This is Our Emergency

The best shirt

2011-11-27T23:36:00.001-05:00

There were a lot of great shirts for sale at The Cure show and I ended up getting three (and a scarf as well!)

This is my favorite one hands down.

Maxwell

2011-11-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

Before The Cure show at The Beacon Theatre last night, Robin and I had dinner at a nearby diner where she gave me a cute little owl. His name is Maxwell :)

What's inside her never dies

2011-07-27T22:10:00.006-04:00

On Saturday afternoon, I was watching a True Life marathon on MTV, trying to relax after getting back from the gym. The episode that was playing was "I Hate My Roomate" which I had seen a couple of times before. I started flipping through the channels to see if anything else was on. After going through all of the movies channels, I ended up on E!. Suddenly, I saw a ticker at the bottom of the screen that said that Amy Winehouse had been found dead in her London flat.

"OH MY GOD!" I yelled. My cousin asked me what was wrong and I said that Amy Winehouse had died. "WHAT?!" she said. I ran downstairs to get my laptop, flipped it open and typed cnn.com into my browser. There it was on the main page, highlighted with a "Breaking News" banner. Amy Winehouse was dead. Immediately I felt sad and ill.

One thing that seems to be the same with everyone's reaction when they heard of her passing was that no one was surprised. I wasn't surprised. We all know her history with drugs and alcohol and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who wondered how she managed to survive for so long in the first place.

I hadn't kept up much with what Amy had been doing lately but every once in a while, I'd see a photo of her on a gossip blog, walking around her neighborhood or hanging out with her boyfriend or something. She looked good. Certainly much better than those days she was running around town barefoot, with deshevled hair and smeared makeup. And I thought that she was finally getting her shit together.

A few weeks ago when video started to circulate of her horrendous performance in Serbia, I was so pissed off at her. I wanted to reach through the video and shake some sense into her and scream, "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do you know how fucking talented you are? You're just pissing it all away and you don't even seem to care." When her camp released a statement saying that she was canceling the rest of her tour dates, I thought that was a sensible thing to do and hoped that the next time she came back, it would be in a good way.

But now she's dead. And any hope that any of us had for a healthier and better Amy is gone.

Towards the end of 2006, "Rehab" was floating around all of the music blogs that I frequented and the second I heard it, I was hooked. I didn't know who this Amy Winehouse person was but thought, "DAMN! This black girl can sing!" And then I saw what she looked like.

It's always a surprise when you're looking at someone and the voice that comes out of them isn't what you expected. But it's even crazier when you hear a voice first, and then see the person who it belongs to and the two don't match up in the slightest. Amy wasn't like anything that I pictured in my head. Here was this skinny, white, petite, English chick with the biggest bee hive hair since Priscilla Presley just demanding my fucking attention with a voice that you just didn't hear in modern day music. "Rehab" was catchy, super cheeky, dark, sad, funny, and just a plain damn good song. I searched the music blogs for as many of her other songs as I could find. Back to Black was out in the UK already (it was actually released in the UK on my birthday October, 4th) but wasn't released in the U.S. until March of 2007. I ordered it, along with some other albums from Amazon and waited eagerly for it to arrive.

I quickly fell in love with this record. I loved Amy's voice, her throw-back style, her fantastic sense of humor and the honesty with which she sang about her experiences. While I listened to every song over and over again, the one that really grabbed a hold of me was "He Can Only Hold Her." It's not a very long song, ending almost as soon as it begins, but those horns get me every time and the chorus is perfect.

When I found out that Amy would play a show at Highline Ballroom, I was so excited and made sure to stay on top of the ticket situation so that I'd be sure to get some. She had already played a show in New York so I wasn't going to miss another one. Luckily, tickets were cheap (something between $10-$12 I think which is nothing compared to what her tickets would go for now) and super hassle-free to purchase.

My cousin Nerrissa also loved Amy's record so I took her with me to the show. We went to Burgers and Cupcakes beforehand and then headed over to the venue. Some people who had been there earlier in the day said that Amy had come out to talk to fans and sign stuff and take photos and I thought that was super awesome of her. We got a good spot for the show. Patrick Wolf opened and he played a great set as Amy looked on from the VIP section smooching on and drinking with her then boyfriend/fiance Blake. When she finally took to the stage, the crowd was so excited. At this point, she had already had some much talked about bad performances and so there was definitely a sense of uncertainty in the air. But Amy didn't dissapoint and she played a great show.

Afterwards, we tried to meet her outside the venue, but once she left the building, she hoped into an SUV. A swarm of paparazzi came out of nowhere and started taking pictures like mad! I had only been in New York for a year and some change at that point but had never seen paparazzi in real life so that was totally crazy to me. I wondered if that happened to her everywhere she went and thought how awful it must be if it did.

Amy only got more popular after I saw her live and her legend seemed to grow and grow every day. How drunk was she going to be at her next show? How awful would she look the next time photographers snapped a photo of her? When she won all of those Grammy Awards for Back to Black (awards she couldn't even accept in person due to not getting her visa in time) I saw a woman who, despite her many faults and issues, had the platform to really turn her shit around and really live up to that same Amy that we fell in love with on record.

Every time I saw something unfavorable about Amy in the press, it just made me so sad because it always overshadowed and cheapened her talent. And while many legendary musicians have also struggled with additions, most of them didn't live in an age like ours where every little thing you do is inspected and torn apart and criticized. I can only imagine the pressure she felt with so many judging eyes on her while she wrestled with her demons.

I had always hoped Amy would surprise us one day and come out stronger and better having gone through her troubles. And if I am to believe some things I've read about her final days and weeks, she had sworn off the hard stuff and was seriously committed to getting back on track. It seems that her autopsy was inconclusive and so we may not know for a while what caused her death. But that doesn't even matter because knowing won't make her any less dead.

When I was a teenager the grunge/alternative scene was all the rage and I loved bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. However, there was a period where it seemed that musicians were dying left and right from drug overdoses: Kristin Pfaff, Bradley Nowell, Shannon Hoon, Jonathan Melvoin. Their deaths had a huge impact on me, seeing all of these really talented people with bright futures and so much going on for them, being gone in an instant because of an addiction. I had always heard that the easiest way to quit smoking was to never start and it seemed to me that the same could be said for drugs.

Amy left us with a great legacy of wonderful music. But hopefully her death will also serve as a warning to people and show that addiction is a very real, very deadly thing that will do its best to swallow you whole. I only wish Amy was still around to show us that she could've beaten it. I honestly feel like she really did want to and would have some day.

When I remember Amy going forward, I hope to mostly think about the music she's left us with. I hope to remember smart, deeply personal and heart-achingly powerful lyrics and flawless performances like this one. I hope that we never forget that when she was on her game, the girl could really belt it out. And she could look damn good doing it.

Amy Winehouse
(September 14, 1983 – July 23, 2011)

Chopped!

2011-07-18T20:30:00.000-04:00

I did it! I big chopped on Saturday, June 25th. I've been enjoying my shorter hair tremendously and don't know why I waited so long to do it! Hopefully, I'll get around to writing a longer post about my experience soon.

Shiny Happy People

2011-06-18T17:30:00.002-04:00

Last week, my family and I went to New Jersey for an Indian wedding! Our family friend Rubi married here longtime beau Marc. My cousins and I decided that instead of wearing saris, we would wear a salwar kameez instead. A salwar kameez is basically a long top with a pair of pants (usually, a skinny leg pant). Since none of us know how to wrap saris (my Aunt Veronica wore a sari but one of my Uncle Anand's sisters had to wrap it for her) we figured that a salwar kameez would be much easier way to go.

We all purchased our outfits in Jackson Heights one Saturday afternoon (with the help of Adhalia's good friend Silby) and while our outfits did indeed cost a pretty penny, we all got

compliments on how great we looked. And if you've ever been to an Indian wedding, you know

that people go all out, so we didn't want to slack on our fashion game.

Anyway, here are some photos from the reception! Enjoy!

Rubi and Marc

Uncle Anand, Rubi and Aunt Veronica

Adhalia

Nerrissa

Michelle and Jeazette

The Big Chop: Why I'm Cutting My Hair and Going Natural

2011-05-16T22:29:00.008-04:00

When I was 12, I desperately wanted a relaxer (or as I grew up calling it, a perm). I never thought my hair was especially long but I knew it was pretty thick because people would tell me so constantly. From Ms. Arnold at the salon in Atlanta to strangers on the street. There were even a few times when people asked if I had a weave which always struck me as funny. I thought women only got weaves to make their hair longer. It never occurred to me that they also got weaves to make their hair thicker too.

My mom had always been against having my hair relaxed and it really aggravated her seeing little children with relaxed hair. I could understand that. Children are constantly growing and changing and all of those chemicals too early could seriously affect their hair and skin. My mom also felt that children should look like children and have plats and ribbons and barrettes in their hair, not look like little Diana Rosses.

My third birthday

I didn't really think about what my hair would look like after having a perm and I really didn't care. What I did think about was how much easier it would be to deal with, and ultimately that was my main motivation to get it done.

My hair regime as a child typically went like this: My mom washed my hair every Sunday in the bathroom over the tub. Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks or The Judds sang on the cassette player in the background (I'm not even joking - my parents are SERIOUS country fans). And every now and then (after the blow drying was finished), I'd have to sit in the kitchen while my mom pressed my hair with a very, very hot, hot comb. This was an exhausting routine for the both of us. Since my hair was so thick, blow drying it always strained my mother's shoulders and arms and they would ache afterward from all of the effort. Also, sitting still in a chair for an hour + while my mom pressed my hair was nearly impossible, and there were a few occasions where a sudden move caused me to get burned on the neck, ear and once even on the forehead!

Me and Camille

I was involved in several extra curricular activities as a kid (karate, dance classes, tennis, swimming) and when you're that active, it's difficult to decide what to do with your hair. I'd sweat it out during the week at dance class and on the weekends at karate and during the summer at tennis. My Mom probably had to get creative when deciding how to style my hair in between school, special occasions and extra curriculars. I was always busy with something.

Me with some of my karate belts

It seemed to me that getting a relaxer would be a great relief for my Mom and I and so I begged her to let me get my hair permed. She agreed (eventually) but only trusted her friend Adelta to do it.

Adelta is one of my Moms friends from back home in the islands and every couple of years, she'd fly up to Atlanta for the Bonner Brothers hair show. She's been a hairdresser for many, many years and owns her own salon. She's great at what she does and my Mom knew she wouldn't jack me up.

I remember my Mom telling me that once I had a perm, I would have to really take care of my hair. She also told me that it might burn (maybe alot, maybe a little - since I never had a relaxer before, it would be difficult to predict) but that I should stand the pain for as long as I could so that my hair would get as straight as possible. I won't lie, that scared the hell out of me but not enough to stop me from going through with it.

The day before she left to go back home, Adelta permed my hair. I definitely felt an intense tingle that first time, but nothing as bad as I had imagined and when my hair was finished, I couldn't believe how straight and soft it was! It was like a miracle.

Now that my hair was easier to manage, my Mom didn't have to help me with it, and I could wash it and blow dry it myself. If I needed to smooth out the edges, I would use my electric hot comb and carefully comb through them. I only got touch ups a few times a year because I knew that if I did it too often, it could seriously damage my hair and I didn't want that of course.

Sometimes those touchups were pain free and other times I would have to dig my nails into my thighs to keep from crying, the pain was so intense. But I would hold out as long as possible, because I needed my hair to be as straight as possible, right?

My high school senior picture

While everyone else seemed to love me with the new super straight hair, I realized pretty quickly that while having straight hair was nice, I definitely preferred curls. As a matter of fact, there were several times when I'd get a perm in the afternoon and then set my hair with rollers that same night. I liked that my hair was easier to manage, but felt that straight hair lacked a certain something that curly hair had always given me. How could I get my hair to stay that manageable and still get a decent curl?

Usually it would take a couple of weeks and a few shampoos to get my hair to curl the way I wanted it to after a relaxer and even then, the slightest amount of warm weather or rain, would make those curls drop instantly. Over the years, I've tried dozens of different products to make my hair curl post relaxer. Sometimes they'd work, and sometimes not. But I could never sort out an ideal solution.

Probably my favorite hairstyle

Family

Admit it. If you see a black woman walking down the street with full and long natural hair, for at least a split second, you wonder "What is she? Is she mixed? Does she have Indian in her? Where did that 'good hair' come from?" We've all got something else in us so it's really not a big deal. My family is extremely diverse and like many others, we range in personalities, beliefs, height, skin tone and yes, even hair textures.

Both of my parents are from Antigua, which is a small island in the West Indies. Formally a British colony, it's easy to find people in Antigua who are only a few generations removed from Europe. I don't know much about my Dad's ancestry (he could probably only go back as far as his parents) but my maternal grandmother was Portuguese.

Menena Fernandez had five children and my mother is the oldest of those five (My grandfather had five other children before he met and married my Grandmother so my Mom also has five older half-siblings). I'm an only child so I can't compare myself to any siblings, but it has always amazed me how some siblings can look so much alike while others look like they come from two different sets of parents altogether.

My mom and her youngest sister (My Aunt Marjorie) had the darker complexions in their immediate family, taking after their father. The three siblings in the middle (Aunt Veronica, Aunt Angela and Uncle Fitsroy) are fairer skinned and resembled my grandmother. But it's my Aunt Marjorie that ended up with the "good hair." It was long and curly and my Mom and her sisters used to love combing it and putting ribbons in it and treating their little sister like she was their living doll.

Granny, Esther, me and Aunt Marjorie

Years later, my Aunt Marjorie would marry an Indian man and have three kids. My Aunt Veronica also married an Indian man and had three kids as well. So I ended up with two sets of cousins who were half West Indian and half East Indian. That makes for a whole lot of "good hair."

Hair Envy

No matter what type of hair you have, there's some point where you wish you didn't have it. Either you have curly hair that you practically murder to make flat and straight or you have straight hair that fends of curls like they are the plague. Why aren't we happy with what we've got?

Growing up, I was super envious of my half Indian cousins and their hair. It was GORGEOUS! They always had thick braids down their backs, never had to worry about getting a perm or pressing their hair and never had to sleep with a head-tie on at night. I wanted their hair so badly and wondered why God didn't give me hair that was more manageable. Or at least give my Mom the same kind of hair my Aunt Marjorie had.

