1/20/07 - Asia represent!

the weather’s been corpse-cold lately and me no likey. it is winter, tho.
not like i won’t still be complaining in the summer when it’s crotch hot.
anyhoozle…


been a while since i posted here, but i figure i never need to worry about that since i have no readers. there’s a rainer maria farewell show i could type up, but my memory of a month ago is shot to hell, so forget that. instead, i’ll focus on last night while it’s still somewhat fresh. wait, did anything happen last night? oh right…

well, i was in the city again. can i just say that i hate walking around the union square Wholefoods market? of course i can. the checkout lines are so neverending that they cascade into and around every aisle and space, disabling shoppers from maneuvering about said aisles with any ease whatsoever. in my case, i am never there to shop. only to look for G, who i am slowly beginning to care about again. that store is giNORmous, so looking for her is a chore despite her always working the same department. my main gripe is how the checkout customers never seem to care that they’re in the way. they always give you that look when you excuse yourself through the line as if you’re in their way or executing some sly plan to cut them in line. do you see me w/ any fuckin’ groceries, people? no, you don’t. anyway, if any of them were smart, they’d eat some of their items while waiting in line. the bill wouldn’t cost as much and the line would move all the more quickly w/ less items to be rung up per customer. seriously. it ain’t stealing if you intend to purchase. and while you were mulling that over, i just cut you in line.

actually, i had just stopped by the market to drop something off for G. i had gotten there after she usually leaves so i didn’t expect her to be there. it turned out that she was and i found her downstairs. i can’t believe how she can always pretend that bad things never happened. even if she’s the reason they happened. sigh. blah blah blah… we're supposed to go to a show together next month. we’ll see how that goes.

yesterday was also troy’s birthday. he is now 87 years young. :) no, not really. but 'happy birthday, troy.’ sorry i couldn’t make the shindig. but seriously… ‘how ‘bout calling back when you’re not expecting a well wish?’ ’ i don’t care if you’ve gotta fuck the ‘can you hear me now’ guy. get a new phone. seriously. :)
as he knows, High Chai was my next stop after Wholefoods. i had taken the subway to the latter, but decided to walk to the former. once again, i was only stopping by to drop something off since the party for troy’s bday was to be held simultaneously as the show i was seeing at bowery ballroom an hour later. after a delicious and slowly eaten meal at Gracefully, i walked the rest of my way to bowery in the still freezing cold.


Bowery Ballroom – 1/20/07
Ane Brun / Vienna Teng / Hem / Kaki King / Ollabelle


i was only there to see ane, vienna, and kaki, having never heard of hem or ollabelle. i suppose i could’ve done some ‘googling’ to better prepare myself for the show, but i’ve been too lazy at the computer lately. hence the lack of blog updates.

the show was sold out, but you wouldn’t have known it as ane started her set at 8pm. fine by me. i was close to the stage w/ plenty of breathing room. people were still rudely sitting on the ground during her first song, but eventually stood after being told to do so. nina somebody was sitting near her on stage to accompany her w/ backing vocals. she reminded me of someone i know so i barely looked at her. :) ane was great. she’s scandinavian and not touring here often enough. she did have a show in the area last year, but i couldn’t make it, so it was nice to finally see her live. after her set, more people had entered the room for vienna. as much as i wanted a cigarette, i really didn’t wanna to lose my spot for her set. so i stayed put. ahem… never before had i been surrounded by so many non-filipino asians. it was awesome! of course, i probably slipped under the radar to most of ‘em, but STILL! good times. power in numbers, right? right. vienna.was.phenomenal. i'm a longtime fan, but this, too, was my first time seeing her live despite her frequent trips to nyc. apparently, she’s about to move here so we’ll all probably have tons of chances to see her. in fact, she’s playing a double-header at joe’s pub in april that i hope to attend.

i was standing near the stage in front of alex wong, who was also great last night. cool sneakers too.

i didn’t have too good a view of todd sickafoose on bass, but i don’t think anyone did. he was kinda hidden in the corner behind the cellist. everything musical about the set was great, including a ‘baroche-off’ between marika and dina on cello and violin, respectively. vienna joined in at first, but soon let the two of them duel it out while she sat back and enjoyed along w/ the rest of us. my only real problem of the night was some tiny short-haired blonde who stood beside me near the beginning of the set. she had to be w/ some magazine or internet music site or something considering how many pictures she took and what type of camera she had. she didn’t even know who was on stage, having to ask one of my ‘brethren’ who she was listening to. not to mention.. she had zero rhythm. props to her for enjoying the music and all, but she and her camera slowly took over the space i was already occupying and her off-beat timing was annoying as all hell. AND she never said excuse me when her hand or elbow was in my face. she bumped into me more times than i could count and she never once looked over to acknowledge me. ‘you’re welcome, pixie bad dance girl. screw you.’ when vienna’s set was over, i applauded til my hands hurt, then ran away from ms. manners as fast as i ignited my lighter for a well-deserved smoke outside.

the bowery ‘smoke doorman’ soooo knows me every time i first see him at a show. kinda neat. not healthy, just neat.

