06.07.03
so good to me

photo: jinners

oh, bb + the wellfed boys! it was my first time seeing bb + wb. brendan benson is probably one of the humblest people i've seen on stage. his singer-songwriter-like songs were intimate and personal -- not the usual bowery ballroom fare. his voice was at times shy and thoughtful in the semi-vast space of the ballroom, but his lyrics resonated and affected the ears of fans and new listeners alike. i know at least i was singing with my eyes closed! i think his mom was standing behind us. she looked proud! there was a lot to be proud of, of course, but i felt a little bit of nervous energy coming from the band as bb stumbled on a couple lyrics (though his fans were not shy in helping him sing them). later i found out that the group had just let go their guitarist so it must have been sort of weird being on stage minus one person... he played all of the favorites including metarie, good to me, what, etc, etc. i didn't steal a set list.

this was the first time seeing the realistics in a venue as big as the bowery ballroom. it was a little weird at first. i'm so used to seeing them in places like the mercury lounge where bodies are usually pressed against each other and photographers are flashing away like madcrazy. tonight, i didn't see all the regular peeps. i met some girls who were in town from chicago and portland, and i think i heard some peeps from seattle were there. i'm guessing these peeps originally planned to go to field day until it turned out to be a giant stadium nightmare. the rain today makes me sooo glad i didn't go. fuck that shite. anyhoo, back to the realies, who i think felt a little nervous before performing. i'm sure they didn't see the usual faces, too, so perhaps that made them feel a little alien in the ballroom. but after a few warm-up songs (i didn't think they have played "why didn't you stay" so early! i think it was their second song and probably would have worked better later in the set), the boys seemed to get their engines running and the climax for me was "tiny avalanches" and "angie". the boys did play some newbies and announced they've been recording their next cd... so there's more goodies to come for the realies!

after the show we bumped into miker, fiona, and nancy. i had previously said to fiona something like, "i don't like steve malkmus without pavement", and she brought it up again and started stomping on my foot and pushing me all over the place while her beer sloshed all over my hand and jacket. that was kind of funny so i said, "steve malkmus sucks" when were outside, and she started stepping on my chucks again. haha!

the after party was at 2a, so we walked over there to find a bazillion people hanging out there. ugh. such a fucking scene. so we went over to the library to use the nasty facilities. it was gross and funky there so we left and went over to 7a, finding no signs of the strokes. we did see jenna though and said hello... then decided to leave again because it was too crowded. we all walked over to fifi's apartment to hang out, smelling honeysuckles along the way. at fifi and nancy's digs, i proceeded to admire miker's supreme conversation skills. we listened to the ambulance ep and i forget who miker said it sounded like. we listened to le tigre, nancy saying they were the best... it did make me want to dance kinda. then we went home and that's all she wrote.

***

fuck field day party
in honor of NOT wanting to go to field day after it was cancelled, then rescheduled in nj and getting a fat refund we want to you to meet us for drinks at starfoods, 1st street and 1st avenue, tonight, sometime after 9:00 pm to say 'fuck you field day!'
*** p.s. ok some of you on this list are going to giant stadium, so why don't you come on by afterwards and let us know how it was!
*** p.s.s. ok some of you on this list were not even planning on going in the first place, we just want you around...

***

jenyk has some new, cool photos up on his site of the vue, raveonettes, and tall boys. miss modern age has her photos and recap up, too. but of course, don't forget to check out my photos:
brendan benson + the wellfed boys
the realistics

***

i forgot to mention that i went to see the rapture the other night at irving plaza. they were better than i thought they'd be. i thought the lead singer's voice would annoy the hell out of me. but i rather liked it by the end. quirky sound like robert smith of the cure's and just as charming. good for you, rapture. it made me buy a pink rapture pin.

lcd soundsystem opened for them and they were better live, too. kind of reminded me of pavement plus dance beats. their songs were really really long and i kind of liked that. it gave me some time to get into the music and sorta feel it. the cowbells that night at irving were hilarious. rachel said it reminded her of the snl blue oyster cult skit. word.

