Manlio Rules

last weekend i decided that it would be fun to go to the Live 105 “not so silent night” featuring the Killers, Modest Mouse, the Shins, the Raconteurs, etc… I was incorrect. don’t get me wrong, the Killers played a really solid set for what you KNOW is a “phone it in” show for them. i would say they did like 40 minutes, no encores, goodnight Cleveland. Oh, and apparently i hate Modest Mouse. who knew? Also, that venue (the bill graham civic auditorium) is maybe the worst place i’ve ever been to see a show that wasn’t called “the Siren Festival”.

saturday was silly. if you’re ever debating between going to something (in this case my company’s holiday party) and sitting home on the couch eating pizza, and it’s even a little bit difficult to make the decision, then chances are the party must really suck. this is similar to when i was having trouble in philly making it to improv because i kept wanting to stay home and watch wrestling (to be fair, this was 2000, when wrestling was going through it’s Neo-Renaissance). and i decided that if i was having trouble getting to rehearsal because of wrestling, then maybe it was time to quit the group. and that guy Dennis from that group still owes me $600. I will take it from him in souls.

Sunday i was introduced to a great little beer tasting place, and bought myself some blueberry beer. Which is delicious.

oh, and if anyone knows why i can’t seem to get a clean mic signal into Live, that would be very helpful. anyone?

If there’s one thing i learned at Floyd, it’s that 4 whiskeys on an empty stomach is usually a recipe for a long, brilliant night.

Last night i put the same theory to the test, except i replaced whiskey with vodka, and Floyd with Mezzanine. the verdict? well, i’ll let you decide.

Forsaking dinner, I met up with a few people at 111 Minna, where they where having an opening for that new book on small scale sustainability of the environment (what kind of mint?), and how that can translate to larger scale sustainability for the world as a whole. At least i think that’s what the book is about. You can see it on Amazon.

After that we rocked on over to Mezzanine, where the Faint was playing with Ratatat. I’d never seen either band live (i skipped out on a Ratatat show a few years ago in NY), and i was very impressed by both bands. if you haven’t seen either of these bands live, do it. seriously, right now… i’m waiting… ok fine, do it later.

Now, i’m not one to tell stories about other people getting too drunk, but one of my friends got a little extra sauced at the show. In truth, it was probably my fault, because she kept saying: “i need to go home soon”, and i kept smiling and nodding, assuming that when she was ready to go, she’d go home. Then i noticed that she was having trouble standing, and i realized that i had casually ignored the “umm… i’m drunk” warning signs. No problem, i’ve had years of experience with this. I grab our coats, maneuver her out and into a cab, and head for Russian Hill, figuring that i’ll take the cab back to the Haight after i make sure she gets inside ok. She insists that we stop for Pizza, wherein the following things are said (in no particular order)

her: I’ll have a slice with lots of meatballs.
me: I’ll have a plain slice
her (to pizza guy): He’ll apparently have a pu**y slice.

her: we need one bottle of water
me: we should get two
her: one!
me: seriously, let’s get two
her (hitting me repeatedly in arm): ONE!

her: why are we still sitting here?
me: because we haven’t gotten our food yet.
her: we got food?
me: yes, we got pizza.
her: well, where is it? make them get it faster!

her: what are these?
me: this is the garlic bread you ordered.
her: i ordered garlic bread?
me: yes
her: well, you’ll have to eat most of it.

and i will just say that her slice of pizza, after she was through with it, looked as if it had been eaten by a bear with poor fine motor control.

I got home and decided that 1AM was the perfect time to lay down a solo to the song i’ve been working on. and you know what? it was!!

I will admit that the the last 3 weeks have been difficult, for a number of reasons, which i have not and will not go into here.

BUT, one benefit to all the insomniac late nights… i’m writing songs for the first time in 6 months…

early drafts will of course be seen here before anywhere else, doesn’t that make y’all feel special?

So, this weekend was all about music. yay, music!

Friday I left work early and did the WFH thing in the afternoon. Micah and I were supposed to head down to mezzanine and check out Hot Chip, but he wasn’t feeling so well. I took his bank card to pick up the tickets (and drinks were on micah all night!!), and headed down to meet up with Ali, Willo, and Harry.

We tried to go somewhere for dinner that was closed, so willo coyly suggest Chevy’s.

Chevy’s has great margaritas. I had 2 of them.

Hot Chip was very good. I texted Mike back in NY and said: “i have a new band for you. Hot Chip”. he texted back: “yeah, check my fm playlist, i’ve been listening to them a ton lately”. you gotta wake up pretty early in the AM to find an electronica band before mike.