Alana, Angelo, Jeazette, Nerrissa, Adhalia and Uncle Anand

But the grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? That girl whose hair you envy is going through some hair drama of her own and I can guarantee that there are some days where she wished she didn't have her hair either.

Take my Aunt Veronica's and Uncle Anand's three daughters Nerrissa, Adhalia and Jeazette. Here we have three sisters with the same parents and three different types of hair. All three sisters have naturally curly hair (no big surprise considering their backgrounds), but between the three of them, their hair does indeed vary.

Jeazette, Nerrissa and Adhalia

N has teetered between long and short hairstyles, but in recent years, has been quick to get a cut before her hair grew too far past her shoulders. Her hair is very curly but not as thick as the other two's. She doesn't mess with a flat iron or blow dryer unless there's a special event to attend (like in the photo above which was taken during Christmas time a few years ago). N is all about low maintenance and little fuss.

A wears her hair curly during the week, not only because she really doesn't have the time to bother fixing it up, but also because she feels its more appropriate for her work environment. However, don't get it twisted because once the weekend comes around, A is quick to break out the flat iron and will most definitely whip her hair back and forth when we all go out. While her hair isn't as curly as the other twos, it is pretty thick and it took her some time getting down a good routine to manage it. However, if you ask her sisters, she has the best hair out of the three of them and they are jealous of it.

And then there's J. It would be an understatement to say that J has thick hair. It's beyond thick. As a kid, whenever she took out her long braids and brushed out her hair, she'd end up looking like Simba from the Lion King. It was just SO MUCH HAIR! And while A's and N's hair was mostly easy to deal with, J had to struggle to keep hers under control. God knows how many bottles of gel she'd go through to keep her hair flat, or how many combs were defeated by her stubborn curls. Blow drying her hair would take ages and washing it was like an event. Her saving graces over the years have been a variety of flat irons (from Hot Tools in high school to the Sedu now), blow outs at the Dominican hair salon (it's important to go to people who know how to deal with your type of hair) and even having her hair thinned out at one point. Recently she started using the Keratin treatment which she really loves. It's cut her flat ironing time down significantly and has overall made her hair much easier to deal with.

N, A and J

So all that time I was envious of my cousins' gorgeous hair, they had their own hair struggles going on that I probably would've complained about if I was in one of their shoes. It made my side of the grass seem not so brown and lifeless.

Good Hair

I remember seeing the trailer for Good Hair a few years ago somewhere online and thinking that not only did it look really funny, but that it would take a great look into the world of black hair. When I finally saw it last summer (thanks to a copy from Netflix) it kind of knocked me on my ass.

There's probably a handful of black women, living under a rock in the middle of nowhere who haven't seen Good Hair yet. But for the rest of you who have, I'm sure you related to a lot of things in the movie. I know I did.

In the film, Paul Mooney says "If your hair is relaxed then white people are relaxed. If your hair is nappy, they ain't happy." I'm certain a lot of black women shy away from natural hair because of how it may come across at work or to others of a different race. One of my friends works in a very corporate job and she has told me that she's certain she'd be treated differently at work if she didn't straighten her hair. She thinks this because there are other girls at work whose natural hair is curly or coarse and they aren't treated as well. Is this a deliberate thing? Who knows, but at the very least, it is probably an automatic response from years and years of stereotypes, prejudices and misunderstandings, which is just as unfortunate and sad.

In the film, I was also amazed to see the amount of money black women spend to keep up their hair appearance. I'm sure if I calculated all of the money I've spent on my hair over the years, it would shock me but I can't even imagine spending $1,000 on a weave (do you know how many pairs of SHOES I could get with that?!) Of course, I don't have $1,000 to spend on a weave but don't think I would either. $60 for a perm all those years was more than enough!

The thing that probably struck me the most in the film, though was the comment that actress Tracie Thoms made about how it was almost revolutionary for her to leave her hair the way that it grew out of her head. And that made me go "huh. Why is that such a shocking thing? Why is it so wrong to leave your hair the way it is?"

No more creamy crack

January 11th, 2011 was the date of my last relaxer. The previous one had been in October of 2010 (yeah I was really drawing it out) and my hair was definitely beyond dealing with at that point. Last summer, I wasn't very good to my hair and I flat ironed the hell out of it for months. It was so humid here in New York, that I figured curls wouldn't hold up and so it would be better to just straighten my hair to death.

At Sharon's bachelorette party (that's me on the end!)

Bad idea. The damage I did to my hair was terrible and when I had my last relaxer, I also had to get a haircut.

This is probably the shortest my hair has been since I was a kid and I had no idea what to do with it! Pony tails were out of the question for sure. Also, the burns I received from the relaxer were some of the worst I'd had in a long time.

A few hours later, I was looking for some rollers (of course) and it suddenly hit me! Why am I getting perms that are obviously affecting my scalp when I don't even want straight hair? I also started to think that being an adult now, I'd probably be able to handle natural hair better than I could as a kid. And that's what I started seriously thinking about going natural. Good Hair had planted the seed and that last painful relaxer had really cemented the idea.

What better place than here, what better time than now

Once I decided that I no longer wanted to perm my hair, I googled "natural hair" and came across so many women of color with gorgeous, thick and healthy natural hair. They all seemed to love it and no one seemed interested in going back to relaxers. I figured that if they all seemed to love it so much, then maybe I would too.

In most of the natural hair stories I came across, there was a big chop involved, which is something that I never planned on doing, at least not for a very long time. I couldn't picture cutting off most of my hair. My Aunt Veronica's favorite saying is "Your hair is your beauty" and so how could I get rid of it? But only healthy hair is beautiful and my hair wasn't healthy. Also, now that I've been transitioning for a few months, the two textures I'm dealing with are getting tougher and more difficult to handle so a big chop really makes a lot of sense to me.

My big chop is taking place June 25th. I thought that this would be a good date because I'm going to my cousins wedding in Mexico the week after and I don't want to deal with this confusion on my head while I'm there. I want to go swimming as much as possible (boy, do I miss swimming) and not have to worry about what my hair will look like afterward.

While I'm looking forward to the big chop, I am also absolutely terrified about it. When the hairdresser had to cut my hair back in January, I was mortified when I saw how much of it was on the floor. Yes, it was badly damaged hair, but it was still my hair! Again, my hair probably hasn't been this short since I was very young, so getting even more cut off may totally wreck me. But I've gotta do it. And I am going to do it.

For now, I'm washing my hair once a week and sitting underneath a dryer with rollers. I usually sleep with rollers in my hair every night since it's pretty easy for me to style my hair once I've taken them out. And most days, the end result is something like this:

Now that I've decided to go natural, I notice natural hairstyles more often and I see how versatile they can be, as long as you know what to do. I think most of us have shied away from natural hair because we don't know how to handle it. But now that I've researched the subject and heard from others who have transitioned, handling natural hair doesn't seem so impossible anymore and I'm looking forward to it.

I also imagine that it will challenge me to step up my game when it comes to my entire appearance (which will make my cousin A happy as she's always complaining about the state of my eyebrows) 'cause I won't have any hair to hide behind. But I'm excited to use scarves in my hair and wear some new jewelry and see how creative I can get.

I plan to be more active as well (going to the gym more) since I won't have to worry about sweating out my perm. And maybe by the end of the year, I can fit back into one of my favorite little black dresses.

I hope I can handle this big chop. Who knows what I'm going to look like once I get it done and who knows if I'm gonna freak out and run to the salon and put in braids or something aferward (ok, so I'm exaggerating, that probably won't happen). I want to make it clear that I'm not knocking anyone who chooses to relax their hair. Obviously, it's something that I have a lot of experience with. But I am going to try this new thing and see how it goes and hopefully save my scalp some pain.

So to all you out there who have shared your stories on your blogs or uploaded tutorials on YouTube, (Natural Belle, UrbanBushBabes, Natural Chica, Naptural85, and LexiWithTheCurls especially) thank you so much for your inspiration and advice. Natural hair is Good Hair too and it can be beautiful if you know what to do with it.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading! And until next time enjoy this wave of photographs.

My mom. I'm pretty much her spitting image.

My parents on their wedding day.

My dad and my older cousin Terry with me, Angelo, Jeazette, Nerrissa and Adhalia. Yes, that's a lot of kids to have in diapers at one time.

Nerrissa and I. Nerrissa lived with us for awhile so we spent a lot of time together when I was little. She told my mom to take me back to the hospital when I was first born but got used to me after awhile.

In my Aunt Angela's back yard in the Bronx. Whenever my mom and I traveled, she'd always dress me up in something uncomfortable. I look especially uncomfortable here.

With my parents at my cousin David's wedding (I was the flower girl)

Me, Angelo and Alana

Mom and I

During a dance recital (I'm on the left)

Straight hair in my room in Atlanta

Hairnet

In my homemade "Irish Blood, English Heart" shirt.

More straight hair

Curly ponytail and some of my favorite earrings.

With super curly hair (Yes that is BB's pink lotion in the background)

A hairstyle I rocked often in humid Atlanta summers

Wet hair in my room in Atlanta

Akeem and I

Thanksgiving '05 I think.

Riding in the car with Adhalia

Hoodie and doorknockers

Christmas 2006

With Barry at the Living Room

Before Jayish's and Renee's wedding

With Jaymay

Nerrissa and I on her birthday a few years back

In DC

On a boat with Tierney, Amanda and Kasia

At Wild Ginger

Even more straight hair

Holiday Party with Amanda, Tierney and Gray

Last year in Atlanta

With Melina at Corner Tavern

Nowish

Fragile

2011-03-03T20:40:00.002-05:00

The Prids are some of my favorite people ever! And they write such amazing songs! And they're so nice! And they make great videos that they put their friends in.

That's what an artist would do

2011-02-28T22:43:00.013-05:00

Last night, I tried my very best to watch the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. I say tried because I don't have a TV in my room, so I figured I'd find somewhere to stream it online. When I did, I was only able to watch it for about 20 minutes before the site was taken down, I assume because they didn't have permission to stream it.

I then tried to watch it on the TV in the guest room. I heard and caught glimpses of some of the tributes, performances and acceptance speeches through the fuzzy audio and intermittent signal (bad, bad reception on that thing) but felt a bit unsatisfied by the end. I hope next time to have an enjoyable and uninterrupted Oscars viewing night. But of course, an entire year must pass by first.

This year was the first year that I saw a good number of the films nominated for Best Picture, including Black Swan, The Fighter, Toy Story 3, Inception and The Social Network which I just watched via Netflix about two weeks ago. I've always loved watching The Academy Awards but in recent years have definitely tried to be better about seeing the nominated films before the awards are actually handed out.

Most people agree that there were no major surprises last night. Even though Black Swan was amazing AND Natalie Portman was phenomenal in it AND she's won practically every award that she was nominated for, I kept hoping that Michelle Williams would pull an upset and grab the award for Best Actress for her terribly powerful performance in Blue Valentine. Reader, if you haven't seen it, you really should. But I know that Blue Valentine will be just one of her many great performances in her career. But I digress.

Pretty much everyone that's been winning all awards season won last night, although it seems as though The Social Network was a favorite at the beginning of the awards race but fell to that golden royal egg that is The King's Speech, which is apparently so good, even HRH enjoyed it.

I was happy to see that Colin Firth won the Best Actor award for The King's Speech. I haven't seen it yet, but I love Colin Firth and since the movie seems to be right up my ally (I could watch movies about English royals all day long), I'm pretty certain that I'm going to love it.

Last year, Colin was nominated (and lost to Jeff Bridges) for his role in A Single Man. The movie is based on the book of the same name by author Christopher Isherwood. I had never read A Single Man but when I saw the trailer for the film, it looked so intense and beautifully shot that I knew I'd have to see it at some point. It was one of the first movies I received in the mail when I joined Netflix and I saw it again this weekend on one of those movies channels that my cousins have about 200 of.

A Single Man is about a gay British professor whose lover has been killed in a car accident. He finds it hard to live without him and decides that he's going to kill himself. As he prepares to spend his last day on earth, he takes the time to really notice the things around him and reflect back on the moments he had with his love. Colin Firth's performance in that movie is so moving and it's sad that when there are so many good performances by actors in one year, you can't give an award to everyone. However, he's certainly had a nice run so far with The King's Speech to make up for it.

But all of this is just taking me to what I really want to mention. Tonight, I was finally able to watch a film that I got in the mail over the weekend, Chris & Don: A Love Story which tells the story of A Single Man's author Christopher Isherwood and his partner, artist Don Bachardy.

Your mother was right: finding true love is hard so it's pretty remarkable when two people can find it together, particularly when those two people are so comfortable in their love for one another that any sort of prejudices or harm they may face because of who they are (in this case, two gay men who met in the 1950s) doesn't stop them from loving one another openly, proudly and without regret.

In the film, you learn about the couple's relationship through photographs, videos, passages from Chris' diary and interviews with friends, literary experts and even Don himself. And while their relationship had its ups and downs and wasn't always perfect, at the end they were quite devoted to one another. And having devotion is a wonderful way to love someone.

Whenever you're feeling down...

2011-02-27T12:21:00.001-05:00

Just remember that you've got stuff to live for.

And you just don't get it

2011-02-22T21:42:00.002-05:00

Just the other day I was thinking about Local H and what (if anything) they were up to. "Bound for the Floor" was pretty infectious back in the day.

They are up to a lot of something. They're on tour and will play Mercury Lounge April 4/21.

To see it with my own eyes

2010-05-07T15:15:00.001-04:00

Seeing this amazingly talented band tonight at Bowery Ballroom. Gorilla Manor is one of about 5 albums that I listen to pretty much every day. It’s flawless. Brooklyn’s Suckers open and go on around 10.

I will sing your life

2010-05-05T23:20:00.003-04:00

The new Deftones record, Diamond Eyes, was released this week and it's the first new record from Sacto's finest since 2006's Saturday Night Wrist. I've been listening to the album for a while now and it's amazing, like Adrenaline and White Pony had a baby, amazing. I'm particularly partial to the raw emotion and intensity in the song "Rocket Skates" and (like many times before) have completely fallen in love with Chino's vocals on "Sextape." Seriously, he has one of the best voices I have ever heard.

This fall, the band will embark on a tour with Alice In Chains and Atlanta's Mastadon, with a stop at Madison Square Garden September 24th. I'm hoping that they'll do their own headlining tour as well, since I'm not sure I'd enjoy a Deftones show unless I was practically on stage with them.

