Carbon Nanotubes

I am getting extremely freaked out by the space elevator project. NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, Research for the Institute for Scientific Research and Eureka Scientific in Berkeley, California are planning to build an elevator that goes from Earth to space within the next 15 years. This is no "love in an elevator" elevator, this is an elevator on a cable made out of a carbon-nanotube-composite ribbon. Yes, a RIBBON, like the ones that Sarah loves to wear in her hair. Except this 62,000 mile long ribbon, made using nanotechnology, will transport a platform looking cable car up into SPACE. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on the molecular and atomic level. Carbon nanotubes provide the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any material ever seen, some 50 to 100 times stronger than steel and one-sixth the weight. There is a video demo you can watch of the elevator at work here. This shit is crazy and terrifying. They say that in the long run this is going to save money, because it costs more money to fund each space shuttle flight and it will eliminate disasters such as the Challenger and Columbia. I have a little theory though that this could be some sort of escape root for the wealthy, those that can afford to ride the elevator are going to go up there and live in outerspace or on the moon. So, instead of spending money on programs to help to poor, the biggest elevator known to man is being built and they are just going to escape and start an intergalatic war with us.
"It will change the world economy. It's worth what ever it costs to put it up," Westling said. An initial elevator, he added, is sure to give birth to even larger systems, capable of handling larger loads of up and down traffic."

Okay, this space website is awesome. You can watch live coverage of satelites in space near Saturn. When I lived with Liz in Takoma Park we had this TV station that was a constant feed from inside the space shuttle. So, you could turn this on at any time and watch real people inside the shuttle doing their space thing. Mostly, they were just sitting, but for some reason I found this station really relaxing.

We are leaving the geosynchronous orbit.

I stuck to the promise that I made to myself pretty well this weekend. I did not go out and spend a lot of money. Friday night, Liz, Sarah and I ate pizza, drank wine, watched 50 First Dates and cried our eyes out. This movie, although hilarious, thanks to the cutest penguin and walrus, was devestatingly upsetting for me. Drew Barrymore is so cute and Adam Sandler is so endearing and their courtship is so sweet. Thinking about it now makes me want to cry.

On Saturday nite, we had a lovely BBQ at our apartment. Another reason I need to get my digicam. Then I can post pics of it and write captions. I have too much energy right now to go into details about the event, but the funniest thing ever said:

Liz: "Avram, it looks like you are learning about irony."
Avram looks down at his shirt.
Me: "No, not ironing, IRONY."

E-mail from Liz regarding Sunday:
Bunk you are the best.
It was so fun getting shitfaced and listening to the undertakers with you yesterday afternoon
And it was really funny when we had to tell the mammal “ok, we got wasted.” :)

SEE EVERYONE AT THE CAT TONITE!!!!

"For a good time try carlo rossi and shooting bb guns." - Avram

Thanks Avram, that actually does sound like a good time.

I might have to quit this shit. Things are getting too weird in my life to continue for now. I am taking a break for today. There really is nothing that I can say. Too many cosmic forces are trying to fuck with my life. The internet is a wonderful and SCARY place, as is my world.

BREAK ..........

"I am unable to comply"

Last nite I was feeling sad and listening to sad songs (Made-up Dreams, Built to Spill) and staring into space. Alone in my apartment, I become a zombie with ADD. Actually, I took a quiz yesterday that said that I am a Night of the Living Dead Zombie. Liz called me around 10:30 to remind me that she had been at dinner with her family and that's why she didn't answer my numerous calls to her cellphone. Liz is good at raising the dead and she invited me over for bong hits and tv with Perry. This was the best remedy for my craving for the heavenly taste of spicy brains to stop the pain of being dead.

We watched Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. Best mindblowing action movie that I have seen in a long time. Everything in this movie is awesome and every five minutes I would remind Liz and Perry of this fact, when I would scream, "That's awesome." Schwarzenegger is awesome. The machines are awesome. Nick Stahl is awesome. Claire Danes is awesome. Explosions are awesome.



Anyways. This movie may have revived my work spirit. Claire Danes makes you want to kick some serious ass when you are at your desk.



When gun control laws are not passed in Congress, Liz said that I can get my uzi.

Sunday came. I trashed it out again.

I am ending the saga of my fucked up weekend. First - I have been playing around with the look of the title. It's still a little bit of a work in progress, but I am happy with it for now. (It is my favorite pic of Julian ever - before he got all crazy and alcoholic.)

