President's Day: An Underrated Holiday

Wow. It’s hard to believe President’s day has gone as fast as it came. It just sneaks up on me every year and I can’t even fit it all my celebrating! I think I did OK this weekend. We developed a new President's Day tradition: Drinko. It’s like Plinko, except shots are at the bottom of the Plinko board and you drink from whichever shot glass the Plinko chip falls in. It’s played on President’s Day Eve and it’s the way our forefathers would have wanted it.

[UPDATE: When searching for a picture of Drinko online, I found the following User Review on Amazon.com:

The first time I encountered this device was when I was at my local cafe and the waitress (who shall go unnamed) showed it to me. She said it was a Christmas gift from her sister. After showing me how it worked, I then asked Lila if her sister was some kind of sicko, because the game is clearly designed by, or intended to be used by, monkeys. After she stopped pummeling me, I managed to stay conscious long enough to play a round with several of the uniformed law enforcement and emergency medical types. Though the entertainment value of the game was largely lost on me due to my subsequent hospital stay, I think some people would appreciate the chance to play this game as a further excuse for their drunken rampages.]

Moving on...I also brought in a new addition to my accessory family this weekend- a black leather Marc by Marc Jacobs bag. I got it at Cusp in Tyson’s Corner. The great news is that Cusp is opening a store in Georgetown on March 1st, so I’ll have even easier access to making ill-advised, checking-account-depleting, frivolous purchases.

Probably the highlight of the weekend was seeing Lily Allen at the 9:30 Club (Friday night with Jessica, Marie and R-bone). She vaguely reminds me of Gwen Stefani circa 1995- Lily’s got the whole ska-influenced music, heavy bangs, drinking/cursing like a sailor, girl-in-a-boy’s-world (but still kicking ass), unambiguous lyrics thing down (just like Gwen did). In case you didn’t know, I’ve had a mild obsession with Gwen since the age of 13. I call Lily “potty mouth spice” though because her music is so sunny and pop (and British), but if you listen a little closer, she says things like

“Try desperately to think of the politest way to say/Just get out my face, just leave me alone/And no you can't have my number/Cause I lost my phone/Oh yeah, actually yeah I'm pregnant, having a baby in like 6 months so no, and uhhh.…./ Nah I've gotta go cos my house is on fire…./I've got herpes, err no I've got syphilis...” (Knock ‘Em Out)

OR

“I never wanted it to end up this way/You've only got yourself to blame/I'm gonna tell them that you're rubbish in bed now/And that you're small in the game.” (Not Big)

Lily chose not to have an opening band for her set. Instead she chose to have an opening DJ who turned out to be fantastic: Aaron LaCrate. He’s a DJ for people with ADD because I swear every song mixed in only for about 30 seconds. But they were all money. And I don’t know what the rest of the crowd thought, but the dancing fools next to us also seemed to enjoy it.

During Lily’s set, we tried to figure out which guy in her backup band she was doing. We nixed the trumpet/horn section on the basis that, although cute, they were probably band nerds. No one else really stood out until we both looked up at the balcony and saw the DJ all smiles and googly eyed for Lily. Then Jessica and I both turned to each other with our best “eureka” expressions and said simultaneously: “She is boning the opening DJ.” When we shared our hypothesis with the rest of our group, they kind of looked at us funny at first and then Lily looked up at the DJ in the balcony and started batting her eyes. This continued for the duration of the show. Goofy smiles, batting eyes, mid-show shout-outs. She told us she’d just got off a plane from London, so they probably didn't have time to do it yet. The show was probably just foreplay for those two. It’s a lock. Lily was wastey-pants by the end of the show too. I lost count of her (what appeared to be) Jaeger shots. When I got home, I wanted to look the DJ guy up on MySpace to see where he spins only to find him and Lily were all over each other’s pages. They’re in love. Hypothesis PROVEN.

Top Five: The Shins edition

I know, I know, I am slacking in the music review portion of the blog. I think I promised this a while ago, but I am glad I waited as long as I did to do my review of the VERY EAGERLY ANTICIPATED Shins album, Wincing the Night Away. The first two listen-throughs, I really thought nothing could beat Chutes Too Narrow. That has a perma-spot on my jukebox of life. I won’t say this is better, but I do think they are too different to compare. Anyway, both are formidable efforts and I pretty much have Wincing the Night Away on constant loop now, for the time being. Also, I like numbering and ranking things, (one) because I think order is very important and (two) most of the time there is some reason some thoughts should be separated form others by distinction of a bullet point or other identifying label (a number, for example). With that said, here’s my top 5 tracks on The Shins’ stunna, Wincing the Night Away:

1. Sleeping Lessons [begins very dreamy/trancelike/tranquil…kicks it into high f-ing gear—I refer to it as the REM cycle of the song—about ½- way through. This is my new wake-up song, cause I need to be eased into my mornings. But 90 seconds into the song I am ready to kick ass. It’s that good. Download now.]

