All Points West

Every time I make a declaration that I'll never step foot in New Jersey, some thing happens that finds me slumming it in that forsaken marsh of smelliness that is that state.

I was seriously considering getting tickets for this event for the Saturday August 1 st date but ultimately decided, as I always do, that going to NJ is just not worth my time.

And then VIP passes, for free, to the Music Festival All Points West at Liberty State Park in NJ kinda fell into my lap on Thursday afternoon.

While not the Saturday show I wanted to go to, Free! (did I mention "free"?) VIP Passes, a free round trip on the Ferry and a chance to see Yeah Yeah Yeahs after wanting to for a while and not having luck with that, the choice really was clear.

I'd have to trek to Assland for the greater good.





Plus, TD5 would get to see Vampire Weekend - a band he loves, as well as Yeah Yeah Yeahs and I'd get to show him that The National are pretty damned good and he should be more appreciative of their music that I tried to throw at him at some point last year.

Oh, and I'd get to finally see what the big deal about Fleet Foxes was all about.

All Points West 2009 @ Liberty State Park on 7/31/2009:

The Low-Lamps:

1. Fleet Foxes.



To think I could have slept at the hotel for a bit instead of rushing to NJ sooner and for longer than necessary. TD5 and I both agree that this was pure shart. We don't know what was up with this band but they are horrendous!

The hippiness really got to me.

The 'harmonious sound' really got to TD5.

I really wanted to pass out from boredom and they just seemed to go on forever, and ever. And ever.

It was so bad, that as soon as they took the stage, they summoned rain clouds and thunderstorms threatened us although it was really muggy before, so the cool wind was very welcome at the time.

The only redeeming thing about Fleet Foxes was that they had personality but honestly, it wasn't enough to save our ears from bleeding.

Memorable Quotes:

"I feel like we're wizards on stage here." - lead singer, Fleet Foxes.
"Yeah, I'm going to ride off the stage on a white horse." - drummer, Fleet Foxes

Nerds.

2. New Jersey. Liberty State Park was as expected. Smelly. After it torrential down poured on us, it was even worse. It was smelly AND muddy. Never before have I been witness to so much ugly and mud before in one area. Gross.

Here's a shot of the main stage -



3. Mud People. Ugly mud people. Ugly mud people who insisted they get all hippy with their bad dancing. Ugly mud people who insisted they get all hippy with their bad dancing right next to where TD5 and I stood.

TD5 half wished they would fall into it but I really don't think they would have cared if they did.



4. That nasty feeling one gets after being in NJ. It's almost as if nothing you do will wash away that stench and grime. And sometimes, nothing can. My poor shoes are proof of that.



5. Getting booted from the VIP Bleachers. Everyone knows that there are certain places you do not want to be near during a lightning storm and unfortunately, the VIP Bleachers was one of those places. What sucked even more was that we got stormed out right after The National performed, before Vampire Weekend and during most of their set. So, at least we know they sound really good but we did not really get a chance to see them very well from the Beer Tent where TD5 and I found shelter from the storm.

Sorry TD5...

Vampire Weekend from the Beer Tent -



6. TD5 and his inability to tell me things of importance. For instance, the debacle that went down involving our being able to come back to All Points West on Saturday for free. Due to the horrendous rain, Friday Ticket Holders were allowed to come back for free on any of the other two days. TD5 heard the announcement by Vampire Weekend and I did not. So, thanks to him, H1 and I missed our chance to see Tool, Arctic Monkeys and Tokyo Police Club. WTF! WTF, TD5! Thanks. I'm still a little bit bitter, as you can tell.

7. Q-Tip. On our long trek back to civilization, ie the ferry back to NYC, we heard Q-Tip at another tent. He sounded horrid.

8. If not for having had enough of NJ, and being way tired, I think I would have stayed for Jay-Z. He's probably one of the few rappers I respect somewhat and I heard he brought his orchestra. So I missed seeing him perform and it was a bit of a lowlamp because I heard him on my way out and he sounded pretty decent. Ah well. See how quickly I got over that?

9. Once again, The National managed to butcher performing my favourite song by them, "Mistaken For Strangers". Again, The National? What's up with that?

10. I'm fairly certain I saw that smelly kid from way back when I went to I think, Muse at Hammerstein on the ferry ride to APW. That was not cute for my nose.

11. Not having H1 there as well. And also, not being BACK at All Points West for Arctic Monkeys and Tool with H1. Thanks again, TD5! That's right, you will not hear the end of this.

