so, you may remember that i won the edy's ice cream block party contest. it went off wednesday evening: twelve flavors, five toppings, way too much gooey syrup. and beer. good times. thanks to all who came. we still have a ton of ice cream. ice cream party II, anyone?

okay, listen up: the first record i've heard this year that has blown my shit away: the thermals, "the body, the blood, the machine," out august 22. i'll likely have more to say about it later. but oh my god. so far it is my record of the year, and i've only listened to it twice. i better see all y'all bloggers blogging your little heads off about this album or you'll have to answer to me. i rock cleveland is on the case already, with an mp3. predictfork says 8.2.

related: a good story on the state of protest music.

aol has put together a list of the 111wussiest songs of all time for you to stream when you may be feeling vulnerable and in need of hugs. i am ashamed to report that i actually listened to dave matthews band's "crash" at work yesterday. why did i just admit that?

craig finn sang with golden smog on "i wanna be your dog" wednesday night. did anyone catch the hold steady at castle clinton last night?

y'all will now hear my craigslist tale of victory, a story of how, i believe, if you are not a dick about tickets, your ticket karma will be good and you will be rewarded. see, i needed to get rid of my sonic youth tickets, sonic youth tickets that were also yeah yeah yeahs tickets and blood on the wall tickets -- in other words, superawesome tickets. but i'm going on vacation, and it's not to mccarren pool. surprisingly, it's a total buyer's market on craigslist, with everyone trying to sell, selling below face, the works. weird! anyway, so i put my ad up hoping to get my money back, and threw in a hail mary about if anyone wanted to trade for a pair of tickets to the last new york sleater-kinney show before they break up, and within two hours, a dude who's never seen sonic youth before was in touch, offering a straight trade, pair for pair. amazing. i'm incredibly psyched to see sleater-kinney again, though i do not think it's the last time they'll ever play together (mark my words). yay craigslist!

hey, if you like cute, plastic, emo-riffic jewelry, peep tamar's etsy shop. i just bought the take me out to the ballgame necklace, which i plan on wearing to a ballgame very soon. like, duh!

this person sells cubes of new york city garbage. for fifty bucks a cube! this person is obviously an artistic/entrepreneurial genius. [via swiss miss]

apropos of nothing, i would like to inform you all that i have recently become a beet freak. my granddad used to eat those things all the time when i was little, and i thought they sucked (though not in those terms). recently bill werde made a delicious beet salad, and i was hooked. inoteca also makes a ridiculously great goat cheese and beet salad, with mandarin oranges and hazelnuts. and today? after my lobster salad sandwich and apple, i was still hungry (okay, a bit hungover), and what did i choose to supplement my lunch with? that's right! yellow and red beets from the antipasti table! dear god, i love beets and i just had to tell you that.

and now, we're almost done here, but good news! i am not forsaking the PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK this week! i know you were all worried i'd forgotten all about that feature. not so. here it is, your PSOTW:

::: The Descendents, "Silly Girl" :::

that's it! now i will work my little hands (well, eyes) to the bone.

(yes, i had to put that picture of carl up there. TOO CUTE NOT TO!)

okay, hi! i had a lovely weekend, thanks for asking. here's what i did: drink wine with boyfriend and roommate and friends; hang out on the roof for the first time in ages; eat delicious, syrup-soaked french toast at frankie's 17 clinton; spend $20 at urban outfitters and emerge with boots, shoes, skirt, and jacket (!); go to a basement party in williamsburg and be thoroughly impressed by the awesomeness of mussels; inhale an uncalled-for amount of cheese and crackers at 2 a.m.; consume more banana pancakes than carl the following morning; not shower; take pictures of hipster fashions at mccarren park pool as jason lytle (of grandaddy) and pretty girls make graves played under a lovely blue sky; catch up with a medium-lost friend while sitting on the peeling pool floor; attend a fun show at pianos by peppy chicago band may or may not, who averred from the stage that this song was "totally about catherine hopkinson"; buy the t-shirt, of course. monday, by comparison, has not been so good. not that i have a case of "the mondays" or anything.

