this weekend i had one of my best weekends in recent memory. somehow on halloween weekend i always end up at small apartment parties. and then i end up entertaining myself by engaging in a thoroughly self-indulgent photofest with one of my best friends. it's just what happens. halloween is sort of life-affirming, even if you go try to go to a late-night party and you can't find the buzzer. you're like, well shit, i guess i'm not supposed to get into this party. all these people are dressing up in the name of art, even if they don't fully realize it. my costume was the best ever. check it out here.

tonight on the street ouside of elisabeth's party, where we watched the parade, which by the way is the best thing ever, i had a couple of people not understand what i was, and when i doubled back due to the closed subway entrance they screamed at me, "INEXPLICABLE!" which i of course found hilarious. have you never seen an ipod before, dudes? luckily at pianos i had several dudes go, "GBV! awesome!" -- again, life-affirming. tonight just made me fall in love with new york all over again. i seriously almost cried. fashion, art, self-expression, love, all commingling in a stew of fun! how can you go wrong?!

tonight at pianos, craig wedren was wearing nothing but white mummy scraps. it was so hot, i could barely deal. his band, baby, is so hot also. i have to give props to kev for hipping me to them. craig used to be in shudder to think, but i actually think baby is better. sexier is always better, right? give a listen. they effing rule:

::: Baby, "Free Los Angeles" :::

fyi, santacon is happening december 11. it is one of the best things i have ever done in my life. let me know if you want to join me this year. it will be hot with three t's.

::: Hidden Cameras, "I Believe in the Good Life" :::

::: Hidden Cameras, "Music Is My Boyfriend" :::

free live deerhoof album.

sarah feels passionately about a swedish rock band called hell on wheels. i like sarah, and i have nothing to do on saturday night, and judging by their streaming tracks, they like the pixies a lot, and they sound like if i drank even a very small amount of beer it would be a good time, so i am going to go see hell on wheels on saturday. six bucks at the delancey. who is with me?

i have completed what may be my greatest costume ever. the only question is do i need an adjective? i.e. should i be a slutty ipod? mod ipod (sort of inherent in the dress)? blood-spattered ipod?

awesome jams of the moment: mashup albums by the kleptones. their newest album mixes hip-hop vocals over music by queen, and their first one is called yoshimi battles the hip-hop robots (flaming lips). you can grab the whole albums at those links, or you can just download my favorite tracks:

::: The Kleptones, "Fight in the Club" :::

::: The Kleptones, "Sniff" :::

fyi, i took the rest of this week off, so don't email me at work. i'm working on my crafty shit. remember i'm going to be at the ladyfest east craft fair this sunday, and i'm launching my online store very soon. you should all get out your credit cards, like, now. also, people who go to rock shows, could you save me your paper over-21 bracelets? especially if they have patterns on them. please? thanks dudes.

exclusive! report from THOR! betsy and mike were here this weekend, and they decided to stay at the hotel on rivington, since most of their events were taking place on the LES and it was cheaper than the sheraton. the consensus was pretty much: ghetto. the room is nice enough, with a robin's-egg blue wall, poufy white bedspread, black armchairs and bathroom. but the lamps are crooked, and so is the flat-screen tv. the heated bathroom floor is cool, but the window doesn't close. you get to shower in front of a full-length clear window open to the entire cityscape, which could rattle some guests. the lamps are really lame; the rest of the furniture, maybe a step above ikea.

the service is pretty crappy, too. no maid service after their first night, and betsy got some serious attitude when she returned to the hotel around 3 a.m. on saturday with a giant inflatable microphone -- what, is that not allowed? after brunch the next day, there were two doormen outside talking. neither of them bothered to open the door for us. when i came back later, the short one stammered, "are you...um...uh...?" i held up my keycard to shut him up. (please note: none of the offending doormen were the Tall, Blond, and Sweet-Seeming Doorman, with whom i wish to become friends.) betsy requested a hair dryer and didn't receive an answer for four hours, then she was told that "we are sorry, but we cannot fulfill your request,0" in a tone that suggested she had asked for a pile of bloomberg's poop on a platter instead of a common hotel amenity.

