Blogger Appreciation Day

Today's feature will focus on our friends in our newly returned to the side...sidebar (no thanks to jamal's giant boob photo).

Please scroll down til you hit the link for Secrets Are Retarded. Written by my friend Phoebe, be prepared to piss your pants. Oh and I'm totes mentioned in the latest post, yet another reason for you to read. enjoy!

I'm not cut out for 3 day weekends...

(mere at the bbq. courtesy of wiscod)

One President's day weekend I was carried out of No Malice by Niki and Elissa but not before putting up a hell of a fight and trying to drag a bar stool out with me. Last Labor Day I lost my shoes - Jay quickly escorted me out of 2A once it was discovered I was barefoot. I went into this holiday weekend with plans of relative sobriety and woke up this morning with a handful of bruises and a headache that is just now beginning to subside. Yesterday I woke up at 3 pm, headed over to Yap's BBQ and was promptly put in a cab by Dana at 7:30. It was probably the shortest day I have ever had. Bottom line if anyone sees me near any type of alcoholic beverage this week please feel free to yell at me and remind me of all the offensive things I did and said over the weekend.

erm... can someone please tell me how to fix the blog? why is our sidebar at the bottom?

I Hate You

Dear group of rowdy drunks at last night's Sunset Rubdown show at the Merc,

I hate you. You ruined the show for me and Shaps. Why couldn't you take the hint that everyone found you to be obnoxious and wanted you to shut the fuck up? You think we thought you were funny when you screamed "yyyeaaaahhh" until your voice was scratchy and about to blow? I was praying to God that your voice would become so strained that it would give out. And how about you, Ms. Trashed but this is My Favorite Band even though I'm going to block everyone's view and talk and makeout with my boyfriend during the show? What do you have to say for yourself? Die bitch.

With venemous rage,
Wiscod

whew glad I got that off my chest. cheers to Shaps for telling them off. What a bummer.
The show was still great- opening with Sinead O'Conner's Nothing Compares 2 U. But it was no Monday night... I still love you Spencer!

here's some fun You Tube links for you so you can stop watching the video of me dancing below.
1. My friend Gareth from Wisco (note the Packers visor) and his friend Evan (from the Dr. Pepper commercial) made a funny video about high stakes poker

2. This is what the Blender party on Tues was supposed to be like, but we had to just settle for good times with Art Brut, Ghostface Killah, and Ice-T's wife Coco.

Found: Home footage from Coachella

I was worried that this (yousendit)didn't come out but luckily Mere has figured out how to use her new camera and we can all have a great laugh at the expense of the birthday girl, Wiscod.

Also, I caught Ice Cube at the Gypsy Tea Room last night and he was awesome. The new jams sounded great but the highlights definitely were "It Was A Good Day" and a medley of tunes from his N.W.A. days which included: "Straight Outta Compton", "Fuck the Police", and "Gangsta Gangsta." His new album "Laugh Now, Cry Later" drops on June 6th- he must have told the crowd ten times, its burned into my brain.

Like Whoa...part 2

Smokin hot Spencer- photo taken from Brooklynvegan.com thanks!

Another day, another post by Wiscod.
Last night's Sunset Rubdown show was truly cathartic. I've never seen such an enormous amount of talent ooze from one man... as well as the amount of sweat. TPM's own Shaps managed to sneak in a heckle about it.

Heckler #1: What's your name?
Spencer: I'm known as "that dude from Wolf Parade"
Shaps: Don't sweat it Spencer!
Spencer: I already am sweating

Amazing work Rachers!

If you can find a way to get in, I suggest you come to Wednesday's show. You won't see anything better. and thanks to West Coast What, Kate, Andrea, Wendles, Jamal Tang, Jonny D, Shaps, and Mere for taking me out to dins for my bday. And thanks to Matt, Mere, Jason, and Ryan for keeping me company at Fresh Salt til the wee hours of the morning... when I had to start my new job today!

Like Whoa

Cheers to a fun bachelorette weekend spent in Miami for

Jamal Tang.

Oh and Happy Birthday to me since it seems like I'm the only one who posts lately. See you at Sunset Rubdown. Front row.

The Origin of Life...of Rock n Roll

Last night's Art Brut show kicked some serious ass. I've seen that band way too many times to remember, but for some reason it seemed like I was a virgin to their quirky madness all over again. Ha... haven't used the words "virgin" and "I" in the same sentence in a looooong time!

