thursday, october 31, 2002

cmj is totally core (night one)
started out at cbgb's for some kindercore bands: paper lions (les savy fav-y postpunk; great), maserati (droney instrumentals to bob your head to; really good), the the agenda (like if taylor hanson fronted the vines and was retarded; not bad but not actually good either). then jami and i left tamar and co. to their i am the world trade center and headed to bowery where we met up with alli and chris. next on stage were northern state, a trio of white girls who attended liberal arts colleges and now rap. uh, yeah. you know. no. not exactly the female beastie boys. though i do respect them for trying. and then it was radio 4, for whom i danced my ass off. they were really great. today i'm typing very gingerly due to a tender middle finger, injured when the door of cb's came swinging toward me and i put my hand out to stop it. there was blood. no other injuries to report really, though i'm kind of tired. perhaps a power nap can be squeezed in before tonight.

wednesday, october 30, 2002
i got my cmj pass today! the city has just been infused with, what, like three thousand additional indie rockers? so great. i feel so special with my lanyard and my tote bag. tonight's the opening-night party at the bowery. wooh! rah!

quotation marks are the funniest punctuation: the zagat history of my last relationship. "hilariously funny."

i'm pretty excited for the new donna tartt book, enough that i might actually buy it in hardcover... here's an interview with this most "writerly" of writers.

can someone please explain to me why the luxx schedule is in no kind of order whatsoever?

tuesday, october 29, 2002
so sunday night i checked out that newish club in park slope, southpaw. it's pretty nice. wide, smooth metal bar, good sightlines, raised lounge areas with lots of seating and upholstered walls. staff attentive to toilet-paper situation. leigh ann and shelly and i were seeing that hyped-to-hell all-girl swedish rock band, sahara hotnights. uh, they're okay. i enjoyed watching the lead singer (aka "i date the lead singer of the hives, and i am just as wacky as he is") get all sweaty. i will not be rushing out to see them again anytime soon. prior to the show, we had excellent fish 'n' chips at the chip shop, a british restaurant that is very fun and very yellow. my verdict on deep-fried twix bars? kind of gross, definitely unnecessary.

other things i did this weekend: snuggle up in bed with my umbrella (?!) and leave a long-ass message on john's voicemail that ended with me screaming about "LUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNCHHHHHHH." i listened to it twice yesterday and laughed till i cried. available online soon, i hope. to know me is to love me, what can i say?

yes yes yes: one of the things i love about jackass is the "playful, quasi-erotic sadomasochistic camaraderie." after i see this movie (top on my list), i am going to read the book cover to cover.

by the way i need halloween costume ideas, because leigh ann really wants me to dress up thursday night. i am considering "fashion victim," but i don't know. i would have to wear these pointy-toed ankle boots with an almost-stiletto heel, but i think that might be ill-advised footwear for a night of rock, especially considering the minor ankle damage sustained this weekend after falling down in my platformish boots. (which boots, by the way, were also responsible for my last ankle twist, several years ago at a barely rememberable les savy fav show.) so i don't know if i can be masochistic enough to do the fashion-victim thing. i'm also considering "meg white," which is obviously extremely easy (though i guess the hair makes it hard). see, i need help. come on, let me steal your idea. UPDATE: only one person has written in. this is a time-sensitive request, people. i don't ask that much of you. don't make me half-assedly attempt the world war I flying ace as played by snoopy (though i think it is just so me, no?).

oh yeah, and everybody has seen this by now, but i think it's worth stating that every single word of this onion headline is brilliant: nelly reiterates sex-liking stance. every single word.

friday, october 25, 2002
is that roof high enough...or does it need to be raised?? thanks randi.

last night holly and i watched what must be one of the most entertaining clunkers of all time: frailty. oh boy, what a stinker. bill paxton can neither act nor direct. we could not stop laughing at the awfulness of this movie (especially the floating-angel and -head scenes), and yet we could not stop watching. recommended if you happen to have a copy of it from your free netflix account and there is nothing else on your cableless tv.

thursday, october 24, 2002
holy manolos, it's thursday already! how did that happen? and why did i just say "holy manolos"? my weekend was pretty great: i ran around with scott the whole time. he has a couple of fun and funny entries up expounding on our weirdly lengthy observation of a giant condor and our trip to fred's house in the WB (there, fred! i linked you! are you happy now?! well, are you?! linky linky link! now update your stupid web page!).

scott also gained several cool points when he agreed to be in the weezer cover band that eileen and i founded (theoretically of course). it is going to be called skeezer--don't steal it! also, we may indulge in some sort of pollard-esque postal rock project, wherein i lay my tweedy-approved vocal stylings over his, uh, guitar stuff. what am i telling you this? note to self: never let pita languish so long. skills atrophy. moving on....

