christmas day in BK

Christmas in New York this year...just happens to be my first christmas away from home.. Count up those years in your own head.. WOW. face time saved it all. Just got back from Courtney and Joe's where Mom and Dad were all too happy to see on the screen that i have a family skies away...and its full of love,laughs, lasagna,and a bottle of evan williams -to which my dad prolaimed was the wrong color label. ha! call us cheap. But it all fit in a cozy greenpoint bungalow where the dogs were playful and the giggles plentiful. I missed being home..however being away and abiding by my own rules was peaceful and relaxing. No more FOLO. i adore phonecalls and good basketball. Day jogging on off days. Xmas horror movies are a big win. Hearing bands from Austin on Joey's ipod is good news..plus good power pop and dance jams from courtney. we coulda went forever. so yeah! my own christmas day of leisure - albeit casual, lacking the usual frills, enabled by public transit-paved way for proper christmas traditions to come. I am feeling blessed. pic this day and print it on a greeting card. Tis the season.

is that a pizza balloon with a side mug of beer?

nothin like bruised knees and skin drenched in beer on a tuesday night. thanks a million to Diarrhea Planet for TCBing on that tip. 4 guitars, bass, drums, plus endless amounts of unabashed spunk/pride/humility ...to make a DBA show feel like everything else outside the sweaty confines of a tiny graffiti filled noise box didn't matter. All else was invisible. Show of all shows..anchored (literallY) by supersized balloons shaped as pizza and beer mugs and a happy newly-turned-30 dudefriend. OH GOSH feeling feelings, OH MY! get sentimental at birthdays and milestones, no doubt. inching upon my first foray into Bushwick living. Leaving my first NY apartment for the everexpanding/gentrifying neighborhood we all keep hearing about: the one that we let linger in our budget conscious and next big thrill thoughts: AKA Bushwick. Tacos, 99cent values, and THE spandex goldent skintight fabric mecca of stores thrive. here i COME fuckies~! welcome me to lost adventures and proper late night sandwich discoveries. and if my fear of change is listening, well fuck off. LETS REALLY BE REAL: i'm throwing a show/party thsi saturday. i miss putting on events and shows in the ol homestead, so i feel lucky to have found a space that allows me to curate a proper bill and DJ for the straphangers as well. its nice to be free of pressure and expectation which was a hovering beast in austin..and just put together somethign special. Dont wanna know or care about much of anything except good times and big fun..in the form of sonic happiness. how gay does that sound?!?! so much faITH in Cool Serbia, daytona, and Summer Saints..i'm gonna be a kid in a gumdrop swimming pool!! and Kate is a dreamy DJ partner who is always in it to win it and i wouldn't have it any other way in terms of an inspiring and funloving partner. SO THERE> I really hope the enthusiasm in my head makes its way into the heads of everyone! (GOD PLEASE) 6:00am its been a night and its time for bed.. post pickle sleep, its the best sleep you and I will ever know. a thousand things are on my mind: my upcominig change of scenery, my trip to Atlantic City with the unstoppable K-Spot, Spring time in Austin, my new crush who gives me blushy cheeks and peels off the layers of this weirdo brainfruit ever so nicely, Jazzer boot camp, the end of Middlesex, hugging the new everything and letting go of the old everything...sometimes the mind overflows and its a really sweet feeling <3

going coming

its not a settling down weekend. Lots of greenpoint love tonight and saturday shows (radar eyes). Then Friendgiving on Sunday.. luckily this time of mine has bloomed into a lovely and miraculous thing. Only a short year ago it was different...less than...unassuming. (still on the grand cusp of pretty, but open for wounds and otherwise..lonely at the wrong times) This weekend I enter and exit hopefully on the highest of notes, accented by comfort, belonging, friends, ideas, pockets of home found away from home, optimism, and lookings forward to. Grant came in on tour and it was a time of talking about pastimes and Austin times and teeny bits of months and years ago. We all feel the same way.. and get to that point in the most outlandishly different ways. Still the same though. grant is playing for s crowds of thousands.. i am seeing beauty in numbers of 10. everyone wants to carve something out of slate. we all keep trying and tasking. even when we're rewarded, it never seems to climax. when will it all come down? when will it all settle.. and when will the blanket we weave for ourselves be warm enough? always wondering (semi happily, yet still.) Wondering.

