Rilo Kiley at Webster Hall/ Why dont Indie Kids in NYC dance?

Went to the Rilo Kiley show this past Sunday at Webster Hall..
---missed the first band Art in Manila on Saddle Creek due to pre-concert beer consumption. ----caught the 2nd opener Jonathan something? was good, solid folky indie whatever songwriter but nothing excitingly unique to write home about... or blog about.

Rilo Kiley however was a phenomenal time. great show. beforehand I was really hoping they would play mostly old songs and few from Under the Blacklight, their new record. I listened to the album many many times trying to get into it. A few songs sorta grew on me but none of them were the rilo kiley i know and love.

However, after seeing/hearing them perform the new stuff live, I am now sold on the record. It makes sense to me now. No, it's not the much loved lyrical treasures Jenny Lewis typically pens but they are super fun live tunes with some pretty outstanding intricate musical subtleties if you listen closely.

They opened the show with "It's a Hit" and for the most part varied back and forth between new and old songs. It was a really fun set. My only complaint would be the usual lame new york city crowd of indie kids who are either afraid to move/dance or just refuse to for whatever reason. So my friend and I were the only ones dancing, at least that we could see anyway. I could never comprehend standing completely still to live music you really enjoy... Someone clue me in?

Hassids and a Movie

So as many of you know, I live in Williamsburg Brooklyn. If you haven't been here before, the sort of people that live here, generally fall in one of the 4H's: Hipster, Hispanic, Hoodlum, or Hassid. The area I live in is predominantly Hassidic. Now Hassidics I've come to observe are very private and extremely peculiar. The other day I was walking out of my apartment to go play music with some friends when two young Hassid girls, about 15yrs old stopped me on the sidewalk. They asked me if I could help them with their oven. They had very thick accents and I was very surprised they were speaking to me so I asked them to repeat. They said that they needed help with their oven on the fourth floor and emphasized that it was okay because they had an elevator. I was of course curious and they and their little brothers seemed harmless enough. So I took the elevator up and they took the stairs and met me on the fourth floor. They led me into their spotless apartment that looked un-lived in and directed me to the stove. Two of the gas burners were on high with nothing on the stovetop. The eldest girl motioned to the stove and asked me to simply turn off the 2 burners. I did as they asked, they thanked me and I left. I know they can't use electricity on the Sabbath I think but this was like a Wednesday so I don't know what it was all about. It of course had something to do with their religion. Whatever it was, they felt it so important that they follow this rule that they left their apartment unattended with gas burners on high putting all their belongings at risk of burning down and let a complete stranger, a gentile no less into their apartment.


On another note I saw the movie, Black Book, last night. The film, directed by Paul Verhoeven, who directed Robocop and Showgirls, was nothing at all like those movies, but rather was a World War II Resistance thriller/drama about a Jewish singer who fights both for survival and against the Nazis by seduction, cunning wit, and spy tactics. The movie had one of the most dense plots I'd seen in a while and I was intensely engaged from start to finish. Dutch-born Verhoeven also directed one of my favorite movies as a kid, Total Recall. This was his first return to the Dutch screen in over 20 years. With movie ticket prices in NYC so high, about $11-12 on average, I tend to pick and choose what movies I see in theaters rather sparingly with a bit of scrutiny. I found Black Book to be a very worthwhile 2hour escape from reality and money well spent.

CD Release Tomorrow!

My favorite indie pop rockers out of Houston are having their CD release show tomorrow night! If you just happen to be in the Houston area, check them out! Odds are you aren't anywhere near Texas, so check out their Myspace and give them a listen.
Click Here!

open bar...wack

I seem to get dragged very often these days to various CD release parties with the seemingly enticing persuasive tactic "there's going to be an open bar!" Most of the time the bar is so packed that it takes you forever to get a drink or the booze isn't so good. Nevertheless it's free so you take what you can get.

The other night I went to one of these CD release/open bar events at a club called LIT in the East Village. Maybe it's that I've been to one too many of these but I do believe that it was the WORST open bar ever. For my first blog ever, I will rant about this evening.

I arrived at the venue at about 10pm, said some hellos, shook some hands of new faces, listened to some blah music and waited around for an hour with a dry throat waiting for the promised open bar to commence. At the stroke of 11, I walked upstairs to the bar to quench my thirst. There was one very frustrated and pissed off, long haired, troubled rock and roll dude bartending and lots of petulant scenester drunks trying to get there hands on some free booze. I waited and waited at the bar. The open bar was limited to the most shitty excuse for vodka Ive ever tasted. I'm no vodka connoisseur by any means but i knew this particular brew was funked. To make things easy, since the people I was with wanted to mix their vodka vile with cranberry juice, i chose to do the same. So when the dirty haired tender of bar came near I quickly spurted out "3 vodka and crans please!" Finally after the very long wait to be served standing behind the posse of obnoxious pseudo ghetto naughty by nature/de la soul cross breeds, I held in my hand a kiddie-sized plastic cup filled about 3/4 of the way with glowing red liquid that would surely dye my insides a few shades brighter towards neon. No matter, I'd waited and I was looking forward to the first sip. I put my lips to the teeny stirring straw peeping out of the teeny cup and sucked in a mouthful of the concoction. Now i know i already told u about the barely palatable vodka, but if you could believe it, the cranberry juice, if you could call it that, was actually worse. It was like pure liquid sugar with a dash of cran-esque artificial flavoring that made me shake and shiver all over uncontrollably. If one wanted to train a very very young girl to ween off of an over concentrated Koolaid addiction and onto alcoholism, this particular drink might be a good one to start with. After a few sips i said out loud "awwww its like little Suzie's first mixed drink." This made me smile to think about alcoholic 7 year olds, which made things a bit better but overall in summary....

the open bar was wack!