very weird night. saw the flaming lips play a fancy ballroom promo party for a car manufacturer. first off, let me say that overmoisturized, overplucked, inhuman bridge-and-tunnel-loving doormen make me sick. brian and i had to wait outside for hours like total losers while the rest of our group worked various angles to get themselves in ("hi i'd like to be an animal" and "i am press, let me in"). we made it to the front of the line pretty quickly but had to stand there forever while this asshole kept picking people from the back of the line. i had my totally cute cow-print fake-fur jacket on, too. it has been documented as the greatest jacket in new york. wtf. i almost cried when i saw jen, in a cute face-framing pink panther outfit, shuffling down the red carpet with the rest of the animals. she ended up being the owl.

anyway, i was not in the best mood even when they finally, after 3.5 hours, opened the velvet rope and with a "you've been very patient," let us in. i knew patience would be rewarded, but that fucking sucked. we immediately found drinks and our friends, and then the lips went on, with balloons and confetti and animals and joyous music, and there was no way to not be happy. i'm not the hugest flaming lips fan, but that show was really, really fun. and that breakdown in "she don't use jelly" is the bomb.com. oh yeah. i don't care if that's lame; i love that song. and "yoshimi." oh, yoshimi.

the crowd was deeply weird. by the time brian and i got in, the celebrities had all left and it was flaming lips fans and the aforementioned bridge-and-tunnel, people-i-don't-ever-hang-out-with types. one such gentleman did the following in quick succession: get down on his hands and knees and grope the back of tricia's legs with his bald head, shaking it around like a dog; engage in friendly but increasingly frightening head-butting with brian, such that i felt the need to intervene; get on stage to dance, shirtless, with the guitarist; execute a jimmy "superfly" snuka STAGE-DIVE, as the crowd parted like the red sea, and land smack on the floor, bringing down a hapless girl on his way. SO WEIRD. but, to fail to make a long story short: wayne coyne and the flaming lips are awesome. and the very end of the story is that we walked by the ludlow street set of the new lindsay lohan movie and got to watch them film a rain scene. it was pouring on ludlow (but not rivington) for like three minutes. it felt like a magical end to a magical evening (minus the horbz line part). brooklyn vegan has words and also pictures. and central village found the drummer's story of getting harassed when he went out for a smoke.

meanwhile, i just found the best mp3 blog: the gurgling cod. excellent, interesting writing, and tracks i care about. big black was just what i needed at 11:16 a.m. yesterday. [thanks, t-muff]

by the way, i just discovered this band biirdie. kinda twee but not too, poppy, and occasionally psychedelic. first track is about jenny lewis and sounds kinda like bright eyes. you can stream their whole album at their website. do it!

genius octupi walk on two arms. very cute video! look at 'em go!

i made a slew of new cozies, including one weird-ass one that kurt suggested i name after the pubic region. um, no. but you will see why. i think it's way cool, though. please enjoy. i know i do.

i am currently afflicted with bag fever. thinking of splurging on this metallic banana republic bag, brought to my attention by what is seriously my favorite new blog, purseuing. but everyone keeps saying "it's too much money!" but it will last, and it is so awesome! it can snazz up a day outfit and trick out a night outfit! will someone please tell me it is okay to spend $128 on a bag? please? i sort of have to have it. all my bags suck. of course i guess i could go with one of these urban outfitters bags: purple? green? turquoise? and what, exactly, do we think of this triple 5 soul bag? hmmmm?? these are important questions.

oh my god, the hold steady are opening for eagles of death metal. if i may quoth ultragrrrl, i think my vagina might explode at any time during that particular evening. have you heard the new hold steady album? yes/no? it's not out yet but i know you have connections. i think you'll agree it fucking rules. i would put up my favorite song but i don't know if i'm allowed to. it kinda sounds like an eminem song, though. this show is going to be the fucking jam. mark my words.

fiona apple's unreleased album has leaked in its entirety. i was unsure of her cabaret stylings on the one or two tracks that leaked ages ago, but a lot of the album is pretty great.

man, i sure wish i was in austin right now. the other day andy texted me that he just saw the hold steady play in the sun and i am so smart for liking them. not smart enough to get a plane ticket, though, i guess. thursday night was the annual GBV hoot night, wherein many good bands cover gbv tunes and a good time is had by all. here's calexico covering "nonabsorbing" and "marchers in orange" in one long song. uncle bob showed up and performed a couple songs, too. yeah!