So in brief, I woke up at 2:00 on Sunday in a great deal of pain from my fall the day before. I immediately started icing and medicating, at least as soon as I was able to pick myself out of my bed. Sarah had been at a shoot with her mom since 9:00am, ouch!! We hadn't gone to bed until 6am. The rest of the day was spent hobbling around my apartment, hobbling up to 7-11 for snacks, trying to get in touch with the mammal and trying to decide if I really should be going to the Franz Ferdinand show later that nite. Around 8:00 I headed over to the 9:30 club to get my tickets from Ben.

I couldn't get in touch with Sarah until it was too late and she still needed to celebrate father's day. In the end I went to the show alone, met up with Warnock and rocked out to FF. They were fucking incredible and I wish that I wasn't so hungover and drugged out and in such pain that I could have been down on the floor dancing. What a shame. But I still enjoyed them. Loved the drummer's gold chain and v-neck sweater and the Agent Cooper look-a-like on guitar/synth.

Of course I hit up the merch table, you know, we like merch. For myself, I purchased the green/yellow shortsleeve bball tee and for Sarah (since she missed the show and all) I purchased the cute little underwear. She loves them, ask her about them and maybe she'll show you, but then again, I doubt it.

As I was catching a cab home, another girl was trying to get in my cab. After chatting with her briefly, I figured out that it was Sara, Popular Cult, the girl who knows Kappy at Brandeis. Such a small fucking world and now all DC Bloggers are trying to unite to try and overthrow the NYC scene. Something about purple ribbon and paperclip bracelets. I am just trying to get people out for the HT show. Folks, do you realize that HT is playing the Black Cat on Monday and that there will be a merch table. Whoa!!

Saturday I said I'm sorry

Sarah came into my airconditioned room on Saturday morning trying to convince me that I needed to go get food with her. I told her that there was no reason to get up because it wasn't nice out anyway. However, that wasn't the case, it was a beautiful day. But in my room it was dark and I was a little strugglefest. So we went to our favorite weekend brunch place, Tonic.

After brunch, I went to the mall to buy some weekend playclothes. I ended up with new jeans, that I don't really like and a new pair of Chucks, which I love, but caused me a great deal of pain, which I will get to in a minute.

Back at home, Sarah was calling me every five minutes to tell me to come home cuz there was a mob of people outside at the Alley Party. Finally, I got home and got ready for the 1st Annual Kilbourne/Kenyon Alley Party. I laced up the new chucks and went outside grabbed a beer. A few minutes later it started to rain. I realized that I needed to go inside and blow dry my hair before it got all crazy. As soon as I stepped on the first stair I slipped, due to my new shoes and fell down all five stairs. I landed on my back at the bottom crying and laughing. Now I have a HUGE bruise on my back and I have trouble moving around. I feel elderly and I need assisted living. I was supposed to start pilates yesterday, but I can't really do that now. I am going to attempt to go today and have the cute pre/post rehab guy tell me some stretches that I can do.

I should have stayed in the rest of the day, but I figured that if I got really drunk and drugged out than I would be ok. So I took pain pills and drank the rest of the day.

Saw the Hard Tomorrows at Ft. Reno. The weather was beautiful, the band looked refreshed. They sounded great. I love listening to my favorite bands outside, the music just floats around in the air. After their set I went over to Guapo's for Margaritas with Kelly, Perry and Warnock. After 2 pitchers, I wobbled back over and caught end of the Carlsonics set. Another chick bassist - yay!! There was a family there that was dancing all over - another reincarnation of urban yoga from Silver Spring. Also in the family was skinny shirtless dancing man, running baby and blanketed thing. At one point Bobby got up and started dancing with urban yoga. I think that there are digipics of this out there.

We were supposed to go to the Carlsonics after party, but you know plans are for shit. So, we went home to change into our hotfits, but really Kelly was the only one who truly captured the essence of the hotfit. She wore a safari jumper hotshort hotfit and heels. (Kelly is here and she says that she emulated Bridget Bardot). First stop was the Washington City Paper party on Hobart. After a little bit of philosophy, drinks and dancing, it was off to the Dressed to Get Screwed party.