i came back inside to see what the merch booth had to offer. there was a small crowd there buying vienna cds, even though ane brun was standing right there. i was about to ask her for an autograph when some girl i recognized from standing near me upstairs asked about some of her songs and which cd to buy. from her description of the songs she liked, i told her to go w/ ‘a temporary dive,’ which is the cd booklet i brought along w/ me in case the exact opportunity i was about to seize should arise. when my attention returned to ane, she was talking to some guy working the booth. she was facing me again after i took out my camera and she kindly obliged me w/ a photo. i asked her for the autograph and she said she didn’t have a pen. ‘that’s ok, i have one!’ so i reached into my jacket pocket and first took out the booklet i thought was ane’s to place in front of her. i was wrong. it was kaki king’s. i was already fishing around my pocket for a marker to bother grabbing it back, but i came up w/ the right booklet and marker for her to sign w/out too much embarrassment. she was very polite. i’m happy to say that she was impressed w/ my knowledge of her music and happily (so it seemed) listened along as i caught the person beside me up on ane’s current goings-on. i was quite dorky. too bad i couldn’t catch her show tonight at ‘the living room,’ but i anticipated plans today w/ my sister (more on that later).

vienna teng showed up at the booth while i was ‘brun’ing. two chicks from long island seemed to be keeping her amused w/ their ‘holding up the line’ antics. someone else in their party showed up and they loudly went on about getting their picture taken w/ vienna. during the ‘excitement,’ vienna came around to our side of the table for them, but nobody wanted to grab the camera and be excluded from the pic. so i offered to take it for them and… wow. those first two girls were so excited and needlessly grateful that they inundated me w/ ‘thank yous’ before i even took the damn photo. it was a digital cam, so i know it came out nicely. thank god. i was happy for them, tho. they seemed like nice women and i was glad to help out. but then it was time to be happy for myself. i wanted a pic too. but an autograph first… in case my own pic opportunity didn’t happen. i was rushed to leave home earlier yesterday and didn’t have the time to burrow my way through the mess that closed off the ‘T’ section of my cds. so i had to buy another copy of vienna’s latest release for her to sign, which i’ll probably keep in the car or something. vienna noticed me attacking the sealed cd w/ my teeth like a cro-mag and offered to open it for me, which she was quite good at. i suck at opening those things and probably would have been standing there long enough to break a sweat and still have a sealed cd if she hadn’t helped. i did get my picture taken w/ her… by one of the LI women! yes, they were still there. mingling, i guess. i handed her my camera and she said something about sending me the picture in an email, thinking she’d have to use her camera. i was like, ‘no, i have MY camera’ and she eventually understood. the picture came out great even though i’m in it, so thanks to vienna and thanks to LI woman #1. glad you were still sober enough. i kid out of love.


look at our eyes! we’re like sisters from another mother! hee hee.
she’s quite pretty, isn’t she? and very, very cool. so nice to finally meet her.
‘down to earth’ is so cliché, but true for artists such as her. i hope to meet her again at the next show.


i went back upstairs and managed to regain my spot on the floor even though the room was nearly packed. apparently i was (still) in the minority, but this time for not knowing who or what the hell HEM was. when the lights died down about 80 people walking onstage. 80! ok, it was actually 10, but damn! Hem is comprised of 5 men and 5 women. imagine every cool teacher you ever had formed a band… that’s Hem. well, there was the harpist who looked more like the teacher you liked, but felt sorry for cuz she let other students sass back to her, but she looked like the lovechild of marla from project runway: season 2 and phyllis from ‘the office,’ so she was cool enough just for that. oh, and one of the guitarists looked like my ex’s middle-aged doppelganger. even the ugly orange shirt he was wearing. scary. i kinda liked two of their songs, but i didn’t get into them as much as i was hoping to. i figured they’d be pretty spectacular, having billing over ane and vienna, but maybe i just expected too much and judged them unfairly. whatever. when their set was done, i again stayed put for kaki, the last artist i was eager to see. she did NOT disappoint. she’s an amazing guitar virtuoso and her instrumentals are captivating. of course, i’m jealous as fuck cuz she’s my age and i can only rock 5 chords. camera girl was still next to me, but made a bold move in front of me. damn, did i wanna hit her ‘accidentally.’ more elbow in my face.
argh.

kaki’s set was over too soon, but it was already a little after midnite. i was either gonna try catching the 12:41 or the 1:41 train back to jersey, depending on how the show ran. since i didn’t know what an Ollabelle was either, and i wasn’t impressed by Hem, i decided to leave early. i used the bathroom one last time, but there was a line. i looked over at one of the lounge sofas and ane saw me and waved. (how cute!) i waved back like a dolt. seriously. it was one of those shake-waves that lasts for two long seconds. i turned back to the face the bathroom, but that nina somebody who sang backup for ane caught my eye. so i waved to her too and said, ‘hello.’ she gave me an awkward ‘hello’ back and i kiddingly told her she didn’t know me. she replied w/, ‘no. i don’t.’ ouch. i hope she didn’t mean it as coldly as she sounded, but it only made me laugh inside since she was the one i ignored onstage for looking like someone i know. i soon left to grab a cab to penn station. and that’s when the ‘magic’ happened.