From everything I've read so far about Diamond Eyes, most people seem to think it's classic Deftones and it will probably be looked back on as one of their best. And it IS a great record. However, it's impossible for me to listen to the new album, or any Deftones record at all, and not think about Chi.

I wrote about Chi and his accident a while back and though he's made great progress, he's still got a ways to go. Gina at One Love for Chi updates the site with news about Chi's condition. Recently she posted about Dr. DeFina, a doctor who the family has brought on to help Chi get better. Dr. DeFina was featured on this week's episode of True Life, which followed three young men whose lives have been turned upside down after suffering serious brain injuries. We certainly take for granted the fact that we can hold objects or walk or speak or even remember something that happened 2 minutes ago, because our brains work in a way that makes these things absolutely effortless. But after a serious brain injury, these "effortless" motions and thought processes can become significantly impaired, making once simple actions extremely difficult, and in turn making life more difficult. My heart went out to these guys, particularly because they're all so young (19, 20 and 26). You can view the episode of True Life here.

While Chi has come far since his accident and has a great team around him, it's still very important to remember that he needs our continued prayers and support. You can also still donate to help with Chi's medical bills. I recently came across this post from Chi's ex-wife Adrienne about why help is so very needed:

For those of you that wonder why fundraising is necessary to a Grammy award winning musician I can tell you first hand there was a time when Chi was bringing in so little capital that the courts wanted ME to pay HIM child support during the long time between albums. Bear in mind I am a hairstylist and the money I bring in does not exactly put me on any top earner lists. Even during these hard times Chi would do whatever it took to make sure that Gabriel was provided for, including selling several of his personal possessions. The stories posted on this site from fans all over the world about Chi’s generosity don’t even touch what he has done for Gabriel, myself and my family. He was generous to a fault sometimes and often put his needs last to make sure everyone was happy.

After Chi's accident, listening to Deftones was a little hard. Just thinking about what happened made me feel so sad for him and his family. But I know that his fans, friends and family continue pulling for him to get better and I know that Chi would definitely want the rest of his band out there, playing music for the people who have enjoyed Deftones over these last several years.

When I first listened to Diamond Eyes, I misheard a lyric in the song "Risk." I thought Chino said, "I will sing your life," probably because I'm also a huge Morrissey fan and one of his best songs is Sing Your Life. As all Deftones fans know, the band is fond of Moz and even recorded a masterful cover of The Smiths classic Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want. In the song "Sing Your Life," Morrissey doles out these wise words:

Others sang your life
But now is a chance to shine
And have the pleasure of saying what you mean
Have the pleasure of meaning what you sing
Oh, make no mistake my friend
All of this will end so sing it now

Melina and I used to always joke about how we weren't quite sure what the word we were hearing was in certain Deftones songs and we got into some pretty humorous debates about Chino's lyrics on several occasions. However, I think "I will sing your life," is just as good of a sentiment. You never know what could happen to you in life, so you have to make the most of the time you have to do all that you are able to do.

I know that Chino, Abe, Steph and Frank will continue to sing Chi's life, as will his friends and family. And hopefully one day, he'll be able to sing his life for himself again.

Radio DJ, play my song. All day long, I wanna sing along.

2010-04-29T21:20:00.002-04:00

Loving this song at the moment. Think About Life played Mercury Lounge and I totally spaced on it, so I hope they make it back to New York soonish.

Seek & Destroy

2010-04-29T20:54:00.001-04:00

One of my friends posted a link to a Craigslist ad on Facebook this afternoon and it's too awesome not to share (screen shot above).

I will destroy your band for $300 (Columbus)
Date: 2010-04-27, 2:02PM EDT

Are you in a band that's not going anywhere? Is there a particular member of your band that you want to be rid of but he's your best friend from grade school and you don't want to hurt his feelings? Did the bassist and your lead singer break up recently and now practice is three hours of awkward? Then I'm your guy.

Here's how it works. You bring me in. I play guitar. Doesn't matter if you need one, just bring me in.

Within 6 weeks, major changes will happen with your band. The drummer will accept a job offer out of state. The keyboardist will announce that he's getting married and the fiancee isn't into the whole band thing. The singer will be offered a better gig. One way or another, the band will fall apart. For my part, I won't say much or talk about anyone or complain. I'll just learn the songs, show up early for practice, and basically do whatever's required of me.

But we will never play out. The band will dissolve before that ever happens.

In some cases, just firing me will be enough to get your band moving in the right direction, but to be honest that doesn't happen very often. Usually it's something innocuous and it causes the band to break up.

Here's the deal, though. Some of the remnants will re-form a new band and they will thrive.

I'm asking for $300 up front. It's up front because, face it, we're not going to make any money gigging.

Location: Columbus
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

I wanna be this dude's friend. He's probably hilarious.

And my heart goes....

2010-01-30T22:23:00.001-05:00

I checked out Ebony Bones at Mercury Lounge earlier this week and the show was unbelievable. Opening act The Fire and the Reason started off the early show (doors were at 7:00). They have a bit of a electro/rock thing going on and remind me of theStart. The NY duo is made up of guitarist/beats generator Steve Narvaez and singer Bella Saona. It's difficult being an opening band, especially when most of the crowd is unfamiliar with your music. However, The Fire and Reason played a pretty lively set that got the crowd warmed up for Ebony. And while Bella announced that the song "Do It Again" would be the song to make them rich (or at least she hopes so), it was a slower song of theirs that impressed me. Of course I don't remember the name and it's not on their MySpace page so I couldn't tell you what it is. But if I ever heard it again, I'd know it for sure.

Ebony was next and she and her crew made quite the entrance. I couldn't wait to see what fantastic outfit she'd have on and when she came out in this leopard print number, I was not disappointed.

Ebony opened with "We Know All About You" and also danced and wailed her way through "Warrior," "Story of St. Ockwell", "The Muzik," "In G.O.D. We Trust," "Guess We'll Always Have NY," and "Bone of My Bones." They even did a pretty kick ass cover of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

I've never seen an audience more into a performance than the audience at this show. Someone passed out whistles and masks before the show, so a good number of the crowd wore the masks and blew their whistles throughout the show. EVERYONE was taking photos (a guy behind me was practically spooning me to get some good shots) and the outfits some of the people there were wearing were pretty outrageous. There was a amazingly dressed boy standing in front of me wearing a shiny waist length jacket with the hugest shoulders I've ever seen. And his hair looked like Prince's in Purple Rain. Fabulous! I even think I say Lady Miss Kier of Dee-lite in the crowd, so that was pretty cool too.

Ebony ended the show with "Don't Fart On My Heart" and said that she would see us soon. Soon for me means February 13th at Southpaw. I'll be there for sure, with my whistle on.

More pictures here.

Do YOU have a moment for gay rights?

2010-01-25T23:40:00.002-05:00

I don't think I've ever purchased a comedy album before last week. It's kind of hard for me to pay attention to something unless I can sing along to it or I'm being graded on it (which hopefully will never happen again since school and I amicably parted ways a few years ago). However, last week when I saw on @amazonmp3's twitter that Aziz Ansari's new comedy album, Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening, was available for a devastatingly affordable $3.99, I couldn't help but buy it. After all. I once heard him tell a pretty hilarious joke about meeting M.I.A. and trying to speak Tamil to her.

Anyway, I downloaded Aziz's album and filed it away on my iPod for later listening. Later happened today.

Mondays are bullshit of course and it's always hard to get motivated when your brain has had a few days off. So I decided to listen to Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening while trudging through the 98 emails laying about in my inbox. And guess what? Aziz Ansari is funny as hell!

From harassing his little cousin Harris on Facebook to his rant about 600 thread-count sheets that are actually 296 ("Are you shitting me man?! I almost slept on that shit!"), Aziz's anecdotes are sure to crack you the fuck up. He tells jokes that we can all relate to like crazy ass roommates and the ridiculousness that is Cold Stone Creamery ("Five people are singing and dancing for a dollar! That's 20 cents a person!")

He even takes cracks at R Kelly ("R Kelly is a BRILLIANT R&B singer/crazy person") and KANYE WEST ("Yo! Shut the fuck up! Homie's over here trying to tell some jokes!")

I especially love Aziz's jokes on race which is something most of the population a) still doesn't understand or b) is just too nervous to talk about. So it's always good when people can poke fun at it.

"Jason looks over at me and goes, 'Hey Aziz. Me and you are the only two white people at this concert.' And I was like, 'First of all Jason, I'm not white. Second of all, you're the only white guy at this concert. We might kill you Jason!' "

The Slumdog reference is great to me too, ("You must be pretty psyched about all this Slumdog Millionaire stuff") especially since two of my aunts married Indian men giving me a rather large extended Indian family. People can't stop congratulating them on a movie they had nothing to do with.

All in all, Intimate Moments For A Sensual Evening is a fantastically funny album that you will certainly quote with your friends for years and years to come. It's also probably the best $3.99 I've ever spent. Go and get your copy immediately.

Last but not least, be careful what you write about Aziz, 'cause chances are, he'll find it. Think he's too busy to read your little blog that nobody visits? Well, guess again 'cause according to the man himself, "I don't do anything! I take naps all day!" Aziz has plenty of time to Google himself. So Aziz, since I know you'll find this eventually, if you're into half Indian/half Black girls, I've got a shitload of cousins that my aunties want to marry off. You can have your pick!

You're just a weatherman, we make the wind blow

2010-01-24T15:02:00.014-05:00

A band that got a lot of buzz towards the end of last year is the duo Sleigh Bells. Fuzzy, synthy, loud guitary goodness with a bad ass vocalist in Alexis Krauss. They're set to play Coachella this year, were a break out band at CMJ, have been written about in the New York Times and their song "Crown on the Ground" was even chosen as one of the best tracks of 2009 by Pitchfork. 2010 will certainly be very good to them. Besides the fact that they write pretty infectious songs, I love that guitarist Derek Miller is the same Derek Miller (formally) from Poison the Well.

I think it's pretty normal for most music addicts like myself to go through different music phases in our lives. That's generally how our overall music taste develops. Grunge, punk, metal, goth, hardcore, whatever. In college, my friend Melina was big into hardcore when we met and she introduced me to bands like Braid, Vision of Disorder and Zao. (We were also dressing in boys clothes and wore chucks and Pumas all the time but that's a story for another time). When Napster was getting hot on our campus, Poison the Well was one of the bands she discovered while doing her daily music searches. We fell in love with them immediately.

We went to their shows whenever we could, including one at Under the Couch on Tech's campus where some kid got naked at their end of their set and started moshing (naked, skinny hardcore dude = not so good). We even drove the four hours to North Carolina to see them once too, although I can't remember the name of the venue. I used to check their tour diary on the Trustkill site regularly (did they really meet Tom Cruise in Olive Garden and give him their record? I'll never really know) and even pre-ordered Tear From the Red so that I could get the free poster that came along with it. Seriously, I loved them.

Then a few months later, I discovered "indie rock" (meaning bands that I actually had to do research to find out about, which was kind of a completely new and interesting idea to me) and thus began a new music phase in my life. While I stopped following them, it seems as though Poison the Well is still doing very well so it may seem crazy that someone from a pretty successful band would leave. But that's what Derek did. The music he made with PTW was great, but the stuff he's doing with Sleigh Bells is refreshing.

I love musicians that make music you don't expect them to make or listen to bands that you think they'd never listen to. It's hard to do something different these days. As Metric's Emily Haines sang in Dead Disco, "Everything has been done." So it's nice when you hear a song that catches you off guard and that's what Sleigh Bells has done for me. Also, kudos to Alexis for once being a school teacher in the Bronx. I know it's super far away from all the cool shit, but there are some cool people here :) Check out a video of "Infinity Guitars" below.

Oscar + Bebe

2010-01-18T23:15:00.001-05:00

"Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones." - Oscar Wilde

I love this shirt. Know where I can can get one?

We Know All About You, Yes We Do

2010-01-17T15:00:00.003-05:00

I was so thrilled when I heard that Ebony Bones is going on tour and playing TWO shows in New York. The first at Mercury Lounge on the 26th (ticket already purchased) and another at Southpaw on February 13th. Ebony is one of the artists that blew my mind last year at SXSW and her live show is phenomenal. Yes, she and her band wear outrageous outfits but her music is amazing. And she even got a Bowery Ballroom crowd to dance from one side of the room to the other, which I consider an amazing accomplishment for anyone. Definitely check out Ebony if she comes to your town. Dates are as follows.

1/26 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY
2/4 - San Francisco, CA
2/5 - Los Angeles, CA
2/6 - Green Dolphin - Chicago, IL
2/7 - Wrong Bar - Toronto, ON
2/8 - Belmont - Montreal, QB
2/9 - Middle East Downstairs - Boston, MA
2/10 - Hudson Hotel (Fashion Week) - New York, NY
2/11 - Marbar - Philadelphia, PA
2/12 - DC9 - Washington, DC
2/13 - Southpaw - Brooklyn, NY

Ebony @ Scoot Inn

Speaking of other peeps from across the pond, I recently came across this video of Russell Brand interviewing Morrissey. Russell is a MASSIVE Smiths/Morrissey fan so I can only imagine how cool it was for him to talk with him about Years of Refusal

Morrissey Years of Refusal

Morrissey | MySpace Music Videos

New machinary

2010-01-17T14:30:00.002-05:00

I've recently become the proud owner of a brand new MacBook Pro! I wasn't planning on getting a new laptop but my G4 finally lost its shit about two weeks ago. Never one to back up my incredibly amazing music collection (external hard drive huh?) I was pretty scared that I was going to lose all my tunes. So I placed an order for a new laptop friend. My MacBook has extra memory and a much bigger hard drive (the old only had 80 GB, which is the same size as my ipod). I'm excited that I don't have to delete photos as soon as I upload them to my flickr or delete songs that I haven't listened to much in the last 6 months to make more space or to make the thing run faster. And thank goodness for Senuti which allowed me take all of my music, movies and TV shows off of my iPod and put them on my new laptop. Trying to pull stuff off of the old laptop was just frustrating because it would freeze every five seconds.

Now that I have a machine that isn't slow as hell, I will certainly update this blog more often, which I'm definitely looking forward to. It kind of broke my bank, but it was also totally worth it.

