damien rice - the blower's daughter

every once in a while, i discover a song that I just can't get enough of. I'll go through a phase of a week or two where i have to listen to it at least twice a day. then i may forget about it, only to rediscover it and continue the cycle in a couple of months. there have been tons of these songs before, and there will be tons more in the future that I have not yet heard. right now it's the blower's daughter. it's beautiful and romantic and sexy and heartbreaking and all of those things that a really well-written song can be.

my daily fortune, courtesy of excite.com:

you are what you eat.

then i, apparently, am a big fat piece of chocolate cake. but goddamn do i taste good.

lollapalooza's early lineup has been announced, and it includes the flaming lips, modest mouse, and morrissey. fucking morrissey. on the downside, i'll be forced to see my favorite bands play at the least intimate venue in the city along with thousands of other people. on the plus side, it's morrissey and modest mouse on the same stage. and i suppose since i've already seen all of those bands in intimate settings, i am just enjoying the opportunity to see them all again - on one stage.

(the over/under on how many costume changes morrissey will make during his one hour set is 3. I'm going with the over. And one of those outfits will be a pleather sailor suit. he is such a queen. i fucking love it.)

mcsweeney's got political. this is updated daily.

so since the paris trip ended up not happening, chris and i were itching to get the hell away from texas. we ended up getting a sweet hookup on a condo in the caymen islands from a friend who owns one and a hookup on airfare from our amazing neighbor. so it looks like in 2 weeks my pale ass will be laying on a beach with my toes in the sand double-fisting daiquiris.

i can't believe i forgot to mention that braid is getting back together for a 2004 tour. yes, i know it's only because they need the money. do i care? no, sir. if i get to see my favorite redhead, bob nanna, perform "forever got shorter," i will be one happy girl. it'll sure beat sniffing his guitar pick that I stole from a hey mercedes show. not that i did that or anything. really.

listen to rem's strange currencies. you know you haven't listened to it in years, and you know you love that song.

in our parking garage at work, the same guy is always sitting in the exit booth when i leave, and he always waves goodbye to me. he looks frighteningly similar to pedro martinez, so i now leave work every day with a super nerdy this-may-really-be-the-year-the-red-sox-win-it-all grin on my face.

this is probably the best thing to happen to gettin' it on since the release of "the joy of sex." 36 cds of depeche mode goodness. yum.

it was 1997, I was a college freshman, and we were doing what most college freshman do on a friday night in the dead of a Boston winter.....getting drunk of cheap liquor in a dorm room. it was close to midnight, and three girls and I went outside for a quick cigarette and a bit of fresh air. funny how that works, i know. anyway, we're standing on the corner of beacon street near where the highway lets out in the center of the city. a jeep wrangler comes tearing around the corner, and all four of us turn our attention to the middle-aged frat boy half-leaning out of the passenger window. and then, it happened.




"heyyyyyyy baaaaby........can I get a piece of that pussy pot pie?"





and it hung, just like that, in the cold boston air, echoing off the snow covered trees, ringing in our half-drunk ears. jaws dropped, everyone unsure of what to say. on cue, cigarettes dropped to the sidewalk, hands raced for warm pockets, and four girls with frozen smiles walked silently back into the dorm, still in awe at what they had just witnessed. the worst pickup line in history.

__________

someday i will publish that story. consider it copyrighted.

music - i love you but i've chosen darkness

...and another sxsw has come to an end. it's hard to believe this was my fourth year there...my god, i have lived in texas way too long. anyway, the last week has been a blast. it looked a little something like this...