2. Girl Sailor [I liked this song before I ever paid attention to the lyrics. I probably never would have paid attention to the lyrics until Rachel claimed this song was about her. She’s a lyrics advocate. I am a melody advocate. I think the mark of a good song is one that can convey the emotion or meaning of the song without having to understand or interpret the words. If you can move me to feel a certain emotion through musical notes or voice inflection, you are a good musician. If you can move me to feel a certain way through verse or words, you are a poet. Anyway. This song fucking rules on both fronts, so download it.]

3. Split Needles (Album Version) [Discussion in item #4]

4. Split Needles (Alternate Version)- [I actually heard the alternate version first. The two versions are completely different songs in my book—BUT with the same lyrics! Every time I listen to one, I think that is my favorite. But then I listen to the other and I think that is my favorite. It’s a vicious cycle. If you can figure out how to break it, let me know. But that would require you downloading both songs. Something I would suggest you do nonetheless. The Alternate Version is a fast-paced, dancey, headboppy tune. The Album version is a sad but mellow and soothing tune. You have a version for every mood. Man! The Shins think of everything! They are musical superheroes.]

5. Turn on Me [I’m totally a hypocrite because I think I like this song more after listening to the lyrics. The chorus is catchy, though too. It will get stuck in your head for days. If you don’t like catchy music, though, maybe you should stay away from downloading this one.]

Pretty much every time I listen to the CD, I consider replacing #5 with another track. (If you like songs that say the word "La la la la la" a lot, like I do, download "Australia"). I was going to do an “honorable” mention section here for great songs that didn’t make my top 5, but that would be THE REST OF THE ALBUM.

Post-Holiday Mania: New Music Tuesday Edition

I guess some consider January/February to be a bit of a lull after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Not so in the life of LG. Early 2007 is filled with many days of note (one being today).

Mon., Jan 15: MLK Day Observed. You won’t hear any Martin Luther King Jr. jokes from me. If you want that kind of riff raff, I suggest you rent “Jesus is Magic.” Comedic masterpiece of Sarah Silverman (who-by the way-AWESOME-is getting her own show on Comedy Central.).

“Guess what Martin. I had a fucking dream too.”

Well, I always look forward to a free day off work. (Aside: I was robbed of the free day this year by work, but I don’t blame Martin Luther King Jr for that. In fact, I bet he’d say that’s just the man holdin’ me down.)

2. Today, Jan 23: New Music Tuesday. I’ve been eagerly anticipating the drop of “Wincing the Night Away,” latest release from The Shins. So much so that I pre-ordered it online. It’s actually downloading now cause I got home from work late. The man is holding me back AGAIN. Dammit. I wish I had a review to give, but for now, you can settle for this guy’s. Today also marked the release of the new album by Of Montreal, “Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?”. Which I also pre-ordered, except this time on Amazon.com. I guess it’s en route. So you can read this awesome review and listen to one of the MP3s.

While we’re on the topic of music, I’ve got a few concerts on the horizon, Jack’s Mannequin at 9:30 club, Stellastarr* at Rock N’Roll Hotel (I saw them at 9:30 last year and they were great. RnR Hotel is like a quarter the size of 9:30. Soo this should be double tight. It’s really beyond me how a band CAN’T be awesome with an asterisk in it’s name. In fact, I might change my name to Lesliee*.) Oh and Lily Allen at 9:30. Unless my best friend decides to ruin my life by scheduling her engagement party for the same day. I am trying to bribe her by giving her a ticket to the show, though.

3. Sun., Feb. 4: Proenza Schouler fucking launches their Target line!!! The guys who make this: http://www.style.com/fashionshows/collections/F2006RTW/complete/thumb/PSCHOULER

Are bringing me this: http://www.nitrolicious.com/blog/2006/12/04/proenza-schouler-for-target-lookbook/

I obviously won’t be blogging that day because my laptop doesn’t get wireless at Target. Anyone who has ever gone shopping with me and has experience my “designer fashion trance” will understand my state of mind. So if you have any confessions you need to get off your chest and just want it to go in one ear and out the other, you should join me. I won’t be able to repeat anything because I won’t be listening to you. I’ll just be nodding my head while I pillage the rack for my size.

Or, if in the future you want to play like you told me something, but really didn’t…like if I call you out on not inviting me to something, you can just be like…"yeah, remember, we were at Target, you were trying on Proenza Schouler…?”

“Oh yeaaaaaah. Right.”