the future is not what it used to be

must newly opened group show: the future is not what it used to be. kenneth's ab fab works are showing at postmasters again. last time is was about the election and this time it's an obama orgy! love it!!!

here's a close up of hillary that i love.

lasers are fun and michael mandiberg shows you why.

wax is also fun and kristen lucus shows you why.

blitzen trapper @ bowery ballroom

best oregon band to get your rock on southern style: blitzen trapper. i heard about this outfit from my usual suspects npr and daytrotter. they make comparisons to the allman brothers and the dead, but i kinda think they remind me of lynyrd skynyrd. i have to admit that i am more a fan of the recent furr. i like a good rollicking time, but i'm more a roll up into a folksy ballad type with flannel of course. i recommend listening to their most recent daytrotter session. they also did several more seshes. there's a good unreleased track, "jericho" here, a christmas tune here, and another fav "stolen shoes" is here.

mark your calendars! on march 19 npr is streaming a sxsw showcase with blitzen, dirty projectors, k'naan, blk jks, blind pilot and thao nguyen and the get down stay down.

here are more pics to enjoy. complete with michael on washboard accompanied with moose, close up of eric, and marty and drew shakin' the maracas. i want to put up the live recording of "furr", but i don't know a good, no fuss audio hoster. thoughts people? you will be rewarded with a decent recording with bird chirps.

return of fltgc

long awaited return of fltgc: glowlab and deitch. glowlab is a new tiny, one room gallery just steps from my work. thanks kristin for letting know about it. apparently glowlab is uber cool and sneeked pieces of art in random dailies boxes. i've been on the look out but nada for the past couple weeks. anyhoot, i caught the glowlounge new artists show before it closes this sunday. jac was quite taken by mark price's take care. he has lots of cool stuff on his site.

we continued our crawl to stephen sprouse's rock on mars.

i haven't seen deitch wooster use the whole space for an exhibit in a while. they utilized the ground floor for a uber fun black light gallery. that's fuzzy me and laura admiring the fashions.

more shots of main floor and polaroid gallery on loft space.

polaroids of debbie harry, anthony kiedis and flea when they were soooooo young.

last stop was deitch grand that housed the delightfully colorful ben jones' the new dark age. this was sooo cute and i had to shot it.

p-bingo part deux

reason why it's never good as the first time: p-bingo with punch brothers at the living room. not sure if it's because word is getting out about this unique residency, but last night didn't live up to their first set last month. special guests sometymes why added a feminine touch but not enough to win me over. it just made me miss sara.

notable set covers and happenings:
- chris spilling whiskey on his mandolin before even starting the set
- chris' balkan dance moves
- pickles covering a prince song that i can't remember the name of
- mozart to end the first set
- chris rockin' his mandolin like a fender on a cover of a welsh punk band's song
- final song cover of fiona apple's "fast as you can". chris must of learned it on the nickel creek farewell tour when fiona openned for them.
- happy birthday pickles.

apologies that this post is kinda not detailed, but maybe others (ahem virginia, cough karen, psst julia) will comment to help fill in the blanks or i'm sure the punch bros will post a blog soon here.

sharock published

feat of the day: getting published on kqed. snail mail pal kristin invited me to work on a mixtape with her a while back. i think it might have been mentioned back when i worked there. we bonded over our love of scandies. a possible future post we dreamed about. flash forward a year later, and i'm hit up for a mix on handclaps. we drafted it out via email and finalized in person (kinda sorta) when i was home last month. please make comments on mixtape. it makes kristin and me happy. that's excitement on both coasts to create one HUGE imaginary handclap.

oscar's

must drink: simpler times from trader joe's. in my household, we are classy so we break out the natty ice/pbr equivalent from tj's. note to self: don't buy this again, however it is the puuurfect beverage to provide snide commentary while watching the oscar's.

most played out rivalry: jen versus brad and angelina. really putting her a few feet away while presenting? i guess she came out showing them that she wasn't afraid of confrontation. dude, the media needs a new story and leave this trio alone.

bit that's not funny: ben stiller. he is rarely ever funny to me and his beard bit proves my point.

bit that was funny: pineapple express sketch with hottie james franco and slimmer seth rogan. how about bring up janusz kaminski to say "suck it"? now that is funny.

best production: baz luhrmann for musicals are back number. hugh was adorable. funny how they gave the high school musical kids the limelight when mia mamma out grossed titanic in the uk. dominic cooper and amanda seyfriend barely got screen time. sad!

