Where is the hotel?

18 and life to go

after a tedious process of late nights trying to get the showpony finished on time for the new reopening saturday we needed a crazy night out. the one we got wasn't really what we had bargained for.

the other day i got an IM from sam hunt (booking agent / fantasy baseball competitor) saying that he was gonna be in town this weekend. i asked what for and he said "Hugh Hefner's 18 year old kid's birthday party. Two of my bands are playing it." i was stoked! as soon as those words hit my ears i was lounging in the pool at the mansion with playmates. i had a robe. free slippers. two beer party was gonna turn into 24 hour party at least, all courtesy sam. but then when i asked if he could get me in and for directions to the mansion he was like "ah dude. i can't get ANYONE in and it's not at the mansion, it's at the echoplex." okay... so 0 for 2 except that the echoplex is 5 minutes from my house and i know half the people that work there. so i told him i would see him sunday night. and this is what happened when kime, cynthia and i went to hef's 18 year old kids birthday party.

for sure everyone that wasn't actually invited by the birthday boy was disappointed. i should have known something was up as we were approaching. no one was around. i mean i wasn't expecting a red carpet or tons of papparazzi but there wasn't even a hint of excitement. and then when we walked in to the club there was a group of like 25 kids milling around on the couches and a little soft music playing. we headed to the bar and surveyed the scene. i was wondering if the kid was bummed. here was a club that holds close to 1000 people with only like 50 people in it tops. but i heard that on the contrary. he was totally psyched! he had flown his two favorite bands out and they were gonna play for him and his friends.

here's the birthday boy (the tall one in white) and maybe his two best friends from what i could tell.

first was dan deacon. i had just (sorta) seen him in australia. it was packed there. he plays on the floor in front of the stage and it was pretty rad to compare australia (probably about 1200 kids surrounding him and his table of gear) to last night, 25 kids. but it was still the same, just a bunch of people freaking out and dancing.

buzzelli was mingling with the kds. we had about 4 drinks before anything even happened. so by the time dan started we were pretty happy.

it was at about this time that i realized how awesome this was. i think most of us would have expected this party to be something straight out of the OC or gossip girl or something. but instead it wasn't much different than probably many of our own teenage birthday parties. it was just a bunch of kids getting dorky with their friends. and that was the great realization of the evening. this was not paris hilton skankiness. this was pretty wholesome. the kids would come to the bar and not even try to get a drink, all they wanted was red bull that they would trick out with cherries and lemons and whatever other pieces of fruit they could get their hands on when the bartender turned their backs.

this is girl talk.

i had been talking with gregg (girl talk) earlier in the night. we were laughing about what bands we would have had play our 18th birthdays and the likeliness that just two or three years later we would have thought those same bands were totally lame. like at my party i would have had gorilla biscuits or some straight edge band play. and three years later when i was totally into acid and the stone roses i would have been mortified. it'd be funny if you could find these kids in 5 years and see if they cared about girl talk at all anymore.

he normally plays in front of a thousand people or so and always lets a hundred kids on stage. all these kids were just dancing in front until sam told a few they could go up on stage. and then the boys took there shirts off and it was a full on dance party.

and then it was time to go and try to karaoke. we had to drag cynthia away.

anyway... happy birthday kid. if you find this on the internet and want some photos of your birthday party i have a lot.

is this what parenthood (if it ever happens) might be like? standing around getting wasted watching a bunch of teenagers dance? that'd be okay.

nobody likes your fucked up plans

ever have one of those FTW days. today big time. i feel like i am at work even though i am days and days away from being on tour. in fact being at work right now would be preferable. at least when i feel this frustrated with beating my head against a wall i am normally getting paid for it. maybe that revelation will make it easier to go to work now.

i guess today is the day i should have gone to the grand canyon when i woke up.

don't forget. this is happening tonight. pretty much now.

tell me a story where you don't come home

kime and i found this doll today near the coffee shop. since we had already seen bad foot two days in a row on the foot doctor sign we decided against touching it. the last thing we need is ANOTHER harbinger of bad luck.

it did remind me that i neglected to post the creepy photos from the boat ride i never wrote about in mexico. we took some gondolas out into some canals and came across these on a patch of land. the story goes that for 25 years a man was being haunted by the ghost of a little girl that had died in the swamp. he tried to appease her by pulling dolls up out of the canals and adjacent swamp and hung them all over his house and trees. i didn't make it to the house in the swamp, but these were creepy enough until i have time to go back.

smoke weed everday

this has been cracking me up for about 10 days now.

*UPDATE*

i have watched this 23 times today. it actually makes me feel GOOD when arthur starts laughing. i love this.

ancient aztec secret

when your fridge freezes all your produce, it's time to move to LA.

good morning heartache

so you know i've come to mexico city and haven't really had to do much work yet. i feel a little guilty sometimes but that usually passes quickly. i know that soon i will make up for it on the euro tour. it's pretty excellent to be about 4 months into the year and not have stepped a foot on a tour bus or done a show in some totally boring place like Tempe or omaha. although it would be nice to know exactly when i will get to places like portland and seattle this year.

yesterday was a pretty mellow day. waking up from the mexican flags while not difficult was not easy either. it dictated a lazy day that involved a nice italian / mexican lunch, and a trip to frida kahlo's home (casa) and studio. that was the best and a little unexpected. i hadn't even thought about them living here.