you cannot get a hair dryer in THOR, but according to the guest packet placed on the bedside table, you can get room service from 'inoteca, complimentary breakfast in the penthouse (see cardboard boxes in #9 above), and wireless internet access, as well as a whole host of paul labrecque spa services, including facials, manicures, pedicures, massages, "etc." we are guessing if you cannot provide a blow-dryer (let alone a cd player in a boutique hotel room...hello?), you are not getting an in-room pedicure anytime soon.

there is little to no activity in the place as you walk around. you'd think workers would be rushing around trying to get the place ready, but no. wires dangle from undone ceilings; black grime pools on concrete floors; a lonely bottle of windex rides the elevator up and down -- i guess someone at least *thought* about cleaning. do you think betsy and mike's six hundred bucks (for three nights) are going to buy more cleaning supplies, or hire more workers, or what? we suspect the grand opening won't happen until well into 2005, if ever.

also, the place is clearly going to cater to clueless foreigners. the japanese hipsters are still there and a swedish rock band arrived yesterday. that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

in other weekend news, kurt threw a combo birthday/going away party, and i would write about that, but frankly, nothing scandalous happened. unless you count my outfit. people, when it says "dress slutty," dress slutty! sheesh.

::: Elliott Smith, "King's Crossing" :::

on to lighter matters. we are instituting a new music feature here on the pita. it is pretty self-explanatory, although you may need to know the definition of the word "bunz." it is a slang term (coined by tamar of course) for shit. caca. poo poo. anyway here i will attempt to help you, the reader, regarding hyped-to-death bands and whether or not to spend your hard-earned money on their music. let us commence:

BUZZ OR BUNZ?
the arcade fire: everyone you know who has occcasionally-to-often good taste in music loves this band. has been talking about this band. will not shut up about this band. mp3 blogs like said the gramophone and teaching the indie kids to dance again were writing paragraph upon glowing paragraph to accompany their tracks months ago. i downloaded a few. didn't get it. why so bombastic? i kept listening though, and found the answer: because bombastic is totally great! this music is dramatic, emotional, over the top, and totally unique. all this and hooky, too. i can't wait to see them next month. VERDICT: BUZZ!

the killers: my managing editor sent an email to our entire office telling them to check out the killers. he is not what you might call "cool" (though he is fully awesome in a variety of other ways). that did it. i knew i had to say something here. the killers are the worst, just the worst. stop it with the annoying keyboards already! it is not the 80s! to quote a much better band, let's not recall them quite so fondly! jesus. they're like a much shittier interpol -- though i love interpol and hate to compare the two. VERDICT: BUNZ!

the futureheads: these guys too have a bit of the 80s revivalist horseshit style going on, but there's way less sheen and more devo-ish retardation -- in short, more punk -- that somehow makes it okay. they seem like franz ferdinand's goofy younger brother to me. they express a joy that is hard to resist. they're not gonna last long, but they're just charming enough for me to say VERDICT: BUZZ!

this appears to be the all-music edition of the pita, and so: this is the best new mp3 blog i've seen in some time. possibly forever. sixeyes, currently featuring some rare early neutral milk hotel. [via traveler's diagram]

har mar superstar on the etiquette of panty-throwing. have i mentioned i love him? [via largehearted boy]

pics from retardation at iggy's last night, where betsy, in town from china, haggled with my bartender friend about the prices of our drinks. "i got six bucks -- what can you do for me?" and it worked -- a round of vodka tonics for six bucks. amazing. then the red sox won and amy did a cartwheel. good times. this yankees game is looking grim. good thing they are chosen by god and will win AS THEY ALWAYS DO. update: errr...yeah...stupid underdogs.

did everyone see jon stewart challenging the crossfire dudes on how bad their show is? on their show? so great. everyone needs to watch the video. how much do we love jon stewart??

this is totally gross but i want one: skinbag. especially this one.

