November 4th 2002. Monday
The Beck/Flaming Lips show last week was well worth the trip in the cold rain, even though we missed the Lips. After work I met Geoff and his friend at Haru, a Japanese place in midtown. Then we hung out at Geoff's before finally walking to the Beacon Theatre. I saw Ray, the bartender from Great Lakes, just as we got there and right after the Flaming Lips have finished. From the looks of the set that was being broken down, it was pretty much the same show as the one we saw in Prospect Park in Brooklyn in August.
So Beck comes out, by himself, and sits in front under a spotlight, just him and the guitar. It was pretty great. I enjoy him so much more in this capacity than his kitschy stupid dance routines. Though he can do a hell of a robot. So in the middle of his fifth or sixth song, the rest of the stage lights up, and the rest of the band is there, each one on their own little white circle or riser. Great effect. And great show. Played mostly his new album, with mercifully few from Midnight Vultures, a few from Mutations, and even a few from Mellow Gold, including "Loser," which was nice but really a bit lackluster, and "Pay No Mind," possibly my favorite Beck song.
Friday- Miss Charming Melodee and I saw my former neighbor and her former roommate Rachel's band play at Meow Mix as part of the CMJ music marathon. They sounded pretty good, and more relaxed than I've seen them. This was the most rock and roll they've sounded since getting a new guitarist and new drummer. Afterwards, Miss CM and I met up with Geoff and one of his friends at the bar 2A for a coupla drinks. I think a nice time was had by all. Then I stood around the gourmet food store Gracefully for far too long trying to pick a block of cheese I thought I would enjoy at midnight on a friday, before we finally took a cab home.Saturday- A few parties to attend. lounged around most of the day. Miss Charming Melodee showed me her Halloween getup. She went as Jayna, one of the Wonder Twins from the Superfriends show. Her costume looked pretty realistic, and was made mostly from tanktops and tablecloths. She carried a bucket with a picture of the other Wonder Twin, Zan, in it. Since he always had to be some sort of water-based form. Ingenious, yes?
First party was in Park Slope. Went over with A-train, met Jed, Matt, Dylan, and Jen there. Held by Kelly, the girlfriend of former roommate Dylan. A surprisingly large number of Asians present. Even if I had known that both Kelly's roommates were Asian, I still would have been surprised. And there I was, an Asian with spiky hair dressed in all black. I felt so... common. But what was really amazing was that for all the Asians there, there weren't many attractive ones. Really, a modest collection of some real bruisers. A lot of thick Asian guys too. You don't see that too much. And some terrible music was playing all night. Mostly 80's but really bad 80s. Or just overplayed 80's. We kept trying to guess what would be next. Songs that were called out: Go West's "King of Wishful Thinking," a few Rick Astley songs, a few Roxette songs, and we were all waiting for the Depeche Mode and/or Erasure songs. Matt is very fond of explaining his belief that all Asians absolutely love Depeche Mode and Erasure. Sadly, we didn't get to hear any before we left.Second party- In Carroll Gardens, thrown by Geoff's ex-girlfriend Elizabeth. Only Jed, Jen, Miss CM, and I went. Didn't care much for the people present, but at least there were fewer Asians. Elizabeth was wearing a komono, which I found somewhat perplexing, but hey, it's a party. Mostly talked to the people I came with and with Elizabeth. Miss CM was a bit anti-social, and sat for a long time in the corner of Elizabeth's bedroom reading books. Not that I blamed her and didn't want to be doing the same thing. I think a good number of people there might have thought that I was Geoff. A lot of his friends there I think. I'm not a violent man, but there were a significant number of people there that I really wanted to punch in the face.
Sunday was spent mostly eating, looking for places to eat, and thinking about what to eat next. Miss Charming Melodee and I walked all over Greenpoint and Williamsburg looking for a place called Union Picnic, because her friend had informed us they had a tasty fried chicken meal. So we finally get there, it's freezing out, we're starving, and they're only serving waffles. So we get some waffles and a take-out menu, and spend most of our brunch planning what we're going to order for dinner. After brunch, walking through the park, I hurt my back pretty bad while performing a show-off display of strength. That was pretty embarrassing. So I sat around in pain for most of the afternoon. Then it was dinner time, and we ordered our chicken meal. First time I've ever had collard greens. I equate it to the first time I had grits. I'd heard of both for a long time, and was underwhelmed when finally tasting them.
But boy, was Curb Your Enthusiasm funny. I didn't really like that show until this year. But this one, featuring a character "Crazy Eyes Killer (killah?) was a fucking laugh-riot. Ladyfriend+ fried chicken +Simpsons Halloween Special+ Sunday night HBO= contentment.
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