friday, may 30, 2003
i know i sound like a broken record, but... tonight it's the hold steady show at northsix, and we have assembled an excellent crop of fresh, fun girls ready to be rocked. it's gonna be fun. if you do not come, you are dumb.

this looks cool: the yes new york compilation featuring all your favorite new york bands. there is a listening party on tuesday and a show on wednesday at bowery. catherine's pita will be there, so you know it will be a fun time!

is this the same dude from the vice dos page, or an entirely different dude with a freakishly long schlong? discuss. [thank you betsy.]

tv show for cats! via catchdubs.

thursday, may 29, 2003
werde got to go on tour with the yeah yeah yeahs in england. things were volatile for the band at that time (maybe still?), and he got to be there for it. read all about it! it's the cover story for the current issue of cmj. he also wrote this article about labels putting mp3s on their cd releases--wacky!

please note third one down on the right. oh my god, so scary. what would you DO if you were confronted with one of these things?! laugh? run away? stare in awe?

stream the new grandaddy album. theoretically. (i couldn't make it work; why why why?)

wednesday, may 28, 2003
holy crap. my Oh My God, He Is So Cute, I Can Barely Stand Myself Construction Boy is a 28-year-old "hotel architect"?? shows how savvy i am. i thought he was just like a foreman or some shit, since he always responded to our complaints on the multiple occasions when the construction crew bashed through our walls, creating gaping holes to the outside. he knew a lot about the layers of materials making up our walls. must dig up his phone number (hell yes i still have it) and/or stalk him on the site. neighbor lockhart steele, who provides the link to the latest story about the behomoth hotel which i'm sure will be done, like, any day now, has part two of his scaling the surface hotel report.

i don't know why, particularly, but i created a fotolog. i hope to use it to post photos that don't fit on the pita for whatever reason. i'm going to try to stick to a one-a-day schedule.

oh my god, everybody who knows and loves leanne milway needs to listen to her talking about stalking amoeba records employees on this san francisco "public radio zine." she just goes on and on, perpetually on the edge of collapsing into giggles, as per usual. it's frickin' hilarious. listen as she tries to keep herself together. as she would say, it's just fun!

loving: the thermals. very, very lo-fi punkish rock, with a singer who sounds kinda like the placebo guy. download "no culture icons"--it's pop-rock gold, kids. or if you are the reading type, check their subpop page for a bunch of articles and reviews.

the new york times discovers photo blogs (they really are blog-crazy these days) and karen o.

tuesday, may 27, 2003

this weekend in new jersey, there was chili, beer, and boating. in addition to the rain, that is. on the movie front, the matrix was fairly lame and identity was pretty good.

new word alert: "asshat." suggested usage: "field day was canceled because politicians in long island are complete asshats." [via the morning news]

thursday, may 22, 2003
clay got robbed. sweaty, boring ruben is the new american idol. whatev.

so, buffy's over. yes. the finale was...good. especially when compared with the general crappiness of this season. it's best if you don't think about it too much though. like most fans, i had several issues with the plot, but at least they finally got the tone right. yay for the funny! and the poignant! loved the cookie-dough analogy. but i think the wholesale trashing of the show's mythology in one fell swoop (hello, we're all slayers? okaaaay. grrrl power, rah, sure) was kind of lame. and the copout of having buffy essentially declare her love for both angel and spike? also lame. whatever. it's over. until angel starts up in the fall. here's 10 questions with joss and salon's take.

the finale of 24, however, was unequivocally great.

wow, a fashion weblog. cool.

i forgot to mention that eileen is moving to the LES for the summer, like four blocks from me. yay!

why is the weather so shitty? why? it's supposed to rain for the next week. oh yay. what a fun memorial day weekend.

dismemberment plan will play their last new york shows july 24 and 25. you know i will be there, psyching myself up for the last-ever "ice of boston" dance-along. who will be with me?

monday, may 19, 2003

the hold steady were insanely great at mighty robot the other night. for my money they're the most exciting band in new york right now. read this interview with lead singer craig finn, then go see them play northsix friday, may 30. do not doubt me!

new gbv songs! hot hot hot! get "i'll replace you with machines" and "my kind of soldier."

ha! the new york times analyzes trucker hats: "according to one street authority, a hat that is cocked up to the right means the wearer is from Williamsburg, one pulled down and to the right signifies a gay man from Chelsea, pushed up and to the left represents the Lower East Side, and down to the left is for arty areas of Queens like Long Island City." the whole thing is pretty hilarious. i concur with miss modernage: reporting on trucker hats must stop!!

gawker receives a profile in and a writing assignment for the new york times. please pass the SARS.

here is an amusing guide to indie rock hair from new favorite catbirdseat. messed-up grammer makes everything funnier.

disney to rent self-destructing dvds.