06.05.03
a blahg blahg world

here is a photo blog i found on friendster: nyc street

special message from derek:
<<derek>> says hey jinners, et al.: recoys reunion show, record release party is friday, june 13th, with the chimps. location and other details to be announced tomorrow on the realistic records site and my blog.
06.04.03 - 4:39pm CDT

stay tuned, peeps.

ok folks, time to talk about field day, the bane of my existence. i'm only going to this festival if all of the following happens:
1) i get a free pass
2) i get a vip pass
3) i get a photo pass
4) i get a car service to and from giants stadium
5) all of the bands i wanted to see during the two-day fest actually show up for the truncated line-up

i highly doubt all of this will happen, so basically i think it's safe to say i won't be attending field day. whatta friggin' headache! IS anyone still going to field day? i hear the new ticket price is like 80 buckaroos or something. i did buy tickets yesterday to see brendan benson and the realistics and the long winters at bowery ballroom and i'm going to see the rapture tonight. house of! jealous lovers! big indie dance party! can't wait. we'll see what happens. i cannot wait to see bb! tickets are selling, like, fast, so shuffle your butt on over to the merc to buy! i also bought a ticket to see ed harcourt and sondre lerche. woo woo!

i saw dirty on purpose yesterday at luxx with a new stage set up, bringing the drummer/singer more to the front and it seemed to work well for the sound. and the band was more confident because they could hear each other better that way, too. they gave me a copy of their demo, sealed with red wax. hot. now i can blast it at work and have people ask me who that band is...

06.03.03
be my, be my little friendster

wow there are a lot of people on friendster.

i am not a furry, derek. ;-|
but that hat is certainly wackity wack wack. all in the name of good fun. at least it's not a trucker hat.

speaking of trucker hats, did you know that the hip-hop term for a trucker hat is fitted hat? that's what you get when you get a lil' gangsta in ya. word.

on the moon music has finalized the line up for two upcoming june shows with the boggs and grand mal, and we've got more exciting shows in the works! annabiotica and i super-ecstatic and proud to showcase the best of new york! check out our calendar for more details...

a hearty congratulations to stellastarr* for their rca deal. seems like all the cool kids are flocking to rca! [melody nelson]

and now a couple cool mp3s courtesy of naf. to download, right click and choose "save as":
* moldy peaches - "lucky number nine"
* the walkmen - "you've got a nerve"

tomorrow i will post a couple mp3s from panthers and the yeah yeah yeahs. some exciting shizzite! stay tuned.

babies are scary. check out this funny animation...

american idol joins the galaxy of fame. this site is the funniest thing on the planet, or something. but where's the paula abdul quote? i did like this ruben studdard quote:
"Hello, I'm Ruben Studdard. Yes, America, I can say it now -- y'all made the right choice. I know I acted all humble, but come on. Who do you want representing you -- some huge black dude with a velveteen voice and the ability to rock a pinstripe suit and use the phrase 'cats' unironically and still come off sounding cool? Or Cynthia Nixon from Sex and the City? Yeah, that's what I thought."

lessons on how to apply for cmj by new york doll.

some songs i am down with today:
ambulance -- "stay where you are" (i've been listening to their ep for a few weeks now!)
kings of leon -- "molly's chambers"
radiohead -- "a punchup at a wedding"
al green -- "tired of being alone"
my bloody valentine -- loveless
mommy and daddy - "outside"

stephen malkmus says, "[Radiohead] know how to cook on stage so it should be a blast. And they are super popular. I haven't done any big gigs like that in the U.S. since Lollapalooza. Hope I've learned something."

06.02.03
happy birthday, stephie!

sorry i've been MIA. actually, i'm not sorry. i wanted to take a short break to re-energize. went away for the weekend. now i'm back, and not sure what this week has in store for me. will i be going to see the rapture? brendan benson + the wellfed boys? the x-gnomes? effing "pain in my ass" field day? who the hell knows. only time will tell, and other such cliches. :-(

i spent the weekend geeking out at a comic book convention in philly in order to spend some time with my boyfriend. i bought an adrian tomine comic book. i had a very talented artist named andy lee paint pucca and garu for me. i saw kevin smith. i saw dante from clerks. i saw rosie "squeaky" perez. i fed some quarters into a machine to get block pooh characters. i bought another comic book (shock! gasp!) called suburban folklife. the rest of the convention was kinda whatever. so let's not mention it ever again.

anyways...i'm super tired right now, and don't feel like doing much of anything. but i do want to wish one of my bestest friends, stephanie, a very happy birthday. i can't wait till you come up to visit in a couple of weeks! oh how i have missed you so. new york city and i have changed quite a bit. hope you still like us, cuz we still like your pittsburgh ass.

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