always a bridesmaid...

don't worry - this is not me lamenting that i'm always a bridesmaid and never a bride. i don't need to be a bride. i am happy with my current arrangement, as it were, thankyouverymuch. seriously. not that weddings and marriages are great and all...i'm just sayin'. not for me. right now. ANYWAY...

the reason i'm even bringing this up is that the lovely meryd, my BFF from days of yore at camp cayuga in the majestic pocono moutains, has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding to the fabulous jay in may! YAAAAAY! that rhymed! heh. i am so excited and honored to be included in this joyous event. i was planning on going to the wedding anyway, but as i told meryd on saturday, "now i guess i really have to go"! time to looks up flights to philly!

i've already seen the dress i am to don and it's actually quite cute and totally re-wearable - score! not that i doubted meryd's taste but you know, bridesmaid dresses can be a bit - shall we say - unflattering? sometimes. although i can't complain, every wedding i've been in had super cute dresses so i've lucked out.

so that's the exciting news for today. although technically this happened on saturday while mike was forcing me to sit through cartoons, as has become a new tradition. (and can i just say, as an aside, that the cartoons available for today's youth are totally sucky compared to what we had as children? where are the care bears? and smurfs? and SNORKS for god's sake. sheesh. /rant.) anyway, the fact that i'm blogging about it five days later goes to show you that i am a slacker. sowwwwry. and now, to bring it back around to the purpose of this post, i leave you with a photo of meryd & i drinking margaritas in NYC last summer. ah, good times.

misty & ted's rock of love.

misty & ted were joined in matrimonial bliss this past weekend at the great american music hall - how very rock 'n roll and AWESOME, huh? best. wedding evarrrr.

i'll post a more detailed account of the festivities soon. i'm trying to watch heroes now though & it demands a lot of attention. hi, nerd.


YES! married!! woohoo!
Originally uploaded by Willo.

kind of a big deal.

what? the glorious day has finally arrived? yes yes! the WilloToons store is live!

i've been lending a helping hand (and brain. and body.) to willo over the past month or so, getting the store ready to unleash it's awesomeness upon the general populous and now you - yes YOU - can sport some of her fabulous designs! and check out those hot models, would ya? wow, how could talent like that go undiscovered until now? haha.

america's next top models.
we are so proud of willo and her kick ass designs and i just know they're going to start flying off of the shelves like hotcakes. if hotcakes were the sort of thing that were stored on shelves. or something. whatever, don't mind me - just go visit the store! doooooo it. the next time i see you, you'd better be wearing a WilloToons tee!

oh! and make sure you check out the baby stuff - it is soooooo cute and little munch (jess' nephew) is one of the models! babies. heh.

fashionist.

my darling friend mai just started a new street fashion blog called fashionist and it is fabulous, i must say! i have always admired mai's own fearless and creative style - so reading about her insights into SF street fashion are both interesting, informative, and inspirational!

plus, i like looking at cute outfits.

check it out, won't you?

reasons why tonight was awesome.

1) i didn't pay for a single drink. and i saw some kick ass rock n' roll for freeeeeeeeeeeeee!

2) this photo:

3) i got to hang out with two of my favorite rawk starrrrs, john & blake.

4) the frames asked the subs to come up and play a song during one of their encores (they did three - !!!) and blake played an awesome new song that has never been played before ever in public (ever) and she sounded amazing!

5) "let's do something really rock" - as said in an irish accent. dear lord just kill me now.

6) having aubs with me for this magical night of rock.

7) spending time with good, honest, decent people. makes my heart warm. cheesy, but true!

8) pilfering the subs dressing room for snackens for aubs party tomorrow. haha. we're cheap.

9) the fact that all of this is connected to MY JOB. which just about makes the life i'm having right now pretty freakin' awesome in my book!

10) w00t w00t! i didn't really have a number ten but i thought my list looked dumb stopping at nine. hollaaaaaaaaa!

i have a headache, this will be short.

i'd like to write about how AWESOME my awesome weekend was and how awesomely awesome my awesome friends are (and how freakin' awesome it was to finally meet helen jane - awww yeah) and all that other awesome stuff but i have a very decidedly NOT AWESOME headache right now which is making brain function quite difficult at the moment. soooo not awesome. ugh. instead, feast your eyes on some loverly photo reenactments:

kenneth's bow tie is apparently good for licking.
the hotness.
stuff on my aubs (cleavage).
more photos of shenanagins and escapades here (willo) and here (aubs). and crazy video of us acting like jackasses. as per usual.

rock the isosceles: an interweb novel.

it's time for the sxsw recap kids! i apologize for my tardiness but i've been busy and stuff. duh.

