summer is flying by
well what the hell have i been up to? this is a hard question to answer as my memory has oft been failing me lately. i'm like one of those machines that churns out the work... but i don't really remember much about it. i am going to turn to my trusty day planner to help me fill in some details...

i went to see other passengers and a place to bury strangers at cake shop on july 28. i remember drinking a couple sake shots with nick, and then enjoying the maddening darkness that pervades other passengers and their psychedelic rock. then came the sonic annihilation of a place to bury strangers, whose music has this strange sad romance to it, where their experimental sounds swoop in and out like ghosts looking for their lost loves. andy at cake shop rules. thank you, andy.

the next day, joe/george/ollie/greg/joe had another rooftop party at their sugar factory loft. the butcherings and mahi mahi played. i don't remember much about the butcherings, but mahi mahi was awesome -- nick described them as a cross between fischerspooner and lightning bolt. that is a perfect description so i won't try to top it. the two-piece is from providence, and i think they are playing a couple more shows soon here in the city... check their website for the real deal sked, as i'm a little foggy today.

then the next day, of course, i went to see dirty on purpose play at sound fix records -- our local williamsburg record store. they played a quieter set where only vocals were mic'd and it sounded simply amazing in that room. all of our peeps showed up in support, so it really felt like a cozy lil performance. joe's daughter sophie totally stole the show with her cuteness. so adorable.

on sunday morning, the last day in a hot hot hot july, i met up with jenna to drink at supercore -- a japanese style cafe in the 'burg. there was this ambient electronic laptop slash instrument duo making lots of weird noises. i thought i should have some rave gear on or something. after a while it was slightly too much to listen to. but whatever, supercore was still damn fun. a bunch of people met up with us and we went over to mugs for dinner -- where we ran into even more people. it was like a snowball effect.

then george and i left and headed over to bowery to see a place to bury strangers open up for brian jonestown massacre. i have to say something here -- i was expecting a lot out of this group after watching dig!. i mean, they were built up so much in that movie, so i was really looking forward to their show. but there was such a disconnect between the image and the band, that i actually ended up being extremely bored and exhausted. they jammed way to much on completely uninteresting parts -- rather indulgent. the middle band, mazarin, had a pretty way with their shoegaze... sometimes their music swayed like mazzy star (without the female vocals). i would have to see them again. but the best band of the night was clearly a place to bury strangers. they knocked everyone else's performance out of the way with their tight set. the music was together in full force and in line with the dual projections they had going on with the music. fucking awesome.

august started some kind of weird renewal in my life. i reconnected with my uptown cousins and their kids, carson (4) and zoe (3). i have to say that my cousins kids are damn cute. and i totally missed them. i was happy that they remembered who i was because i used to babysit them a lot a few years ago. they call me "emo jin" because "emo" means "aunt" in korean. but we all know how that double entendre works too. haha.

then i was lucky enough to have dinner with ben weber, a band manager of one of my favorite local bands -- nada surf. he's one of the nicest people i've met in the industry, and we enjoyed lots of good food at schillers in the lower east side. including a delicious mango champagne drink. yummmmy! i got to pick his brain a little bit on managing and the music industry. so. cool. so. cool. i can't stop listening to their new album, the weight is a gift.

the next day i found out ascap was sponsoring those indie night school nights that tom sean from the black spoons has been putting together. this one happened to be about getting press in new york city, featuring top music bloggers and print journalists. it was pretty interesting to see what they all had to say about getting covered your band covered in new york, juxtaposed with my personal experience in getting bands covered in new york media and beyond (remember the rest of the country?). it was a pretty informative panel for bands who have no beginning point of reference, and a lot of young bands were there in full force at the sold-out event. (PS: the next indie night school event is tomorrow at pianos featuring many of today's hottest band managers (interpol, blonde redhead, vhs or beta, etc), and i'm sure with its stellar lineup, it will sell out... you can buy tickets in advance here).

