Alright, it's 9:30 am on Yom Kippur, I have the day off, and have already been somewhat productive.

Cleaned up a bit after the very fun Bates Ladies, Etc. get together at our place yesterday. I am still craving apple cider donuts, those things are tasty.

Did some MTV pilates, made up a pot of smoked sausage & beans for lunches for the rest of the week, and have a load of laundry in the washer and the dryer. That's pretty decently productive.

On the list for the rest of the day: do some writing, learn some quantum mechanics, take a nap (this is serious business given the next item on the list), go see Sunny Day Real Estate with my brother tonight at HoB. Boo to there being a Sox game at Fenway tonight, though, I think we'll have to park around Gov't Center.

Also this weekend, enjoyed some amazing drinks at Eastern Standard and had a great time hanging out with folks. Yay, drinks! I do wish I had more money to be able to enjoy that place more often, but I like that for $20, plus tax & tip, it's possible to drag out 2 delicious drinks for quite a while.

Holy shit! Pavement! Touring! Pardon me while I flail around in glee for a moment.

I am totally going to attempt to buy some tickets for their first reunion show, in NYC, about a year from now.

You have no idea how very, very happy this news makes me. They're the one band of my all-time favorite bands that I never got a chance to see live.

I was going to rant about the dismal state of affairs in this country, but... I just don't have a good rant in me. I'm just so disgusted with everything that is going on these days, and would love for the wingnut righters to take just one day off so I can ignore them for a little while.

Instead of depresso ranting, I give you a blog that just made me lose it with giggles Crappy Taxidermy (I have only looked at 1.5 pages, I make no sfw promises and if you're squeamish about taxidermized animals then this is not for you. That said, it's friggin' hilarious.

Finally, I am beyond excited for tonight's live performance of The Nightman Cometh. Supposedly there will also be a showing of a season 5 episode and some other stuff. I just hope it gets out at a reasonable hour (i.e. before the Red Sox game ends).

Huh. So This American Life (most recent podcast episode- "Fine Print"), blew my mind this morning.

All these years I'd thought that Van Halen's "no brown M&Ms" demand in their show riders was a possibly untrue example of crazy band diva demands. Not so! It actually is true that this demand was in their rider, but it was there simply so they could gauge how well the concert promoters at each venue read their contract. Apparently VH was one of the first bands to do super big productions on tour, and to tour smaller venues with their big shows. As such, they had huge, complicated contracts for every show, with lots of technical details about electricity and weight capacities and whatnot. So they put the M&M clause in the middle of the contract, and when they got to the venue for a show, if they saw any brown M&Ms in the green room, they knew they'd better double check everything before the show, because there was a good chance something could go seriously wrong.

Interesting!

The rest of the episode contained an extremely depressing story about how horrific the state of health insurance in our country is.

Also, Drew got us tickets to see a live show of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"'s musical episode!! Awesomecakes.

Because my brother totally rocks, we are going to see Sunny Day Real Estate (!!) at the House of Blues in Sept. Real emo!!!

So on May 7 Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter will be at the Somerville Theater. And we will be there! Comedy!

Went to see Glasvegas last night, and they were totally rockin'. I love a good show. And it was fairly prompt! I love getting out of a show at a reasonable hour on a work night. The drummer didn't have a kick drum and stood the entire time.

So thanks to Netflix we've been discovering comedy that we otherwise might not check out. Our latest discovery is The Whitest Kids U'Know. It is killing me with hilarity. I think about this sketch randomly through the day and get the giggles, though I caution that even though the naughty words in it are bleeped for tv, I don't think it's all that safe for work, depending on your work situation:

Well well. To make up for the crappiness that has been February, today was actually a banner day. Got tickets to see The National in May. We went up to Salem to poke around and get a lay of the land, and while there three marvelous things happened. One: Went to a couple of bookstores with the vague hope of finding a book that I have been hotly anticipating for a year. Since it's not supposed to hit shelves until March 1, I was prepared for disappointment. But lo! One store had it on shelf early. Then we found a cupcakery in Beverly that has amazing cupcakes. Like, better than Lyndell's. And it was supposed to close at 2:00, but somehow was still open when we got there a bit past 3:00. These cupcakes are so good, seriously you guys. And then, on our way back to Somerville, the radio played a brand new My Chemical Romance song (shut up, I love them). Finally, we topped our day with a Metafilter meet-up and the Cinematic Titanic show at the Somerville Theater. Success!

Oooh, Glasvegas is playing the Paradise in March.

Anyone want to see some Scottish rock with me? Tickets are only $15, but it is on a Tuesday night (March 31), which sucks.

