Tuesday, November 30, 2004

IF LOOKS COULD REALLY KILL, THEN MY PROFESSION WOULD BE STARING

I'm not quite sure what's up with me lately. I've found that I listen to about 3 albums when I'm home, or at work, or commuting. They're albums you'd often consider "emo," and I don't know why my gut reaction is to turn to these over turning to, say, the Killers or Interpol. I think i might have to blame my sobriety. I've held back from drinking for over a week (which might not seem like a long time to most, but mind you I went from drinking four drinks a night to four drinks a week to nothing).

So those four albums:
My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge ... Sometimes I'll listen to this album and stop dead in my tracks and listen to parts of it over and over again. A friend of mine joked about the way Gerard extends his vowels when he sings, but in my opinion, they couldn't be extended further. I want more of everything on this album.
Good Charlotte - The Chronicles of Life and Death ... I never liked their old stuff, really, but love their new stuff. I don't think their old fans like their new stuff as much, so I guess it all makes perfect sense.

Brand New - Deja Entendu ... Jesse Lacey is a genius lyricist. I think I listen to this album the most out of anything in my collection these days. Lately, whenever someone calls me to see what I'm up to the answer is typically "cleaning my room and listening to Brand New and getting all emotastic." There's just a brilliant way he has with phrasing things. Piecing together emotions. I'm sure there are others out there that are more genius and more brilliant, but for now, he does it for me.

So it's back to no drinking for me. Responsibility is hitting me like a brick wall and I'm trying to embrace it with sober tenderness and clarity. I guess it's safe to say that I had a ton of years where I partied to eleven, but now it's time to grow up. Not that drinking irresponsibly is immature, not in the least, but for me, right now, waking up in the morning and questioning my actions the night before is no longer what I want to be doing. I found myself running my mouth off to people I wish i had more of a sober encounter with.

It's also been easier to be sober when I've had a non-drinking partner in crime along for the ride. My friend, the Vicar, doesn't drink, so when I'm out with him I manage to find comfort in being able to hold conversations with someone who isn't seeing me in double or professing their punchdrunk love for me. I can drink my seltzer and be surrounded by the inebriated and glance over and see someone that sees the same things I see, and I find ease in that. I've also found comfort in the fact that as a result I've dropped an ten pounds (or more?) in the past month. I don't find a lot of comfort in the fact that I don't fit into any of my jeans anymore and can't really afford new ones. But my mom is stoked that her formerly waifish daughter is returning to form after a five or six year hiatus.

Apart from cleaning my room I've been staying indoors and hibernating. I wish I could say that I've been going to a ton of shows, but I haven't.
There are three bands I've managed to check out when I haven't been holding myself hostage, fearing a slip up of alcohol and lack of sleep:

Army of Me - I first saw them about 4 years ago with exMikey at tiswas when they were called Cactus Patch. I remember vividly having a discussion with Mikey about how we were impressed by the fact that they were actually good (for a while tiswas had a run of the not-so-good bands performing), and I'm sure of this cause I actually signed their mailing list. Well, anyway, four years later and I got to see them again on a saturday night... this time at the Delancey. I'm not sure what happened in those four years, but suddenly they're like the emo darlings. They're like a very early, twangy radiohead, and yet, their audience was packed with kids I would've thought I'd see at like, a Movielife show. There's this one song that The Vicar sent me called "Come Down" that's about visiting DC and crashing a car in a suicide attempt... which I find grossly romantic in a Romeo & Juliet meets the Smiths kind of way. This song is definitely going in my "Songs to Play While Going to DC on a Chinatown Bus To Visit People You Don't Well Enough Yet But Will One Day Know Forever" list in my book (I've decided that all my lists need to have ridiculously long titles. I'm sure my editor will cut them all down, but one can dream). If you've got any songs to recommend for this list, please email me (slewitinn@spin.com)... ideally for this list I want only songs by bands from DC or about DC or the Government.

Kasabian - I got to the show a bit late cause I was probably watching the Apprentice or something. My mistake since the place was so full I couldn't see for shit. I really wasn't expecting the place to be so packed since for the past week I had been telling people I was excited to see Kasabian and nobody know who the fuck I was talking about. Since I'm a midget, i was sucked into the back of the Bowery Ballroom with my posse and therefore couldn't see anything. Instead, we spent the whole time making fun of how British people (who made up a majority of the audience) had foreskin by pulling the sleeves of our sweatshirts over our fists, turning our arms into giant reenactments of what the Vic likes to call a coin purse lint holders.

