Welcome to cyber monday
hello everybody, and welcome to cyber monday, as the asbury park press informed me is the cubicle dweller's black friday. i was spending it clicking around the interwebs, window shopping, but then i realized: i should update the pita! okay then. a recap of some things:
i spent thanksgiving as i do every year: eating turkey at the farm, as we call it (not accurately). unlike every year, however, my brothers and i did not then race off to my dad's for a second turkey dinner, as he had apparently motored off (not jetted) to one of the carolinas. somewhat disappointing, this singular feast, but better for the waistline. instead we played a couple of contentious games of scrabble. i played "nongeeky" and was met with much disapproval from family members who played the likes of "uh" and "ah." back me up here, reader! we also turned to youtube instead of the boob tube for our entertainment. this crazy dog was a real crowd-pleaser.
friday night i convinced steve (seen here being ridiculous a couple years ago) to drive me back up to the city and go see the hold steady at maxwell's. tiny club, great band, how can you go wrong? it was a fun show, but i don't really looooove the new album like i have their others, and so: maybe not so much on the concert nirvana tip. jami is correct when she says their vibe is a little too happy; craig finn smiles a lot more than he sneers these days. apparently they're also taking a page from the dismemberment plan's playbook with the whole invite the entire audience up on the stage with you trick. they only got two dudes on stage friday night, but they let them play their instruments, which i could have done without. i mean, tad is a really good guitar player, yet i had to hear nothing but bass for two minutes while this dude tried to figure shit out. i dunno; i am probably just an old fart. okay, i am definitely an old fart: i also skipped seeing bobby bare jr. and centromatic about a week ago because i didn't feel like standing around the mercury lounge for three hours. i ended up sitting on my duff with a few friends at buttermilk; that worked much better for me. the brooklynization continues....
saturday was a do-nothing day, and yesterday i finally planted my spring bulbs in the garden and went running in prospect park. a whopping 3.3 miles! carl even suggested that we get on a marathon-training schedule, which is hilarious and intriguing at the same time. but maybe i should just aim to be a runner, or at least a person who runs sometimes, before i start thinking about marathonning.
do you like lists? blogger information leafblower does, so much so that he did his top 40 american bands list again this year, soliciting the participation of cutting-edge tastemakers such as myself. for some reason it seems to get people riled up. anyway, everyone was asked to make a list of the ten bands we covered the most on our blogs in 2006. i did mine scientifically, by counting up the number of significant references and excluding rhett miller (because let's face it, he sucks now, and we can prove that). my rather predictable list, for the record, with the ones that made the list starred, went like this:
the hold steady*
bob pollard
oneida
sonic youth*
sleater kinney*
the thermals*
home
oakley hall (also my pick for best local band)
yeah yeah yeahs
jenny lewis
so, there you have it (or some other cliche indicating that sign-off is imminent). are you all doing well? why don't you ever send me stuff to link to so i can keep this biotch alive? otherwise you'll just have to settle for my posts on fashion binge. get on over there; i know you love mittens!