Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Birthday Boys

Before I remember what actually happened, I figured I should post some pictures from my belated birthday party. And since I really have nowhere else to put it, I also included the I invite I sent out. All photos were taken by the great Morgan Fedele...




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After a few weeks of continuously pressing refresh on my evite page, I’m excited that you’ve all either RSVPed for our party or at least glanced at our invite in that “yeah, I’m coming, chill out” kind of way. It should be fun, even if I’m not actually sure what we are celebrating. Anyway, as promised, I invited a few bands to come play for you while I stand around awkwardly and most likely walk away in the middle of our conversations. Sorry about that, I have an acute case of party ADD.

Times/Bands:

So I am excited that this Saturday, at 11:00 PM SHARP, American Babies are going to take the stage for us at Ace of Clubs. In case I’m speaking music geek to you,



American Babies:

Tom Hamilton

Joe Russo

Scott Metzger

Jim Hamilton

These four men have spent the better part of the past decade playing in some of my favorite bands---ever, really---including the Benevento/Russo Duo, Brothers Past, RANA, Electron and Bustle in Your Hedgerow and managed to create one of the best albums of the year, without actually sounding like any of the bands I just mentioned (think a post-jam version of Ryan Adams or/Counting Crows depending on how you order your self-depreciative indie/country-rock).

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Since I know the only thing more fun than going to a party is going to a party fashionably late, I want emphasize that they are going on at 11 PM Sharp. So please, please, please try to get there by 11, even if that means starting your pre-game right this minute (I talked to your boss/mom, its cool).


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Oh yeah, that’s 11 PM razor tongue sarcastic sharp, not SRST (standard rock star time) or even SNMGET (standard neurotic Mike Greenhaus evite time).

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I’m also excited that after American Babies (around 12:30) we’re going to host the live debut of a brand new band, Cliffsidepush, featuring not only some of the best musicians around, but also some of my closest friends: Suman Mitra, Eric Pietrzak, Jordan Marion and Jon Gonzales. While these four rising stars know more than a thing or too about playing music in public, and have frequented some of my favorite haunts like Wetlands and Falstaffs, they also know my deepest and darkest secrets and know that all I really want for my birthday is a tall glass of chocolate milk. Plus, Eric is the only person who has played my parent’s basement, my college crash pad and my increasingly belated Hungover for the Holidays party and also shares my outdated haircut (whatever the 1990s were fun)

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After that (around 2 AM) I’ll probably continue to get drunk and reminisce about a time I actually spent complaining about than enjoying, but I digress…

Directions:

For those of you unfamiliar with the Ace of Clubs, it is located at the former Acme Underground (which is, oddly ,enough located under the Acme Bar and Grill).It’s official address is Lafayette and Great Jones, which roughly translates to “3rd street and Broadway” in MTA terms or “near B-Bar” in underage drinking terms.

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Neuroses:

And since no one likes to get to a party where they don't know anyone and everyone likes to get to a party where they feel special, I've also taken the liberty to coming up with a short time schedule of when you should all come by, complete with a special VIP pass.

1) Friends who attended a small collegiate prep-school in Rye, NY between the years 1993 and 1999 and, despite helping fund this glorious display of self-indulgence, are cringing at the increasing number of anti-Bush, pro-Phish references in my evites should show up at 10:36PM and reminded me what I looked like with braces and an, um, bad hair cut.

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2) Friends with whom I spent one to 48 months in a small artistic oasis in upstate New York ironing out our rebellious post-adolescent, pre-indie rock angst should arrive at 10:42, spend 8-16 minutes reminiscing about a time we complained about before freaking out that we have now been out of Skidmore longer than we were actually there (graduation asterisk pending).

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3) Friends with whom I spent one to 48 months in a small artistic oasis in upstate New York ironing out our rebellious post-adolescent, pre-indie rock angst and with whom I lived/squatted in a big yellow house thereby catapulting us to a level of not quite friend, but not quite family fraternal love should arrive at 10:50 and bring me the money you still owe me from that last electricity bill.

4) Friends with whom I spent one to 48 months in a small artistic oasis in upstate New York ironing out our rebellious post-adolescent, pre-indie rock angst and with whom I share a love of the theater/and or comedy should bring your passports because this bar is located a full 6 avenues from Avenue C and cheers Justin Shatraw when the clock strikes 12

5) Friends with whom I spent one to 48 months in a small artistic oasis in upstate New York ironing out our rebellious post-adolescent, pre-indie rock and with whom I worked on the Skidmore News should arrive at 10:46 and bring 1-3 tangible examples of the fact that I never knew how to spell or use my grammar check (but that I saw a ton of Phish shows back in the day).

6) Friends who I met in a "field" or "lot" and with whom I’ve spent the majority of the past decade discussing a popular quartet from either Burlington, VT or Philadelphia, PA should arrive at 10:50 and take shot every second that goes by when someone doesn’t mention the words PT of Kidz
7) Friends who are girls that I never hooked up with because of some lingering 7th grade insecurity, thus leading to a stream of crazy text messages, e-mail chains and blog entries, should arrive at 10:57 and probably avoid my blog Sunday

8) Friends with whom I work at a small music magazine whose out of office climate is alternately described as a “fraternity” or a “mafia family” should arrive at 10:45, wear a Relix t-shirt, dance in the front row and not expect me in the office until at least next Tuesday.

9) Friends who I don’t actually know but who consider themselves “fun,” “cool,” “sexy,” “interesting” or “easy” should come at 11 PM, and buy Juan a drink

10) Friends who are named “Dee” or “Gabby” and with whom I have now celebrated my birthday no less than 3 times this year should know the drill by now…

11) Friends who were in my Top 8 before I decided that having a Top 8 was causing more problems than it was worth and ultimately shifted to Facebook anyway, should arrive at 9PM and remember that your VIP passes are secretly discussed as the cash I need to fund this thing.

12) Friends who I met through seeing a lot of live music around New York city should pick up passes marked “special,” “why special” (red back),” “why special” (green back)” and “infinitely special” at the door and try their hardest to convince me that they never liked jambands, despite the fact that their dog is named Reba and their license plate read Forbin420 until last September

13) Friends with whom I share a “mom,” “grandma” or “great grandma” should arrive at 10:30 and promise not to mention anything that actually happens tomorrow night at Thanksgiving, Passover or the High Holidays (but smirk lovingly during those 4 questions)

What else?

Oh yeah, despite what this e-mail might imply, I have a blog (http://www.greenhauseffect.com/), tri-weekly podcast (www.relix.com/radio) and JOB (http://www.relix.com/ and http://www.jambands.com/). Stop by and see what I’m doing when I should be sleeping and/or enjoying my 20s

I think that’s it, so I will see you all before 11 PM this Saturday. If you want to bounce with the bands with me, please check out their MySpace pages.

http://www.myspace.com/tomhamiltonsamericanbabies

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=269954450

Love you all, even those of you who will give me an ulcer my showing up at 11:08

Mikey Greenhaus, on behalf of Jon “I have a real job now” Goldstein and Juan “I have a real job now, or at least a annual stipend” Martinez
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1 comment:

veryluna1 said...

thanks for the shout-out Mike!