Also, The Main Drag (of Rock Band 2 fame!) is playing on Feb. 12 (a Thursday) at TT's. I would love to go to this, but the band doesn't actually go on until Midnight, which is the lamest thing ever. I like them so much that I'd consider taking the day after off or taking a half day to sleep in.

Another show I'd like to see:

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Middle East upstairs, Sunday, Feb. 15

This blog makes me long for England. Shut up, I love British food. I want to go back!

Also, Stella is coming to Boston Dec. 11. Michael Ian Black! David Wain! That other guy! We have our tickets already.

Also, I am over 35K words on my NaNo story. Productivity! I suppose if I get to the end of my story and need to pad to get up to 50K I can always add more make-out scenes. Make-out scenes!

If you weren't aware, I am way, way too excited to see Twilight on Saturday. Sparkly vampires!

Finally, last night we were discussing the infinity of space and it blew my freakin' mind.

Dear Smashing Pumpkins: You are not Sonic Youth. You never will be. Cut the crap.

And can I have my money back?

That show... sucked. They did play my second favorite song ever (Mayonaise), and it was really good, but holy god, so much pointless noodling. And I have a pretty good tolerance for noodling and noise- I have all the SYR recordings for god's sake, I can handle some well-done noise, but this show was mostly unlistenable crap with some songs thrown in. There is a right way and a wrong way to do meandering instrumental experimentation. Last night = wrong way.

The highlight of the evening was dinner before the show, where Drew & I cracked each other up making up a vampire story. I had such a crappy day yesterday, today has got to be better. Right?

Time to write!

Just got back from seeing The Who. They were totally awesome. And they played Baba O'Riley, which is one of the greatest rock anthems of all time.

I am weird. I get nostalgic for time periods during which I was decidedly not alive. During the concert I really wished that rather than seeing them in 2008 at the Fleet Center (I am too young to think of it as the Boston Garden and too old to think of it as TD Banknorth Garden), I wished I could have been seeing them in a dirty English pub in the 60s.

Drew introduced me to the best comic books ever this weekend. Seriously, the best ever. They are called Scott Pilgrim, and they are about an emo-ish guy in Canada who has girl problems, often wears Smashing Pumpkins t-shirts, and has awesome kung fu fights sometimes. It is amazing. And soon to be a motion picture starring Michael Cera.

Speaking of Smashing Pumpkins, I spent waaaaaay too much money this weekend on tickets to one of their shows here in November. I am crossing my fingers that they might play Starla!

So, there are some things that used to be awesome but are now too overplayed to be awesome anymore. These things include: pirates, monkeys, robots, ninjas, zombies, and hobos (hobos' popularity and subsequent overplayedness both due to John Hodgman). What, I ask you, is going to be the next awesome thing?

My latest song obsession: Geraldine, by Glasvegas. I love that guitar sound and want more of it! Why do Scots make such great music?

Tonight: seeing The Wedding Present at the Middle East. incandes_flower is my indie rock hero as usual for getting me out to more shows.

This weekend was perfectly fantastic. Friday night involved boxed sangria and silliness with the aforementioned incandes_flower and tenillypo. Saturday we saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was absolutely adorable, and later went to an awesome birthday party. Yesterday we spent the day at the ren fair with dr_alycat and cook_ting, and it was tons of fun. I wish I could be a professional tiger handler.

So much indie rock in one weekend! Saw Dressy Bessy last night at TT's, it was a great show. The Built to Spill Don't Look Back show in NYC was also awesome.

Our New York trip: fun and exhausting.

Thursday we arrived in the city, dropped our bags off at our weird "b&b" (bed, no breakfast, surly owner), and headed over for our long, long wait for The Daily Show. They overbook their reserved tickets, so you're not guaranteed to get in even if you have tickets. We got there wicked early, waited in line for a looooooong time, but it was worth it because we did get in. The actual taping of the show is so fast, it really is just about the time it takes to watch the show without commercials. Jon Stewart is awesome and comes out before the show to take some audience questions. The show was conveniently about five blocks away from the venue for Built to Spill, so we left the taping and went over to the concert. I had been hoping to get there after the Meat Puppets finished their set, but we were early and had to sit through them. Dinosaur Jr. rocked out, and then Built to Spill played Perfect From Now On, and they were amazing, and it was all I hoped for. It's my favorite BtS album. After that we met up with the rest of our traveling group in Times Square, went to a really crappy bar, and headed back to Brooklyn to sleep.

