Hey, this was on Kimya Dawson's MySpace blog and she gave me permission to repost it here:

"When we said yes to Conan I had TOTALLY forgotten about the writers' strike!!! It took a wise man named John Darnielle to email me and remind me.

Then I went and read THIS.

Then I emailed Rhino and Adam and told them I am not interested in crossing picket lines. Playing outside for those picketing, YES.

Walking past them and going on in which would be SUCH a snub with a big old implied "eff you guys- this is our big chance to do something I feel pretty weird about doing in the first place". So not worth it.

I guess now I wait for Adam and the Rhinos to write back and see what they say.

Oh, and...I have been up all night. I learned the hard way not to take a double dose of Emergen-C before bed. And especially don't give a sip to the baby.

Straight trippin."

I've haven't really been following the details of the writers strike but I know I support the Union. The news just mentioned that it will be interesting to see what actors cross the picket line to promote their movies/shows. I'm wondering if there will be spots filled by desperate musical guests. I always hated staying up late to catch a "musical guest" who was often given 1.5 songs. There are plenty of musicians who don't care about or don't think they deserve royalties for digital airplay...maybe there is some parallel between the negotiations for online content for the writers and musicians. I'm not thinking of this very deeply here, I'd like to talk about it though.

Dual Cassette Deck with USB out
Dual tape deck with high speed dubbing, Stereo RCA input & output
AND USB out!!!!! ($149) (now if they would only throw in a way to record stereo OUT to cassette then I'd be totally sold...I know, RCA cable audio out from computer to audio in to tape deck...or transfer tapes to mp3s, burn cds, and then tape the cds....)


And I love this Former Rockstar t-shirt even though I wouldn't wear it. I know some people who could though.

(I'd also like to review products from these companies, hint hint, e-mail me)

So little to say. I live in Brooklyn now but cannot compete with some of the most awesome indie music blogs in the world. I have not gotten into Vampire Weekend and was even a little more turned off after I heard them on NPR...the songs just don't seem to be intellectual enough to warrant namedropping Columbia University in every article. But maybe this is the shift I started to witness in Athens in 2000, whatever was left of indpendent punk spirit was going to be washed away by the chance to be popular and the inclusion of the non-punks into the fold.

It's pleasant enough stuff. Just not going near my top 10 list this year. Maybe if I saw them live I'd feel different.

I HATE COCAINE

Athens Popfest 2007: Preview

Yes tomorrow I head on down to Athens for the annual Happy Happy Birthday To Me Popfest. I'm really looking forward to seeing Tullycraft on Friday. I know I just saw them in February, but being so far away from Washington I really really really miss them.

There aren't too many bands playing this year that I haven't seen before, but I'm especially looking forward to Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies . I'm very sad my friend the librarian Robin is no longer with the group, but today at work I found out our health insurance consultant Alex IS! I gave him this bit of advice for Athens, so if you're heading down there, get psyched for this: "If you can manage to sleep from 6AM til noon you will not miss anything".

Also, Casper and the Cookies are backing Daniel Johnston on Saturday night.

See, it is SO worth braving GEORGIA in AUGUST

Gotta pack!

Indie Rock Bingo Party Saturday in Philly

Hey folks, this Saturday I'll be hosting Indie Rock Bingo at Tritone in Philly. There will be some fun prizes, lots of bad jokes, and alcohol. Please come up and support this crazy idea. I'm just cutting and pasting Sara's announcement because I'm going to work but...

And the DJs, holy shit the DJs are frickin awesome. Not in the boom boom boom get up and dance way, but in the "wow that mix tape saved my life way". Which is a little strange to listen to in public, but whatever, life is better than it was in 94.

Sceniors...ha..

XO
Courtney

SAT JULY 21
Indie Rock Bingo and afterparty

I'm pleased to collaborate on this unsual event with Courtney Bennett,
Philadelphia native, former Olympia resident, and indie-pop promoter
and fan. Bennett hosted Indie Rock Bingo at the NYC Popfest in May.
Instead of numbers and letters, there are tried and true symbols of
indie rock on the bingo cards: K Records, mary janes, a radio station,
a hand stamp, etc.

