These are some of the things that take place when 3 people descend upon a New York City karaoke bar that has a song list bigger than the white pages and take over during their slow hours on a Sunday night. (Thank goodness my performance of The Rain by Oran' Juice Jones was not captured on film. That's one that's best left to see in person. Or never at all.)
Why, hello there. It's been a while, my lovelies. Apparently I decided to take a blog summer vacation. Who knew? I don't know why, but I just haven't been in the zone or inspired to sit down and take the time to write much outside of a Bar Tuesday review (and I even have two of those I haven't gotten to yet!). On the one hand, I have been keeping pretty busy this summer, which is always a good and fun thing because we know that will all change when fall TV starts, but on the other hand I fear my summer vacation may turn into a fall one, then winter....
I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety and I'll be back here posting away as soon as September hits. Or maybe it's because I'm getting old and outgrowing all of it. I'm going to be 35 next month and I am not looking forward to it. That is OLD, y'all. I'm going to be out of the target 18-34 demographic! NO! Does this mean I'm going to have to start watching Diagnosis Murder repeats? I REFUSE.
Ahem.
Anyway, as I was saying, things have changed since I started my blog way back in January of 2003. Things have happened, life has happened and I have been happy to go through a lot of it with you guys. Maybe that's what will keep me coming back. However, I'm not in my 20's anymore - I initially set up a blog just to keep myself in the habit of writing. I had been out of it a little bit and wanted to keep at it to keep my writing "muscles" toned. The practice helped me in developing a stronger voice in my writing and my blog found me a lot of fantastic friends. This is another reason that I may come back and hang around more often, although I now have other ways of keeping in touch with them. As my age keeps creeping, life keeps happening to and all around me - friends are married and having babies and chnaging careers and going back to school and all kinds of things. Our priorities and wants and needs in life evolve, mine included. Perhaps the need to write just to write has gone away for me - maybe there's more important and other things for me right now. Maybe they're waiting in Brooklyn. Who knows? One can hope for more, right?
I guess what all of this senseless rambling is trying to say is, "Hi. I'm here checking in, but who knows how long I'll keep checking in for. I'll probably take most of the summer off, but before I do, here's a highlight of some things I've been up to instead of being here." Wow, I should have just said that from the get-go.
So lete's do this - the highlights of my adventures since my last entry. Shall we?
- Connecticon. PEOPLE, Connecticon was an AMAZING event. As I probably mentioned before, Paul and I are going to be having our own public access variety show so we have started filming some of our adventures for it. A friend of ours works at the convention center in Hartford, Connecticut and told us all about this anime/comic convention that she worked last year. Paul and I thought it sounded like the perfect place to film some stuff, and it was beyond our wildest dreams. The convention ran from Friday-Sunday and after going on the Sunday, we had wished that we had gone to the whole thing. We were there for almost 6 hours just fascinated by everyone and everything. It was the best. We need to go to more of it next year. And we need to go to the furry convention in October that someone told us about. But I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. First, let's start with the ensembles. We heard that people dressed in all kinds of costumes and such for it, but my brother pooh-poohed my idea of wearing my Wonder Woman costume (Next year!), so we opted to just dress in bright, fun outfits. Paul pulled one of his thrift store finds from the other public access show that we guest hosted, thinking he would stick out a little, but as we found out, we were pretty underdressed. Anyhoo, here's what we wore:
To give you a partial understanding as to why we felt underdressed when we got there, here is a woman who I quickly became obsessed with and stalked for a good half hour before approaching her:
She was AWESOME. She was also the one who gave us the tip about the Furry Convention, which is something I simply need to be at. I wonder if I can get a monkey head for it. Anyway, there was so much to do and see at the convention. First, there were the people themselves. You really didn't even need to do anything more than just hang out with the people. They were all so nice, too. There were a lot of people with "free hugs" signs and impromptu song & dance parties were breaking out everywhere you went. I believe that Paul and I joined into a dance to a Pokemon-related song, but I'm still not sure. We enjoyed whatever it was. Aside from that, there were video game rooms, dice, card and board game tables, larp-related swordfighting tournaments, etc. There was also a huge shopping area with vendors selling all sorts of things and another room upstairs where artists were selling their stuff. You could get drawings commissioned, so Paul took advantage of that after seeing one of the examples shown on one table. So here, for only $10, is a personal sketch of Paul sitting on the toilet:
What is better than that?
Well, I would imagine some video clips would work out better. We ended up taking about 45 minutes of footage, but here's a 4 minute teaser video I made to whet people's appetite for the full show. Enjoy:
Oh, Connecticon - we love you.
