The Game of Thrones Exhibition Thing They Dragged Me To For My Camera.

Say what you will about New York City - that people in Midtown are a rude bunch or that our pigeons are fat - but there's one thing that cannot be said and that's that NYC is dull.

Truly, on any given day you can be walking around and stumble upon a street fair as we did last year.  Or you could run into Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth (as our co-workers did) on a Thorsday, no less.

With some money, you can probably enjoy the city in a whole different way but since I don't really have too much of that to be flailing about, I partake in the good, wholesome less costly things.  The kind of things that are free and for me.

And by "free", I mean standing in line for 2 plus hours is a small price of admission to pay while you wait to get into Westeros.

Spell "Free": T-w-o H-o-u-r W-a-i-t

I'm not one to complain about a line really, especially when you have such fun friends to stand in line with (as I did with Alex, Active Goat and Ces).  It truly was fun but there's only so much fun you can have to distract you from the cold April afternoon as the hours wore on.

I think the cold that crept into our blood made us a little bit on edge because near the end of our 2 hour waiting expedition, I'm pretty sure everyone in my group was challenged to duels.  Maybe it was the atmosphere of what lay ahead at the GOT exhibition but Monokuro Boo piggy mittens and gloves came off and everyone got a slap to the face.

Side Note: Duel Tickets going on sale soon - Date to be Announced

When we finally got in doors, the theme music to Game of Thrones was blasting loud all over that dark exhibit room as people chattered happily away about anything and everything Stark, Lannister, Dire Wolves, and Tyrion bitch-slapping Joffrey.

There was much "oo'ing" and "aa'ing" going on for the various set pieces used in Seasons 1 and 2, and there were some new pieces on display too (or so the exhibition page said).

What's this? Toys? Ooooooo.

Aaaahhhhh

These were behind some glass unfortunately, because our feet sure were cold...and those things sure could have come in handy.

Beautiful fan art.

More things to warm the body.  Curse the security eyeballing us.

Won't keep us warm but sekshi? Yes.  Yes, it would.

You don't say...

So, I guess *SPOILER alert* for anyone who has not seen the show and wishes to.  There are things ahead that you may want to avert your eyes from coming up...

like say, maybe this lovely thing right here...

Or this precious beast.

This was one of the most interesting things in the exhibition.

I mean, really.  Fantastic, yeah?

Perhaps the best part of it all, was the fact that a replica of the Throne was there in all its glory.  Better yet, willing participants could sit on the Throne and have their picture taken.

Those were some fabulous pictures we took but how come everyone was smiling when they got on the Throne? Rule with an iron fist!

Seriously.  Iron.  Fist.

I just don't know what's wrong with fools.

We had a great time and even though I have not yet watched the series and/or read the books, I will still forgive them for dragging me with them for the sake of using me for my camera.  But joke's on them because I ended up getting shitty pictures.  Ha!

Currently: feeling really sleepy.

The End of Days, Part III: Back to the Bronx Zoo

We went back to the Bronx Zoo one weekend in September.

It's not that I found the animal asses to be fetching as per our last visit in May.  No, because if I did that would group me into that corner of the internet that no one should speak about or exist.

Lego Master Builders,the people who are just that more skilled than you and I (psst, that's why they call them M-a-s-t-e-r-s.  It's a true, sad story), designed and built set pieces for exhibition at the Zoo.

Scattered amongst some of the major displays, lego animals lurked.  With special passports, you could spot the wild lego beasts and stamp your way through the zoo grounds - proof that you survived a certain type of blockish massacre.

We found about 5 out of the 8.  Don't judge us! Having just visited the zoo some months ago, we did not need to wander the exhibit too much again but hit up some of the places we missed in May.  Yes, we probably should have at least tried to go find the Lego exhibits but there was callaloo, crab and a Frass waiting at home for us.

It was also decided that since Beetchie had not gone in some years save her last visit for an interview in which there was some snootiness involved on behalf of the staff, that perhaps since she was visiting for the weekend we could make a fun time of it.

The day started though, with a proper mini-Irish breakfast.  As it turns out, a mini-Irish breakfast is anything but mini.

At $5.00, it was a great deal.  And one can only imagine what a full Irish entails.

The End of Days, Part II: Chocolate and Tennis

I too can live a little high-brow...uh, on Aims' invitation.