(this will be long)
__________

pre-music fun:

monday night i took the red eye to austin (first time doing that - bonus was that on my sf - houston flight i had an entire row to myself - helloooooo, nappytime!) - got in around 9:30, met up with sarah and made our way to the hotey where we roused aubs & willo out of bed and dragged them to las manitas for delicious delicious breakfast! w00t! then it was time to pick up my badge (most horrible photo ever taken of me evaaaaaar. seriously. so bad.), after which we promptly headed back to the hotel to work a bit and to nap. sweet, sweet sleep. texted buster to get his arse over to our hotel and went to dinner at the rio grande (former real world austin house), where we met up with willo, aubs, ryan, and camalamadingdong. the wonders of dodgeball never cease.

after dinner it was time to kick into ONE NIGHT ONLY mode, as buster was due to fly back to seattle at 6 o'clock in the am. sarah & i managed to get into an interactive party by looking cute & pathetic with our music only badges. score! (thanks to ryan for sweet talkin' the nice lady at the door, too!) the sf/nyc/seattle crew rallied. drinks were had. photos were taken. more drinks. another bar. more drinks. hugging, not slapping. yet another bar. even more drinks. willo met her new boyfriend(s). more hugging. line debacle at pv lounge (ahem, it's not that cool kids). drinks drinks drinks. met ben lashes and buster & i went on a lashes scavenger hunt - i collected all six! ben drunk dialed my boss against my better judgement & protests. spilled my beer on rick webb. sorry rick. buster left for the airport - we headed back to the hotel. it was 4 am. ouch. one night only is the best man. THE BEST.

wednesday - day one

slightly hungover (damn you, buster mcleod!). breakfast at IHOP. aubs orders off of the senior menu. heh. eggs make everything better. and then it's on to the rock!

IODA day party:
the twilight sad - very, very loud
uncut - wasn't really paying close attention. oops! i promise to listen to them though.
honeycut - funky monkey, bart davenport. good times.
apostle of hustle - i love andrew whiteman; also, best band name evarrrrrr.

dinner at malaga (tasty tapas!) with ted, misty, harry & alice. yippee!!!

time for more rock:

the pipettes - cute cute cute!
oh no! oh my! - they were alright. just alright.
frightened rabbit - awesome awesome awesome.
the postmarks - i think they should tour w/ the subs.
the broken west - better live than i expected, and i like their cd more now too. except that the guitarist committed one of the deadly sins of live rock & roll by chewing gum & singing. ewww.
annuals - loved them, the singer reminds me of a muppet - or the boys from spinto band. essentially, the same thing.

after rock it was time for death metal pizza. then home to bed! yay music day one!

thursday - day two

misty, willo, and aubs, and i brunch at magnolia cafe - omg we're venturing outside of downtown austin! the server almost didn't give me my eggs florentine because he was unaware they were serving it - even though it was on the specials menu. good thing i take my eggs very seriously.

day rock:

amy millan @ the onion party - she was wearing awesome red pants. i love her.
the oohlas & prototypes @ the bust magazine/baeble party
tokyo police club & andrew bird @ the onion party (again)

i ran into the changes at the bust/baeble party too! yay, i love those boys. you should be listening to them.

after a fan-freakin-tastic dinner at the woodland with willo, aubs, and jordan (consisting of cornbread muffins, fried oysters, corn fritters, and spaghetti sans meatballs. and free wine left over from aubs' wine party during interactive - score!) it was time for night rock:

joan as police woman - although i only saw like two songs b/c she kind of bored me (sorry jordan! i will give her another chance, i promise!) and the room was hella crowded & i couldn't get into it.
cloud cult - breaking my "i'm only going to see bands i've never seen before rule" but who cares.
bishop allen - bouncy & fun!
david vandervelde - was losing his voice but i am so in love with his album.
the bird & the bee - possibly my fave show of the whole week! AWESOME.

after the bird & the bee, willo & i went back to the hotey on a music high (and a bit of beer, perhaps) and raided the hotel lobby snack bar where i indulged in a snickers ice cream bar. i haven't had one of those in like 10 years. we had to stand outside the room in the hallway to finish our snackens b/c ted & misty were already asleep, and we were probably disrupting people with our uncontrollable giggling and inside joke making and ice cream bar eating but oh wells. i love it when music makes me giddy!

