those are all pics from carl's meat party as i liked to call it, a bbq in his building's courtyard with hundreds of dollars (no exaggeration) of meat products and some vegetarian options for the herbivores. it was quite fun, included bocce and croquet, and went from 3 pm to the wee hours. i included that shot of me just so i could mention that i am wearing my brand-new, ultracute catbird records t-shirt, which record label (founded by ryan catbirdseat, duh) puts out some fine music. music that usually, if you act fast enough (as with the get him eat him ep), comes with unique, hand-decorated packaging. i love that shit. and i just realized i probably need to get the tap tap album these songs are from; i don't think i'm out of line to say they remind me of both the arcade fire and wolf parade:

::: Tap Tap, "100,000 Thoughts"

::: Tap Tap, "Way to Go, Boy"

you can get yourself a catbird records t-shirt, too, when they get repressed, so be sure to, as mentioned, ACT FAST. i may get one in a different color this time, i like mine so much.

continuing with the weekend report, ted leo at the seaport friday night: so great. i wasn't even gonna go, cause I didn't have anyone to go with, what with jen needing to be in the VIP cattle pen, but then michelle f. called me, all, "are you at the show?" and twisted my arm a little bit and, really, folks, it's not that hard to convince me to go to a free rock show. and that spot by the pier, with the huge ships rising up right next to the stage? so cool. and ted leo, man, he is just so full of life and intelligent charm and coolness -- he even dedicated a song to a high school teacher he'd run into there who said "taught me to think for myself," AND he played "suspect device" by stiff little fingers, a former punk song of the week, as the last song in the encore. i was actually surprised how many people knew it considering the age of the crowd (i was surrounded by very polite 15-year-olds). he played a bunch of new songs, and one of them i swear is going to be a huge hit. in sum, ted leo: yay!

also we saw half nelson, which is getting great reviews, on sunday, and while ryan gosling is wonderful as a crackhead teacher and so is the girl who plays his student who knows about his problem, i dunno. carl was all "what was good about that movie?" and i didn't really know the answer. nice broken social scene soundtrack, though.

here's some youtube of the hold steady at warsaw in april, a great show from start to finish: "most people are dj's" (In which they pass around a bottle of jack, lending credence to those gbv comparisons) and "stuck between stations." as a side note, i ran into my friendly neighborhood rock star craig finn on the 6 train last week and he was positively giddy that the copy protection on the new album is working. and he very surprisingly did not reach into his bag and pull out a copy for me! the nerve!

big annoucement, folks! on march 1, 2001, i moved into my new apartment and then went to see my favorite band at the time play at the bowery ballroom. on october 1, 2006, i will be moving again, into a new place in brooklyn, and then go see my current favorite band play irving plaza. this is a weird way of saying i'm looking for an apartment. so help me out: is your friend moving out of her affordable one-bedroom? is your landlord cool and looking for new tenants? is your broker worth the exorbitant fee? lemme know. also, jen and kurt are looking for the new me, so send interested female parties my way, too.

::: The Hold Steady, "Chips Ahoy" ::: new song alert! i still have high hopes for the album, since i also couldn't stand separation sunday's single, but i'm not really feelin' this song. also, the copy protection on this album is impressive. i can't believe it hasn't leaked yet! i still have high hopes for the album, since i also couldn't stand separation sunday's single, but i'm not really feelin' this song. also, the copy protection on this album is impressive. i can't believe it hasn't leaked yet!

cause it's funny: celebrities yawning. gisele looks ridiculous. but of course her makeup is perfect. love it.

another tamar special (somebody get that girl a j-o-b!): worst music video ever. sometimes i hate this kind of overly ironic, "so bad it's good" shit, but i LOL'd! so should you!

since you never know when i'm going to get around to updating, here's a PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK! it's by the band weston, about whom i know nothing other than that they apparently play totally infectious pop-punk. i dedicate this one to my roommate kurt.