This September 2nd, Aims' invited me to attend the evening session matches at Arthur Ashe stadium for the U.S. Open 2011.

It was the Friday before Labor Day and we both got out of work early for the long weekend.  With time to spare before our 6 p.m. admission tickets, we walked at leisure along 5th Avenue to catch the 7 to Queens from Grand Central Terminal.

A Night Out with The HOchieS, Part II: It Said MSG but We Ended Up in Canada?

It's very rare I find myself down in the 30s, which may explain why I have not had an amazing Korean food experience yet in K-Town.

Chances are if you find me in the K'Hood, it's due to the fact that I'm off dragging a poor soul to Madison Square Garden.

Friday Night's Victim was H1 (as previously posted) and Friday Night's Instrument of Torture?

A Night Out with The HOchieS, Part I: For Your Dietary Benefit

It should have been the perfect time for The HOchieS but instead what we got was some serious shade.

H1 and I ran off to K-Town for some eats and I almost took her for the noodles with black beans that Beetchie introduced me to.  However, having no leeway for a mess up as we were hungry and on a schedule, I decided that we should just go to the regular, safe eatery where we could guarantee some meat.

It turns out, that even your safe bet can be anything but.

After the taro, I had the worst meal I have ever had!

Before the details of that mess though, let us discuss the appetizers.

"The Mother-Fookin' Cornerstone"

Sadly, I did not get to meet Nick at the Mother-Fookin' Cornerstone, and hell, I was barely able to see him from where I stood.

One day perhaps.

In the meanwhile, the real arctic monkeys went to see Arctic Monkeys the band.

The lot of us who stood outside that Cornerstone, that is literally on the corner of 11th and the West Side Highway, were freezing.

Calling Friday night 'cold ass' is an understatement.  It was the first cold blast we got for the season/month and of course, it had to happen whilst H1 and I had plans to be in the middle of nowhere.

I cannot stress how much I dislike Terminal 5 but I'll go ahead and say it again.

The Low-lamps:

1.  Terminal 5.  What the hell... Summer or Winter, it's a bad venue.  Terminal 5 secured a bout of NINfluenza thanks to poor ventilation back in August and last night? No heat! The only time it got hot was when those damned ukkers were farting on me.

2. Ukkers.  Beer-drinking Ukkers.  Rude, Hooligan Beer-drinking Ukkers.  Rude, Hooligan Beer-drinking Ukkers who fart without hesitation or apology reminiscent of Stinky, Beer-drinking Japanese men who sit on a 14 hour flight with a poor unsuspecting girl while her ass friend is oblivious to it all because she is too busy sleeping near the window.

3.  American children.  For some reason, the already young crowd for Arctic Monkeys seemed much younger.  We're not sure why or how they heard this is one of the best bands ever but there they were at Terminal 5 last night and it was embarrassing.  Being a bit of an elitist, I'm not sure why they like Arctic Monkeys because I don't think they're clever enough to keep with Alex's brilliant lyrics.  It boggles the mind, really.

4.  NJ.  More specifically (though need I say more?) Screaming Females.  Arctic Monkeys continues to pick losers for opening acts.  Okay, so Modey Lemon last AM concert were really good live (but note, not so much on disc).  And maybe Screaming Females was not as bad as say B.Y.O.P. but nothing is worse than that other than Seether.  However, Screaming Females need to tighten what they're doing.  As H1 rightly said, the female lead needs to give up writing songs and singing them.  She can keep playing guitar because she's a decent player but other than that, she's keeping the band of rats from getting out of the Bridge and Tunnel.  Also, they need to pick a genre and go with it because they 'sample' way too many and rip off way too many other songs from other bands.

5. Remember Fucking Albert Chung ? Well here we have Fucking Alexa Chung.  When will Alex be smart as we know him to be and ditch that bitch.  She was there last night being an annoyance to my senses.  It was bad enough she was dressed like a hipster, but then she had to act like one too.  And anyone who's got the blood of weople and asians just do not have a chance at being able to dance.  Oh lork, it was like Diddy all over again.  You really have to wonder what people hear when there's a beat to a song.  Rhythm? What's that? More mind boggling stuff, really.

6.  The set list.  Why did we get the exact same set list as the night before? Alex apologised but it's not enough! You couldn't even play "Catapult"?! Or one song different?! Not right, boys.  Lazy!