"way to go, marty."

friday - day three

brunch @ las manitas (again!) with willo, misty, harry, and alice. yay. then it was off to the SPIN party where ted was broadcasting BAGeL Radio (or attempting to - stubb's didn't have a good interweb connection) and got us in! w00t! while we were there we drank margaritas, made rock buttons with our images on them, and also watched a bit of music:

the fratellis (with pete townshend joining them for two songs! they had to be in heaven.)
blanche - i thought i saw jack lawrence (the raconteurs, the greenhornes) outside of our hotel that morning and i guess i was right...
mew - so loud. so so so loud. good, but LOUD.

we ran into kevin from pocket rockers™ division day and then it was on to menomena at the pitchfork party. then i got a text from WIRED (good thing i signed up for that stupid thing) that tilly & the wall were going to be at the belmont! omgeeeee! we love tilly! so misty, willo, & i raced over there and caught the end of the sondre lerche set. misty got a station id from him! i told her to beware of his dreamy eyes. seriously, that man has dreamy eyes. le sigh.

tilly & the wall were fun and fantastic as always, and because we'd had a few margaritas and few beers we decided it was okay to shout requests to them and they ever so kindly obliged. we danced danced danced, and bounced bounced bounced, and sang sang sang. and afterwards misty got another station id from jamie & neely and omg they are so cute i just wanted to hug them to pieces. but i didn't.

then willo & i ran over to the levi's/fader fort thingy where amy winehouse was playing but we totally missed her b/c we had to stand in the stupid stupid line to get our wristbands and i guess she only played three songs and was done! lame. but we did meet up w/ harry & alice, drank some free budweiser (my only non-texas beer whilst in texas), made some new best friends, caught part of the datarock set, and then left to go to dinner at moonshine.

moonshine has the best shrimp corndogs in the universe. i don't really know of any other restaurant that serves shrimp corndogs but i'm willing to bet that moonshine's would kick their ass. just sayin'. after our delicious dinner and delightful wine, alice convinced us that dessert was in order. this is why i love that woman.

misty & crew showed up at moonshine and so did the birdmonsters (in their brand spankin' new denim. they're poor rockers so i forgive them for the denim-on-denim action. s'okay kids. loves ya.) - paaaaaartaaaaaay!

anyway, time for more rock:

peter bjorn & john - which was at the austin convention center's directTV stage and felt like we were at a taping of top of the pops or something. weird.

(tried to see clorox girls but missed them so instead drank beer on the back patio of emo's and did an impromptu interview with two 15 year old punk rockers who told me to "have fun in retirement". PUNKS! gotta love 'em.)

abra moore - love her, and she played "four leaf clover" which made me feel 16 again.
gruff rhys - lead singer of super furry animals; had a myriad of interesting "instruments" and was quite enjoyable; two pipettes were standing in front of us the whole set and then willo & i tracked them down afterward and got station id's for BAGeL Radio. man, we're getting good at this!
sloan - caught the tail end of their set. i heart them.
apples in stereo - the world is made of energy yo.

saturday - day four aka can we really keep rocking? the answer is YES.

willo & i started the day off at flatstock at the convention center. flatstock is this major poster exhibition that totally effing rocks - we got to see jason from the small stakes and i got to meet the aesthetic apparatus dudes who've done tons of stuff for josh & the subs! yay. i also met the guys that did the sub echo residency poster and they gave me one - for freeeeeee! awww yeah. the perks of rock.

after flatstock we headed over to manuel's for brunch w/ rick (who, incidently, is like my new most favoritist person in the world and the new NBF) and his sister, val, who was in austin to play w/ her band sunburned hand of the man. brunch was yummy - i must say i ate well while on vacation! then rick, willo, and i headed over to cedar street to catch mando diao and ended up seeing a bit of the pipettes (again). i swear we were not rockstalking them - they were just everywhere! gosh.