i love frida kahlo, i love diego rivera. i love that they were in love. and i love that they were revolutionaries. this museum was rad in that it was not all about her (and his) work. it was more about their lives together and how the lived. like you got to see their kitchenwares. and all these amazing letters from the 30's and the 40's. letters from people like TROTSKY to frida. letters from her to him and love letters from diego. my favorite quote was to trotsky from frida. something along the lines of "dude... listen. diego has been a hardcore revolutionary his whole life. and if something as stupid as him not returning a letter on time is gonna get him kicked out of the 4th international you all are retards. i hope i find you in good health when i return to mexico city. xo frida" that's a paraphrase. (they wouldn't let you take any photos in the house. oh well.) it was in a beautiful neighborhood called cayocan or something.

we walked around and got ice cream.

i saw this poster of bush. hahahha. what a jackass. everyone hates him.

then back to the hotel at like 6 pm for a hardcore siesta. we were supposed to meet at 9 for what we thought was going to be a sort of mellow dinner and drinks party for the bands playing this show on saturday. i was imagining some place outside, maybe divey and quiet and mellow. but it was in a nightclub. i mean, sort of a place that i wouldn't go in nyc or la for a million pesos. really loud, indie dance music. stuff that maybe if i went to a gym and worked out i might listen too. (but maybe not. cause i might just listen to this over and over.) really, the most exciting thing that happened was that we realized that charlie's tattoo of his wife, suzy looks a lot a little like a woman (sorry i am too lazy too look at who it is) on the 200 peso note.

so charles and i finally bailed after a couple pretty good tortas and a mexican flag or two. oh! and we finally also got someone to tell us how to walk somewhere. like, i know they are just looking out for us, but sometimes our hosts here are kind of like "eh.... you don't want to walk back to the hotel or walk to the bar" but i just feel like i am not an idiot. i've lived places that are "dangerous" and i don't want to experience this place from the back seat of a cab (even tho a 5 mile ride is only like $3). i mean if mexico city was really as bad as people think no one would live here. i mean yeah, if you get in the wrong kind of cab you can get kidnapped and robbed via an atm and dumped outside of town. but that can happen to you in SF. the key is... don't get in the green cabs. that's it. otherwise you are totally safe. so as we are walking home i realize that we are stopped at the corner of Alvaro Obregon and Ave. de Insurgentes (kick a name for a street). and i remembered that my new friend amber had mentioned something strange at this intersection. i didn't notice it on the corner we were on. so we crossed and still didn't see it. and then i finally see it in the distance a block or so away back the way we had just come. 8 mannequins or so in a lit up window. and it was late and i felt a little bad about dragging charles around and i was thinking "i hope this is cool and way better than what it looks like from here, 8 mannequins in a store front". so we approached and maybe 30 feet away i knew we were psyched.

lady on the right is laughing at the lady on the left who has only one hand. good thing she works in a hospital, maybe?

is it possible that hillary clinton shops here?

zombie barbarella androgynous chef.

do you love him?

she loves being in the kitchen.

and really, from here on out it just got better.

and then when we saw these three we realized that we had interrupted a mannequin dance party circa brooklyn 2003. we felt bad, so we went to bed.

brutal.

i've got nothing to hide from you

okay. so i am basically super lucky. for real. two weeks ago i was in TAIPEI (and i know i still have not gotten around to writing about that, but it was awesome) and now i am in MEXICO CITY and it is just as killer. yeah. you know these places exist but that doesn't even matter. cause once you get here and you are existing within them... that's when it's happening. i am lucky. i have a job where i meet rad people all over the world. i swear i won't ever complain about my job again. well.... maybe that's the tequila talking but fuck it. mexico city, forget what you heard. sure, it might be a little dangerous but so is paris. sure the cops might suck, but they suck in LA too. dudes... mexico city rules.

this one's for kime.

urban trees.

tacos like you've never had in LA. i am not even sure i can eat mexican food in LA again.

amazing architecture.

mariachi's line the streets like hookers looking for work.

and then you round the corner and it's mariachi square. 24/7 mariachi party zone. come here to hire a band for your next fiesta.

quick break for a $2 michelada (cerveza, sour mix, tabasco, ice. yum)

friendly strays are everywhere enjoying the mariachi's.

and then inside the bar to find this guy. the shocker. pay him 100 pesos a pop and he will electrocute you and all your friends. grab an end of the cable hold hands with your friends. it goes up to 11.

feel the pain.

the phantom tingle lasts for awhile.

and this, my friends, is what i am gonna bring home to you. the "mexican flag" limes, white tequila, and tomato juice with tobasco and worchesteshire sauce. one at a time = delicious.

andreas, one of our hosts, looks a little like my old employer, paul banks from interpol. oddly enough paul lived in mexico city and was a grade ahead of andreas at the same school.

and three mexican flags later... time to leave.

where those chilly winds don't blow

i am only wearing dead t-shirts this summer. i just got this one on ebay.

disposables

here's some photos i took with disposables over the last two months.

liz clayton. brooklyn brownstone owner. just like cosby.

housewarming leftovers.

no age. brooklyn loft space. one exit. mattresses in the window. awesome.

candy in kyoto

the view from shibuya excel hotel tokyu. the same view i always have. i am NOT complaining.

taipei. not japan.

we got milkshakes in taiwan. they were tasty, tasty hangover cures.

2 beer party comes to the states

i am now an expert on eating with sticks and se asian beer. i'll happily show you how. finally, really on my way home. although i have to say, looking at photos today. i really miss taipei.