7.  The sound.  What happened? I've come to realise that every Arctic concert comes with technical difficulties.  But last night was the worst - I can deal with the cutting off of sounds because great banter usually follows but everything sounded as though it was in a vaccum.  While Matthew's drumming just took over everything which to me is not a bad thing being he's the best, we could barely hear Alex at the start.  Who knows where Nick's and The Cookie's sound got to.  I could blame Terminal 5 but having heard NIN there, that'd be a straight out untruth.

8.  "My Propellor".  No, that wasn't my song, H1.  "Red Right Hand" was my song.

9.  My crap photos. Well, I could barely see the stage to begin with (save The Cookie, who I never want to see...he scares the shit out of me), much less get good photos for a band I never get good photos of.

The Highlights:

1.  "Last Christmas" as performed by Matthew Helders.  It.  was.  frickin'.  h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s.  And he sounded good.  And it made me enjoy "Fluorescent Adolescent" even more that I usually do (I'm not the biggest fan of that song, it's true).  That performance was nothing short of classic - it involved a stool, shades and an afro sported by my favourite drummer.  That was one of the finer concert moments I've had.



2.  Nick.  I may not have seen him a lot thanks to assholes who shoved their way in front of me but when I did, I felt really happy.  Too bad after all the times I've seen AM, I only now pay attention to him especially since I was right in his face back in August.  Even then when things were quiet then, I wanted shout out to Matthew.  Awww, Nick.  You're my new favourite.  I love how you handle the bass as if it's too awkward for you and you've anything but a bassist cool stance.  It's quite comical watching you play, actually but it's endearing.  And you're a good bassist. 

But please, cut your hair or do something with it.  That goes for the rest of you guys as well.  Except maybe Helders and his 'fro.  I'm liking how funny THAT mess is.

3.  Matthew Helders - the Agile Beast.  He continues to impress, that one.

4.  "Sketchead".  I was really hoping for "Catapult" but this was good too.

5.  Alex.  He couldn't see me, so it was the first time he missed Suga'Face although he may have glanced briefly in my direction.  Ahahaha.  Ah but I was more concerned I couldn't see my bassist. 

6.  For the first time since I've seen them, AM managed to riff new sounds into their set.  They changed up their songs to extended versions with different elements of the guitars and bass and it was fun.  They're comfortable enough now to do that and it was most welcome.

7. H1 and my Imaginary Friend Fred were both there.  Ooo, and H1 finally got to hear "505" and it sounded much better than it did at the Highline Ballroom (save that one screeching bit of the mic).  I've yet to tell TD5 that he may have gotten to hear it first but his sucked compared to H1's experience.

8.  While not the greatest technical sounding show, Arctics blended old with new even better than at Highline.  It was more fun even though the Highline show was great for the first live run of the new album.  Playing "The Jeweller's Hand" to start made the show interesting but mostly dull and I feared another desert experience as back in August but with that out of the way, the rest of the songs were more well-balanced and more frantic, making this show an overall success and not as mellow even if the crowd energy seemed pathetic.

In a way, this show is probably the worst I've seen of them but that's due to the lack of first album material (alright, that bus has come and gone - as someone put it, but those will always be my most fun memories) and the sound (and of course, the venue) but is in no way a reflection of their skills.  They really have come quite a ways, my boys.  I think I might always feel a twinge of sadness that they've matured so much.

9.  Who knew Harry Potter was a member of Screaming Females? And he plays drums!

10. No "Dangerous Animals".  Thank.  GOODNESS.  I 'boring' that song with a passion.

11. The usual banter, and our Number 1 Roadie giving us such great moments as ....

Memorable Quotes and Moments of the Evening:

Alex: New York, this house is a circus.  An observation and an introduction. (he lies of course..there was no circus.  The crowd pretty much sucked).

Alex: I apologise for the same set but I am wearing different boots.  We hope no one's been telling our secret from last night to you folks tonight.  ::and then into "Fluorescent Adolescent" with Matthew's "Last Christmas".::

Alex: Are you feeling good tonight? Of course you are, unlike last night, you've got Friday behind you.

Alex: ::singing:: At the mother-fooking cornerstone...

Matthew's drumstick broke and he threw it in front of him and it fell near Alex.  The number 1 Roadie walked on stage, picked it up complete with being deadpan in the face as he usually is, and threw it right back at Matthew.

