Tim Blane at Rockwood Music Hall

Thursdays in September: Get up. Protect freedom. Go home. Feed pets. Feed self. Shower. Go to Rockwood. Rock out with Tim and the boys. Go home and go to sleep. Repeat as necessary.

Fly Eagles Fly

Alas, now that I've re-located, I've had to bid adieu to the Rhino bar in Georgetown, where I spent many, many Sundays hunkered down with fellow Eagles fans, eating cheesesteaks and Old Bay fries, and befriending the former-stripper bartenders who always poured me extra shots. So this Sunday, Shwa and I test-drove a new Eagles bar: Wogie's in Greenwich Village. It's a lot smaller than Rhino, and most of the seats were taken as early as 11:30 am, but I think it passed muster. Here's me, Shwa and the rest of the crowd in action during one of the ridiculous number of touchdowns the Birds scored in the opening day thumping of Carolina:

Robyn Draws: Boy Trouble

Guest starring Kyra

Settling In, Rocking Out

I think I'm about 80% moved in now, which is a hell of an achievement considering how ridiculously long the process took. All the boxes are gone, most of the stuff has found a place, and with the exception of the tragic loss of my beloved overstuffed green couch that couldn't fit in the apartment, I'm back on track with a new Ikea loveseat, cable, Internet, pets, etc. Hey, it's hard fitting your whole life into half the space. I have also become skilled in the art of hauling ridiculously heavy stuff up stairs. Ever see those nature documentaries with the ants that lift things hundreds of times their weight? Well, it's not quite like that, but I did manage to get a 100-pound cabinet up to the place unscathed all by my lonesome. Snack on that, NY Sports Club.

After all that work, a little bit of playtime is in order. So it was very nice that two of my pals -- Bryan Dunn and Chris Cubeta -- were having a major show at the Bowery Ballroom last Saturday night. This is what we call a Big Deal. Bryan had never played there before, and this was Chris' first time headlining with his band, the Liars' Club. So a good amount of singing and dancing and a responsible amount of carousing was in order. And there's video! Of the dancing and singing. Not the carousing. Give me a little credit, please.

Bryan doing one of his own jams, "Ordinary":



...and then a ridiculous cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass":


Chris and the Liars Club doing "Sugar Sky":


Chris also did a kickass cover of Tom Petty's "American Girl," but I was too busy rocking out to film it. After all, we have to leave you some incentive to come out to the shows, yes?

Work Stuff! CNN Commentary on Racial Profiling

I promise not to make a habit of this, but I'm pretty proud of this media placement. I'm told that my organization has never gotten a CNN commentary placed before. Granted, I'm not sure we've ever TRIED to get one placed before, but the fact that I got our first one in my second week is, I think, pretty good.

If you're wondering what it is I actually do, one of my jobs is to pitch op-eds and pieces to major media outlets. Sometimes I get to ghost write the op-eds myself, sometimes the authors largely write their own. That's what happened here. Then I have to get it published. That's how we do.

Here's the piece on racial profiling, written by one of our attorneys, Chandra Bhatnagar:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/31/bhatnagar.khan/index.html?iref=newssearch

That's the Anthem, Get Your Damn Hands Up (Redux)

Replacing the previous anthem, I give you the genius that is "Constructive Summer," by the Hold Steady

Me and my friends are like the drums on "Lust for Life”
We pound it out on floor toms
Our psalms are sing-along songs

And this whole town is like this
Been that way our whole lives
Just work at the mill until you die
Work at the mill, and then you die

We’re gonna build something this summer
We’re gonna build something this summer
We’ll put it back together- raise up a giant ladder
With love, and trust, and friends, and hammers (This summer!)
We’re gonna lean this ladder up against the water tower
Climb up to the top, and drink and talk (This summer!)

Me and my friends are like “Double-whiskey-coke-no-ice.”
We drink along in double time; might drink too much, but we feel fine
We’re gonna build something this summer.
Gonna build something this summer.

This summer, grant us all the power to drink on top of water towers,
With love, and trust, and shows, all summer

Let this be my annual reminder that we can all be something bigger

I went to your schools, I did my detention
But the walls are so gray, I couldn’t pay attention
I heard your gospel, it moved me to tears,
But I couldn’t find the hate, and I couldn’t find the fear
I met your Savior, I knelt at his feet,
And he took my ten bucks, and he went down the street
I tried to believe all the things that you said,
But my friends that aren’t dying are already dead.

Raise a toast to Saint Joe Strummer
I think he might’ve been our only decent teacher
Getting older makes it harder to remember…

We are our only saviors

We’re gonna build something this summer

Blog Blackout

Quick word on sporadic postings:

It's not that things aren't happening. Oh, it's happening. The job is awesome, the place is awesome (if a wee bit hot and sticky...hoping things will cool off soon), the city is awesome, my friends are awesome...it's all good.

Well, almost all good. The movers have decided to hold my furniture and the bulk of my stuff hostage until an undetermined day. I'm now told that it will come this weekend. Maybe. I'd really rather not know the over-under on that.

So I've been sleeping on an AeroBed for the past week and a half, eating Lean Cuisine and sitting on the floor and watching DVDs of Lost on my laptop in front of an oscillating fan when I'm in my place. Which, given the heat and the lack of accommodation, I try to be in as little as possible. The riverside park is my reading room, the various music venues in lower Manhattan are my play room, and work and the 4/5/6 line are where I live most of my life. The only time I have proper Internet is at work, so I can only blog on lunch breaks and the like, if at all. Not ideal.

Despite the heat though, I do have to say that summer's a great time to move to NYC. Everyone's out, there are free concerts all over the place, and people seem to be in a reasonably good mood. Besides, would you rather lug the contents of your life up five flights of stairs in the heat, or in a blizzard? Actually, they're both kinda heinous, aren't they? Never mind.

At least I don't have to join a gym.