The afterparty is a fine collection of Philadelphia DJ's who
definitely have informed my taste over the years and used indie rock
as a jumping off point to do so many great things.

Indie Rock Bingo, 8-10
50 cents a round or 3 for $1
Hosted by Courtney Bennett

Afterparty at 10, free for bingo players or $5

DJ LARIS KRESLINS (uwishunu, Arthur, Sound Collector, Insound)
http://herjazz.org/maria/2005/10/20/796

DJ KYLE ANDREWS (a.k.a. Ashy K, Johnny Brenda's, M Room)
http://www.myspace.com/eusa

DJ MON LU CONT (England Belongs to Twee)
http://www.myspace.com/monlucont
Mon booked Team Dresch and Slant 6 at the Koresh Dance Studio and
Huggy Bear at a Y on North Broad Street!

DJ ANDREW CHALFEN (The Trolleyvox)
http://www.myspace.com/thetrolleyvox

Crayon-Forever Nearly True


Dearest Ned and everyone out there,
I am working on the Brick Factory reissue, a two cd set including at three newly discovered Crayon songs, live tracks from their final performance at Yoyo A Gogo, the Harriet demos, all the singles, cassettes, and compilation tracks, for this autumn.

It is happening.

It will be grand.

XO
Court

Crayon-Live With It Baby
A totally cute slideshow of photos from the Crayon/Softies tour:

Pitchfork

NYC Popfest 2007 at Pitchfork!

I have been super busy with organizing popfest and will do my best to blog a bit from there, but expect some super exciting news about my summer job after the fest.

Shapes and sizes at cakeshop

Shapes and sizes at cakeshop

Yellow fever

Yello fever

Yellow fever

NYC Popfest 2007

NYC Popfest 2007
NYC Popfest MySpace

All fest passes can be purchased by sending $60 via Pay Pal to paypal@nycpopfest.com

THURSDAY MAY 24, 2007
Opening night gala
98-104 Meserole Ave., @ EUROPA in Brooklyn

* BMX Bandits (Scotland)
* Pants Yell! (MA)
* Yellow Fever (TX)
* The Metric Mile (NYC)
* Lispector (France)
* Plus other surprise guests!


FRIDAY MAY 25, 2007
Kick off the weekend with Mitch Easter and a rooftop after-party!!!
168 Delancey Street, @ THE DELANCEY on the L.E.S.

* Baskervilles (NYC)
* Mitch Easter (NC)
* The Secret History (NYC)
* The Smittens (VT)
* Affair d'Coeur (NYC)
* The Reverse (NY)
* AND ROOFTOP AFTER-PARTY


SATURDAY MAY 26, 2007
FREE daytime all-ages show
Astroland Stage - Coney Island Boardwalk, @ ASTROLAND on Coney Island!!!!!

* Bunnygrunt (MO)
* Cars Can Be Blue (GA)
* Best Fwends (TX)
* The Gritty Midi Gang (NYC)
* and special surprise guests!


SATURDAY MAY 26, 2007
74 Leonard St., @ THE KNITTTING FACTORY

* Casiotone For the Painfully Alone (CHI)
* The Ballet (NYC)
* Ballboy (Scotland)
* Harvey Williams (UK)
* My Teenage Stride (NYC)
* The Besties (NYC)
* Brown Recluse Sings (PA)


SUNDAY MAY 27, 2007
361 Metropolitan Avenue, @ LUNA LOUNGE in Brooklyn

* Pipas (UK/NYC)
* CAUSE CO-MOTION (NYC)
* Human Television (PA)
* Michael Leviton (NYC)
* Pelle Carlberg (Sweden)
* Dear Nora (CA)
* The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (NYC)


MONDAY May 28, 2007
Memorial Day BBQ & show
484 Union Avenue, @ UNION POOL in Brooklyn

* Allen Clapp & His Orchestra (CA)
* The Gazetteers (NY)
* The Lil Hospital (PA)
* Surefire Broadcast (PA)
* Titans of Filth (GA)
* and special surprise guests!!

