When you're awake you're not so deep!

Matt and I went to see the Greenhornes and BRENDAN BENSON at the Cat last nite. The show was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Greenhornes played a short set, but it was a great set of really tight garage rock. I wish Kearney had been there to see. He would have loved them. They also had a great set up with the drums right smack front and center (something that the French Kicks used to do, until they got a drummer and Nick started only to sing and not drum and sing.)

Brendan Benson was great. I had seen him 3 years ago at Fletcher's with Ben Kweller and have been waiting ever since then to see him live again. He puts on a fantastic show. The songs are the perfect pop/rock songs and he makes me so happy. I was a total dork and sang along to every single one. And Matt and I bopped around and were totally cheesy. The crowd was really into it and started dancing and pumping their fists in delight. Best show I have seen in a long time. Here is a photo that I took on Matt's phone of BB.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got a new job. Same company. Same title. Different department.

Yay to my future.

Hi, We're back and ready to grace ever magazine cover and look cute.

Oh yes, and we also have a new single out, Juicebox, that the fans love and the haters hate. And we are smiley and happy because we have beautiful wives and girlfriends and we love our fans and we can't wait to tour and get drunk and it's fall and getting chilly outside and that means that we can wear jackets and tug at their collars. (Ed note: Julian looks like a 10-year old boy. He is super effing adorable.)

And girls you better beware.

The Dandy Warhols are coming to town. They will be at the 9:30 Club on November 27.

Tim and Liz Review Brown Bunny

The following review was just e-mailed to me from Liz:

I know you kind of wanted to see this movie maybe or at least you were at some point interested in it or at the very least aware of it's existence so let me save you some time with this little review:

Brown bunny is not a good movie. It is boring. There is almost no talking and no sound and no music. Tim thinks that Vincent Gallo must have been stoned while he was editing the sound. At least three quarters of the movie is hypnotic footage of American highways shot from the dashboard of the van driven by Bud, Vincent Gallo's character. Tim and I found this extremely boring to watch even in fast forward. There are a few sparse scenarios where Bud encounters young women. Each time he encounters these young women there is almost no talking before he starts kissing them a little bit. These scenes take place at a gas station, a rest stop, and on the Vegas strip. Bud also visits a house with some really weird old people living in it. There is almost no dialogue at the old people's house and what little dialogue there is relates to a cute little pet rabby. Rabbits, or bunnies rather, are by nature totally noiseless. Rabbits also appear later in the movie when Vincent Gallo visits a pet store. Vincent Gallo should have spent some time making the pet store "set" more convincing but whatever. Bud is apparently a motorcycle racer and that's what he's got in the back of his van. Sometimes Bud drives the motorcycle around. These scenes in the movie are noisy but not interesting. More like a meaningless drone. This film is kind of like total sensory deprivation. Tim commented that Vincent Gallo likely modeled his style after Kubrick, I guess because of the extremely long duration shots and subtle use of line to build tension in the mise en scene. Gallo's style, however, lacks the texture and visual appeal of Kubrick in every way and its subject matter is extremely bland and dissatisfying EVEN IN FAST FOWARD. I can only imagine how Tim and I would feel if we had watched the movie at regular speed. As it was we watched about 10 minutes of the film and decided that it was totally wack but we would just fast forward through the boring stuff (1 hour and 30 minutes all totally boring stuff!) to the allegedly lurid sex scene that we had heard so much about. The encounters with disreputable women along the highway were quite misleading. Finally at the very end you get Chloe Sevigny as Daisy and then we switched to regular motion. Daisy smokes crack and wears very old timey clothes from the 70s. I'll go ahead and assume that you'll take my word and never ever waste your time watching this movie (EVEN IN FAST FORWARD) and now I'll ruin the big pay off by telling you that Daisy does give Bud a blow job and it is totally hot and lurid penis-to-mouth action! We were even inspired to give it a round of applause. Anyway, right after Bud puts his pants back on we find out that Daisy is actually dead and Bud is just alone in the hotel room imagining the whole thing. Still high off the lurid sex Tim's face lights up, "Finally! The plot thickens!" And then the credits role. There are about four people's names listed in the credits including Vincent Gallo, Chloe Sevingy and the name of the motorcycle made by Honda. Tim and I quipped that maybe since Vincent Gallo is such a cool indie starlet boy maybe next time he'll actually spring for hiring someone who knows how to write and direct movies to help him out a little.
This movie is not good. I am into some super arty boring indie shit, and Tim is willing to go through a lot to see a few minutes of lurid sex, but trust us – this movie is NOT GOOD. Even in fast forward.