12. Being so close to NYC but not being able to escape, nooooooooooooo....! Freedom! So close!



13. The Statue of Liberty showing me its ass. Not only animals do this to me, but the Statue of Liberty too?! It's not right!



The Highlights:

1. Getting off the ferry back in NYC was awesome. Even the rain puddles were different and everything just seemed so less scary, even if it was Crooklyn. Har Har.

2. The National. It was fun seeing them a second time, even if this time I barely saw them from the side line thanks to the rain. I did like that the lead singer jumped into the crowd and rolled with the punches the rain was throwing at them. That was cool of him and not something I expected. He didn't sound too fabulous but the rest of the band sounded truly great. They also performed a new song which was really good and I'm kinda looking forward to their next album, whenever that may be.

Also, the fact that TD5 likes them now makes me happy.



3. Vampire Weekend. I can't say I'm a fan nor have I listened to their album to have a real opinion but they sounded really great live. I can see the appeal and I'm glad I got to hear them live instead of a studio album. Though, that might just make me not want to listen to a studio album now knowing just how great they sound live. Uh oh.



4. My gross dry sausage sandwich and my cheesey fries. I enjoyed it but mostly because I was really starvin' marvin.

5. The VIP Bleachers were good while they lasted. I also did not understand the NinjAnts.



6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs

6.1 Making sure TD5 was completely cured of his vertigo and that the swirly eyeball would not bring back his Lucille 2 Persona. It was only a highlight because it was funny and turned out he'd be okay.



6.2 Where's waldo? Rather, where's the eyeball? Floating over someone's head? Scary!



Karen O. was crazy as expected. I'm not sure what she was wearing... but her performance was classic.



Brian Chase was cool and I rather enjoyed that he never stopped beating those drums and that Yeah Yeah Yeahs continued each song in their set on his playing. All songs rolled one after the other with Chase's drumming as the connecting factor.



Then there's my Nick Zinner, who I love but curse him for not wanting to show his face so that I could get a picture, not to mention that stupid giant mounted crane camera kept getting in my way...



They performed lots of the good stuff - many songs from the new album, although not "Hysteric" which saddened me nor did they do "Rockers to Swallow". They also did an acoustic, stripped down version of "Maps", which while not the best was still cool.

7. The "destruction" of the microphone. Karen O. tried very hard to destroy that mic but it just wasn't happening but it was just not quite in league with her plans. It showed her!



The Yeah Yeah Yeahs 7/31/2009 @ All Points West Setlist:

1. Heads Will Roll
2. Cheated Hearts
3. Black Tongue
4. Zero
5. Human Fly (The Cramps cover)
6. Gold Lion
7. Honeybear
8. Turn Into
9. Skeletons
10. Soft Shock
11. Maps (Acoustic)
12. Y Control
13. Date With The Night

Best Song Performance from YYY: "Black Tongue".

Probably one of the best things to end the night was knowing I didn't have to rush to catch the bloody train back home and could actually stay in midtown that night. Phew, that was a relief and cool.

When we got back to midtown, I took TD5 to Sapporo for ramen, discovered they had a new menu of little eats such as kare-age which I had, and in need of a drink, I got a sapporo. Sorry, Beetchie! I'll try to not drink without you again because I know it's random I do and decided to do it when you were not there.

I know, I'm awful.

Currently listening to: "For Your Life" by Led Zeppelin.

Second-Rate Celebrities: A Penchant For Ruining Things

Whether it be a movie or a concert, 'celebrities' are just out to make things sucky when things shouldn't be.

Thursday night was going great - H1 got to leave work early, I left early and went to dinner at Sapporo (The 2008 HOchie HOtspot, 2006 was Pongsri) with Chrissy Lee. Good eats were enjoyed including tonkatsu and karubi yummies and then I took Chrissy down to Penn Station, all the while threatening him with the notion that he was going to go off on the LIRR to someplace he didn't want to be, namely on a plane back to Trinidad.

Instead, the surprise didn't quite go as I planned because I guess the MSG entrance I was at didn't have a large flashing sign indicating that R.E.M. was performing and that Chrissy Lee was actually going to a great concert. Still, I suppose a merch. stand will never let you down. It was not as grandiose as planned but he was still reaaaally excited when he found out. I was bombarded with about 22 or so "R.E.M.?!" questions with awe and disbelief bunched together with many "lies!".

I was excited too, and why wouldn't I be? That was the first concert for the year, surprisingly enough and not only would I get to see the guys of R.E.M. but The National and Modest Mouse were the openers.