Icicles/Casper and the Cookes/Scary Monster
The Khyber, Philly, April 30 2007, be there!

I lucked out today and got the new Icicles cd at Repo Records on South Street in the discount section.

or as seen in the Motorola commercial


Then I found this great video of Jason Nesmith from Casper and the Cookies singing Don't Stop Believing karaoke with Of Montreal at the 40 Watt in Athens


And a shout out that the third band on the bill in Philly is Neal "the Snow Fairies have really broken up and this is proof" Ramirez's new band, Scary Monster.

Sooooo funny things afoot at our little Pop Inn in Philly
I got Kev to enter the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Battle of the Bands contest
and The Lil Hosptial is a finalist!



So please vote for him (or if you like the other bands)

http://www.mary-kateandashley.com/media/article.php?1170|1

Spalding Gray and Calvin Johnson

It's the time of year when I spend too much time mourning those people I loved who are no longer with us, and thinking of sitting in the Washington Center and watching Spalding Gray perform around 1999/2000 is also making me sad. I'll have to listen to It's A Slippery Slope again soon. I think about all the uncertainties I had at that time, fuck Paxil, fuck unboyfriends, fuck graduation...it was pretty much a time to listen to a wise old white guy with a New York attitude and NPR sensibilities and think maybe, maybe things would get better.

There is a new play based on his writings that has been going on in New York and getting good reviews

And it will be performed at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia on April 20 with Calvin Johnson reading and performing an original song he wrote for Mr. Gray. Bravo.

Sandman and Calvin Johnson Shootout


WTF? WTF? WTF? (okay, that seems to be all Calvin will say too)

Anyway, my buddy Justin is putting a bunch of random videos up on YouTube for our amusement...thanks!

Nicki Click at the Mill Creek Tavern

Hornet Leg at the Mill Creek Tavern

Maple Rabbit at the Mill Creek Tavern

Of Montreal sell out again

At the Trocadero in Philly

More clinic@netomat

Clinic

Clinic at johnny brendas

When the Payola scandal broke a few years ago, I was really dissapointed by the use of the word "indies" to refer to the middlemen who brokered the deals between major labels and radio to buy airtime for their artists. I felt that people who didn't know what indie rock, indiepop, or just indie music was would confuse the marketing machines with the small labels and artists who were completely irrelevant to the scandal.

If you're unfamiliar with the scandal, read Payola: The Dirty Industry Practice That is Ruining Hip-Hop or the document containing actual facts and figures about the practice.

I don't know if the use of the word "indie" meant anything to anyone else, but in an odd turn of events, the major corporate radio firms have voluntarily agreed to set aside 8400 half-hour blocks of airtime for independent artists not affiliated with the major labels.

After seeing the Apples in Stereo twice last month I really felt like it might be a magic year for an indiepop band to have a major hit single. It would be no stranger than some of the hit singles I remember coming out of regional radio (ie Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" on KNDD and Dead Eye Dick's "New Age Girl" come to mind).

And if anyone would like to hire me to program some of those blocks, I'm available.

As amazing as The Secret History were at Cakeshop on Friday night, I am too tired to write a public piece on my experience so instead, I distract you with my big Flickr project for the evening:

My Mom with the Casualties in 1995



Okay, this might be the funniest picture ever. See, my parents were driving up to Boston to pick me up from a Sonic Youth show (Helium opened btw, Bikini Kill was supposed to and cancelled). My mom saw this punk band in the parking lot of a rest stop and asked if they were Sonic Youth. "No," Jorges said, "we're the Casualties!" "My daughter has probably heard of you, can I get my picture taken with you?" And that is how I got a picture of my mommy with the Casualties.

Like mother like daughter I suppose, as the dorky photos of me with Superchunk at Princeton University attest to, this was May 5 1996
Also in that set are some far away photos of the Magnetic Fields, as I was really nervous we were going to be busted for being trespassing high school students at the show.