The show was great, afterwards we went to Ryan’s for a party. I had one drink and realized that i was just about to fall over, so i went home.

the next day i was supposed to get up and do things, but was so ridiculously out of it that all i could manage was a few phone calls (happy birthday mom!), and a few naps. I finally made it out for dinner in Cole Valley, then passed on the Laughing Squid party (lame of me), to go to bed early.

Sunday i watched football and worked a bunch. good times good times.

it’s so late. i can hardly keep my eyes open. i’m just waiting for files to upload. and my iPod busts out with:

Soundgarden – Jesus Christ Pose
Pixies – here comes your man
Elliot Smith – Rose Parade
Heart – Crazy on You
Portishead – Wandering Star

thank god. files are done.
now i can sleep.

for some reason every time i put it on “full shuffle” lately (which is the only way i listen to music), it won’t go more than 10 songs without playing Stairway to Heaven. I’m not complaing mind you, but it makes me wonder…

“Terrible Lie” – Nine Inch Nails

When i was a freshman in high school, i drove to school with a junior named Jamie. He had the Pretty Hate Machine album and would play it pretty much every day on the way to school. There’s nothing like angry synth rock in a freezing cold car with no heat in December in Massachusetts.

“long time coming” — the Delays

A few years ago I went with Mike to the Franz Ferdinand show at Webster Hall in NYC. We got there about half way through the opening band’s set. usually i don’t love opening bands so much, but for some reason i really liked this one, even though i couldn’t figure out whether the singer was a guy or girl. Turns out they were the Delays, and the singer is a guy. great little indie pop band, nice harmonies and sugar sweet melodies. I’m not sure why they’re not huge yet.

today’s deep cut gem:

“Right Turn” from Alice in Chains. Off of Sap

guest starring Mark Arm and Chris Cornell. when Chris Cornell starts belting out the last verse and everyone sings at the same time… man, that’s what the 90′s were all about.

oooook… so, here’s what we did this weekend

Friday i worked from home, which i hope to start doing regularly on fridays, because it’s awesome. Nick, my old friend from Australia was in town that weekend because the band he manages (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) was playing on friday night. So i met him and some of his various friends for dinner, and then went to the show. Nick dissappeared backstage, so i hung out till Micah got there, and we proceeded to get somewhat drunk… and by “somewhat” i mean, we drank for 3 hours straight. Clap Your Hands was very good.

From there, we proceeded to Ali’s Rocktoberfest party. The idea was that we were supposed to dress up like rockstars, but i don’t fit into my goth rock clothes anymore and i didn’t have time during the week to find another outfit. thankfully no one really seemed to care. Ali’s party was of course fun, because Ali’s a rockstar. We left said party slightly less sober than when we arrived. Looong day. btw, best costume has to go to the woman dressed up in a leotard as Karen O, though Hez came in a close second. in fact, let’s call it a tie.

Saturday I awoke, briefly considered calling in sick to guitar lessons (how lame is that?), but decided to carry on. Guitar lessons are going ok, but my teacher tends to just talk at me for 45 minutes about his theories on fretboard geometry and patterns. Granted, he’s got some really cool ideas, but i feel like i never get a chance to play. I suppose in theory that’s what “practicing” is for. hmm…

From there I ran some errands and went over to Jay’s place to check out SF Oktoberfest. Jay is a buddy from college, we lived in NY for 5 years and never once got together except when our mutual friend frank was in town. So it was good to see him, and i’m shocked we managed to cope with actually making plans and hanging out. I figure everything after this is cake.

Oktoberfest in SF, i have one piece of advice for you: “don’t try to create your own economy”. you see, in order to get beer at oktoberfest, you need tokens. so you stand in line for a half hour at one of the 3 token stands in this huge hall, get tokens, get a few beers, run out of tokens, and repeat. at one point i was in line for maybe 40 minutes, and this happens:

token lady: “we’ve run out of tokens. i only have a few left”.
Everyone: “argh!”
token lady (to the customer next to me) :”do you want the last 8 tokens?”
drunken customer: “no! I want 10!”
token lady: “well, i only have 8. do you want them?”
drunken customer: “no, fuck that!”
me: “um… I’ll take them”
token lady: “here you go”

I have no idea what that guy was thinking. he then waited for at least 10 more minutes for tokens while i ran away 8 tokens richer. It was just enough for one more beer and sausages for both of us. sweet.

From there i raced home and showered and changed for my crab dinner with Ron and friends. I’ve eaten a lot of lobster in my day (A LOT), but i’ve never had whole crabs. it’s a little like lobster, except the meat is in smaller places and generally harder to get to. and you have to avoid the crab poo, bone, and other fun stuff. I liked it, working for your food has a certain appeal. but man, now i’m hungry for lobster. i wonder how mom feels about lobster for thanksgiving…

sunday i did very little, just as it should be. whew!