CMJ and the situations that come with it

CMJ is coming up next week. honestly, i just wanna make tons of money $$$$$ and then after/during see whatever i can secondhand at Cake Shop. My free night is next Tuesday...reserved for the So So Glos and Weekend (fuckin finally) at Shea. In the meantime, I'll catch Ghost Wave at work to feed my NZ lust. Twerps are playing Friday with Air Waves, and Shark? on saturday so i'll get my golden moments prior to the music fest party thing?? Plus Radar Eyes in november...another fill. I consider CMJ work time and SXSW fun time. so really sxsw better be worth my while cuz a road trip is in serious consideration at this point. DAIRY QUEEN AND WHATABURGER!! also i DJed this weekend for the @bkgirlproblems party and i couldn't have been prepared for the onslaught of AMAZING that occurred. also stoked to play all my favorites and have ppl enjoy them, aside from the TLC and 90's hip hop requests. I think Carly and myself held it down proper. I miss that shit for real. Also VOTE. for something. I may not spill out blogvomit until christmas in texas so heres a reminder to anyone to just do it and know YOU COUNT. xoxo

oh JEsus!!

well shit, it happened..i missed Jesus and Mary Chain play in new york. thursday and friday night, meaning thursday is always out but i don't work friday and coulda made a proper effort and gone. honestly, $40+ tix price kept me at bay but instagram pictures from friends put it right in my face. meaning I FUCKED UP. not that it was the greatest show...or even marginally great. BUT it was a band that impacted me to no degree..and it was that band that i could listened to in pitch black on a bean bag, crying for everything, living for a strange and peculiar summer at my parents, just one year deep at college. THAT BAND. them and GBV. And i shoulda gone for that sake alone.. it was a thing i would not have passed up in Austin.. The venue woulda royally sucked in ATX but i would have put up with it. I always wonder about the cost of living here and the trade off btwn ...well..just living i suppose..and seeing stuff. enjoying food and beverage..shelter as well. I get my fair share of shows here, but i skip out on pretty much anythign outside of BK and Cake Shop. In the end (blogging attitude is shifting/being honest here), the little guys win: too many basement/shitty bathroom shows with 10 ppl outway any show where a beer is $7 and the battle to the front is seemingly endless/blatantly atrocious. i will stick with what i'm in love with. and right now, its not JAMC. I could pay $40 to mourn this occasion..but oh well, i'm tired, hungry, and i can walk to Shea and get tacos on the way home . so THERE!

all i care about right now for the sake of my ears: "into the atmosphere" by Dusted Royal Headache Jaill Radar Eyes "wedding day" by Dent May cuz he MUST know what its like to be a 30 +ish lady in OCK singletown in BK...grosssss..but really, he gets something into me. outta me. good kid. Cool Serbia- any and all of it fuckies. gonna make a crying mixtape for Mr. Timmy G. track 1- I adore you by Melpo Mene track 2- my whole life story by holy shit (new album to come, oh my!) track 3- into the atmosphere by dusted track 4- my good deed by shearwater thats it, you'll all be bawling by verse 1 track 1. promise. We all have something to cry about right?!? c on a laughing tip...if anyone is down to put the elfgirl back on DJ duty, she's all ears...Its high time me and Kate (AKA Kate Pilgrim) got some sort of collaboration going. seems like a real deal banana split knotty bit of lusciousness for everyone yeah!?! yeahhhh!! xoxo

Sprung Spring

oh goodness, this is so strange. I'm approaching a year in Brooklyn, and holy shit! i'm so so happy. i can't count too many letdowns. aside from triple the rent and less than triple the pay, everything is coming up roses. I'm excited for summer..the impending bicycle purchase, visit from Krissie, and BBQs apparently. having a job for 3 days a week and a DJ gig to supplement means enough free time to Jazzer, adventure, and laundry my life into something pretty manageable and enjoyable. hopefully a trip to Boston at the end of the month of May, and i'll feel like i really am utilizing this whole living in the northeast strategy. Also being in love with the Celtics with the Knicks second, it makes sense to meeeeeeeee. In quotable news, heard a few good ones lately: "I have a crush on every boy." - perfect companion "I believed in myself too much." - homegirl on #420 "We're out of Rolling Rock." - God bless you "Williamsburg resident and avid bruncher" - ughhhhhhdjakoeijelkje;lkj!!! lame UPCOMING AWESOME SHOWS: Shark? at Shea Stadium The Death Set at Shea Stadium Crystal Stilts/Woods at 285 Kent The Babies/Ducktails DJ set at 285 Kent The Hairs at Cake Shop Ty Segall/White Fence/Strange boys at Webster Hall The So So Glos at Shea Stadium Big Troubles/The Hairs at Glasslands Summerstages with Beach House and lots of other bands i hopefully will be biking to.. Oh and BTW, all i got for record store day was a 12 hour shift and a Davila 666 CD. (wanted Nobunny real bad) But hey! i'm rich by my standards and i don't quite have a turntable here...so i count my blessings, iPod dock and everything <3

