Kitty Power

I Can't Get No Sleep

I greatly prefer the slow fizzle to the fast brakes, which would probably come as a surprise. I like to work things out in my head before accepting the inevitable, compared to blowouts where I'm sure to say something rash and then brood indefinitely afterwards. Besides, this is less messy now that I've had time to run the gamut from sad to pissed to *shrug*. Life goes on and that and it really wasn't that serious. Though I kinda wanted to be...I think.

This week's platter included Jamiroquai at the Nokia Theater on Monday. I was my typical intense obsessive self about them starting in '97 or so when I first saw that video (oh, you know which one), then bought the album, then watched the VMAs show, then saw them at the Garden, bought all the records, joined mailing lists, made up an IM name in tribute, and etc. The band hardly represents what it was back then and neither do I, but it didn't make it any less fantastic even if neither Jay nor I are as limber as we were all those years ago. Bill was the show companion, pinch-hitting for Trendvickster. We were late-ish (totally my fault) yet shoved our way to practically the front anyways. Cute was when this chick I had done my "excuse me" to before perching called herself getting argumentative with me. She was taller than me! She could've shut the fuck up and looked over my head! I blinked at her like "you're kidding, right?" and kept an even tone, though I wanted curse her out and beat her ass. I'm getting good at that in my old age. Because of Bill's encore speculations (it was Deeper Underground..pish), I've had "Mr Moon" and "Stillness In Time" stuck in my head all week. I've even gone as far as audibly singing to myself in public. Thanks, Bill. Where's that Jamiroquai post?!

I woke up Thursday hungover to the point of standing at 14th Street waiting for the local and thinking, "you know, we can just go behind that stairwell and vomit just a little. A little bit of vomiting might make us feel slightly better. It's worth a shot, right?" That was my whole day. With my appetite finally back, PrincessNella and I went to this show and I was way more interested in boxing out the grill than bands. We chatted with Ryan Man Man and got a new album sneak peek. Yay! (Even if I've seen so many shows that I hallucinated that some of those songs were already on the first one.) Sounds richer yet more restrained with a little death metal vocals action. Though I got a "you crazy?" look when I said "death metal sound." You can decide for yourself in '06.

I'm still trying to figure out a Halloween costume -- really, if I care enough to do something. (Last year: I was a tourist and the year before: disco diva, pronounced by everyone else Tina Turner.) We're thinking Medusa. I've got the hair for it no doubt.

Let's Hit The Dancefloor, I'll Show You How To Do My Dance

One of the things that make this town so great is that with a little initiative combined with the art of randomness, you can sometimes just be in the right place at the right time. Last week was running all around all over the place. Alex was in the tail end of his whirlwind trip and we palled around like it was '01 and we were back in his old kitchen at 68 High. We were deconstructing the present entanglements and cautioning each other to get to know the kid and not go nuts. Easier said than done obviously.

That Monday night, I dragged myself through the rain over to the Bowery for the Jamie Lidell/Four Tet show. Going to shows is one of those things that can function on a timetable now like the commute to work. In the mornings I know if I leave somewhere between 8:30-8:45, I can get to my desk around 9:10-9:15. Later than that, it's pushing 9:30. With shows, if the doors open at 8. 1st act goes on about 9. 2nd act about 10. Headliner should be taking the stage about 11 and wrapping up a little before 12:30ish. It becomes second nature at a certain point.

Anyways, I walk up and start fumbling around for my card case to remove my ID. I got there the same time as these bunch of tall dudes and I hope weakly that it's not one of those shows where it's the redwoods towering over a little bush like me. I get a look at their faces and do an inner double take. Well, I'll be. Tourmates stick together. Now, I'm still obsessed with that fucking bag and I was mentally preparing for ambush when I lost sight of them downstairs and set myself to the show time wandering. I made it upstairs in time for Jamie to take the stage.