mando diao were just okay - so we decided to head over to the mess with texas party where we saw:

the pony's - who rocked my face off. omg.
sloan - yep. again.
the walkmen - i will always love them, but their set wasn't very inspired. oh well.

aubs organized a big last supper of sxsw dinner at louie's 106 repleat with the rest of the free wine - w00t! then, as per usual, it was time for rocking out:

delta spirit - omg so good. they look nothing like i thought they would though - they're like nice, button down shirt-wearing, relatively clean cut SoCal indie rockers, NOT the dirty louisiana hipsters that their music would have you believe they were; johnny from cold war kids jumped up on stage with them (they're touring together) for their last song and the other cold war kids were standing right behind us. omg, i love sxsw.
chris garneau - aka sufjan stevens mini-me; he played "not nice" and i almost cried. i'm such a sap.
palomar - only caught three songs and then booked my way over to...
the changes - yes, this would be the third time i've seen them in as many months. what?!? stop looking at me like that.

then ryan & i tried to go see tokyo police club but they weren't even letting badges in - so then we tried to go see +/- {plus/minus} but we couldn't get in there either! ahhhhh. so we headed over to catch some of the whigs, where i promptly started feeling uber-tired and lame and told ryan that yes, it was true, i was all rocked out and it was probably in my best interest to get at least four hours of sleep before my flight out in the morning. sorry, ryan. i know i let you down and that was not very show ho pro of me.

sunday - day five. omg i think i'm all rocked out. for serious.

woke up early to get to the airport for my 8:10 am flight (ali, remember to book an afternoon flight next year. okthxbye.) - along with a myriad of hipster band boys. hipster explosion at the aeropuerto, seriously. couldn't really sleep on either flight and they ran out of pillows/blankets on my houston - sf flight so that was sucky. made it home after a BART ride from hell and decided that i'd had enough and took a cab home from the BART station - which is only like 15 blocks. hah. got a much needed burrito (SF burritos are the best! oh, how i missed you) and took a much needed 3 hour nap. the end.

photos:

misty
willo
rick
ted
aubs
__________

celebrity* sightings in austin:

britt daniel (i swear he was at 1 out of every 5 shows i saw)
kelley deal
cisco adler (if you want to call him that; funnily enough, misty & i were talking about the fact that his band was playing sxsw (um, okay) and then like a half an hour later he sauntered his way up to willo & i at the bar at the postmarks show. it was fate. fate i tell you! heh.)
james iha
boots riley (photo op!)
shirley halperin (rock writer - so, yeah, celebrity to ME)
paul scheer & aziz ansari - i want to have their babies. their funny funny babies.

willo saw michael showalter and for that i am very very jealous. like for reals, i want to have his babies. omg so funny.

i also saw sarah/ultragrrrl like THREE TIMES and if i were not a moron i would've gone up to her and said hi because i've emailed with her before but i was like a freakin' weirdo dorkface and got all intimidated by her (even though i'm actually a little bit taller than she is - munchkins abound!) and i couldn't speak. duuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh. way to go, ali.

and this concludes my marathon post. i'm sure you're as tired from reading it as i was living it.

*not including all the bands i actually saw, those aren't really celebrities in my book. but then again, neither is cisco adler. hee.

yay drums.

thank you, loverly drums for letting my highly unskilled playing to happen upon you tonight.

thank you, nate for putting up with said highly unskilled drumming and for being an awesome friend and psuedo drum teacher (even though you made me miss the first 20 minutes of heroes - good thing i have the internets).

yep, that was just what i needed. i should really practice though if i think i'm going to actually play. heh. and now it's time for bed, 'cause i'm still not recovered from last weeks rocktasticalness. but more about that later...

more fun-ness.

a few more of willo's photos from last night - super duper fun good times awwwww heck yeah:

willo, ted, and i in the photobooth!
we found mai!

omg my friends are getting married.

today i received the exciting news that my darling friend meryd is ENGAGED! to be MARRIED! omgeeeeeee! so exciting.

sometimes when people get engaged/married it weirds me out. but for some reason meryd's engagement doesn't. maybe because i know she's going to remain the fabulous lady she's always been despite being an old married person. heh.