Evidence that the Cakeshop is my least favorite venue to take photos in even though I adored The Secret History last Friday night:


Sleater Kinney Setlist from 4/6/96 (pre-Janet) at the Unitarian Church in Philly:


And since this is so much about 1996, let's take a look at me around that time in my natural habitat, photocopying my zine at Office Max.

A Letter to Olympia:

Go have your heart broken, be saved, experience joy:
Friday at The Capitol Theater
Saturday LooksGood To Me
Chris Bathgate
Calvin Johnson
The Cave Singers
8:30
ALL AGES
at the Capitol Theater Backstage
and it's been a long time since the Backstage had a good pop show. GO GO GO

costs? I'm sad, no flyer for me, someone take a picture PLEASE

Fair warning, Fred Thomas does a lovely cover of Belle and Sebastian's "Like Dylan in the Movies". In fact, his Polyvinyl releases achieve that soul sound Stuart Murdock has been trying to find. Now he's giving it up for his own voice, probably no lovely lass on this leg of the tour, which has a kind of awkwardness and joy that makes him so damn charming. And I love his teeth, his teeth are adorable. AHHHHH!!!!! (I went to Chicago to stalk Tullycraft btw, seeing SLGTM was just a really awesome bonus)

I haven't seen The Cave Singers yet, but please let me know how they are live. I'm very much looking forward to seeing them in Philly with Xiu Xiu and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone next month.

XOXO I MISS YOU XOXO
Courtney <3's Fred

Tweekends Away-Chicago Style

So I'm safely back from Chicago today and the snow is falling in Philly. A brief recap of this weekend, although you may want to jump to the pertanent sections on
Tullycraft
The Apples in Stereo
Saturday Looks Good To Me

I arrived in Chicago on Thursday afternoon and killed several hours at the Mercury Cafe. I had an awesome turkey and avocado sandwich and coffee while I played on the internet til Leigh got home from work.

Now, Leigh and I go WAY BACK to the early days of the damned Belle and Sebastian fan list Sinister. She had organized a picnic in 1998 for the folks on the list to socialize in DC, and that is the event I made my "Fuck Me I'm Twee" shirt for. I'm no longer on the Sinister list.

Friday afternoon I hung out with Leigh's roommate Dan and made rice crispy treats for Tullycraft. I'm on some kind of silly baking for bands kick, probably out of gratefulness that I don't have to promote the shows.


Aren't they fucking cool?


I think they liked them (this girl was awesome too).


The Apples in Stereo had this Drumhead for sale at the merch table with a pricetag of $40. Since it was signed by the Apples and Casper I really wanted it. I tried to buy it and it was not for sale.


The trick was, whoever wanted to buy the Drumhead got it for free. I had Tullycraft sign it too.

Notice the dirty drawing from Corianton in the middle? Thanks Cori. I love you too.

Casper and the Cookies sounded great, but I was stuck in the back of the room and had a lot of catching up to do with my old roommate Jessica.

For the Apples in Stereo Jessica and I headed up to the balcony hoping to have a better view. A better view is debatable, but we did have fun upstairs and there was room to dance.

"Don't forget to send Pavement their royalty check."

Saturday morning I got to partake in a wonderful Chicago tradition, Drunky Brunch at Joey's Brickhouse. I believe it is now $12 All You Can Eat and $1 drinks. This resulted in a dizzying array of Long Island Ice Teas in pretty colors being passed around the table, but not to me. I gave up drinking for Lent and somehow made it through this weekend sober.
The one thing I REALLY wish I had a photo of, but felt too dorky and all, was Bob Nanna from Braid showing up and talking to his friends at our table. Poor Jess has Braid lyrics tattooed on her arm that just minutes before she was showing the table, but the sleeves went down the minute he walked in the room.