::: Har Mar Superstar, "DUI" :::

::: Har Mar Superstar, "Back The Camel Up" :::

also i love that this har mar fansite is at thefuckingbest.com. so true! and one more great thing about har mar: though he is known for prancing around stage in tightie whities and socks, his fat belly hanging out, he's switching it up now and keeping his clothes on (most of the time) -- and he has amazing fashion! check the tour dates and do yourself a favor -- if har mar is coming to your town, GO SEE HIM. and buy me a t-shirt.

when i heard the blogger formerly known as TMFTML was outing himself with a byline in the times, i was puzzled. the "playlist" column? no way can a bunch of little album reviews incorporate his trademark biting humor and wit, not to mention the hangover references. i still miss those, but kudos to the problem drinker for a) getting in the times -- blogger power, y'all -- and b) sneaking in a sly put-down of the killers and using the word "crunk" twice. next time i see alex, i am so making him say the word "crunk" out loud.

miss modern age no longer temp.

after that we headed to luna lounge, where sam champion was playing and jen and jenna were chillin' in seats (yay, seats!). i was under the impression, for whatever reason, that sam champion was some sort of power pop band. werde leaned over to me at one point and said, "so you would call this power pop?" and i said, "no, i would call this pavement worship." so. yeah. then these bones went on. they were better, pretty slick modern-rock sort of stuff. werde went home then, and jen and jenna and i stood around trying to decide what to do. i checked on hella in pianos -- didn't grab me. there was a brief, unsuccessful search for cute boys, a lot of shit-talking out of the mouth of moi, and then there was bed.

cmj, night four: the end is nigh
i arrived at merc for the sub pop showcase at the reasonable hour of 9:30 and found a line going on. i waited in that line for embarrassingly long. but stu was inside and other friends were on the way, so i waited. and waited. and waited. and listened to the norwegian bitch next to me complain. and complain. and...you get it. thank god the music was good. i missed the frausdots, sadly, and caught a bit of the helio sequence. they were psychedelic, man. in a good, my bloody valentine kind of way. although i don't really like my bloody valentine. then the thermals. we all know the thermals rock, right? the overwhelmingly out-of-town audience didn't realize that you are not supposed to initiate giant mosh pits and pogo so high you almost hit the ceiling, but it was refreshing to see so much enthusiasm. i was really interested to see low, because i've been hearing great things about them for years but never really investigated. they were amazing. i don't even have the words for how. i've often heard the description "sadcore" used to describe them, but that seems wrong. they rocked quite fiercely at times, and quietly at others. beautiful music.

one of my favorite parts of the night was the distrustful looks i got from people when i asked them if i could have their cmj lanyards. all you need is the card with your name on it, but everyone thinks they have to sling the whole thing, tiny subway map and all, around their necks. i wanted them for cozies, of course. this is actually a fantastic way to talk to boys. i wish people were always walking around with craft materials around their necks.

so cmj is over. now i can sleep. except i am really busy building my pita empire.

cmj, night two: the bar is set
i made a string of right decisions tonight, no question. first i dressed in black tuxedo pants, a maroon camisole, my maroon-and-orange sneaks, then i headed out to little matt's work party, where i sorta had to scam my way in. it was a really nice sync magazine party (did you know i'm a staffer there?), featuring safe-but-hip music, pizza hors d'oeuvres, and the all-important free drinks. i hung for about half an hour and then i walked one block east on west 29th street (when is anyone ever there, let alone for two events?) to the real shit.

at the coral room, i stared at the fish until baby went on. oh my god. such sexy rock music. we made our way to the front and danced our asses off. i kept breaking out in smiles. seriously, people: investigate. i felt bad for the less-hot of the two hot-chick dancer-singers, but craig wedren (previously of shudder to think, of course you know) is fully hot, baldness and all. they were so great i wanted to buy their cd, but then i was offered a burn, and you know how that goes. i seem to have lost my morals.

then har mar superstar went on. careful readers know i loathe schticky shit, but i fucking loved har mar. i, again, danced like a fiend. he's like a sweaty, jewish, white-boy prince. dancey hip-hip retardo funk, if you must. and despite reports, not that fat at all! but very sweaty. and he did remove his shirt, and i was close enough to see beads of sweat trickling their way down the man's chest. and he rules. also, nick zinner was in attendance. so in case my presence was not enough to convince you, you know it was cool. i can only hope that the remaining cmj shows live up to the fabulosity of tonight.

cmj, the beginning
first off, the above photos are by amy. they are of sea ray, whom i did not see. amy reports from the field, a.k.a. tribeca rock club:

Palomar: Like you said, they weren't that great live, but I still like them. They are very cute girls, and as I looked around the show, the audience was filled with dorky boys that were in love w/ them. Their stage presence needs some oomph. The only thing that moved on that stage was their arms in unison. Strumming simple fast chords. It reminded me of robotic arms assembling a car in a factory assembly line. [ed note: amy does not smoke pot, despite what you may be thinking.] Their album makes me smile though. [ed note: me too.] And I met the bassist since she is a friend of Lee's. Very nice normal girls.

