#33 - cmj at 33.

the annual cmj music marathon returned to nyc this past week, with its thousands of music peeps & their badges & bands & occasional film/other art events taking over the city from tuesday to saturday.

my first cmj was back in 2005, when i was overseeing the advertising for ny press' music section & doing some writing for it as well. i had me a badge that allowed me entry to any venue in the city for any show. it was the year of clap your hands say yeah. remember them? for the shawn circa 05 curious, my blog ramblings about the 2005 cmj festival can be found here & my ny press ramblings can be found via here.

when cmj came back round the next year, i was no longer with ny press & badgeless. same deal in 2007. both years, i caught a show or two. this year, after being slightly anti-social & slightly broke & relatively concert-free for the past few months & after being inspired again about live music because of a couple of shows by the albertans in the weeks leading up to cmj, i decided to try making it to a few cmj events this year.

on tuesday night, i met up with a friend at the paste magazine party at the red bull space...gotta love indie rock shows sponsored like football stadiums. when i got to the door, i was asked for my name...a list. didn't know that, but talked my way in aided by the ny press sweatshirt i happened to be wearing. apparently, it made me look like press. missed gringo star but caught sets by wild light, cheeseburger and the vivian girls. turns out wild light is from nh. they were ok. through the years, i've seen cheeseburger more times than i can count, often at random parties & art galleries & crap & they're pretty much the same thing every time--bad-ass party rock riffs, a few tossed beers & guaranteed ass crack. the vivian girls were pretty much what i expected--quick, solid rock songs...probably better suited for a non-red bull inspired space. i will say one thing for paste magazine...they pull indie rock hotties.

on wednesday, i planned to head to gallery bar to see the stone throw records showcase, featuring arabian prince (yeah n.w.a.!), peanut butter wolf & madlib. before i even made it to the train to go to the show, i was warned of a three to four person deep line wrapping around the block. i'm way too old for that magnitude of a line. pass.

thursday night was a no-go due to other obligations.

on friday, i attended a shalloween party at the village lantern, on bleecker. everyone was so thin & had the most awesomest clothes & sunglasses! omg! it wasn't officially a cmj event, but i went there to see a concert by the missing teens, a band who i had heard much about but never seen live & whose live show is definitely interesting & whose songs are full of saucy lyrics.

on saturday afternoon, i was on tha intrawebz checking out the gothamist website. as part of cmj, gothamist had transformed the bell house (a sweet-looking venue that i had no idea existed although it's a mere 15 blocks north of my house near the gowanus canal) into "gothamist house." every day, they had 6-7 bands play from early in the afternoon to early in the evening, pretty much during the time i was doing things like working. i noticed that the saturday lineup included the forms, a band who had coincidentally been recommended to me by the sister of girlfriend of a friend a few days earlier, so i decided to make my way down there for their 6pm set. when i arrived at 6:05, the forms had either gone on early or decided not to play (boo), so i stuck around to watch the next performer, sharon van etten. she's your average singer songwriter type with some emotion most of the time (eh). she had to deal with a loud conversational girl at the bar stage left, so props for that. on the way out, i grabbed a schwag bag, all environmentally sound & donated by whole foods & containing a tin of embittermints.

so that was my 2008 cmj. on a totally unrelated note, i turn 34 in three weeks.

#33 - cmj at 33.
snack: sensible portions pizzetta italiano pita bites
drink: 4c white iced tea antioxidant blueberry flavor

so last night, i was pooped beyond belief from the week & stayed in my apartment for the most part, consuming everything that wasn't nailed down & watching the final episode of the first season of breaking bad (check out that link if you have a few moments & sound...oh & bryan cranston is so deserving of the emmy he won for best actor...sorry jon hamm). i finished off the rest of a box of sensible portions pizzetta italiano pita bites. they're pretty good with a weird & slightly pizzalike aftertaste & the box suggests putting cheese & cucumber slices & herbs & junk on them. whatever, rockefeller.

i also drank a ton of 4c white tea during the eve. as mentioned in my first ever blog entry, iced tea's been the beverage i've had the longest-standing relationship with & 4c's been the powdered iced tea of choice for a lot of it. in recent years, the powder flavors have branched out from the standard lemon fare to include flavors such as the white & red teas. i enjoy the white tea for the most part, although the sweetness can be a bit much at times. it also goes well with white wine. i've yet to try the red tea, as it goes for something like $7 a can. i'll get that some day, rockefeller.

#19 - feeling blue never felt so good.

you know what food i'm (sort of) crazy about (today)? i'll give you a hint...a certain stoned-looking non-casper cartoon ghost loves them so much that he became the mascot for a cereal bearing their flavor. give up? too convoluted of a clue for ya?

if you guessed the blueberry, you win the food guessing game. bonus points if you identified the ghost...boo berry. a hearty virtual pat on the back to you, reader. please note that by inserting the word "virtual," i am denoting that this pat on the back is not in any way real.