there were too many other people trying to catch a cab on delancey st. in front of the venue, so i went off to a side street to better my chances. soon enough, a cab pulled up to let four guys out and i asked the cabbie if i could have it when they were done. he said, ‘sure,’ and i waited for them all to get out and gather up enough fare money. they were kind about making me wait, which really didn’t take too long, but remember: it was freezing. as soon as the last guy got out, some guy swooped into the cab before me since i was on the outer side of the door. i was like, ‘excuse me. this is my cab. i've been waiting.’ this guy was obviously drunk and said we could share. gee, thanks. the fourth guy who previously occupied the cab looked at me and called the guy an asshole before leaving. i again asked drunk guy to please get out so i could catch my train and he asked if i was going to new jersey. technically, i was. but he meant straight to jersey in the cab, not to penn station. i told him i wasn’t and asked again for him to get out. he kept asking if i was going to new fuckin’ jersey and wouldn’t take no for an answer. the cab driver was getting annoyed at the guy and told him to get out. drunk guy told him to shut up because he was talking to me, not him. time was quickly passing and my train wasn’t gonna wait. i got mad and told him (not asked) to get out of MY cab and to get another one. minutes of arguing went on between me, him, and the cabbie who wanted him gone more than i did. i threw some verbal gems at drunk guy, but of course i can’t remember any of them. the cabbie had gotten out of the cab to stand by me and did his best to get drunk guy out of his cab via profanity use w/out getting physical. props to cabbie cuz i was about to pull drunk guy out on my own. no joke. he said he would get out when he found another cab cuz it was cold outside. ‘no shit!,’ i said. ‘ i’m still standing in the cold thanks to you! get out and find another cab!’ ‘no, it’s cold,’ he again said. the cabbie radioed for police while drunk guy yelled and yelled about how rude the cabbie was. not to mention how stupid he thought the cabbie was for refusing double fare to nj. the cabbie had asked to see the money at first, but drunk guy said he wouldn’t give it to him up front. he even told him to ask for some guy in the bar he just came out of to vouch for him. apparently drunk guy was at his best friend’s bachelor party. i’m betting he got so drunk out of repressed homoerotic feelings for said friend and this is how he was dealing w/ seeing him engaged to some other unlucky bastard (i have to assume anyone allegedly best friends w/ this asshole is either a saint or another asshole. i know liquor doesn’t bring out the best in everybody, but i was in no mood to justify drunk guy’s behavior when it was poorly affecting me. so for current blog’s sake, bachelor guy will unfairly be considered an asshole too).
i was so over this debacle.
i tried hailing another cab, but couldn’t from where i was standing. i was too pissed to think straight and just stayed there, wishing in futility to already be at penn station. a few cold minutes later, a taxi van put it’s ‘available’ light on and i brought it to drunk guy’s attention w/ my finger-pointing. he got out, saying, ‘he’ll take me to new jersey. i asked the cabbie again if he’d take me to penn and he told me to get in quickly and lock the door. by then it was 12.25 and i had a bad feeling i wasn’t gonna make my train.

i was right.

at 12:42, we were only at 23rd and broadway, so i asked him to let me out and just walked the rest of the way. ARGH! i so woulda made it if it hadn’t been for asshole drunk guy!
it was still cold, but not as windy as earlier in the day. i walked quickly, but it’s not like i didn’t have time to kill. so i put my headphones back on to keep me company. pinch my arm for me thinking that my mp3 player was on point last night. it was apparently in a death cab for cutie mood, despite being on shuffle, but i got some moz, lacuna coil, kristin hersh, etc. that made me happy happy happy. then there were those TWO new kids on the block songs that got me silly (even in the cold). then i realized that i’m the one who uploaded these songs. of course i love whatever comes on. same thing happens when i listen to a cd made for my car. i get all giddy that every song is killer, no filler, forgetting that i compiled the tracklist. ‘hey, i like this one too!’ i’m an idiot.

at penn station, i had enough time for what’s possibly the best slice of pizza i’ve ever eaten. the name of the place has ‘rose’ in it or something, located near the A,C,E subway entrance downstairs by the LIRR wing. go get some.

once on the train… the 1:41am train… i looked over the pics i had taken at the show. still left on my memory card were three pics i had saved from christmas of my niece, nephew, and sister. i haven’t seen them since then and miss them, so i called my sister, who had earlier invited me to go along to lancaster county, pa today. (if i had caught the train i wanted to, i would’ve gotten home by 2am and been fine enough to wake up at 7am to be at her home near trenton by 8:30). i told her i would see how things went and would be at her place by 8:30 if i decided to go. well, i didn’t get home til 3, took a bath, and didn’t fall asleep til just after 4. my alarm did wake me at 7, but i wasn’t havin’ it. snooze wasn’t even an option. i reset the alarm and went right back to fuckin’ sleep. i probably would have just spent money i don’t have on things i don’t need anyway. but i still miss them. so maybe next weekend… as long as i don't need to take a cab.