Here are the things that I do remember about the party:

* Everytime that I had to go to the bathroom there was a long line that I waited in for at least 20 minutes. Later that evening I went to the bathroom with Sarah and the sink was on the floor.
* Ben (not Vivari) was wearing a cuban shirt, which prompted a photo shoot of close-ups on people's outfits. Rishi's pre-distressed hole in his jeans, Rishi's pocket, Ben's pattern on his shirt, design on Sarah's t-shirt, the word Quebec on Paul Nighties t-shirt. A few minutes later Kelly came out looking for Warnock's camera. She thought she had lost it, but she had handed it to be so we could do a pornographic photo shoot on the sidewalk. I need to post the photos, if I ever get them. I think there is also a picture of my bruise on there and I would really like to post it if possible.
* Bobby called me to ask where the party was and when I told him T and 16th, he said that he was on S and could here the party. About 20 minutes later, we were still on the porch and we wondered where Bobby was. Rishi decided that he should go look for him, so he left. About an hour later, Sarah comes up to me inside and asks me where Rishi went. I had no idea. Sarah said that he went to look for Bobby. This came as a surprise to me, since I had been hanging out with Bobby for the past hour at the party. He somehow had snuck in while we were on the porch.
* They also had put the couches on their ends in this little little room that leads upstairs. Sarah and I had to use our cellphones as flashlights to navigate through the small coffin like space.
* I somehow employed Ben and then Perry to get me beer from the keg and bring it to me. This worked out well until Perry tried to steal my cup and drink my beer.
* Sarah reminds me that Rishi put us in a cab. Before we even went a block, Sarah said that we needed to go back because Warnock had her phone. Luckily, the cab driver realized that we were idiots and just let us get out.
* Back at the party, the cops came, so the hosts were standing on the porch making sure that we kept it inside. For some reason, it was easier for everyone else to follow these simple instructions, but for Sarah and I, we were in and out and in and out. I don't even know what Sarah had to do inside everytime. But the people living there would get pissed that I was outside and then when I would go inside Sarah would be ready to leave again. A few minutes later, however, she was back inside. This little game went on for awhile.
* Sarah and Warnock had been in communications with Sebastian and group (AC, Erin, Julian, Annette) all evening. Finally just as we were about to get into another cab they showed up. Sarah was on the phone with Rishi trying to convince him to come back to the party. They had been trying to find us all nite, but didn't know where the party was, but somehow they found a bunch of other parties. We moved this whole group back to Hobart in 3 cabs. I showed Erin my bruise and she flipped out.
* Back at Hobart, we sat around the big dining room table under the 70s lighting and I listened to Erin Worley lecture me on how to clean my stairs so that I wouldn't fall again for about 20 minutes. Bobby was sound asleep on the couch and for some reason, everyone decided to go and sit on the couch that he was sleeping on. He did not seem to wake up. But on Monday nite, when asked about this incident. He said that he didn't know why everyone was sitting on him and said that he was going to try to switch couches, but he didn't.

I am sure that more happened, but I cannot remember so clearly, so if you have other memories, please share them with me and I can edit my post later.

Friday Nite I crashed your party,

My Friday nite started as soon as I left the office at 6pm. I met up with Liz and Anne at Island Jim's Tiki Bar. This place is incredible, as soon as you enter, you feel like you have been transported to Key West or something. They have sand and Rum Runners in DC. It wasn't long before Sarah started calling to ask when we were going to be back for Reizou at DC9 at 8.

Jesse quit Reizou last week, but they still sounded great. All that practicing has really paid off. Liz always asks me why the have a DJ after the bands. She said that people are paying for the bands, not the DJ and that it drives people out early. But they played Reptilia (makes me happy) and they were screening Blow Up.

We ditched DC9 for the Black Cat aroun midnightish. Kyle drove us. I quickly recounted my strokes dream to him (which I knew he would crack up at) and sarah and I ran out of the car. Liz was supposedly going home to hang out with her roommates, bobby moved in on friday and there was a massive cleaning, chilling out thing going on.

Earlier that day someone from the MC5 came into Pop and bought a shirt from Sarah and put her on the list + 1 for that nite. After being upstairs for less than 5 minutes I had to buy cigarettes and went back downstairs where I ran into Liz. Apparently, she was confused why we left her in the car. So I explained how we thought she was going home and she thought she was coming with us so she went in without her and since she wasn't on the list she didnt know how to find us. Liz and I sat at the bar in front of Chuck and texted and called Sarah til she realized that I ditched her and we were downstairs. Chuck pours us all a shot and gets us into 80s alt pop dance party. This was fun, until it got too sweaty and Sarah disappeared to make a phone call.

Soon we were on the street and then we were at Rishi's banging on his door at 3am. (I have already apologized for this repeatedly, but once again sorry Rishi.) Sarah was pissed that we were there cuz me and Liz were wasted and apparently, Rishi's roommate's 4 year old daughter was sleeping there, but no one told us, so we were being loud. And, really no one was trying to control us so we just continued on our drunken tirade. Sarah said that she was coming over so Liz and I decided to hide out and take a break on the back stoop. Liz was messy, she fell down into the marshland that is Rishi's backyard. She showed me her scrape last nite. We drunk dialed Perry and Bobby and then we decided that Sarah and Rishi didnt want us there so we ran down the alley, apparently, Sarah ran after us, but we didn't even see her, let alone know that she was calling our names out.

