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the bright aisles of c-town
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Saturday, January 31, 2004
Finally, some FITS
Hello Nurse tried out some more vocalists today. I was really blown away by the people we saw today. Three guys really impressed me. One guy came in and Joe and Ed said afterwards, "He's our guy." Then the next guy came in and we were like, "Wait, he could be the guy, too." For callbacks we are thinking of giving the guys a homework assignment. Learn another song on the website you did not sing during your initial audition AND take this mp3 (a song we have recorded w/o vocal tracks) and make up your own melody and lyrics. I think this will give us a strong sense of what these guys are all about.
So, I spent tons of time today cleaning up my place. It looks a lot nicer. Jackie and I also went to a supermarket called Food Bazaar. The place was unbelievable. Besides being huge (the kind of place where everyone uses shopping carts), the store had every kind of food or ingredient you would ever want. I think the place markets itself (wacca wacca) as an international supermarket to cater to the diverse population living in the surrounding neighborhoods. We had a great time just walked up and down the aisles. Some of the produce I had never heard of before. And of course, the walk-in coolers blew me away - one room for produce, one room for meat, one room for beer. I have never seen a place with Newcastle one shelf up from Night Flight malt liquor.
Tomorrow I am getting up for Winter League ultimate. This is my fifth year playing winter league up at Columbia. I think maybe only one other guy is also a 5-timer. Of course, now I'm so out of shape and lazy that who knows how I will perform. I was drafted pretty high, so I guess my team is counting on me to be the man. All I'm saying is, it's gonna be effing freezing.
And if you made it this far, I might as well tell you that I just had the awful experience of watching a mouse die. I set up a little shock-and-awe around the loft with mousetraps every 5 feet. I just heard one snap, and foolishly I ran over to see. The poor mouse twitched for about 10 seconds and then finally lay motionless. That's the way the world works, I guess. Nonetheless, I feel nauseous and will probably have nightmares.
Check out pictures I took of my place today.
10:43 PM
Thursday, January 29, 2004
knee slapper
John Kerry walks into a bar.
Bartender says, "Hey man, why the long face?"
Also, note the resemblance to President Jackson on the twenty.
Best string on Craigslist Rants & Raves: "Joe Lieberman - Please Go Away"
9:41 AM
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
I wish I had 5 minutes to blog
But instead I only have four.
I went to DC this weekend and it was a blast! The Alumni Summit was a great opportunity to reconnect with the Teach For America crowd of activists and progressive thinkers. The speakers were amazing, and all of the uplifting conversations I had kept me awake despite the previous night's bombardment of beer and dancing. Saturday night in DC involved way too much whiskey, way too many white people that look the same, and 4 bars that were just like Jake's Dilemma only hazardously overcrowded. Good times.
Sunday night I saw ARoss and Trav's new place. It is so wonderful! They have an entire live studio room in their loft. Of course, those guys are 100% non-metro, so I'm gonna have to help them out with making the place liveable and comfortable.
Tonight Hello Nurse heads into our practice space for round 3 of vocalist tryouts. I sure hope someone does well, because I'm beginning to get annoyed with some of these effing jackasses.
This weekend: Lynne is coming to town! Can't wait.
2:09 PM
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
the grind
Went into work today at 8:30am. Left work today at 10:00pm. I did not leave the building all day. I would have stayed until at least 10:30, but then I would have been locked inside the building.
This weekend I'm going to Washington, D.C. for a work related function. I won't be back until next Tuesday.
The bright aisles might be a little dim for the next week or so. But sooner or later the checkered linoleum will reflect the fluorescent tubes from above once again.
7:57 PM
Sunday, January 18, 2004
winterize
I had football on all afternoon while I winterized my place. First, I just put some foam in the window frames to create more of a seal. Then I covered each window with 3M insulating plastic from a kit. Basically, I just taped plastic over the windows. Hopefully this will keep the drafts out. So far it definitely seems nicer in here.
Last night I saw some bands at The Tank, a venue/gallery near Times Square. I met Ed and we saw We Are Scientists. These guys are fantastic and I would gladly see them again. The headlining act was Bishop Allen. The place was packed for them. Personally, I didn't think they were as good as there apparent popularity would lead me to believe. Nonetheless, they are a respectable band and I'd see them again. The two opening bands (The Fire Science from Dayton, OH, and The Motel Beds) were decent, and I got a free CD from each. I just finished listening, and I dig their recordings.