last night over yummy margaritas (in a booth!) jami and alli and i had an indie-rock powwow, wherein we analyzed our options for the four nights of rockin' and rollin' that will be CMJ. thanks to alli, i'm getting a pass! whee! never in my life have i been cool enough to have a pass. after and before, we were hanging out at mars bar. if you are interested in going to the seediest bar ever and/or playing an "erotic" memory-based video game, you may wish to investigate mars bar. note: you will become drunk pretty much immediately upon entering.

do you want links? i barely have time for links these days. i had an embarrassing moment at work yesterday when i fired up this loud, stupid thing. much more appropriate is the silent expanse of pseudodictionary, found on the bookmarks list of the person who previously used my computer. totally core.

good band alert: the natural history. they're young and from new york, and you should like them. this ep is hot hot hot. i played it like three times on the subway ride home yesterday. they have mp3s on their very pretty website for your downloading pleasure.

koufax is pretty good too (listen at vagrant.com). i might go see them tonight. and of course you should also get you some mclusky. they were my absolute must-see for cmj but inexplicably dropped off the schedule. they're playing with the datsuns (who suck) next month. and their album, mclusky do dallas, is out in the u.s. now. and you will recall, if you click on my links (you fuckers), that it rules.

the new york city anti-hipster forum. simply hilarious.

friday, october 18, 2002
um, I MET JEFF TWEEDY LAST NIGHT!! yes! we had a conversation! i am having such great karma these days. (the other night, the lead singer of the liars was hanging out in shades of green. he's like eight feet tall.) it went pretty much exactly like this:

Ext. Sidewalk outside of Vynl.
Catherine [noticing that freakin' JEFF TWEEDY is on the corner pacing around, and realizing he's walking directly toward her]: Hey, Jeff. [As if she knows the guy.]
Jeff Tweedy: Hey.
Catherine: Uh, so, I have a question. I was just listening to this bootleg [ed. note: on the walk up!], and there's this one song that i love [Ed note: obsessed with for a day and a half, on perpetual repeat in the discman], that goes... [pauses, realizing she is about to sing to freakin' jeff tweedy, as face undergoes several uncontrollable contortions of embarrassment and amusement and general oh-my-godness] ... "who were you thinkin' of..." -- what's that song?
Jeff Tweedy: "That's a song by Jim Glaser [blah blah blah blah blah]."
Catherine [nodding]: I really love that song. I'd love to hear it tonight....
Jeff Tweedy [almost cracking a smile]: Oh, sorry, I don't think we're going to play that tonight.
Catherine: Oh, that's okay.
Jeff Tweedy: Yeah, sorry, I don't think we can do that.
Catherine: Oh well.
Jeff Tweedy: Are you going to the show tonight?
Catherine: Uh, yeah.
Jeff Tweedy: Well, have fun.
Catherine: I definitely will.
Jeff Tweedy sticks out his hand. Catherine, surprised and delighted, shakes it happily.
Jeff Tweedy: Nice meeting you.
Catherine [glowing]: Yeah.

i repeat: I SANG FOR JEFF TWEEDY! he then joined his dinner companion, a woman, possibly his wife, and they went in the restaurant to eat. what are the odds, reader? i then placed several giddy phone calls to people who would be excited about this encounter while i waited for michele to stroll up. luckily jeff tweedy's amazing cheekbones were shielded from view by a brightly colored partition between booths, otherwise i would've been one of those irritating gawkers, and it would've been annoying for all involved. instead i stole glances at the top of his hair as i devoured my chickpea curry.

i would like to thank a) randi for providing me with the bootleg (and three more that evening! what a good modern hippie she is) that provided me with conversational ammunition necessary to talk to jeff tweedy; b) michele for being late enough that jeff tweedy and i were both hanging out on the same street corner; and c) god, who must exist in light of this miraculous encounter.

the show was great, but what was up with no one knowing the lyrics to passenger side? it's THE singalong song; why don't the fans know it? shameful.

thursday, october 17, 2002

i think that if i were karen o, i would've felt mighty dumb last night. the yawn yawn yawns, as jami dubbed them, were simply blown off the stage by the rock goddesses of sleater-kinney. i know she's all "crazy" and shit, but if i'm tired of her shimmy-schtick after seeing them, what, three times now, she must be really sick of herself. and what's more, their music just is not good. seriously, show of hands: does anyone actually like them? have any excuses for that haircut? s-k, however, rocked most mightily, and my camera took some crazy pictures.