The Arctic Monkeys at Terminal 5, NYC on 12/11/2009 Set list:

1.  The Jeweller's Hands
2.  Brianstorm
3.  This House is a Circus
4.  Still Take You Home
5.  Potion Approaching
6.  Red Right Hand (Nick Cave cover)
7.  My Propeller
8.  Crying Lightning
9.  Sketchead
10. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
11. The View from the Afternoon
12. Cornerstone
13. If You Were There, Beware
14. Pretty Visitors
15. Do Me a Favour
16. Fluorescent Adolescent with Last Christmas (Wham Cover by Matthew Helders)

Encore:

17. Secret Door
18. 505


Currently listening to: "This House is a Circus" and "Catapult" by Arctic Monkeys.

Ophelia is Just Terrible.

Initially, I was supposed to go but then I gave up my ticket to H1.  Turns out I had to go anyway because poor Aims and poor Aims' dad had a rough week, and I ended up getting use out of her ticket.

All this confusion to say this:

Who knew Jude Law could act?

Hahahaha. 

I'm just kidding; though I can say that I have never been a huge fan of his.

However, seeing his performance in Hamlet warranted respect.

The execution was everything on his part - his spoken lines to his mannerisms made him pure brilliance.

Even though I made a 'vow' not to give him a standing ovation, he truly deserved one and I had to oblige.

The rest of the cast were quite good as well, with honourable mention to the role of Polonius.  Poor, poor Polonius...

Well, most of the cast were quite good save the forgettable roles for Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, which is sad.


And Ophelia...

Oh, Ophelia.

How horrible and unbelievable her role was acted out?

Quite.

Our seats were wonderful, though the Broadhurst theatre is not a favourite location of ours, and the service was even worse but no real complaints.

Jude was 'speaking' to us - as in we were very much centre and could see him clearly and he us from where we sat.

The stage setting was great, and the sword fight at the end was actually quite good and not poorly choreographed at all.

Honestly, I did not think I'd be as amazed as I was for this production.

It was brill. Brill.  Brill! and I am quite pleased I got to see it afterall.

With a city to take in and bellies to fill with food, we walked over to Katsuhama for some ...katsu.  Heh.

My first meal in Japan was tonkatsu and since then, I've tried to have it wherever I go to try to re-live the good times.  Being that I will probably never eat another piece of sushi that melts to pure bliss outside of Japan, I was almost of that mindset when it came to the tonkatsu as well.

Katsuhama has managed to be on even footing with that memory but chances are, if you use berkshire pig in a meal, it'll be amazing.

Happy with our meals, we made our way to the train with lots of time to spare and I managed to scratch two things off of my list in one evening! I finally went to Cafe Zaiya. 

It was not as I expected honestly, and with close to closing, I suppose I could not expect everything I wanted to put into my mouth to be there (onigiri would have been a pleasant though I suspect I will not eat as great a one as I did whilst in Tokyo, either) but I HAD to have the "home-made" green tea soft serve ice-cream hoping to re-live the one Beetchie and I had in Kyoto.

Wow.

It came really close to be as fantastic as I trick myself into believing.  In all seriousness, it was really good and I would go back there just to have another.

It was a great day and I'm a happy kid right now, who should get some sleep.  It's been a long sort of few days past and I need to rest, and not run myself down as I usually do, opening myself up to sickness.

Memorable Quotes of the evening:

"Question it, Horatio!" - Marcellus

TD5: Ophelia was just terrible, wasn't she?
Or 2: Yeah.  She was acting as if she were in a high school play.
TD5: And there you go.

WTF Moment of the Evening:

The people behind us who commented, "He (Jude) looks like Ryan Seacrest".

Some people deserve to be scratched with a poison-tipped sword.

Anticipation Has a Habit to Set You Up

For disappointment?

I'm having mixed feelings, I am.

For one, I'm still very pissed that H1 missed, no fault on her part, her chance to go see Arctic Monkeys (Oye, H1, it's no fault of mine either!).

More so, when TD5 and I got to the Highline Ballroom, the place was so incredibly tiny that it didn't matter where you stood - there'd be a clear shot of the stage!

Feeling rather hateful and wishing I had some chicken bones, TD5 and I did the next best thing we could do to calm nerves - go to the bar for some drinks.

I'd just like to point out that I drank almost every day TD5 and I went out. Who's the bad influence?!