Since my blog is linked on our website, I don't want to divulge too much about the Hello Nurse auditions we are having for vocalists. I will say that the 4 guys who auditioned yesterday were all pretty decent. We didn't get any train wrecks. That being said, we're probably only going to call one of them back. It's so hard to find someone who is going to fit our style, fit our personality and M.O., and be a good musician.
That being said, if you know any great vocalists send them our way.
Congrats to ARoss and Travis, who will be moving into the lovely EWID/Bushburg neighborhood in a week or so. Welcome, neighbor!
11:03 PM
Friday, January 16, 2004
like ye olde thymes
Jackie is going to kill me for writing about this story, but it was so damn funny!
After a cold night out on the town we got back to my place. Jackie had been freezing cold all night, so she decided to take a shower to warm herself up. I'm straightening up the place, making my bed, checking my email, thinking, "What the hell is taking so long?" Of course, I ask myself this question often, so it really wasn't out of the ordinary. It turns out that as soon as she had herself full of conditioner, soap, and was about to shave her legs the hot water ran out. She's standing in the shower completely soaped up waiting for the water to get hot again so she can rinse off. We ended up waiting for at least 20 minutes. i brought a space heater into the bathroom to help keep her warm.
In the end I was heating up large pots of water on the stove and bringing them into the bathroom to pour over her. It was like something out of the middle-ages. Luckily we were laughing about it. But think, before last century this was a fairly common occurence throughout the world. In fact so much of the world lacks something we take for granted - a hot shower. I'm not about to go off on a globalization rant, don't worry. I just hope I don't have to make my own fire or bury my poop anytime soon unless there is a tent and a case of bud involved.
11:22 PM
flatulent, arrogant, pussbag
Check out this link A-Ross sent me. If you are at work, be sure to listen with headphones. There is a moderate amount of foul language.
http://www.blackstarsblog.com/bushin41point2.htm
9:12 AM
Thursday, January 15, 2004
the search continues
The search for a new singer continues. We have gotten some weird replies. Some good, some we can't tell, others just aren't a good fit.
Example 1
Well, I think if I saw Jason on the street I would recognize him. There certainly are enough pictures on the website! Check out his music. It's not bad if you're a big trance-ballad fan.
Another girl described herself as a goth-metal singer. Do we sound like goth-metal? Well, maybe that's just what she's into and she wants to make the leap to power-pop. Either way, we're looking for a male singer. A female singer wouldn't quite fit with our dynamic. And I think all of our girlfriends have made it clear they don't want a girl in the band. Women - so jealous sometimes. They have nothing to worry about, though. A strong male-vocalist ego is one thing, but a raging female-vocalist ego is effing ridiculous.
Joe is a tactful guy. Here's what he wrote to Nadina, the goth-metal singer.
Nadina-
Thanks for getting in touch with us. I'm pretty sure the other guys are dead-set on a male vocalist. They’re not misogynists or anything, they just hate women :)
Seriously, I think it’s a matter of adjusting the material vs. re-writing it, so unless every guy we see is really pathetic (a real possibility), I think we’ll be going with a guy.
At the risk of [shamelessly] promoting the band, if you like the music, we’d appreciate it if you came down to our show at Continental on Feb 5 at 8PM. There’s no cover and by way of apology our drummer, Christian, will buy you a drink.
I told Joe she better show up early. I only buy goth-metal chicks drinks at happy hour prices... especially since the Continental charges $5 for a bottle of pabst. PABST!
3:46 PM
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
new singer, new roommate, bueller?
Last night at band practice we were having a blast. Then, as we started discussing the future Nathaniel brought up some news. Unfortunately, he's been unhappy in New York for a while, and since he hasn't been able to find a job he's going to move on at the end of February.