tuesday, october 15, 2002
calm down, reader. i know. you don't have to tell me. but look, i've been busy. i had to bid fond farewell to my old job by drinking pomegranate margaritas for lunch with betsy, hugging people i'd never hugged before (always a treat), and frantically deleting/saving stuff from my hard drive. all those mp3s: i weep for them. and then i had to prepare for my new job, which meant organizing my closet, shopping for spiffy new clothes, getting my hair cut, and cursing the rain that fell most of the weekend. i also saw two movies, both of which were disappointing in their own way. oh and i saw ryan adams at the beacon. he did not give away any guitars, though leigh ann gave it her best shot. he did, however, strum along to madonna's "like a virgin" as it played on a record player, which was kind of weird. i still laugh when i think of leigh ann leaning over and saying to me, as ryan yelped out the chorus, "it's actually 'hey' not 'woo.'" she's right, you know. it was, i say, a FANTASTIC show. we settled into our (ahem) seventh-row seats just as he took the stage, and it just felt good the entire time.

so today was my first day at the new place. i slept through my alarm and had to bust ass to get to orientation at the ungodly-for-publishing hour of 8:45 am. (note: i still managed to get a professional-yet-cool outfit together.) i yawned for the next two hours as the nice ladies explained the subtle difference between dental dmo and dental ppo. for lunch i had an awesome tofu/spinach/miso burger, which came with two sides (i chose broccoli and mashed, natch) and lots of people-watching. man, that caf is so great. oh, and there are free fancy-coffee machines in every kitchen. and a window in my sight. and a cute g4 cube on my desk.

now i am just worried about what i'm going to wear tomorrow, when, the television news assures me, a major storm is going to totally kick our asses and get us really goddamn wet. complicating the matter is the fact that i'm going to a kick-ass rock show where sneakers would be helpful, and the fact that i only met a handful of folks in the office today, and thus presumably will meet more tomorrow and should do my best to replicate that pro-yet-cool thing once again.

wednesday, october 9, 2002
i had my exit interview today! one more day!!!

big, huge, monstrous ups to tamar for loaning me the yankee hotel foxtrots outtakes on cd. shit is making me extremely happy tonight.

that, and tomorrow is my last day!

monday, october 7, 2002

so, quick weekend roundup, as i am crazy busy: saturday jami and i skulked around delis taking pictures for her book, and then did a little retail photojournalism at the record store, the union square market, the wine store (actually at the wine store we just drank wine). that evening it was michele's birthday party at no malice palace: a kickass time. dj was playing pavement and the shins and j-5 and FUGAZI. odd, but great. and then last night i went with my best web girls to see the johnsons big band and two mekons. i was glad to see the johnsons, because juli has been trumpeting them forever on her site. as jon langford said, they are "not so much a band as a swarm." lots of horns and shit. very fun. one of the johnsons did the worm in front of the stage, at my very feet. twice. with glasses on. and then during langford's excellent set juli turned to me and informed me that it was good for me to be seeing "old-time rock and roll." which cracked me up, though i suppose it's true enough. me and my damn ryan adams. who, by the way, i have it on good authority gave away FIVE GUITARS to audience members at his show in philly. leigh ann and i are totally busting out the boob shirts come thursday. did i mention we are in ROW FREAKIN' C? anybody know ryan's favorite flower?

friday, october 4, 2002
what? a magazine for an "alternative lifestyle in the post-workaholic era"? what's that? slacker mag? underachiever bimonthly? i'd totally read that.

pretty funny article explaining elementary grammar to stupidheads. however, i have two words for this guy: comma splice.

if you think the pita has been lacking in spunk lately, perhaps you will enjoy cormi's latest drunken rant. this one is all about men and their relationship with toilets. i especially love the part about the clean dick and dirty hands.

finally, a little worthwhile entertainment on the international-news scene: iraqi vice president suggests saddam and bush fight a duel, with kofi annan as the referee. how great would that be? a circle jerk would probably be more appropriate, though.

matos on lifter puller; matos on rhett miller and doug martsch (ryan adams dig totally unnecessary, dude).

thursday, october 3, 2002
i am just to the left of the white tent, not bothering to even try taking pics. nine thousand? i think not. maybe two or three. come on people. jack white really needs a haircut.

oh my god. memo to cnn staffers: "Please use this guide to help all you homeys and honeys add a new flava to your tickers and dekkos."

oh my god. (yes, again.) hilarious pre-date confidence booster from the same guy that brought you a whole bunch of other funny web-shit in the past.

do i use the word hilarious too much, do you think? moving on....

best of new york, sure. best thing i learned from clicking around it: i had no idea the place around the corner from my house with the "rapid divorce" sign is actually called rapid divorce. odd.

tuesday, october 1, 2002
rock for lunch: aw yeah, white stripes in union square, free as the blue sky. nice. they pulled the plug on them before the last song, but jack kept playing and singing anyway. that was fun. then the announcer dude came out, thanked us, and encouraged us to come see the counting crows in battery park on thursday. we responded with lots of booing and middle fingers. yay new york. i assume laura was in the front row and will have pics soon....

related: in case you've been trapped under heavy furniture, new york magazine is here to tell you that new york has a rock scene.

hilarious ikea commercial, brought to you by spike jonze.