Oh, he was great. He's a certified nutter. But, I was kinda disappointed because I'd read all this stuff in an email about him touring with a live band -- missing the in Europe part (I'm gonna be cooking with grease when I take the GREs in a few months!) -- because it was just him solo with a big old table of electronics and a mic. He strolled out like a flasher in a trenchcoat, taking it off after a while to reveal this bizarro gold robe thing (which would've been familiar if I had watched the video for Multiply before today). He did "What's The Use" twice, which is okay since it's my favorite and was different each time, and live sample his beatboxing and such before singing over it. Hilarious to me was when he got all noodly with a song and broke out into something that was sounding a bit tech-house-ish and the kids in front of me had this look of horror in their faces like "ohmigod, is that techno? Hold me, I'm scared!"

Set over, I wandered downstairs to the merch table. The scavengers had picked it clean, but I glanced at this Koushik (the first opener that I missed) mix. I ended up in a convo with the merch chick. I'm semi-notorious among my friends for having a fair amount of stories that go "we were just talking and drinking and whatever. I dunno what happened. I didn't think he'd make a move...it was so out of the blue" disingenuously. So, I'm standing there talking to her and I'm like "did I just do the head tilt? Why am I still here? Why did I just buy a CD? I haven't bought a CD in almost two years! Oh what the fuck...am I flirting with her?" And I just walked away and decided to stop with the G'n'Ts.

I got back upstairs in time for the Four Tet set. I was there loving it because Kieran yay!, but after watch him stare intently at his laptop screen and punch a few sampler buttons for about 10 mins, I was over it and went back to wandering. I perched near the bar (okay...maybe I had one more...) and noticed the dude from Battles standing near my left. I was all "hey" and he said "hey."
"I've got two stupid and really random questions to ask you. First, I should know this, but is it PREE-fuse or PREH-fuse? I heard someone say it a way I thought was weird so now I'm confused."
He was like, "uh, I think it's PREH-fuse." (Well, I've been saying it wrong apparently for like ever! Someone revoke my fan pass!)
"Hmm..okay. The second, I'm a little obsessed with the 'I Have Battles In My Life' bag. Where can I get one?"
"Heh. People ask us that all the time. We don't have any more."
"No more? Nooooo....but why?"
"Well, we're not on tour."
"Can't you just make one? I really, really need that bag! I'm obsessed. I've got a website where I've written a lot about it. Google it, you'll see." Ladies and gentleman, I've officially jumped the shark. I'm now a Stupid Blogging Asshole...well, in a literal sense compared to occasionally like before.
"We might start selling them on our website soon."
"What's soon?"
"Like, two or three weeks."
"Great!"

The bag journey is coming to an end! We chatted for a few more mins and then he trotted off. I tried to get back into the set, but I got bored again and left.

Wednesday, I was off to Rothko which was packed beyond belief. Luckily for me, I avoided a CMJ door drama repeat and had bought my ticket in advance. I got into the main room and didn't have enough room to breathe, let alone see. Standing by the doorway, I spied a dude with the fucking Battles bag and eyed him hard, weighing the options of waiting vs. the Brooklyn bumrush. And then I thought to myself...oh shit, I know that dude. I strolled over and asked, "did you get that bag on tour?" "Yeah, how'd you know that?" "I went to both shows here in town." Chatter about crap interrupted by people not-so-politely crossing through. It was funny to watch as Jamie made his way through the crowd to take the stage and they kicked it for a minute. Then, the show started and I was boxed into the corner standing on my tippy toes for a quarter of a sightline. Not a good look.

Dude tapped me on the shoulder and gestured I follow up the semi-hidden ladder stairs to the second level near the sound booth. Nice! I spied !!! members (an offshoot of their's was the opener. What I saw I wasn't too crazy about...) and folks that I run into all the time. Oh, how different my life would be if I had a whit of networking skills and ambition! He got a kick out of me asking the name of the "you gotta be karate fucking kidding me!" song and he replied something that I can't remember no matter how hard I try, but it's gonna be on the new album, so woo! Sadly, that's my show highlight because I wasn't feeling Jamie at all. Apparently, he and Four Tet were paired for a less obvious reason: as live performers, they're better in smaller doses. He's always doing something on stage (which is interesting), but I couldn't have been any less captivated by the show overall. It all ended up noodly and stretching on for mins longer than it needed to. More than 45 mins of a set for him is just a waste. I left before the show was over, even though I knew the encore would probably be "Multiply" again and I do really like that song. Ah well.

