06.21.03
shake off your nerve

photo: jinners

oh the walkies and frenchies. not only are they totally kick ass bands, but they're fun and nice people, too. there are only a few of them that i've met once, and it was nice to know that they remembered who i was. is that down to earth or what? hugh, the frenchie drummer, is a beat stallion, and peter rocked it and smashed his guitar. rachel noted that damon, bless his heart, and walt have the same moves on stage -- or lack thereof. but that's the hotness of it! hamilton broke out the shades and reverted back to the good ol' days. it was nice to see that these were just high school buddies out to have a good time in a venue they used to play at back in the day. can we say, flashback?

some of the walkmen tunes you might recognize on the recoys record are "that's the punchline", "blizzard of 96", and there are more, but you should buy the record to find out. "shake off your nerve" was definitely a favorite.

later hamilton smashed up his guitar, too, and people said it was like a piece of the berlin wall. it's true. these guys have been playing with these instruments forever! but as everyone in the room seemed to say, this show will NEVER happen again, so it doesn't matter. i was glad to have gone and witnessed it!

it seems like the walkies' new record is more in the vein of the energy behind the recoys. there's a spirit there that didn't live on the first walkmen record, and that spirit made me want to dance all crazy-like.

matt french kick, bless his heart, told me he liked my site, and that he had just bought a digital camera, too. he was snapping away like a pro! totally totally adorable. he was taking photos of all of his friends, but as i know the shooter is never in the photos, so i offered to take one of him and his friends. sweet <3 rachel and i also met josh, who looked very rugged with his facial hair. hot! if she ever posts the pic i will link to it!

i also met both halves of realistic records -- derek and max. both dc natives who were high school buddies with the walkies and the frenchies. derek was spinning as dj buckwheaton, lots of fun old time dance songs, but the bar cut his set short after just two songs. wtf?!?! i bought two records from rr, and he tried to give me a deal but i just threw my money at him. one vinyl is for bidi and one is for me. you know what i'll be blasting from my record player at work!!!

peter walkmen took time to explain each and every photo on the cover of the album. so now i know that the walkies used to play the continental every sunday, peter broke the guitar that he's pictured with, and those photos are not as old as i thought they were. peter claimed he was 22 in most of them, though he looks 15. hmm. he told me to read the story he and hamilton wrote on the back of the record while listening to the album. it's actually a really funny story about how they all met and the history behind the band, but who knows if it's true! you'll have to buy the record to read the story, cuz it's pretty damn long!

someone please convince the scene creamers to go on tour with the walkmen. PLEASE. it'll be so uncool if the walkies go on tour with interpol. i'm sorry if i offend interpol or any interpol fans, but the combo is just not gonna work for me. SCENE CREAMERS ALL THE FUCKIN' WAY! also news on the next record, it will probably come out in january, they don't have a title yet, and they have all of the songs named (tracklist will be forthcoming from jinners) except for the one formerly known as "girls at night" and which i have dubbed "you've got a nerve". for some reason they are resistent to my title, which i suppose is a stupid but logical title. i think they should just fuck it, and call it "jinners is da bomb, yo." what do you think? i need a shout out on the liner notes!

i managed to pin many of the band members and rr reps out that night (and dawn!). at some point though, pete was lying comatose on the pool table and hugh put his pin on pete's crotch. yowza. sorry, kids, not many pics of the aftershow extravaganza, but i have the worst hangover headache ever. pete, rachel, and i shared a cab home, and i passed out soon after. full photo gallery will come soon, i promise.

naf, anna, jco, rachel, hope, and jon were representin' in my crew. naf, where oh where did you go? i was looking for ya after the set. you ran off too fast!! but i'll see ya at the boggs show.

06.20.03
web stats are a bitch

i haven't looked at my web stats in a long time, but they always fascinate me...web stats

06.20.03
recoys, chimps
@ kingsland tavern (in greenpoint. check realistic records for more details)

also i wrote about it on the startime features section. and yes, isaac and dawn are both on friendster!

garagedream's search for mommy and daddy.

soviet panda gets into dance rock mixes. suggest some goodies!

since garagedream went ahead and made a top five list of 2003, i thought i'd put my two cents in:
1) blur - think tank
2) kings of leon - holy roller novocaine
3) yeah yeah yeahs - fever to tell
4) dirty on purpose - s/t
5) the recoys - s/t

ok, well, i'll think about it and fill in the blanks. hehe.

thanks to nina, we found this weird gem. according to the new york daily news:

Ah, June, when a young man's fancy turns to - Josh Hartnett?

The buzz on Wednesday at Urge, an East Village gay bar, was that the 24-year-old actor was next door at another popular gay hangout, the Hole.

Unfortunately for any would-be suitors, Wednesday is straight night at the Hole.

"Josh was wearing a button-down shirt, looking very preppy," says our snitch. "He was there with the ugly one from the Strokes."

Um, Julian Casablanca?

"No, the really ugly one with the curly hair."

Albert Hammond Jr.?

"Yes."

If this is how bitchy it gets on straight night...

annabiotica says prince will only release his next album online! use code: 167ewweb. the code is good all week.

vivian interviews the flesh! check the interview here!

cornerstone will start their own label called f2, and ben lee will be their first release called hey you, yes you produced by dan the automator (gorillaz/handsome boy modeling school). expect the album in stores august 12, and of course ben lee is touring with fountains of wayne this summer. check it.!

06.19.03
god god damnit, i think i've lost it

photo: margaretcho.com

hey peeps, margaret cho tickets went on sale today at noon. i got mine, have you got yours?? c'mon and support my doppleganger!

good music from denton, tx: the riverboat gamblers will be playing sin-e on friday. they go on at 11 so don't slack!

alas, london suede (and suede everywhere outside of the u.s. are not coming to america! why? from their publicist:
"if anyone bemoans the lack of the london suede in the u.s., feel free to bug yr local radio station as american radio's consistent refusal to play their music is THE major factor in their absence from these shores."

don't be a dope: you gotta catch enon and panthers playing together at sin-e on june 23...

oxford collapse will also be playing with james chance, mommy and daddy and the flesh on july 12 at sin-e, but don't forget to dance dance dance your way to luxx on june 27, as the OxC plays the Namedroppers show!

so... jco will be marching in the mermaid parade, and we hear she may have lobsters on her bikini. don't miss that on saturday -- coney island as always!

tickets for blur with the moving units at hammerstein go on sale tomorrow...

06.18.03
click click click

photo: jinners

the photo snapping has gone crazy. a little birdie told me that three blogs will be featured in a rolling stone article on music blogs. can you guess which three? still, i ask, when is the new york times doing a music blog story? stop slackin'!

i met dennis realistic for the first time at sin-e on friday night. he was the sweetest person! he seems so humble and up for fun all the time. so adorable! i'm always in awe of his kick ass voice, my favorite realistic songs being "angie" (remember when the cops busted into space!?!) and "why didn't you stay?" i gave him an on the moon pin and he said, "i was buttonless tonight so now this can be my button!" sweet <3

here are the photo galleries from the past week:
the natural history, ed harcourt, sondre lerche, ambulance ltd, the vue, the pattern, zetamale, earlimart

the koreans: music with seoul.

liars have been bloggin' crazy.

supercuts bbq at union pool on june 22 @ 3 p.m. let the frying begin!

also, don't forget to go to the recoys reunion show at kingsland tavern on june 20.

there's a certain stellastarr* in spin. nice!