Sea Ray: I was psyched to see these people and they didn't disappoint. There were about 7 people on the stage working hard. The cellist was headbanging. The keyboardist at one point was playing a trumpet w/ his left hand and tinkling the ivories w/ his right. [ed note: that's hot.] I was moved. I bought their new album. I'll email you photos just in case you need new art.

back to me me me. i saw a bunch of bands last night. started off at luna with amy where i went to see hot carl loves the ladies. hot carl also really loves his keyboard. and not singing. good groovy background music, but not too thrilling. the band that followed, though, was great. kid dakota are a guitar-and-drums duo, more swearing at motorists than white stripes. they were in suits and both had long stringy hair and glasses. insane (and insanely great) drummer. think of john vanderslice's drummer and add 20 pounds of ridiculousness/retardation. update: the catbirdseat informs me that it is indeed one and the same drummer. he is not in fact heavier than he may have been when you saw him perform with john vanderslice. just wanted to make that clear. they were the same amounts of wonderful. they rocked the place. a serendipitous discovery indeed. then little matt and i headed over to rothko for lucero and some awful OC band. lucero were okay, kinda sloppy rock with a touch of twang. they were not good enough to prevent us from leaving for the frenchkiss showcase down the street, though. you know how that story goes: the hold steady are awesome x 10000. i will never get enough, ever. although i am sad i wasn't at the arcade fire show after jen's glowing review. finally, best line of the night, out of the lips of little matt: "i thought the ladies loved detachment kit." uh, no. the gender-spanning consensus was: no.

1 in 100 adults is totally asexual. please rest assured if you see me wearing that (hilarious) t-shirt, i am doing so ironically and not displaying my "A" pride.

news flash: knitting is emo. tamar and i were supposed to take a crocheting workshop on sunday (which i tragically got shut out of), resulting in the following IM exchange.
Tamar: eveyrone i know says it's so so so easy
Tamar: and you can bang out a cute scarf or whatever in like a day
Cat: but it's not as cool as knitting right?
Tamac: maybe not as emo
Tamar: i think it may be a bit easier
Tamar: you use one needle
Cat: lol
Cat: not as emo!
Cat: i am seriously having trouble not snarfing this bite of salad
Tamar: dude knitting is EMO
Cat: STOP IT
Tamar: waaah? it's true!
Cat: what evidence do you have to support this weird-ass assertion?
Tamar: dude
Tamar: it is totally emo
Tamarc: it is an emo pasttime
Cat: b/c people put emo in their ebay scarf listings?
Cat: EMO BOWLING BALL
Tamar: NOOOO
Tamar: ha
Tamar: that's the best. i LOVE that
Tamar: no. bc little emo girls w/ glasses and messenger bags and buttons
Tamar: like to knit
Cat: btw the whole "knitting is emo" thing is totallly going on the pita
Tamar: CREDIT, ME!
Tamar: tho matt originally brought it up
Tamar: i have expanded upon the idea
Cat: what is the idea? all it is is that KNITTING IS EMO
Tamar: just that it is very emo to knit

there you have it ladies and gentlemen. it is very emo to knit. case closed.

top 5 best cmj band names
hot carl loves the ladies (i might need to see this band)
i can make a mess like nobody's business
dogs die in hot cars
one of the loudest tragedies ever heard (whoa. they sound great.)
volcano, i'm still excited
the plot to blow up the eiffel tower
holy fuck (apparently related to hot carl)
miss tk and the revenge

strangely enough, i now have several bands i want to see. also, have you noticed the proliferation of double-dipping band names? it's totally out of control:
controller controller
action action
mirror mirror
bang! bang!
man man
transistor transistor
temper temper
chin up chin up (this band i actually know is good, thanks to miss annie t.)
medium medium

you'll have to do your own googling. i need to get my rock sleep.