I can't begin to tell you how much we will miss him. First of all he's a fantastic singer. He has a great voice, and he doesn't bring with him the ego and diva-antics associated with so many vocalists. He helps move equipment, he's open to suggestion, and his stage presence is HUGE. Second, Nathaniel is about the best roommate I could ask for. He's a great guy to have around, he's very considerate, he pays rent and bills and all that stuff, and he's fairly clean. I'm definitely going to miss him. Oh yeah, and did I mention he has a car? That's all we really love him for - his ride :)
It's going to be a huge drag finding a new vocalist AND a new roommate for March 1. I'm confident we'll find people to fill each role, but I suspect the auditioning process is going to be awful. At least when we tried out bass players the person had to be committed enough to own a bass. With vocals it's going to be like American Idol. Any jackass with a dream thinks he's the next David Lee Roth. Joe pointed out, the one good thing about this process is that we'll know if the person is a good fit within about 5 minutes.
I'm equally dreading the roommate search. Although, I think I should be able to find someone cool. We'll see. Hello Craigslist. Ad 1 (Ed) Ad 2 (Joe)
So, if anyone out there knows a skilled vocalist or a friendly person who needs a room come March 1 please have them contact me.
6:31 AM
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
Williamsburg Turf War
One element of living in Williamsburg that has started to interest me is the chasidic Jewish population. I have never lived near a chasidic neighborhood before, and whenever I drive or bike to Dumbo I'm surprised I don't crash more often. The chasidic culture is something completely new to me, so I am always curious and wide-eyed when I see the droves of families walking to and fro' on cold winter nights.
All I have ever known about this culture has been from derrogatory jokes I hear from friends - mostly from conservative or reformed Jews, actually. I don't really even know how to spell chasidic. I was going to use hassidic, but then I read an article in The Jewish Week and they spell it with a ch.
I'm trying to extinguish all these previous notions of what Hasidim (spelling from another article at nymetro.com) is all about and start forming my own opinions. From my own observations I have seen that chasidic Jews in Williamsburg live in a fairly concentrated neighborhood of only other chasidics. Their housing tends to be simple apartment buildings. The neighborhood seems a bit run down - not many decoratrions or plants, and a few vacant lots & abandoned buildings. There are usually lots of people walking around, often in groups of same gender. Everyone wears the same kinds of attire. Other than that, I can't say that I've had any extended conversations with any chasidics.
I found two articles on the Craigslist Housing Forum today. I haven't fully read them yet, but I'm looking forward to checking them out. I guess the Hasidim aren't too fond of the artist'n (hipster in yiddish) moving into the neighborhood. Apparently this neighborhood has been a site for turf wars for decades. It's like the West Bank of Brooklyn. Ok, I really shouldn't be making comparisons like that.
Here are the two articles. I'll probably read them sometime in the next couple days when I have the time. Work is crazy right now, so who knows! At least I'm taking the time to completely neglect work for 20 minutes to post to my blog. I can really get used to having a boss that works in Washington D.C. Nonetheless, I do have to get some work done. Bye.
High-Rent District? Money, morals clash in Williamsburg as chasidim protest deluxe influx.
From The Jewish Week
Hasidim vs. Hipsters -
Trucker hat, schmucker hat: Williamsburg’s religious Jews want the ’hood’s arty arrivistes to go away.
From www.nymetro.com
12:05 PM
Monday, January 12, 2004
weekend, come back!
As I sit here at my work computer steadily adding tasks to my action plan from the moutain of emails I received over the weekend (yes, many people around here works on weekends) I can only think of what it's like back in my dark, warm bedroom.
Friday night Jackie and I went to Jake's Dilemma to celebrate Amy Christie's birthday. It was a good time, and even Jordan showed up. Miriam, if you're out there, I'm sorry you weren't able to attend because I would have loved to see you. But I completely understand.
Saturday morning Jackie and I went to Eli's Vinegar Factory for brunch. I was amazed by this place. The brunch was pretty good, but the grocery store was unbelievable. It makes Fairway look like C-Town. (Not that there's anything wrong with C-Town!) The produce was aesthetically pleasing to look at, and the homemade breads & jams are deeeeelicious. It's not a cheap place to shop, but a must-visit for special occasions.