Saints + Lovers (Formerly, The Sons of Sound) - God fucking bless this band. In about one years time this will be your absolutely favorite band of all time. Equal parts of early U2, current Muse, and the Secret Machines. I spent the whole show either dancing around in a sober waltz or just watching in pure amazement. Mind you the band opened with "Atmosphere" by Joy Division. It was almost as if they were like "Hey Sarah! Did you wear your Depends Adult Under Garments tonight?" Nothing about this band was understated. Everything was over the top in total bombast and beauty and fine tuned greatness.

Alright, so expect more updates than I have been doing lately.

Oh, and I'm gonna be in LA the week of December 12. I'm going to be DJing at Cinespace on December 14 for the Oohlas show (and single release party!). Please come and buy a single and dance with me. Thank you.
KAREN'S NEW BOYFRIEND

Thanks to Jason Roth for sending me this jem.
THE RAINBOW CONNECTION

Oh My Goodness. I'm sitting here at work and literally tearing up because if i started laughing, I dont think i could stop.

Join Me

Thanks to Matthew Hanagan for sending me this.

Monday, November 29, 2004

MMMM! PUPPY PASTA!



I'm gonna write about my weekned later today. I hope everyone had a good holiday/weekend. Mine was spent cleaning my room and not drinking. It's been over a week since my last drink and I'm not even craving booze at all. I went from 4 drinks a night to 4 drinks a week and now none at all. Next I gotta stop smoking and I'll be vice free.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

WHAT IT REALLY STANDS FOR

Every couple of weeks my poor buddy, the Vicar, has to hear me complain about the shit I read on the internet. The Vicar has never read a blog (apart from stereogum when we were working on our Halloween costumes), including this one (thankfully), and never understands what the fuck me and my friends are banging on about when we're like "Did you see that funny link on thighswide?" And he certainly doesn't understand why I get so bummed out when I start fretting about what people I've never met (or have met but remain anonymous online) have to say about me.

The other night when I was walking to Max Fish from the Kasabian show (they were great by the way, and perfect for all those latter day Primal Scream fans like myself) with my the exotic ladies and the Vicar and I was moping and the girls and i were kvetching about the criticisims when The Vicar, who was 10 feet ahead of us and growing fed up, turned around and said:
Bring
Love
Online,
Guys.

So with that, i'm bringing nothing but love from now on. Not that I don't normally... but now more than ever.

Starting with this.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

SPIN READERS POLL

Hello. Rarely do I suggest SPIN stuff (church and state/shul and state/mosque and state etc)... but this might be fun.
HOLY CRAP

Um... literallyPink Locusts from North Africa Swarm Through Cairo. What other plagues will be happening, you think?

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

MY NEW FAVORITE BLOG

It's Superficial just like me.
OH MY GOD THIS IS SO FUCKING GROSS...

So naturally you have to look.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARF!

UPDATE: Everyone i sent this link too said it was the most disgusting thing they'd ever seen. The Vicar asked me where i "get this shit"... the answer: from message boards I look at filled with people who have sick brains. I also told him that i was about to gag (which is how i guess you get that stuff in the first place), and he stopped talking to me.
SO MUCH AWESOME

I know this is sort of short notice... but i highly suggest you go to this tonight.

Monday, November 15, 2004

CHANGE YOUR TASTE IN ...

Tonight The Tarts of Plezza are hosting the Melissa Auf De Maur Aufterparty at the Darkroom (Ludlow btw Houston and Stanton). It begins at 11 or 12. There's no list. Karen and I will be pressing play on cd decks that will be playing indie shit you've never heard, pop crap you're embarassed you love (and that will one day get us fired for playing), and everything in between.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but everytime Hail to the Theif or Amnesiac comes on my iTunes I switch it as fast as possible. I really dont like Radiohead anymore... or at least that new album, and i've been avoiding this for far too long. I was OBSESSED with OK Computer and if i were to choose any album that changed my life, it'd be that one: I listened to it once a day for three years, and when i was 17 it solidified my aspirations to work in the music industry. My thought were "You mean, if i worked in the music industry i could go see radiohead all the time and maybe even meet them? get out!"