Friday Drew & I went to the Central Park Zoo, it was raining so the giant bunnies were not outside and I felt a little cheated. Yes, the highlight of every zoo experience for me is seeing bunnies, even though I have three perfectly good bunnies at home to see all the time. But the polar bears were adorable. We then hit the Met, which I've been to a couple of times, so I hit my museum tolerance pretty quickly. Since it was raining, I think half the population of the city was hanging out inside the Met, making it kind of claustrophobic. We fled the museum to meet up with friends and commence to drinkin'. Continued drinkin' at Vol de Nuit. Got a tasty late dinner at a place called Acme, and by the time we got to Brooklyn our store of energy was spent. Why does it take so friggin' long to get anywhere in New York?

Saturday we had brunch in Carroll Gardens, waited forever for an F train to take us into Manhattan, scored The Best Cupcakes I Have Ever Had, Ever at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, and went to The Strand for some book action. By the time all this was done, it was pretty much time to catch our bus home. Ok, seriously, those cupcakes? They were divine. They were better than Lyndell's. I would take the 4 hour bus back down to New York just to get those cupcakes and then come right back. Nom nom nom.

So that's that. It was a ton of fun, but involved way too much public transportation. If it hadn't been raining I would have walked much more and probably wouldn't have burnt out so much on getting around town.

Bostonites! I am going to see Tullycraft at PA's Lounge next Thursday (the 12th). They make just about the best twee indie pop ever, there are keyboards and jangly guitars and fun catchy choruses. It's twee without being overly precious. Anyway, if anyone wants to join me and see some awesome music, I'd welcome the company. And it's only $8! And I will be driving so I can give you a ride home after! Poking around the opening bands' website, I just learned that I totally went to high school with someone in one of the opening bands. Neat!

In other music-related postings, Okkervil River is really, really good.

I caught a bit of the MTV Movie Awards last night, because I am still 12 years old sometimes. I fundamentally don't get Coldplay's popularity. All their songs sound the same to me.

Also, Vampire Weekend is boring.

The Silver Jews were pretty great. I say "pretty great" because the sound mix could have been better, but then again we could have been sitting in a better place for more optimal sound. I was surprised to hear a handful of songs from American Water- I've been listening to that album for so many years, I figured it was too old for them to play anything from it. But I heard Smith & Jones and Random Rules, and I was happy.

We're currently waiting for Broken Social Scene's annoyingly long sound check to finish, but to be fair, De La Soul's set went about a half hour longer than it was scheduled for. We caught the tail of them, and I was really shocked to see the place completely packed- poor Animal Collective must have been lonely playing at the same time. We spent most of De La Soul's set finding some decent dinner that was not fried (and succeeded).

So this is probably my last ATP post, because I'm already sleepy and kind of drunk, so we'll be done with music after Broken Social Scene. But I have to say, this festival has been immensely enjoyable. Lots of great music, enough day time diversions. I'll be happy to get to London tomorrow to take an actual shower, since our 2-person room here at Butlins only has a bathtub. Washing your hair in a bathtub? It's difficult.

Oh, and yesterday we caught the last two songs from Okkervil River's set, and they were so good. I really wanted to check them out, but couldn't miss what was probably the only chance I would take to see Ghostface Killah. But I will definitely check them out when we get home.

Sitting and listening to Polvo at the moment. They are totally rocking- it's kind of amazing that so much sound can come out of guitars, bass, and drums. I've always loved how percussive their sound is- lots of big drums and feedbacky, angular guitars.

Before this we heard Jens Lekman, which was just awesome. Trumpet, violin, keyboard, guitar- soaring orchestral indie pop. It was very bouncy and happy, and it gave me much joy.

The general spirit of the crowd today seems much more subdued. I think the kiddies' 3am bedtime last night, coupled with actual sunshine outside today, is making things a bit sparser in terms of show attendance.

After this we have Silver Jews and probably Broken Social Scene (I want to stay as far away from Animal Collective as possibly, otherwise some egregious hipsterness might rub off and I'll start popping my collar and wearing sunglasses inside).

Saw The National a little while ago- so awesome!! Whenever I start to despair that indie rock isn't interesting anymore, I discover bands that create amazing sounds. Fuzzy guitars, a little violin to add some depth in the background, lots of quiet-loud-quiet. So good!

It has been a long day and Arrested Development is on ATP tv, so this is probably it for tonight. More music tomorrow!

Also, there are a lot of characters here. Officer Mancuso from A Confederacy of Dunces would have a field day here. Seriously, when did the indie rock ensemble change from retro ts under shabby cardigans to costumes?

Blogging from the music festival, because I am a huge nerd.

