Monday, February 28, 2011

Pre Spring post

surprise of the day...Sunday Jazzercise class... i never go on sundays, and today was just what i needed after waking up to a dreary morning. Jazzercise has been a Godsend to me, ever since i became too disenchanted with my neighborhood to jog..and i go because i'm sick of the normal scenery of the standard 3 miles, and I love the incorporation of actual dance routines into a cardio workout. Plus i get to hear some awesome music. most of which i would never choose to listen to whilst cleaning the house, driving around during various errands..or anyfuckingtime for that matter. I'm now better schooled on Katy Perry, Beyonce, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and so many more.. Today was completely surprised to hear "Don't You Evah" by Spoon during the pre weight segment.. "They're from Austin" homegirl Kate announced. She always talks about the music (which i love about her leading the class. plus anyone with a pulse can tell she's an ex drill team member, and totally loves the extra rhythmic step she adds to all the 8 count routines.yes!!) I also heard some Scissor Sisters..apparently two SS songs have made it onto Jazzercise routine playlists. Flor-ida i heard also, and realized i've been pronouncing it wrong the whole time. An old remix of Rick Springfield also made it into the mix today, and i thought "GODDAMNIT i wanna DJ this soo fucking bad!!" Shakira has me movin my hips and feeling a lil extra brazilian and booty bangin all the time. we did a mambo once too.. one of my favorite routines. i never knew that the step-ball-change i abandoned when i was 8 years old would have so much impact on my life a good (CHRIST!) 25 years later. sheesh. i can only hope i get some J-Cize into my life up in the Northeast. speaking of...lots of headway has been made, and things are quickly progressing..just need to unload some seriously unimportant tangible goods, book my ticket, and its showtime!
speaking of... shows! ahh yes, its a show week for sure.. i saw the laughing tonite. got lost in a plethora of soundscapes yet to be topped by any band in the ATX in my humble opinion. BTW, Grant plz don't ever cut that hair!! plus caught a bit of International waters, a new ATX band that tickled my ears quite a bit. Tomorrow i'm going to the Elephant 6 Holiday Reunion Tour. Hoping for a jeff mangum sighting, but will be certainly pleased to see old members of Elf Power, Marshmallow Coast, OTC, sunshine fix, NMH, music tapes and whoever else wants to chime in..playing old tunes. i haven't done much research on this tour, and didn't have my hopes up too high.. after reading the 33 1/3 series on Neutral Milk Hotel and realizing the importance and DIY normalcy (for the time at least) innerworkings of the whole collective...I have to see it. To me, it seems completely imaginative and somewhat enchanting and admirable for this blogospheric/internet culture we now reside in that this collective remained the family that never lost its core beliefs.. at least i hope not. And after attending show after show of side project after offshoots of side projects, it could be pretty magical to see a culmination of it all. honestly i'm kinda hoping for all covers of the greats..i see so much new stuff nowadays..and i love it to the max.. but we all can pinpoint a time when a song or a genre really defined ourselves as obsessive creative freaks. and quite frankly i'm glad to enjoy the circus..and if it sucks, well, i'm still gonna see my husband at ATP in New Jersey in October...yeeeeaah.
Night 3 of show week is PS I Love You with Diamond Rings just added to the bill. kinda really jazzed about this show. Tuesday nite, the first day of march.. a great way to start off the March of madness.. the month of my birthday and the departure of my best friend to the city of Atlanta. The month i finally get to see Ray Allen go balls deep vs the Spurs. I'm gonna do my best to not be sad. I'll prolly cry at Frank Smith on Thursday. but that's alright. we've still got the mid march mania of SXSW to keep the demons away. at least for a lil while until real life and real feelings set in. Again, more commentary on the move (yeah yeah,read it and huff..it IS on my mind all the time...sorry for the boring yet most prioritized thoughts going on in elfland)..gotta switch banks and switch bills, rent my room out, and cut several ties to texas on the accounting tip. Plane ticket to arrive and be booked within the next week or so. Then everything becomes real. reality. yes, its gonna come some time, and it can't be blanketed by the many attempts of doing so as of late..times have been good...but knowing that a new real version of living is on the horizon...thats a scary yet exhilirating way to feel. its showtime for elfgirl. rehearse everyone, cuz we all need to perform TTM! gnite loves.
oh wait, PS! i think the Mohawk was playing some of the new walkmen tonite, and it fucking rocked. i coulda been wrong, but whatever, shit sounded great and reminded me to not give up on bands that stole my heart once or twice <3



3/1/2011 fuckies! BTW, homeboy didn't change clothes all week last year.. but his makeup was perfection ;)

