Yo La Tengo

Autumn Sweaters and Nuclear War   
06:26am 11/10/2003
 
mood: tired
music: Yo La Tengo - Summer Sun

Saw Yo La Tengo tonight at the Warsaw with Bunny. Aislers Set and the Sun Ra Arkestra opened. The Arkestra was amazing!!

Yo La Tengo, as always, delighted me to no end, and if they were still playing, i would still be there grinning like an idiot and spazzing out, as is my wont. But all good things must end and this was no exception, although it did last until 1:40am.

their setlist went something like this:
Beach Party Tonight
Don't Have To Be Sad
From a Motel 6 (extra long and w/ many gtr freakouts!)
Nothing But You and Me
Autumn Sweater (MBV remix version)
Sugarcube
Decora
Tiny Birds
Little Eyes
False Alarm
I Heard You Looking (still the best 7 1/2 minutes you can spend engaged in something besides sex -- although if you combine the two, it's even better!)
Nuclear War (w/ the Sun Ra Arkestra!)
----
Tom Courtenay
something i didn't recognize

there were a couple other songs played that I wasn't familiar with or couldn't remember off the top of my head (I didn't write it all down tonight...I know you are shocked)

Show was damn fine. Something about YLT that just amazes me every time. So much noise for just 3 people...but it's a joyful noise. I went with Bunny from work and she bought me a couple beers. We tried one of the crazy Polish brews on tap at the Warsaw, but it was pretty much like Budweiser but with a name with an odd combination of vowels and consonants. Beer #2 was a bottle of Heineken..not my favorite, but I won't drink Bud...unless of course it is disguised with a crazy Polish name.

Since I had left the house having digested nothing but a bowl of Matzoh Ball soup and a large mug of coffee, I got a bit peckish, so between the Sun Ra Arkestra and Yo La Tengo sets, while Bunny bought the second round of brews, I got myself a plate of pierogies and kielbasa. As of 3am, I could still taste it. That was after the drive to Manhattan and the coffee avec doughnut.

Tonight I think I discovered an answer to the question as to why I'm single. Aside from having too many female friends (if a guy is hanging out with a woman, I think people tend to think that those two people are together), I think the way I spastically "dance" and play air everything (guitar, bass drums, even keyboards) puts me into a category perhaps even more frightening than Elaine Bennis' infamous "thumb dance" from Seinfeld.

I was thinking about this during "False Alarm" as I was not only making the feedback sounds of the bass in the beginning, but also playing an invisible organ, which, I think, perhaps crosses some kind of air instrument line. Of course, doing an Ira-style air-guitar freakout during "I Heard You Looking" (all 7 1/2 minutes) surely doesn't make women's loins all over Brooklyn quiver uncontrollably --- "Oh, look Janie, that guy over there is soo hot! He's spazzing out uncontrollably as if having a seizure in rhythm to the music! I find that SO sexy! I must have him. NOW! (Heads turn as crazy Janie pushes and claws people out of her way to reach J-Ro, who does a dance resembling a ragdoll's with limbs flailing to and fro, but ultimately, she just trips on the many orphaned beer bottles that populate the floor, landing face first in a big puddle of mystery liquid (most likely a mixture of all the leftover beer drained out of the aforementioned bottles, mixed with the half-cup of my first beer -- that crazy, Polish Bud-like -- that I somehow spilled on the couple in front of us. I swear it just jumped out of my hand) before even reaching her density, one George McFly). Man, that was funny. Maybe there is a point to me writing things after all. To make me laugh at how weird my brain is.

Oh, and after having listened to the whole thing finally, aftr purchasing it at tonight's show, let me say how much more I like Summer Sun than And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. I still don't think anything will ever rival the trilogy of Painful, Electr-o-pura and I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One.

I didn't really see anyone I know at the show tonight, but Jeff from Aden stood behind me in the bathroom while waiting for a free receptacle (he astutely informed me and the dork in front of me who insisted that there were no free toilets that there are THREE in the men's room at the Warsaw, and henceforth pushed us in there), making it difficult for me to urinate. Kevin Barker (also of Aden fame) was merely standing in the barroom talking to some girls when I saw him.

I think that's it. Unless you want to hear about how the second time I went to the men's room, I had to go into the stall because of my stagefright, and then while i was in there, a lovely young lady who was behind Bunny on the line for the little girls' room opened the door and apologized for intruding, and then apologized again upon my exiting (since I was behind a door, I didn't really care -- e.g. the stagefright thing saving embarrassment).

Oh, and lest i forget the odd man in the donut shop who could have been Rob Rothenberg's long-lost brother (does he have one), who was playing Bjork on a walkman w/ speakers for an audience of four, and telling stories with his eyes closed in a loud, lower-east-side-accented voice about how that song (Army of Me was what I heard) was her first big hit in America, blah blah, and soon he ranted about how the weather in San Francisco at night and how it's warmer for the football fans than for the baseball fans, and he said something about Kansas and then the temperature differences between Manhattan and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, it made it difficult for me to think of conversational topics. For some reason I was kinda awkward with that tonight.

After coffee, I walked Bunny to her building and then proceeded to walk in circles trying to find my car, until I finally walked the course I had driven to come to my parking space, and magically, my car appeared. I am such a lamester for not remembering where I parked. If everywhere could just have lots like Disney World -- I could park in Goofy lot 2 and then be fine. Just don't ask my brother about my remembering where I parked.