Saturday Saturday night was time for Saturday Looks Good to me. Fred announced that their next album will come out this fall on K Records which makes me very happy. I wasn't sure how many people would come out in the snow but the place was packed. We thought the show was going to start at 8:30 so we got there early, too early, and killed time playing games at the table.


I had seen the "Northwest Experimental Version" of SLTGM last year, so I was completely unprepaired for the full on, bombastic, swinging, soulful full band PLUS Betty Marie Barnes on vocals. Given our shared history, I think we were both very happy to hear their cover of Belle and Sebastian's "Like Dylan in the Movies". The place was crowded and full of dancing afterwards, so we headed home.

Brunch again on Sunday morning and then on the plane back home.


Confidential to the couple in the front row at Saturday Looks Good To Me: The reason you couldn't figure out what Modest Mouse album that song was on was because it was The Pixies

Hey, I've added an indiepop search engine to the sidebar. You can get the code for if you want to put it somewhere handy, or e-mail me suggestions for other sites to prioritize for the searches.

Also, I'm in Chicago for the weekend. Tomorrow is the Tullycraft/Casper and the Cookies/Apples in Stereo show I've been obsessing over. Saturday we're going to see Saturday Looks Good To me. All and all, a pretty incredible weekend to look forward to.


XO

Should the twee pop article on Wikipedia be merged with the indiepop article?

Radar magazine had a rather disturbing article on "tweemo" fashion in the January/February print edition. I'm not quite sure they get it, or maybe I don't get it. I think the history of twee pop was a reaction against the machismo of punk, and twee as a reaction against the gloom and glamour of emo (which I still want to call neo-emo) is fine. Summing it up with a bit of faux-vintage fashion, Dave Eggers Novels, and Belle and Sebby records? I suppose that's why I don't read magazines too often. But I have to question the tweemo thing for one major reason, how can something like that exist if it's not on Wikipedia or their own website? Does anything exist if it doesn't exist online? Let me get back to that...

Speaking of emo, I found a vintage postcard Ken Shipley gave me in the attic of my parents house. It was part of a framed collage I made including a)a b&w photo of a guitar a boy gave me in college before moving to Memphis and breaking my heart b)a b&w unintentional sillhouette photo of a boy I fell hard for in college before much too much drama to ever be recounted on this blog, or at least I'm waiting til the WTO movie comes out and I can tie it into that c)postcard from random zinester boy about live falling apart whenever you move away d)ruined polaroid I found in the street somewhere e)aformentioned vintage postcard.

So at least I have these postcards and photos. After the transcendent time I had at the Apples in Stereo show I have really been feeling, well, frustrated, that fan mail has become a lost art. I feel really strange mailing letters and presents to bands, I wonder if I'm the only one who still does this. Or if the blog or fansite has become the only appropriate place to express your love? I tried to ask Stephen Merritt about this at the EMP Pop Conference last year but everything he said was drowned out in the Song of the South controversy and I never saw a transcript. But it doesn't matter, does it?

I am glad, with all the crap that is going on my my life right now, which I am going to spare my family the embarassment of having posted to the internet, I have a bunch fo shows to look forward to. First off, Friday, I can't believe Friday is the Tullycraft/Casper/Apples in Stereo. Then Saturday we're going to see Saturday Looks Good to Me, and I'm excited to see how Fred Thomas' new material is working out. He moved to Portland last i heard.

Also, we're getting really really close to announcing the bands for NYC Popfest 2007.

And finally, after I calm down from the Chicago whammy, The Secret History, featuring members of My Favorite will be playing at Cakeshop in NYC on March 2nd. Back to what I said earlier about how does something exist if it doesn't exist on the web, I'm sorry they don't seem to have a MySpace or webpage to share, yet. It will be awesome to hear new songs and see the new band lineup from Mr. Grace. It is also My Teenage Stride's record release party, so I'm expecting some new all around goodness from Jed as well. I will probably babble about both bands much as soon as I stop freaking out about how awesome my Chicago trip is going to be.