We were going to take a cab home, but Liz said that we should just walk up 16th street. This was quite the adventure. Sarah called to yell at us but we didn't know why she was mad. First she didn't want us there and then she was mad cuz we left. Liz picked a flower to give to Sarah, but the roots and a lot of dirt was still attached. Instead of giving it to Sarah, she threw it at me and got dirt all over my shirt. We drunk dialed Avram. Liz and I were still laughing so hard from the dirt incident that she kept telling Avram "please hold while I process your account information." Liz sat down on the sidewalk. We were a fucking mess!

I called Sarah back and she was kinda pissed at us so we went back to Rishi's to get her. Liz and I ran upstairs to the bathroom. Usually, when we are fucked up Liz gets in the bathtub. This time she told me too. I think Liz might have blogged before about the old stupid drunken things we have done in the past, and if she hasn't than she should, but y'all should know how we roll by now.

Across the street these 3 guys called us over to look in someone's window. They said that there was a guy in there who was wearing a speedo, but by the time we peeked in the light was off. We tried to get the guys to give us a ride back to Mt. Pleasant, but they said no and Sarah called us prostitutes. So, we started walking, but Sarah made us get in a cab and there was a lot of yelling in the cab.

The thing about Sarah is that she never stays mad for too long. Even though we were acting like drunk assholes all nite she forgave us. It was all blamed on miscommunication.

What ARE we gonna do NOW?

They cancelled Lollapalooza due to poor ticket sales?

Why bye?

I woke up laughing.

Okay, so I am ready to tell you about the hilarious dream that I had last nite. I dreamt that I was at a Strokes show at the Palladium, which is in Hollywood. The venue was practically empty. Sarah and I were sitting in the front row. Almost everyone was playing drums. Julian was on drums, Matt Romano was on drums, Juliet was on a mini drumset, and of course Fab was on drums. Nikolai and Nick were playing their correct instruments, bass and guitar. But where was Albert? He wasn't even there. They were playing and these yuppies near us were booing. I turned to the yuppies and said that if they didn't shut the fuck up that I was going to kick them in the face. Then Fab said that he was going to go get Albert who was at home and Fab left. Then Juliet started rolling around on the stage and Julian stood up and took off all of his clothes and he had little white underwear on. He stood near the edge of the stage and there was a camera guy filming him, crotch shot. Then Albert finally came out and said that the show was cancelled because they didn't feel like playing and he threw all of the ticket stubs into the audience and they walked off stage. Then Sarah and I went back stage and my parents were there and they said, "You've been punk'd."

I was really pissed and embarassed so I ordered 6 different kinds of beer all at once and proceeded to drink them and spill them and hang out with the band.

I woke up laughing.

A conversation that Avram and I are having over e-mail right now:

Sara: I just saw Ed Norton!!!!

Avram: oh my gosh!
where?
if you see him agian tell him wilde lake sucks and oakland mills rules!
also tell him he is awesome and gives hope to everyone from columbia, md
who wants to get it with hot chicks like selma hyak

S: ok Avram i'll tell him

A: awesome!
you are the best
where is he at?
can i go take a picture of him on my camera phone?
too cool
invite him to lunch with us also

S: actually we are going back to his hotel so wont be able to make it to
lunch

A: ask if i can come too

S: It's a private engagement.

A: wait a second
why would the most famous Columbian, and the grandson of James Rouse, the founder of Columbia need to stay in a hotel in DC?
that makes no sense.
thats like saying the queen of england needs a hotel when in manchester

S: cuz he is a CELEBRITY

A: would rudy guliani need a hotel room if he was in long island?
i dont think so
better luck next time
but if you are telling the truth ask if i can hang out too
i can go chill in the lobby for an hour or so if you need private time

S: i dont need you hanging around- he is only going to be here for tonite and then its back to la. maybe he doesnt have time to see his family

A: can i at least say hi to him you can call me if he's around
it would mean a lot to me
i bet he likes hearing from his subjects i mean fans from columbia

S: i bet he doesnt. i dont know what you would say
you asked schwartzmen when rushmore 2 was coming out

I just saw Ed Norton in my building. He is incredibly hot in person.

What are we gonna do now?