R.I.P. Jay Reatard

2010-01-13T22:00:00.001-05:00

This afternoon around 5 or so, one of my co-workers turned to me and asked if I knew who Jay Reatard was. I said yes and told him that he was a awesome musician. And then he told me that he had died. I didn't believe it though because 2010 has just started and seriously, another musician death already? But then I saw posts popping up on Brooklyn Vegan, Rolling Stone and Paste and RIP Jay Reatard tags on Twitter, as well as statements from Goner Records and Jay's current lable, Matador.

It sucks when anyone dies. It also sucks when young people die (He was only 29). And it really sucks when young people who are incredibly talented die.

One of the few magazines I have a subscription to is Death & Taxes and Jay graces the cover of their current issue. When I got the magazine in the mail a while back and I saw Jay standing in his underwear with a red cape blowing in the wind, I couldn't wait to read the article. And it didn't disappoint.

Brooklyn Vegan posted a short documentary about Jay called "Waiting for Something." In addition to being a kick ass musician, it seems like he was also a pretty cool guy.

Waiting For Something - a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

Cool my brains and soothe my head

2010-01-13T21:15:00.004-05:00

Mike Mitchell created this great picture of the incomparable Conan O'Brien. I feel really bad for Conan with all of the late night show drama that's going on right now. It's pretty awful that his family and staff picked up and moved to the other side of the country only to have everything get screwed up 7 months later. However, considering the circumstances, I'd say he's handling everything like a sport. Of course he's upset and who knows what's going to happen when this whole thing is finally resolved. But one thing that's certain. This situation needs to be made right some how. If you haven't read Conan's open letter, read it below:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over “The Tonight Show” in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004, I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my “Tonight Show” in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the “Tonight Show” to 12:05 to accommodate the “Jay Leno Show” at 11:35. For 60 years, the “Tonight Show” has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the “Tonight Show” into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The “Tonight Show” at 12:05 simply isn’t the “Tonight Show.” Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the “Late Night” show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard, and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of “The Tonight Show.” But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet, a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the “Tonight Show,” I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,

Conan

You've got light in your eyes

2010-01-07T21:45:00.000-05:00

At work today, I had the urge to listen to Naive Melody by Talking Heads. Since I don't have that song on my iTunes at work, I decided to look it up on YouTube. I came across a video of a young(er) MGMT performing a cover of the song and I think it sounds pretty awesome.

It's probably going to snow tonight which I'm not too happy about. That's gonna be like four times since December. This winter is gonna be a tough one for sure. Georgia is supposed to get snow today and I know everyone is crossing their fingers that it's enough to close down school and work. Yay for three day weekends!

Heaven knows I'm miserable now

2009-12-28T23:29:00.003-05:00

Hello world! It's been months and ages since I last wrote and I'd like to get back into the swing of things (although when I say that, it never lasts too long does it?)

Finally feeling better. I've had a cold for almost a week but am happy to say that I didn't have to drink any Dayquil today which is a nice little victory. Last week was Christmas of course and I spent Christmas morning in church with my family, the afternoon at Aunt Angela's house helping her set the tables and get things ready for dinner and the evening eating way too much food and watching my little cousins open presents. Christmas really is for kids.

Mina, Jake and Natalia had a great time opening presents. And watching Dora and Diego on Nick Jr.

Now that I'm older, I don't really find that I ever want anything for Christmas since I buy the things that I want for myself throughout the year. However, I bought myself an early Christmas gift last week when I won a fantastic pair of Jeffrey Campbell boots on Ebay. I'd been looking for these boots ever since I saw Zana from Garbage Dress wear them in photos in one of her posts. I lost a bid on a pair a few months ago but would periodically check Ebay to see if another pair got listed. I'm happy to say that I now own a pair of those gorgeous boots and I didn't even have to pay an arm and a leg for them. The Internet is the best.

A lot has changed since I last posted. I started a new job as a music publicist at a record label, I got a kitten (who's now almost 6 months old), the Shakes broke up and Passion Pit is bigger than ever! The Antlers had one of the best albums of the year with Hospice and I have discovered the awesomeness that are BDG jeans from Urban Outfitters. Here's a picture of the cat from September.

My uncle named him Gigi. Yes, he. But we didn't know he was a boy when we started calling him that. So now we tell people that Gigi is short for Giovanni.

On Saturday, my family and I went to the annual Christmas dance that my Aunt Margaret's church has. I only just found a dress a couple of weeks ago but am happy to say that it fit me pretty well. It's from Express and is a pretty similiar to those popular banded dresses that I've seen a lot of in the last yera or so. Jeazette took this picture with my iPhone before we left the house.

Since my camera died as we were taking photos in the lobby (I could've sworn that those batteries were fully charged) most of the "action" shots from the night were taking by Adhalia with her camera. I'm hoping I can steal the ones she took and put them up on flickr soon.

I have the week off, so I spent the day at Aunt V's watching movies (and doing some laundry in between). Finally saw Brideshead Revisited, Brick Lane, and The Remains of the Day. Enjoyed all immensely and I'd suggest them to anyone. Tomorrow I will go back to my house since I have an appointment with the eye doctor on Wednesday and it's much easier to walk to the train station from my house than from over here.

I have loads of photos from shows I've gone to over the last 6 months but I'll get to that later. I'm happy that it's only Monday and I look forward to relaxing for the rest of the week.

Photo opp

2009-05-15T13:00:00.003-04:00

There are so many wonderful things about living in New York. The food. The sites. The people. But the best thing about New York for me are the shows! Let's face it, most bands swing through New York at some point and it's so awesome getting the opportunity to see really great music on any given random night in Manhattan or Brooklyn. Here are some photos from my last few show going experiences. Enjoy!

More of Harlem Shakes @ Starr Space

More photos of Hymns, The Antlers and Here We Go Magic @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

More of Cut Off Your Hands @ Webster Hall

More of Chairlift @ Bruar Falls

P.S. I took some photos of Love Language at Bell House but they seem to have disappeared from my computer and most unfortunately, never made it to my flickr. The only ones I have are the ones that I posted to my Facebook so maybe I'll get around to adding those to my flickr at some point.

SXSW

2009-05-15T12:13:00.002-04:00

I have some pictures to post from the last 5 or 6 shows I've been too, but I'll save that for later. Let's talk about SXSW 2009 shall we?

I spent three days at the festival with my friends/workmates and had the most amazing time ever. The Shakes were incredible! I saw them on four different occasions over those three days (twice on the 19th, my first day in Austin) and each time they seemed to get better and better. How is that possible? That band is flawless live. I don't think it's possible for them to play a bad show. And that's definitely a good trait to have. For those of you who are fans of the Brooklyn (nope, they're not from Harlem) group, you can catch them on tour with Passion Pit next month. Dates here. I'm going to be in Atlanta the same time they play Drunken Unicorn and I'm so excited for the show!

I also saw COYH more than once during SXSW and they didn't disappoint either. I caught sets from them at the Onion party at Radio Room, The NME showcase at Aces Lounge and finally the Rolling Stone party at Peckerheads. They were explosive! I think they played something like 10 shows over the course of the festival which is amazing considering how energized each performance was. Since I love them so much, I also caught their set at the Ra Ra Riot show at Webster Hall last month. It was bittersweet as it was Brent's last show with the band (for at the very least a year). He's taking time off due to a hearing problem. I hope he gets better so that he can come back to the band. I saw the band (with their awesome new drummer) last week at Mercury Lounge and they sounded stellar. I think this will be a great year for them.

Another band that blew me away at SXSW was The Love Language. Mike played them in the office pretty frequently for about a month so I was familiar with their music before SXSW. But seeing them live was a totally different ballgame. Their infectious pop song "Lalita" was made even better when one of their keyboardists jumped off the stage and began dancing in the crowd banging her tambourine. And the melodies on "Manteo" were gorgeous. I was hoping that they'd play "Stars" but they didn't, even though I saw them at Fader Fort AND Peckerheads. But no worries. They played "Stars," "Providence" and a wicked cover of "Hello Mary Lou" at their Bell House show a few weeks ago.

So yeah I saw a few bands more than once. But I was totally cool with that. I also got to see old friends (The Prids and Entertainment), wonderfully energetic and show stopping peeps from across the pond (The Future of the Left and Ebony Bones) and supa-dupa mega stars who love to blog and type IN ALL CAPS!!!! (Kanye "Gay Fish" West. jk Kanye). I made some new friends and ran into some old ones. I also had so many musicians sightings, my mouth was agape in amazement 40% of the time. I love that bands are just walking around freely at SXSW. For instance, when I was walking to the Driskill for a listening party, I ran into The Duke Spirit. And I mean THE ENTIRE BAND! I was too caught off guard to stop the entire band (Liela was totes gorgeous) but I managed to stop Olly. Amanda was with me and said, "Oh, so THAT's the Duke Spirit?" Anyone who knows me knows how much I love them. Hell if you read this blog, you definitely know. I also saw Amanda Palmer when we were coming back from the Gigantic Music showcase at Scoot Inn, Steve Aoki when I was killing time after seeing the Shakes at Cheers, Janelle Monae at a pizza place after watching Kanye at Fader Fort...I mean the list goes on and on. I also love the free EVERYTHING in Austin: Booze, food, portable fans, etc. And the burritos. Burritos are fantastic at 2 in the morning, if you didn't know. I managed to not have any barbecue though. I don't know how that happened but definitely next time.

So in conclusion, SXSW 2009 was awesome and I'll be going to Austin every March from now on until I die. Yep Yep.

I of course took a CRAP load of pictures in Austin and you can view them here, here and here.

Who rocks the party that rocks the body?

2009-03-18T22:45:00.000-04:00

So kiddies, it happened. I actually saw Les Savy Fav last Friday night at Brooklyn Masonic Temple. It was amazing!!!! While they didn't play "The Lowest Bitter" they did break out "Patty Lee," "We'll Make A Lover Of You," "Raging in the Plague Age," and "The Sweat Decends" to name a few. It was a sleepver themed show with Tim Harrington wearing a woman's nightgown and shower cap. Oh yeah and some sort of green face stuff. There was a pillow fight, a game of Light as a feather, stiff as a board and lots of liquids flying everywhere. Epic! Opening act Sean Bones was pretty wicked too.

More photos here.

I'm headed off to Austin tomorrow morning for SXSW! Yes I know that it started today but there will still be lots of fun to be had when I get there tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to take loads of pictures to document how rad it will all be. I'm probably going to be severely exhausted too, but that's alright. It's just a few days and it'll be lots of fun!

If anyone actually reads this thing and wants to keep up with what I'm doing in Austin, feel free to visit my Twitter. I'll be updating that as often as I can (or whenever something cool happens).

I just see you

2009-03-13T13:16:00.000-04:00

'Ello! Here are some photos from The Duke Spirit/Mobius Band/Shilpa Ray and The Happy Hookers show a few weeks ago at Music Hall of Williamsburg. More photos here.

I waste all our time

2009-03-03T00:05:00.000-05:00

I'm so terrible! Haven't written in weeks and it's 11:30 pm on a Monday night. I usually can't get to sleep at a reasonable hour on Monday nights as my sleeping schedule is off because of the weekend, so I'll probably be awake for another hour or so.

March is here and in a few weeks I will be attending SXSW in Austin for the first time ever in my life! I am beyond stoked, kind of anxious and already overwhelmed. There's just so much going on! A friend of mine has been sending me party updates over the past 2 weeks and I can already tell that there's no way that I'll get a chance to see everyone I want to see, even though most bands are playing more than two shows it seems. I hear White Denim played around 14 shows last year! Insane! Anywho, I'm looking forward to catching sets from The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, COYH, The Love Language and my lovely friends Entertainment and The Prids. The Prids and Entertainment are both playing the Post-punk.com show at Spiderhouse on the 19th so I've gotta find myself there at some point to see their sets. I haven't seen The Prids in probably two years so I'm definitely due. Can't wait to hear "Shadow and Shadow" and (hopefully) "Before We Are" live again.
Last night, Nerrissa, Jeazette, Adhalia and I went to The Haunt to see a few bands play. Caught sets from Beyond The Reach, Terrorsaur, Nine Days to Drop, For The Foxes, Romance N' Ruin and Ever Since. The Haunt is located in Yonkers and I was shocked to find that there was a venue so close to my house! I never would've guessed. It's definitely a great place for smaller local and up and coming bands to play and reminds me a lot of the main floor of the Masquerade back in Atlanta.

I've been to three great shows over the past few weeks including the Shakes at Southpaw, The Duke Spirit at Music Hall of Williamsburg and the Rabbits at Mercury. All were fantastic. Gotta talk about Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers who played both The Shakes and Duke Spirit shows. This girl is amazing! She has kind of haunting yet commanding voice and plays a harmonium on stage. I'm kind of always fascinated when someone plays an instrument that you don't really see in most bands so Shilpa is a breath of fresh air. She's one of those performers that you can't keep your eyes off. She and her Happy hooker will certainly make a lot of noise this year.

I'm thinking of purchasing a tripod for my camera and think that I've settled on this one. I really want to start taking daily outfit photos. Anyone have any suggestions?

Also trying to find a good pair of ankle skinny jeans or jeans that fit like leggings that I can wear with my Besty Boots so drop a line if you have any ideas for that as well. Jeazette said that I should look into J Brand but they're a bit more than I'd like to spend.

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards

2009-02-09T12:52:00.005-05:00

Thankfully, I was able to watch the entire Grammys telecast from beginning to end without getting kicked out of a room so that one of my cousins could watch something terrible on TV like Desperate Housewives (I'm talking to you Adhalia). Like a lot of my other twitter friends, I posted updates all show long. Sasha Frere-Jones' were the best hands down! ("So You Think You Can Dance? Season 5 winner, Thomas Yorke"). But before I give my recap, I've gotta say, WHAT THE EFF CHRIS BROWN!

Chris Brown and Rihanna were both scheduled to appear at the awards show last night but cancelled last minute. It seems as though the two were in some sort of altercation early Sunday morning which lead to Chris turning himself into the LAPD. He's out on $50,000 bail. Now, we shouldn't make any assumptions until we know all the facts but it's not looking good. If he physically hurt her, it's gonna leave a huge black cloud over the rest of his career. That's a shame since he's still so young. People will forgive but they never forget.

This whole situation seems to be constantly evolving so I'm sure we'll get more info as the days go on. You can read more about the incident here, here, here and here.