We are currently watching Iron & Wine, they are really good. The acoustics here are surprisingly good. Very pretty and melodic.

J Mascis has been wandering around here all day.

Earlier we saw Ghostface Killah. I don't think I've ever been to a hip-hop show, as sad as that sounds. It was interesting... I'm not used to that much audience interaction, I'm used to shy indie rock boys staring at their feet while they play sensitive guitars.

The ATP/Explosions in the Sky tv programming has been really good, too. We caught the movie "King of Kong" today, a documentary about dudes trying to break world records for Donky Kong scores.

Alright, Iron & Wine is really good, and I keep accidentally deleting this entry as I type, so that's all for now.

OMG. Paying for wifi at ATP was an excellent idea. The Cotswolds are awesome and adorable, but we've been pretty cut off from the intarwebs for the past week. As Drew mentioned, the accommodations at Butlins in Minehead are miles better than Camber Sands in the way of choices, but there is a certain intimacy that's sacrificed. And with the increase in people,there is a concommittant increase in egregious jerkdom from fellow festivalers.

Today we saw: Mono- Japanese instrumental rock band. I was expecting something totally different... I neglected to do my homework on the band and was expecting something more angular and aural---assaulty. Instead, it was beautiful swirls and stacks of sound. Gorgeous and exhilerating. Jenny says: Two Thumbs Up!

Next, Dinosaur Jr.- classic indie rock. Lots of fuzz and distortion, big wailing guitars. I could have used louder sound on the vocals, but the massive guitars were what the people wanted anyway. Lou Barlow was rocking the hell out, and it was awesome. As we sat drinking beers near the main stage later in the evening, Drew pointed out that J. Mascis totally walked right by us. INDIE ROCK!!!

Explosions in the Sky- instrumental atmospheric rock. They did not play the Friday Night Lights theme song. But it was still awesome. Sonic architecture that soars around you and then crashes with big drums and guitars. Very nice.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and hoping that this laptop can hold enough of a charge for some live blogging from the concerts!

Also- the roads to Minehead suck with an unholy passion. Tiny windy roads should not involve trucks with houses on them coming at you from around a bend! I love England so much, but after a week, I do miss tap water that tastes like chemicals, and straight roads. I'm sorry England. Pasties and Cornettos pretty much make up for it, but I love the taste of chlorine in my water.

In gearing up for the Slathered-In-Awesomecakes that will be All Tomorrow's Parties, I'm starting to download some albums by artists who will be there that I've never heard before. So I got the latest Animal Collective (Strawberry Jam), because Pitchfork has been creaming their pants over this band for years, and I gotta say, I just don't feel it. It's interesting, and I can appreciate that they're doing something unique, but I don't feel like they're writing songs so much as crazy aural architecture. It just feels kind of pretentious and cold to me. But they do sound like they might be a really great live experience. And they sound like maybe they'd blow my freakin' mind if listened to while stoned

I am hoping that Stephen Malkmus actually tours with the Silver Jews, because, um, Stephen Malkmus and Lou Barlow at one festival? Indie Rock Gods!!

I've been slowly getting some vinyl converted into mp3 (technically, I guess it's mp4s or whatever the iTunes format is). I can't stop listening to "On Avery Island," it's been so long since I last heard it, and it's still one of my all-time favorite albums.

Also, we have been researching haunted pub/inns for the one night in England that we still have unscheduled. I'm getting scared just reading about some of these places, I won't get a wink of sleep! But it's too neat to pass up the chance.

I learned today from the Boston Globe that I am wasting my life. There is a community access tv show in Cambridge called Adventures with Jenny, and it involves a girl named Jenny talking about stuff while her pet rabbit, Banana, sits there with her. Grennie and I need to be staaaaars!

Also, Freezepop is playing the Middle East tomorrow night.

Being all posty about shows, hows about a list of upcoming shows I'd like to go to, if anyone wants to keep me company?

April 3: Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks (Paradise)
April 20: Neil Hamburger You know you want more Neil Hamburger! (Middle East upstairs)
May 9: Clinic (Paradise)

And of course, there's Rush in February July.

I'm reading Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue" right now; it's about the history of the English language. Really interesting, and chock full of neat factoids, but I'm put off by the organizational style of the book. In that, it doesn't feel like it has much organization. So I'm balancing it out with a light read about a Victorian lady solving murders with the help of a sexy mysterious stranger.

Also, Supernatural last night kicked some eff'n ass! What a great show. It brings me much joy.

