Happy Halloween!

To get you through the Halloween Hump day, here are some photos from the Halloween Dog Parade in Thompson Square Park! Yay!



eeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiilllllllllot


How do I pee in this getup?


Amy Winehouse in the hezzy!



Heeeeeyyyyyyy guys, can I bum a cigi?



Please do not eat me.

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Brooklyn music videos (Part deu)

I can't imagine that too many 21 year old kids in France listen to Jacques Brel, as Zach Condon claims to have done while composing The Flying Cup Club, Beirut's second full length release.

The heavily French influenced, accordion and horns laden record is beautiful, dramatic and epic. It's the perfect thing to listen to while picnicking on a Sunday afternoon. The songs, with titles such as "Nantes," "La Banlieue" and "Cherbourg," are each meant to represents a different French city.

Along with the album, which was released last month, the band teamed up with La Blogotèque director Vincent Moon and shot videos for each song, unveiling them on their website as they went along. The process is complete and all twelve videos are now available on Flyingclubcup.com.

The videos take place in various Brooklyn locations including old buildings, a church, the waterfront, a garage, apartments and the street. The site offers both a French and English translated explanation about the original inspiration for the song and the concept behind the video.

If you haven't heard the album, this is a great opportunity to give it a listen free and if you already own and adore it like me, you'll definitely want to check out these videos.

Could anything suit me better than songs about French cities visually realized in Brooklyn locales? Parfait. Thanks Beirut!

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Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Some of you may have seen this on Discobelle this morning but I figured it was worth reposting since we're in Brooklyn and a lot of us attended this show.

"World Premiere! - Harder Better Faster Stronger (Alive 2007), Shot at the band's show in Brooklyn on August 9 and Directed by Olivier Gondry, the video features footage from 250 cameras held by fans in the audience!"

I can't think of a better way to get over the Monday Morning Blahs than by reliving even the most miniscule moment of this experience.

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Getting real

Every few months, I’m struck with the notion of moving into the city or to Williamsburg, yet time and time again, I reconsider. I love CG$ because it’s real, the people, the hangouts, the vibe and nothing pleases me more than spending a whole weekend in my hood doing fun things without ever needing to hop onto a train.

Friday night, Omar, Dennis and I ventured down to Lido’s to pay our final respects. The bar wasn’t as well stocked with mixers as usual, forcing us to shoot the Don Julio straight up, Tulum style. We downed a few drinks there; wandered down to Mooshine to play pool, then back to Lido’s and eventually my place for a challenging drunken Guitar Hero session.

Saturday, I hosted an intimate pumpkin carving soirée. S made pumpkin ravioli from scratch as Y and I tried to bring our wildest pumpkin visions to life. We drank sangria and roasted pumpkin seeds. It was very Martha Stewart, a different but welcome way to spend a Saturday night.

Sunday, the girls and I met up with Erin for brunch at Miriam in Cobble Hill and then we caught an early afternoon showing of Ryan Gosling’s new flick, “Lars and the Real Girl,” written by Six Feet Under's Nancy Oliver.

I didn’t know what to expect with this movie. Admittedly, the primary draw for us was Gosling’s hotness. The reviews have been widely mixed.

But while the premise seems ridiculous and conjures up a lot of creepy notions, the movie was original, emotional, superbly acted and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Gosling was amazing. The emotional range in his beautiful kind eyes moves me to pieces. Only he could make me weep at the funeral of his sex doll girlfriend. Patricia Clarkson also stood out.

The way this movie rides the fine line between absurd hilarity and tragedy is nothing short of genius. Overall, I would highly recommend it.

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Buh bye Lido’s

Earlier this week, Omar broke some news to me that I refused to accept. He informed me that the bartender at Lido’s told him last Sunday that the bar would be closing for good next Friday, as in today.

What? How can you do this to me, Lido’s? I’ve only lived in Brooklyn a little over a year and a half and you’re already deserting me? Talk about abandonment issues!

Remember all the good times we had, Lido’s? Remember Dennis’s Birthday ’06?

And who could forget the night of bitchiness when we got hustled at pool by “Suit and Sweater” before they scampered off to the Burg for that art thing?

But most of all, can any of us remember Dennis’s Birthday ’07? (I certainly recall the brutal aftermath the following day…)

Honestly Lido’s, where is Dennis supposed to celebrate his birth next year? Have you thought about that?

While I still haven’t come to terms with this tragedy, if you must go, I’ll see you tomorrow night to send you off in style as I drown my sorrows with very reasonably priced drinks. What do you say CG$ and Red Hook ¢ massive? Who’s down for giving Lido’s a proper going away?

You will be missed, Lido’s. =(

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Astroland . . . ONE LAST SEASON

One More Time . . . they're opening our beloved Coney Island for the 2008 season.

March 18 . . . . let it be known that Coney Island will be ours.


Thanks to nyctreeman for the 1905 postcard of Coney Island

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M.I.A. Interview

She's so cool.

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CMJ wrap up

As I alluded to before, three of my best friends from Atlanta (Theresa, Jeffrey and Loic) made the trek up to my fair city for the MIA/Justice shows, which happened to fall on CMJ week.

Frankly, last Wednesday to Sunday is somewhat of a blur for me, a reminiscent haze of good times and music.

Wednesday night, Theresa and I met up with Omar, Emily and Shomit at Hiro ballroom to catch The Cool Kids, A-Trak, Kavinsky and Kid Sister (sporting a chic new blonde do.) It was packed but with a far less douchey crowd than usual.

Thursday, we hit up the Heist party at Rebel featuring some of our ATL brethrens such as Deerhunter, Le Castlevania and Klever.

Friday was M.I.A. at Terminal 5 and Saturday was Justice at Terminal 5 and Erol Alkan at Studio B. Sunday, I recovered (watching people jump on trampolines on their snowboards in Red Hook) and on Monday, I started my new job.

The thing about new jobs is that responsibility isn’t always piled on you right from the start (a far cry from my last gig.) In this case, it’s taken a while to get started so I’ve had a lot of free time over the past two days. As a result, I played around with Flash and put together a little photo gallery with some CMJ madness shots.

The majority of these pictures consist of my friends and I boozing it up and raging, but hey, it’s my blog, right? (Well 1/3rd mine, at least.) Enjoy!

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Black and white rainbows

Though I'm making up for it today, please pardon my recent bout of laziness in posting. My excuse? I just got out of a seven-year relationship, the worst relationship of my life. That's right boys and girls, I quit my job!

Like all relationships, this one had its ups and downs. We learned a lot from each other but now the time has come for me to peace out and move on to a bigger and brighter future.

You know what else is big and bright? Rainbows. What do rainbows have to do with anything, you might ask? I'm glad you asked. Rainbows have to do with Radiohead and their week-old release (yes, I am I slowly getting back on the ball) In Rainbows.

What's genius about in In Rainbows? The distribution. The band opted to sell the records themselves on their website rather than going through a label. Even more shocking, fans could name their price. I entered a nice cool five pounds into the text field, nothing happened.

I tried for hours, all morning. Then a friend IM'ed me saying he'd just gotten his download over email. He offered to send it to me and I agreed; my patience had run out and I needed to hear it.

So what's the verdict? Radiohead is probably my favorite band. The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A and Amnesiac are some of the best albums in existence. Hail to the Thief had its moments. Rainbows however are kind of black and white for me.

I'd heard at least half the album because I saw Radiohead twice in Spring 2006 and downloaded a copy of their Boston live show from Bradley's Almanac. Those shows were amazing. Hearing these songs a year and a half later instead of something new is a letdown. It's boring. I wish they'd gone a different direction after Amnesiac. The follow up efforts just seem more and more watered down and mundane, normal, if you will.

I found the Pitchfork review amusing, and not altogether pretentious. The rating? Like the album, you decide. We even agreed on one point: the album acoustic version of "Videotape "was anti climactic. Why does the live version that I have sound so much better?

Maybe they're saving all the good stuff for the box set? A different version of the album? Here's to hoping.

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Et Justice pour tous

The idea of two guys standing behind a huge illuminated cross, as though they're larger than life gods is just a bit over the top. But when those two guys are French duo Justice and they're unleashing fierce electronic beats to a hungry sea of people, it works.

The Justice show at Terminal 5 was insane. There are no words. The highlight for me was when they played "We Are Your Friends" and every single one of the 3,000 in attendance screamed out "We are your friends, you'll never be alone again!" at the top of their lungs. It was truly a moment.

The show was great, the sound was great, and everyone had an absolute blast. Watch out Daft Punk, Justice is giving you a run for your money. Don't worry though, the robot suits and the pyramid are a lot cooler than their cross.

Afterwards, we headed over to Studio B to catch Erol Alkan in what was pretty much the Justice after party. We were quickly made aware of the inconvenience of the location of Terminal 5. It took about 20 minutes just to get a cab and at least another 45 (and $30) to get out to Greenpoint.

By the time we got to Studio B, there was a line and it didn't seem to be moving. We stood outside for 45 more minutes and finally got in.

Erol Alkan was the icing on the Justice cake. He is an absolutely amazing DJ and kept everyone dancing, mixing in everything from the Pixies to Hot Chip and Prodigy. My friends were ready to leave around three but I forced them all to stay until the very end. This was definitely one of my top three nights at Studio B (the other two being Diplo and Chromeo.) The club was packed to capacity; it was off the hook.

And speaking of the hook, we made it out to the Red Hook ball fields today for the last Soccer Taco of the season. Hopefully everything will get sorted out so the vendors are back next year. More Mexican corn and Pupusas, please!

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Power power!

It's no secret that I love M.I.A. So when her Terminal 5 show was announced and Y offered to get me a ticket for my birthday, I was stoked. Somehow, I managed to convince three of my best friend from Atlanta to come up for the show. Days passed, weeks even. Finally the time came and Friday night we found ourselves at the new venue, teeming with excitement.

Earlier that day, I ventured over to Brooklyn Vegan to get the scoop on the Thursday night show. Reviews were mixed. Some people loved it; others hated the location, complaining that it was too massive and cold and that the beers were pricey. I don't know about you but I expect to pay over six dollars for a beer anywhere above 50th street. It's called "pre-drinking," folks.

So after a fair amount of pre-drinking in CG$, our crew took a car into the city and we arrived at Terminal 5 half an hour before M.I.A. took the stage. We hit up the bathrooms, got a drink, spent at least 10 minutes or so debating whether or not we were standing next to an aging Lady Miss Kier, and then the show began.

Donned in shiny leggings, silver high tops and a fluorescent orange stripped top, M.I.A. exploded onto the stage and killed the crowd for an amazing show that none of us will soon forget.

She played a ton of stuff from her new album, Kala, including "Bamboo Banger," "Bird Flu," "Boyz," "Jimmy" (a somewhat different version than on the album, "$20." "Hussel,"(during which Afrikan Boy joined her onstage), "XR2," "Paper Planes," and "Down River." She also pulled out some favorites from the Arular repertoire such as "Pull Up The People," "Bucky Done Gun," "Fire Fire," "Bingo," "Hombre," "10 Dollar" and "Galang." (She opened with the first song from her second album and closed with the last song from her first.)

At one point, they let people go on stage to dance. We were way in the back but decided that we needed to get in on that action. We made it all the way up to the front but they wouldn't let us on. Still, it worked out well because suddenly, we were much closer.

I like the new venue. Intimate, it's not, convenient, with its three levels of bathrooms and bars, it is. Anyone who was there Friday night would be hard pressed to call it "cold." The energy level was high and everyone looked like they had a good time. Can't wait for Justice Saturday night! Hope it's as interesting as their Jimmy Kimmel stint!

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Fashion Costumes

I'd like to be any of these non-slutty, fashionista superheros for Halloween. Thank you Felipe Oliveira Baptista!


Wonderwoman


Star trek Meets Mod


Badass wrestler

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Vh1 Hip Hop Honors?

As everyone knows I am not a fan of contemporary rap but I found myself watching a rerun of the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show and I couldn't turn the channel! Yeah like everyone else I've seen the poster advertisements while waiting for my faithful six train in the morning or the persnickety L train on the way to the studio, and I thought wow what cool illustrations, but I don't think I'll watch the show. I was wrong.

What some of you may not know is that I was an avid fan of hip hop during my preteen years. I have an aunt who is only five years older than me so during my formative years she was like a big sister. So, of course I wanted to be just like her. She was listening to Salt n' Pepa, LL Cool J, Whodini, Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah so I listened too. This is where Hip Hop Honors touched me. I turn it on and the first Honoree is Missy Elliot who is the most creative performer, producer, video star to come along in a long while. Then I hear, Whodini was being honored and I just had to see it. I wasn't disappointed, I found myself singing along to all the classics complete with the old school dance moves. It took me back, I wonder if this is the music I'll be blasting when I'm eighty, making all the kids roll their eyes and sigh "Not again!"Other honorees included Snoop Dogg, the movie Wild Style (see if you have the chance, it's awesome), and A Tribe Called Quest. If you're like me and you remember rap before the era of gangsta you'll wanna see this show.

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Can't Have The Cake

and eat it too.



Boo, while we were squirming in the crowd of thousands (maybe hundreds) at the Arcade Fire + LCD Soundsystem pow wow (which by the way was amazing and yet frustrating all at once) we missed everything else that weekend including Diplo and M.Ronson on Friday and Sigur Ros and Coco Rosie on Saturday. God, New York, ya killing us!

anywho, STOP IT, can't cry about it now, here's a hump day treat. WE HEART MARK RONSON!

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