So says Liz:

1. Here’s what I say, in number list:
2. it is rishi’s birthday
3. the hard tomorrows are an awesome band
4. I need to give rob a key to my house
5. if it’s raining how is the mammal going to get over to rishi’s anyway?
6. remember you said you would never, ever go back to town hall again (meaning that you would not go back there for another three months). Well that was on march 12 – three months and a few days ago. I think it’s funny that there’s a good possibility that we’ll end up out there tonite.
7. regardless, let’s hang out later.

An idea that I have proposed:

Dear Mike, Info and Liz:

My heart breaks when I hear of Bobby's troubles. As the lead singer, he needs to be more careful, there are people out there who cannot wait for June 19 and 28 and they are waiting for Bobby. I have seen the message board and I know about the Bobby fans (circa Army of Me.) They don't know about the other members or the music, but as soon as the first note is played they will be hooked. These girls are crucial to the success of the Hard Tomorrows - they are the street team. They spread the word to the people.

Also crucial to the success of the Hard Tomorrows is practice. Since Bobby has been arrested and been in an accident, there is no way for the HTs to get to practice unless Mike takes the Oldsmobile out to DC and then back to Summerhaus - this involves stopping at Swann, Emerson and Hobart.

I would like to propose a deal to you, mike and info: Meg Casablancas aka Sara Kaplan would like to offer her services(car) to the Hard Tomorrows. If allowed to attend practice and act as liaison between the HTs and the fans, Meg would drive Bobby, Rishi and Manny to practice. (I mean, you guys don't practice too much.) As liaison, I would (during practice) answer fanmail/email, get the band to sign posters for the fanclub, publish the newsletter (liz would write the articles and sarah would take the pictures), etc. Really the possibilities are endless. I would like to follow in Juliet Joslin's footsteps (except I won't be marrying the HTs lead singer.)

This both provides to future success to the HTs and gives back to the fans.

its 11:22 and I have not done an ounce of work. I am looking for a way out of the desk. please help

-meg (superfan/asst. manager?)

Responses:

from liz:

Bunk this is very cute.

from mike:

well, the fanmail is getting overwhelming...
me and the cutlass S like yr ideas, we'd be forever indebted.
the bucolic splendor of summerhaus awaits you, who would hitch their sail to the winds of bobby.
riberious chakramooga, your thoughts?
viva la bobby,
kit

I should be sleeping.

Sarah and I stayed out way too late on Sunday night. We were supposed to leave Baltimore after the Frequency finished playing, but we were waiting for AC to finish up with his stuff and then we were going to go and besides we were having way too much fun. The second band that played were really horrible. I couldn't stand them. The Talking Head is cool because it has all these hidden rooms and little spaces and staircases that go up someplace and down another place. They also have a really good jukebox with a lot of Sonic Youth in it. I couldn't drink, since I had spent most of the weekend in either a state of being drunk or hungover and I was extremely tired. So, I drank club sodas all nite. When the third band went on, Warnock told us to go downstairs, and he was not wrong, Bobby Conn was incredible. Sarah described it as Rufus Wainwright meets the cast of Cats. 6-piece band in tracksuits, boys in skirts. Glitter makeup. We were completely blown away. Warnock told us that they have been around for like 9 years. Where the hell have we been? People are always telling me that I have a knack for knowing about the next big thing, but this?? This IS the next big thing - almost. I mean I want everyone to experience this band. Sarah and I had to stand on a bench to see them and dance. We kept looking at each other and shaking our heads in disbelief at how amazing they were. After their set, we went to check out their merch. Erin Worley bought us their CD and we finally got a copy of the Frequency. At about 1:00 we decided that we were completely wiped out for the weekend, but Sarah was drunk now and it was hard to get her to leave. She had to check out Sebastian in a speedo while he was drumming and then we left out one of the secret back staircases.

The ride home was interesting. Sarah's job was to talk to me, because even though we were listening to Bobby Conn, I kept trying to doze off. While on the BW Parkway I started talking to Sarah about the idea of the body not tiring. It would be great if the human body did not require sleep. I mean I love sleeping, but sometimes you feel like you loose important hours in the day. It would be incredible if people did not get tired. Think about the possibilities. You could exercise all the time and not tire. You could work 2 jobs. You could go to work, come home, go out and then go to another job without ever breaking. You could drive for hours and never shut your eyes, road trips without ever stopping except to go to the bathroom or get a snack. As I was talking in depth about this to Sarah we passed our exit for Washington. I was so tired and stupid. Then we were hungry and Sarah had to pee. I kept asking her if she wanted me to stop on the side of the road. We were near Dream and I kept changing my mind that it probably wouldn't be the best idea. Then we wanted snacks, but we didn't have any cash. Finally, we found a Wendy's that was open, so she went in, but we didn't want to eat there. But as soon as we left, we saw a McDonalds. The drive-thru line was really long and we were only really waiting to see if they took credit, but I had a feeling that they didn't so we left. The rest of the drive was very silly, we stopped at 7-11 for out snacks and walked home. I felt drunk, even though I had only been drinking club sodas all night.