i was being rocked by slint, though. i've never been cool enough to be a fan, but i was in the mood to hear some good guitar sounds and that's exactly what i got. i was pleasantly surprised by the awesomeness. people were very excited to be there. one guy kept screaming simply, "sliiiiiint!" which was funny. also funny were all the tight-asses vehemently shushing people. kelefah is respectful but basically thought it was boring. what a lame-o. here's an entire show from earlier this month in france that you can download. i didn't feel like being Annoying Digital Camera Girl, but here are some cool pics from the tour. oh yeah, and gavin rossdale was in attendance. looking very hot. so was chloe sevigny, looking very retarded. sometimes i wonder if she owns anything that is not overalls.

here's a good story about the phenomenon of people who yell "freebird" at concerts. you gotta click on the bill hicks clip. the dude, whoever he is, becomes insane and starts screaming profanities at the guy. it's great.

okay, i feel like i need to restore some cred after that horrendous last post. i got sick of the journey pretty quickly, by the way. here are a couple live tracks from my second-favorite dayton, ohio, band.

::: Swearing at Motorists, "Over the Middle Bridge" (live in amsterdam, 10/30/02) ::: jon from slatch introduced me to these guys a couple of years ago, and i will be eternally hateful grateful.

::: Swearing at Motorists, "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" (same live jam) :::

i may not be entirely sure about his music, but i like m. ward. check out the perspective on this dude: "For my particular musical education, older texts are more valuable than being up to date on everyone who's in Spin magazine." word.

this cracked me and my boss up yesterday: jamster's "crazy frog" ringtones. oh, how i wish my phone was download-ready.

oh my god, anthropologie has the cutest, i mean CUTEST skirts right now. i simply must have the giraffe skirt. and possibly the crinkled-silk skirt.

last night on america's next top model, the best thing happened. i was just about to give up on the show, cause a lot of the girls are straight-up ugs and boring, and then this thing happened. they were judging them, right, and little miss girl-next-door is standing there and is told that she really needs to "work on her presence." her eyes then roll back in her head, slowly, and she falls straight backward (click for clip), landing with her legs splayed out at like a 45-degree angle. so awesome. she totally upstaged the girl who wigged the fuck out when she almost got crushed by killer shoe racks. you can't make this shit up, people. i am officially rooting for this girl because she looks weird and is a janitor and her name is "lluvy." okaaaaay. kinda dig the mohawk chick, too. i am not rooting for brandy who actually looks exactly like the real brandy because that shit is freaky.

finally today, we have a fun story from vanessa. a little backstory: vanessa once walked in to the bathroom at work and found her boss, with whom she is not exactly friends, crying in the loungey area of the bathroom (fancy!). faced with an uncomfortable situation, and not wanting to ask if the woman was okay when clearly she was not, vanessa asked if she needed anything. answer: "no, i'm good." (ha!) today, well, i'll just let vanessa tell in her own words:

When I was leaving last night, I stopped by the bathroom and opened the stall door (which was NOT locked, not even shut, hence, I thought it was empty) to see my boss reading and taking a dump! It was awful, awkward, I apologized and went into another stall and she was out the door in a few seconds, following a rapid flush and handwashing. I hope there is no retaliation... But she still has not learned how to properly use a restroom. Good that she's finally in the stalls, she just can't shut or lock them.

1. i actually sort of want to see miss congeniality 2.

2. i am currently listening to and enjoying journey's greatest hits, which i illegally downloaded. and i'm not even high!

3. i am guilty of a great many of lindsay's blog cliches. (for instance: look how cute my cat is!!

and yet, somehow, i still rule.

discuss amongst yourselves.

i went to see some hot sweaty boy rock last night, in the form of death from above 1979. they're a bass-and-drums duo, very noisy but also very melodic. and deeply sexy. some people think they're "metal" but, uh, i don't think so. anyway they rocked me up, down, left, right, backwards, and sideways. here is a moment for you: the drummer, thin but not scrawny, with a healthy layer of fat to keep him warm in the winter months, was sporting a mohawk (not faux, but mo, mind you; kinda lame, kinda endearing) and very tight jeans. a few songs in, it was getting pretty hot up there on stage, and so mr. hipster drummer peeled off his shirt to reveal a sweaty, working back. this filled me with such intense happiness, i cannot describe. i turned to tricia behind me and smiled broadly. drummers, man. gotta love 'em. you can still stream the whole album, but in case you're the downloading type, here are a couple of songs from the DFA79 album that you must listen to!

