hello, loyal pita-eaters. i hope you've been enjoying these semi-frequent updates of late, because it's about to come crashing to a halt. i'm off on vacation, to sunny hilton head island, south carolina, for a week of laying on warm sand and playing tennis with my family. that is, if we survive the trip. and it is entirely possible that we will not, as my father aims to complete the drive (yes, you read correctly) in one shot, driving all night and arriving in the morning, just in time to pass out on the beach. and frankly i am having trouble staving off thoughts of his nodding off and careening off the road, killing all five of us in the car (yes, you read that correctly as well). but he swears he's a "veteran" of "this sort of thing," so, fingers crossed! i have set up a twitter account, so i will attempt to send a message there should i be near death, and will also post pithy updates from a horizontal position that you will be able to see at the top of this page. let's proceed with what may be my last update.

first order of business: WHY was i not informed that the old 97s are playing on a boat this friday?! oh well, i can't go anyway, but still. i do thank my lucky stars that the 97s are coming back on september 17 to play in, like, the world trade center pit (?!) with the hold steady (!!!!!). two of my absolute #1 (at different times in my life) favorite bands playing one show!! i can't imagine the heights of concert nirvana that will be achieved. i might explode, people. seriously. they are both killer live bands.the only thing that could possibly be more ridiculously perfect would be if a reformed GBV were announced as the headliner. i may also attend the solo craig finn performance in a bookstore, but i am way less excited for that. apparently craig forgot about his talking points from 2005. it's bar band, dude, bar band! related: the hold steady wants your photobooth pictures to be used in the artwork for their next single. boys and girls in america...still going strong. i'm kinda ready for the next album, though.

jeff from the west virginia surf report is one of my favorite funnymen (LOL city, folks), and here he is interpreting the marketing copy of alli, the fat-blocking drug that makes you poop liquid, should you fail to heed the instructions. pretty hilarious. who takes this stuff??

this is interesting: a blogger takes a tour of tiny telephone, john vanderslice's studio. [via the relaunched-unbeknownst-to-me travelers diagram, from whom i could steal buckets of links...yay!]

if you are interested, the new yeah yeah yeahs ep (triple wooh!) and the tegan and sara album, among other jams, are streaming at aol. i have no clue if i like tegan and sara, but i seem to be seeing their cute little twinny faces popping up everywhere. i still don't like their haircuts, though.

okay, this is not a quick click, but if you have 10 minutes, it is definitely worth it: a dude named mark malkoff went to every starbucks in manhattan in one day, spending $369.14 and growing increasingly batty as the day (and night) wore on. it's like a "supersize me" for the, um, youtube generation. very funny stuff: 171 starbucks, by mark malkoff. [via whitney]

it's taken me a while to say this, because i was really dubious about the prospect of this site, but i am loving jezebel. you would think that criticizing women's magazines would be like shooting boobs in a barrel, and it is. did anyone think magazine covers weren't photoshopped to high heaven? but i think the mission is a worthy one, and the site is just really entertaining. plus, they put the funniest photos up! loves it.

that reminds me: this is a really funny photo. it is so awesome, you must click. it gets even more awesome the more i look at it.

okay, i have very important decisions to make, like which and how many flip-flops to take with me on vacation. toodles!

a good monday to you, dear reader! i hope you had a fine time slogging your way through the rain, as i did this morning. ugh. but at least we had a lovely weekend. i started it off right with a visit to summerstage. unfortunately i only caught about one song of eric bachmann's performance, which sucked because i love his work with crooked fingers. neko case was amazing, of course, and i reached a fully, teary concert nirvana almost immediately. she closed out the encore with "soulful shade of blue," which i've been singing off-key ever since. it is fantastic:

::: Neko Case, "Soulful Shade of Blue":::

saturday began with delicioso pancakes courtesy of captain carl. little banana cinnamon pancakes, to be precise. stacked, no less! so good. we proceeded to do normal saturday errandy things, and then i was too lazy to go to sirenfest. i've been diligent over the years about going to partake of the free rock 'n' roll, but i just didn't feel like it, so i let myself have the year off. i wanted to see black lips and matt and kim, but, i said, fuck it, i don't feel like sweating. or dealing with the trip, the perenially bad sound, etc. so i sat around in the AC and chilled, literally and figuratively.

sunday was more of the same, until it was time to go to jami's meat party. on her williamsburg roof, with its expansive view, we ate hot dogs and sausage and jami's lovely honey cookies, and raised our eyebrows at the random folks who'd showed up to her neighbor's art project, which involved videotaping people's "confessions." and then we took the bus home and i almost cried at some young mother viciously yelling at her five-year-old daughter, who was doing nothing wrong. good times!

stream the new john vanderslice album, emerald city. vanderslice is one of my favorite lyricists, with music that is just as richly detailed and satisfying. plus, damn if he doesn't look cute on that album cover! i'm totally going to go see him at the bowery ballroom on september 26. he's quite a charming performer, too. i swear. wanna be my date?

