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.