- Dating in the Dark - People, I am obsessed. Have you seen this show? If not, get thee to abc.com immediately and watch it there. I LOVE IT. It's so ridiculous but I got sucked right in. If you haven't heard about it, it's a dating show that features 3 girls and 3 guys each episode who go on a series of dates in a room that is completely black. They can't see ANYTHING. After 3 days, each person gets to pick one person to see lit up. After they see what the chose person looks like, then they decide to either meet that person upstairs on an outdoor balcony to go on another date after the show is done or else walk out the front door. Here's what I love - when someone is waiting anxiously on the balcony for their desired mate to come out and meet them they can look right down and watch the person leave out the front door if they are not interested. So you've got this poor guy up on the balcony all excited and then you see the girl wheeling her suitcase right the hell out of there and not look back. It's so great. What's even better is watching the reactions of the people when they finally see the others in the light. They only light one person at a time, so the other is left in the dark to react and we get to watch them all mentally say, "Yeeesh!" Then they go back and shit talk with the other contestants. It's so great, just watch. Guilty, guilty pleasure. Mondays at 10!
- THIS. I have already requested one for my birthday. That is a must have item if I've ever seen one.
- Still revisiting movies from my youth from time to time, and I just watched Purple Rain. That movie? SUCKS. Oh my God. I think I'd only seen the TV edit when I was younger and I didn't remember most of it. I just remembered the lake part and clips that were in the music videos from the movie. But seriously, why is that movie so bad? Do people know this? Are they distracted by the good music? Because that is the only good thing about it. Now I love me some Morris Day, but are we supposed to believe that he is a straight man in that movie? And what purpose does Jerome serve on stage? Honestly, watch the performance of The Bird and tell me why Jerome is there. Give the guy a tambourine or something. But the acting? Oh my God. And the horrible message!!! So Prince - wait, "THE KID" - sorry, so The Kid watches his father beat the shit out of his mother all the time and then he hits his girlfriend on MORE THAN ONE OCCASION and both women stay with them? And The Kid never even apologizes? That shit is messed up. Appolonia should have stomped on his tiny ass with one of his high heels. I can't even imagine what Under the Cherry Moon is like. I don't even want to know. All I know is that this movie does not stand up at ALL. It's so bad. The music, however, does hold up. How can it not? Although I had no idea what Darling Nikki was about when I was listening to the LP in 1984. That's probably best, since I was 10. Buy the album, skip the movie.
- Tinted Windows!! The guys, or as I like to call them, "James Iha, the drummer from Cheap Trick, the guitarist from Fountains of Wayne, and Taylor Hanson on lead vocals" are doing a couple of shows this summer and one of them happened to be in Boston on Monday, so you know I was there. After the first week of indecision about some of it, the whole album completely grew on me and is just so good. They've got an 80's retro power-pop thing going on and I like it. The funny thing about seeing them live is that it looks like a bunch of dads who invited the neighborhood kid to come and sing with them while they jam. Still - they sounded really good, and it was really cool to see Mr. Iha play. As always, pictures:
You can't really see in those two pictures, but Taylor's ass was unbelievable that night. He's usually hiding it behind keyboards or not wearing jeans like this or something, but it was mesmerizing. I tried to crop it out of another picture but it still doesn't do it justice and just makes me look majorly creepy:
Maybe a video clip I took will show it off better. Taylor's looking fine, and that's James Iha to his right:
I also love the novelty of Taylor telling me that I'm his Cha Cha. I don't know what that means, but I want to be his cha cha. IF he gets rid of that stupid tiny Nonytail. Yuck.
So that's some of what's been happening here. What's been going on in your neck of the woods?
So my list of 101 Things to do in 1001 Days may have expired 9/28/07, but I am gleefully crossing this one off of the list, even if it is quite belatedly. Good things do come to those who wait, because after being friends since March of 2003 or something crazy like that, I FINALLY got to meet my friend Shelly in person last weekend and I had the BEST time. I had tried to get out her way for her wedding in December of 2007, but plane fare was quite high at that time, so I had to sit it out. But thankfully, I decided to check plane fares on a whim a few months ago and found a great rate to Minnesota so I just decided, "I'm going to go visit Shelly!"
And that I did.
It's so funny to meet someone that you've been friends with online because in some special cases, that person knows a LOT about you. Sometimes it's easier to tell Internet pals things that you may not share all of with your home friends just because they're outside of the situation and can give you good advice or just listen and share their stories with you. And although it seems like it should be a little awkward or weird if you finally meet in person, I have found that it never is. Shelly was no exception - we fell right into our groove as if we've been hanging out for years. I mean, we virtually "hang out" through regular e-mails and sometimes on the phone, so I suppose it should come easy. Still, nothing beats kicking it in a hotel hot tub together while engaging in some good ol' fashioned girl talk. It was little moments like these that made my fun trip even better. And Shelly's husband, Todd? Totally awesome. We all just had an easy-going kickass weekend, and I thank them for taking me on a tour of the town and showing me an amazing time. And kudos to finding a FANTASTIC dive bar to hit for karaoke - it was a perfect Bar Tuesday establishment and may need to move its location up here immediately. The clientele, too. Plus, I'm forgetting to mention one of the most important things: MALL OF AMERICA. That's right, I conquered that bitch.