New Love: Apples in Stereo and Kevin Devine

Last summer at the Happy Happy Birthday To Me Athens Popfest I fell in love with the Apples in Stereo. I've noticed my taste in music swaying away from the melancholy to the celabratory. I had listened to Tone Soul Evolution from the library, but it never really caught me like their live show did.

If you have an hour you can watch that set

Which is so strange that some of the most amazing moments of my life are captured online now.

I was even more excited when I saw that Casper and the Cookies were the opening act on this tour. I booked their Olympia show last year and think they are just the sweetest band. They give so much energy into their performances and have such a great ear for pop tunes. So I bought a ticket for Philadelphia.

So this was my first time at the North Star Bar and I pretty much liked it. The stage wasn't too obnoxiously high off the ground and people didn't crowd the stage so there was room to dance. I met some really nice girls and everyone was friendly. The first act, Elevator Falling, was good psychadelic rock pop, but I was really freaked out how much the lead singer looked like my ex. Casper and the Cookies sounded great. They have such a crisp sound where you can hear EVERYTHING, probably due to Jason's extrodinary engineering skills.

But then things got scary between the Casper and Apples sets. The band was taking a really long time to get onstage and it turns out Rob Schnieder had an asthma attack backstage. There was a time when we thought the show was going to be cancelled. It was horrible. John came onstage and explained they were going to come out soon, and they took to the stage around one o'clock.

It was terrific. I love pop bands, but I love bands that can record pop and play LOUD. The Apples in Stereo just have this incredible uplifting energy, something I want to be surrounded by and just drown in as much as possible.

After the show Rob was very nice and hung around talking to the fans and taking pictures with everyone. I felt a bit dorky asking, but then he asked me and I'm not that shy!

Okay, I promise you there will be more obsessing coming up this week, as I've written, Tullycraft were added to the Chicago bill...damn! I LOVE THESE BANDS!!! So that is next Friday at Subterranean, and I am going to see the bands and visit my fabulous friend Leigh.

They were also on Conan this week but NBC had the video pulled from YouTube.

Before I head off to the second part of my Apples adventure, I am going to see Kevin Devine. Kevin Devine is a Brooklyn based singer-songwriter who I can't not compare to a sunny Elliott Smith. But having seen Elliott throughout his career, I am absolutely relieved to hear someone who doesn't seem to carry the same demons with him. He's got three songs up on AOL Spinner Music right now and will be playing at the Unitarian Church in Philly on Wednesday night at 7:30.

After Yo La Tengo
I will be heading to Sugar Town at Tritone, hosted by the lovely Sara Sherr.

It’s half-off with a Yo La Tengo ticket stub.

$6 21+

9:00 Doors
9:30 Amy Quinn/Citizen Mom reads
9:45 Y-Front
10:00 Jen Hess
11:00 Voodoo Economics
11:30 Fun dance party with DJ’s Julia Factorial, Darshana & Chetena

Jonathan Richman, VIP, and Yo La Tengo

(click photo for more pictures)
Jonathan Richman at Johnny Brenda's, February 8, 2007
VIP at the M Room February 9, 2007
Tomorrow night?
Yo La Tengo at the Trocadero
I'm very happy to see my video has remained on the first page of I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass dot com.

Oh dear Jonathan!

(first draft cross posted to the indiepop list)

Highlights from Jonathan Richman's Philly show at Johnny Brenda's February 8 2006:

Opening with Salvador Dali AND later playing Pablo Picasso

If it is possible to have TOO MUCH Jonathan swinging his crotch in your face I got that last night. I also almost got wacked in the head with his guitar when I closed my eyes for a second. I almost got wacked in the head with the guitar when I was paying attention too.

He's all buff with nice arm muscles and didn't use a guitar strap for the entire performance. I can't remember if that is typical, but he was really swinging the guitar last night. Plus I realized Calvin Johnson's most enthusaistic performances are a poor substitute for Jonathan's calesthenics.

Totally weird but I wanted to touch his sneaker for good luck but I didn't. I'm not sure what else to do when someone is THAT CLOSE onstage.

