Believe it or not, this reminds me of college a little too vividly:
As for me, a bit busy. Launching a big project in the next couple of weeks and totally focused on that. Plus it's gorgeous outside and even a computer freak like me highly appreciates sitting in a backyard under the shade with a drink and some bbq and hanging out with my friends. It's gonna be light for a while.
There's not much I don't love about the summer. Away with the sweaters and coats, on with the lightweight clothes and flip flops. It's mostly all good as far as I'm concerned. I spent most of the spring hustling for work and all that related stuff, so now I'm trying to reap the rewards and have some fun. Health-wise, I haven't been feeling a 100% for a while, so I feel more determined to plow through it and try to feel as close to the old me as I can get nowadays. And how do I do that exactly? By doing a marathon week of events/shows/being out and about.
I've been out every night since Tuesday, after a Sunday and Monday of rest after a bit of a wild weekend.That night I went to 419 and stood in the corner of the patio drinking overpriced drinks until I made an escape to Brooklyn to see an awesome show by the Yohimbe Brothers at Zebulon. That's one of those venues that I'm always amazed that I don't spend just about all my time at. I've seen some kickass performances just stumbling in there randomly. Wednesday was going to Soundfix to catch The Sea and Cake's in-store and getting annoyed at the crowd and the shitty opening band who just droned on and on (same problem at the Webster Hall show except their set might have been 3x as long). At the store, most of the people left when that band finally released the stage which was incredible to me. Oh the power of indie hype. Both nights, TSAC ripped it. I've got a major soft spot for them. I was theorizing Thursday night that they all look like teachers I wish I would've had in high school. Sam is English, John's Calc, Eric is Drama, and Archer is the science teacher I would've spent a lot of time thinking inappropriately about. I have to get around to checking out the new album. Friends of friends I randomly came across in the audience Thursday said it ranks high up there with the older stuff. I was happy to hear Mr F, Parasol, and some others I've forgotten between now and then. Good times x2. I got the fun experience of the bartender remembering my drink on the first pass, so every time after that she was like "another gin and tonic?" with the unspoken drunkie on the end as the night wore on. If you had to endure 45 minutes of that middle band, it'd drive you to drink too.
Also Wednesday, I went down to Dumbo at this newish venue, a coffee shop that apparently turns into a big event space nightly now. The show was old school latin soul and it was a good time. The thorn in my side is this guy I keep seeing around. I used to have a bit of a crush on him and go out of my way a bit to set up the opportunities to interact with him, but now he just annoys me. His general reaction is to just look at me as if I'm supposed to run up and give the full court press. I don't even care enough anymore. He's not all that. There's just something about him that doesn't make me want to try. I take that as a bad sign.
Friday night, the recently back to NYC Trendvickster and I did up the hipster event in Greenpoint pretty big. Well, I did and she was along for the ride. As I'm getting older, I'm starting to finally distinguish between the good and bad (for me) liquors. The borderline out of control episodes of the not so recent past: fueled by rum. A good indication that the night is going to end with something rather inappropriate (though pretty fun): scotch. Left to my own devices, I chatted with former associates through my old job and confessed my slight crush on one of their coworkers to more than one person; played a lot of pinball; would have some pretty scandalous photos if the photo booth wasn't busted; and was part of traumatizing some random who just wanted to go to the bathroom. All before 1am. And it's not even the first time I've misbehaved in that space, despite the name change. I think I might have to avoid that spot for a while. Good thing I've never claimed to be especially angelic.
Saturday night had me at Studio B, mostly leaning and watching instead of dancing like I wanted because of a hurt foot. The funny thing about going out frequently again is that I see people I know a lot more often. Which can go either way in terms of bad or good. In Flagranti and G. Rizo were great, but I was pretty disappointed in Mr. Oizo. He really couldn't mix for shit and the space between the songs and/or the abrupt switch overs were really jarring. Ah well. Fun night regardless.
I've been feeling like my current music selections were getting a little stale and spending a lot of time listening to podcasts to hear some fresh shit. Here are some fun new(ish) to me finds:
Skeletons and The Girl Faced Boys, Git
GhostlyCasts first exposed me to the band and sheer repetition put them into my head. I saw two shows in one week and I'm an official fan.
Kathy Diamond, I Need You
I was sitting here at home earlier with the Out of Range podcast going while I was half asleep and I sprung up when this song was playing. I must've rewound it about three times before I got the artist name.
The Knife, Like A Pen (Hearthrob Remix)
You know, I don't remember where I first heard this song at this point. It must've been at a club one night because now that I know it, I hear it all the time now. I didn't get a name though until I heard it on the XLR8R podcast.
My Brightest Diamond, Workhorse
GhostlyCast also introduced me to this song, but the Lusine remix that I can't track down no matter how hard I try (though granted, I haven't tried that hard). The original version still cool.
Marco Polo feat. Masta Ace, Nostalgia
I'm in love with that fucking song. The video (despite me posting it) is on the corny side because there's such a thing as too '93 in this day and age. But any song that has Aaron and I bonding over its sickness is an A+. So far, I've only heard on Fat Beats Radio, but then again, I haven't listen to the real radio on purpose in god knows how long. It could be the #1 song on Hot 97 and I'd have no fucking clue.
James Chance and The Contortions, Contort Yourself
This one's just for shits and giggles. I was just reading about him the other day and it made me remember I like the song.
And a super fun video bonus remembered thanks to an ILM thread:
