Ironic Twist
seeking irony, because sarcasm clashes with my outfit
Friday, September 24, 2004 :::
Because nothing says Yom Kippur like a John Waters movie about Harford Road sex addicts...
...after work today I'm going to meet Mr. DCSOB for A Dirty Shame and then proceed to the Black Cat, where it's Girl Friday and where MG and I will drink too many greyhounds and dance.
The forecast for the weekend:
* See Hero during its last week at The Uptown.
* Go to a '90s party on a Dupont Circle roof.
* Pick up my Israeli aunt and uncle from the airport here in D.C. and drive them to my parents' house.
* Spend time with the family. Regret loss of ability to speak Hebrew. Eat various pickled foods from the Russian supermarket.
Last night I put on some fun earrings
and went to the 9:30 Club, where I met up with MG and rj3 in the balcony. You get a great view of the entire stage, although you can't really take pictures.
The first act was Colin Steel. Here's a blurry picture of him:
For those of you who like to complain that I only take pictures of boys with guitars, I took a few pictures of the very sexy Emily Haines of Metric, although they obviously don't do her justice, being blurry and pixelated and all. She was wearing a little black dress that had SUCCEXY printed across the chest in sparkly silver letters. It's the name of one of their songs but I happen to think it's also a cool word to have spelled across your chest in sparkly silver letters.
Metric put on a great show. I actually enjoyed their set more than that of The Walkmen. I spaced out for a while during The Walkmen set, but they brought me back in a few songs before the show ended. I'm starting to think that they have no idea that the feedback during their performance is not a good thing. Yes, it can be used with much success, but they just tend to drown out their music with it. But overall, their music is really intense and interesting and I really like it. Here's a blurry picture of The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithhauser:
First the movie (Walk the Line), now the musical (via IMDb):
Cash Musical Heading for Broadway The life and works of country legend Johnny Cash are set to be the subject of a new musical called Ring Of Fire. The show will be taken on a tour of America next autumn, before making its Broadway premiere in 2006. The project, which has been in the works for several years, features more than 40 songs by Cash and his late wife June Carter Cash. Auditions are currently underway in New York and will continue in Nashville, Tennessee, early next month.
As I've mentioned, I recently spent a few days at my parents' house while they were helping my brother settle in at his new university. They got back Tuesday night and yesterday my mom called me at work to tell me about their trip. About 10 minutes into the conversation, we had the following sub-conversation.
Mother: I found a receipt from [big chain video megastore] when I was gathering papers for recycling.
nm: Oh, okay.
Mother: I didn't recognize the name of the first movie you rented [ed. note: The United States of Leland] but I noticed that the second title was Air Porn and that it cost 75 cents to rent.
nm: Ummm… I didn't rent any porn. [Big chain video megastore] doesn't even carry porn. They're a family-friendly establishment.
Mother: Well, I went back to look at the receipt again a few minutes later because I was curious, and realized that it said "Air POPN" and I figured out that you bought a bag of popcorn.
nm: Well, yes, that would be the logical conclusion, wouldn't it?
Mother: Yes, it would be. But my first reaction was, "75-cent porn? At [big chain video megastore]?
The above post has been approved by my mother. Hi, mom! It might have been funnier if you were there, so I apologize if you found this post boring, but I just love the fact that my mom casually asked me about the availability of 75-cent porn at the nearby video megastore.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 :::
I couldn't resist posting this link. Courtesy of cs, because he cares. Dear cs, haven't you heard that caring is creepy? Because I am certainly creeped out by that.
Stream the new Nancy Sinatra album here. Thanks, stereogum. I always forget to check VH1's Hear Music First. While there, you can check out the new Joss Stone and Brian Wilson albums. And there's a little something for the Queen Latifah fans too.
And... if the makers of Twinkies can't live the American dream, is there hope for the rest of us?
Update: The Nancy Sinatra album is super.
Another update: I like Joss Stone, but, on first listen, her new album is boring.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 :::
Ambulance LTD's Marcus Congleton posed for a New York Times fashion story. Look how pretty:
Nathaniel Goldberg
Also, check out Diego Garcia (Elefant) and Sondre Lerche. And if you go through the slideshow, there are even more pretty boys, but I don't know who they are.
Less than two weeks until Ambulance play at the 9:30 Club.
I spent a few days, including the weekend, at my parents' house in Baltimore County, a.k.a. the 'burbs. Hence, I watched a lot of cable, mostly Fuse and MTV2. I'm digging the Green Day single "American Idiot," and I liked the video too. (scenestars has the download.) Isn't it terrible when you like things that the teenage masses like? Yeah, I don't care. I totally bought a shirt at Hot Topic too... It was a very suburban teenager few days.
I also managed to get sucked into HBO for many, many hours on Sunday. I watched What a Girl Wants, among other things, like an hour-long "documentary" about the Bunny Ranch. It was more like a commercial than a documentary. Did you know that brothels are always super-fun and all the hookers always love working there and they totally get off with each customer? Yeah, I didn't know that either.
I also finally saw Garden State on Friday, since I had the day off to drive my brother to the airport. Once I got over the overboard quirkiness of Natalie Portman's character, I really began enjoying it. Very impressive, Zach Braff. You have permission to court me.
Last night, I drove back into D.C. with the intention of going to bed early, but it was not meant to be. MG and I had talked about going to see Visqueen at Velvet Lounge, but were both wavering. I was instructed to call her with my final decision around 9:15, and I dialed her to say that I was going to bail out. But she picked up the phone with a "Ready to go, rockstar?" To which the only response is, "I'm on my way." Actually it was more like, "Really? What time do I have to leave? Now? Okay." Because once you've been called a rockstar, you can't not go out and party like one. So I put on some sparkly eyeshadow and headed out.
Visqueen were really fun –- a female-fronted power-pop (they call it melodic punk-pop) band –- and I'm glad I went. Thanks, MG, for the motivation. If I was making an Amanda Bynes/Hilary Duff/Lindsay Lohan movie about a free-spirited young woman learning to be herself, I'd definitely throw a Visqueen song on the soundtrack. Download two songs from their debut album here and a new song, "Blue," here.
Upstairs at Velvet Lounge is really small, but it was also surprisingly full. It also has terrible acoustics. To be honest, we didn't actually party like any sort of rockstars last night. We had one drink, stayed for one band and decided we were ready to go home. Thursday, though, is The Walkmen and Metric at the 9:30 Club. See, we're just saving up energy.
Listen to The Walkmen's "Rue the Day" here and Metric's "Combat Baby" (one of my favorites) here.
Sunday, September 19, 2004 ::: Britney Spears got married, ya'll. And it wasn't a kaballah wedding. And Britney wore white. And they served chicken fingers and ribs. No word on whether or not Cheetos were served as appetizers. And Madonna wasn't even there, because she's still in Israel.
01/05: Taint and Bliss present INFAMY, 9:30 Club
01/10: Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton, 9:30 Club
01/19: Benjy Ferree, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, Greenland, Black Cat 01/24: Hej Hej, Cafe Saint-Ex