meryd & i - reunited in new york, summer 2006!
meryd & i were co-counselors at camp cayuga in the beautiful pocono mountains of northeastern pennsylvania way back in 1999. and we're still friends despite seeing each other every 1.5 years. whoa, huh? i love her and am so excited for her! and jay, her fiance, of course. he's alright in my book too.

the best part of my conversation w/ her about the wedding was when she said "i don't know where or what we're going to do, all i know is that i'm going to have a pig roast." hahaha. yep, that pretty much sums it up. xoxoxo.

procrastinating blogging, about procrastinating.

um, omg i can't believe i forgot to blog about procrastinator's new years eve 2007! OMGEEEEEEE.

misty has been throwing this fabulous bash for the past 17 years. yep, so she totally started it when she was in preschool. it was all so innocent back then - chocolate milk and PBJs. now it's more like champagne and PBRs. heh.

everyone knows that new years eve is for amateurs. we prefer to celebrate a month and a half late - makes for less B&Ters and even if those show up, we know them. last year was my first PNYE and when i heard that misty came up with this brilliant idea it was as if i'd been waiting for it all my life. genius.

over the years the party has evolved into a costume theme - changing every year, mixin' it up. last year was "white trash fairy tale" (the year before that was "80's prom - touch of class") - and this year was...wait for it, wait for it..."be your own superhero/evil villain"!!! people went all out and i gotta say it, once again san francisco knows how to costume party it up. where else in the world do people actually have COSTUME BOXES?!?

mine came in handy (with some recent additions from my old halloween costume box that my mom conveniently mailed to me post-christmas) because i had no costume prior to 5:37 pm on the day of the party. a two minute conversation with misty earlier in the day prompted me to head to ye olde costume box and see what i had to work with....blue wig? blue go-go girl vinyl minidress? sparkly microphone? guitar pick earrings (okay, those weren't in my costume box, i wear those in real life too) ahhh yes, i would be ONE HIT WONDER WOMAN!!! no one knows what she looks like anyway! and blue wig = instant awesome costume. it's a rule.

facing off with the denim on denim bandit (aka stein).
evil villain vodka tonic!
the rest of the results can be viewed here. and here. and here. aaaaand here. the party was awesome - the people were awesome. it was by far one of the best...if not THE BEST...party i have ever been too. and when i said PBRs i wasn't kidding...nothing is classier than a superhero costume, a *wanderphone*, and a PBR. see?


hahaha.

thanks to misty (and ted, providing the rawktacular soundtrack of the evening) for keeping this party alive and rockin'. can't wait to see what next year will bring! awww yeah PNYE 2008 - on the MOON?!? perhaps.

best. present. ever.

last night ryan brought the hold steady poster(s) that he had ordered a while back to the alembic where we had all met up for v-day drinkies - we are uberfans of the band and are thankful that we have each other to geek out to about them because lord knows everyone else is tired of our rockstalking, heh - but what i didn't know is that he had also ordered a limited edition PINK vinyl boys and girls in america LP too! seriously?!? how awesome is that?


it just so happened that i received said presents on valentine's day, but that was just coincidence. ummm, a kick ass coincidence because what's better than receiving music and music accoutrement on valentine's?!? well, at least for me. that's about as good as it gets.




i am so thankful that i have such amazing friends who love me unconditionally and will do things like this for me - and not because i like getting "stuff" but more because it shows that they truly know me. i cannot express how much i love my friends and appreciate them - i would never be able to be the person that i am without them. and now i'm done being sappy. :)

shows shows shows - as per usual.

last week i went to four (4) shows, so i'm getting back in the swing of things you might say. awww yeah, show ho pro tour of rocktastical goodness 2007!

tuesday night i went to the makeout room to see my little buddies HIJK (formerly hijack the disco) and it was really fantastic to see them play (i've missed the last couple of shows), but also just to get to hang out with them (and their awesome girlfriends. i swear, they have the best lady friends in rock)! i love that they are always so appreciative that their friends come to their shows and it totally makes it worth staying out late on a tuesday night - it was loverly to catch up w/ them and get the scoop on what they're going to be doing next and of course watching them tear it up on stage (and hear some new songs!) - please someone sign this band, like now. thx.