Maybe the only problem with the body not requiring sleep would be how would you recover from being drunk. You really can only do this with sleep. The alcohol needs to leave the body without you ever knowing, otherwise it would be hell. That's why your body hurts so much the morning after you have been wasted.

The next day I left work early to go home and sleep.

Juliet is on the right.

The more and more I see pictures of Juliet, the more I like her.

For the record, Avram did not puke in the shower. His sister did.

On Friday night, it was pouring rain. Liz, Sarah and I were planning to go out, but the rain was depressing so we decided to drink beer at home and go to the Raven. We ended up playing Scrabble without keeping score, which so much better, you can really focus on the words that you make such as clit, vulgar and musketeer. Then Anne Ray came over and we listened to Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and The Faint and attempted to find a good place in DC to dance to rock music. We realized that they is no such place and went to Mantis instead. I wore my white Pierre Cardin jacket which is so 80s and so HOT. It had stopped raining, so we walked. Mantis is super trendy, but super lame and super empty. So we strolled down 18th, ran into Rishi, debated where to go and decided on the Ghana Cafe and danced to dance hall music upstairs and a reggae cover band downstairs. The evening ended back at my house, where Kelly met up with us and told us about her nite at Cafe Citron. Eventually, we were all too wasted to stay up any longer.

Saturday morning was very hard. I woke up with a headache, met Liz and Perry at Dos Gringos, where we ran into Kelly who was trying to jog, but couldn't without her head hurting. I was having trouble with just drinking my latte. Sarah and I spent the rest of the day driving around Bethesda and sitting at Bubbe's pool. By the time we got back home, I was such a wreck. I had no energy and it was 7 PM and I still had a headache. Apparently, the cure was a combo of Aleve, meat and beer. BBQ at Perry's on his new grill. Sean, Ben and Avram were there and at 12:00 we headed over to the Raven where we met up with Kelly.

Things started to get really nuts around 1:00 a.m. Shots every 15 minutes. We were celebrating Avram's birthday a few days early and Kelly told him that if he took the silver birthday banner off the wall and took of his shirt and wrapped it around him that she would buy him a bottle of rum. So . . . he did it. And then everyone started taking off their shirts and pulling down their pants and it was crazy. We were all dancing in the small space in the Raven. Avram and Perry took turns "macking" on this girl, Marion. Perry made out with her, Avram got the digits. Avram was more wasted than I have ever seen him, and we left the bar at 3:00 stood around outside for a bit. There was no way that Sarah and I were letting Av crash on our extra mattress, too drunk. So we went down to the diner to fill him belly and send him on his way. He was such a mess, he kept getting really outraged or really sad. And it was totally annoying. I had to yell at him a bunch. I am such a trooper because I can drink and drink and drink and leave the bar completely sober, well not sober, but not acting like an idiot. So I can apologize to people for his behavior, which is completely embaressing, but completely necessary. I left the diner with a milkshake, a drunk roommate, and a belligerent drunk. On the corner, there about 10 cops arresting about 4 men. Avram felt the need to start yelling, "this is infringements on their civil rights" really loud right in front of the cops. They started looking at him and I thought that they were about 5 seconds away from arresting him. We told him to shut the fuck up, but he just said it again, but louder. Then Sarah attacked him with her purse, which made the strap break again. We basically had to leave Avram on the street and walk away, but we knew he would catch up - he was just acting like a drama queen. Avram left, I called him to make sure that he got home okay - he did. I had a great nite!!

Epilogue:

Sarah woke up for work and I drove her there.

Avram puked in the shower this morning.

I had a bass lesson at 1:00 at Ben's.

We designed the flier for his show.

I have to go get ready to go to Baltimore for a BBQ with the Frequency and Trans Am.

Finally a picture to post from the Boston show. That is Julian. And you can see ME in the background (in the top left, I am turned around, but I am right behind Julian's head, I see my earring and my bag.) Totally fucking awesome dude.

I am stoked, but I am getting yelled at by Liz for listening to her ask me where we can go dance to Franz Ferdinand. So I got to go.

Not to be redundant, but ...

I just found this pic of Julian's fiancée, Juliet.
Just thought you would like to see my competition.
Happy Friday.
Hand me a beer.

You've Been Bamboozled!

It was cool and quiet, the complete opposite of what I expected. I thought that it would be hot and crowded. The weather that arrived on June 6 was the perfect condition to complement Asbury Park and the music that we were going to listen to.

