Back From The Dead

So I just re-discovered this unused blog from "Trip," my cross-country tour with Alex Rose in 2001. As Fate would have it, I was looking for a new place to store my Blog, since Friendster is annoying people with its updates.

So...here we are now, again.

Yesterday: Remembered Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were playing at the Troubadour, and since I couldn't see them at CMJ this year I thought maybe I'd see them here. If I didn't get in, I was going to go to a writers' thing in Santa Monica -- so my bases were covered.

Called my guy at the Troub. No tix.

IMed Roxanne, who knows everyone -- everyone. No tix. She wants to go too though.

Hmm.

E-mail Mitch. Mitch bought tickets. Mitch can't go. Bucket of Fries.

So I IM Roxanne that I've got her ticket. She's elated. Me too. She asks if I can go to some record-release thing first. Free dinner. Free drinks. I'm in.So we go to this record-release thing at Kung-Pao Kitty. Fun. Not great. Decent food. Good beer.

Then the show.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are unsigned. For an unsigned band, they're pretty great. For a band that's headlining two nights at the Troubadour? A bit much, a bit much. They're good at creating texture (one girl next to me kept yelling that it was "Epic INdie Rock! Isn't that a cool name for it?"), but everyone but me seemed to find their singer annoying. If he was annoying, he was consistently annoying. He has a bit of a warble to his voice. But the thing is -- peopole are saying they're the Next Arcade Fire. I can't believe the Arcade Fire already have a "next." But apparantly they do.But they're nowhere close to the Arcade Fire. And they're going to burn out. And they have a terrible name.

The band The National played after them. They were pretty cool -- lead singer sounds like Morrissey. I didn't spend much time paying attention to them.

Then: Swingers. Mmmm.

Then I came home and tried to write, but I was half-drunk and all-tired. I was worried I was going to miss my Maxim deadline. But, in a twist of fate, my editor e-mailed at 5am (when I had woken back up to finish) that he didn't need copy till Tuesday.

Nice.

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. And if Jenn's in the mood to ralley, Devandra Banhart and El Galleon.

J