20 things not to do with your cell phone when you're drunk. so funny. so true.

free battery park/seaport concerts! including spoon, cat power, clem snide, and ted leo. also summerstage and celebrate brooklyn are sloooowly revealing their schedules.

friday, may 16, 2003

um, yes, radiohead is ridiculous. and so am i, i suppose, for advertising their advertising, but i have to say i found this kind of arresting. it's on ludlow if you want to behold it in the flesh.

i thought i was going to see the black keys last night, but it sold out. damn. i will have to settle for streaming their bluesy-rawk album on the epitaph site. actually i went to see todd play instead. 'twas a good show. he's what you call a crooner. you know, there is a *secret* mp3 on his site. can you find it? update: i had the url wrong. it's fixed now. go stare at todd!

the vice guide to being totally crushed out! intermittently hilarious. my favorite nugget: "dating is gay and boring."

music mag for "mature" folks to hit this fall.

james frey is pure of heart!. good interview from gawker (!).

wednesday, may 14, 2003
rhett did not suck last night! in fact, i must admit i was pretty much resmitten. he looked good, for one thing. he was in "l.a. springtime fresh" mode, all tan and highlighted and in a loose white linen shirt, rather than "geeky turtleneck/striped shirt" mode. he stuck his scrawny ass out in his trademark awkward fashion and rocked for all he was worth, basically. he brought it, convinced me he's still amazingly talented, even if all he does these days is swoon about love. and yes, even if that last album was kind of shitty. he played two new songs, one love song (that was actually sort of interesting) and one rave-up he said he thought the old 97s could do a good job with (sort of bland, but okay). he announced that yes, erika is expecting. (i am expecting love songs about babies very soon.) he intro'd a song with talk of having had a lot of fun playing with the 97s this past weekend, then played "house that used to be." (am i reading too much into the choice? i hope the 97s aren't destined for "used to be" status.) it was a standout, though, along with "question" (played after the baby announcement; like, okay, we get it! you love your wife! stop rubbing our faces in it!), set opener "buick city complex," "homeward bound" (smartly heading off any wiseass comments by playing it, and he did an amazing job with it, way better than the dopey commercial version), "broadway" (that voice! still kills me) and the set-closer "four-leaf clover." for the encore, he brought out jon brion on piano, where the stuff from the lamentable instigator was concentrated. but actually, "the el" sounded really good, and so did "four-eyed girl." if i were to get nitpicky, i might be all "what, nothing off wreck your life?" but it was a truly great show, with rhett in top form, playing from a wide spectrum of songs. don't worry, folks: he's still got it.

the new matrix movie is way disappointing, says the new yorker, lengthily. [thanks dude]

did you know fountains of wayne have a new album coming out in june? it's called "welcome interstate managers" and i'm sure it will be a juicy-fruit-flavored infusion of power-pop goodness. they play irving plaza july 7: mark your calendars.

crush'd: can i please hang out with ashton kutcher?

pitchfork delivers a deliciously accurate dis of whirlwind heat: "Jack White's first signing to his V2 subsidiary Third Man Records is an abominable failure-- a band only a best friend could love giving an underpracticed approximation of dancepunk that flops on all possible levels. Baffling and torturous." i forget if i mentioned it, but they were mind-bogglingly terrible when i saw them open for the white stripes. and what's with the brown pants? lame.

cute interview with the head of startime international, which excellent label recently put out a mix-tape-style compilation album of the best tracks from demos the label received. dude reveals "seven steps to the perfect mix."

monday, may 12, 2003

ah, the cape. another very cool party at eileen's house. the weather was absolutely perfect all weekend, and the hot tub was working! in fact the hot tub was so hot that holly and i, many hours after the sippy cups had first been broken out, were forced by the gods of sleepiness to take a brief break from the party in our respective beds. that is why cape parties are the best: you just take a power nap and you're back in action! of course, all that was going on at that point was the hour of power with wine, while eileen pleaded with the participants to pack it in. but that was pretty entertaining. anyway it was a great time, and i hope to be back extremely soon.

friday, may 9, 2003

the natural history rock. find their album and buy it. because i said so.