oscar acceptance i wish was given: mali perl

moma: atlantic/pacific

belated fltgc: moma-atlantic pacific. i didn't have a chance to gallery crawl at lunch yesterday. i'm very behind on my fltgc. i blame work and the arctic winds flying off the hudson. so i will crawl in the subway. i've been meaning to check out the installation at my neighboring station for some time. i guess the whole point is to stop during my commute, but i guess i haven't been able to downshift. i suppose it's the new york go, go, go mentality that's soaked in. soooo i've taken a breather to enjoy.

my photos don't do justice so check it you yourself brooklynites. so what if it's just posters. it's fun.

band to watch: maragtas

must diy wikipedia fun: diy album.
To Do This
1 - Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 - Go to "Random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 - Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 - Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

dark was the night

must forgot to mention in last entry: dark was the night. it was featured on the aforementioned asc segment. saki told me about this awesome widget to add my top 3. it was really hard to decide since all the tracks are stellar, but this was mine. you can make your own here.

coconut records

belated indie rock discovery: coconut records. so i liked phantom planet back in the day when jason schwartzman drummed for them and jacques brautbar played guitar. i think i literally freaked out at work when i found out they were playing a gig for the old station i worked for. in any case, i met my jason and jacques backstage like a band-aid does. that was it and i didn't really pay much attention after they left, but always wondered what they did musically post-phantom planet. so i was pleasantly surprised when i was catching up on my asc when coconut records was featured. jason's been making tunes since 2006. i guess i was sidetracked by that darjeeling limited flick. jacques played with beck and ok go a couple years back. hurrah boys!

mcq for target

must fasionista event: mcq warehouse. so alexander mcqueen's designer line for target hits stores march 4, but this weekend a warehouse on the west side highway offered new yorkers first dibs. i went along to see what the fuss was about. i left empty hand (no surprise), but i was a trusty purveyor of items to the fashion-lovin' twins.

i got mel the blazer and the mesh zippy below.



i want this. it wasn't at the warehouse.

happy valentine's day

must valentine's mix: all song considered gang put together and ahhhmazing list of tunes. the commentary alone will uplift any wallowing single.

congrats claire!

congrats claire and hugh on your engagement.

temporary areas

must site: temporary areas. vincent moon makes really great videos of indie rock kids for la blogotheque and fabulous places that he goes. i wish he would put me in his pocket. i would be happy to live there. this is one of my favs of his indie rock vids:

#10.4 - Grizzly bear - The Knife
by lablogotheque

M.A.G.I.C.

thanks to my fellow swede lover, kristin. enjoy!!!!


The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C. (Mini-video) from The Sound of Arrows on Vimeo.

doveman @ joe's pub

best live reimagining of an 80's soundtrack: doveman at joe's pub. i discovered this cover album in september when it was highlighted on npr. it was touching to have gabe introduced thomas (aka doveman) with a background about how the concept of the album came about. also, gabe pointed out that thomas' haircut is surprisingly similar to kevin bacon's. it was meant to be i suppose. funny that thomas had never seen the film or flashdance. he was unknowing of the clips being shown as he played.

i was amazed to see dawn landes grace the stage. i wasn't even aware she was part of the doveman crew. i feel in love with her when i heard her cover "tous les garcons et les filles" on daytrotter.

definitely a night to remember as it was the first and only new york performance of footloose. an audience member described thomas as "sensual", but i still think he sounds like jason lyttle of grandaddy.

you're welcome america

best imitation on broadway: will farrell as george w. bush in you're welcome america. the brother was in town and he was the one who clued me in on this gig. overall it was worth the crazy ticket price, but i think i'm used to the short skit formats on snl. so here's the rundown and don't read if you are planning to see it.

pros: sweet baby jesus reference, improv with audience participation ("i'm good at giving nicknames"), limited time performance (reminds me of when i went to the mighty wind concert)

cons: long format, cheap toilet jokes

sf wrap up

places eaten at:

arizmendi

golden boy pizza

naan n' curry 

the ritual

dynamo dounuts

pagan

el farolito

canto do brasil

crown and crumpet

fat wong's 

places i perused:

amoeba

green apple books

chronicle books

must thank you: to all those of you that came to happy hour at elbo room on wednesday.  also, all those i saw made extra effort to see me sans elbo room.  you all rule.  you make it hard to get back on that plane to new york.  love ya all and come visit.

crush of the month

crush of the month: dominic west (aka det. jimmy mcnulty). i finally got crackin' at the wire after tons and tons of people have been raving about it. my brother got the complete series and i've just managed to finish season 1 and onto 2. eff'in mcnulty has my heart going pitter patter. not to mention he was the love interest to miss pretty woman in mona lisa smile. his renegade cop act is hot, and boy does the guy have a mouth on him. bonus: he is a brit.