Okay, it's been a while between posts. I've tried to keep my bitching and whining to a minimum lately and keep this forum a little healthier and happier. Speaking of healthier...I finally saw the doctor and got antibiotics in hopes that this hearing problem is sinus-related and that it will go away much like the last sinus infection, except without popping my eardrum like an idiot again.

I want to thank Come Down for putting on an excellent show Friday night at the Knitting Factory Old Office. Also, I would like to entreat those in charge of booking the Knit to never again have them play the Old Office, unless they get a service elevator or an escalator. Some of us would like to keep our backs aligned properly. Come Down just has too much damn gear to play down there. Plus, they don't even fit on the stage. So they should only be playing the Main Stage from now on.

A big shout out to Suntan and Imaginary Baseball League for their fine performances and wonderful conversations. If you get a chance to see any of these three bands, do so. They are all super swell. I was in serious need of a bliss-out after a couple grueling days of work, and this was definitely the right place for me to be. Walking into Suntan's mesmerizing set put a smile on my face faster than anything that isn't boobies. Also, the new IBL shirt I bought last night is amazing. I love it and it shows off my gargantuan biceps beautifully, not to mention my boobies...er, I mean pecs.

There was a small after-party at the B-Side, but most of our friends went home before we got there because it took a while to load all the gear out and pack it up again. Damn you, freakin' Knitting Factory stairs! I got home at about 4:30am. Good times, indeed. Thanks for the drinks, Sergei, you beautiful bastage.

Tonight was +/- and Luna at the Northsix, and I'm so glad I decided to go, Official Third Wheel or not. The show was fantastic, and it was nice to be back at the Northsix after missing every good show there for the last six months.

Talking to James of +/- got me started on the idea of an EP only label. Seriously. I am going to do this. I can afford to now, and it will totally make me feel like a valuable member of society. I know I think there are too many schmendricks putting out CDs these days, but I believe in this. I will be putting out music by great bands. I can think of at least five bands I would love to release stuff by just off the top of my head. Most likely, the first thing I will put out will be The Repercussions debut EP, I hope. Obviously, since the idea is only one night old, I can't divulge too many details, but suffice to say, things will happen, and I will finally contribute more than just my good looks and wicked sense of humor to the local music scene and the world at large. I haven't been so excited in a really long time.

I really don't know what else to say, except that I'm totally looking forward to Thursday night's show at Saints and Sinnners, featuring the Repercussions and a rare Long Island appearance by The Four Volts (the artists formerly known as Bunsen Honeydew), who are a favorite of mine. If you get close enough, maybe Danny's fingers will spray blood on you.

Gooodnight kids, and safe travels to Come Down and IBL.

J-Ro's Syntax Eros

Happy Birthday to Jismo (not really him, but what better namesake to have than an experienced Highland Bagpiper from Austin, Texas?) and Jackie. You still aren't as old as me, technically, anyway. Here's the news surrounding this day to keep you happy.

-John Ritter, Johnny Cash, Wesley Willis, Warren Zevon..reaper's been busy the last couple weeks.
-Philippine twin boys conjoined at the top of their heads arrived in New York this week for a series of operations to attempt to separate them.
The boys do not share a brain, but do share some veins and arteries. They will be operated on several times in coming months. That's gotta suck for the parents. I kinda wish they had chosen to keep the kids together and make a reality show about being attached to your twin at the head. That has to make tossing and turning during the night a bitch...
-The Ozone hole is getting bigger, close to 11 million miles now.
-The RIAA sued a 12 year old and a 80 year old. Somehow, I would like to think that Madonna is not happy about this, but I bet anything that Metallica is gona write a song about how great it is. I think it would go something like this...

"Retribution Time Internet Thief"

You're stealing my money
It is wrong to steal
It's my mental property
Intellectual property

Copyright
Copyright
Take my songs
Lars won't get to eat tonight

You still have to buy it
Even though our new album is crap
Don't you dare even try it
We'll sue your 80 year old grandad
and your little girl, too
We did it to Napster
Now we'll do it to you...

Copyright
Copyright
Steal my thoughts
I'll upload you to never neverland...

---------------

Sorry, but I have no idea why the hell I'm even awake right now. I fell asleep around 5am, and by 8am I was awake. What the shit is that? Why does my body hate me so? I'm gonna give it one last try to see if I can't salvage a little sleep before it's too late.

Okay, we all knew Johnny Cash was gonna croak soon...but that still doesn't make it less sad. It's just not as scary as John Ritter dying at 54. I should point out that my dad is 54. A little freaked? You betcha! Looking for good times this weekend. Give me some, dammit!

I apologize to everybody for such a down post last time around. I shouldn't be so bummed out. Thanks to Darren for his almost instantaneous response to make sure I was okay. Thanks to Meg for hanging out with me that day, even though I'm sure I wasn't a laugh a minute. I watched LOTR: The Two Towers yesterday before work, so I'm fine now.

I hate the fact that I will get all melancholy and melodramatic like that for apparently no reason. I also hate the fact that I haven't hung out with most of my friends in a really long time. Argh. I'm tired. I wanted to write a testimonial for a friendster whom I only know from friendster and livejournal, but who lives in california, but is totally cool. I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound retarded.

Also, I think I'm going deafer in my right ear. I hope it's not another sinus infection. I think it just might be. I don't have time to go to the doctor..I still haven't gone to the dentist or the DMV yet.