what you missed last night: modernist relaunch

the smurfettes, and a few of the smurfs, live and in color. some of us did a better job of avoiding the camera than others.

for more, check caught in the flash.

you could cut the sexual tension with a plastic spork.

m.m.c. givin the shift eye; dj neville chamberlain in a suit?!

papa smurf and his smurfette.

d-mac.

pretty pretty princess.

girl crush: new and old.

i am not, as you will see, a morning person

its 9:30 on a saturday morning and ive been awake and quasi-functional for three and a half hours, two and a half of those at work. i actually got up earlier this morning than i do during the week which is completely unnecessary. however, its for a good cause: papa smurf is taking some of the smurfettes and i to a show at merriweather this afternoon. so, while it sucks to be at work at 7 a.m. on a saturday, its a little easier knowing that by 5pm i will be drinking gin and tonics, picnicking, listening to thievery corporation and manu chao, and generally smurfing it up.

on a smurf related topic: one of the principals at van nasty world head quarters actually said "excellent smurfing" to me on friday. im glad to hear that my one woman mission to bring "smurf" back is starting to catch on.

on a music related topic: pink martini played wolftrap on monday. shows at wolftrap are one of my favorite summer activities. who doesnt love packing a picnic and sitting on a nice summer night (i seriously almost wrote summers eve prompting me to think "who talks like that?" followed quickly by "ewwwww!")? unfortunately for me, i miss pink martini every time they come to town, and monday was no exception. last summer they played the lisner and the a.s.s. was supposed to get us tickets; granted, i should have known better than to put him in charge of ticket buying for a show i, and not he, wanted to see. as you would expect, that little endeavor went pear shaped. this year i was determined to go! however, my desire and determination was in direct opposition to the wilting summer heat and the inaugural night of fort reno. somehow, in spite of a plethora of other options, i ended up once again spending the night bonding with the couch and watching me without you, which for what its worth, is a great movie.

*update: hah! its obviously way too early for me because i totally forgot the purpose of this little trip down memory lane which was: i went in to work on tuesday and c.s. (my sister from another mother) asked the boss: how was pink martini? which prompted me to go apoplectic because, omg, not only could i have had someone to go to the show with, but it could have been the boss man to whom i have an entire wall dedicated as an alter (complete with photos, always burning incense, and hugo boss shoes).

you are invited

despite having grown up in d.c., the dismemberment plan's "final" show at fort reno was both my first fort reno show, and my first time hearing the band (my teen years were punctuated by horrible choices in music -- my first c.d. was c&c music factory if that tells you anything). last nights sold out reunion show reminded me how much i love them; something i havent thought about since seeing their actual final show at the 9:30 club.

my plan for last night had been: dance rehearsal and laundry. at 10:30 am i received an email from a friend offering up a ticket to the nights sold out show to the fastest responder. i believe my exact response was "me! memememememe! pick me!" fortunately, i was not only the most enthusiastic but also the fastest.

i arrived at black cat at 930 to meet m.m. who was running a little late. the music in the club was deafening; somehow despite owning hundreds of pairs of ear plugs i, once again, found myself without any (hence why i own literally hundreds of them). since they vend in the machine for 50 cents, i needed to buy something that would give me quarters (or at least this was my logic and the only acceptable reason to ever order a pbr). i dont drink beer and it took me a good hour to knock it back - only half way through did i notice they sell earplugs upstairs at the bar meaning i could have ordered a drink that was actually drinkable. it was around the same time that i remembered m.m., l.w. and i's mutual lust for the bass player which gave me new cause for excitement.

something about dismemberment plan makes me feel like im in middle school; something more than the fact that the average age of concertgoers in the room was 17. their lyrics are dramatic, and wistful, passionate and intense. they remind me of the days when you would spend hours dissecting every word a boy said to you, interpreting every glance and feeling like the fate of your future happiness relied entirely on how he responded to your "do you like me? check yes, no or maybe" note. which for me was just last week.

m.m. and i had an amazing time dancing, laughing, singing loudly and out of tune, and watching the tweensters rush the stage before the set was even over. plus, the passing around of an R rated cake made it feel like fort reno's annual "night of a 1000 cupcakes."

in the car on the way home, m.m. reminded me that we actually have dismemberment plan to thank for our friendship. l.w. met m.m. through a "mutual friend" (a.k.a. a boy who picked them both up separately at bars) at a dismemberment plan show. it was love. the three of us (and the boy) have been friends ever since.

so to them, and to you, i say:

you are invited
by anyone to do anything
you are invited for all time
and you are so needed
by everyone to do everything
you are invited for all time

besides, how do you not love a band that does a punk cover of beyonce's irreplaceable?!

"plan b"

last night, j.k. and i went to the justin jones and the driving rain show at the continuing my recent trend of seeing singer-song writers yummy enough to eat (after reading his press clips, i realized he doesnt just bare a striking resemblance to the cute boy who served me a drink at 930 club on wednesday, but in fact is the cute boy who served me a gin and tonic on wednesday).

we arrived to the show late and were fed misinformation leading us to believe that we had actually missed j.j.a.t.d.r.; thankfully that wasnt the case. this was confirmed by a guy sitting at the bar who asked us if the band current band was up, and if j.j. had started yet; turns out, he was the drummer.

after the show while trying to decide where to move our party of two to, we settled in at the bar for one drink. there were exactly two empty seats at the bar, but they werent together. we asked the man in the middle to move so we could sit together, and he graciously did. he moved back forming a triangle with him in the middle. not really what we had in mind, however, after boyfriend started buying us shots of jameson, it stopped mattering.

the bartender, who ive met before with dewey, was fun, friendly and took great care of us. at one point he sat with j.k. and i and said "the bars closing, and im gonna say some rude shit to clear this place out. none of it applies to you two. you stay as long as you would like." and we did. i rolled home sometime north of 4 a.m.

ive recently realized that while i love to drink, and i love alcohol, i really, really dont like being drunk. and even more embarrassing, i heart fruity, girly drinks. i like drinks that taste good and fresh with interesting flavors like pineapple basil, cucumber vanilla or lemon rosemary martinis. i know this is going to sound crazy, but, i actually want to enjoy what im drinking, and want it to taste good. i celebrated this big girl realization by doing five shots of jameson washed down by pink shooters that tasted like tequila, and rail gin and tonics.