standing there scratching your bedhead and not saying anything, they don't get the idea that you have no personality beyond "oh i just woke up, and hey, look at that, i'm a rock star." ugh. that said, i will say again that i do like his album, and i saw it at virgin recently for ridiculously cheap. (anyone know why certain buzz-bin-type artists [nelly furtado, incredible moses leroy; plus excellent bands like idlewild and the new pornographers] get priced so low there? it's weird.)

thursday, july 26, 2001
i turned down a face-value madonna ticket last night. i kind of felt bad for missing the spectacle, but then again a) it's all hype, and b) i know that holly enjoyed it way more than i ever could have. am i not a sweet, sweet girl?

if you are interested in seeing even more blurry pictures of rhett miller (plus one clear one), i posted some here.

i'm off tomorrow, the first of my three free "summer fridays"! (good band name, no?) there may or may not be an update.

wednesday, july 25, 2001

my good buddy rhett miller was in town last night, you know. we interfaced before the show so i didn't have to stalk him backstage. i was waiting for randi to finish her ciggie outside fez when up he walked with his guitar. i sang out "hi rhett" and he came over to chat. i complimented him on his orange pants (!) and was ready to have a deep conversation about the color orange, but he was late for soundcheck. the show was, as randi commented, "all sorts of zany." it seemed like rhett was feeling a little punchy. and so was the crowd, which was a good thing. i even kept track of the setlist:::

won't be home no more
broadway
rollerskate skinny
heartbreaking love
bloomington
champaign, illinois [to the tune of bob dylan's "desolation row"]
melt show
[some pretty french song by francois hardy -- rhett miller sang in french!! it was very bizarre.]
whose kiss
buick city complex
visiting hours [will be on ranchero brothers record]
nervous guy
indefinitely
**
christy's got a guitar
question
lonely holiday
oh erica
**
busted afternoon
wish the worst
timebomb

so they're saying that the F train is even *more* crowded now because of all the crazy reroutings of the B and D trains. i can hardly even imagine that. i used to be so relieved every morning when i could get off at bway-lafayette and get on a nice uncrowded B or D train where people know how to behave. on the F they do not believe in "moving to the center of the car" as instructed. and apparently yesterday on the 2nd ave. platform a fight broke out, and they're telling people not to transfer at 34th street because it's too dangerous! and guess where i was planning on transferring now?

for those of you who don't know what an asthma attack does to a person, i can tell you that it doesn't really hurt per se, but it is very very distressing. last night around 3:30 i left my nice cool AC'd room, and by the time i got back, i was in difficulties. it's very tough to sleep when you can take only a fraction of a breath, and can think of nothing but each inhale and exhale, and must sit up every thirty seconds to provide even a tiny bit of relief. see i'm so lazy about going to the doctor that i basically let my medication run out, relying for an extended period on the dregs of a couple canisters. last night i discovered that no longer were there even dregs. and i couldn't even find that over-the-counter stuff, whose name i forget, the stuff doctors warn against that supposedly killed krissy taylor. and even though it's new york, i couldn't think of anywhere local that would have it at 4 a.m. so this morning i'm at home, having called in sick for the first time ever at this job, waiting for my doctor (actually "the nurse") to call in a prescription so i can be assured of breathing if i go out into the ozone today. but now they're saying their computers are down (likely story) and it's going to be a while before they get back up, and "everything is computerized." i don't know why that means they can't make a phone call however. i might have to get loud when next i interface with the operator at good ol' philips family practice.

also: i want everyone to know that i have less than a hundred pages to go in "infinite jest." and i've only been reading it since january!

monday, july 23, 2001
saturday at coney island, for the indie-rock woodstock:::

despite the poor cell-phone reception in the area, i managed to meet up with most of my peeps, though not any of the web boys i'd hoped to run into. randi, michele, gail and i arrived early enough to hear some of enon, ride the cyclone, and grab a hot dog before we met up with others. people kept peeling off of the group throughout the day, to go sit on the beach or play skeeball, even leave early, as vanessa and staci did, without saying goodbye! they were too impatient for betsy and me to summon the will to leave our boardwalk bench and abide by the 4:30 meet-up time. well! a little while after that i succeeded in rallying the troops to head down to the stage area for superchunk. but there were many hundreds of people packed onto this side street, and we were so far from the stage we couldn't see anything. note to organizers: next year put the stage on the boardwalk, facing the sea, and the people on the beach. that will rule. jami made it through a half-hour or so of superchunk's set, then michele and gail had had enough. amazingly, there was a lot of movement once superchunk left the stage, so randi and betsy and i were able to move a lot farther up, close enough to see the stage, by the time gbv came on. half an hour in, betsy succumbed to the porta-potty urge and departed with "if i never see you again, it's okay." meanwhile, the guitars sounded amazing, the rock-star moves were in full effect, the weather was perfect, and bob launched a symbolic cup of beer into the crowd, apologizing that that was all they would give them. the crowd was a little too staid for my tastes, but i guess a lot of them weren't really there for gbv. i bet it was insane up in front. we left before blues explosion because there is such a thing as too much rock.