But Thom's voice on HTTT and Amnesiac is just plain annoying to me and i find them boring musically. When I see their shows live, i'm stoked and think "I take it all back, this is the greatest band of all time!" but then I'm seated at my desk at work and my iTunes shuffles between bands that sound like radiohead (muse) and bands inspired by bands that sound like radiohead (all of emo released post origin of symmetry), and suddenly "Morning Bell" will come on and i cringe. Am I the only one feeling this way? I fully believe that if Radiohead released Absolution, alters would be built in their honor.

Anyway...

This weekend I saw lots of music and worked on the artwork for the new stolen transmission release (this way i can get that shit out to you all right away instead of the huge delay i had with the first one). I'll be posting about the music the release and everything else soon... Until then, I suggest you check out Dirty On Purpose. They opened for the Arcade Fire the other day and were like a combination of Sigur Ros and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Definitely way better than the Hidden Cameras in my opinion.

Friday, November 12, 2004

GET MOM'ED

Someone sent me this...


We need your help ---

we are doing a fashion 'before and after' story, where we will take
three college guys and 'clean them up' (style them) to look good to
'meet the parents' (of their girlfriends) during the Holidays...

An Esquire magazine fashion editor will take clothes from the guys'
wardrobes, and with a few select new items, polish them up for
Thanksgiving dinner.

college guys must:
-be telegenic and ok with being on tv
-have girlfriends ok with being on tv

in addition, we're looking to also invite the girlfriends' mothers ('the
parents'), who will also be on tv to witness and comment on the
transformations of their daughters' boyfriends

Date of shoot: Nov 23rd
Arrival time at studio: 6am
(Car Service will be arranged)

Please contact me if you have any suggestions.

Thanks!
Mario

Mario Ruiz
Dan Klores Communications
212-981-5156

Thursday, November 11, 2004

A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE

... Or is it a sign that our hours spent looking at photos of Britney and Kevin on stereogum actually paid off? Justin Timberlake fans seem to think so.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

LOOK! IT'S TRANATUKITTY

COMPLICATED BOOBIES

She was a flashing sk8r girl.

OK, now that i gave you guys that... does anyone have a spare ticket to the Arcade Fire show tomorrow at the bowery ballroom?
COMPLICATED BOOBIES

She was a flashing sk8r girl.

OK, now that i gave you guys that... does anyone have a spare ticket to the Arcade Fire show tomorrow at the bowery ballroom?

Tuesday, November 9, 2004

AFTERPARTIES

Alright, so here's the deal with the afterparties tonight:

The Midtown afterparty is gonna be at the Darkroom.

The Muse afterparty is gonna be at the Delancey and the Exit are playing a set at 1am and Recover are playing at 2am.

WANNA DRINK FOR FREE?

So everyones been all "Hey Tarts! You guys threw such a good CMJ party.... love the idea of live music for free in an intimate setting where the risk of puking is equal in probability to that of getting your teeth kicked in!
Whens the next one?"

Well, in case you hadnt noticed... we've been having parties EVERY Wednesday at Snitch... but its not until TOMORROW that we've chosen to bring back the rock. Thanks to the hot little bottlerockets at ADDVICE, were bringing you the rocknroll trainwreck known as BLOOM (www.longlivebloom.com).

So heres how its gonna go down....

You get to Snitch (21st street and 6th ave) at 11 pm. The doors and the bar are OPEN. Yeah, I know. Free booze. On a Wednesday! How rad!

The Tarts of Pleasure are gonna be DJing, and you all know how that works... we dance, we mix poorly, Karen will most likely fade out of a song too quickly and I will be too busy paying the bathroom attendants to look the other way to notice...

So then once youre all good and drunk by midnight, this crazy motherpackin band is gonna play. Youre gonna rock out and get sweaty and then be all, "Hey Tarts! What do we do now?" The answer is, you drink some more cheap drinks, and dance the night away to the DJ stylings of Mike Goodstein (WFMU), Massimo (East Village Radio) and Ryan (Teenage Kicks). Theyre
really, really good. AND they actually play vinyl! How weird!