Ok, now on to happier things. Lil Wayne, Coldplay, and Alison Krauss and Robert Plant were the big winners last night. They only handed out a few awards during the 3.5 hour telecast but that's totally ok. The Grammys are all about the performances that you talk about the next day around the watercooler.

Mostly all the performances were good. I really enjoyed Jennifer Hudson and Radiohead (with the USC Marching Band -- Bring on your Fleetwood Mac/Tusk jokes).

Even though I'm not a big country fan, Carrie Underwood can sing the hell out of practically any song and she was amazing. It was fun singing along with Neil Diamond (SO GOOD SO GOOD!) as he did "Sweet Caroline" and Whitney Houston even made an appearence (she looked gorgeous and apparently blew everyone away at Clive Davis' party the night before).

I was SOOO happy to see super preggers M.I.A. out on stage doing a wee bit of "Paper Planes" (would've been so epic if she had won) and then "Swagger Like Us" with Jay Z, Lil Wayne, Kanye and TI. Her outfit was classic Maya and being 9 months preggers and about to pop didn't stop her from jumping around on stage. She is gangsta.

Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift are apparently BFF now, thanks to the fact that they've each dated a Jonas (Miley with Nick (the cute one) and Taylor with Joe (the hot one)). They performed a song called "Fifteen" together. Have only heard a little Taylor Swift, but she's totally adorbs. And she can actually write a song.

Adele won for "Best New Artist" and she was so cute! Genuinely surprised and grateful to win. Her album, 19, was defintiely one of my favorites from last year. Think she'll definitely sell a few more copies of that now that she's a Grammy winner. And I'm pretty sure it won't be the kiss of death for her.

Had never listened to Sugarland but my country music loving cousin Jeazette tells me that they're so hot right now. I'm from Atlanta and for the first 13 years of my life, my father rarely changed the car radio dial from Kicks 101.5. So I heard a lot of country growing up. Sugarland seems to be one of the good ones. Their performance was awesome and what was even more awesome is when Adele performed "Chasing Pavement" right after them.

Sir Paul McCartney performed the Beatles classic, "I Saw Her Standing There," with Dave Grohl on drums. Any time a Beatle does anything, it's awesome. And his new girlfriend is super hot!

Ya'll know how I feel about TI. I hope they don't send him to jail :( Anywho, here's him and his BFF JT

View the full list of Grammy winners here. There are videos all over the internet with every performance you could possibly want to see. Happy hunting!

If I could lend you this feeling I would

2009-02-07T22:58:00.003-05:00

I got my ticket for The Duke Spirit at MHOW. Where's yours?

Maxwell's tickets

MHOW tickets

Bob Marley would've been 64 yesterday. Happy Birthday Robert.

I wish I'd stayed asleep today

2009-02-06T17:45:00.000-05:00

Lady Sovereign has a new song called "I'm So Human" which samples "Close to Me" by my besties The Cure. I'm not sure how I feel about it. What do you think?

Ok. So. I'm trying not to freak out but the Mercury Lounge building is up for sale. The venue is safe for now (their lease runs through 2018) but if they sell it so that they can turn it into something lame (and something lame would be anything other than what it already is) I will cry a thousands tears. The Mercury Lounge is my ABSOLUTE favorite venue in all of NYC. I've been to more shows there than any other venue in New York. So keep your fingers crossed that nothing happens to it. And I mean EVER.

Someone in a google group I'm apart of was looking for a contact for The Murder City Devils this morning. I first thought, "Derek Fudesco's Murder City Devils?" (as if there was another). And then I thought, "But didn't they break up?" Well, turns out they are doing a short tour of the west coast this month. Their old label, Sup Pop, is going to reissue their three albums. Pretty rad huh? If you live on the west coast, check out tour dates here. Derek Fudesco was a member of one of my all time favorite bands Pretty Girls Make Graves. They broke up in 07. Don't talk about it. I'm still in mourning.

Mike pointed out that while Glastonbury has sold out (even though the lineup has yet to be confirmed), The Langerado Festival (which was was to take place March 6-8 in Miami) was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. I've been to a few festivals and usually I have a miserable time because there are too many people, the weather is wretched and there are lines everywhere. What magical enchantment happens at Glastonbury that makes people pull out their wellies and trek out into a swamp to camp out for three days?

M.I.A. is totally performing at the Grammys this Sunday, even though she might pop the baby out on stage. No one on the corner has swagger like Maya. Speaking of the Grammys, this will be the first year in like 3 that I'm actually going to be able to watch the entire thing. They usually happen on the same night we go out to eat for my Uncle's birthday. Well we had his birthday dinner last Sunday so my Grammy viewing is safe this time around.

I'm going to see the incomparable Steven Patrick Morrissey at Carnegie Hall in March. I've seen Morrissey twice, the last time being in October of 2007 at Hammerstein. He puts on a FANTASTIC show and I can't wait to see him! He's sure to play this song.

They couldn't think of something to say the day you burst

2009-02-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

As promised, photos from Wednesday night's show at Bowery.

More photos here.

It's about time

2009-02-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

The man who killed Gits lead singer Mia Zapata in 1993 has been sentenced to 37 years for her murder. Jesus Mezquia was actually arrested over 6 years ago after DNA evidence connected him to Mia's rape and murder. I remember seeing a profile of this case ages ago on Unsolved Mysteries and being so annoyed that they hadn't found her killer yet. I'm so glad that they caught him and that he's paying for his crime.

I first heard The Gits in college when I found one of their CDs in the back room of WUOG's music library. I vaguely remembered watching that episode of Unsolved Mysteries and went online to read more about the band. It's so sad when someone who is so talented is taken away in such a senseless and awful way, especially when they haven't even reached their highest potential. Hoepfully, Mia's family, friends and fans can find some sort of peace knowing that he killer will no longer get away with what he's done.

Can you hear my hert beat like a hammer?

2009-02-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

The new Metric album, Fantasies, comes out in April. Watch the video below to hear a little of "Help I'm Alive." Seriously, Emily has one of the most beautiful voices ever.

PP was awesome last night. I took a few pictures which I'll probably get around to posting tomorrow. I had an awesome time singing with my girls down in front. Highlights were "Better Things" and "Sleepyhead" of course. Check out some photos and video from last night here, here and here.

Like dirt bikes going on stage

2009-02-04T09:04:00.002-05:00

If you're not at this show tonight consider yourself having the worst Wednesday ever. Don't worry. The rest of us will be dancing our asses off in your absence.

Is this real life?

2009-02-03T21:50:00.000-05:00

I ask myself that sometimes too, David.

I've watched this video like 10 times today. It's HILARIOUS!

Irish Blood, English Heart

2009-02-02T14:33:00.011-05:00

Happy Monday everyone! I hope your weekends went by slowly and you had loads and loads of fun. But chances are that didn't happen. Chances are you got little sleep, didn't finish everything you needed to do and were stuck in line for ages at Stop & Shop with the morons who waited last minute to go shopping for their Superbowl parties (maybe you should go without the Spinach dip this year if it's already 5 o'clock? I dunno, just saying). Anywho, if your weekend was a little drab, here's something to to give you a jolt. Naked Morrissey? Yes please!

The above photo has been floating around the internet over the last couple of days. It's the inside sleeve of Morrissey's new single, "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris." Moz is in the middle. I hope that whoever I end up with when I'm settled down looks that good when he's 49! Morrissey's right hand man Boz Boorer is shown the second from the right. Why is he hiding?

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that Morrissey is playing the first night of Coachella this year. He goes on right before Paul McCartney who is headlining Friday night. The Cure headlines Sunday night and The Killers on Saturday. Other acts include Amy Winehouse (assuming she doesn't OD first), No Age, Jenny Lewis, A Place to Bury Strangers, Leonard Cohen, White Lies, TV on The Radio, The Fleet Foxes and basically everyone else who had a big year last year/will have a big year this year/you want to hear a new album from. Coachella happens April 17th-19th in Indio California. Tickets are $300 which is pretty effing pricey. But there's a payment plan available if you can't afford to shell out all the dough at once. Buy your tickets here. And if you feel inclined to buy one for me as well, I won't object.

Speaking of the maybe soon to be ex Mrs. Fielder-Civil, she has decided to put Mitch and Janis in charge of her $21 million dollar fortune. Good idea. It'll be like getting an allowance all over again!

Pitchfork's site was acting all whacky last week so they've posted links to all the stories we may have missed.

TV on the Radio is playing SNL this weekend. I'd love it if they played "DLZ" but that probably won't happen.

OMG. LSF at Brooklyn Masonic Temple March 13th. If you know me, you know why this is major. Tickets on sale tomorrow.

White Lies is playing Bowery March 26 and 27th with Friendly Fires and the Soft Pack. Check them out if haven't heard them. They're awesome.

The News of the World must have spies EVERYWHERE because anytime a celebrity does something naughty, they always manage to get a picture of it. This time, Michael Phelps got caught getting high. A lot of people smoke pot and it's not really a big deal. But he's on the cover of a freaking Corn Flakes box. I bet Wheaties is happy that he turned them down. Now we'll have to wait to see if he loses sponsorships and the halo that's been hanging over his head.

Brooklyn Vegan posted pictures from the Thermals show. I've had a total girl crush on Kathy Foster for like 6 years. She's awesome. I keep hoping that she'll go on tour with her other band, All Girl Summer Fun Band, soon. I heart them.

Photographer Natalie Curtis has posted her November photos on her website. My favorite is the one of the random dude.

I don't care about football so I didn't watch the Superbowl (who won anyway?) I didn't even watch the half time show. But I heard good things about Jennifer Hudson's performance of the Star-Spangled Banner. I didn't even think she was going to make a public performance until the Grammys. Below is her amazing performance of the national anthem. Not an easy song to sing.

In other news, a little PP at Bowery Ballroom on Wednesday night. It's going to be EPIC!

Sleepyhead

2009-01-28T23:26:00.000-05:00

I'm off to bed

I don't mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status

2009-01-27T22:47:00.004-05:00

It's supposed to snow sometime tonight and I can't for the life of me understand why we've been getting such a shit ton of the white stuff lately. Yes I know I live in New York, but I've been here for three years and haven't seen this much snow. I guess I should be grateful that it's not a blizzard every time but still. It's kind of nuisance.

I'm thinking about getting a tripod for my camera. I want one so that I can take "What I Wore Today" pics like Nubby. And maybe even post them to Wardrobe Remix. I'm still debating. I might want to buy another pair of UNIQLO jeans instead.

When we were shopping with Micky on Sunday, we went into UNIQLO (he was looking for a blue vest or tie). When Pinky was in town last year, we went to UNIQLO and I remember her telling me that she really liked their stuff. I couldn't remember if she said that the sizes ran big or small, so when I found a pair of skinny jeans I really liked, I picked up the two sizes I teeter between. The smaller size fit incredibly well and I'm certain that I'm going to have to get this jean in every non offensive color they make it in (I got wine this time around).

UNIQLO is a Japanese company and the SoHo store in New York is actually the only one in the US (well at least according to their website anyway). The true test of the jeans will come when I finally wear them (which could be months, who knows) but if they look as good walking down the street after a long ass day as they did standing in that dressing room, I am sold.

I really tried to stay up and watch The Walkmen on Conan last night but I think I knocked out sometime around 12:30. No worries though! Thanks to the wonders of the technology, I was able to watch their performance on the NBC website. "In the New Year" was epic!

This is what was going on in the office two Fridays ago. It was awesome.

Why does EVERYONE have to do a cover of "Love Song"? I mean, I know it's like the best known Cure song, but it isn't the most romantic. Check out "Halo." Now that's some romantic shit.

Michael K is on a roll. EVERY post he made today had me dying on the floor. It's not unusual for me to chuckle at all of his celebrity commentary but for some reason today I found them especially funny. I really liked this one:

As some of you know, Fox is going to fuck with the legendary TV experience that is Absoultely Fabulous. Why, you ask? Because that's what we do in America. We take TV shows from other countries and try to find ways to get them canceled in record time. Although, Kath & Kim is still breathing and I'm not sure why. I'll have to ask Satan that during our weekly conference call .

In other news, Grace keeps playing the new Animal Collective in the office. And I can't get enough of this song.

This will be a better year

2009-01-26T23:35:00.004-05:00

Long time no talk, huh? I've been busy doing everything and nothing. That's how it seems to go sometimes. This post will be full of randomness so hold on.

First off, Happy New Year! We all have a fresh new start. And if your 2008 was as shitty as mine, you need it! We've got a fantastic new president who will hopefully not only fix the problems we have but make us seem a little more human to people in other parts of the world. We care. We know. We see what's going on. And we want change too.

I spent New Years Eve in White Plains at the Lazy Boy Bar with my cousins, eating wings and listening to songs on the jukebox. A DJ played later on in the night, much to my disappointment. I made Jeazette look in her bag for a solid 5 minutes for 50 cents so that I could play "The Sound Of Settling." Sad to say that I never got the chance to sing "Bah Bah. Bah Bah."

I saw The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire in the past month. Both were great. I was happy to see Mickey Rourke take home the best actor trophy at the Golden Globes and very happy for Slumdog for taking home every award they were nominated for. A lot of great movies have come out lately and that's kind of rare.

Jeazette's birthday was this week so we went out for dinner on Saturday. She picked a Thai place in White Plains called Reka's. It was phenominal! I had spring rolls and the chicken pad thai (I usually go for the chicken pad thai if I've never been to the restaurant before. If you mess that up, everything else will taste like poo most likely.) Also had fried ice cream for dessert. When we got home that night, Jeazette and I watched Funny Games with Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt. I'd wanted to see it for a while. Totally twisted and a bit unsatisfying I have to admit. But totally creepy in the "this could totally happen in real life" way which isn't often the case with horror/thriller movies. So at the very least, I appreciate that. Also, I've had a crush on Michael Pitt since Murder by Numbers. Holla at ya girl Napoleon!

There seem to be a lot of birthdays this month. Why is that? Kind of weird. My aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins all have birthdays this month. Not to mention my grandmother and several friends. Anyone else been buying a bunch of birthday cards this month? My wallet is empty.