Ambulance LTD.
I just cannot get enough of that guitar wanking at the end of Yoga Means Union. It gives me such an adrenaline rush during the build up to the end of the song. It's great. Also great, is Benji Lysaght, the adorable dinerboy-resembling guitarist. Liz yelled at me in Tower the other nite for singling out these bandboys and obsessing over them. Is this concept something new for her? Liz has known me for like 6 years, she should already know that I do this. Marcus, the leadsinger, was a little peeved because his mic had a lot of feedback. I didn't think that this really effected their performance, it sounded fantastic to me. This performance made it the 4th time I have seen them and it just gets better and better each time. Liz noted later in the evening how their label, TVT Records, whores them out. They were promoting the disc by having Ambulance stand around near the merch table and sign stuff. Mostly aging indie rockers were going up and whispering in Marcus and Benji's ears and posing for pics and having CDs signed.

Stellastarr*
I saw this band before when Ambulance and The Killers opened for them at the Black Cat. To me they are a combo of Interpol and Hot Hot Heat, except they have this hot female bassist, Amanda, who is my new inspiration. I have decided to take real bass lessons because I realized that I have listened to music for so long and now it is time to take it to the next level.



French Kicks
FK had been wandering around all day with their girlfriends. Pretty little NYC indie rock chicks. Mike pointed out that the new New York style was hooded sweatshirts with blazers over them. Benji was sporting this look as was Matthew Stinchcomb (such an awesome fucking name)except his blazer was seersucker. They turned a bubble machine on during their set and their new songs sounded so good in the air floating around with the bubbles. I took some really nice pics with the waterproof disposable camera that Liz bought for me. I really need to purchase a digital so that I can post pics here. When FK were done with their set Liz went up to Josh Wise and asked him why they don't play China Girl (she had seen them perform this on Last Call a few months ago. Liz loves China Girl.) Josh said that it was a one time thing.

Waiting for Sonic Youth
There were a few other acts to see before Sonic Youth played, but I was drinking a lot of Bud and drifting around aimlessly checking out the hippie vendors and the merch table, talking to the mammal on the phone. She had to report to me that she had just passed the Unicorns on 14th Street and she didn't recognize them at first because pretty lips cut his hair, but then she noticed lil shrimpy checking her out. Mike and Liz had posted up under a tent and were listening to My Morning Jacket - who I can only describe as hippie rock - but I liked them. I also checked out some of the other acts: Jesse Malin, Patti Smith and Dios. During this waiting period I smoked all my cigarettes and was getting progressively more drunk, so the thought of running out was disturbing me. Unfortunately, the cig machine in the Stone Pony was broken, so we went next door to the Golddigger. The Golddigger is a local townie bar. Liz and I had a few beers here before the Strokes show in 2001. In 2001, George Harrison had just died the day before, so all the news stories on tv and music on the jukebox reflected everyone's sadness (george was always my favorite Beatle.) This time there was just a gross couple sitting at that the bar that was making out in a very "get a room" way. However, the cigarette machine was also broken at the Golddigger, so we were told to go next door to the hotel. As we approached the hotel, we realized that this was just another condemned Asbury Park building, but I heard some sort of party going on around back and led Liz and Mike under an archway of the building to a field. As I suspected there was a party going on behind the hotel, a LGBT party (there were a lot of festivals going on Asbury Park that day.) The party was spilling out of a niteclub called Paradise that was the only part of the hotel that was open. And it was a gay club. So I am sent in to purchase our cigs and they are $7 and the only ones that they have left are Lucky Strikes, which I find out are toasted and actually really fun to smoke. On the way back we stopped back at the Golddigger this time for a beer. It was around 8:00 p.m. The beer here was cheaper and I realized that I had been drinking since 3:00 and that I was pretty drunk.

Sonic Youth
It was dark out. Ambulance and FK were nowhere in site. They must have made an early escape from Asbury Park, back to NYC. I sat on a counter waiting for Liz and Mike to come back outside and waiting for Sonic Youth to start playing. Liz has been obsessed with Sonic Youth since before I met her. And she and Kyle were always trying to push SY on me like drugs. I was blown away by their performance. Maybe listening to them secondhand for 6 years really affected me. Maybe all the bud I had been drinking all day really affected me, but I was so happy that Kim and Thurston were on stage and singing their songs.