In continuing the present "annoying performances from your favorites" kick, I went to that event I was excited enough to note with a big ass graphic the other day. Dude kinda hovered around the edges not doing anything which was a bit dumb. Hello, Mr. Headliner, get your ass on a fucking turntable...you're billed as performer, not a goddamned host. I was pissed. Especially since I dragged the boy and Farmer down with sheer force of will and unflagging enthusiasm. Wack. But hot damn, free drinks will never go out of style! From there we wandered around the neighborhood, checking out this house drink at Bembe that was grainy yet awesome and catching a performance at Black Betty. And then I got home at almost 5 to get back up at 7:30 (didn't happen) and wanted to kill myself at work all the next day. Good times.

Before I Turn Around And Burn This Motherfucker Down!

People, there's going to be Trapped In The Closets up to Chapter 12 and I just found about this today?! WTF?! Well, that tells me I should've been doing less work and more blog reading this week. Hot damn, Christmas is coming early this year!

I'm confused because I haven't heard the new ones yet though. Is the VMA debuted Chapter 6 totally irrelevant and nonexistant now? Or does MTV need a fact checker -- along with a bitch slap for letting their intern (if it's not, then they're more pathetic than I think) write some bullshit "feature" by asking Fall Out Boy what they think of the song. To reference lyrics from a favorite song of the moment (!!!, "Dear Can"), like I give a motherfucking shit! Then again, it could be worse. They could've asked this annoying bastard what he thinks. "Well, I moved to New York a few months ago and I hear R. Kelly blasting from the cars, but I'm not really feeling him. It might be some of the NYC scenester stuff. I'm an outsider, you know. I'd rather keep it gully and 'mock' it all while talking out of my ass. Did I mention I'm a douche?"

Review The Situation, Take Part, Take Over

Sometimes changes just sneak up on you. I've been thinking a lot lately about how sometimes I don't recognize myself in good ways. When I first moved back, I had a million hopes and the huge fright that kept me from everything for years. I really latched onto the blog thinking that I had blank space to fill, so I better make it good. Off and on, I began to feel beholden to reporting everything and it started to feel like I was too busy living to write (debatably) interesting things and not actually doing anything for the sheer thrill of it. Then I went to the other extreme, doing everything for the pure visceral thrill. It's either in the pan or in the fire with me. But, I'm getting sorta old and tired. I've let go and settled down a lot. The infamous ill temper has mostly dissapated (but I'll still curse out a bitch!) and I'm even, like, mellow for the most part. It's kinda scary sometimes. The most random thing for me was looking down at my hands one day and realizing that I had nails. I've had the terrible habit of biting my nails pretty much ever since I've had teeth. Yet I looked down and saw these nails had kinda snuck up on me. Crazy. But, I keep scratching the shit out of myself which is annoying.

In the midst of all this, I met this kid who I'm having these interactions that are even straying from the norm. I used to always feel like I had to mediate myself or else I'd have to spend more time explaining/backtracking than just saying what I was about. He wants to know what I'm interested in and doesn't recoil from/challenge me when I'll let loose on, let's say, the Prefuse obsession. He'll be like "hmm...I don't know anything about that. Tell me more. I want to experience that too" and I'll think "where the hell have you been all my life?" (Not really, but that's way fucking sappy and I'm not that fucking mellow.) And I'm all "tell me about you and the work you're doing" and he'll go off talking about his art and the projects he wants to work on. And I say, "that's interesting, but I don't know much about that" totally without embarassment and it's no big deal for him to explain it to me. Cause there's nothing wrong with an honest information exchange. Sincerity is a lost art.