Anyway, so in addition to feeling cranky that H1 and Beetchie were not in attendance, I was also very excited.

Yet, there was something off.

Was it the fact that I couldn't bear to sit through another horrible opener as Arctic Monkeys likes to pick 'em?

Was it the feeling that my nemesis was in the room somewhere?

Was it having to deal yet again, with the little biatch, obnoxious children that attend their shows? Did I have to get nasty with peeps...for a third time?

Or was it that I was just really nervous that I would hate the new songs?

The Arctic Monkeys at The Highline Ballroom on 08/03/2009 Set list:

1. Pretty Visitors
2. This House Is A Circus
3. Brianstorm
4. Still Take You Home
5. Da Frame 2R
6. Dangerous Animals
7. Crying Lightning
8. Fluorescent Adolescent
9. Cornerstone
10. The View From The Afternoon
11. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
12. Leave Before The Lights Come On
13. Potion Approaching
14. If You Were There, Beware
15. Red Right Hand (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds cover)
16. My Propeller
17. Only Ones Who Know
18. Do Me A Favour

Encore:

19. Secret Door
20. 505

Oh...that's what it was! The feeling I'd get when H1 blazed me for their playing "505"! I would not be able to handle the fury!

The Low-Lamps:

1. I have two evil nemeses now. The one that's standing in Suga'Face's way and has AT torn was there. I didn't see her, but I didn't need to. That bitch was there and I could sense it. It's okay though, he still looked at me. Twice.

2. "505". I can't believe those effs actually played it. We blame TD5. I was really sad this went down since H1 was not there and this is the one song she really wants to see them perform live.

3. The ugly merch. Really. I hope they release better t-shirts soon. That Matt Helders inspired hippy desert Native American theme is really horrid. Well, whatever. I can still rock it.

4. P. Effin' Diddy. Honestly. Sometimes I wish Matt would stop being friends with suspect people so that they stop showing up at my concerts. He and his entourage were annoying and the fact that Diddy Can't Dance makes for horrendous times. He did some version of the Running Man which is already a stupid ass move, to something he must have been hearing in his head because it certainly wasn't a beat kept by AM. During "Do Me a Favour". Ugh.

5. I did not see the Cookie very well. It's not really a bad thing though. He scares me, that Hooligan.

6. The new songs. Okay, so they're not really low-lamps. They sounded quite good and they are really good but I think it was the entire atmosphere half way through the set that had me feeling a little bit sad. AM started strong - all intense songs, all old songs, some of the new ones. But then, Arctic Monkeys changed. They toned out their concert vibe. They chilled out at the tail end.

When did they become such a super-serious, doom and gloom, "where's-the-fun?" kind of band?

They've matured. A lot. No longer are they the boys from Sheffield who are too shy to speak.

They're very confident now, which makes them better players and gives them better stage presence and it's not a horrible thing, but it's also not a very fun feeling either.

I didn't think they'd NOT change. How could they not? And I'm happy they're going off and creating different records because if it's one thing they can do, it's create a unique sound every time, but I guess I just need the time to let it sink in.

The bottom line is that it's all fun and games until some biatch comes around and "Yoko Ono"'s your band.

Yes, I went there.

I'm with you, rest of the band! You guys are still great! It's that ass who's the problem!

7. The almost complete absence of songs from the first album. WTF! No "Dancing Shoes"?! And they didn't even end with "A Certain Romance"! =(

The Highlights:

1. TD5 ACTUALLY finally agreed to come to a concert with me! All the way from Trinidad, he flew! That was a pleasant surprise but it just reminds me and angers up the blood that he's going to see MUSE at some no name Raymond James Stadium (eh? It has a name? but who knows it?) in FL. Psh.

2. That annoying rich, privileged Asian child was not there. Hooray!

3. Surprisingly, I was no where near obnoxious AM fans. In fact, I met some nice kids.

4. Okay. Can you people believe it? The opening act were actually...really good. Quite good. For a while, I was confused as to where I was. Their drummer was trying to channel Dave Grohl but there's nothing not cool about that. TD5 described them best when he called them "intense". Yes, Modey Lemon certainly were. Why didn't I buy one of their shirts instead?

5. Sound Problems. I don't know what's up with Arctic Monkeys but they're always plagued with sound problems. Their sound cut after the intro to "Pretty Visitors" for a long time, and then again later on. It was funny and they were good about it, as were the crowd. They made jokes. We laughed. And we were happy when they launched right back into it.