tuesday - modest mouse at the ridglea in ft worth. its always a good time when the mouse is in town. it was nice to hear old standards like trailer trash, cockroach, and talkin shit about a pretty sunset, and the few new songs they played sounded much tighter than when they debuted them as live demos. missing from the set list were bukowski, ocean breaths salty, and broke (which had originally been on the list), so that was a downer. but it's impossible to not have fun at a mm show, so i can't complain. other highlights: dann gallucci in all his tattooed-neck glory, news of jeremiah's future return to the band, and watching idiots crowd surf to the slowest parts of trailer trash. seriously, what is it about modest mouse that attracts such a drunk, moronic crowd? crowd surfing? moshing? to modest mouse? you'd have thought it was a hardcore show the way the fists were flying. despite that, we still danced our asses off and had a blast. we finished it off with a 2am trip to IHOP with zach and toni, who came in from austin for the show. we were seated in the very back room, right smack in the middle of a cult/prayer group. IHOP is never a good idea...especially not at 2am. in arlington.

wednesday - stars and broken social scene at club clearview in dallas. stars were incredible live...tons of energy and passion. chick vocals typically don't excite me, but stars somehow make it work. broken social scene, despite having the best band name ever, have always bored me. their live performance was much better than their albums, but i still can't say i'm much of a fan. but i'd be lying if i said the enthusiasm and happiness on stage all night didn't bleed out into the crowd. stars and bss borrow a few members from each other, so the rotations on stage were constantly changing, and it was basically just a love-in with 8-9 people on stage at all times. a perfect night for remembering why you love music.

thursday - left for austin in the morning. got in and went straight to emo's to see stars and broken social scene again. sets weren't much different from the night before. next up were the constantines, who we only saw for about 5 minutes before leaving to head over to Lucky Lounge for Volcano, I'm Still Excited. they were bizarre, and with the exception of a few songs that really stood out, pretty dull. That night we got to Elysium early for Telefono Tel Aviv, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, and Calla. I was getting ready for calla the only way I know how...double fisting cape cods...when I Love You took the stage. They were really solid, but didn't play "we're still the weaker sex," which is obviously their best song, and the one i'd been looking forward to hearing. calla pulled the same shit by not playing "strangler," which is one of my favorite songs of all time. instead of sticking around to see the church (who, given my luck that night, wouldn't have played "Under The Milky Way") we headed over to exodus to see the walkmen. somehow they thought it would be ok to charge $25 at the door, so we decided against going in and instead watched from the sidewalk. exodus has giant windows that open from the outside right onto the back of the stage, so just by reaching down and opening up a wondow or two, it was like we were on stage with the walkmen. the sound was good, their air wasn't smoky, we had a perfect view, and it was free. perfect end to a near-perfect day. finished it off with pancakes at starseeds and collapsed into bed at 4:30am.

friday - french kicks at club deville. not impressed. the decemberists and secret machines at the Fader magazine party, which was the most pretentious piece of garbage party i've ever been to. not surprising, given how shittastic their magazine is. sadly, they had good bands playing, so we had no choice but to hang out amongst the mustachioed too-cool-for-school scenesters. the decemberists were great...perhaps i'll give that album another try. the secret machines bored me as much as their album does, though. great for listening to while I'm doing stuff, not great for staring at three ugly dudes standing motionless on a stage.

saturday - back to the fader party for the unicorns, who were unable to make it across the border from canada until saturday. their live show was better than i expected, so they were a nice surprise. (a highlight: "there are a lot of birds in austin. are they vultures? there are a ton of vultures at sxsw. this is a private party, right?") on our way out the door, i said a few words to david cross, who seemed as unexcited as us to be at the fader party. then we ran over to emos for international noise conspiracy and dillinger escape plan, whose showcase was being MCed by Andrew fucking WK. bizarre. DEP were tight as always, although their set lacked firebreathing, which is usually a favorite of mine. back to club deville for the unicorns (again). the members of the band, who look to be around 16 years old, apparently took their pants off for this set, so i'm glad i wasn't close enough to the stage to see that. isn't that illegal?

so im completly exhausted and it was all worth it. this year was much more crowded than usual, we didn't have wristbands, and the band lineups were all out of whack. but it was still sxsw... we ate a ton of amazing food, drank some really shitty beer, saw a ton of live music, and got to spend time with friends that we don't see nearly enough.

good stuff.

damien rice - the blower's daughter

girls night out on friday was fun, as always. boys, let me teach you a few things. these are not good pick up lines:
- (sprinting over as we are leaving bar) hey, my friend way over there thinks you're cute
- (interrupting conversation) I have got to know what you two are talking about
- this guy right here is really good with computers
- so of all the drugs you've done, what's your favorite?