So thats it. And then its four o clock in the fuckin morning... each day gets more and more like the last day!

WHERE: Snitch, 21st and 6th
WHEN: tomorrow, Wednesday, November 10th, 11 pm - 4 am
WHAT: the Tarts of Pleasure present... a Stolen Transmission, with live
performance at midnite by Bloom

be there or be shit
FORGET HOWARD

Who is Paris' super fucking hot to trot date? Hubba hubba. He looks like some dude whose ass I pinched at Misshapes over the weekend.

Monday, November 8, 2004

HOLD ON TO YOUR BAGINAS

Charlie and Chocolate Factory movie poster.

Even the Olsen twins are excited!
THE BRIZZA LOOKING HIZZA

Leave it to stereogum to be out sick the day photos appear on the net where Britney actually looks great! And I fully share her sentiments on Kevin.
SHOW ME THAT SMILE AGAIN

I can't remember if the "Growing Pains" theme song came at the end of the "Simpsons" or "Arrested Development," but thanks to having DiVo i listened to it over and over again until I noticed that Lindsay was in the kitchen and probably plugging her ears due to my "tone-deafness." My singing voice is like birds singing... if they were being tortured.

Annoy your coworkers by downloading tons of TV Theme Songs.

EDIT: Rob pointed out that I was wrong about the theme song used. It was actually the "Perfect Strangers" theme songListen to it here.

Friday, November 5, 2004

TWINS

The other day i was being interviewed by someone and one of the questions asked was whether or not i saw a resemblance in me and Brandon Flowers from the Killers. The others getting interviewed with me all laughed because, yes, the resemblance is sometimes uncanny and often joked about in both camps. I once told a boy that I liked him and his response was "not like you like brandon, i see the way you look at him." but really, the way i look at him, and the way he looks at me, is in total narcassistic amazment.

Another boy i've been often compared to is Brian Molko from Placebo. I just opened up some of the packages on my desk and found this DVD called "Once More With Feeling Videos 1996-2004" that they're putting out soon. It's all their videos (and there's another DVD that's coming out that's of live footage) since the beginning. I pressed play on the first video, "36 Degrees" and gasped from the resemblance.

It's funny... nobody really mentions any girls that I look like.

Thursday, November 4, 2004

HEROINE ADDICTS

Thanks to everyone who came out to the very first "Tarts of Pleasure Present: HEROINE". I'm sitting at home, totally sweating my head off and dealling with sinus pressure that is making me trip out.

Check out the ladies of Heroine (Add in Melody Nelson with your mind, she had to leave early cause she was sick). More photos from Heroine.

So apparently Arafat might still be alive? Maybe he's dead now? Not totally sure. What's everyone's thought about what might happen as a result?

The OC is on. I'm not sure what I think about it... Mischa's acting has gotten better, so that's a start, and Seth Cohen is cute as fuck, so that's a plus. But something's missing. Maybe it's the lack of hearing Death Cab for Cutie. Right about now would be a great time for the producers to play "Transatlanticism" ... wait... is that a postal service song? I forget.
GOOD THINGS ARE COMING?

According to various news reports, YASSIR ARAFAT IS DEAD. However according to others, he's just braindead. According the the french he's chilling in Cannes and totally fine.

Wednesday, November 3, 2004

YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE

Life will feel so much better when you listen to Johnny Boy's "You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes and You Get What You Deserve" on repeat over and over again. It's almost like Phil Spektor didn't kill anyone and recorded an awesome girl group song instead.
MORE STUFF TO HELP YOU FORGET

Hey look! It's Avril dressed as a hooters waitress:



Here's more photos of her looking rediculously cute.

And check it, NYC has it's very own party scene shutterbug now.
OH FUCK

Monday, November 1, 2004

SAY NO TO KIDS, DRUGS

Say yes to HEROINE

HEY HEY HEY

You know what makes for a really good movie? Turning a cartoon classic into a live action film! Hopefully Joel Madden's cameo will keep Mush Mouth from saying "Whatsa matta fabba Alba?" Karen thinks he looks fiiiiiiine.

Also, the Vicar and I made the best Federlines ever. Thanks to Scott for his inspiration.