6. Alex's banter. So, he's talking a lot more now, and he's funny. He hit us with a few good memorable quotes:

"I've noticed some of you suspiciously singing along. So we have a new record coming out soon, it's called 'umbug. With a Hey-che."
And repeated the promotion of the album after the sound failed again.

At the end of "Leave Before The Lights Come On", he said "Thank you, I can walk to there by myself." to the bus stop.

7. Matt's banter with their number one roadie. I really need to go look his name up because it escapes me. But those two were having a blast while Matt was playing. It was cute. And Matt still managed to keep his beat even while distracted.

8. Nick! I don't care what H1 says, Nick O'MALLEY is a cutie and I like him. Nick O'Fatty he is not. You are wrong, H1!

9. The New songs. I don't think I'll be upset by the new album, which has me relieved that at least one of my bands won't completely fail me this music year. Already I had to suffer disappointment from Franz Ferdinand, U2 (big time!), The Streets (or was that late last year?), and some others I'm just not really remembering right now. It's also not looking too hot for MUSE right now, so I'm not holding my breath.

The new songs from AM are good. They're different. They're arranged oddly and I like them. I also like their cover of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' "Red Right Hand".

10. I managed to snap "decent" pictures...for once! of AM! It's amazing, really.

I don't know why the other two in Modey Lemon looked like metal men but the lead singer looked like a preppy.



The Cookie's in there some place



I could actually see Matt tear up the drums for "Brianstorm" this time! Except I was too busy jumping to look at him...maybe next time?



Nick O'MALLEY.



Such a clear shot for some chicken bones







My favourite thing of the evening



Currently listening to: "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Passed The Point of Delirium

Ah, Green Day.

Finally!

Finally, you can be scratched off a list I just made up, of bands I never saw and should try to if given the chance, even if your current tour album sucks an ass.

Lately, I have been hearing a whole lot of bashing of this band. I don't know when Green Day became considered overrated or became the tail end of hate but then again, I also did not know when Green Day became so "family friendly".

Despite the rampant ill-speaking, I'm convinced that those people just haven't seen Green Day and need to get over their hangups about kids attending their concerts. Sure it weirded me out too to discover kids as young as 6 where there, as well as people as old as 50 something but who cares?!

Green Day put on one of the best shows I've seen.

They had energy to burn, and played for a solid 3 hours with fun crowd interaction and so much personality.

They've come quite the long way from 1994 when I first took notice and you can see the boys have aged some but they're still crazy as ever, more seasoned and awesome enough to put on a huge production show at MSG (definitely one of the biggest I've been to - and perhaps even TOO huge for MSG's 'tiny' space).



The Green Day @ Madison Square Garden 7/28/2009 Set List:

1. Song of the Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. Murder City
5. East Jesus Nowhere
6. Holiday
7. Static Age
8. Before the Lobotomy
9. Are We the Waiting
10. St. Jimmy
11. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
12. A Quick One While He's Away (The Who)
13. Hitchin a Ride
14. Welcome to Paradise
15. Stop, Drop, and Roll/ Eye of the Tiger
16. FOD
17. When I Come Around
18. Going to Pasalacqua
19. Stuart And The Ave./ Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
20. Iron Man riff
21. Brain Stew
22. Jaded
23. Knowledge
24. Basket Case
25. She
26. King For a Day
27. Shout/ Earth Angel (The Penguins)/ Christie Road
/ I'll Be There
28. 21 Guns
29. American Eulogy

30. American Idiot
31. Jesus of Suburbia
32. Minority
33. Macy's Day Parade
34. Tell Me When It's Time to Say I Love You (AI b-side)
35. Good Riddance

Are you seeing this? 35 friggin' songs! They played forever! And they played non-stop, only leaving the stage once, although they cleverly disguised their breaks by creating make shift bands and inviting peeps to come up on stage.

The Low-Lamps:

1. That girl who got invited up to sing "Dearly Beloved". OMG, her voice was awful. It should have been me up there! I could have winged it a little bit better. Maybe. Not to mention her ass was in our faces. Ugh, gross. But I did laugh when Billie Joe held his head because she was so awful. That was just damned classic.