So posting about the NKOTB reunion got me reminiscing about shows past. And because I've been slowly concocting a list over the past couple of days of Shows Past, I now give you

( a semi-comprehensive list of every show I have been to that I can recall )

Oh hai intarwebs! Nice to see you.

I almost forgot to report in on the Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show I went to Saturday night. Suffice to say: Rock was enjoyed. Ted Leo officially had the best stage banter I have ever heard, ever, in the history of going to shows.

Also, the Roxy's labeling of shows as "sold out" is highly suspect. I've been to plenty of sold out shows, and that was not sold out, despite what their posters said.

It was a great show!! I think I like going to shows again. I could live without ever seeing another opening band, though.

Mates of State last night was just fantastic. I'm so glad my Craigslist ticket purchasing went through! The MFA is a great venue, I'm really excited to see more shows there. First, seating is a good thing. Second, despite the ridiculous number of silly looking hipsters (just say no to faux-hawks!) and the "dude I'm so drunk" guys behind us, the crowd was actually really good. Third, those are some nice acoustics, and the sound was done properly. I am kind of a stickler for proper sound mixing at shows, and it's so rarely done well, it was a big treat to be able to hear the vocals and each instrument as they were meant to be heard. The show was pretty short, but it was nice to get out of a show before 10:00, because I am old and I like to sleep before working in the morning. So, yay!

Also, some of you may giggle at this tidbit: the Mates of State husband/wife duo met in Lawrence, Kansas. Hee! I am a nerd. Speaking of Lawrence, Kansas- who watched last night's Supernatural? I want to discuss!

Strangely, I have been enjoying watching the baseball games lately. Go Sox!

Last night's New Pornographers show was solidly entertaining. They played really well, played all the songs I was hoping to hear, and the crowd was overall pretty great (there was a Dancing Too Hard Guy, of course, and he was taking it to the limit, but he was far enough away to not be a bother). Good show!

Now to see if I can finagle a couple of tickets to tomorrow's sold-out Mates of State show at the MFA.... someone on craigslist is selling a pair, and they offer pick-up in Davis Square, so maybe I'll get lucky! ETA: damn, tickets were already claimed.

Upcoming shows I'm interested in, anyone else interested in coming along?

Nov. 15: Yo La Tengo @ MFA (the early show at 6:30)
Nov. 19: Spiritualized @ MFA (8:00)
Dec. 1: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists @ Roxy (6:30)

So, ( Smashing Pumpkins show )

87 degrees and 60% humidity is not an ideal condition for kung-fu outside. But on the plus side, it feels really good when you're done!

Picked up the new Rilo Kiley and new New Pornographers albums yesterday, and they are both so good! Especially the N.P., it's a perfect summer album. So good!!! And I get to see them both play in Boston in the next couple of months! Also, note to those in Boston, on Sept. 9 Neil Hamburger and Pleaseeasaur are making an appearance at the Middle East. I must attend!

Anyone up for doing anything tonight? Not like anyone checks the LJ on the weekends, so we'll probably call around later, but you know, I'm just covering my bases.

Oh goodness. I can't take much more of the new White Hat Jocks At Indie Rock Shows phenomenon. I am too old for that crap. Spoon is not music to grind to your nasty girlfriend with, dumbass, and if you yell for Rush people around you will make fun of you all night. Ugh. I totally indie snobbed out, but I bought Telephono on vinyl back when it was their only album, I'm allowed. I have so little indie cred left, Spoon is one of the only bands ever that I actually loved back before anyone else was paying attention.

So anyway, the show was very enjoyable, though I would have liked at least one song from A Series of Sneaks. But they rocked. I appreciate the fact that even though they've been OC'd, they haven't changed dramatically or become really annoying (Modest Mouse, I'm totally looking your way). And hey, if having people who only love "I Turn My Camera On" and "That's the Way We Get By" sells more albums for them, power to the Spoon, they deserve it.

Northampton is farther away than I thought. Time for sleepies.

So, uh, who wants to go to England last-minute? 'Cause All Tomorrow's Parties the weekend of May 18-20 is an indie rock wet dream, and they only have 4 or 6 bed chalets left. Check out this crazy line-up. Shellac? Built to Spill? Yo La Tengo? Architecture in Helsinki? Daniel Johnston? So many other freakin' awesome bands?

Seriously, guys, we'd be going for sure if they still had 2 bed chalets left, but we can't swing the cost of a 4 bed chalet for just us. If any of you all have any interest in an impromptu trip across the pond, it's 588 pounds for the chalet, split 4 ways that's not too bad for 3 night's stay plus entry into the show. If anyone wants to come with, we are 100% seriously into this idea and would be willing to plunk down money later today. British Airways is running some spring deals, so flight actually isn't too pricey.