#19 - feeling blue never felt so good.

snack: frosted blueberry pop tarts
drink: lipton blueberry pomegranate pure leaf red tea

in celebration of the blueberry, i've decided to pair a package of frosted blueberry pop tarts with a bottle of lipton blueberry pomegranate pure leaf red tea, my own personal devil-angel combo. as we all know, some sort of canceling out will occur when the extremely manufactured nature of the pop tart comes into contact with the guarana-ginseng nature of the tea. that's just science.

also in celebration of the blueberry, i've decided to gather three blueberry related tidbits from around the interweb & present them here, in no particular order (other than alphabetical):

blueberry diapers - the blueberry diaper is one of them cloth diaper doohickies for baby mommas. probably good for the environment & your baby & self-esteem & junk. on their website, they offer up disappointment in the form of their "blueberry cloth diaper guide" section. the link to this section features a confused woman, with bubbles around her head depicting the various questions she has. one of these questions is "what about poop?" when i saw this question, i thought to myself, "yeah. what about poop?"...so i clicked on the link. i was met with a list of eight questions, none of which were "what about poop?"...so disappointing. i still really want to know about poop.

blueberry hill - ok. first off, apparently st. louis has a walk of fame and a ton of important people have stars there...we're talking william burroughs, miles davis, redd foxx, both ike & tina, michael mcdonald, harold ramis...the list goes on. i tell you this because along this walk of fame is the loop, a shopping mecca of some sort and inside this mecca is blueberry hill, a restaurant/music club. chuck berry plays here once at least once a month. dude is friggin 81 years old, which would be impressive if les paul, aged 93, didn't play a show here in nyc every single monday. give me a holler in 2020, chuck.

blueberry month - in 2003, the u.s. department of agriculture issued a proclamation that declared july "blueberry month." never one to be shown up by their neighbor to the south, the canadians issued a royal proclamation decreeing august "blueberry month." which is the true blueberry month? as the blueberry is a native north american plant, both countries can rightfully lay claim to the official blueberry month (can they even grow blueberries in mexico?). i just wish we could come together as north americans on this one & pick one month to celebrate blueberries in. it's just like with independence day. did you know that canadians celebrate their independence on july 1st? when i heard that, i was totally all "wah? you crazy canadians. c'mon get it together." seriously canada, get it together.

EDIT: this week's weeds opened with a conversation about pop tarts!

#1 - icy hot.

for some time now, i've had this desire nagging at me to start up another blog, this time devoted to the incessant snacking that is my daily routine & after months & months, i guess i've finally succumb to the nagging.

when i say "desire," i mean that in the dysfunctional family that is my brain, there are two children--"desire" & "laziness." every night, when i get home, desire comes up to me all bright-eyed, tapping me on the right leg to get my attention & share with me the amazing songs she's heard that day, all the films she's seen, tales & experiences from her day--pretty inspiring stuff, actually. at the same time, on the left side of me, there's laziness, laid out on the floor watching another episode of two and a half men, asking me if i'm up for 10-15 games of scrabulous tonight.

...so i guess that recently & up until now, i've been watching a lot of two and a half men, so to speak. that jake is quite the scamp...& don't even get me started on uncle charlie!

here's the high-concept blog concept...stick with me:
each blog post will be devoted to one snack food item i consume that day & an accompanying drink item. the end.

#1 - icy hot.
snack: utz red hot flavored potato chips
drink: 4c lemon iced tea

these days, there's utz red hot powder flowing through my blood. for 99 cents i get a 4.25 oz bag of red hot goodness. on a number of occasions, i've eaten an entire bag in one evening, a consumption that nets me 600 calories & 72% of my rda of vitamin e. what do they taste like? they taste like red hot, that's what...except for when you get a crappy bag that doesn't have enough red hot flavor. those bags stink.

for me, 1st-4th grade was spent at golden brook elementary in windham, nh. the school was comprised of one long building, with each grade separated off into a "pod." each pod was comprised of that grades' classrooms laid out in a circular fashion, built with their front doors facing a central area. it was in this central area that they sold little bags of bachman potato chips to we hungry school children. it was in this central area that i experienced a series of snacking ups & downs, all centered around the ability to procure bachman red hot potato chips. this was always a daunting task because while there were plentiful bags of bbq or the barf-worthy plain "flavor," there was a limited supply of the red hot. on the days when i was lucky enough to get my hands on a bag, i was lucky enough to bask in the wonder that was firey mouth intensity.

years later, in college, i drank big plastic cups of 4c iced tea like they were water...went through jugs of that powdered stuff like a colombian drug lord. in fact, it became so integral to my existence, that...let's just say...i'm pretty sure it saved my life one day. well, that...& phish.

in the present day, i still consume pretty good amounts of iced tea--usually 4c but occasionally pathmark brand. to be sensible in my spending, i take ziploc bags of 4c iced tea powder to work with me & when i am thirsty, i get up from my desk & carry what looks like a baggie of brown cocaine across the office to the kitchen & with the aid of the water cooler...instant drink.