Apples in Stereo and Poison Control Center

IMG_3294, originally uploaded by Courtoly.

You know whenever I get around the Apples in Stereo magical stuff starts to happen. I really adore and admire them. This was last night in Philadelphia. Plans had been made to get cheese steaks with Poison Control Center and I found myself backstage talking to the guys. Then cute photos were snapped before the PCC and I went to Abner's for a late meal. Those are some serious smiles! YAY!

The Apples in Stereo will be on the Colbert Report Monday August 4th.

Robert will also be at Athens (GA) Popfest with The American Revolution this month.

If you know the extent of my food allergies you'll understand.

I can't eat most raw foods. So I avoid all unknown raw foods. Except there this the magic thing that lets me eat really fresh raw foods.

Or...citrus, leafs, onions and tomatoes seem to be okay still. Peppers maybes. Last night my friend Johnny and I made salsa from my grandpa's tomatoes, cilantro, onions and a jalapeno pepper and it was amazing.


Or in 2006 my friend Lois brought strawberries from her garden to a party at the ABC House and I got to eat strawberries.

Or tonight, when a corn stalk fell over, and I ate RAW CORN. And it was delicious. Sadly, it was a rather pathetic piece of corn hiding in my garden, but I will share with you the befores and afters.

Awesome integration, you can now scrobble your Muxtapes on last.fm.

This makes my workday so much more productive!

Evil fat worms got to my beautiful zucchinis so I'm only left with one plant on the other side of the garden. The corn is looking good. The tomatoes are a bit dried out so I'm trying to water more often, but there are tomatoes on each plant. The peppers are looking good, four plants with peppers on each. I'm not sure if they are bell peppers or long sweet peppers though, so I have to remember to ask my grandpa because some may be near ripe now. So far all I've gotten to eat is a few cherry tomatoes, sage (usually wrapped around chicken and broiled) and mint (mojitos! mint water that doesn't cost $2 a bottle!)

I'm excited to find the Siltbreeze catalog on eMusic as I sometimes have a hard time finding good stuff on there with 90 downloads a month. I got a Times New Viking album (Paisley Reich) and U.S. EZ's Sic Alps tonight. I'll have to load up the iPod and start using it again. I listened to the Melvin's Nude Boots when I was going to sleep the other night and I had to stay up and listen. Since the Melvins have started playing rock songs it's harder to block it out and have weird dreams like when I listen to Ozma.

Like my attempts at creating an indiepop zine, it soon digresses into other musical forms and random life experiences. There are plenty of music blogs out there. Find them. Or tell me about them.

I've taken it upon myself this summer to read War and Peace. Already I can tell you my brain isn't very good with stories with too many characters. It is a book to study though, and I wish I had a good old English class (or Russian Literature class) to help me along. Yet finding book resources IS something I can do guilt free at work, and if I figure out the story well enough to recommend it to one poor unsuspecting high school student then I'll be doing my job. I picked War and Peace because I was breezing through 200 page books every day, maybe every other day. This way I'll have a fair warning when I'm coming close to the end. I wish more literary fiction came in standard paperback size. Has anyone else been pretentious enough to read Infinite Jest? Che? That's not stuff that's fun to carry around the city with you.

I'm disappointed the Apples in Stereo/Earlimart/Poison Control Center show tomorrow night was canceled and they're honoring the tickets at the NJ show on Friday. Ridgewood NJ will be at least an hour away by train, and I hope I don't get stranded trying to get back. Actually, I do hope I get stranded and the band rescues me and I have to share a bed with ...... and go to the Philly show. I'll still get to see the Poison Control Center at Pianos tomorrow night so not all is lost. Still. Seeing the Apples in Brooklyn was going to be SO convenient, and I haven't seen them since last fall at the Housing Works Bookstore show in NYC and I was really looking forward to this for MONTHS. I bought my tickets the day they went on sale otherwise I might have said "ah, skip it, see em in Philly this weekend!"

I don't go to too manys shows that have advance tickets, so I'm extremely excited about

7/31-Apples in Stereo with Earlimart and Poison Control Center at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn

9/22-My Bloody Valentine

9/23-NKOTB at the Izod Center in NJ

I think I see where I should take some of my personal holidays this fall. Doing those two concerts back to back, I should also get some serious hearing protection. What a wierd week that is going to be...

typical conversations I had tonight:
shoes
libraries
mixtapes
haircuts
places to eat
neighborhoods/places lived in
bands you used to be in
radio stations
venues
Popfests
the indiepop list
where to park
films
the virtues of Cakeshop
Tullycraft
the White Stripes dress code

<3

www.nycpopfest.org

I just played in the dirt for an hour outside and it feels great. Sunshine, chopsticks for stakes, empty plastic cups the plants used to live in.