good morning! it's 86 degrees at nine in the morning and i, for one, couldn't be happier. i'm a bit tired of the nothing weather we've been having. it was pretty hot yesterday, too; i spent it sweating through my bikini on holly's hammock and couldn't have imagined a better afternoon. well, i did wish to be at the beach. baby steps.

the siren festival on saturday was quite fun, though no band really blew me away. i enjoyed deadboy and the elephantmen the most, probably. also caught a bit of priestess, man man, dirty on purpose, and serena maneesh. and also took a lot of pics for my other blog; check out my fashion roundup at fashion binge. there's also some great pics of the fest at brooklyn vegan, of course.

let's now talk about an up-and-coming indie-rock band from chicago called may or may not. they are playing a couple of shows this weekend: friday at magnetic field, and sunday at pianos with graham smith. the latter, if it is anything like the last show they did at pianos with graham smith, should be a blast. and we all know history is doomed, or in this case charmed, to repeat itself. here are a couple of new tracks, including the song i like to call "the catherine song."

::: May or May Not, "Work by Nine" :::

::: May or May Not, "Bike" :::

every so often i randomly check to see if kid millions from oneida has updated his kid's korner on the oneida site, and he always hasn't. but i was checking out brah records, and it looks like he's writing there a little. nothing like those old tour reports, though. hey, did you know that oneida are named after some sort of free-love cult in upstate new york that was started by a guy named noyes? get it? noise? awesome.

i saw them last week, oneida. i brought earplugs but didn't use them, because it wasn't painful to my ears, and also i have this idea that their music is supposed to be punishing. but maybe that was the oneida of old. they actually have a song on their new album, "happy new year," that sounds like simon and freakin' garfunkel. no lie. anyway, you should have gone. really. and openers dirty faces = also awesome. like oneida, they combine a slew of influences into something wholly their own and indescribably great. seeing all the kids going nuts for them reminded me of the first couple times i saw the hold steady. exciting stuff.

::: Dirty Faces, "New Wicked Stepson" :::

hilarious, especially for editors: Notes on 'Sweet Child O' Mine," as Delivered to Axl Rose by His Editor. [via stereogum]

let's see, let's see. what happened this weekend that the pita readers want to know about? saturday was the big 15th anniversary/65th birthday party at my mom's house, a.k.a. the farm. the party was quite fun, actually, complete with dorky ice-breaker "name game," tearjerking speeches, and lots and lots of croquet.

and then sunday we watched world cup on a high-def tv, then jetted over to mccarren pool for the pool party. and let me tell you, this is why new york in the summer rules, cause of shit like this. a free show, in a giant urban wasteland, with free ice cream and music and dodgeball and slip 'n' slide and hipsters in ridiculous attire. les savy fav put on an awesome show, as usual: check out the tons of great pictures on flickr. i reached concert nirvana at this moment, when tim harrington was releasing confetti into the crowd and then bathing himself in it (this is my new desktop photo). my other favorite moment was when i was stretched out on the concrete in the sun, by myself, while carl played dodgeball, poorly. he emerged with bloodied knees and a goofy smile. he really sucked at dodgeball, especially in those silly crocs. and then when the show started he pulled a classic carl move, hoisting his dreadlocked friend glen onto his back and charging into the crowd to shake shit up. a large space cleared, and a few moments later he was clapping his crocs together overhead. does anyone have a picture of this? i would really like to see this moment immortalized in pixels (i forgot my camera). more pool parties are happening every sunday throughout the summer, and i definitely plan on going back.

britt daniel writes about 12 records for emusic.

tamar and i continue to gorge ourselves over at fashion binge; please check us out (and blog about us, if you want to be really cool). yesterday i was talking about band t-shirts, which should please all the indie sluts out there.

"pickles are destroying my life!" this is a MUST-WATCH VIDEO, people. please.

the hold steady redesigned their website. sure looks pretty. a vast improvement over the last one, i'd say.

finally we have the usual friday treat: PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK! enjoy and happy weekend...till we meet again.

:::Pailhead, "Don't Stand In Line" :::