Friday, February 18, 2011

its getting fuzzy in here..

so these bands i hear lately..they tickle my ears and i dig em.. admittedly, they all kinda sound like Jesus and Mary Chain and Spiritualized ...fuuuzzzed out. reverb. distortion peds TTM. feedback. feedblack ;) sometimes there's a lady singing who isn't Hope Sandoval, but whatever. yummy. yeah just a thought. and its nuts to see the time and trends circulate like legwarmers and fingerless gloves. its the second coming kids.. or the third..

saw HRO's valentines day photo winners were posted today.. i thought i may send a photo 2 carles telling homebro i'd give him the Ntire alphabet if he'd B my BF4 life or sumthing. j/k . srsly. i dont really want to enter that contest, it could scar one for life losing. that commentary is harsh..but as of late, i do like the whole Panera bread dude..

so SXSW...Kanye will be here. i will be *hopefully* riding my bike around..cuz everyone's hip to the whole east side factor, and a lot of fuckies drive cars here. more to come on SXSW. DUH. Kanye just came up. no one man should have all that power. ha.

another random thought...Weekend titled their album "sports". that makes perfect sense to me.. i love huey lewis, and a lot of badass sporting events happen over the weekend. wonder if they thought of this shite..

sidenote: i wonder if i should DL the Men, cuz on the the fuckbook Empire of the Sun told me i should czech the Men out.

too much to think about. i DJ for the first time in months on tuesday. i hope everyone likes JAMC. and, um..whatever i like? yeah that would be cool.

barbarella has two floors open now (TFL!!!) and will do a test run tomorrow nite with the ladies. The weather feels nice right now. its good to be out and dining al fresco was wonderful this evening..

despite the news, moving to new york in may seems appropriate, as people "come out" and are "happy" during that time. Well, i see the subtle differences in ppl here in ATX, where nothing even remotely drastic happens weather wise..so i'm hoping that these descriptions of the NEsterners is accurate. BTW, i'm not sure i really wanna live in Park Slope. I'm not rich nor pregnant, and i could use more in my life besides a nice park and a giant food co=op or whathaveyou.. not dissing on it, i just was really hoping to settle in greenpoint. But the doors wide open now.. elfgirl on a winging it type of tip. won't this be lovely? so lovely, i'll have to scream.

goodnite you lovelies, tolerant of random elfgirl musings <3 and more..
xo
E

Sunday, February 13, 2011

remember to love

tend to wonder sometimes.. whatever happened to THAT album, THAT band, THAT song..one trick pony? one song on a mix CD from boy i'm dating that was followed by an illegally downloaded album? awesome SXSW set and then what? going thru some old tunes..and just wondering what happened to.. or moreso should i still be listening to.. or WTF have i been cuz i know you put out another album and i didn't czech it out or whathaveyou nonsense.. anyways, just curious..
saturday looks good to me, daedelus, blank dogs, duraluxe, the sun, the glands, apollo sunshine, white flight, the envelopes..
so many more.. it all started with Sea wolf popping up on the ipod while reading the newspaper in peace last night. i never listen to sea wolf anymore, and at one time, it didn't go off repeat...one of recent decent.. then it dawned on me, that my playlist is full of casualties, at least to me. this is temporary, and i don't like it. its time for a ressurection.. and a spelling lesson apparently. anyways, its valentines day officially. no diatribes on love songs or happy hearts. just an official THANKYOU for broken hearts and hard times. Those give you the ability to be the hardest, betterest, fastest, and strongest you can be <3

Thursday, February 10, 2011

2561 baby!

tonight magic happened. My boyfriend Ray Allen (not to be confused with my boyfriend Chris Knox or husband Jeff Mangum of course!) made history tonite. He is now the all time leader in 3 point shots in NBA history. I adore the Celtics, I had to see this game. And icing on the cake, my sweetie sunk it against the Lakers, yeaaah! It made me soo happy. I even maneuvered my schedule at work around to see this awesomeness:



I kinda wanted to cry. I really just wanted to be there in the Garden. I met up with some folks at our favorite B-Ball joint where my heart was crushed last year when the lakers beat the celtics in the NBA Finals. ahh what a series... what a game.. just a bad finish. Last year was loud, intensity left and right, jumping up then sitting back down..standing the entire last quarter..the best~! Tonite a bit more subdued, and we were able to hear the bar tunes. Now for an historical game like this, i'd prefer to hear the commentary, but i'm willing to let that go for good conversation, pals, and tunes....Usually this bar plays the redundant 90s favorites or pop punk teen/tween movie soundtrack crap. Tonite, I was surprised at the fine selection of artists at Little Woodrow's. Little Woody's we like to say, bahahah! (No that never gets old.)