Yesterday, Adhalia, Jeazette and I went into the city to hang out with Micky. We had lunch at this really nice cafe on 9th and 30th (or was it 29th?) in Chelsea. Can't for the life of me remember what it's called but the food was great (I had a burger with fries) and if you order something on the brunch menu, you get drinks to go with it (we all got mimosas). Then we hit up a few stores on Broadway before going back to Micky's and hanging out for a bit. We listened to his Santogold station on Pandora and I was surprised that I had most of the records that were being played (Lily Allen, The Cure, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

Well, I think that's all I have for major updates in my little world.. So here's a little housekeeping.

The Walkmen are on Conan tonight. Watch it. Don't know what song they'll play, but it's sure to be awesome.

The Duke Spirit is playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 16th. I'm pretty sure I'll be going. I know that I'll have a good time and it's always fun going to a venue that I've never been to before. They're also playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Small venue and I'd love to see them there. But can you take the Path to Maxwell's? And how late does it run? I'll have to investigate. The band is holding a contest where the winner gets to go to a show of their choice and annouce them on stage. All you have to do is make a YouTube video. Get the deets here.

COYH have a new video for their song "Turn Cold." They're gonna be on tour with Ra Ra Riot soon. Tour dates here.

The Harlem Shakes record comes out in March. Listen to "Strictly Game" on their MySpace. It's my new anthem.

Ok, I think that's all I got for now. I'll try to be a better updater.

Come and join us in the trenches

2008-12-30T12:05:00.003-05:00

The last couple of weeks have been busy but fun for me. Went to the Walkmen/Dodos show on the 16th which was EPIC! I'd never seen either band live and rarely do I go to a show where all the acts put on a great performance. Earfarm took some great photos which you can check out here and here. And if you don't have Visitor or You & Me you really should get them, like yesterday.

We had our work holiday party a couple of weeks ago and it was a blast. A lot of pictures were taken.

The rest you can find on my flickr.

My mom is in town for Christmas and so far I think she's having a good time. We saw the Rockerfeller tree the day after she got in town. Afterwards we rushed over to Katz's Deli to get pastrami sandwiches before they closed. It's a Christmas tradition!

Christmas morning we went to church. Afterwards, we drove around looking for Captain Morgan. Couldn't find any in the stores that were open so we settled for Rasberry and Strawberry Smirnoffs. Had breakfast at Aunt Angelas where I was forced to watch the Yule Log. What's the big woop about that thing anyway?

Headed back to Aunt Angelas for dinner later in that day. Ate lots and lots of food, watched "A Christmas Story," hung out with the cousins and had a wicked tissue paper fight!

On Saturday, we went to the annual Christmas dance that my Aunt's church puts on. It was fun as always. We got dressed up, took lots of pictures, ate a lot of food and sweat out our clothes and hair from jumping up and down to the Vision Band. Proof below.

For New Years, my cousins and are are going to White Plains to a bar and hanging out there until about 11:30. Then we'll head on out to see the ball drop. White Plains does their own ball drop. I would never go back into the craziness that is Times Square on New Years. The out of towners can have that. Anywho, I hope that you and yours have a fantastic New Years Eve and I wish everyone the best for '09. Make it count!

I couldn't speak except to say how gorgeous that I thought you were to me

2008-12-15T00:26:00.000-05:00

Beth Ditto has new hair and it looks amazing!

What do you think I am or do you think at all?

2008-12-13T14:59:00.001-05:00

I saw Snowden at Mercury Lounge on the 3rd. Photos here. Their new songs sound awesome and I'm looking forward to their next record.

Christmas is around the corner and we've yet to do the necessary shopping. I'm afraid we're gonna be at the Galleria at 8 pm on Christmas Eve. Oh yeah and covering everything in tissue paper and putting them in bags til 1 in the morning. When will we learn?

I'm looking forward to the Walkmen/Dodos show on Tuesday night. Should be pretty wicked, especially since EVERYONE is going.

When I was in Atlanta, I saw Milk with Will and it was phenomenal. Looks like Sean Penn will easily pick up Best Actor nominations for all the major awards. Global Globe nominations were recently announced and of course he's nominated in that category. Thankfully, Heath Ledger is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category so voters won't have to choose between him and Sean Penn. I definitely want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler in the near future. All of those movies are nominated. I finally saw Four Minutes the other night and it was as good as I thought it would be.

Randomness over.

Comfy Cosey

2008-12-03T00:14:00.000-05:00

Helena Bonham Carter must be so comfortable all the time. I'm jealous.

I can't help it

2008-11-30T18:06:00.003-05:00

I saw my last Duke Spirit show of the year (at least I think it will be the last one) last night at the 40 Watt in Athens. They were brilliant as always. And for it being a rainy Saturday night during Thanksgiving weekend, there was a pretty good turn out. In addition to all of the gems they usually play, they also played "Echo Song" which is a b-side from Neptune (only way us US kids can get it is on import). You can listen to it on their MySpace page.

Besides putting out great records, The Duke Spirit also put on a great live show. Liela's voice is flawless and their sound is solid. I admire their endurance. They've been touring practically non stop since February and I've yet to see a mediocre performance out of them. They give 100% every time.

I also appreciate that they're so grateful to crazy fans like me who have seen them loads of times. They're such sweet people and I hope the rest of this year and next are extremely good to them. They deserve it.

More photos here.

I also took a few pictures of Eulogies, one of the opening bands. Check them out, they were really good.

The Duke Spirit is playing Matt Pinfield's Holiday Extravaganza show for 101.9 RXP on the 9th (a few other bands are playing including the Ting Tings) but it's sold out so I can't go. Bummers :( The station is giving away tickets to the show so maybe I'll try my luck there. If you'd like to enter the contest sign up here. The band is also playing David Letterman Letterman on December 8th

For those of you who don't live in NY, 101.9 RXP is a relatively new station. I believe that 101.9 was previously a smooth jazz station. It became The New York Rock Experience in February of this year.

Being from Atlanta, I grew up listening to 99x. Sitting in my room on Saturday mornings and listening to the countdown; laughing uncontroably to "The Morning X with Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy"; "The House of Retro Pleasure" (aka "Duplex of Retro Pleasure" aka "The Retroplex") with Steve Craig where I heard Echo and the Bunnymen for the first time. Thanks to 99x, my friend Stephanie won front row seats to see The Smashing Pumpkins at the Fox Theater, which was pretty major for a pair of 16 year old girls that were in love with them. I loved their Live X CDs, how they'd throw out shirts into the crowd during local shows and all the rad stuff that I got with my Freeloaders card.

As we all know, people don't listen to radio as much as they used to, thanks to internet radio, satellite radio, downloading, mp3 blogs, and a whole heap of other things. And unfortunately, 99x suffered from that. On January 25, 2008 99x stopped broadcasting on 99.7. They last song that was played was Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". While 99x now exist solely on the internet, it's not the same. When I came home in April and realized that I could no longer hear Steve Craig's voice at 1 in the afternoon talking about a great Altered Images song, I was crushed. Listening to The Retroplex was always one of my favorite things about coming home.

Former 99x DJ Sean Demery wrote an amazing post about the history of the station in his blog back in January. It was really interesting reading about how the station came to be and how it evolved, becoming probably the best rock station in the south.

In June of this year, Leslie Fram became the Program Director at 101.9 RXP. She also co-hosts the Morning Drive with Matt Pinfield. Leslie is kind of a legend in Atlanta and a lot of people credit her with giving them their start in music, whether it be supporting their band when others wouldn't or giving them a shot in radio. RXP has the potential to be a great station and it will certainly grow and prosper under Leslie's guidance. Steve Craig, another 99x alum also accepted a position at RXP. He's currently the midday host.

RXP promises not to rely on corporate playlists. I often wonder if bands I listen to would break out and become huge if they were only getting airplay on major radio stations. It's really hard to say. But if RXP truly does intend on playing good, new music, things may just change. I guess only time will tell. But it seems as though they're intent on doing things differently. And hopefully, that will make all the difference.

There's a world outside your window

2008-11-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

They've been playing Holiday music on most stations for the past two weeks now, which is kind of annoying considering it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But there's one song that I don't mind hearing at this time of year.

Blue star, shine your light

2008-11-24T15:18:00.002-05:00

When I was in college, I met a really cool girl named Melina. Melina and I shared a mutual friend, Elena. Elena and I went to the same high school and Melina had gone to school with Elena's sister. Elena was a year ahead of me in school but it just so happened that we ended up at the same college and living in the same dorm. Even though Melina and I both knew Elena, we probably wouldn't have become good friends had I not taped pictures of one of my favorite bands to my dormroom door. That band was the Deftones. Turned out Melina was a big Deftones fan as well and after meeting her, I had someone to share my 'tones obsession with.

I have so many great Deftones memories from over the years including the first time I saw them at Ozzfest in 1999; the time I caught Abe's drum stick when he threw them up into the air at their Tabernacle show in 2000; the time Melina and I bought tickets off a classmate for the sold out Big Day Out concert, praying that we'd get to hear "Back to School" live for the first time (which we did); the time we FINALLY heard "The Chauffeur" live after begging them forever to play it live; and the time we got to hang out with them one awesome night in Fort Mill South Carolina, making us the happiest girls ever in life.

While the Deftones are an incredibly talented band, one of the best things about them has always been their bass player Chi Cheng. I was fortunate to meet Chi on a few different occasions and he was always humble, incredibly kind and really appreciatve of the opportunity to play music for his fans. I remember one particular day in November of 2000 when Melina and I went up to Atlanta for a Deftones show at International Ballroom. Because we were super fans, we arrived at the venue really early (11 am to be exact) so that we could be one of the first people inside when the doors opened later that night. To our surprise, we weren't even the first ones there. A 16 year old kid from Alabama had made it there first. We thought, "Wow, how early did this kid have to get up to drive to Georgia from Alabama to make it there before 11 am?" We knew he had to be a big fan.

The weather was terrible that day. It was cold and rained on and off all day. While Melina and I had hoodies that kept us pretty warm, this 16 year old kid didn't have a jacket or anything and we felt really bad for him.

As the day went on we spotted a few members from the opening bands walking around and chatted and talked with them. But the highlight was definitely when members of the Deftones came out to talk to fans. Now Melina and I used to ask Chi questions on the Deftones messageboard pretty frequently. And somehow, with the hundreds of questions people would ask him, he would always answer ours. When we met him, he remembered the questions that we asked and we thought, "Wow, here's this big rockstar who actually knows who we are." And that felt really cool. Talking to Chi about music, politics and Buddhism, you could tell that he was really well informed about so many things and topics. But what came across the most about Chi that day was his kindness. When he saw that the 16 year old kid who had been waiting there all day was shivering because he didn't have a jacket on, he went onto the bus and gave the kid HIS jacket. I was truly amazed. Most regular people wouldn't have done that much less a rockstar. If we didn't know before, we definitely knew then that Chi wasn't just a rockstar. He was a good person too.

I mention all of this because a few weeks ago on November 3, Chi was involved in a really terrible car accident. His mother, Jeanne, has been updating the Deftones blog with Chi's condition. He's in a coma. While he's stable, his condition is obviously very serious. I pray for him every night. It's so funny how you can feel so connected to a band because of all of the times you've listened to their CD or how many times you've seen them in concert or all of the posters you have of them hanging in your room (I still have a little Deftones corner in my room in Atlanta). However, when you've met them and see what good people they are, it makes it even more difficult to hear when something horrible happens to them.

Luckily for Chi, he has a lot of people pulling for him between his band mates, his family & friends and his millions of fans. I also know that his will is strong and that he will fight to get better. So I ask you, if you pray, pray for Chi. And if you don't pray, send some good thoughts his way. If anyone else were in his position, I know that Chi would gladly do the same.

Melina and Chi in 2000

So caught up in my lone communion

2008-11-23T20:13:00.004-05:00

I'm so glad that I decided to get a ticket to see The Duke Spirit at Center Stage last night. As always they put on an incredible show and left me anxiously awaiting their headlining show in Athens next week.

I arrived at the venue probably 5 minutes before 8. The doors opened about 10 minutes later. Once I was inside I remembered that I'd been there before (when it was called Earthlink Live) back in 2002. I saw Kittie, Chimaira, Ill Nino and No One there. Now if you know me, you'll know that every time I've seen Kittie play live, something has happened to me. I always get hurt. This show was no exception. While some kid was crowd surfing, I tried to push him away from me as he was coming and my arm buckled and came out of its socket. Worst. Pain. Ever. It popped back into place after hanging there for a while, but it hurt like hell. Thankfully, I sustained no injuries at last night's show for which I am extremely grateful.

I talked to a very nice security guard while waiting for the show to start. Maybe he felt bad because I was by myself. As it got closer to 9, I got more and more excited of course. The band finally came out a little after 9 to "I Do Believe" and then plunged into "Send A Little Love Token". They're sticking to a set for this tour with Eagles of Death Metal so they played the same songs they played at Music Hall of Williamsburg last Sunday (I saw the setlist). Liela was in great form, very energetic and chatting with the crowd and being her usual charming self. I loved that they played to such an enthusiastic crowd. Sometimes, the crowds in New York just seem so over everything. But Atlanta crowds rarely act like they're too cool to have a good time and I really appreciate that. I'm sure the bands do as well.

Highlights for me were of course "Hello to the Floor," "Dog Roses," "Red Weather" and "Love Is an Unfamiliar Name." It's so good to hear older stuff as you tend to hear less and less of it with the more albums that a band puts out. Of course my favorite song from Neptune, This Ship Was Built to Last, sounded epic and Liela glanced over at me and smiled as I sang along. They closed with "Cuts Across the Land" which is another good oldie and you could tell that they left everyone who hadn't heard them before impressed.

I sat out in the lobby for awhile afterward and watched some of Eagles of Death Metal on the TV screens behind the bar. Then I decided to take off since unlike New York, the trains here stop running around midnight. As I was walking to the train station who should be coming from the other side of the street but Olly Bets, the Duke's drummer. When he crossed over to my side I told him how awesome they were and that this was my 6th time seeing them this year. For those of you keeping score at home I saw them twice in February at Mercury Lounge and Union Hall, twice in April at Bowery Ballroom and the 40 Watt (when they opened for Black Rebel), and once over the summer when they did that instore at the Apple Soho store (see picture)

Anywho, Olly couldn't believe that I'd see them so many times this year but he seemed genuinely appreciative so that was cool. I told him that I was going to their show at 40 Watt next week and I'm so looking forward to it. If you're not doing anything on the 29th, you should definitely go up to Athens and check out the show. It's a headling gig for them so I'm hoping that they'll pull out some gems that I haven't heard live before, like "Scratching Around," "This Heart Is A Lonely Hunter," or "A Wild Hope."