Takers?

Tonight's kung-fu class was awesomely hard. I have not exerted myself to the point of wanting to puke before tonight. Well, maybe back when I played field hockey, but that was a lifetime ago. Sunday night the German au pair in my [kung-fu] class and I went to see a band that a couple of guys in our class are in. It was what you'd expect from a band playing at All Asia, but it was fun and a very enjoyable time. I'm almost making friends in class! It's only taken a year!

Good god, the bunnies are going insane tonight. Beeferton kocked a baby gate over onto himself and it scared the ever living crap out of him. Now Robo is doing lord knows what, but there are suspicious sounds of a bunny getting into trouble in the other room.

I'm starting to get more psyched for my trip to DC for work/conference, as a plan is forming to meet up with some college friends and catch up. Hooray for having something to do after enduring a day of conferencing/working like crazy out of our DC office to catch up on the reference requests that are sure to build up. And hooray for seeing old friends!

Other news: Guitar Hero II rocks my socks, but I really suck at it.

Oh, and also: Book Club: put it on your radar for Saturday the 28th starting in the afternoon. Unless I hear objections from the peanut gallery. I'll send out an official notice soon. The book is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

Just returned from a live recording of This American Life, and Drew has totally won the award for Best Valentine's Present Ever. That was so enjoyable! I rank it as one of the top 5 live entertainment experiences I've had. There were funny stories, Mates of State played, and Ira Glass discussed in detail his love for The O.C. He confessed to singing along to the theme song every week. And then Mates of State played the theme song for The O.C. Very, very good.

Just returned from an awesome Apples In Stereo show. I had lost track of them after Tone Soul Evolution was released way back when, and am really impressed with how far they've come since then. What a phenomenal performance! Back in the late 90s they were outshined by Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control, but those bands are now long gone. Bill Doss of OTC was playing with the Apples tonight, though.

Indie rock shows make me really happy when they're spot on, but I have such a hard time getting myself out to shows. As always, major props to incandes_flower and J. for getting me out to a great show!

Friday night involved girly dancing time at the Common Ground for My So-Called 90s night. We'll have to do that again sometime, that was totally fantastic.

Oh good god. Pleaseeasaur is playing Great Scott on Thursday night! And for you Mainers, he's playing Geno's Rock Club in Portland on Friday. I'm not sure I'll be making it to the Boston show, but I sure am going to try! Yay!

Sitting on the T this morning, I happened to glance at a copy of the Metro that someone was clutching in their cold, wet hands. And who did I see gracing the cover of this fine news publication? Neil Hamburger!!! He's playing the Middle East tonight, but I know I won't be able to convince anyone to experience his fine comedic stylings again. Besides, I'm icky and sick, so I don't even know if I'm going to be doing anything tonight.

So, a little more detail on NYC, though Drew hit the highlights of our many wonders of serendipity.

For lo, the hotel was not where/what I thought it was, but it was super cheap and had comfy beds, and that's all that matters. So on Thursday we arrived in the city, checked in, then headed down to Chelsea to attempt to find the club. It turned out to be in a converted church, which was a great venue to see a show, not such a great venue to try to find, as it was devoid of signage and addressage. And what on earth is up with New York's casual disregard for street numbers making any kind of sense? I don't know how a street ends with number 121 and picks up a block over with number 20 (and this is all West, not going West-to-East or vice-versa, which I could understand). So we found the club, realized that our Must Get To Show panic was for naught, as the ticket time was the door time, and found ourselves some absolutely delicious Mexican food at a little hole in the wall place. Seriously, the best enchiladalas I've ever had. Yum yum. So then the show, Architecture was fantastic, there were lots of high school kids.

Saturday we wandered, ducked into a bookstore to kill time during a torrential downpour, and then met up with our walking tour in the Lower East Side. The tour was entertaining and interesting, and was a good way to see parts of the city we otherwise wouldn't have ventured into. After that we headed on a semi-wild goose chase to find Waikiki Wally's. Got a teensy tiny bit lost and ended up stumbling onto The Library Bar. It turned out to be lucky we did, as we killed time there, figured out that the tiki bar was about a block away, and still managed to show up for tiki time about 15 minutes before the place opened. Go me. But we tikied, we headed back uptown for some comic books, dinner, and beer, and collapsed for sleep and listening to high school kids in the room next door play poker until 6am, at which point they kindly called us (for the 7th time that night) and informed us they were going to McDonald's. We informed them that we weren't their friends.