so it was good times all around. there just wasn't enough time: i didn't get to check out the beach for its beachgoing possibilities, and i didn't get to ride any of the other rides. i love rides. and i decided that i love coney island, and so i will be back. the question is, do i look at the smallest woman in the world? i just couldn't do it.

friday, july 20, 2001
it is going to be a whirlwind of cell phones (though not mine) tomorrow as i try to meet up with all my various peeps (not to mention, hopefully, a couple web folk) at the free indie-rock extravaganza that is the coney island siren festival. fun fact: betsy is planning on bringing on a cooler of beer. i'm predicting a Very Fun Time, even if i don't get to ride the cyclone with bob pollard. i will be wearing my now-faded slip-on red sneaks if you are a random and would like to surprise me by saying hi.

thursday, july 19, 2001
ewwwww. nasty lynne russell is "in talks" to pose for playboy.

these high school students sold themselves to first usa (a credit card company, one of many that suckers college kids into getting cards but won't extend credit to employed grads with no credit history) as "spokesguys." they supposedly talk to kids about "financial responsibility," and they get a free college education. they have to wear their first usa gear when making public appearances on campus "for" the company. but if they're getting $40k per year, aren't all appearances, such as walking to class, "for" the company? don't they basically exist to serve first usa? a very gross example of what advertising has done to american kids.

wednesday, july 18, 2001
man gets 10 years in prison for stories he wrote in his private journal. in america. read it, it's crazy.

tuesday, july 17, 2001
this is like if david blaine were to go on "jackass": man trapped for 80 hours in portable toilet.

the coolest pillowcase?

this girl likes indie music and upon meeting its practitioners (or other relatively famous folk), asks them to wear a pink tiara. then she takes their picture and puts it online. what fun!

monday, july 16, 2001
ha ha, made you look.

friday, july 13, 2001
elderly man licking wounds after cat attack.

so far it's been a lucky day. this morning the project manager of the construction site came over to look at the cracks in the wall that had appeared in my bedroom...and he was totally cute. ringlet curls, babyfaced, soft-spoken, in possession of a cool-looking digicam and fat gadget-laden watch (not a spycam), asking if that was weezer on the stereo.... and he seemed to know what he was talking about as far as the damage to our apartment, which he assured us is aesthetic and not structural. holly and i will be getting out our sledgehammer next week. we have to get him back somehow!

bill werde rates the nyc mayoral candidates on their club-friendliness.

did you know that the bacon brothers have three cd's? and that time out new york said that essentially it's a shame that they're seen as a novelty act cause kevin's bro is a music-biz veteran and they've been around, etc. etc.? i am here to tell you that i heard their latest cd yesterday up in the production department, and it sucks as hard as you'd think it would. also: they have a song called "i'm so glad i'm not married," which is really bad, and which kevin said he hoped would be "the 'you're so vain' of the millennium" in the little cursive-scripted note that appears ahead of the lyrics for each song. ha!

thursday, july 12, 2001
this article about built to spill (whose new album just came out this week) annoys me on many points. for example, the following offensive sentence: "It is a band for people who distrust or dislike all electronic dance music, angst-ridden singer/songwriters, world beats, rap and folk songs." additional idiocies follow; the writer is obviously retarded. thanks to linnea for passing it along.

all right, who wants to come to the free waco brothers show on the hudson river tonight? setting sun and country rock, anyone?

okay kiddies, my lover rhett miller's appearance at fez has been confirmed. july 24, 8 p.m., only $15 it turns out. let's fall in love all over again, shall we? [if you are among the unconverted, please let me show you the way. i'm like a jehovah's witness on this matter: i must spread the word. and allow me to say praise whitney, who was the first to play me old 97s on the way back from a tom petty concert somewhere outside d.c. with leanne. i heard "barrier reef" and said "what IS this??" and now look at me.]

wednesday, july 11, 2001
today i have not had enough greasy food to help me recover from the premiere party for made last night at spa, featuring celebrities, free drinks, dancing on raised platforms, and one particular incident in which somebody's ex-boyfriend suddenly and purposely stuck his finger in my nose. so i'm off to mcdonald's. betsy's got an entertaining wrapup though. maybe tomorrow i'll put up some of my craptastic pics.

tuesday, july 10, 2001
how is it, do you think, that the "i [heart] new york" logo has become fashionable? did the city hire a hip, connected PR person or something? i feel i must get something adorned with this now-cool sentiment, since it's true, after all. am i a trend whore? please forgive me....

oh! my little heart just leapt. rhett miller returns to fez july 24 (unconfirmed though).