The Drums, The XX, The Soft Pack, Helena Beat, Phoenix, Hockey, Spoon, Young the Giant, The National, Band of Dorses, Yeasayer, Fences, Edward Sharpe, Silversun Pickups, Cut Copy..

who the hell is helena beat? IDK, but i plan on finding out PDQ. shazamed that sucker!
So after a week of being home sick, i got better for my baby and saw the pivotal shot. i got all geeky and soft hearted when they showed Ray Allens mom. Standing ovation, handshakes, everyone was hugging him. Even Kobe showed a bit of love.. that's pretty much the only time i'll give Kobe that much credit and please note this is off court/non statistical cred. (yeah hes fun to watch, he's a fucking impressive player, but honestly kinda been an ass. him and ray have had words.)

Needless to say, I fucking love the celtics, i love me a game of basketball, and I'm going to miss not watching the playoffs in Austin this year. So many grand memories. And now, a good bar soundtrack that had us dancin in our chairs!

geez new york, be nice to me come may <3

Sunday, February 6, 2011

time baby

another brilliant nite in austin that deserves a write. saw two ends of the ATX spectrum, highlighted by the simple notion that gettin across the entertainment district should always be quick and free *just say NO to night time parking meters!!
so went to beerland w/ GFace to see Black Gum. was oh so pleasantly surprised.(well the rough tracks i'd heard had me excited so perhaps surprised isn't the best word. who cares) Nonetheless, Badger on the drums, Travis on guitar and IDK who on bass..it was on LD for sure! sloppy muddled vocals, jangly guitar, drum lady totally TCBing mad style, a song named "the longest two minutes of your life" ..played with a Harlem/woven bones asthetic..it was amazing..it belonged in the matador Casual Victim Pile. One song, introduced as "we're gonna sing about the beach!" made my receptors go in high gear happy. Saw some really old faces (srsly considered before going that i may be the only person over 30 in the venue..NOT TRUE) and was happy that the same Austintes AKA ex models, ppl at afterparties of the olden years, ex/semi musicians were in attendance. Beerland will always be hip apparently because that's where everyone starts, and everyone stays, if that makes sense. reminisced about the too many times i'd played on that same stage and how FUCKING LOUD the stage monitors were, how shit wasn't heard at all in the crowd.. esp regarding vocals. always wondering how it sounded after playing... I didn't miss This Microwave World oddly enough, it was a run that raced like many an austin band..it was in a happy sort of memory zone i fell into..for a brief moment...i wish i coulda stayed for Soft Healer but made my way across town to see Frank Smith. I tell you, i've been waiting for the new 2011 Frank Smith song births..and sure enough 2 new songs were delivered. Evolved and raw, harder and with even more strut and swagger. jaw dropped. small splices of noisy Spiritualized feedback, a hint of CCR, and vocalist Aaron sinclair had thoughts of Kurt Cobain yelling as he did on "Drain You". I'm not even sure this can be conceptualized for a bluesy americana band, and it may not seem appropriate. but seriously, a whole new level was achieved. it. was. intense. best live so far by the FS.
Last nite dream of seeing Wild Nothing was realized. Saw with K-Spot and new fan Jeannettieo. the set was eternally perfect in every way. the band was gracious and i got the feeling they weren't expecting to play for a packed ass room. as i fan, an admirer, i think " how the fuck could they not realize it?", but honest to GOD they seemed humble and surprised. Abe Vigoda pretty much rocked it after a few songs and some sound board realizations. Just a few adjustments were made and the sound was grand. Props to the keyboardist/guitarist. unprops for the crowd not allowing me to see WTF kind of synth he was playing. Wah, wah.
Kspot and i both came to the oddest conclusion: this band Abe Vigoda rules but singer sounds like dude from the bravery (or the futureheads/kaiser chiefs/whoeverthefuckelse was buzzband at the time during SXSW ..um...06 perhaps??) either way couple the bands and above and beyond the best show i've seen at Red 7 inside.
in other news, i have a DJ gig in a few weeks. Its been since november and that was a wedding. i wonder WTF to play. i wonder if Traktor still works. I wonder how the skipped AP at danny's is going. I wonder where all the hot Brazilians were tonite since it was Carnival.. oh wait, perhaps they were AT carnival festivities ') oh well..
things are still grand when you let them be. even when you venture back to past stomping grounds you thought were not welcoming or welcomed for that matter. There's no place like home.