Sunday involved aforementioned cupcakes, walking from the Upper West Side to the Village, wandering around there exploring and hanging about, then visiting Vol de Nuit. That place was spectacular, and well worth the very weird opening time. What bar opens at 4:00 on a Saurday? Anyway, we then headed back towards our hotel, drank some more, grabbed some pizza, and hotel-ified.

Yesterday morning we walked around for a couple of hours, through the park and through a huge street fair, then drove home through sunny and un-trafficy Connecticut, which was not Teh Suck this time.

Yay!! I *heart* New York.

Off to kung-fu, here's hoping I didn't fall too far out of shape this weekend.

PGMG tonight at the Middle East. It's a $10 show, you can't go wrong! Boston folks should totally come and enjoy some rock with me.

When did indie rock get so white-hat? Good lord. These damn kids better get off my lawn! So the Pinback/Pleaseeasaur show tonight was pretty good. Pinback turns out to be very, very good, and I enjoyed them immensely. The crowd I could have done without. Dudes, please take your meathead tendancies to the nearest hardcore/totally emorock show at the Palladium in Worcester. Fighting with the security staff is just unnecessary in indie rock. As is talking on your cell phone during the set- it can't be -that- important. Harumph. I blame Death Cab for Cutie. But it's hard to begrudge bands like Death Cab and Spoon their success- Death Cab makes very enjoyable music and Transatlanticism is a great song; and Spoon has been making consistently great albums for years. But still, the white-hat factor is disturbing.

I'm reminded again that while I love being at shows during the moments when the band I'm there for is playing, I'd rather skip the rest of the Show Ritual. Of course, one part of the Show Ritual that I did miss today was waiting around for the show to start. You see, I've grown used to the time on a ticket being pretty much meaningless, as that's usually when the doors to the club open, and even then I've been left waiting outside later than the listed time. So, of course, we thought nothing of arriving at 9:30 tonight, thinking there was no way Pleaseeasaur would be on exactly at the time on the ticket. Sadly, we were wrong. We caught the last 3 songs of his set, none of which were his best (He seems to think Bowl Noodle Hot is one of his best, though, as that's what he always closes with). Whaaah. But Pinback did make up for the lack of No Prob Limo and Warning! These Cobras Are Totally Cool!. cayetana, I looked for you at the show, but we were so late that the place was packed and I couldn't see much over people's heads.

Damn. I really want to go to the Pitchfork Music Festival. Chicago in July? Silver Jews, Ted Leo, Spoon, YLT, Futureheads, and freakin' Os Mutantes? I want! ok, I only went through a very small O.M. phase when one of their albums was reissued and heavily pushed in my WRBC music director days, but still, that's a very cool reunion

There's also an ATP curated by Thurston Moore. Also, what All Tomorrow's Parties is doing with Don't Look Back? Awesome. I would so go see Teenage Fanclub play Bandwagonesque.

Oh, indie rock. I'm still so stuck in 1990-2001.

So, Boston area folk (and Maine folks), this coming Saturday, April 15, The Reputation will be playing at Great Scott. I am going, and you should totally come, too! They are my absolute most favorite band, and it'll be a good show.

Along those lines, Pretty Girls Make Graves will be back at the Middle East on May 11, and I'll be there, too. It'll be fantastic.

And... that's all I've got. This weekend involved a wee bit too much PBR, but was a lot of fun.

So, the Pretty Girls Make Graves show was... interesting. incandes_flower and I headed down to Providence Sat. night to see them. They are such a kick-ass band, and they sound even better live than on their albums (which is saying a lot, as The New Romance is one of my favorite albums). They were incredibly tight and high-energy. But, um, hello indie-rock drama! There was some sort of Band Fight, and the bassist left the stage, possibly due to some sort of lovers' quarrel, as the lead singer made a snarky comment about that's what you get when you date someone in the band. And the guitarist took off after the bassist to drag him back on stage. Not that I haven't witnessed total breakdowns on stage before, though, I've seen Cat Power a few times, and that's some serious contact embarassment for ya. It was, however, the most sparsely attended show I think I've ever seen. The Living Room in Providence is a weird space- out in the middle of nowhere, big, but empty. The band didn't go on until after midnight, though, which is just egregiously late when you have to drive back to Somerville, Mass.

Went shopping yesterday for presents and dropped a metric ton of cash. But I've got lots of people taken care of now, which is good.

*bouncy bouncy* Pretty Girls Make Graves show in Providence in December! incandes_flower once again rocks my socks for keeping me in the indie rock loop.