then on saturday i went to see sam champion at bowery ballroom for the second time. so good! and so much fun. i ran into some people i haven't seen in a while. it was lots of random goodness. i could only stay for a few songs of the love as laughter set but i really liked what i heard. sam jayne is a purdy interesting character on stage... though i'm not sure if he came alive for me because daniel was right next to me whispering all the inside jokes into my ear. i guess being clued in by someone on all the intricacies of the songs and stuff definitely bolsters the experience. i liked love as laughter a lot. next time i will have to catch their full set.

the next week i went to see coney island swan dive and mark mcadam at sin-e. mark mcadam has a full band on stage with him -- this was part of his residency at sin-e. mark is the kind of guy who really acts out his songs and expresses each line with his face and body language. so it's like they are coming alive like little stories told by the fire. i thought he was a good songwriter, but the music wasn't really in my taste. maybe just a tad too poppy for me. but i can't deny the goodness of his voice.

coney island swan dive was great. like i've said before, they are a band that does country covers of pop songs. in their set: "i want you to want me" by cheap trick, "in bloom" by nirvana, and many many others. they are such a novelty band, and i hope they play more often so people will come out and experience this more. i never really liked country, but i like angie's voice and personality.

then i realized i had gone to sing karaoke with all of these folks before... and now i know why they were all clearly superior singers to me. jeeeez!!

last thursday i dj'd at magnetic field in brooklyn heights because skippy asked me to (thank you skippy!). i was scared because i had never been to this bar before. but when i got there it was like a nicer version of pete's candy store. i really dug the vibe there. the owners were super nice. they had nice booths along the side and a good-sized stage. i did not meet this guy, jerry, who seems to be meeting all of my friends. i did not bring out the cat ears. i did not wear short shorts (until after the gig). it just wasn't that kind of crowd. but it was a sugary nice crowd.

and the sound was really great! i saw the consultants for the first time -- and they really reminded me of velocity girl. that's not a bad thing at all since i adore copacetic. the mugs were great as well -- male vocals -- but the same poppy, shimmy vibe as the consultants. both of these bands are local bands i had never seen before, and i really enjoyed their sets a lot. i will have to keep an eye out for them.

voxtrot was so much fun! they were very much like the smiths, but in a bombastic way that goes beyond any bad derivative way. they were like the smiths in a nostalgic awesome kind of way. (what a horrible description, i'm so sorry). basically, they are awesome. when skippy introduced me to them that night, they told me they played with dirty on purpose in austin. i totally remember that show was one of the band's most stressful shows because the van had broken down before they could get to the venue, john mueller's bbq. i think footage from that show is seen on new york noise... according to shirley beans.

i was so happy to see jay, beach, noah, anna, pat and aeri show up and support me at my dj gig. you should have seen me jump up and down when i saw them walk into the bar. i heart you all!! those margaritas tasted like apple juice. the big hit of the night i think was the smiths' "ask." i mean how fun is it to belt out: IF IT'S NOT LOVE THEN IT'S THE BOND THE BOND THE BOND THE BOND THE BOND THE BOND THE BOND THAT WILL BRING US TOGETHER!

let me tell you, so much fun.

so anyways, we all piled into a cab afterwards and headed into the city. grabbed one drink at 2a, then i went to pass out at aeri's new apartment. aeri is my friend from dc who just moved to new york a couple weekends ago. it's weird to have her here in the flesh because most of our correspondence has been through IM. technology is an amazing thing.

this past weekend i went to see broken flowers, the new jim jarmusch with bill murray... which was depressing. and disjointed. and completely not plot driven. i'm just not sure if i liked it at all. also: the theater, angelika, has seats that are too narrow and blasts the A/C (like any other normal theater), so i was sort of uncomfortable and cold at the same time. hard to enjoy.

i also saw the aristocrats, which is a documentary on the dirtiest, oldest joke in the comedy world, called "the aristocrats". i had many favorite moments in the film but i thought the documentary was a tad too long. i did enjoy bob saget's version of the joke though. (jay, go see this one!) i also liked several other versions, but a lot of them did fall flat. yesterday at a video conference meeting at work, one of my coworkers broke out the drew carey click of the hands, and i burst out laughing. i couldn't believe he did that.