So yeah, things were going well. We got there early but that's okay, we relaxed and Chrissy got to take all that is MSG from our fantastic-at-the-time seats Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 which is on the floor right behind the 'pit'.

With that said, let us just move right along to The Low-Lamps and the Highlights.

The Low-Lamps:

1. Julia Stiles and her 'friends'. She effed up movies and now she can add my R.E.M. concert to her list. Her presence there, right in front of me was distracting. Did concert security have any real reason to come check on her for every minute of the 16 minutes she was there? No! The only real celebs that night was R.E.M., so please! Ugh, and her friends were even worse. That short skirt one whose face was hideous, yeah...you really needed that short skirt to distract from the rest of you.

2. Our seats. Now, Section 7, Row B, Seats 9 and 10 are fantastic seats...in theory. There's a clear shot of the stage, it's fairly close and details need not be shown on a big screen to viewers in that section. So enjoy those seats while you can ie enjoy them during the opening acts because as SOOOOON as the headliner takes it, everyone and their effin' eff decides they need to walk back and forth behind the pit. Aren't you people supposed to be watching the show?! Trust me, you really didn't need the beer and why didn't you think to get it sooner?! Ugh. UGH! So instead of watching R.E.M., I got to watch a bunch of people walking in front of R.E.M. and my line of vision.

3. The National's performance of "Mistaken For Strangers". That is my favourite song by them (oh I've decided I like them well enough. They're cool and an easy listening experience) and they fuck it up. If I didn't hear anything else by them that night I'd be okay but I waited for 2 weeks to hear that shart and I got the lead singer singing without his trademark baritone. Really...I want to scream at them for being asses, or him rather. Thinking about it now, I probably should have because he may have heard me, I would have been kicked out and I would not have had to experience the assness that was Julia Stiles. I did myself an unkindness.

Also worth mentioning, the lead singer's stage persona sucks an ass. I swear the man was drunk and brain challenged, not that there's anyting wrong with being brain challenged but if you're putting the act on then yes, it's very wrong.



4. The crowd. O.M.G. As expected, of the thousands at MSG, I found a total of 7 people who were not white. Alright, okay, whatever. That's fine. I guess but the fact that they were not... aging well, and I had to wonder what rhythm they were hearing to put down the 'dances' they did. Yes, I can say that that was not a good look. At all.

5. The Pit. What pit? Not that I expected a pit, kind of understanding what crowd may have been in attendance (and were, much to my dismay) but it was still sad to see seats in a pit. SEATS. A seated pit! Lame. Just...lame.

6. My failed camera. Again. You'd swear from the pictures I was a million miles away but no, thanks to x3 Optical zoom, I got shart!!!!! I was much closer than it appears, honest.

7. My inability to get good shots of bassists. Sorry, Peter!

8. No H1. Yeah, this was the saddest part and should be first on this list. She couldn't come with and not that Chrissy Lee was not good company but it's always sad when H1 is not with.

The Highlights:

1. R.E.M. of course. They performed an excellent show as expected. The sound was great, the songs were great (even the ones I shamefully admit I did not know) and the stage set up was great. The guys rocked!!!



2. Michael Stipe. I've always loved that man and if ever there was a doubt as to why, all that has been erased. From Bush bashing to banter, to stage antics to the dancing! M.Stipe was amazing. And boy can he dance. He was great fun, the jokes were funny and he was fabulous.



3. Mike Mills. He performed a song, vocals and guitar work which was quite awesome and cute. Aww, love that little M.Mills. So cute!



4. Modest Mouse was awesome. I went in with no kind of expectations from them considering a DJ once described them in concert as "putting up a poster of the band on your wall, putting in their cd and listening to it while staring at the poster". Turns out, their latest album did not do them dirty, nor me. 2 drummers (you how I love not 1 but 2 drummers!) and The Smith's guitarist Johnny Marr will do that for you and will certainly assist in not sucking.



Note-worthy mention to Johnny Marr who rocked with Modest Mouse and then later on with R.E.M on their final 3 songs. Ooo, I love him now.



5. For all the 2 shits they pulled, The National were good. I was happy I saw them and their setlist was awesome save that damned Mr. November song I dislike but kind of have a better liking for now since they dedicated it to "Barack", as if Barack pitched marbles with them in school.



6. Did I mention a megaphone? Ah yes, Michael brought it out during Orange Crush and you know how I love me a megaphone especially a tossed one, though I'm not quite sure what happened to it after that song was done...



