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i have a new music column in a newspaper that i'll be announcing when my first installment runs. right now though, i need your help...the paper did an illustration of me and i have a choice of using that illustration or a photo to run with the column. here are the choices...what do you think?
a long time ago i wrote fake oc mini episodes on this site. that was before technology came around like "video" and...okay, it wasn't before that. but now someone, some genius, has now created "the ultimate oc spoof", which was just sent to me. it's hilarious, and just like in shakespearean days, every character is played by a man.
so i don't care what you are doing right now, you are now going to watch this.
when i was younger, i really wanted to take piano lessons. we couldn't afford a new piano, so my dad brought one home from a school he had to do work at - they were getting rid of it. it was a player piano, two of the keys didn't work and it had gum stuck underneath it. but i loved it, and immediately took up lessons.
then i stopped (after my teacher's husband shot a squirrel and cooked it when i was there). a few years ago i mentioned i wanted to start again. so my dad found another piano that was being thrown out at one of the school's he was working at, and brought it home. we couldn't get it up to my apartment so we eventually gave it to some neighbors.
now that i live in a walkup in new york, there's pretty much no hope left for my dreams of having a baby grand. UNTIL NOW. i just saw this ad on tv for the roll up piano! sure, it probably doesn't work that great, it doesn't have the aesthetic appeal of a "real" piano...but it WILL fit in my apartment. i can practice on it until i'm a millionaire and can get a baby grand for my loft-apartment-mansion.
"what's that picture at the right?," you ask. that is a picture of the room we have at sxsw. there will be
4 to 5 people in that room. we need to not be in that room as much as
possible. the past few weeks i've received about 10 emails a day from my friends
who have started an email chain about what we are going to do once we
get down to austin. between that, the sxsw site and my other email
inboxes that are getting filled with sxsw press releases...i'm a bit
overwhelmed, but get the feeling i won't be in that hotel room much.
so this morning i woke up early, put on some music, wrapped a sweatshirt around myself, grabbed the box of strawberry yogurt burst cheerios out of my cupboard and faced my fear...i opened up the sxsw showlist page.
immediately i realized one thing: i do not know a lot of bands. last year i went down and pretty much just went to random shows, parties, did some swimming in caves, ate delicious mexican food and drank avocado margaritas. i plan on basically doing the same this year, on top of that i'll also be helping to throw the austinist/gothamist show (check out our newly updated show lineup) and i'll be on managerial duty for bravo silva.
so earlier, i was all "it's 7:30am and i have all this energy and i'm SO FOCUSED so i'm going to find the bands i want to see at sxsw, make a schedule of them and post mp3's!"
i got through 4 bands and gave up...
like_u_crazy.mp3
- mates of state
3/16, 12am, The Parish (214B E 6th St)
3/17 Jane Magazine party, invite only
steady_rollin.mp3
- two gallants
3/16, 11pm, The Parish (214B E 6th St)
TBA +1/Stuff Party, invite only
insistor.mp3 - tapes n' tapes
3/17, 1am, Latitude 30 (512 San Jacinto St)
3/16, 2 to 6pm, Red 7 (E 7th St), badge only party
TBA +1/Stuff Party, invite only
sukie_in_the_graveyard.mp3 - belle & sebastian
3/15, TBA, Stubbs (801 Red River St)
anyone know where else they're playing?
| Caption: NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 20: (L-R) Members of the band Bravo Silva, Sundance Film Festival Director Geoff Gilmore and actor Alan Cumming attend the Second Annual Zoom In Awards on February 20, 2006 in New York City. (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images) |
||
ed. note: as their manager, i was at the bar approximately 10 ft away at the time this photo was taken, having my wine glass filled with beer.
last weekend i, of course, went to see bravo silva play at r&r, or rare, or rock & rare - or whatever that epcot center version of a rock club is called. the boys have been playing this song demons recently and i love it. it's not on their debut album, but will be on the next one.
demons.mp3 - bravo silva
speaking of that show last weekend...group sounds played after them. and after a few glasses of wine i think i said the following thing to anyone who would listen to me:
"group sounds...sounds like a lotta other groups!"
followed by my own tipsy laughter. but seriously, they do. i was singing gang of four lyrics in my head the entire time. i know a lot of bands sound like other bands...but this seemed to be out of control. and they don't seem to fit their appearance either. it was as if a bunch of frat boys went into interpol's closet, listened to the oc soundtrack cd's and decided to start a band.
but, you know, i had some wine that night. so i could be wrong.
it's about 10 degrees in my bedroom right now, so my partly frozen fingertips are becoming a little warmer as i clack on the keys and type this.
today would have been my mom's 59th birthday. i remember when i was still living in rhode island, before i came back home to live with her, i gave her my laptop so she could go online. she learned fast, and was IM'ing me in no time. she also found a lot of breast cancer groups online that helped her, a lot of sites that informed her, and some that scared her. she talked about one site that she liked a lot, so if you have some spare change maybe you can donate it to the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation.
[there is more below, if you want to read it]
alexis, editor in chief at pup on a bun, writes in:
i am watching the bbc pride & prejudice and was saying how i think mr. collins looks a whole bunch like jeff tweedy. so... i google image searched him and GUESS what image came up first?....
THIS!:
http://dailyrefill.blogs.com
/photos/uncategorized/meandtwe edy.jpg first ben gibbard now jeff... you WHORE!
be sure to check out pup on a bun (it's totally the original cuteoverload.com), which has just been pupdated!
both dave AND jordan of snowden told me i have to go see this band when they play in new york. and that time has come...
the band: the selmanaires
the shows:
february 15th @ the lion's den
february 16th @ the baggot inn
february 17th @ pianos
february 23rd @ northsix
the myspace page: www.myspace.com/theselmanaires
you've been informed.
earlier this year leyan lo set the new rubik's cube record, 11.13 seconds.
now i now have a new goal - to beat the record, and thanks to wikipedia i may actually achieve it. this solution was developed by david singmaster, a british mathematician. it's actually sort of confusing and giving me a headache. in addition, i'm having flashbacks to my math teacher telling me i'd need math in "real life". i never believed her, until now.
this resolution may actually be simpler. and if anyone has a fix that doesn't involve so many components, let me know. oh, and mr. lo - you are so going down.
ps: if you want to cheat, you can use this site which will give the solution to any scrambled cube.