are you aware that there's a new website in town? that's right, chicago's metromix has set up shop in new york and is boasting some fine editorial talent to complement its city, uh, searching prowess. for instance, here's an interview with carl newman where he admits to not playing records at home (weird) and also an interview with the comas that discusses vagrant records' bid for cred, among other things. you'll just have to click to find out!

finally, i realize that most of you have probably seen this already, but there's a slight chance that some folks have not seen the filipino prisoners doing the "thriller" dance, and that's a risk i can't take. everyone must see this. do your bit.

dudes, everyone should go out (onto their computer) and buy these awesome baggu bags, which will help you do your little bit to not waste so many plastic bags. i cannot wait to get the ones i ordered (six in all, in so many pretty colors!) and start announcing to cashiers that i have brought my own bags. i feel extremely virtuous already!

and now i will sing the praises of kensington customer service. i received for christmas from brother paul a very useful ipod dock, which not only connected to your stereo but also charged your 'pod while it was playing AND came with a cute little remote so if someone old was all, "could you turn that down?" you could do it from the comfort of your ass. but the remote broke recently, and so i called them to complain, thinking i'd need a receipt and be shit outta luck. but a very nice indian man surprised me with the news that they would send me a brand-new one, an upgrade in fact, since the model i had had been discontinued. score! the new one you can attach to your tv and show your ipod videos (not that i have any of those). anyway, have you ever had such a great customer service experience? i am not sure if my standards are low or what, but i think that may be a personal best for me. thank you, kensington!

this gave me a chuckle: old-ass hardee's commercial featuring hurley from lost. [via whitney]

love this in-depth interview with britt daniel about "ga ga ga ga ga". it includes the story of how he got the title, which is still very stupid, but i have to say: the album has grown on me.

new favorite song alert! "oxford comma" by vampire weekend. guess they are the new buzz band. this fact, as well as the band's actual awesomeness, was brought to my attention by sir catbirdseat, who featured the band up front on his july mix, which you should download because it is quite good. quite good indeed! anyway, they're playing the free east river music project show on august 11, and you should--we should all--check that out. if you can't make it, they're playing the music hall of williamsburg (fancy name for the old northsix, don'tcha know) on september 8. plan ahead, people!

steve albini does not have a cell phone, and andy falkous (of mclusky) has a new band called future of the left! those are among the revelations the revered producer drops in a poker forum where he solicits questions. did you know there were so many indie rock-loving poker players? i did not. also, i am not really digging the new shellac album, by the way. i know that steve albini has more rock in his tiniest fingernail than i could ever hope to have, but this album just does not rock. maybe a smidge. but that's it.

soon i shall read big black's final tour diary. for now, i shall go to bed.

hi peoples. what's shaking? i don't know about you, but i've been having a fine summer so far. last weekend we headed to governor's island for a going-away picnic for kurt, who is spending a couple of months in mozambique. it's quite lovely there. feels sorta like colonial williamsburg. fun fact: i had no idea governor's island was directly across the river from my living-room window! i am what you might call geographically challenged. or, less charitably, dumb.

for the fourth we had a few friends over. well, we should have had a few. but owing to our amazing skyline view, it was more like 60. parrrrty! one poor girl had to be practically carried down from the roof upon being observed swaying drunkenly and therefore endangering her life (there is no railing on the roof). i was then overcome by stress and waited for the fireworks to be over from the balcony, which has just as perfect a view without all those heads in front of me, all the while having 9/11-ish visions of bodies falling in front of my face to the ground below. luckily that did not come to pass. everyone lived, and i daresay everyone had fun.

making it uniquely fun was the long-awaited guac-off! it was quite the hotly contested, uh, contest, but in the end carl's entry won out. on the comments sheet, it was deemed "citrusy, but not cloying" as well as "an uproarious laugh riot" (the latter by entertainment weekly). matt's bowl of goodness was called "earthy, with notes of juniper, berries, and soil." it was no such thing. earnest commenters were impressed with its "simple but delicious" flavor. mark's guac was winning for a long time, owing to its "extra zing" and "nice kick." a wannabe foodie also noted that the "tomato introduction gives way to playful avocado mouthfeel." hee. we are so having more cooking contests. people love writing ballots!

last night jami and i went window shopping in williamsburg, then to juliette for rooftop drinks, then to a vice photo party (kinda lame, but free colt 45!), then grabbed a drink at east river bar, and then dinner at bocca lupo. mmm, sausage. and today i went to the gym, stretched out on the grass in tiny cobble hill park and read my book in a bikini, then came home and made a pasta salad for the BBQ we're attending at steve's place for my dad's birthday observed. now i'm listening to the comas in sweet, sweet AC.

i've also been watching john from cincinnati. the new yorker gave it a terrible review, and it's not wholly satisfying, but there is something intriguing about it. and it's so damn weird. and quotable. i dunno, i like it. and i don't know why. some things i know, and some things i don't.

i have no links. sorry, i suck! send me some, people! but you could always go read my reviews on yelp, or read carl's. he has 96 reviews now! totally out of control. they've made us both "elite" yelpers now, that's how bad it is.