2. Billie Joe's constant "Ay ooh"s. There were too many Billie Joe. Too many! You were trying to keep us awake and pumped but there was no need. We already were even coming down to the hour 3, we were still not restless.

3. The two idiots in front of us. That one idiot who thought it was okay to mosh into a kid even though he was not in a mosh pit. What the hell was his problem? I hate stupids. And the fact that he had piercings when he was such a jerk and obviously not a rocker, per say, just made me even angrier.

4. The girl of the two idiots who managed to retrieve her slipper. That was unfortunate. Beetchie and I were really hoping she lost it forever under the bleacher set up.

5. Why didn't we get Franz Ferdinand as the support act? It's not that Kaiser Chiefs were by any means horrid but I'm not a huge fan and would have much preferred FF.

6. That strange song Green Day performed that no one knew and weren't really receptive too. That was just awful.

7. Mike gave a bass to the make-shift bassist. WTF! That should have been me! That kid was really loving himself too on stage. What a brave, obnoxious little ass he was.

8. "21 Guns". I really don't like that song and I don't know why it's so damned popular.

The Highlights:

1. The many Green Day antics. They blessed Trevor, this little kid who they totally effed with and misdirected on stage numerous times. They put together a make-shift band, and kicked many people off their stage with a solid swift boot to the asses.

2. When Billie Joe brought up his make-shift guitarist to the stage and proceeded to plant a kiss on her, that was freakin' hilarious, even more so due to the fact that she was desperately trying to get away from him. Ahahahahahaha.

3. Tre Cool slapped that make shift drummer in the back of the head for trying to fancy up the drumbeat too much. That was not the only slap he got - there was also some tapping of drumsticks on his head. Greatness.

4. Having Beetchie there. This was her first MSG show and her first time seeing Green Day as well. And despite being persecuted for wanting to see them, we both agree that eff everyone else - Green Day were amazing! Also, I know she's been going through a rough time of it lately with dastardly school things that unfortunately is affecting everyone and giving her much stress, but I'm glad she got to go out for a bit to do something she really wanted to do.

5. The stage show. Their production and stage set up was fantastic. The lights, the videos, every time a new song was played, there was a new set up for that, the colours, the sound and the pyrotechnics! When the flames went up, I could feel the heat from where we were. We had decent seats too (Section 10, Row L, seats 5 & 6), so we could see it all! Amazing.





6. Tre Cool - still funny and nuts as ever.





7. Billie Joe - mooning us still after all these years, and still having the greatest time laughing at himself and others.





8. Mike Dirnt - I went through love for all members of GD starting with Tre, then loving Billie and these days and for the past few years, loving Mike the most. It's the bassist stance I love most but he's got the true rocker as well. The hair, the sideburns, the sad eyebrows, the tattoos, the sleeveless shirts and did I mention the bassist stance? When he came out with the pink ears and pink tail for "King For a Day", I was swooning. It was so cute! Awww, I'm only sorry I didn't get a picture because my camera went kaput on the battery life. At least I got him in full bassist stance under the skull-infused disco ball.



Best Performances of the Evening:

1. "King for a Day". That was probably the number 1 highlight for me. All of a sudden they were all dressed up in costumes - Mike with his pink ears and pink tail, Billie Joe with a pink feather boa, that other guitarist in a pirate's hat, the saxophone player in something and Tre in something else I can't quite remember. They had so much fun playing that song and then into Shout. Everything was nuts at that point and it made me love how great a time they were having on stage and doing what they do best: putting on a hectic, crazy fun show where they could do whatever they wanted, and truly enjoy life.

2. "Jesus of Suburbia". Ah yes, I really wanted them to play all 9 glorious minutes of this and would have been sorely disappointed had they not being that they've been playing it almost every show this tour, if not all. Save when that girl messed up "Dearly Beloved", it was as awesome as I expected it to be.

3. "Welcome to Paradise".

4. "F.O.D." I think I was the only one who screamed "YEAH!" when Billie Joe asked if they should play this. I love that damned song.

Just a few notes on Kaiser Chiefs, as I said before, they weren't horrible but it was a bit annoying I could not understand a thing Ricky Wilson was singing thanks to poor sound and while never a fan of this band, they weren't horrible plus they played "Everyday I Love You Less and Less" which is a song I actually like, so that was cool of them.