06.17.03
the bridges we cross have all been burned

photo: jinners

when i interviewed ed harcourt, i asked him if he wanted to add anything at the end, and he said, "the bridges we cross have all been burned." when i saw him last night at the bowery ballroom, i thought of this quote and how young he was in his craft yet terribly thoughtful. and in many ways, i can only begin my great expectations of harcourt's music. his new songs never cease to amaze me in their varied subject matter and tones, and i swear, last night he was channeling some great soul singer of years past. he can delve into lyrics sung so fiercely that his spit flies into the air in front of him in a mist of passion and his microphone scurries to recover from the vibrations. the new song that he performed live at kexp is simply amazing and makes me want to weep, and let me tell you, it might have happened...

photo: jinners
sondre lerche, a norwegian young'un who last played in new york with nada surf at the bowery ballroom during that nyc blizzard i know y'all remember, performed before ed, and had all of the "older" women wagging their tails -- he's the usher of indie singer-songwriters, i guess. but his music speaks volumes, and after his set i felt like gallons of amazing stories sank into my skin, and i felt intrigued by his gentle personality. his voice is refreshing, innocent, and without pretension. yet there was a clay aiken like confidence about him that exuded both bashfulness and comfort.

photo: jinners
and opening before sondre, there was regina spektor. she is bjork meets tori amos with a touch of quacky and a sprig of minty wacky. and she was sort of dressed like raggedy ann with striped stockings and a cute white dress. she added cute touches to her songs that were unexpected and sometimes reminded me of the sound effects guy in police academy. i also liked that she used a stool as a drum. her songs were soulful in their own quirky way and amazingly she found it easy to revert back to the silly and light-hearted music.

***

photo: jinners
friday night at ambulance ltd 's show at sin-e: ambulance was great to watch live. they didn't have any stage tricks (even though the lead singer drinks that rock star energy drink), and their set was pretty straight-forward, but their music spoke for itself. they didn't need the bravado to give their fans what they want, but i also feel like if you don't know their music, you might have been bored, especially because the sound at sin-e isn't very good. i really wanted to shout, "yo, turn up the vocals!"

photo: jinners
the exact opposite of ambulance was the vue who headlined the night. the lead singer was part billy corgan, part pete libertine. he was the kind of frontman who ran around all over the stage and topple over things. and then his clare quilty look-alike stage hand would rush to the stage, push everyone out of his way, and fix the mic stand. uh ok, at least he can play instruments -- he was rockin' the guitar and banging drums with a moracca... i finally decided that the vue were a better live band than on cd. miker told me that he heard their cd was shelved, but then why do i have a copy and why are they doing so many shows? however, the band did (jokingly?) say that their album might come out in september. i don't know. it didn't think it made any sense, but whatever. they're better live anyways, so don't fear... you're not missing too much.

***

photo: jinners
of course, the vue lead singer was not quite as obnoxious and ridiculous as the lead singer of the pattern, who played the mercury lounge on saturday with the natural history. boy, the pattern were funny to watch, but in a laughing at you, not with you kind of way. the music wasn't bad though, i have to say. but the lead singer kept thrusting his crotch out, sucking his thumb, and doing weird mick jagger swaggers that just weren't working for him. he was trying too hard and didn't look like he was having too much fun. but it was quite entertaining. i think scott speedman (ben from felicity) enjoyed it -- he was watching from the sidelines.

photo: jinners
max from the natural history graciously invited me to watch the band perform that night. it was my second time seeing them play, and i was impressed at how much they had grown! i first saw them at the same venue. they opened for the following lineup: panthers, walkmen, liars! i would grow to love all of these bands eventually -- how funny! whoever booked that show, i have to give you MAD props. can i have your autograph? max is the kind of frontman who likes to completely let go at the mic, and his voice is so on point -- sounding as good as it does on the cd. i like his vocals because they sound raw, like someone had beaten his esophagus and he was singing to save his life.

before the show, i bought stephanie dinner for her birthday at starfoods. byron came over and said hello. i told him i was taking her out for the big 2-4. then we ordered burgers, and it took a little while to get them because the kitchen was a little short-staffed. byron was a sweetheart about it though, and he gave us a round of free drinks and sent stephanie a complimentary birthday carrot cupcake with a candle in it for lovely birthday wishes. did i say he's a total sweetheart?

photo: jinners
after the show, we went dancing at tiswas... it was pretty dead there. we saw the end of the affair set, and i thought they were pretty decent. i like bands with spunky female lead vocals. the dance floor was only a third full, but the music was still good so stephie, matty, franny, and i danced up a storm. i'm still sore from the hulabaloo.

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