7. R.E.M.'s performance of "Let Me In" was very much awesome, even if all that mainly stood out other than the song was Michaels head. Har Har.



8. Surprising Chrissy Lee. He was happy. That counts for a lot.

The R.E.M. "Accelerate 2008 Tour" @ Madison Square Garden on 06/19/2008:

1. Living Well Is the Best Revenge
2. These Days
3. What's the Frequency, Kenneth?
4. Bad Day
5. Drive
6. Hollow Man
7. Ignoreland
8. Man-Sized Wreath
9. Leaving New York
10. Disturbance At The Heron House
11. Houston
12. Electrolite
13. (Don't Go Back To) Rockville
14. Driver 8
15. Harborcoat
16. The One I Love
17. Until The Day Is Done
18. Let Me In
19. Horse To Water
20. Pretty Persuasion
21. Orange Crush
22. I'm Gonna DJ

Encore:

23. Supernatural Superserious
24. Losing My Religion
25. Begin The Begin
26. Fall On Me
27. Man On The Moon

The Modest Mouse 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:

Invisible
Dance Hall
Satin In A Coffin
Custom Concern
Fire It Up
Truckers Atlas
King Rat
Dashboard
Education (Jam ending)
The Good Times Are Killing Me

The National 06/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden Setlist:

Start A War
Brainy
Baby We'll Be Fine
Slow Show
Mistaken For Strangers
Squalor Victoria
Secret Meeting
Apartment Story
Fake Empire
Mr. November

Memorable Conversation of Today 6/23/2008:

A convo. had in the kitchen at work this morning

Or 2: I like these marble cutting boards. Yeah, we need one of those.
H1: Yeah, they're cool. We should get one.
Or 2: You know, I have space in my bag...

Currently listening to: "Stay Don't Go" by Spoon. I wonder if H1 would object if I got tickets to see them...

The Things We've Missed For The Past 4 Weeks

It's been a rough few weeks and the HoChies have been quite busy. Life keeps moving though but sometimes it's hard to move along with it. There have been days when all we wanted to do was resist the flow, and just be stagnant. There have been many days where trudging to the daily routine was more than a task but life keeps throwing itself in our faces. There's work to be done (and extra busy H1 has been), hours to be made and things to do.

I had no intention of writing a post like this but here it is. I really should use this extra time to go take a "nap" before I head off.

In any event, in the last four weeks we've seen the return of Beetchie! Fun times have already been had but not nearly enough. It's never enough but when is it ever?
We had dim sum together, watched Iron Man together (which was not a bad movie, actually), gained and lost fans, a PR Firm and bodyguards for the Oxtails.

Congratulations to the B. on her first semester at Vet. School. We are proud.

Chrissy Lee is here! Unfortunately he has gotten a cold passed along by yours truly. Heh, I may be a bitch but this was unintentional, honest! He brought me presents of various kinds - food, and lots of good jokes but also tortured me by dragging me to the 5Th Ave. Apple Store. Ugh. Thanks. Thanks for torturing me Chrissy Lee.

He's here and we're enjoying our time with - last night we played Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. He cheated in scrabble and has been leaving a trail of smug all over. It's been a while since we've lounged on the couch together, so this time is most welcome.

H1 and I have still been walking arm in arm to work, yesterday I had to hold her by a string or else she would wander into the street. We've missed opportunities at free stuff: t-shirts, plastic frisbees, umbrellas, bags and plastic blow up balls all in support of a green Eco campaign. Ironic much? Yeah. But we saved the environment some and saved our mental health by not crossing the street to get swag near the Faux News Building.

Evening addition/edit:

Sadness descended on to us today not that it has really left us since that day but on cue, Brian still found a way to mess with me this day. But I do what I always do when he does that and did that - I laugh.

We did not miss the opportunity to get swag off the street today. It was not as "cool" as yesterday's but we got Chrissy Lee a brand new Egrip for his brand new Samsung powered by Sprint phone when he gets it.

What else happened today? Hmmm... well, we did go to Burger King and got an Iron Man toy for Chrissy Lee to assemble. Go ahead Chrissy Lee, I didn't see you use the Internet to snap that together. Tch. I guess that's why it took you so long though. Har har.

And finally, today I was supposed to find out if I won free tickets for Coldplay but it seems like I will not be seeing toilet on the 23rd. My luck is poor because even for things I don't want to win, I still lose.

Ah well.

Currently listening to: "Mistaken for Strangers" by The National. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this band yet but it's growing on me.