Things going on right outside mah door

So this is a special time for us here in the city.

The UN is about to start their General Assembly tomorrow, and I had to ask the question, what the hell goes on there? among other things, Obama just showed up this morning, and with all the heads of state around, security gets extra tight here, as well as numerous protests that follow them around. i guess there's a big Iran protest tomorrow, so I'm going to film one of our photographer's talking about how to photograph it from a photojournalism aspect.

Among other VIPs, Japan's new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama will be there, as well as Qaddafi from Libya: his first time in his 40 years in power.

Here's the full answer to what's going on behind the doors.

Lock Stock and Five Cloudy Towers

Saw this awesome special on one of our Spanish channels earlier about the bridge viaduc de Millau, which connects Northern Europe to Southern France and Spain. From what I read and saw on tv:

Its architect, Sir Norman Foster, has said driving across at a record 270 metres (885ft) above the Tarn valley should feel like "flying a car".

In the clouds, indeed:


Holy crapolinies!

Check out this awesome flyover (brown moment at 2:09 ~ 2:11 with the cars):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbQc5QgH4Ws

Also, we got the front door finally fixed today. Always good to have the door fixed. We've been coming in through the roof. Which is not so bad, because the ladder next to the front door is fun to shoot up, unlock the door to our private roof entrance, and then boulder down the stairs to get in. Or, when that's been locked, really ninja it down the back fire escape. Yes, I can say with full confidence from my metalurgy studies at OTC Daihen, that crawling over the edge of the top of a tall three-floor building via an old, rusty ladder, is not only dangerous, it ought to be illegal. I did it once, poor R had to do it twice.

At least we can lock that window now that the door's fixed!

Live Report:: Deeeeeerrhoof

After a lengthy session of recording some DBCR vocals last night, Ken and I headed out for the Deerhoof show at Le Poisson Rouge, which sounds like it could be "the red poison", but actually just means "the red fish". Because, Deerhoof was playing! Ah those rascals.

Welp, they managed to sell it all out, so we started asking for tickets. Apparently we were not the only ones as there was a line in front of us. Crazy part was when we found two tickets available, two folks that had been there longer than us through a big stink since, in theory, they were next in line. As if. We kept asking for close to 45 minutes before the show kicked off. Right then, Ken was able to score a single ticket. We kept asking around, but the door staff didn't want to let anyone in, despite the fact that they were not a full attendance. After the third song, I told Ken to head in and I kept asking around.

After about their fifth song, I gave up. Just didn't care anymore. A guy who walked out said if he could transfer his ticket to me he would have, as it actually was totally packed inside. So this confirmed, it was like well, don't waste your time. So I went home and to bed, and that was alright. They'll play again, and I'll get my ticket in advance.

Live Report:: Sleepy Sun and Autolux

Late shows on Monday nights: it's like, man, you're asking a lot of me. 7:30 doors open but the first band doesn't play until 9, well that's just selfish when you're charging $7 a beer. End result is getting home around 1:15ish on a work night.

So the upside is we saw all three acts last night. First up was Bridezilla, from Sydney. Basically, all a bunch of cutey pie girls with a stud model named Josh Bush on drums. Alto-sax + violin melodies usually aren't my thing but they managed to pull off some neat tricks so, we're cool.

The next act was the tough one to follow. Sleepy Sun from San Francisco is hands down the most psychedelic attempt to throw back to the 60's I've ever witnessed. Thank god the crowd wasn't the same way or I would have choked from the Patchouli. But as an act, they were actually totally sweet and at some points so ridiculously doing their thing that I just couldn't stop laughing. Not at them, but with them, and the whole concept that this was the way it used to be. High marks, check them out.

Autolux was very awesome too. Mixed set of material from the first album and the unreleased new album. I was a little bit surprised to see they had no lighting rig with them, something which I think was really big in all their early years and also incorporated when I saw them open for NIN. If I could do it over again I'd stand closer to Greg Edwards on guitar, rather than right in front of the bass, which puts up the better part of the fight when it comes to making noise. Carla on drums is also interesting to watch - nobody really plays traditional sticking on a kit anymore and I like how it forces her to come up with different fills to accompany that. Because coming up with new fills? Almost always happens by accident.

