On the gig front, I took Dave to see Julian Casablancas at Irving Plaza the other night as an early birthday surprise. An under-hour set, he played his solo stuff as was to be expected, threw in 'I'll Try Anything Once' and 'Hard to Explain' (crowd went bonkers) as well as 'I Wish It Was Christmas Today'. His band was super tight, he had good interactions with the audience, and his voice was consistently powerful in that Julian Casablancas kind of way. Great show overall.
I'm going to see Ash on Saturday - and tickets were only $8! I've never been to Santos House Party so this will be a new experience for me. It's on Dave's actually birthday, poor guy only knows a few Ash songs, though Liz, Graham, and I hazed him with a playlist when we drank at their apartment during the noreaster (and beat them at Trivial Pursuit.) Speaking of Gliz, they went to Iceland (this Iceland, not THAT Iceland) this past week, and the day they landed, a volcano exploded for the first time in 200 years. I'm trying not to yell SCHADENFRAUDE! from the rooftops, though that does suck if that's the volcano they were supposed to be visiting.
Meghan and I went to see Howie Day the night of the second blizzard (and were were slightly preoccupied by the snow blowing sideways outside throughout the set which was slightly insane.) Anyway, Howie Day played an acoustic set, and did that thing I love where he records different sounds with a foot pedal and plays them back during the song. He played mainly new songs but threw in some oldies for good measure. Also, City Winery was a really different venue - assigned seats at tables with strangers, food service throughout, and a small stage (which we were seated very close to.) They also have the France vs. Italy World Cup of Cheese there which just sounds ridiculous (in a good way I think?)
I've also got tickets to see Florence and the Machine (easily my most played album of the year) and Rodrigo y Gabriela which I'm really only going to because Dave wanted to, so hopefully they'll be good. I'm also tempted to see Delphic at Music Hall if we don't go to Vegas that weekend with Vicki and Thom.
Other wee trips I've been planning (in my head) are a weekend to visit my relatives in Florida and a summer weekend trip to Zoe in Ohio. There's also a week-long vacation to who knows where (somewhere hot?) I went to Arizona last week for work - overall pretty chilly in the evening and not as many scary rabbits on the grounds this time. Most eventful part of the week was going to Pizzeria Bianco where they originally told us it was a 3 and a half hour wait (we only waited close to under 2 hours.)
A few weeks ago Zoe and Hal came to town. We went out in the evening and the next day met up with them and Ryan at the Chinese New Year Parade. The dragons were cool, but otherwise the floats were pretty ghetto. The quality of some of them looked worse than high school homecoming floats, or had sponsor names plastered all over them - like the American Airlines float that had a giant airplane with a few Chinese people standing on it.
Other wee trips I've been planning (in my head) are a weekend to visit my relatives in Florida and a summer weekend trip to Zoe in Ohio. There's also a week-long vacation to who knows where (somewhere hot?) I went to Arizona last week for work - overall pretty chilly in the evening and not as many scary rabbits on the grounds this time. Most eventful part of the week was going to Pizzeria Bianco where they originally told us it was a 3 and a half hour wait (we only waited close to under 2 hours.)
A few weeks ago Zoe and Hal came to town. We went out in the evening and the next day met up with them and Ryan at the Chinese New Year Parade. The dragons were cool, but otherwise the floats were pretty ghetto. The quality of some of them looked worse than high school homecoming floats, or had sponsor names plastered all over them - like the American Airlines float that had a giant airplane with a few Chinese people standing on it.
People were popping pretty confetti the whole time which was the best part.
Good luck cleaning that up.
We found Homer enjoying some bubble tea.
Afterwards we roamed the side streets for a non-crowded place to eat. We ended up at some restaurant that we thought looked normal, but our food was basically a bowl of oil with noodles in it. Naturally, that did not stop me from devouring most of it.
We walked down to the Skyscraper museum after that. The main exhibit focused on Shanghai which I think only would have been interesting had I actually been there. Otherwise it's a big room with drawings and models that I think would only be of interest to an architect or engineer. Not worth the visit.
Gym, Tanning, Laundry
Alex and some guy
Graham and Liz (and fake nails)
Almost forgot to mention that we bought a plant! It's hanging in our kitchen and is quite pretty with it's purple and green dangling leaves. The guy at the flower shop originally told us it was called something like a "Mandelebra", it needs feeding once/week, and that it cost $20. We thought it over and returned a week later only to have him tell us to feed it every three days and that it cost $15, ummm okay? After conducting some thorough research, a "Mandelebra" does not in fact exist...though a "Wandering Jew" does. How did I end up buying a plant with that name?! Anyway, ours isn't such a big boy (or girl) yet, but this is what the plant looks like:
Songs I love right now:
The Courteeners - You Overdid It Doll (will likely continue playing this throughout the year)
Goldfrapp - Rocket
Goldfrapp - Rocket
Jamie T - Emily's Heart
Yeasayer - O.N.E.Heather and I are planning out what to mix with our vodka tonight. Is it drinking time yet?