Anyways, I ran into Yaps at the show and he and I started talking about his religious Pearl Jam experience this weekend in Albany. Which brings me to today's blog posting. What is your single-most cathartic moment in your music-loving life? And as usual... I'll start it off.



The year was 1995, it was the summer before my sophomore year of highschool and I had agreed to live with a host family in France. All was swell until I heard my favorite band at the time (extending from the years 1993-2000) was playing Summerfest and my ass was to be eating cheese and singing about the Champs Elysees thousands of miles away. So, being the supreme brat (mmm brats) that I am, I coerced my parents to scalp tickets for me and my sister to see Pearl Jam at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on June 20th. I also forced my non-PJ loving sis to wait in line for roughly 6 hours in the heat to secure front row spots for us. Needless to say the entire show was unreal. During "Black" my sister tried to talk to me only to receive a swift punch in the face for daring to speak during my pre-"I'll Believe In Anything" FSOE (favorite song on earth!)

And now for the moment. It was during "Alive" when that sweet sweet lighting man turned on the house lights while Eddie chanted "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" and I turned around from my plum front row seats to see the crowd clapping in unison. Rach and I figured out that this is probably the exact moment in my life where I fell in love with the Over-The-Head Clap in Unison and the Fist Pump in Unison crowd action. Altho I think my parents can attest to that happening at my first Bon Jovi show at the age of 7. Who knows, but boy do I love it. I think I shed a tear or two during that moment and I still get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Ok enough about me, how about you?

How Much Ya Bench?

Del and I want to get your opinion on how much you think a ticket for the Hammerstein G'nR shows should actually cost. Post it in the comments!



Axl in his prime












vs.



Today's Axl Federline
(photo courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan... we love you! link us!)














Also, Jamal Tang sent me the sickest Youtube today.
Watch at your own discretion:
All complaints should be directed at her

in other news- type in Wolf Parade or Sunset Rubdown in the You Tube search... and enjoy.

Del's sitting next to me. You jealous?

My Impending Day of Aging

+
= Birthday Rubdown

Hi All. As many of you know, Monday, May 22nd is my birthday. And what better gift to receive than tickets to see Sunset Rubdown at Mercury Lounge that night (as well as Wed... thanks Beach!)

Anyways, to get myself super psyched for the shows (it doesn't take that much...it is Spencer from Wolf Parade after all...) I just read the Pitchfork review of their latest album Shut Up I Am Dreaming where they are quoted as saying, "The cumulative effect of Shut Up I Am Dreaming surpasses "I'll Believe in Anything"'s ostensible perfection. That's a brilliant song, yes, but this a brilliant album, ballooning with those sorts of moments on repeat."

AMEN

Here's my two cents on the album.. it's dark, it's haunting, and it makes me think of doing naughty things just to Spencer and not the whole of Wolf Parade.

Sunset Rubdown's Myspace page

Hope to see you there!!!

The Many Faces of Del

Now that 3/4 of TPM are unemployed, we are having a hard time posting. I don't even know where Del is right now and I miss him. So do you.

I thought I'd share some some of my favorite photos of him:

His default face- the upside down orgasm. Jay has referred to it as "Del on ectacsy at a Weezer show," altho I think that's more for mr. good times himself.


Pensive Del


I'm so happy I'm with Rachel Del:


and just so he doesn't think I'm making fun of him, here's his fave of me- "The Horse Face"


Get ready for many more of his faces when he moves back to NYC!

New band alert: Ra Ra Riot!!!

My friend Josh Roth turned me onto this sweet band from Syracuse recently. OK, his girlfriend plays the violin with them, but after I heard their EP I was very impressed. Check these tunes below and go to their myspace page and become their friend and you can listen to some more of their songs. They describe themselves as "a good-natured dance band-machine, based very broadly on the recently redrafted Actualists' manifesto. Through the use of ancient wooden instruments as well as those conceived/fabricated since the industrial revolution, we strive to spread jams across the nation, starting with the inside of your head. We've seen the top of the mountain, we've tasted fruits of interestingly colored trees grown only in the third dimension, we've got intentions to rock you. Word up." Me sees big things for this band in the near future.

Ra Ra Riot Dying is Fine (you send it)
Ra Ra Riot Can You Tell
(you send it)

Post Script Blind Item

So Del's Coachella post was amazing as usual. That's why we assign him the recaps, because no matter what, dawg doesn't forget the dets.