I love this man!!!!!!

Last nite, I attended the Bret Easton Ellis reading/signing at Olsson's. This was the coolest and most amazing thing ever. B.E.E. was what I expected, cocky, but also completely different, shy and modest. He read a chapter from his new novel, Lunar Park, and followed that up with a passage from the book that his friend dared him to read. He said that he never read it aloud to a crowd before and he probably never will again. It was perfect, as it should have been, hearing him read from his book. The inflections, the tone, the pauses. Hilarious.

After the reading, he answered some questions, some good, some horrible, but overall, very enlightening. I seriously love this man and worship him and his brillance even more now.

I stole this picture from information leafblower, who was also in attendance last night, and asked a great question about Ben Stiller ripping Glamorama off in Zoolander.

I want to reread all of his books now( so if I have lent you one, Liz, I will be seeking it this evening.) I suggest that you do the same.

First Impressions of Earth

from NME.com

The Strokes are back

NYC’s finest give third album a title – and UK shows are planned too.The Strokes have given their third album the working title ‘First Impressions Of Earth’ – and are planning UK dates for February.

NME.COM can reveal that the band have now almost completed their third album, which is due for release at the start of next year.

The first single from the album, ‘Juice Box’, is tentatively scheduled for release in November.Speaking to NME.COM in New York, singer Julian Casablancas said: “The album’s kind of about how someone from outer space would objectively view things happening on earth.”

The single, ‘Juice Box’, has a menacing bassline running through it, giving it an air of suspense like a classic detective TV show theme tune. Julian starts off with an almost spoken word verse, while huge, metal-sized riffs explode around him. Then his singing turns into a primal roar for a chorus with the lyrics “Why won't you come over here/we've got a city to love”.

Explaining the meaning behind the track, Julian continued: “The single could be about a proper relationship, a casual friendship or whatever you want really. It’s one of the more fun songs. The title just sounded like a cool word. It was originally called ‘Dracula's Lunch’, but I liked the sound of ‘Juice Box’.”

Once the album is completed, The Strokes will go out on their first tour in a year. Dates have already been announced for October in South America, with the band planning to visit Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

The 3-day weekend has come and gone. Summer is officially over. The days are still sunny, but a little bit cooler. The nights are enjoyable. I love sleeping with the windows open. I cannot wait to start wearing my scarves.

On Friday, I had drinks and ate various cheese appetizers at Radius with Ivy and Aric. Then we headed back to my place where we watched the second half of Napolean Dynamite and took naps. Matt came home around 9:30 and quickly showered so that he and Jay could go see Medications. Ivy, Aric and I headed down to see Jon at Pharoah's. We sat outside and starred at each other for 2 hours. We saw Jenna Bush and the question mark dude, Matthew Lesko walking down Columbia. Jenna and friends had just stepped out of Perry's and were on their way to Mantis. The question mark dude and his wife just happened to step onto the sidewalk at the exact second that Jenna walked by. A bit later Jenna and her friend went into Pharoah's looking for cigarettes. The night ended back at my place with a mini party when Jay and Matt joined up.

Saturday, Matt and I met Miss Ivy at Tonic for brunch. I can't believe that Shannon was in town all weekend and I missed her. After brunch, Ivy and I headed off to Meridian Hill Park and Matt went down to Crooked Beat to see Jay. We found a great spot in the park, so that I was in the shade and Ivy was in the sun. I fell asleep reading my book and when I woke up some dude was getting arrested. Soon after that, we packed up and went home. Aric had a BeerBQ on his roof. It had been awhile since the last one. Boyfriend got drunk and ditched me for the underwear party and I treked around Columbia Heights with Ivy, Ben, Caroline, Tom until we ended up at Chief Ike's with Clay and Jay. Xanex and Sparks do not mix well.

I wasn't hungover on Sunday, but I sure was tired. Matt and I had a lovely brunch at the Diner. Then we walked over to Meridian Hill Park, sat for a little bit and stared at the green water. Back at home, we couched for many hours until Jay and Liz came over. (see pic above for what I was feeling like on Sunday.) We had some pizza at Radius and then Jay came back over to drink beer and watch Rome and the season finale of Entourage. Early bedtime.