::: Weston, "Just Like Kurt" :::

auf wiedersehn!

all right! i am back from a lovely week in upstate new york, the finger lakes region specifically, and auburn, new york, even more specifically, and it's time for the ridiculously long vacation update, a long-standing tradition on the pita. auburn, i learned, is home to a federal prison that hosted the first execution by electric chair, and was the birthplace of a beautiful friendship between harriet tubman and an important white man who purchased alaska. other fun facts here.

this is what happened there in 2006, in my world: carl, paul stuart and i bussed up there in the early a.m., fueled by apples and caramellos. we arrived in ithaca, greeted by a calmer, more reasonable stuart, matt stuart, and their friend dan. immediately dan went to fill up his "growler" (a large glass jug) at a local brewery, then we had lunch at a mexican joint after an extensive standoff involving one person's extreme desire to eat vietnamese food (paul) and another person's extreme desire not to eat vietnamese food (carl). then we went swimming in a swimming hole, where kids were hurling themselves off cliffs and traversing slippery dam edges. scary! i was weirdly nervous about completing a six-foot jump. was i always this wussy? i did it though. then we ate some delicious purity ice ceam, headed back to the sorta run-down but 19th-century mansion that taylor (remember him?) lives in with his very cool mom, sally, and rocked a BBQ. that was sunday.

monday we borrowed sally's car and started off at one of carl's favorite joints, doug's fish fry in skaneteles (pronounced "skinny atlas"). extremely greasy but delicious scallops and fish sandwiches and grilled shrimp. then we did some thrift shopping, some driving around looking at cute lakeside towns, and ended up at long point winery, where we picked up the first of nine bottles we would eventually purchase. we went dinnerless to the gorilla biscuits show at this pretty nice club in syracuse. a chandelier at a hardcore show! who'd'a thunk that. drinkers were sequestered in an upstairs, overly air-conditioned balcony, where i watched the entire show from a safe vantage point while carl and paul and a bunch of their peeps tried to pretend they weren't 30 in the pit. paul stuart got punched in the nose. good times. i didn't hate the music, but i was more interested in watching the moshketeers do their crazy dances from above. such energy! carl commented that if indie rock shows contained half of that enthusiasm, he would attend a lot more indie rock shows. point taken. we then adjourned to dinosaur's, a BBQ joint, where i shoved a piece of cornbread into paul stuart's mouth.

tuesday was boring day, at least after we were woken up by the two resident jack russell terriers who burst into our room (through a closed door i might add), jumped on our bed, and menaced us and the fluffy kitty, pook, with their slobbering tongues, panty breath, and excited demeanour. that's dogs for ya. anyway. since we were cheapos and didn't rent a car, we were dependent on carl's friends to haul our asses around. as a result we ended up riding an ATV (carl), playing bocce (fun enough), and hitting the lake for a quick dip. i took a break from my eating rampage and ordered a raspberry chicken salad at connie's, then we checked out the open-mic night at a local theater. taylor is damn good as a solo artist.

wednesday was lake day and also carl's birthday. we bought a lot of meat and headed to the lake, where carl's buddy joe has a "camp" that has a bunch of boats, a shack for storing shit, a dock, an anchored "raft" with a diving board, and a bunch of hammocks. carl immediately decided we should take a canoe ride. it was a mile across the lake and a mile back. felt good to exercise, actually. felt even better to laze in the hammock and eat cherries and read my book. then it was TUBING, which is basically waterskiiing but with your ass in a tube. the boat driver does all sorts of crazy turns to throw the tuber back and forth across the wake. incredibly fun and harder than it looks. gave me a wicked case of whiplash but totally worth it. then it was off to dinner via boat, to a group dinner at a restaurant at the end of the lake, where carl's brother's girlfriend brought a "funfetti" cake she had baked for him. the food was eh but it was a good time nonetheless.