But one detail was left out. A very important one to me. On Sunday night around 10:45, my compadres decided to leave me as the lone soldier to watch Tool. Yes folks, while everyone danced hard to Scissor Sisters, yours truly was rocking out alone to one of her favorites bands from the past. I'll openly admit it... I love Tool.

Anywho, here's my blind item. After team 'Chella deserted me, I wandered into the VIP area to find someone to watch the show with. And boy did I stumble into the best ever showmate!!! Which television actor from the most popular show in the world... bats for the other team. If you've been a faithful reader of TPM, you'll know that I have adored this man for awhile, even posting about my love for him in the past. When I found out he was in no way interested in my Vaginaeye... well it was still awesome.

God speed and good luck!

Coachella 2006 recap

Despite this year's headliners (sorry Dana), this years Coachella was once again fun as hell. Our crew all converged at our palatial Palm Springs rental home sometime around 3ish on Friday afternoon, but not before Scott and I walked into the backyard of someone else's home completely. I believe that Rachel and Dana actually jumped the fence to get into ours. We hit the pool, got some needed beverages and broke Scott's "Yacht Rock" cherry before heading over to my brothers rented house in order to celebrate Meredith's pre-Coachella Yacht Rock birthday bonanza. Turns out it was also Big Herms birthday, too. Here they are blowing out the cake.
It was a blast.



This is moments before Big Herms throws Mere around like a little rag doll.


At this point in the evening I was dubbed "drunkest dude at the party" and rightfully so


Saturday would prove to be a long day for me, but we started it off right with a dip in the pool and a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs, fruit and mimosas with mango juice.

Dane got the horsey


Made it to the DKNY party next where we sipped pomegranate vodka drinks by the pool as we watched Nicole Ritchie (not actually an 11 year girl) eat a mini hamburger. Good for her!! Made it to the festival a little bit before 4:00 and we caught some of Wolfmother (the second best band with Wolf in their name at the festival, but more to come on that in a bit).



No one puts Rachel in the box, unless of course, Dana says so


After this we hit up some drinks and the mister in the VIP tent (bitches!!!!) and then caught bits and pieces of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and TV on the Radio (I didn't catch anything really exciting from either of these bands today). My Morning Jacket proved to be the first really great thing we saw at the festival. They opened up with "Anytime" and I think that everyone was pretty impressed with their set at the very manageable outdoor stage.



It was way too packed for Ladytron and it seemed as if I was the only one who wanted to see Devendra Banhart and we were beginning to all get separated anyway. We ended up watching Danny DeVito introduce the Eagles of Death Metal. Their brand of goofy cock-rock was just what we needed. They seemed to be having fun and so did we. So much fun, in fact, that we decided to go see Cat Power and get lost again. However, Mere and Neil shared a very special slow dance and Chan Marshall seemed to be having more fun than I've ever seen her have before."Yayyyyyy meds!!!"



Saturdays headliner turned out to be the dullest moment of the entire festival and even beat out Coldplay last year for the coveted "Worst Coachella Headliner EVER" award. We're talkin about Depeche Mode here people and it was a real snoozefest. I'm not going to get into it, but it was bad. Its not a good sign when people in Depeche Mode t-shirts start leaving early. We were also impressed/intrigued with the amount of overall gayness that was taking place in our section during their set. In fact, part of our crew tried to recreate some of that magic.

Lesbos in training


Day one seemed like a pretty inauspicious start but thankfully was saved by the highlight of the fest- Daft Punk in the dance tent. Opening up with "Robot Rock" I knew I was in for a treat and was not disappointed in the slightest. It was a full-on dance party as the two Frenchmen dressed in spacesuits and helmets were crushing it behind this sci-fi crazy visual set up. Everything sounded great and before we knew it the glowsticks were being busted out.

This guy was mesmerizing only himself


Dancing like pricks


Made it home exhausted and ready for sleep so we could get up and do it all over again.

Day two was an overall much fuller musical experience, but we wanted to start the day off right again. Dip in the pool where we tried to recreate a 1970's smoking advertisement.