Over the weekend was a big arts fest where he was a showing his stuff. Seperately I dragged Farmer and Trendvickster to check out what was around and do some recon. Thumbs up from the kids and I was happy. Hit a little snag with some vague friend of his who was a little upset that I was "muscling in on her turf." She brought out the cattiness by obnoxiously giving me the third degree and I neutrally answered her questions while threatening with my look: "you better back the hell off, you Suicide Girl reject. I will fuck you up." Like I said, not that mellow.

Soon, Trendvickster and I trotted off for a belated birthday party for Lina, where there was an hour of open bar but no guest of honor. My patience with the place was pretty finite -- the West Village on a Saturday night? Oh hell no. I was off to meet the boy and his friends off in Williamsburg. I got there and received the biggest smile from him. He helped me get rid of my deja vu by pointing out that the venue used to be Volume, that big old space which always was in trouble what seems like forever ago. Bands were playing, including this drums and guitar pair that made so much noise that it was really kinda amazing that there were only 2 of them. A-chattering with the friends and randoms before it was really time to go.

Living in other parts of Brooklyn, Williamsburg is a bitch and a half to escape from in the middle of the night. A 61 passed by as we were walking aimlessly and the next one was due in an hour, so the G it is. That's gotta be the worst train in NYC. A snail-drawn buggy has got to move faster than that thing. On the walk to the train, he had a freakout that was apparently prompted by the bitch from earlier asking if we were "dating." I basically laughed it off because I'm a real stickler for technicalities. You've really gotta be as a single person. The gradation for a non-platonic guy relationship for me is:

1) talking = hanging out mostly non-sexually
2) seeing = hanging out with a sexual connotation
3) dating = hanging out with planned activities
4) "boyfriend" = formalized agreement of a relationship, i.e. The Talk has happened

So, if someone asked me if we were dating, I could say "no, of course not. We're seeing each other (I guess) and I'm playing it by ear." Farmer basically mocked me for having distinctions while he was playing "grouchy older brother"/sounding board this week, but yeah I don't really care. I mean, I like the new boy, but I'm in stage 2 and loose moralled enough where I can chill and feel him out and it's not a big deal.

The outcome of a facing a freakout is when you're known for being more than a little high-strung under pressure, you're gonna have a little freakout of your own. It was a more than a little ridiculous. Drunkies shouldn't do anything more than quietly go to bed. This one stupid point of contention became the event on Thursday. We had planned earlier in the day to go together and now it was "you're going, but not with me?" "No probably not." "Are you still going to the Prefuse?" "I'll see you there." But, what about the Prefuse thing?" Over and over and fucking over again. If only we could've been run over! It was really annoying. Drunkies are universally dumbfucks.

But, we're good. For now. Drama! I'd have less stress as a cat lady. For real.

Nuggets

Drunkies, just say no to fucking on the street! Because look what you get: your face on the cover of the NY Post. Hello, go find a bar bathroom at least. Sheesh. Kids nowadays. Her parents must be so proud. But, they should really because she could be a "pin up" whore like all the "cool" kids are doing nowadays. Thanks for giving them initiative to top you, chick.

Bill's doing his thing over at the music blog. One of my most fave songs from 702 (LV represent!) plus a "look how fly he used to be" style post on DeVante, the Jodeci obsession of a former friend from high school.

There's only one place in the city that I plan to be Thursday night. That would be bouncing between the bar area and the turntables at this joint:

Hello, I'm an obsessive! That's what I do!

Lilac Wine

Dear Readers,

On the glass is half empty/half full tip, like clockwork when I take my feelings out of deep freeze, the super fresh thing with the new boy has totally (and messily) imploded. I've got no immediate plans besides retiring to my apartment as a mopey cat lady. I guess technically that means so much more free blogging time for you. Too bad all I can manage at the moment is a sniff followed by a "fuck a blog, man!" So, I might be back in full force. I might not. I'm off to sigh dejectedly and look forward to a night of ice cream and cookies and booze. Lotta, lotta booze. Peace out.

C.K. Reports of our demise might have been slightly premature.