wanderlust

moving on with the beginning time of the grand ol 2012..sorta felt like someone/thing pasted a "Kick Me" sign onto my back. not pretty. Made it outta the fog though, and continue to soul search without feeling such a "plunging into nowhere" rush of anxiety..
after much contemplation and pingpong headplay, i decided to hit up SXSW this year. goin on a plane as an early Bday present from mom and dad. i can't even say i'm stoked on the bands or have any semblance of a schedule. just gonna go and take it all in from a tourist point of view, however possible that is from a native. This means i prolly won't RSVP for shit, but just wander.. stress free, and 20 pages of underlined/ must see shows lighter than usual. When you aren't DYING to see the Jesus and Mary Chain, it may just happen ;) Its a different mindset knowing that most of the bands i'd go outta my way to catch in past years are bands I can see *almost* any day of the week in the new homeland. I wonder how new york friends will look at the Austin, Texas.. i wonder the small world connections we all have.. i wonder if I'll be lost in a sea of people alone.. i also wonder where i'm gonna sleep. Small worries.
PLUS, people: All the exes seem to have grown up, grown beards, and achieved the status of unavailable as of late. Some of the lady friends have literally moved the fuck on and out. I"m gonna try see as many of everyones as possible but the dynamic is surely gonna be different, if not nonexistent, with certain folks. LIfe is happening to everyone. not lamenting too much, just observing as i do best.

So, as it stands i'm 13 days away from it all, and i really can't fucking wait to sleep in mom and dads guest bedroom. i've had a certain cheesy smile on my face since i booked my ticket. gonna hit up sobriety for a bit before the march madness ensues. but yeah , bring it.

according to the twitter feed

Fang Island, Bear In Heaven, Oberhofer, Frankie Rose, Eternal Summers, Perfume Genius, Tanlines, Best Coast, Porcelain Raft, Shark?, Tennis <---------glad you all finished up in the studio, and super duper cant wait for the releases to come out. Myriad reasons to be excited for springtime!

In other news....

Didya see that The Clean are playing Chaos in Tejas? I would honestly flip my lid to hear "Two fat Sisters" or "Oddity" live..or "Secret Place." all of it.. now hows about that tour...convince them Merge!

Didya see the Austin Psych Fest lineup? i was sold on Black Keys and Olivia Tremor Control.

BTW, anyone else prefer the black lips to the black keys? its a no brainer to me, the lips win.

hows about SXSW? thinking of road tripping down. But damn, lookin at these other lineups, it almsot seems better to wait. or not..In fact, i think i'm alomost more excited about the prospect of jumping into a car and just riding (its been a while).. riding down to the south. warmth. rolled down windows and loud music. girl time. cheesy shit like that. i'm into it.

my bro and sister in law came to town this weekend. It was pretty fucking amazing all around. It was def awesome to see Brooklyn with their borrowed sets of eyes. We caught Dive at 285 Kent, and made it to Rocio's two times before calling it quits on breakfast food. First official Broadway show was Memphis. Loved the shit out of it and made me want to rethink my choices and reformulate my dreams of operating a venue to professional dancer. I think i missed the boat on a certain one of those..i guess that's where the jazzer comes in. and sometimes an empty living room after a good run is the perfect time to dance.

in even more other news..i just read that DFA tweet about LCD Soundsystem trying to get on SNL for 6 years while Lana Del Ray was rushed into the spotlight. makes ya wonder yeah?

another fun twitter tidbit.. One of the so so glos got arrested last nite for subway turnstile jumping, as documented quite humorously on the feed. Apparently only 1 so so glo has never been arrested. haha, amazing..i jog by their home/venue Shea Stadium pretty frequently and they seem to be having fun doing art and shit on their balcony, practicing whenever, not bothering anyone. way to put a bad one behind the bars nypd.

alright, speaking of running... ciao for now. xo