Alive with pleasure


Breakfast today was chocolate chip pancakes, more eggs, more mimosas and some chips with delicious guacamole. We DKNY'd it again where we threw down some drinks by the pool and this time I even went in. Neil played soccer with Taryn Manning who almost knocked over a tray of tofu dogs and we danced around to the stylings of DJ Steve Aoki. Good times. Now to the fest. I met up with some old friends and we caught Phoenix who sounded great. Unfortunately, once again I missed the Magic Numbers in an ideal sunshine setting, but you can only fit in so much stuff. After this we tried to queue up for Wolf Parade aka "the only band at the festival that matters" according to an anonymous member of our crew. Turns out that despite the a long delay it was still one of the top highlights of the whole weekend.

I'm getting very excited for some strange reason, Randi's not so sure it will live up to Dana's expectations


Here's Mere trying to remain impartial






And its no surprise that they were Dana's #1 highlight overall. She writes:

1. Wolf Parade- duh- they were unreal. It was 5:30 and 110 degrees out- my bangs were matted down from sheer sweat and Rachel was about to puke (from everytime I raised my arms...jk). they had technical difficulties for about 25 mins which only made it worse. And then they started playing and suddenly it was like the hell tent turned into the Garden of Eden. I danced my face off- I literally thought my arms were go go gadgeting from their sockets to rub off Spencer and his keyboard. Anyways- when they played "I'll Believe in Anything"- I unintentionally was having a fist-pump off with the actress Busy Phillips(Freaks and Geeks, Dawson's Creek). She is now my fave actress EVA.

LET'S GET BUSY!!! She'll believe in anything if YOU believe in anything


Right after their set we ran to catch a bit of Bloc Party but it was a bloody zoo over at the Outdoor Stage. No matter, it was time to catch Gnarls Barkley and I couldn't have been more excited. Cee-Lo came out dressed as the Lion from the Wizard of Oz with Danger Mouse dressed as the Tin Man and various band members were dressed as witches and monkeys. I wasn't so sure how they were going to pull this off live but they sounded amazing. Cee-Lo introduced the band as "Mean 'Ol Lion and the Hearts" and they ran through a quick set of the majority of St. Elsewhere, most of which the audience already seemed to know and love. By the time they played "Smiley Faces" and "Crazy" there was a party going down in the Gobi Tent.



"Hooray for Gnarls Barkley!" says the crowd


Next up was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who sounded fantastic and were commanding a huge audience over at the Main Stage despite the fact that the majority of concertgoers were slowly making their way over to see Madonna. Karen O is simply a great performer and she is not to be missed.




Next up was Madonna. She made us wait awhile then I called her "Primadonna" and realized that I make an awful lot of Dad jokes all the time. She played some new stuff. The ABBA tune sounded good and she looks amazing for a woman of almost 50. It was slam packed as expected and she had a lot of gay dancers. Is anyone surprised? It was a bit of a short set, we didn't get to hear any real old treats, but it was still cool to have seen her, I think. If she had played "Holiday" or something, I'm pretty sure there might have been a riot. Despite what some people were thinking Madonna's appearance didn't ruin the festival at all. She played some guitar, danced her ass off and just as soon it was over. After Madge we made the slow trek over to the main stage to see Massive Attack who sounded good. I had to sit because my legs were killing me. We got to discussing the power of Madonna's vagina and that it might actually have some sort of all-encompassing, all-seeing eye to it (you know cos shes so religious). We all had different takes on it. I thought that her pubes would be shaved to make a giant M.

Neil's impression of what Madonna's Vagin-eye might look like


We weren't quite finished dancing yet. We had a bit more energy reserved for the anomaly which is the Scissor Sisters. These guys were a total party and we saw some Swedes dancing so hard they literally looked like they were trying to jump into heaven. Catch me, Lord, catch me! Scissor Sisters, madonna, Depeche Mode- yes, this might have been the gay Coachella. During this set we saw some serious man on man action and at one point I was forced to yell, "Get a port-a-john!!!"





Here's our crew after a long and awesome weekend


Driving to the airport on Monday we had a nice treat as we saw Gil or was it Jeeves from Daft Punk drive off on his motorcycle.

Peace bitches!

Our Apologies

I know I know people- we're truly sorry- we had 8 people in a house who all want to put in their two cents about our now infamous trip to Coachella (or Chodecall as Jamal Tang calls it).
So to quench Merida's thirst, I'm gonna give you a lil something to chew on- we promise we will have our recap to you by tonight or tomorrow at the latest. There is just so much to say!

In the meantime- please enjoy this photo- care of Neil's crafty ass.