The Kaiser Chiefs at Madison Square Garden 7/28/2009 Set List:

1. Never Miss a Beat
2. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
3. Ruby
4. Can't Say What I Mean
5. I Predict A Riot
6. You Want History
7. Take My Temperature
8. Oh My God

And now for some Record Keeping:

Those Who Attended GD with Or 2 -

Beetchie

Currently listening to: "Once Around The Block" by Badly Drawn Boy.

Cuban, Mexican, & Italian (Kind of...) All in One Evening

The HOchieS, X, and Alex were treated to dinner tonight at Cafe Habana thanks to Frass.

I just wrote that line, ate the food and still I cannot believe it happened. Har Har, just kidding Frass. H1 and I thank you kindly for dinner and really fun times.

After my body instinctively led me towards Chinatown, which is the story I will use instead of saying that we got a little bit lost looking for the place, we met Frass and X at the restaurant.

Despite hearing horror stories about the wait time to get in, we ended up having to wait only for 10 - 15 minutes.



During that time, we saw the City Golfer, or whatever he is called. I did not get a very clear shot of him for fear his celebrity would try to give Or 2 the paparrazi a beat down if he realised he was being photographed. I also did not get to see him tee any of his cans into the gutters, much to my sadness.

After hearing more horror stories about space issues at Cafe Habana, I found it not all that horrid. Then again, I did not have to sit on a little ass chair out in the middle of traffic as Frass did. =)



Being the lushes that X and Alex are, they got drinks of the half mojito and half margarita kind. If anyone asks, Frass and I are not lushes; we just enjoy fruity drinks such as mango and guava margaritas. Frass, however, likes those fruity drinks more than I as proven by his yacht adventures and his M&M representation.

For dinner, I had a non-meat dish.

What?

Yeah, I wrote that, ate it and still don't quite understand what happened.



I have to say though, it was pretty good. I enjoyed my corn meal "boat" stuffed with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.



Frass got a shrimp dish, which was decent.



H1 got some good mushrooms on her pork but the pork itself was not fabulous because it wasn't seasoned.

X had the monk fish which was more skin that fish and Alex had the garlic chicken which was rather disappointing.

Of course, we could not not go there and not have the corn that everyone raves about on online reviews. I'm not a huge fan of corn but if you smother anything in cheese and butter, by law it has to be good.

H1 and I are planning to recreate it.



Being that we were in the neighbourhood, we decided to get desserts at the San Gennaro Festival. In all my years being in NYC, I've been to it probably once and not for a long period of time either.



Last night was no different, as we did not stay for very long but it was one of the most relaxing, enjoyable nights I've had in a while as we hunted for eats. Just because our bellies were full, did not mean they'd be full tomorrow, so we trekked through and amongst looking at jewelery, African masks, dolls' dresses that we tried to outfit X in, a winning side of the Festival versus the losers' side and a not-so crowded street, we found dessert of zeppoles and a breakfast empanada.



H1, X and Frass also got pomodoro vodka slices for eats, which H1 and I planned for breakkie. It was great times, as was the empanada.

What I should have done though, was gotten some spinning cage meat too...



Curses!

It makes me sad that I feel our city's falling apart. Last night just added to my already non-smug knowledge that it's one of the greatest cities in the world (uh, not that I've been to many...) but it certainly is well-loved by the HOchieS.

Memorable Quotes of the Evening:

Alex: I didn't know MC was big on pro-life.
H1: I'll tell you what MC is big on...MC's big on being an ASS!
Frass: We seem to be hatin' on MC today.
H1 and Or 2: Oh no, we hate on him every day.

Alex, on my purchasing an empanada: Get foil! GET FOIL!!!! She has foil! Get foiiilllll!!!!

H1: Okay, so we have a choice here... Zeppoles from Mexicans or Indians, which stall do we go to?
Or 2: Indians, they can fry dough like nobody's buisness.

We eventually found what we assume to be an Italian woman because if you're wearing an Italian Flag hat, then you MUST be Italian!!!!
However, she did not do a good job of coating our zeppoles with sugar, and we should have just gone to the Indians!



Alex: Coke and fuck, coke and fuck. ::with zeppole powdered sugar all over her face:: nyum yum yum.
H1: Coke, huh Alex?
Alex: Heh, I'm covered in cocaIEne!

and Later,

X: You too! Look at you! You're covered in cocaIene!
Or 2: Good lord, I guess I should get it off my bag.