X= zucchini
O= tomato
B= bleeding heart
H= random herb, maybe Sage?
@= lettuce
F= flowers? I hope so.
_= cinder block wall
____________
XX O
OO
X H OOOX
F B @@@@
F

I still have peppers and corn to plant. I should put in some cilantro. We don't have a hose outside, so I have to carry a watering can back and forth at least twice. I needz a bukut.

Apples in Stereo / Earlimart / Poison Control Center
at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple
July 31 2008

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

I'd honestly been daydreaming about the Apples way too much recently. With Poison Control Center opening? PCC is one of my favorite touring bands I ever saw at Athens Popfest. And there was this time Patrick serenaded this girl on his knees with an acoustic guitar at Little Kings, that was one of the most romantic things I've ever seen at a Popfest.

I got all excited that the DJ on WPRB was playing the Cannanes but it turned out the stream was interrupted and skipped to the next track in my music library.

Tomorrow is the Carrots at Cakeshop for the final Corduroy. I'm so sad we're losing this Thursday night danceparty. The Carrots from Austin TX play wonderfully cheeky girl group pop. DJ's Andi and Jennifer spin girl groups all night. I'll just steal their bio from their MySpace.

"Jennifer K. was the former hostess of the longtime indiepop radio show Ear Candy on KOOP's 91.7fm in Austin, Texas. She also deejayed many club nights, parties, and events around Austin before relocating to Brooklyn in November 2007.

Andi V. was a singer and keyboardist in the late indie new wave band My Favorite. By day, she librarians with children."

See you there?

I'm hijacking this blog to write about gardening this summer.

In the backyard I have:

1 pink bleeding heart (no flowers yet)

corn

zucchini (flowered today! OMG we're going to have a lot of zucchini in a few weeks)

tomatoes (killed two when they got blown over and broke, one has BABY TOMATOES on it already, 2 others are growing but no tomatoes yet)

lettuce (seems to be recovering from its sleepover in the library. perking up a bit.
looks too big for the container and i'm wondering how fast it will grow when I get it in the ground)

peppers (4 plants green peppers. 4 plants can get really big, same with the tomatoes)

I weeded this weekend and have a big pile of compostable stuff in the back corner. I should bag it up and find someplace I can take it. Also considered getting worms and turning it into a compost pile. i wonder if the landlord would notice.

the garden isn't perfectly weeded but I figured I would just pull out stuff as I dug it up and the rest I could grab whenever it got in my way.

i also fixed my computer and synched it up with my phone. so while my regular digital camera is in the hospital on warranty for a few weeks, at least i have my camera phone.

yay!

Top 10 Brooklyn Bands in my Heart Right Now

This is strictly a Top 10 as of this moment in May, since there are so many bands I love in Brooklyn and who I listen to definitely fluctuates as I see someone play a lot of shows and/or someone releases a great album.

1. My Teenage Stride
2. Fred Thomas
3. The Vivian Girls
4. Jason Anderson
5. Crystal Stilts
6. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
7. Dizzy Spells Martian
8. The Bright Lights
9. LAL
10. Love or Perish

Non Brooklyn music in high rotation right now: The Apples in Stereo, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, No Kids

Does anyone else using tabbed browsing ever hallucinate that their Gmail tab flashes from an IM but when you focus on it there is no such conversation to be had?

NYC Popfest 2008

By some small miracle the NYC Popfest 2008 will be happening next month. A limited number of full passes are now on sale for $55, which guarantees your entrance to the following events:

NYC Popfest 2008 Lineup
Thursday June12th@Cakeshop
Love Is All (Sweden)
Alsace Lorraine (NYC)
Oh! Custer (Sweden)
In Interview (NYC)
The Foxgloves (UK)

Friday June 13th@Mondo
Cats on Fire (Finland)
Friday Bridge (Sweden)

Saturday June 14th Shirley Beans Indiepop Dance Party@Galapagos
Mono Taxi (UK)
Cannonball Jane (CT)
Friday June 13th@Pianos
Tullycraft (WA)
The Besties (NYC)
Pants Yell! (MA)
From Bubblegum to Sky (NYC)

Saturday June 14th@Music Hall of Williamsburg
The Ladybug Transistor (NYC)
The Orchids (UK)
My Teenage Stride (NYC)
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (NYC)
Mahogany (NYC)

Sunday June 15th@Union Pool: Pop Celebration Show & BBQ
The Cannanes (Australia)
The Frank & Walters (Ireland)
The Hermit Crabs (UK)
The Silent League (NYC)
One Happy Island (MA)
Bears (OH)
Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies (PA)
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele (MO)

So if you definitely want to see Love is All or Tullycraft you should buy a full pass. Those venues are frickin tiny.

I'm looking forward to a visit from one of my librarian pals that weekend, in addition to lording (ladying?) over the merch table and trying to not lose my mind. I need volunteers! Yet, it is so easy to find volunteers when my friends are broke and want to go to the show :)

ugh I know he is in the High Places and I can't even see who he is jamming with but it is almost midnight and I just want to see Casiotone and go home.