Monday was a beautiful day. We took it easy in the morning cleaned, did laundry, showered. Then we went over to the Cave, my former abode, where Ben V and Tom L. now live. BBQed there for a bit, started getting drunk. Drove over to Jay's got a little more drunk. Then somehow we had an MTV party with Abi, Gwen, Jay, Aric and Ivy. Watched some Laguna Beach and Super Duper Ridiculous Sweet Sixteen Show. Matt was a drunken mess and when he finally passed out everyone left and the 3-day weekend was over.

Now it's almost the end of the week, which amazingly went by pretty quickly. Tonight is Jenn and Cory's dance night. I am planning to get all decked out. And watch the Season Premiere of the O - mother effing C.

The weather is getting cooler and making me happy. I finished knitting my scarf last night.

Dance You Blasted Machines

The Red Right Return show scheduled for tonight at DC9 has been cancelled due to Tim's hectic work schedule. He has been involved in sending doctors to Hurricane Katrina victims.

But, Cory and Jenn's dance night on Thursday at DC9 is on!!!!

Woah!

Have you seen this t-shirt? I might need to get this just to be kitschy.

Check out the rest of the shirts on The Cotton Factory.

No-Labor Day Weekend

I guess that summer is officially over today. That makes me sad. I only went to Toldeo once and I never made it to the beach. I have the worst tan that I have ever had in my history. But, summer was eventful since Matt and I moved into our new apartment. I did make it to Fort Reno a few times, danced a bit and sweated alot, but not nearly as much as last summer. All thing considered, it was a fun time.

I get out of work at 3:00 today. Yay. And I want to get a petition signed to changed Labor Day to NO-Labor Day. I mean, hello, there is no labor on Labor Day weekend, duh!

My plans for this weekend involve: drinking Sparks,

Speaking of which, I found Sparks Light in a 7-11 on Long Island and brought it back to D.C. We taste tested it at Tim's last weekend. Amazingly, Tim had these cute little plastic shot glasses that also doubled as sample cups that I was able to share with everyone. Consensus: Sparks Light is okay. Some people said that they would drink it. I found that it has a weird aftertaste.

I also conducted another Malt Liqour Energy Drink test at the party. I discovered a Sparks wannabe called Tilt at Lee-Irving. I put them side-by-side in the cooler at Tim's. Later that night, I found a full abandoned Tilt on a table with pop top ripped off, which was proof that whomever, chose to drink the Tilt had been holding it for awhile. You usually rip the pop top off if you are not drinking from the can anymore, but find yourself still holding it. So, Sparks won.

Back to weekend plans: drinking Sparks, dancing, rooftop BBQs, painting, sleeping.

Wednesday Wino

The show at Polly's last nite was funtastic. I got there early, around 8 with Matt and Jay. We ate dinner with Aaron, Tom and Sean (of the still unnamed new band) and Bobby. Yummy yummy delish was dinner. And I ordered and succeeded in drinking an entire half carafe of wine, followed by sharing a full carafe with Melina. Holy. I got dr-unk.

Others joined our group: Liz, Gwen, Cory and girlfriend, Warnock. The show was fun. Bobby played his cute covers of the Kinks' Got My Feet on the Ground and the Talking Heads' Sugar on My Tongue and Matt really wanted to get on stage and do the Ludacris part, instead he just whispered it in my ear. (Note - The Hard Tomorrows covered this song first.)

The new unnamed band was super cute. Aaron is a little British school boy when he sings. A girl with pink hair told us to be quiet during their set. Her reason being that she wanted the people at the back on the tiny bar to be able to hear the band. She basically told us to shut the eff up, which made no sense since we were friends with the people playing and were the only ones in aforementioned tiny bar that cared.

I remember walking back to the car and how I made Matt keep the palm of his hand flat on the top of my head. Then I passed out laying down in the back of Jay's car. I think that everyone else went to St. Ex. to rendezvous with Xiu Xiu people.

Back inside our apartment, I fell onto the bed and Matt had to put my PJs on for me. Amazingly, I did not oversleep today and did not have a hangover.

Today went pretty quickly and tomorrow they are closing the office at 3:00. Tonight, I am going over to Liz's and we are going to watch Wicker Park and the Ring 2 and drink wine. And I am going to get scared and scream a lot and maybe need to cuddle with a knife.