Aftermath
Liz busted out the dictophone - I interviewed Liz and Mike on bands and fans and fashion, but mostly I talked about myself and Julian, and reenacted my Julian moment on Mike. (Liz may or may not transcribe the tapes on her blog.)
I tried to convince Liz and Mike that we should stay for the group jam, but Mike said that it was going to be a bunch of hippies and that we had to go.
Mike drove home, which was good, cuz I was a MESS.
We decided to get stoned in the car.
I put on Is This It? I felt like we were either on the way to my funeral or on a highway to space. (Everything gets weird and foggy after this and most of the following has been retold to me from either Liz or Mike. Some of this I remember in bits as the days pass.) We weren't even out of NJ when I told Mike to pull over. I think we were on 66. I opened the door, thought I was going to puke, but I think that the fresh air on my face revived me for the time being. I was falling in and out of sleepmodes. But somewhere along the NJ turnpike I started yelling at Mike to pull over again and since he was stoned and paranoid and thought that if we pulled over on 95 that we would get arrested. So he made me wait until he pulled into the upcoming rest stop. I kept yelling that if he didn't pull over now that I was going to die. He handed me a plastic grocery bag that Liz realized that I wasn't going to want. I can't do it like that. So we made it to the rest stop and then for some reason Mike had to park and not just stop where I wanted him to, so finally ran out and puked (got a little on my shoe) and got back in the car. I think I passed out shortly after that. The next thing I remember was waking up at another rest stop at a gas pump. Liz was in the front seat and I was in the back and Mike was not in the car and I got really freaked out and started screaming Mike's name out the window, as if he had abandoned us. I think I may have passed out again before he even got back in the car. Apparently, I was really bad at changing the CDs, since I would pass out as soon as I put one in. Liz told me that Mike made her talk to him so that he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel and she was just telling him random things. Eventually, I woke up with a second wind and Liz passed out and I think I started telling Mike random things. I don't know how he dealt with us all day. But really, Liz and I are fun to take on road trips, we really are.

My stamp has worn off and I cut my wristbands off on Monday nite. I made it through Monday at work, even though I couldn't decide what would be worse: to go home early or drop dead at my desk.

On Saturday nite, Mike and I drove up to Baltimore to rendezvous with Liz at the Ottobar to see The Unicorns. Liz had been in West Virginia for 24 hours at a family reunion. The show was great. It was so fun to be reunited with Liz and help her out of rainy family hell. The Unicorns was the best relief for this, and it was relief for us all. Nick, Alden and Jaime (otherwise known as Pretty lips, lil shrimpy and big & crazy) were so great!!!! Better than the last time we saw them. Shrimpy had so much stage presence this time and pretty lips cut his hair and big & crazy was still big, but not so crazy. After the show I told pretty lips that they were so great and their show was more professional and that I saw them in February (maybe january) and that show was so crazy. And pretty lips agreed that last show was insane (I mean some mullet wig wearing dude spit beer on me and the mammal.) I told him that I was on my way to Asbury Park for the Great Bamboozle. He was really interested in this and I told him about it and overall it was lovely to chat with the cute Canadian.

After the show, we met up with Mike's friend Brian also know as the Ghoul. We followed him back to his apartment in Towson where we got really stoned and watched the Chris Cunningham DVD of music videos. This proceeded to scare the shit out of me, with the exception of the Madonna video. Most of the videos on the DVD were Aphex Twin and possibly the scariest things ever created in life. I don't know what is wrong with Cunningham. Around 4 am we realized that it was time for bed. I slept on an egg crate in a burrito sleeping bag.

I woke up to the sound of an owl alarm coming out of Mike's phone. I was really excited for the trip up to Asbury Park and THE STONE PONY. This is the place where Liz and I first lost our shit. We saw the Strokes there in 2001 and have never had such an experience since, (I will blog more about losing our shit in Asbury Park later.) Finally, Liz and Mike awoke and we left. Stopped for some Starbucks and we were on the way. Mike rode shotgun and Liz sat in the back and played with origami, wrote a letter to her aunt and changed the CDs.

When we got to Asbury Park we were hungry and we spent an hour driving around trying to find this diner that Liz and I had ate at the last time we were there. But for some reason we couldn't find it. There was a good possibility that it closed. The thing about Asbury Park is that most of the buildings are closed and condemmed. This adds a mysterious vibe to the town and makes you very nostalgic for the past. You can imagine how the place used to be when Springsteen ruled and people would stay at the Metropolitan Hotel and play on the Boardwalk. But now it is rundown and gloomy, and basically a ghost town. The sky was grey and as soon as I hopped out of the car tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered the last time we were there.

To be continued tomorrow...

24 Hour Bamboozling

I still have the word savage stamped on my right hand.
I still have two wristbands on my arm.
I might even still be drunk.