thursday was the much-anticipated wine tour. carl's brother brian was our chauffeur for the day and remained good-natured throughout. it's hard to drink fifty sips of wine in a day and remember what you liked better than what, but we emerged with some favorites and a few bottles. it's all about the RIESLING, kids. hermann j. weimer and dr. frank specifically. once all the wineries had shut their tasting-room doors, we had a lovely dinner at the red newt bistro, on the porch overlooking a lake (don't ask me which one) at sunset. the meal was excellent.

friday we waited around for the stuarts for a while. i ate two tunafish sandwiches in the interim, plus a piece of cake in honor of matt stuart's birthday. eventually we went hiking in a state park with taylor, his awesome girlfriend theresa, and paul stuart. again a yay for exercise. and another yay for ice cream. then we headed back to the lake where a brisket had been smoking for five hours. i ate some brisket and a hot dog, and i believe several nectarines, including honeydew nectarines. seriously, i was putting it AWAY this trip. i know i just mentioned healthy fruit but i'd be hard pressed to count the amount of sausage i ate this week. later that night we met up with taylor at the local watering hole, then adjourned to the hot tub, finally working. good stuff.

saturday we hit up a gig at the polish community club. it was a benefit for the red cross, sponsored by harley or something. odd scene. taylor opened for this other very good band, the peace recovery search party (inexplicably not on myspace). we played pool, drank beer, paid seven bucks for BBQ (but only $6.25 for a top-shelf liquor drink and two draft beers, total!). i even ate the cole slaw. at night taylor threw a little party on his back porch, at which carl received some kind of crazy finger-acupuncture and i enthused about guided by voices between raspberry margaritas. taylor was really excited about that blender so i was glad he got to use it.

sunday we pretty much ate breakfast and hightailed it back to ithaca to get on the bus. i ate too many dried apricots and there were some stomach issues.

and then today i got on the scale and gained several pounds! that's more than a few, folks! but: totally worth it. great vacation. carl, an auburn native, somewhat obviously, has a pretty extensive travel journal currently up at his myspace. so if you need another long-winded treatise, go there. i am going to bed.

i'm back. full report shortly.

i'll start it off with a belated PUNK SONG OF THE WEEK! part of the reason carl and i are going upstate this weekend/week is so he can attend his second gorilla biscuits reunion show. overall i could give a shit about this band, but occasionally i can appreciate one of their breakdowns. this is one (at 1:03). it's carl's ringtone, for now (i think next up might be "baby got back"):

::: Gorilla Biscuits, "Degradation" ::: carl and my brother paul like to talk hardcore. they did a bit of that today, once we all met up after the brooklyn cyclones game, which was supposed to be a birthday present for my dad, but turned into just a fun time, sans dad. oh well.

::: Gorilla Biscuits, "Forgotten" ::: this is my other favorite (for like a minute) gorilla biscuits song. carl tried to get me to go to asbury park friday night, and then today he told me he got kicked to the ground. i think i made the right decision.

back in bands-i-actually-like news, the other night i went to the last sleater-kinney show ever in new york, one of their last shows ever, and let me tell you this: despite the 105-degree heat, despite the fact that i spent most of the show fanning myself and envisioning what would happen if i passed out, i had an absolute blast. such a time has not been had at a show by me in a long time. concert nirvana: oh yes. danced ass off: yes. this band will be sorely missed. a lot.

and then thursday night jami and i went to the mercury lounge for the indie rock show. if i may lie for a moment, one all-female power trio leaves, another enters. magneta lane is not yet as good as s-k, but they have the tunes. they've got the rock. the rock is there. the songs are there. but they lack confidence. and the ability to plug in their instruments. but they'll get better. way better, is my prediction. this is catchy rock music, y'all. you know you want it. check out their album(s); "constant lover" was a ringtone of mine for a while (till i changed it to s-k's "all hands on the bad one.")

meanwhile, i can't believe this fucking hold steady record hasn't leaked yet. i'm friends with a band member and i can't even get a copy. wtf? i've been hearing some really interesting things, too.

and with that, i'm off to the finger lakes for tubing, wining, dining, and whatever else comes my way. i'll be back in like a week. try to console yourselves.