Saturday, March 04, 2006

Social Schizophrenia

Washington Square Park, 1 AM


Above: It took me four years of Latin lessons to learn how to buy schwag from the people who live beneath this arch....


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With the exception of an overcrowded party at my apartment and a drunken disaster at Dumpstaphunk, I haven't spent a weekend in New York City since 2005. So, I decided to make the most of my "vacation" home and spend Friday night bouncing around the Village as if seguing between stages at a hippie jam-fest. In case I missed you during my evening-long adventure, here's a brief Jambands.com style recap (a full sit-in report is still pending publicist approval...)

Opening Act: FaDa with Jenny



7-8:15 PM: In general, I think I am pretty good at FaDas, a.k.a fake dates with old friends. Especially when those FaDas involve spaghetti marinara and recycled jokes. I always like seeing people after a long hiatus because, usually, I've compiled enough stories to make my life seem mildly interesting. I feel bad for those of you see me every day...there are only so many ways to make my Tuna tales exciting.




Set 1: The Skidmore Scope Photo Shoot

8:30-10:30: The Skidmore Scope is my college's alumni magazine. Since graduating, I've been to lazy to write an update about myself, but Friendster has allowed me to properly stalk those nearest and dearest to my heart. Between 8:30 and 10:30, I had drinks with not one, but two members of my senior classes' presidential administration. Since I was an editor at our school paper, I guess you can say they were lobbying me, expect I ended up buying the first round of drinks (where is Nixon when you need him)

Setbreak: A Spam Filled Interview


11-12:45 AM

At 10:45, I had to shift back into work mode (which for me basically means adjusting the part in my hair and turning off my ipod) and truck across town to interview the Spam Allstars at SOBS. For the first two and a half years I worked at Relix, we were located directly above SOBS, yet I only stepped foot into the club once (I guess Phish tends to shy away from the afro-Cuban scene). Too bad---its a pretty cool room.

Instead of mingling at the bar after our interview, I decided to take a lap around my old neighborhood. For my soundtrack, I chose a number of artists I've discovered since first stepping foot into 180 Varick (Relix's old address). Sometime during My Morning Jacket's "Mahgeeta," I walked past the dinner I had lunch at before my initial interview in of August 2003 and a bit misty eyed. It's weird that I've been in New York long enough to feel nostalgic about anything, really, let alone long enough to call something made out of bricks and cement home. John Lennon once said that life is what happens when your busy making other plans. I'm not sure if that’s completely correct, so I'm going to rework his sentence to say life is what happens when your worrying about other things. Anyway, while searching for the meaning of life in my favorite gentrified corner of the city I looked up to see this....


I'm not surprised this show failed...who wants to hear about an introspective, love stricken music geek anyway....


Set 3: Hi-Fi, Cheers for Hipsters

1:10: 2:00 AM: In indie-rock folk-lore, Hi-Fi is the bar where Ryan Adams, Interpol, Jesse Malin and a host of other hipster-approved bands got their start back when this watering hole was called Brownies. In Mikey Greenhaus folk-lore, Hi-Fi is the bar where I publicly made some girl cry. They have the same jukebox though.....go figure


Set 4: Close Encounters of the Iz Kind


1:10-3:00 AM: John Iz was my roommate for two years in college. Now, he's a producer at NBC (or WNNNNNBC as Howard Stern would say). Though he's since shed his hippie hair, he's still the same old John Iz, only with a more impressive job title (not that Skidmore New Editor in Chief was too shabby). John insisted that we go to some dance club located in the basement of Niagara. I don't know how to dance, but I do know how to bounce (and drink) so I managed to wing it. Alas, the only thing I went home with is a hangover.

Encore: Slave to the Traffic Light


At 3:08 in the morning, apparently, documenting this sign made me feel deep.

Encore 2: Home


Its always nice to come home to your one true love...

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