I took a few pictures at the show and I'm happy to say that a loto f them came out looking great. I think I finally found the perfect "show" setting on my camera, so that's cool.

More photos here.

Don't you think that you'd like to stay with me too

2008-11-19T00:52:00.000-05:00

While I got off to a not so great start this morning (I woke up an hour late but still managed to make it to work earlier than most days, go figure!) today was pretty good. Work was fun, I got home around 9, had dinner, watched some tv and imported some CDs into my iTunes. Still need to pick up a few records that have come out in recent weeks and will probably do that on Friday when I'm back home in Atlanta.

So I wish I was one of those girls that could just wear something fabulous every day. But I just don't have the energy. Or don't know how to make it seem effortless. Or just don't try. Usually I can have a cool outfit or good hair. But not both at the same time. There's a girl who post in Newest Wrinkle that can do both. Zana posts pictures of her outfits every now and then and I'm AMAZED at how put together she looks in every single photo. She posted some photos today and everything she's wearing looks fantastic. I'm never sure of when to wear a necklace or not. Or what shoes are best. I've bought a TON of shoes this year (including Jeffery Campbell oxfords, Steve Madden boots (tall and short) and Nine West 4 inch oxfords (in black and brown). But so far I've only worn the tall Steve Madden boots once and the Nine West black oxfords once. What am I saving the rest for?

I know a lot of it has to do with comfort. It's SOO easy to slip on a pair of sneakers and go. But most new shoes hurt, especially if there's a heel or you have wide feet like me. However, I have to remember that my favorite pair of boots (which now have holes in them and need to be taken to the shoe repair shop next to work pronto - they apparently work miracles there) were really uncomfortable at first, too. As were the Urban boots that I've been wearing a lot lately. It's important to break them in first and then you can practically live in them.

Nubby and Gala are two other girls whose styles I admire. Gala actually wrote a post called "What Should I Wear" today which is kind of a funny coincidence. Perhaps it would help me if I took a picture of my outfit every day. Then I'd be forced to put together something worth taking a picture of. Is that the trick? I've gotta find a balance of comfort and style. I'll work on it and get back to you.

In other news, I am SO in love with this song by Cut Off Your Hands called "Oh Girl". This band is from New Zealand and they remind me a lot of The Smiths. Yeah, I said it. They're THAT good. I'm sad that I missed them during CMJ but I'm sure they'll be back in NYC next year

Georgia, take me to the seeeeeaaaaaaaaaa

2008-11-18T00:40:00.002-05:00

My room is a mess. I'm trying to start packing for my trip to Atlanta but I can't really find the motivation. I'm just exhausted. I've been tired all day (maybe not enough sleep last night) and never did catch my second or even first wind. Hoping that I'll get a nice nights rest tonight.

I'm missing The Duke Spirit tonight and it's killing me a little inside. They opened for Eagles of Death Metal tonight at Bowery but the show sold out before I could get tickets. While I'll be seeing them twice when I'm back home in Georgia, I always feel odd not seeing them when they play in the city. Like I'm a bad fan or something. They played MHOW last night but as most of you know Brooklyn shows are rough for me unless I have a place nearby to crash afterwards. With as far uptown as I am, train rides too late at night can take FOREVER.

On Friday, I'm seeing Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson at Drunken Unicorn which I'm looking forward to. Seeing The Duke Spirit and Eagles of Death Metal on Saturday at Center Stage. Feel kind of bad that I'm missing Snowden on the 29th at The Earl (The Duke Spirit is headlining a show in Athens at the 40 Watt on that night and I just can't miss a Duke Spirit headlining show as I haven't seen one of those since February) but I will most likely be seeing them on the 3rd at Mercury Lounge anyway, even if I have to go alone.

I finally got to see Rival Schools in the last few weeks. Saw them at the Knitting Factory at the Brooklyn Vegan Showcase during CMJ and then at Mercury Lounge on the 6th. Both shows were amazing and they sound phenominal. I can't wait for the new record. The King Left was one of the openers at the Mercury Lounge show and they were great to watch. They totally rock out and sounded like 1000 times more amazing than when I saw them open for Snowden last year at Maxwell's.

To check out the pictures I took at Knitting Factory, visit my flickr.

I also saw Jaguar Love on Halloween at Mercury Lounge. It was pretty cool seeing J on stage again and he is a maniac on the drums. Also Johnny Whitney's voice is remarkable. I mean, how does he do it? The crowd loved Johnny and the rest of the boys and I was glad that I got to see them play.

Now that it's well past my bedtime, I think I'll hit the sack. I leave you with this fantastic interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle from 60 minutes last night.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Change

2008-11-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

Stop photoshopping my head on sexy bikini pictures

2008-09-15T13:08:00.000-04:00

If you haven't seen it yet, you're missing out.

I'm better for it

2008-09-12T14:25:00.003-04:00

I came across this video as I was listening to my last.fm library this afternoon. This is one of my favorite songs from the 90s. I loved Juliana Hatfield when I was a kid. Literally, like a 14 year old kid. Too young to ever see her play, I didn't get a chance to catch her live until I was in college. She played Caledonia Lounge and after her show I got to tell her that "Make It Home" was one of the first songs I learned to play on guitar. And of course I still remember how to play it. "Universal Heartbeat" is a track from her record Only Everything. Great video, great song.

Nothing will happen to me

2008-09-11T18:21:00.006-04:00

When we were at Barnes & Noble on Sunday (killing some time before seeing Mirrors) I bought the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian. It was so good that I've already finished reading it. The film version comes out tomorrow and stars the fantastically talented Toni Collette and the very suave Aaron Eckhart. While I haven't seen it, I hear that Summer Bishil, who plays 13 year old Jasira (the main character) does a phenomenal job. I read a profile of her in I think Paper magazine a while back and it made me really want to read the book.

Without giving too much away, Towelhead really made me think about how we see ourselves, how we see others and what makes people do the things they do. While Jasira could be considered a very lost little girl who often does things when she knows she shouldn't, you can't help but feel sorry for her. A lot of her actions are just reactions to things in her life that no child should have to deal with. And who says any of us wouldn't have done the same things at her age, especially if we were confused, scared or just lonely. While there are times where you just want to shake some sense in to her, at others you just want to give her a hug because you realize that's what she really needs. I think a lot of people will empathize with her.

The title Towelhead will surely shock some people as well. But I'm sure that is its intent. Racism is definitely a strong theme in the book, especially since it takes place in 1990 when the US is involved in the Gulf War. When Jasira's Irish mother sends her to Texas to live with her Lebanese father, she encounters racism from kids at school, the 10 year old boy she babysits next door, and even her own father, who, although he claims not to be a racist, does not want Jasira to hang out with Thomas, a black boy who she likes at school. Is he really only concerned that Jasira will have to face the same rough time he and her mother did when they were married? Or is it his own underlying prejudices?

I was only nine years old in 1990 and so I can't really recall the racial sentiments in the country at that time. But in the grand view of the history of the world, it wasn't that long ago. And it always saddens me that people, even 18 years ago, could hold such prejudices against others just because of their ethnic background. It still goes on today. But just maybe, this book will make people realize that racism is something that should be left in the past.

And while the sexual awakening of a young girl will surely make some people very uncomfortable, I think its important to show how necessary it is for young people, especially girls, to feel comfortable with their bodies and who they are. They should also feel comfortable enough to go to the adults in their life who they trust, respect, and look up to and have them give them honest and straight forward answers to the questions they have, without making them feel ashamed for asking them. Too many bad things can happen when there's a lack of communication, and I think that is shown quite well in the book.

Over the past few years, I've tried to read books before I see the movie. The book is better 99.9% of the time. But I have a good feeling like this movie will most certainly due justice to the book. I believe in Toni, Aaron and especially in Summer.

Gina Gershon as Sarah Palin

2008-09-11T13:25:00.002-04:00

Funny stuff

See more Gina Gershon videos at Funny or Die

If you say so, I'll leave home

2008-09-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

The weather was terrible yesterday but it's a lot nicer today. Fall is approaching and I'm very much looking forward to it. It was a hot summer. I've just gotten over being sick (I had tonsillitis and spent Labor Day in the ER). My mom says that I need to start taking my vitamins regularly. I'm really bad about taking my vitamins. Perhaps I need one of those trusty pill boxes with the days of the week on them? Maybe not.

I met Rachel Zoe in Bryant Park on Monday. I saw a sneak peak of her new show on Bravo, The Rachel Zoe Project, a couple of weeks ago and I really liked it. I've seen a few famous people here and there since I moved to NY, but I've never actually gone up to any of them. It's almost as if they don't live in the same world as the rest of us, so when you see them outside in the "real world" it's a little strange. But I was just sitting there talking on the phone to my aunt and I saw Rachel and her assistant walk up the stairs and into the park. Rachel sat down as her assistant called somoene on the phone. When I got up to leave, I decided to say hello. She was very nice, shook my hand and said thanks when I wished her good luck with the show. I think most people's apprenhsion of going up to famous people is the fear that they'll be complete assholes. I'm happy to say that Rachel was as nice as can be.

If you don't have the Does It Offend You, Yeah CD, You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into, you should really get it because it's all kinds of awesome. "With a Heavy Heart" and "Dawn of the Dead" are personal favorites. I feel so out of the loop with music these days (as I've spent most of the year listening to The Duke Spirit and The Cure). However, with CMJ coming up soon, I hope to get back into the swing of things. Lots of great bands will be coming into town in the next few months and I look forward to seeing a few of them.

I recently purchased tickets to two shows that I'm VERY excited about. The first is Jaguar Love who will be performing at Mercury Lounge on Halloween. Yes, it's very cool that members of Pretty Girls Make Graves and Blood Brothers got together to form a band. I think everyone should like them on principal alone. However, their music is actually quite fantastic.

The other post Pretty Girls Make Graves Bands for those of you interested include:

Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death (Andrea)
Night Canopy (Nick)
The Moonrats (Nathan)
The Cave Singers (Derek)

I also purchased tickets to see the one and only RIVAL SCHOOLS at Mercury Lounge November 6th. It's already sold out (as is their show at Maxwell's in NJ) so I'm SOO happy that I didn't wait to get tickets. I never got the chance to see them live and United By Fate is such an important album for me. It's SOO my sophomore year in college. Rival Schools played a show in Athens once and all of my friends went. I couldn't make it since I was out of town. They all gushed about how great the show was and I've always regretted missing it. But now I get to see them in my favorite NYC venue. Once it starts getting colder, I'll have to start rocking my Rival Schools hoodie again. If you'd like some Rival Schools merch, there's a great sale going on over at their Merch Direct store. Perhaps their making room for new merch? Rival Schools' wikipedia page says that they've been writing new material, so maybe a new album is on its way as well.

As a side note, Merch Direct is owned by Justin Beck (of Glassjaw) who is married to the beautiful Melissa Beck (formally Howard -- She was in the New Orleans season of Real World and on Girls Behaving Badly). Melissa just annouced yesterday on her blog that she's pregnant! Congratulations to Melissa and Justin. That baby is going to be all kinds of gorgeous.

Happy Fourth!

2008-07-04T10:30:00.000-04:00

Consindering that several past 4th of July days involved me sitting in a hot park at one of my mom's craft fairs, I feel like today will be a good day. Don't know if there's gonna be any cookout or picnic involved in my day today, but to be honest, doesn't matter either way.

Adhalia brought over some Robutssin for me last night and I actually had a pretty good nights rest. Thank GOD! I think I've gotten over the hump at least.

Hope everyone enjoys their day off. And as a little gift, check out this adorable kid from America's Got Talent.

Drink Applejuice. OJ will kill you.

2008-07-03T19:08:00.002-04:00

Actually, I really HATE apple juice. So it's OJ for me all the way!

I'm feeling a little better today. My mom is in town from Atlanta and she bought me loads of orange juice to drink. Half a cartoon through, I can already tell that its vitaminy goodness is working its magic. I think I slept for a total of 3 hours last night. For the longest time I just couldn't fall asleep. To much tossing and turning and nose blowing and coughing to settle myself down. And then I felt like I might puke and that's never good. So I got up and made myself some green tea and that helped. The only green tea I drink is Lipton Green Tea with Honey. Actually, there's a raspberry flavor that's pretty delicious too. I keep a box of both of those as well as a box of Tazo Chai at my Aunt V's house so I'm never without tea on the weekends.

Anywho, it sucks that I'm gonnna be sick on the 4th. I can tell that I'm gonna be sick for at least the next couple of days. This is one of those bitches that just has to run its course. Having a cold and being out in the hot sun are just not good combinations. Hopefully, I can still manage to have some kind of fun this weekend. And if not, I'm sure my neighbors will have fun for me as there will probably be a bloc party every night until Monday.

Nerrissa has next week off and is taking mommy out into the city to go do cool tourists things like shopping on canal street. I wish I could go! But I'm looking forward to going to Kings Avenue Tattoo next Saturday to have my consultation with Grez. I can't believe it's time already. This will be my first time getting inked so I'm definitely anxious about it. Hopefully, I'll be mad tuff about the whole thing and won't freak out or make an idiot out of myself. I mean, lots of people get tattoos. It can't be THAT bad...right?

* Cough Cough* I'm sick

2008-07-02T19:30:00.001-04:00

Just so you know, I have a vicious, evil cold that is reeking havoc on my immune system. I cough, I sneeze, I blow my nose every 30 seconds. It's great fun. Not to mention all the congestion and the sore throat. I feel like my head is going to explode. Anybody else have a summer cold? It's the worst.

I bought some NyQuil a few days ago but that hasn't done jack shit. Despite the expiration date saying December 2008, I have a sneaking suspicion that this stuff isn't as potent as the NyQuil hanging out in the medicine cabinet of my Aunt V's house. Now that shit will knock you out for hours and hours on end. Once, when Nerrissa was sick, she took some and we had to check on her to make sure she wasn't dead, she was asleep for so long. That's the NyQuil I need.

Anywho, this morning I got some Dayquil (in the liquid form; when that orange fluid goes down my throat, i actually feel like it's doing something" and some Tylenol Cold Multi-Sympton Severe. My shit is severe like whoa. Hopefully Tylenol and Dayquil will beat this summer cold like it stole something and give me a much needed good nights sleep.