People screaming "Free Mumia" during his Mumia song

Going from "Not So Much To Be Loved, As To Love" (which is a quote from St. Francis's prayer "Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace") to a song whose title I don't know, but it has a bunch of lyrics about how he prayed for love and fell in love because of his prayer, and he even got the jingle bell shaker and blesed the crowd and it was very funny and sweet.

Hearing Springtime in New York and rememembering when he played that on September 11th in Portland and not crying this time.

The spoken word part of "Let Her Go Into The Darkness" performed in French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew

Neal Ramirez didn't have a ticket but someone sold him one and he got in.

People congradulating Herbie on this rockstardom. His band Brown Recluse Sings had a song on Veronica Mars this week.

Meeting house photographer Katie after the show and finding out she shares my love of Tullycraft and Lil Hospital.

I bought a last minute ticket to see Jonathan Richman tomorrow night in Philly.

I was reminded of just how many amazing memories I have of 2006, and they all come in snapshots, ink polaroids if you will....

The last night of Lakefair, sitting on the roof of Lois' shed with my friend Seth and Al Larsen, watching the fireworks and talking about pop music and YouTube.

Al mentioned this video of Jonathan performing in Berkley in 1981

Yes, the movie of my life will be made of rock videos of people you've never heard of but will always remember.
On a slightly related note, I'm going to Chicago to see Apples in Stereo, Casper and the Cookies, and Tullycraft. Because I do stupid stuff like that. Because I really like the way Rob Schnieder carried a notebook around like Harriet the Spy. Because Tullycraft and me is "like having a pet, but I'm not sure who is the pet and who is the owner" (thanks Kardhym!). Because Jason and Kay are the sweetest. I'm so there.

Darren Hanlon - The Unmade Bed

Wow, a perfect "you girl" video by Darren Hanlon. Watch the whole thing, revenge is sweet. Notice the poor Jens Lekman with the smashed uke!

I play music!

100_2117, originally uploaded by Skipping Stones Records.

Okay, not really...but I think this blog should continue to provide evidence that I AM REALLY SHORT!!!!

I did go look at stripper shoes today. I'm thinking the $70 might be a good investment to be able to see bands at some of the shows I'm going to soon. I've started to keep a calendar at myspace to keep track of what I want to go to.

Hmmm, what else, I got a nice bunch of CDs from Stewart today. The new Hulaboy is excellent. Nice solid indie rock pop songs. I havent' listened to the Boyracer, Possum Moods or bonus disc yet.

XO
CB

Wanna come to my birthday party?

England Belongs to Twee: feat. special guest DJ Mon!
Join Mike McKee and Labuda, some shy art school kids and some rowdy skinheads for a night of oi anthems and the feyest of all indie pop
9pm - 2am, no cover @ the khyber (2nd & chestnut)

Yadda yadda tag 3 peeps for 5 random facts...I tag LINDSAY because he reads this, I'm not sure who else does...TULLYCRAFT boys? I comment on your bloggy blog...thank you and happy birthday to Douglas


1. When I went to summer camp in 1988 I attempted to write down EVERYTHING that happened, to the point of trying to write while hiking around camp. I would have been deadly with phone in blog posts.

2. The first cd I ever won from a radio station was a Mozart CD from a classical station. My friend Jessica's dad wanted to go to the in store promo at Tower Records' Classical Annex on South Street and I entered my name in the drawing on a whim. We were at Tower's regular store when I won.

3. Today was my first day as the token chick at the record store. This is my first record store job.

4. I was in a short lived band called Fuzzy Navel. I ran into Calvin Johnson at a coffee shop a half hour before we were going to play at the Arrowspace and he apologized that he couldn't go see us play because he was recording the Make Up that night. We opened for Fat Day and Whorehouse of Representatives, two of the best bands EVER.

5. I played fantasy baseball last year but slacked off despite drafting people such as Ryan Howard (after the draft! thats the kind of baseball smartiepants I am!!!) . I promise to not do that again.