thursday night yenie got on the list for the (sold out) of montreal show at bottom of the hill and asked me if i wanted her +1 and so of course a little show ho like myself said yep yep! it was great to finally get to hang with yenie outside of work (our offices are right next to each other) and i was really looking forward to seeing of montreal because i had heard they are craaaaaazy and hilarious live - and they did not disappoint. costumes/outfits? check. awesome robotic dance moves? check. glitter? uh, yeah - check. the thing that really stood out to me was how great their harmonies sounded - and i'm a sucker for a good harmony.

i'm kind of glad i got to see the only BoTH show that they played in SF because a) BoTH is my favorite venue and 2) it's smaller and more intimate and even though the music hall is great, i like to feel like i'm in a special little bubble with the band i'm seeing. i guess it depends on the band/show, but i'm a venue and crowd snob and sometimes i don't like people. haha.

saturday night i finally got to see my internet friends rademacher - after about a year of emailing back and forth about shows and whatnot. i always have another show or event that i'm committed to when they play up here, but not this time! it was fate! FATE. anyway, they totally rocked it and were really cute/funny/enjoyable to watch. they looked like they were having the best time ever which in turn always makes me have a good time too. totally not too cool for school.

i never thought about this while listening to their recorded stuff, but the singer/guitarist, mike, kind of sounds like a cross between steven malkmus/alec from clap your hands say yeah/david byrne (and they did a cover of talking heads "road to nowhere" which i luuuurve) - he's not as whiney as alec, but also not as laid back as malkmus. the combo is really endearing though - and i'm looking forward to seeing them again in austin next month. yaaaaay!

(willo's photos from the night here.)

last night - oooooh last night - i'm going to have to write a completely separate post about that show because HOLY CRAP it was like a religious experience. i have a whole new level of appreciation for m. ward after seeing him play - honestly it was one of the best shows i've seen in my LIFE. but more on that later...

overheard in sf.

best quote from friday night's shenanigans (or any night, for that matter):

"why doesn't he put on some man pants and play some good music?!?" - in response to the dj at le colonial playing some questionable tuneage

man pants?!? yes, MAN PANTS. hee hee. i was so enamored with this statement that i saved it as a text message in my phone so as not to forget it's hilariousness. god, i love my friends.

the maine hat makes a late night appearance!more of misty's photos from the night here.

speak. easy.

last night buzz invited a group of us to bourbon & branch a "speakeasy" here in sf that i've been wanting to check out for some time now...if only because it was secrety and i love secrets...

the night was funtastical - good friends, good conversation, loverly fancy schmancy drinks with awesome names like "the dempsey" and "sand & blood" (their menu is unbelievable! and it's drinks only, no food, no peanuts, no goldfish - just drinks. they mean business) - super fun for a rainy tuesday night in the city. it's so quiet and intimate that it almost felt like we were just hanging out at someone's house - a house that has pricey, yummy drinks and a bartender. ;)

courtney was there too, and stopped by our table to say hiiiii! so fun. we felt like we were on a sitcom or something. heh. san francisco is small.

misty was just at b&b last week too - see her account of the experience here.

i would def go back despite the high roller prices - the drinks are very very tasty and you're paying for the experience as well. i think it'd be interesting for a date night - soooooo, uh, anyone wanna take me?!? hee hee.

HIJK on the internets.

my boys HIJK (the rockers formerly known as hijack the disco) are the featured indie rock download on garageband.com tomorrow (1/13)! w00t w00t! you can follow this link to listen to "smells like cigarettes" and download it FOR FREEEEEEEEEEEEE (hi, lele!) - no way? yes way! zomg, so awesome. yay!

this is one of my favourite HIJK songs - the one that i always thought was called "someone call taylor" - for like a year, until i was enlightened as to the true track title. hee hee. it's from the forthcoming full length the pen & the letter (as to when exactly the forth is coming, we have yet to find out), and from the two or three tracks trevor played for us at thanksgiving it is tiiiiight and awesome and exactly what i knew these boys were capable of.

so go forth and listen and download and make sure you catch these gentlemen live - their next show is at the uptown in oakland on 1/19 and they'll be at the makeout room in SF on 1/30. come, witness the magic, won't you?