in summer music news, my morning jacket have a new album out in june [thanks catbirdseat], and paul westerberg has two new albums up his sleeve, one by "grandpaboy" and one solo one [thanks pulpster].

can someone out there (paul? cormi? random?) tape a whole bunch of ali g shows for me? i MUST see these. seems naomi wolf got the treatment and was not pleased.

i just found these racy pictures of neko case. you can totes see nip in one of them! yowza! new pornographers are going on tour, you know.

oh my god liz phair does want to be avril lavigne. i hear her new album is shit-tastic.

it took weeks, but i can finally say that i now love ted leo's hearts of oak. how many rock stars make me look up words in my dictionary? and it's CATCHY. what's not to love?

after work (where, by the way, i today began the process of ordering supplies after a scant seven months of employment! i am very excited for the impending post-its, staples, red pens, and clip magnets to hang pictures of my favorite rock stars so that my metal-bordered workspace is not quite so spartan) i am removing myself from the new york metropolitan area to lovely misty-aired cape cod. ahhhhh, lobster rolls. YUMZ.

i'm out.

wednesday, may 7, 2003
i must begrudgingly admit that the hotel next to my house is starting to look very nice indeed. reminds me of the louis vuitton tower with its bluish translucent glass. doesn't have the same funky shapes, though. now if only they would get that crap off our roof in time for our summer party. [thanks lock]

neko case won playboy's "sexiest babe of indie rock" poll by a landslide. she says she'll have to think about whether or not she'll pose.

i couldn't help myself. i bought tickets for rhett at fez, this tuesday. it's tradition! i know that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, but is it insane to think he'll play old stuff? and like more than just a half-hearted "timebomb"? at least we can be seated and heckle and eat hummus. with extra pita, cause they never bring enough. mmmm, pita. oh, hey: here is rhett butchering simon & garfunkel's homeward bound, if you didn't catch the, ahem, mastercard commercial. also: is erika pregnant?? and oh my god once the rhett news starts flowing it doesn't stop, huh? he and erika might move to upstate new york (?!), and the most exciting news of all: after this weekend's spate of shows in texas, the boys will begin preliminary work on a new album; murry wants four songs. YAY!

kiefer sutherland with his pants down. how hot is he? and 24 has me on the edge of my couch. oh my god that naked episode? TOO MUCH. [link via gawker]

yes! the yeah yeah yeahs album "hits the rock 'n' roll g-spot."

ODB is free! and now called dirt mcgirt.

tuesday, may 6, 2003
saw spellbound last night. oh my god. i laughed every five seconds. people are so weird and hilarious! you will love the freaky little robot boy! makes kids seem almost tolerable. truly heartwarming. love the celebration of geekiness. and the incredibly oddness of the words these kids actually know how to spell! five thumbs up!

this weekend i checked out the kills at sin-e and concluded that they are, quite simply, sex on stage. they rock so hard, new new yorker lora couldn't understand the lack of a mosh pit. in san francisco, she swore, "there would be a minor frenzy. where is the frenzy?" welcome to cool new york, i told her.

new albums out today from the new pornographers and the gossip, and the natural history (record release party thursday at northsix, suckas; plus this new mp3). yay new music!

whee! half.com just filled my preorder for james frey's "a million little pieces." i can't wait to read this book. get your first chapter on the official site.

ted leo has a nice new website. with a ton of mp3s. check it.

well this is rather weird. keanu reeves is in a band with the real world's rebecca, the soft-spoken blonde girl from the seattle season. how did that happen?

i want to go see roy lichtenstein sculptures on the met's roof garden; don't you? [thanks gothamist]

thursday, may 1, 2003
the spray tanning thing has gotten out of control. everyone i see is a nice toasty shade of, um, toast. i will be stripping down soon, i suppose. god knows my english ass (and the rest of me, too) stays pretty white most of the summer.

really funny essay by chuck klosterman about new york, cool vs. trendy, and everything being over.

some people don't like homies!

so much for the "wedge of light." apparently the bizarrely, infuriatingly misspelled "millenium" hotel is going to throw shadows on it. and so begins (or, according to this story, continues) the inevitable dismantling of libeskind's (crappy) vision. hey, don't blame me. i voted for THINK.

sirenfest lineup announced! looks pretty good. is it wrong to want gbv again though?

last night i dreamt that i was listening to burning airlines last night in a conference room until the popular will took over and i was forced to utilize my discman. then i battled one yak and one emu in a backyard while my family watched from a house. what does it mean?