i'm sure most people are aware of this, but did everyone see the pictures of bush's mystery bulge? looks pretty undeniable to me that he was wearing a wire, which means he was being fed his lines, and it apparently wasn't the first time. more discussion on isbushwired.com.

also! i just signed up today to sell my wares (cozies, cuffs, earrings, maybe more) on halloween at ladyfest east's craft fair. i'm really excited, and i hope you all come out to support me and tons of other crafty chicks. it's at office ops on october 31 from 12-3 p.m., and they'll be serving mimosas, and people will be in costumes, and there'll be art to see, too, and you can get a jump on your holiday shopping, and doesn't that sound like so much fun? don't worry, i will remind you.

ooh and this weekend is the dumbo art under the bridge festival. i went last year and it was awesome.

dude leaves the funniest feedback.

the roaches are thinking of new and very creative ways to freak us out. two stories:

1) you may remember that a couple of months ago we needed to purchase a new coffeemaker after finding too many creepy-crawlies creeping through mr. krups. fast forward to two weekends ago. tamar is making waffles, and a very weird, unidentifiable smell asserts itself in a certain area of the kitchen. holly thought it smelled like homeless person; kurt could only say it was "organic." we can't figure out what it is, worry that there is a dead body behind the refrigerator, and continue on with our easy, breezy, beautiful saturday. this past weekend, a fairly heinous discovery was made by kurt. he was making toast, and the same smell manifested itself once again. he opened my very cool michael graves toaster oven and out ran reportedly dozens of crinkled, burnt roaches. he said they were streaming out. after kurt was finished screaming and spraying the shit out of them ("i hope they were in pain," he said), the floor was littered with roach carcasses. apparently they had made a nice little home in there. i think we can all agree that this is fully morts.

2) last night i was flouncing around my apartment, modeling some shoes for randi. if you will forgive the abrupt tense change, i then see tamar's new extremely cute hot pink payless pumps. decide to try on. slip right foot in right shoe. as left foot approaches left shoe, heinous discovery #2 made. roach. yes. in toebox of payless pump! chillin'! roaches in sink: okay. we have seen before. though highly unsanitary, not big deal. in living-room SHOE?! unacceptable! what is next? thought. shudder. the end.

you might not have realized that r.e.m. is streaming their new album. more likely, you don't care. i have listened to the album for my second and probably final time.

mighty photoblogger laura holder did a headphones project where she stopped subway riders wearing headphones, asked them what they were listening to, and took their pictures. [via madorangefools]

ahhh, this chick is taking the shoemaking class: look at her cute shoes!

slate analysis of the VP debate. he came off kind of above-it-all to me.

new nyc listings site to help you keep track of shows: oh my rockness.

i didn't make it to the rock show, though i tried my hardest. birthday-girl michele, seen above, was having none of it. you would think that starting the party at 2 would mean it could move by 8. i couldn't be too sad though. no one can be sad in the beer garden. you can only be drunk.

squeaky wheels totally get the link: local band group sounds sent me their cd, and it's pretty good party-time 60s-ish garage pop. i'm listening right now and it's getting me in the mood to start the party...seriously. the party actually starts at 2 p.m. today. it's only 10:30 now so i should chill. but rest assured there is chair dancing going on. they have mp3s on their site, and they're playing tonight at 9:30 for freeeee at luna lounge. i might stop by. stalk me there, won't you?

::: Group Sounds, "Goodbye" :::

fans of liars might want to check out this mp3 by no things, a new band featuring the ex-rhythm section of liars.

kerry was pretty good in the debate, huh? i don't know if it is the fact that our current president is so halting and bullshitty (remember his explanation of sovereignty?), but kerry seemed to actually say things (sometimes) the other night. and he said them confidently, eloquently even, whilst standing tall and straight, while bush was slumping over his podium much of the time. in kerry you can see a bit of that idealistic young man who testified before the senate peeking through. of course, he has to make political concessions now, but i do believe kerry will give the best he's got, and his heart is in the right place, whether he can fully say it or not. the washington post tells us how truthful the candidates were, and slate keeps score as well.