I need to write about so much. I need to write about Snowden and The Cure shows and Nikka Costa. Hopefully, I'll get around to that shortly....

You don't look like I look back

2008-04-11T01:24:00.003-04:00

A funny thing happened on the way to The Duke Spirit show on Tuesday....

Dirk and I could not find the Bowery Ballroom. Ok, so yeah you're going to find out that I'm not the downtown LESider you thought I was. Ok, you probably didn't think that, but as many times as I've been to Mercury Lounge, you'd think that I'd have no problem finding Bowery. I mean, they ARE in the same neighborhood. I partially blame hopstop, and the man that we stopped to ask for directions at the liquor store. But I thank the nice couple that told us we had to walk back towards the bridge. And of course Liela.

So here's the deal. I'd never seen a show at Bowery Ballroom before. Dirk had only been there once. We were pretty certain that we'd passed it somehow (even though we were being all eagle eyed with the lookout for Delancey). But we were walking and walking and didn't see it. So, after too much walking, I decided to ask this nice couple which way Delancey was. They told us to go back where we came from so we started walking. And walking. And walking some more. I decided to try looking it up on my Blackberry again, and saw out of the corner of my eye as two people walked by. Dirk said, "Hey I think that was Liela." I said, "huh?", stopped, and looked back. And sure enough it was Liela. She must've heard him say her name, because she looked back in our direction. So did Luke (who plays guitar) who was walking with her. So I said to Dirk, "Maybe we should just ask her where the Bowery Ballroom is," so I did. By this time, her and Luke had walked a pretty good ways, but that didn't stop me from yelling "LIIIIIIIIEEEEEELLLLAAAAAAAAA" down Bowery. She turned around and stopped and I started running towards her and she started coming towards me. Sometimes I can be really outgoing.

So first off, Liela Moss is totally the sweetest person ever. I'd met her and Toby back in February at the Union Hall show where she was super nice and remembered that Dirk and I were at the show the night before at Mercury Lounge (you know how I love that stuff.) Anyway, she had the best smile on her face and I asked her where the Bowery Ballroom was. Isn't it awesome when you can ask a person from London where something in New York is and they know!?! She said, "Oh it's actually really close by, just another block over," and I was grateful to know that we were close. Oh yeah, and it didn't suck getting to talk to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands again either. We thanked her and she and Luke went back the way they were going, and we headed towards Delancey. And of course, we saw the street sign clear as day starring at us when we reached our destination. How could we have missed it? Who knows.

Don't know what time it was, but by the time we went inside, Chief were already on stage. I'd read about them Paper magazine (the beautiful people issue with Joanna Newsome on the cover) so I was like, "Oh yeah! Those guys." The crowd was definitely loving them, and they played a really good set. They had a laid back, folk groove to them. Great harmonies too. The Pierces were next and Catherine and Allison did not disappoint. Their vocals were haunting and confident, but very sweet. I'd only heard one of their songs before, but was impressed with their set. I especially enjoyed the song, "Boring," and think it sounded even better live than on record, which is always nice. And of course it was cool to see that Russell Simins, who plays drums for Tiny Masters of Today, was playing with them.

The room was pretty packed when The Duke Spirit took to the stage. They walked out to "I Do Believe" which is a 43 second track that opens their new album, Neptune. Then they launched into "Send A Little Love Token" and proceeded to unleash all of their awesomeness on a very appreciative and excited crowd.

Even though I've only been listening to The Duke Spirit for about 3 years, I'm certain that Liela Moss will go down as one of my favorite lead singers, male or female. When she's on stage, you cannot keep your eyes off of her. She's mesmerizing to watch. Besides the gem that is that fantastic smokey voice of hers, she moves pretty much non stop, banging her tambourine and dancing, her blonde hair flying. And even though she wasn't wearing her signature feather, her outfit (a shiny gold sleeveless top, with leggings and black boots) looked great.

But of course, The Duke Spirit wouldn't be the Duke Spirit without those four awesome guys that Liela performs with every night. Toby, Luke, Dan and Olly are all incredible musicians and we're all fortunate that this group of people found one another and decided to play music together. Olly is an animal behind the drums and I love the back and forth between Toby, Luke, and Dan.

The band played mostly new stuff including "This Ship Was Built to Last" (which is the most EPIC song I've heard in quite some time), "Sunken Treasure," "Into The Fold" (which Liela said is "about conviction"), "Sovereign," "Neptune," "The Step and The Walk" (which had the best Liela dancing and tambourine banging of the set in my opinion), and "Dog Roses." They also played oldies like "Red Weather," "Lion Rip" (which I hadn't heard live before, but sounded amazing), and "Love is An Unfamiliar Name." The best was when they did their very last song in the encore, which couldn't have been anything other than "Cuts Across The Land." It was perfect and got every old Duke fan in the house crazy with excitement when they started playing it. I truly love this band and I know that 2008 will be a great year for them.

If you've yet to pick up Neptune, please go to your local music retailer and get it ASAP. You can even get it on iTunes (which is what I did back in February). Every song is fantastic. Feel free to get your own tambourine and bang it along with Liela. Although stay away from the harmonica, 'cause she's got that shit down.

I took loads of pictures but the one at the beginning of the post is probably my favorite. See the rest on flickr.

You were right from the start

2008-03-12T00:46:00.000-04:00

Would you believe that I missed Jaymay on Conan last night! I totally set my alarm and everything so that I could wake up in time. But still, I missed it. Must've slept through the damn thing. Anywho, it's ok because I was able to watch the whole thing on nbc's site here. So if you haven't seen it, check it out. She played "Gray or Blue" and it was great! I'm hoping that I can make it out to her Mercury Lounge show next week even though I have a baby shower to go to that night. But we'll see.

Jaymay's new CD, Autumn Fallin' came out today in the US and I picked up a copy at the Virgin Megastore in Union Sqaure this afternoon. I also picked up MGMT and asked the lady at the checkout counter how long this $10 sale was going to last. And to my surprise she said that it's an ongoing thing, just with different releases every now and then. Mr. Branson, how can you afford to do that? So cool! I'd never been in there before so I had no clue, but I must say that's pretty effing awesome and I'll be visitng the store often.

I didn't make it out to the Lightspeed Champion show on Saturday night in Brooklyn (did anyone else get caught in that never ending rain storm?) but I'm sure Dev was great.

I guess all the cool kids are in Austin for SXSW this week. I hope to go one of these years. At least we can be pretty sure that everyone playing the festival will at some point come through New York, so I'm sure I'll have a chance to catch all of the next big things later on

I hardly saw any episodes of Project Runway this season, but caught enough to know that Christian was probably the one to beat. And I'm glad to see that he won. I'm even more glad that SNL decided to do a skit on him because it is hilarious. You can watch the video below.

It's totally Conan!

2008-03-07T01:58:00.000-05:00

For those of you who do not know, the wonderfully talented Jaymay will perform on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Monday, March 10th. No idea what song shes doing, but that doesn't even matter! This is totally going to be her year. She's already been in both Nylon and Paste magazines and once she plays SXSW next week, it's a done deal. She's going to be huge. ABC, I hope to hear "Ill Willed" person on Gray's Anatomy at some point in the next couple of months.

Jaymay's CD, Autumn Fallin, comes out here in the states Tuesday, March 11th. You better go get it. For details on her SXSW shows, visit her MySpace blog. And if you're like me and not lucky enough to go to SXSW this year, you can still catch her at Mercury Lounge Wednesday, March 19th.

I feel better now I've seen you

2008-03-07T01:35:00.000-05:00

It seems like I have less and less time every day for blogging, but I figure at the very least, I can try to write short little recaps of shows I go to. Now that can't take too much time right?

Last night Georgia, Dirk and I saw Lightspeed Champion at Mercury Lounge. I had been looking forward to this show for some time and Dev did not disappoint. But first...

The opening band was Hey Hey My My all the way from Paris. Check out some songs here. Don't worry, they sing in English. I really enjoyed their set, especially when what seemed like quiet songs at first would explode and be rocked out towards the end. I particularly enjoyed the "get along, get along" song, and regret not singing along when the lead singer invited the crowd to join in.

During said performance, Dirk went to get a drink and spotted Dev in the crowd. He told him that I was a big fan and was standing up front so that I'd have a good spot for Lightspeed's set. That's true. He also told Dev that I was too nervous to go up and say hi. Dev, that's totally not true. And as a matter of fact, after Lightspeed's set, Georgia and I crowded around with some others and waited to say a quick hello. But I'm jumping ahead.

Once Hey Hey My My finished their set, everyone moved up to get a closer spot for Lightspeed. I've decided that it's so silly to stand in the middle of the floor when you know you really want to be right up front. Don't wait for other people to go right up front. If you want to be in the front, dammit go up there and stand by the speakers and be proud of the fact that you're such a big dork. It didn't bother me in the slightest.

Dev received a warm and generous round of applause when he took the stage. Only other person on stage with him was Mike Sidell playing violin. Dev seemed genuinely humbled and happy to have a sold out crowd there to see him perform. He said that he was nervous, but I couldn't really tell, he did such a fantastic job. He played "Galaxy of the Lost," "No Surprise" (a song he wrote for his mother), "Dry Lips," "Tell Me What It's Worth," "Midnight Surprise" and "Everyone I Know Is Listening to Crunk." He made the crowd laugh after every song and seemed to be having a great time. He also did a cover of the Strokes' song "Heart in a Cage" which sounded brilliant. After "Dry Lips," he said that he only had one song left, and everyone made that sad booing sound. But he actually had two left (I guess he always forgets about "Tell Me What It's Worth"). And while "Midnight Surprise" was meant to be the last song, cheers and yells from the audience brought Dev back on stage to play one more. After several suggestions were shouted from the crowd (my vote was for Waiting Game) Dev and Mike settled on "Xanadu!" I LOVE Lightspeed's version of this song, and myself and a few others really enjoyed singing "Ju Ju Bug. Xanadu!"

After the final song, the club tried to hurry everyone out so that they could get ready for the night's next show. Georgia and I were able to say a quick hello to Dev before being ushered out. All in all, Lightspeed made a fantastic return to the big city and a good time was had by all.

On the train ride home, we saw John Waters in the next car and got super excited. I really wanted to tell him how much I love Cry Baby, Hairspray and A Dirty Shame, but I'm sure he gets that all the time. Ok, well maybe not so much for A Dirty Shame 'cause I don't think that many people have seen it, but definitely for the other two.

I'm about 75% sure that I'll attend the Union Pool show on Saturday. I've never been to Union Hall, and you know how I love going to "new" venues! If I go, maybe I'll get to hear Waiting Game.

For more pictures, go here. Oh and just so you know, I'm still trying to figure out how to maneuver all of the 8 million different functions on my camera, so don't expect expert pics or anything. I just do what I can.

It never seemed so strange

2007-07-19T23:54:00.000-04:00

I went to the Decemberists show in Central Park on Monday. Georgia, Dorothy, Warren, Joe and I all headed down to the park after work. Joe had to wait for his girlfriend outside the gate, so the rest of us went in without him. It was really hot, but I had my trusty bottle of Smart water to keep me cool. The first band was Land of Talk. I'm SO mad at myself for never having heard of this band before, especially since bloggers were talking about them last year. Where the hell was I? They were so awesome, and have an AWESOME frontwoman/guitarist in Lizzie Powell. They're playing the Bowery in September, and I hope I can go. One reviewer described them as Pretty Girls Make Graves at their peak, although I wouldn't say all that. But I can hear similarities.

Grizzly Bear were next, and I was really impressed with them. The song I'd heard of theirs that made me not want to listen to them didn't do them justice. They were actually really great live. After their set, I told everyone goodbye, and headed to the outskirts of the crowd. I knew I'd have to leave before the Decemberists finished their set (didn't want to go back home too late on the train) so I decided to get out of the middle while I still could. As I was standing around waiting for the Decemberists, I saw John Norris from MTV sitting on the grass. I stared for a little bit as is customary, and then turned back around to the stage. Georgia told me today that he's a big Decemberists fan and was also at their Hammerstein show.

The band went on somewhere around 8:15 I think. The weather was perfect, and they opened up with "July July." I didn't realize how absolutely funny and nice Colin Meloy is. What a great frontman. When he saw someone holding a sign with the name of a song they wanted the band to play, Colin said, "Duley noted. We'll try to get to it, so you don't have to hold up that sign for the rest of the show." He had everyone waving their hands and fingers in the air, and Georgia said that towards the end of their show, he had everyone lie down on the ground. I wish I could've seen that! I only stayed for about 6 more songs, including "The Perfect Crime # 2" and "Summersong," but what I heard was great. I'd definitely see them again.

You Aint Worth Guest List

2007-05-11T00:43:00.001-04:00

On Tuesday night, I saw Patrick Wolf and Amy Winehouse at Highline Ballroom in Chelsea. It was pretty phenominal. I hadn't heard much of Patrick Wolf before the show, but he played such an incredible set that the next morning I ran out and picked up his record The Magic Position before work. And it's amazing. I'm totally lame for not getting that record before. Patrick, you are amazing. Not only is he a talented singer and storyteller, but he's a fantastic performer.

And as far as Ms. Winehouse. Well what can I say? The woman is a goddess. Her voice is almost unearthly. I mean, really, who sings like that anymore? She went on around 9:30 and opended up with "Addicted," which is a song that I'm pretty obsessed with at the moment. She also played "F*** Me Pumps," "Cherry," "Wake Up Alone," "He Can Only Hold Her," "Tears Dry On Their Own," "Valerie," "Love Is A Losing Game," and "Back to Black." She "closed" with "Rehab" and encored with "Me & Mr. Jones" and "You Know I'm No Good." Her band is full and rich and wonderful, and her backup singers are soulful and can harmonize so well. She made a couple of jokes and twirled her hair and was a pleasure to be entertained by. I'd see her again in a heartbeat. To see more pictures from the show, click on the picture below.

And can I just say that as I'm writing this right now, they're playing "Wake Up Alone" on Gray's Anatomy. Radness.

There was a huge picture of Amy on the front page of the Arts section of the NY Times, and Georgia brought it in for me, so that I could add it to my "Amy Winehouse Picture Collection" in my cube. Whenever she's see anything in a paper or magazine that is Amy Winehouse related, she gives it to me, and I put it up. I can't wait until it gets all full.