Hiatus

So I started this blog thinking it would be great to share music, film, and just general happenings around town, but then grad school started and put a damper on things. Now I find myself with little time to check my e-mail, let alone maintain a blog, so I guess I won't be posting so much, as you may have noticed from the 3 months that have passed. But maybe things will settle and I'll find time later. Let's keep our hopes up.

FREE Deerhunter show/Bradford on eBay

So my friends from Atlanta, Deerhunter, are playing a FREE show next week on Friday, August 31st, 2007 with Battles at the South Side Seaport. It's part of the Seaport Music Festival.

Deerhunter - Spring Hall Convert
Deerhunter - Adorno

Camera Obscura is also playing a FREE show there this Friday, August 24th with The Last Town Chorus.

Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country


And Bradford Cox, Deerhunter's lead singer, is selling a bunch of his stuff on eBay. I just thought it was funny because he's selling Deerhunter stuff that only members of the band would be in possession of, like this "Extremely Rare DEERHUNTER European Tour Single 1 of 100." Good luck to him for cleaning house.

Dark Meat at Cake Shop tonight

One of my favorite Athens bands, Dark Meat, is playing at the Cake Shop tonight in Manhattan. I highly recommend that you check them out. Here's what I wrote about them in the July issue of Southeast Performer Magazine:

"The atmosphere of the room was energized by the gajillion-piece Dark Meat, who had 15 or 16 members this evening, depending on if one counts the guy in the back who threw balloons. With so many people, Dark Meat has its own sections within the band. The horn section is known as The Vomit Lasers and the female singers and dancers are called The Subtweeters, although sisters Claire and Page Campbell were absent this night due to being on tour with their band Hope For Agoldensummer, leaving Heather Heyn to handle all the singing duties.

This lot of Athens musicians is headed by guitarist/singer Jim McHugh, who plays Charles Manson to this Family Band. As the group performed, waves of energy bursts could be felt pouring over the crowd. Balloons were being slapped and kicked about the room like excited gas molecules. Just as songs would reach a low point and one thought the end was near, the band would pick it back up again and continue to bang away for two more minutes. The percussion trio created big beats with two drum sets powered by [Jason] Robira of The Ginger Envelope and Forrest Leffer of Carrie Nations, as well as on most songs from guitarist Tim Schreiber of Col. Knowledge & The Lickety-Splits. There was also a guest belly dancer on stage to add to the eclecticism and chaos of all that is Dark Meat."

Dark Meat - Angel of Meth
Dark Meat - Dead Man

Upright Citizens Brigade

Last night I saw A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T., an improv performance at UCB Theatre. Every Sunday the 9:30 A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. is FREE, you just have to get there hella early to get in. We got there around 6ish, and they gave tickets out around 8:30, giving us about 45 minutes to get out of the rain and grab a bite. I had hopes of seeing Amy Poehler there (<3) but she wasn't. Instead, Jack McBrayer was there who plays Kenneth on 30 Rock and who happens to hail from Georgia.

There were funny parts and parts that just didn't flow, which is what happens in improv. We totally sat behind fucking Chevy Chase! That's right, Fletch, fucking Clark Griswold. That was really cool, despite us being too respectful to say anything to him or look him in the eye directly.

A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. stands for Automatic Sprinkler System Shutdown Siamese Connection Alternative Theatre, which after a week in New York, I've noticed most buildings have this posted on the outside of their building, but despite standing in line for over two hours I didn't really pay attention to what was on the wall of the UCBT.

I will keep my eye out tonight when I go again to see Crash Test, FREE stand-up comedy that happens every Monday night at 11:00pm. Tonight they'll have Greg Proops (Whose Line Is It Anyway), Mike Birbiglia, John Oliver (The Daily Show), and Jon Benjamin (Coach McGuirk). I'm excited.

Superdust/Starbad

I saw two great movies last night, Superbad and Stardust. I have to get accustomed to $11 movies here in New York, but if you pull a double feature it might make it more worth it. And everyone has bags that don't get checked, so it's easy to bring in your own food and avoid the overpriced concession stand.

I was really excited about Superbad because I love everything Seth Rogen has been in (Freaks & Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and I knew it was just a matter of time before Jonah Hill got a lead role. He had one of the most memorable scenes in the 40 Year Old Virgin when he tried to buy some platform boots from the eBay store, and then again in Grandma's Boy when he gets to suck on a tit for 4 hours. And I love Michael Cera because of his role as George Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. I'm still sad there's not going to be more episodes of that.

So the film was great, full of raunchiness and crudeness. The main plot of the movie is score booze and try to get laid, a common goal in high school, so Disney can keep their Musical and I'll stick to this High School Comedy. Hell, I hope they make High School Comedy 2, but I'm not sure if that'll work, since they are graduating soon in Superbad. It also had great cameos from Joe Lo Truglio from The State (out on DVD soon, not sure of the exact date), Eddie from Grounded for Life, Bill from Freaks & Geeks, and Lizzie from Undeclared. This is a good movie to go to with friends or on a date (if your date is really cool and not a prude expecting a romantic comedy [actually, don't take any dates to this one]).

I wasn't really sure where the title Superbad came from, I mean, they are superbad but I don't think they ever say it in the film, but then I realized the score is totally superbadass 70s funk, all by Bootsy Collins & The Superbad Band, so that explains it enough for me. And there's great opening credits that featuring dancing silhouettes of the main stars. Really awesome.

Stardust ended up being a great film as well with an all-star cast that included Claire Danes, Robert Deniro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ricky Gervais. Despite looking like some epic fantasy tale, it ended up not feeling so epic (meaning it didn't drag on) and it had really funny parts throughout. It reminded me of The Princess Bride a little. The film is about a star that falls to Earth, and the people that are after her: a noble man that want to deliver her as a gift to the girl he loves, witches that want her heart for everlasting youth, and brother princes that want her necklace in order to take over the throne. I too recommend this film, but this one is more suitable for taking children or parents to.

Welcome

I just moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn and I thought it would be best to chronicle my time and adventures here in the form of this blog. I landed yesterday morning, then went to a free Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show at the McCarren Park Pool that afternoon. The Thermals opened and were pretty good. Ted Leo announced that it was his bass player Dave Lerner's last show with the group. You know, the guy with the big hair.

It's kinda funny because I just saw Ted Leo last Thursday in Athens, GA. Note the same man in both photos, but two completely different locations:

Ted Leo photos from Athens here
Ted Leo photos from Brooklyn here

Today I found an apartment, so things are moving quickly. On this blog you can expect to find information about any good music I come across, and bands I like that are coming to town, info on free stuff happening around town, movie reviews, photos from events, and uncategorizable rants. I guess we'll see how it all works out.