my awesome roommate anna

i read a lot of blogs... and everyone always talks about their cool roommates, so i figured, i should start doing it too, so i can be wholly awesome.

ok, so let me tell you about my roommate, anna. i met her about two years ago, so unsuspectingly. i used to be the music editor for a teen website, but i was also responsible for posting content on other sections of the site, like a fashion column called "dig or dis," where we took clothing from our delias-like catalog and posted it on the site with some cutesy question like -- floral tank: wilted or in bloom? and the kids would post their thoughts on the java board. most of the time they just talked about how the model's boobs were too big or too small or too fat. it was the stupidest thing ever, but i had to take one of my skinny coworkers each week and take like 7 photos of her wearing various clothing from our catalog. anna was working as a receptionist on the floor where all the fitting rooms were. we instantly connected as we laughed about my ridiculous job. she suggested i write for venus zine, popmatters and kitty magik instead... and eventually i did.


hearing i was the music editor of the site, she talked about her band, knife skills. they were going to play their first show soon. i told her i would check them out. around that time i was throwing a mod party at my apartment, and invited her to come check it out. i didn't think she'd actually come. i didn't think anyone would come. it was raining horribly that night. but people did, anna included. from then on, we became really great friends as we started to hang out more and more.

her boyfriend, deron, now her hubby, was working sound at a club called luxx in williamsburg. i kept reading these huge articles about luxx and the whole electroclash thing. it was around the same time i started to dig the walkmen and basically the entire startime records catalog because my friend miker was doing the website and an old college acquaintance isaac ran the label. i started to hang out with her and deron at various rock shows.


i started to meet tons of people, including members of the asian rock jury (pictured above). i started listening to a bunch of cool bands i'd never heard of before. i started taking photos at shows. then i started a blog. she introduced me to music like turing machine, vaz, les savy fav, bishop allen, the new humans, the big sleep, on!air!library!, semiautomatic... most recently paper chase.

she introduced me to vegan food, and i dig her tofu and her vegan Magnolia-like cupcakes. she makes me more politically aware than i would be on my own. she helped me start my own monthly On the Moon Music Presents... party at Luxx, which I stopped doing soon after Vicious took off because booking shows stopped being fun. She encouraged me when I decided to start managing a band.


she introduced me to my long-lost cousin, slim moon!

usually people are never around for my birthday because it's two days before christmas, but anna (along with my ex) managed to round up all of my friends and throw a karaoke party for me... two years in a row. last year, she and i went to chinatown together to buy dumplings for the party. it was pretty spectacular, and made me feel loved.

she's also one of the only girls i know who can do high kicks. she also sings that "thank you for coming to loews. sit back, relax, enjoy the show!" song and dance better than lindsay lohan. she's also the toughest female rock star i know. just check out this photo. too many girls these days just want to look fucking cute and coy. anna is badass. she screams. she writes menacing guitar lines. she tells jokes in between songs. she writes great lyrics. she's BADASS and not afraid to show it.

And then when I had basically nowhere else to go, she let me move into her apartment. i've since come to adore lucy, the stray cat she and deron adopted. and this weekend, she and deron are adopting a dog named nikita from mighty mutts. are there people our age who do caring things like that and are so giving of their time and love? not many. plus, she plays scrabble with me. She's pretty fucking awesome, and one of the coolest people i know.