I have an excellent story involving the single worst pick up line in the history of pathetic men, but I'll save that for another time. because i'm a tease, i'll say that it invovles pot pie.

abbey sent me the latest issue of Heeb magazine, which completely made my day. It's tag line is: The New Jew Review. 'nuff said.

lots of hockey this past weekend. flyers beat the devils in a close one on saturday, giving them 3 straight wins over the dEVILs this year. esche looked strong, and while that is a good reason to be incredibly optimistic going into the playoffs, we're a little too close for comfort to a flyers/devils 1st round matchup. oh, the humanity. they flyers suffered multiple mental breakdowns against the pens on sunday and somehow escaped with a tie. i should not have to say the flyers escaped pittsburgh with anything. how embarassing. anyway, lots of big division matchups this weekend which i will miss because i will be in austin for...

sxsw. this is my favorite time of year. winter is over, the weather is nearing perfection in texas, the skirts and flip flops come out of the closet, and we head down to austin for 4 days of incredibly good food, free beer, reunions with long-distance friends, and a shitton of live bands. and it all begins with modest mouse tomorrow night. i am so ready.

my playlist, as of late:
damien rice - O
modest mouse - good news for people who love bad news
shins - chutes too narrow
air - talkie walkie
portishead - dummy
calla - televised
smiths - strangeways...
cure - kiss me kiss me kiss me

air - cherry blossom girl

open letter to non-hockey watching members of the media that have recently written columns concerning the Todd Bertuzzi incident:

when it comes to hockey, a fight is not the same as a sucker punch to the back of the head or a stick to the skull. fighting is agreed upon between two willing and ready parties. the cheap shots that plague the league are different. one does not lead to the other, nor would the outlawing of fighting get rid of cheap shots. please stop writing about how this latest situation is another example of why fighting in the NHL must be abolished. if you haven't watched at least 30 games this year, keep your opinions to yourself.

music: portishead - glory box

right now I should be packing for paris. but that trip has been canned. so instead, i'm sitting in a bathrobe, making a cd of the sexiest songs ever made and eating sourdough crackers from whole foods. (seriously, you should try these crackers...they're the 365 whole foods brand and they are wicked addicting.) but no worries...chris and I have another vacation in the works, and this one is even better (to me) than paris. let's just hope this one actually goes through. fingers crossed.

speaking of sexxxy songs, i have a little more tinkering to do (with the cd. tinkering with THE CD...get your mind out of the gutter) but here's how it looks:
calla - strangler
prince - cream
depeche mode - it's no good
portishead - glory box
sade - no ordinary love
george michael - i want your sex
chris isaak - wicked games
jeff buckley - jewel box
marvin gaye - let's get it on
air - cherry blossom girl
depeche mode - in your room
mazzy star - fade into you
echo and the bunnymen - the killing moon
depeche mode - i feel you
zombies - time of the season
george michael - father figure
duran duran - come undone

you know a song is going to be good when it starts with the line, 'i know you're a woman by the way you burn below." god bless jeff buckley.

anyway, yesterday was the texas primary. I stopped on the way home from work and voted for the Kuci, and he made a nice showing with 2%. I've got a few months to convince myself that I like John Kerry. It ain't gonna be easy.

saw a couple of movies this weekend. school of rock wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it might be, and it definitely reinforces my theory that jack black is a has been. tenacious d episodes - comic genius. everything else - blah. he's got one trick and if he doesn't vanish soon, he's going to become as tiring as jim carrey. also got a chance to see starsky and hutch, which was funny but not quite at the level of hilarity that I expected. of course, it had the owen factor, so I shouldn't complain.

time for tomato soup and pitas.