I'm Not A Racist, But My Gaysian Roommate Is!

A million apologies. Too much stuff is going on lately.

The title refers to two things -- one slightly amusing, the other not especially -- to do with the DH forums. The other day was a topic bruhaha over this article from the Daily News. Not surprisingly, a topic like that devolved fairly quickly and me, having a pretty slow day at work and jumping in the fray, got called a racist for my trouble. Jigga wha? It actually really pissed me off because it's very frustrating to be up against an ass who will twist even the smallest, most obvious thing into an attack you. Fuck that though. Sticks and stones and whatever. I was amused though that I ran to Farmer over IM like "ohmigod, some asshole called me a racist? I'm not a racist, right?!" a la "please, white friend, comfort me and tell me it's okay!" Heh.

The second thing is that Cupcake mistakenly thought that Ant was gay, right on the heels of someone else asking me the same thing recently. I was telling him about the big R word being thrown at me and he suggested that I write back to the dude that "I'm not a racist, but my gaysian roommate is!" And I figured it blog-worthy.

Blah. Some things you just gotta be there for.

Everybody's Acting Like I'm Fucking Crazy Or Something

Candice Mix Part 2:

1. Arthur Russell - In The Light Of The Miracle
2. Truby Trio - High Jazz (Dub Mix)
3. Brandy - The Ritual (Chateau Flight Remix)
4. !!! - Hello? Is This Thing On?
5. Liquid Liquid - Out
6. Talking Heads - Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
7. Battles - Dance
8. Asian Dub Foundation - P.K.N.B. (Dry & Heavy Connection Dub)
9. Beans - Blind Driver
10. La Caution vs. Chateau Flight - Deserts & Lezards
11. Tiga - Hot In Herre
12. Coati Mundi - Me No Pop I
13. Red Astaire - Follow Me
14. Damian Marley - Khaki Suit

Sorry, Rabbit, Trix Are For Kids

Hmm. I didn't realize my blog had totally disappeared while I off. That sucks. Anyways, I'm back.

We just finished a nice 5 day visit from Fizzie, on his month-long pimping all over the world journey to Iceland and back. Good times were had and I'm left with a post-housewarming type of situation where there are tons of bottles that need to be drank and only one resident alkie to spend months working on it. We've done two DH happy hours this week and ruined my cool cred last night by squealing after I noticed a missed call from the boy. I'm so not slick.

We went to the worst event Thursday night with Alex and that deserves a (forthcoming) post of its own. We have to send our poor little Zen in for maintenance for being such a clumsy idiot that dropped it one time too many. Luckily (in that not sort of way), my warranty expired about a month ago and they erase everything on it when they fix it. Plus they keep it for about 2 weeks. Boo all around to that.

The rest of October is concert time: Jamie Lidell/Four Tet Monday, and Jamiroquai on the 24th on the definite list with other things (Jamie again Wednesday, 33hz, Dumbo Arts Fest) on the vaguely planning to do list. We've been passing the time finally handling over the long promised mix CD to Alex. He wanted basically a "what have you been listening to in the past year or so" primer and it ended up being about 3 CDs. He's gotten disc 1 (the lull you to sleep mostly one) so far and I'm tinkering with the rest. That is:

1. Prefuse 73 - Suite for the Way Things Change
2. Four Tet - Smile Around The Face
3. Prefuse 73 - Ty Versue Detchibe
4. Jamie Lidell - What's The Use
5. Damian Marley - Welcome To Jamrock
6. Diverse - Ain't Right
7. Erykah Badu - Back In The Day
8. Common - Go
9. Ada/Erlend Oye - Luckycharm/Intuition
10. The Sea and Cake - Sporting Life
11. RJD2 - Someone's Second Kiss
12. Prefuse 73 - It's Crowded
13. Etienne De Crecy - Tempovision
14. Man Man - Gold Teeth
15. Massive Attack - Exchange
16. Jamie Cullum - Frontin
17. Handsome Boy Modelling School - I've Been Thinking feat. Cat Power