::: Death From Above 1979, "Blood on Our Hands" ::: this one's actually a video. [thanks jen]

::: Death From Above 1979, "Sexy Results" ::: tell me again how they're metal? just sayin'....

::: Death From Above 1979, "Romantic Rights" :::

by the way, it has come to my attention that i forgot that i actually already purchased a go! team ticket, so all of you working feverishly to find me a ticket can rest easy. ahem.

here's an interesting story about the ridiculous saga of the guns 'n' roses album that has been ten years and tens of millions of dollars in the making, chinese democracy. my favorite sentence: "[Axl] accompanied Buckethead on a jaunt to Disneyland when the guitarist was drifting toward quitting, several people involved recalled; then Buckethead announced he would be more comfortable working inside a chicken coop, so one was built for him in the studio, from wood planks and chicken wire."

this is a set of really beautiful photos from an undertaker. be sure to click on each photo so you can read the captions.

i spent most of the weekend in bed being sick. but i did make it out to witness the greatness of clem snide, who showed up in white suits with animal appliques on the backs. they played a short but thrilling set consisting mostly of stuff off their latest album, "end of love" (which is good but lacks the bite of their earlier albums). if you want to know exactly which songs were played, you can ask uberfan ryan, who was in town after seeing them in philly thursday night and executed a deft (and hilarious) partial-hop onto the stage to grab the setlist. i think that ryan's panties were almost as wet as tamar's, who sent me the following text message before we hooked up in the crowd:

EEF SPOTTING!
CUTENESS OVERLOAD!
UNCONTAINABLE!
IMMEASURABLE!
WARNING! DANGER!

eef sure does rock that geek-hot thing something fierce. i was fully in his thrall. the band is just amazing live. we had some jokers in our crowd, too. the following exchange was quite fun:

mugsy (loudly, between songs): what's that?
eef: that's punk rock.
mugsy (pointing to band member's horn): no, that.
eef: that's a euphonium....any other questions?
cormi: where do babies come from?
eef: your momma's ass.

after the show our random group, consisting of randi and me, mugsy, ryan, ed the old guy (a.k.a. the vietnam vet), esteban, and ryan's auntie promilla and uncle jim, went to loreley to prolong the fun. ryan and i ended up with these giant beers that were bigger than our heads. that was unnecessary but amusing. almost as amusing as the fact that earlier in the evening, ryan ordered a cosmo. i'm not quite sure when ryan turned into a 22-year-old upper east side sorority girl, but it was pretty disturbing.

there is a veritable treasure trove of live clem snide mp3s available for your downloading pleasure.

oh and i forgot to mention last week that sleater-kinney totally rocked my house down at the mercury lounge. i didn't get a single decent pic despite being right up front. i guess i was too busy being rocked. jen got a great one, though.

i have more but this is way too long already. tomorrow there will be more. i am off to tend to my watery left eye.

my friend amy, lover of cartwheels and h&m, has taken over watchmeturn30.com. amy's got a tough act to follow, but i'm sure she can handle it. if you missed any of holly's consistently cool photos, you can find them all in one place, here.

david gallagher's reimagining of the gates in different colors is pretty cool.

i saw lou barlow the other night, thanks to jen. he was all right. he only played two songs i know, "on fire" and "pearl." the rest were off that horbzily titled "emoh." one of them was a really cute song about a cat he sort of stole from his neighbors. it sorta made me want to live in l.a., if you want to know the truth. i could listen to lou sing the patriot act, so i enjoyed it even if i didn't exactly fall in love with the new stuff. and that's my final answer.

funny comic for people familiar with the east village. [via catchdubs]

jon of slatch and 75 or less fame started a new website featuring little artworks you can buy for cheap! it's called tiny showcase. the first print, designed by jon, is really cute. and teal. i bought it.