monday, july 9, 2001

saturday in central park, a LOT of people turned out for manu chao. it was quite the scene. it wasn't really loud enough for all of us who couldn't get in. they really need to make the summerstage area much bigger; i can only imagine the hordes next week for basement jaxx::

after that pleasant afternoon, we watched dude where's my car? (do not try at home, i beg of you) and then went to winnie's, a karaoke dive bar in chinatown. it was filled with drunks, weirdos, and upper west side people (no midgets as expected). it was totally fun. rae and i freaked out when a jack black lookalike started singing just like him. after going back and forth ("it can't be him!"..."it COULD be him!") we eventually decided that no, it was not him. but oh the excitement. we were later joined by some nice southern boys, one of whom looked very much like the perpetually confused non-ashton kutcher guy from the movie. we did not freak out at all but he was still quite fun. next time i am definitely singing.

friday, july 6, 2001
jeff tweedy talks about the next wilco album (out in september), and also gets in a little dig at ryan adams. i kind of wish he would stop complaining about his supposed role as alt-country "spokesman." can't he let his work speak for itself? i myself have been listening to mermaid ave. vol. 2 recently, picked up on a bit of an unplanned alt-country (or whatever) binge. i like it.

it's 66 degrees outside. is this really july?

one thing to love about summer in new york, in addition to the surprising display of california-like weather we've been enjoying lately, is the free entertainment. for instance, i just found out about some cool things on the hudson river: next thursday at pier 54 the waco brothers are playing, and on aug. 16 the white stripes will be there. also, starting next week they're showing some good movies (with free popcorn!) on wednesdays and fridays. plus don't forget the hbo bryant park fest and central park's summerstage (where i'll be tomorrow for manu chao thanks to to the hipness of rae) ...

the date-my-sister project: utter hilarity. plus, the sister is so cool that i practically want to date her myself.

speaking of which, did you know "the typical straight woman is 30 percent gay"? take the spark test and find out how gay you are.

thursday, july 5, 2001
i've gotten several approving laughs on my new jersey t-shirt, by the way. fashionista-approved!

addictive: invisibles. they give you a film still with the actors' bodies erased, and you try to guess the movie. via whitney.

my 4th: dogs and sun and reading in tompkins square park, free emmylou harris in battery park, red white and blue margaritas (not all in one) at bandito, and not seeing the fireworks from my rooftop along with a couple dozen of my neighbors' guests. but really, if you've seen one firework you've seen 'em all, right?

wednesday, july 4, 2001
happy independence day.

tuesday, july 3, 2001

gillian anderson is finally getting out of the x-files (after next season). i can't wait to see what she'll do ... recently saw her in the house of mirth, and she was just the bomb.

some mini album reviews, just because:

r.e.m., reveal: maybe it's just the album art, but it seems as if this is the warm to up's cool. while there are a couple great (though very r.e.m.-ish) songs on here, mostly this feels uninspired. as if they survived the loss of bill berry and will continue to churn out nice predictable r.e.m. songs for the duration. overall, a lazy, hazy bore.

radiohead, amnesiac: haven't listened to it that much (yet?), so i don't know for sure whether this really is one long moan, but all the songs seem to run together. it's possible they just haven't revealed themselves to me yet, but kid a was definitely more intense. that said, this is good music for a) driving at night, b) walking around new york (or probably wherever you are) at dusk after the rain, and c) reading. that is to say atmospheric, and you need that sometimes.

modest mouse, sad sappy sucker: not sure why this wasn't released back in '94 (it's their "lost album") but i would hazard a guess it was because it's not very good. there are a few good songs on it, only one of which ("dukes up") has that truly sublime modest mouse guitar flavor to it. you can see the germs of greatness in the band, but then most of this is really fragmentary. and by the time it gets to the Dial-a-Song portion of the record (which i don't really get), it is annoying as all hell and must be removed from the stereo. for the hardcore fan only, i guess.

monday, july 2, 2001

i did make it to the beach on saturday, if you're interested, although i wasn't actually laying out my towel until about 3 p.m., due to some delays involving online shopping, breakfast-getting, traffic, and then, frankly, some major pillockry as far as driving and directions go (i.e. the driver didn't have any). plus the fact that our destination, fire island, is way far out there on long island (not that i've looked at a map or anything). it's nice and all, and i guess if you really want to sunbathe topless cherry grove is the place to be, but probably not worth the trouble. i'm interested now in exactly how sketchy coney island is. surely there is a patch of sand that would be acceptable to me, right? and if i do things like drop food on the ground and eat it anyway, i'd probably go in the water, right? (except if there are jellyfish...i am deathly afraid of jellyfish.) have you tried the actual beach at coney island? is there another brooklyn beach that i can take the subway to? do tell. cause lots of people on the F this weekend were going to and from coney island, and it just seemed so nice and easy after i had spent like six hours of my day travelling.

uh-oh: someone else decided to go see a.i. based on the times review and says it is a multimillion-dollar abomination.

the important thing about today is it's the dad's birthday. happy birthday dad! here's a picture with dad in it from a few weekends ago, though dad wasn't interested in mugging for the camera so steve took care of that task...