I did have an existential light seeing Owen go through the backstage door that read "No Exit"

Rodney Graham band

at the Abroms Arts Center, LES , NYC

www.nycpopfest.org

Effin iTunes. It has taken me since Christmas to figure out how to redeem my gift cards. I kept clicking on "Store" on the top bar menu and then getting frustrated that "redeem" wasn't an option like the instructions said. Turns out you have to click "store" with the little shopping bag on the left to redeem your gift cards. Thanks Father Christmas!

I gave into curiousity and bought the new Panic at the Disco. No more exclaimation point to complain about.

How Dry I Am

The NYPL Blog has a great post of vintage postcards about drunkenness up today. In case you need art for your *real* mixtapes :)

But is this shit legal?
Muxtape vs. Mixwit.

Oh but like pop music, tis fun while it lasts.

I resisted for about a week, but here is my Muxtape


# 1 Tender Forever - Take It Off

# 2 Heavenly - Ben Sherman

# 3 Jeremy Jay - Beautiful Dreamer

# 4 Boyracer - You're Breaking His Heart

# 5 The Books - take time

# 6 Karl Blau - The Dark, Magical Sea

# 7 Yo La Tengo - Sometimes I Don’t Get You

# 8 Lois - The Trouble With Me
"First I see it, then I want it, then I get it, then I break it down"

# 9 The Rolling Stones - Get Off of My Cloud

# 10 Tullycraft - The Secret History of Devil's Paw

# 11 The Stylistics - You Make Me Feel Brand New

# 12 My Teenage Stride - That Should Stand For Something

I Beat Emo

No amount of indiepop

will make up for a Yankees cap and flannel shirt

www.nycpopfest.org

Shhhhh.....the return of the Lois.....with new songs I hear.....

The Rodney Graham Band
featuring the amazing
Rotary Psycho-Opticon
Opening set by Lois
Friday, April 11th, and Saturday, April 12th 8 p.m.
Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, New York

Friday 25th April 8 p.m.
ABC, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow

To book tickets please see
www.publicartfund.org or
www.thecommonguild.org.uk

Reposted on behalf of the band, in hopes of recruiting more lonely Brooklynites into their rose wielding army:

Holy Heartbeats,

A friendly reminder that The Secret History are throwing a party this Thursday March 27th at the Galapagos art space in Williamsburg Brooklyn. In addition to a live performance by us, we will be joined by two rainy pop bands who I really like. The Isles (a New York band who have already made a splash in the UK) and The Exeter Popes.

We are excited to be returning to the stage after taking a bit of time to finish up our debut release, a 5 song e.p. which will be released on the Le Grand Magistery label later this Spring. We will playing a group of songs concerned with varied topics including Rosalia the Martyr of Palermo, Love and squalor in former Soviet Union, and record collecting in the basements of Haunted Houses. In addition, the first 20 or so punters will receive a free 4 piece "Jonah CMYK" badge set...all sepia and solemnity...a collaboration with our indispensible ally, designer Laura Kunkel, the
singular force behind the stirring show posters that we staple gun over Camel ads.

The party will start around 9:30 with The Secret History performing at 11. Miss Modular and Kevington from the sublime Mondo dance party will be spinning between bands and after. The combination of song, spirits and architecture promises to reinforce the soulful pursuit of difference, which...along with soulful pursuit of quality blue jeans, has more or less defined our lives. Or said more simply...you could use a night out. Friday at the office is just a time-kill anyways...

So Come Round and write yourself onto a page or two.

xoxo
Michael Grace jr.

The Secret History/The Isles/The Exeter Popes
A Modern Problems Party at
Galapagos

www.galapagosartspace.com
70 North 6th Street
between Kent and Wythe
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
718 782-5188

www.myspace.com/friendsofthesecrethistory
www.myspace.com/theisles
www.myspace.com/theexeterpopes

Go Olympia!
While it is awesome that Kimya Dawson is getting so much attention for Juno, ex-Mocket member (and I'm pretty sure she worked at K) Audrey Marrs also gets kudos for being one of four producers of the documentary "No End in Sight".

Saw the Magnetic Fields last night for about the 8th time (catching the last song at a show and seeing Stephin solo count for .5 performances, maybe rounded out by seeing Claudia at a book reading this summer). Why do I keep returning as the price of a ticket has gone from free (Princeton University, May 5 1996) to $40+ including service charges (Town Hall, New York City, February 24 2008). I'm slightly amazed at how many bands are falling into the "bands I've loved for over ten years" category.

Including, Lois, who will be opening for someone somewhere in NYC come early April...I don't think this is any more public than my blog, so maybe I'll make the announcement after I tell the indiepop-list

Go Vote for Saturday Looks Good to Me at MTVU

Umm, yeah, the birthday show was AWESOME...