books on tape

It's been a while since I've had a real themed playlist on here.  Going along with my book post from a few weeks back, here's a little literary playlist for your (music) library:

• Young Adult Friction by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
• Let's Write a Book by Field Music
• Wrapped Up In Books by Belle & Sebastian
• Amsterdam by Guster
• Bright Pink Bookmark by Frightened Rabbit
• Fables by The Dodos

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The whole playlist was conceived one morning while I listened to NPR and Ra Ra Riot's lead singer Wes Miles talked about how their song Each Year was inspired by "To Kill a Mockingbird" (and then the whole conversation got a little depressing, because the song was also written by their former drummer John Pike who died a few years back / he was the first drummer I saw them perform with / we started listening to RRR in part because my friend's brother is friends with the band...).  But then everything snowballed when within the past few weeks I have also seen the Pains of Being Pure at Heart perform, put "Let's Write a Book" on my summer playlist, and just today made "Fables" my new ringback tone.

young adult friction

Originally I was supposed to go home this past weekend to go to Pitchfork, but plans fell through, and in its place I went out to Coney Island on Saturday for the Siren Festival.  It was hot and humid out, and we tuckered ourselves out by playing games and going on rides (and you know, being outside in the crippling heat) for a few hours before the first bands we wanted to see.  Thus, we only made it through The Pains of Being Pure at Heart before escaping to find food (and air conditioning).  After fighting our way through the crowds and making it out to the street, we were defeated and wound up leaving Coney Island altogether, missing Ted Leo's and Matt & Kim's sets.  It was the best choice because one of Clare, Ana or I was definitely about to pass out from heat exhaustion.

Notes on the day:
* Spookarama is just lame, not campy or funny - just lame.  Do not waste your money.
* Bumper cars are as fun at 24 as they were when we were younger.
* the Cyclone is super bumpy and knocks you around, but is also a lot of fun.
* The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were just as fun and peppy as I expected them to be - and I really liked Peggy's look.  Also, we hate whoever managed to hit all 3 of us in the back of the head with the same frisbee.  And the double-decker guys who threw another frisbee and then really wanted it back.  I'm sorry - WHY would you throw it through the crowd if you wanted to take it home?

Your input requested!

*EDIT: I'm pretty sure the poll is messed up so I'm removing it :'(  If you have (or already had and tried to share your) opinions, post them in the comments.  And see the cheat sheet for the songs.

Hey guys, that time of summer has come up when I have to choose a new ringback tone on my phone (aka that song you hear when you call me).  For those of you that call a lot, this is kind of a big deal to get to have some input.  I always spend far too much time thinking about this, so I'm throwing it out to a vote this year.  Past songs have included: The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes", The Smiths "This Charming Man", and this past year it has been Phoenix - "Lasso".  The choices are limited by what Verizon actual offers as ringback tones (which is an annoyingly limited list).

Voting is open until 12:01am Eastern on the 21st, which is the day I will have to choose a new song!  Thanks in advance :-)

what song should I pick?

cheat sheet

...and in case you need a refresher course on what all of my song options in the poll are, here they are:

a) "Ask"
If there's something you'd like to try, ask me I won't say "no" - how could I?


b) "Don't Stop Me Now"
If you wanna have a good time, just give me a call!


c) "Fables"
*the clip you'd hear is the beginning of the song with the guitars


d) "We Can Get Together"
Heaven is whenever we can get together, sit down on your floor and listen to your records


Vote! Please! Otherwise I may just go ahead and choose something awful because, hey - it's not like I ever call myself ;)

when I came down the sun poured into me

aka, my super belated post on the Tokyo Police Club & Passion Pit show at Prospect Park

By some miracle I made it to Park Slope in time to catch the end of the Suckers' opening set, and find Tiffany in the crowd before things got too crazy.  We played a few rounds of spot the American Apparel/horrificially dressed concert-goer, which topped off during Passion Pit when we were mauled by some rather tall & tan foreign guys who can only be described as looking like a Hollister ad.  Despite some of the teen drama in the midst (shout out to the pouty 15-year-old girl with her boyfriend next to me! angst!), the bands were great.  It was my first time seeing Tokyo Police Club, and their set was a lot of fun and included some of my favorite songs of theirs, including Favourite Colour off of Champ, and the "oldies" Tessellate and Your English is Good.

I'm amazed by how Passion Pit has toured for so long supporting the same album, considering I saw them last summer opening for Phoenix (though, to their credit, this was a headlining tour).  The crowd ate it up with a spoon and went nuts to (put things lightly) when they busted out Little Secrets.

Basically, summer in NY is the greatest and I have a very deep love for outdoor shows.  I'm excited that the formerlyMcCarrenPool shows are back for another round this summer.  This weekend I will be nursing my depression over not going back to Chicago for Pitchfork, by going down to Coney for Siren Fest.  Not quite the same, but hey - it's free!

Weekend Update

Holy cow it's hot out there!  It's been blazing hot for days, including the holiday weekend.  But...that didn't stop it from being fantastically fun and awesome.  There were out-of-town guests which led us to spending a good chunk of the weekend at Rob's uncle's (unoccupied) townhouse apartment.  We had playdates in his cousin's basement playroom (she's 10, and we're just that cool that we had the best time playing with her toys), lounged around their backyard cabana (yes, you read that right), and were endlessly amused by her enormous collection of robotic/animatronic stuffed animals.  I slept in her bed because it was so freaking comfortable.  The moral of this story is that I think I want to be his cousin?

The weekend was otherwise spent out and in large groups (hello, freshmen year), avoiding creepsters*, getting full and sunburnt in the park (picnic on the 4th!) or by the pool (party on the 5th!).  I feel like I have an overwhelming number of anecdotes that made this weekend fantastic, so I'll stop myself here and just say that I hope next year's 4th is equally awesome.

* hey 40-year-old straight men, please don't come to gay bars to find girls with their guards down and then physically push my friends aside to try to dance with me and then lash out at them when try to save me. okthanks.

July 4th picnic in DUMBO, complete with a mason jar full of whiskey mint julep

Love the park, and Tiffany's patriotic ensemble

what happens when you surround Eric with dolls in his sleep and then don't move them before the housekeeper tidies up everyone's rooms: they just love his bunk so much.

this picture sums up our fireworks experience, and Robert's life

I will concede that if the fireworks aren't going to be visible 3 blocks from my apt (why oh why have they moved from the East River???), then I'm glad Luiz lives in a building with such a sweet roof view.