Saturday night Jackie and her roommates hosted a small wine tasting party. There were 10 people total in her common room: cosy. Each person was asked to bring a bottle of wine that cost $15 or under. I don't even remember what I brought... I think it was from Chile, it was red. Anyway, most of the wines were pretty good. The night basically reaffirmed my love of red over white, with the richer merlot far surpassing the wimpy pinot noir. I didn't really learn much about wine, unfortunately, because I was too busy gulping it down and eating the great hors d'oeuvres. I probably should have paid attention when each label was revealed. At the end of the night we played Apples to Apples. It was a fun game, despite the fact that I didn't win a single hand. As the only guy playing, I guess my humor just didn't fit with all the female brains in the room.
Sunday Jackie and I slept off our wine headaches and I returned home to watch FOOTBALL. I loved the Green Bay vs. Philadelphia game. I wanted Green Bay to win, but I like the Eagles and Donovan McNabb, so I'm happy to see them advance.
Ok, back to work. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and I have a lot of work to do, so I guess I should just load up on Vitamin I and start sifting through this inbox.
6:36 AM
Friday, January 09, 2004
the effing L Train
The L Train is really pissing me off these days. It seems like every month or so the L train will have NO service to Manhattan. I can see limited service, or shuttle bus service, but NO service?? Fortunately, I don't live too far from the JMZ. There are many people who don't have this convenience, and to them I say, "Naah nah-nah naah naaaaaah!"
Tonight I'm heading up to Jake's Dilemma, and old haunt from the teaching days. I haven't been there in a long time. We're celebrating Amy Christie's birthday, which happened sometime in late December. I'll use any excuse to party with Amy Christie, whether it's a birthday or a Thursday.
Dorkbot the other night was pretty cool. The first couple showed off their ability to induce seizure and make my ear drums bleed. But they had a little girl named Rama who was too cute that I'll forgive them. Anytime something didn't work she would scream out, "OOPS!" or, "Uh-Oh!" The other groups included a guy who messed around with these laser-disc type machines from the 70's to get movie clips to repeat at a slow rate. The last group was a MIDI band. Craziness.
Afterwards Bill, Lightshow and I went to Dan Karlin's place to drink his wine and watch Law and Order. Thanks Dan & Sam! That night I ran into Drew and Amanda in the tunnel between the 1 train and the L train at 6th avenue. That was probably the only positive experience I have ever had in that tunnel. Usually it just reeks of urine and bad music from panhandlers. "Just because your syllables aren't discernable does NOT mean you are an interesting singer!" Although, everyone's gotta love the guy who hits the pole on the 1 train. The kids on the L train who do subway acrobatics are pretty cool too, except for when they kick people by accident.
And did you hear that New Jersey is going to recognize gay couples? That's awesome! Of course, the spokeswoman for the cause on the news last night was this 40 year old woman with a mullet. I can only imagine what the righties in this country were thinking when they saw her on their TV screens. And to them I say, "Naah nah-nah naah naaaaaah!"... not that it's a relevant thing to say. I just know it would piss them off.
11:31 AM
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
pranks at work
Crystal, my supervisor sent out the following email today:
I've never felt more like a camp counselor in my entire life (even when I was one) than I do at this very moment! On that note... If you have preferences for who you would like to room with (and yes, we will be in rooms of two!) during the alumni summit on Friday (and Saturday, for those of you staying at the hotel that night as well), please let me know. If you have no preference there is no need to respond to this e-mail, I will randomly assign you to a room with another [person].
On my way to the water cooler, I thought of an idea. I went to my friend Eric's desk, and we devised a plan. There were four of us in the back cracking up and disrupting the copy room. Here's what we wrote:
From:Christian
To: Crystal
Hi Crystal,
If it's ok with him, I really want to room with Eric Leslie. We have gone to the bar with each other a few times and I really love hanging out with that kid. Did you notice how he totally got a haircut the same time that I did? I think he's just a copycat. Anyway, please put me in a room with him because I don't think I would be comfortable with anyone else.
Thanks,
Christian
*****************************
From: Eric
To: Crystal
No major requests on my front - but if at all possible, I really don't want to have to room with Christian. That kid bugs the hell out of me & did you notice how he copied my haircut? Kinda freaky.
I bet he requested to stay with me, but just tell him that I had already requested to stay with someone else, I don't care who, just make someone up.