Elevator Man

Busier than before these days. Like, work all day, play house all night. To rephrase:

Well you say I'm twenty something and I should be slacking. But I'm working harder than ever, and you could call it macking.

New home is coming along nicely. Very nicely. Fire hydrant was open again yesterday and continued to flow all night. Probably a waste of water! Will get a video of this soon, and set it to some classic Collective Soul.

Awesome DBCR show this past Saturday - our best to date. And, so as long as you bought a beer, you got a ticket for a free pizza. Not a slice, but your own 9-incher. Which is beyond cool. As Ken our bassist summarized:

It just goes to show that if we go in relaxed and prepared, we'll nail it. The soundcheck was a good idea. That way we know we sound good level-wise, so it's one less thing to worry about and we can just focus on playing. The long practice before probably helped too. I thought we were all on point.

And I'm in "love" with this "blog":
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

Finally, I'll leave you with this:

After my 3pm cookie run to Subway today, I came back to the building and took the next elevator. Normal. But the business man in a suit with his pants partially down and belt loose? Not so normal! I didn't notice anything on the floor, so I'm just going to hope he was doing some adjusting and that the elevator speed was quicker than he anticipated. Then again, we do have the Temple of Understanding on 16F. Who knows!

New Way Home

Wednesday night, and we picked up the keys to the new place. Couldn't go in that night due to the second coat on the floors. So we went yesterday instead. Or rather, I went, got off the train, walked into C-Town, which I imagine is other-worldly and awesome, similar to the Big A my brother frequents, except it was way more King of the Hill Puerto Rican: signs are in Spanish, as is the radio station and commercials, as is the staff and most of its inhabitants. Dedicated sections to Goya foods. In other words, welcome to Bushwick!

When I realized they didn't have cerveza fria for sale, I walked into the bodega right at the corner of our street. 24 oz tall boy of Coors Gold for $1.25, hot damn!

So let's see the new place...

1. Here's me in the living room. The crap on the left was cabinets for the other unit. It's not there. Towards the ceiling, its now got the A/C venting. Stairs to the roof on the wall. Chandelier suspended from the 10' ceiling, with recessed lights.


The other guys in this picture are presumably the guys moving next door. Because, they were there to sign the lease. Only we were too, and technically they should have never seen it because we had told the landlord the night before we wanted it, and agreed to pay the deposit the next day. Only it got listed anyway, and these guys jumped on it via a broker, who got more money from them, and wanted to appease them (because they paid more!). But we were insistent, we found it first, claimed it, and the landlord was able to talk them into the other unit. Good for us!

2. The stairs. They go to the roof. The top is so bright because we have a sun roof, that is brighter than the sun. Hence, white! I really like the single bar going up the middle.


3. The kitchen. Featuring double appliances in this picture (sadly, they're gone, went next door I assume.) All new everything: stainless appliances, cabinets, floors. Added to ceiling now are the pipes across the top for A/C.


4. Front door. Look up: in addition to the window and skylight, there's an extra door up there. Which sharply drops off! Gotta watch out for these sorta things.


So that's the first round. We're starting to mobilize and get some stuff up there this Sunday, then next Saturday is the big moving day. Excited!

On the L

On the L train this morning:

The rider next to me, a portly gal with some interesting fashion trends, was blasting Windowlicker. One of my favorite beats of all time, well, it sounded really funny coming through the tinny exposure of her factory iphone earbuds. I guess I was proud of myself that I could pick it out - how many times have you heard someone else's music and tried to figure it out? And hear what you think is one thing when it's totally not? No mistaking this one!

And then, gramps got on board, sporting the ever awesome old person VR visors. And, couple that with his huge headphones and it looked like something you might see on a "Take me to your leader" or something. yeah. awesome. Viva old person visors!