So, goodness, I'm going to be run to the ground by the time these next few days are over. Last night we had to do the Beer Club thing, as it was Other Jen's birthday, and we'd been neglecting that group of people for months. It was really good to see them all again, we'll have to be better about getting to that more often. Tonight I've got my volunteering. Tomorrow we're having people over. Saturday I have to wake up early, get my Iron Chef food done, skip down to Johnny D's for girls' brunch that I can't miss, then head to the Iron Chef thingy, then possibly meet up with my girls- speaking of- incandes_flower, have you nailed down your weeked plan yet?

Lookit that. It's been a really long time since I've been this busy!

Whoo! So it was a really good weekend for me.

Friday Drew & I were too beat to do anything but crash in front of the tv, but hey, we can call that "couple time" and it's kind of like a date, right?

Saturday the loverly tenillypo and I ventured up to Maine, where incandes_flower did an excellent job of entertaining us. There were some Hot Man KissesTM, curtosy of the Best Television Show Ever. Then there was 80s dancing at a bar with a light-up dance floor. It rocked. A bar full of people screaming along to Total Eclipse of the Heart is a joyous thing.

Sunday we got back in time for me to take a quick nap, which wasn't nearly enough sleep, but my second wind kicked in for the wonders of Pleaseeasaur. Hee. I love Pleaseeasaur. I felt really bad for the poor Dead Milkmen guy, who was singing so earnestly while the entire bar talked over his set. But Pleaseeasaur always delivers a good time.

And that was that. Yesterday was for getting errands done and listening to the new Architecture in Helsinki album over and over again. 'Cause, you know, when I'm not presiding over the Blink-182 Fan Club, sometimes I listen to a little indie rock. Only when it doesn't mess with my Blink duties, though. *hangs head in shame* Now the world knows my horrible, horrible secret.

So today, the first half of my 2-day work week, is turning into The Suck, as I am extraordinarily stressed out, but I can't complain, as tomorrow is my Friday.

Architecture in Helsinki was so amazing last night! incandes_flower is my indie rock hero! What a fantastic band. One of the openers, Acqueduct, was also smashingly good. They even ended their set with a Journey cover. Nothin' gets a roomful of indie rock kids moving like some Journey. We like to rock out!

Undoubtedly, the highlight of last night's Sleater-Kinney show was their cover of Danzig's "Mother." Priceless. Their new material just doesn't have the same energy as the old stuff. I like it, but it's not as much of an adrenaline rush as the old stuff was. I also really miss hearing songs from Call the Doctor.

Alright, I'm going to quickly recap our honeymoon, but for those of who don't read c_m_i, you should check in on his journal once in a while, as he has all the pictures and will be writing more entertaining entries with them than I will.

( The trip )

Yay! The flight back really took a lot out of me today, but we're here. Stories to come later.

Tomorrow: laundry to get the smell of cigarettes out of my travel clothes, and grocery shopping.

So Wednesday is Sleater-Kinney- spacedthekeys and incandes_flower, what are your estimated arrival times in B-town? (Mere, are you coming? I recall that you were, but I saw a comment in M.'s journal about you being here on Friday?) Maybe we can meet up for dinner before the show.

Yay, I just bought 2 tickets to Sleater-Kinney in June!! I believe I've seen them on every tour since Dig Me Out. Heck, I've even gone to New York to see them (still wishing I could actually remember that show). I'm trying to decide if I want to be totally extravagant and buy Spoon tickets (they play June 7), but I just got new shoes last night and bought 2 albums on iTunes yesterday, so I think my discretionary spending should go on hold. I still need wedding shoes, though I may just say screw it and wear black shoes under my dress. No one will really notice anyway. I saw a great pair of gold sandals at DSW, but they were Steve Madden shoes, and hence, a bit too rich for my blood.

There are no words to do justice to the experience of seeing Pleaseeasaur. That was the best show I've ever seen in my life. Seriously, check out the web page. I believe there are a few MP3s on the site for your listening pleasure, but they pale in comparison to the live show. The man had props and drawings and puppets. I have never laughed so hard in my entire life, and that's saying a lot. Neil Hamburger was also awesome, but I was a little disappointed that all of his jokes were ones I heard in England. Everyone seemed to know the cranberry sauce Courtney Love joke. aquarianna6, I'm so sorry you guys went all the way out to Allston for nothing. I though Pleaseeasaur would be a crappy rock band, if I had any clue how awesome it would be I would have insisted that you stay! I totally owe you one now. But I'm planning on buying the dvd with my next paycheck, and will have a viewing of it. phlosphr, Neil and Pleaseeasaur are playing at the Black Cat in DC on Monday night, I promise you it will the best $8-10 you will spend all year.