Thanks a lot,
Eric
She replied to Eric asking if this was a joke, and he replied, "Yo - I'm not sure what you're talking about... Did you tell Christian??"
Five minutes later I met Eric at the copier, which is right next to Crystal's desk.
C: Hi Eric!
E: Oh, hi Christian.
C: Are you going to the Alumni Summit?
E: Oh, I don't know if I can make it...
Crystal shouted, "You guys!!!!" By then I had already bcc:'d all the people in our office chute with the previous emails. The place erupted. This really is a fun place to work, except for all the, well, WORK.
Tonight I'm heading up to dorkbot. I think some friends might come along. If you're in town and you like Art & Electronics, then come check it out.
12:21 PM
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Bang away
We took the stage last night with a game plan - keep the volume down so Nathaniel can hear himself and we don't overpower the audience. After about 2 bars of our first song that was out the window. We had a huge crowd, and we were relaxed. I started bashing away at my drums, and everyone else on stage just went to work. We played a great show - high energy, technically decent, tight, and Nathaniel was all over the place (in a very good way). Joe had a gigantic grin on his face from start to finish, and Ed was actually dancing around a bit. We gave it all we had, and at the end of the set it was fantastic to hear a loud applause. Yay! We haven't had a good loud applause in a while.
Thanks to Jackie, ARoss, Bill, Yang, Lightshow, Mr. Nieman, and Piyali for coming out last night. Luckily Ed's entire office also decided to show up, so the place was packed. The band that played after us is called Stars in December. They were some good old Long Island pop/rock, kind of a Dashboard Jr. You could really tell they were from Long Island. They were nice guys, and they gave us like 4 shoutouts during their set because I let their drummer borrow my cymbal stands.
After hauling the equipment back to Dumbo I came home and started to load Panther (OS 10.3) onto my Mac. Thanks Dan (Mr. Nieman) for burning those discs for me. You rock! After all the times I have completely fried my PC [not to mention my patience] installing operating systems, this was unbelievably painless. Panther installs all the programs I need to get things going - Safari (browser), Mail, Address Book, Calendar, iTunes, iMovie, Quicktime, AIM, and many more. After a half hour of waiting and typing in some information, my computer was basically ready to go. I networked the mac to my PC and transfered over ALL of my documents (mp3s, word docs, pictures, bookmarks, everything) while I slept. When I woke up this morning the mac was having a little trouble sorting through the gigantic music folder I transfered. I think I might need to restart it a few times, or find the utility on there that goes through and catalogs all the mp3 locations. I really want to get my iPod working! Soon enough it will, I guess.
Band practice tonight. Bring on the vocal harmonies and new songs!
6:22 AM
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Hello Nurse at the Continental
Cure your first 2004 case of the Mondays with Hello Nurse at the Continental tomorrow evening at 7:15pm. Come enjoy a drink with us as our coworkers display delightfully unprofessional behavior at the first happy hour of the new year.
Hello Nurse
Monday, January 5th
7:15pm
21+, NO COVER
The Continental is located at 25 Third Avenue between St. Marks Place & 9th St.
For more info check continentalnyc.com and hellonurserock.com.
Hope to see you there.
4:21 PM
Saturday, January 03, 2004
posting from my new mac!
I am now the proud owner of a new G4 Powermac. I bought it from a guy in Queens I met through Craigslist. He gave me a great deal, and this computer is loaded.
[For computer geeks: dual 800mhz processor, 1.5 gig ram, dual monitor support, superdrive (reads and burns both cd's and dvd's), old but huge 20" monitor, keyboard, and optical mouse - all for $1100.]
A HUGE shout out to T-Sparls who financed the acquisition of this gem. Another shout out to Shannon, the guy in Queens who totally hooked me up. He is a very nice guy, and if I could give him a seller-rating I would score him an A. He would have received an A+, but I got lost in Queens trying to find his place.
Right now I'm getting some experience installing software and learning my way around the system. Tomorrow Joe will hopefully hook me up with Panther, and I will wipe this system clean and begin from scratch. I just want to get a vague idea how to get around this OS before I wipe it all.
Time to burn a CD, because I've never been able to burn a CD on my own machine before!
Oh, and if you have any cool software, could you hook me up? (mike, andy:)
6:28 PM
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