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.