But what good are words when I have pictures of our adventures? There are many, so I'm going to put them all on the next page so as not to take up my whole page with pictures of me on the flume ride at the mall. Oh, yes.
The Professor and I headed to NYC over the weekend for a little getaway to the city. I watch Chelsea Lately every night and have developed a deep affinity for some of the roundtable regulars. One of my favorites is Jo Koy, and I liked him even more after watching his Comedy Central special a couple of months ago. It's been years since I've watched a stand-up special, and that had me laughing my ass off. Anyway, last month Jo was on Chelsea and she announced that he would be playing some shows in NYC, so I immediately got on that shit. The Professor loves the city, so he wasn't hard to convince to go along with me. I believe the conversation went like this:
PAM: Do you want to go to New York with me next month to se...
THE PROFESSOR: YES.
PAM: ...a comedy show?
The Professor had never seen Jo Koy before, but thankfully he thought he was funny and had a great time. And let me just say this - Jo Koy is even funnier live. His special was funny, but his stand-up show last week was drop-dead hilarious. He was only supposed to do a 55 minute set but ended up doing an hour and forty-five minutes. Sorry, people waiting for the second show! Also? I don't think I stopped laughing for more than 30 seconds the whole time. His stand-up DVD comes out on Tuesday - you should check it out. He's also very nice and friendly. Before the show, he just walked right through the showroom to get to the backstage area. I think I was the only one who even noticed him (and was more excited about it then I should have been. I may watch a little too much Chelsea, y'all.). After the show, he waited in the lobby to say hello and take pictures and everything. Here we are:
After the show, The Professor and I headed to do a little karaoke and then we ended the night at The National Underground, as is tradition.
Most of the regulars weren't around, but the most fun one was:
Oh, Sasha.
Sunday morning we were just going to make two stops before heading home, Magnolia Bakery and Topshop. We had gone to teany and Toy Tokyo the day before, so I had my monkey-picked tea from teany and I had some new robots from Toy Tokyo. ROBOTS! Do y'all know how much I love robots? I saw this case and gasped:
Then, of course, I stared longingly at them all like the creep that I am:
Anyhoo, since Topshop finally just opened their first store here in the US, I wanted to make a stop there just to see what all of the hullabaloo was about. Turns out the hullabaloo is all correct: Topshop is AWESOME.
Four floors of magic. I didn't even get to look at half of the clothes because I was so overwhelmed by it all. I did, however, get to drool over all of the shoes. They were insane. I wanted so many! In the end, I ended up with this pair of badass mofos. I can't wait to wear them.
The other evil part about Topshop is its location: right in the heart of SoHo's shopping haven. We ended up walking up and down two blocks and going in SO many stores (and buying SO many things). My wallet behaved at the Scholastic store, but we still played around:
It was all just so insane. My credit card was on fire, and I didn't even buy a lot of the things that I wanted. I've already talked Lucy into going back with me. Maybe she can help me control my shopping. It's evil there!
Ah, screw it - it was FUN. I can't wait to go back.
Two weeks ago (I KNOW, I am such a bad updater lately) I went on a NYC jaunt with Lucy, Paul, David and Joe to go see Lucy Woodward play her last NYC show before she moves to L.A. in May. I knew I was in for a trip when we were reuniting the crew from a crazy trip last summer, and adding Lucy to the mix just made it sound even better. As is custom with us, our trip started off classy as always with this being the first picture that I took:
Yep, that's Joe peeing in the shadow of a building in a random office park that we found right off the highway. "I can't wait anymore!" Oh, Joe. As you can see, this was shaping up to be quite the trip. I'm actually going to make this pretty much a picture and video diary of the trip because there are many, many pictures and some fun videos from it all, including me getting thrown off a mechanical bull. Oh, yes. Click below to see them all after the jump.
Wow, I seriously have not had the time to update this page in a while. I'm finally getting to blog about a trip I took a couple of weeks ago - let's hope I remember anything that happened. Actually, I have lots of pictures, so that will make up the bulk of the post.
Anyhoo, a couple of weeks ago The Professor and I took a trip to NYC so that I could hit the bar on a Tuesday night and so he could go and explore the city with his camera. When we arrived in the afternoon, The Professor set out on his adventures and I went on a few of my own. I had always wanted to visit a certain establishment during one of my various trips to the city, but I never had the time to make it happen until this trip. Y'all - I went to Mood!
Of course, only those who watch Project Runway will understand the excitement of going to a fabric store, but it was awesome. I came up from the subway stop and stared up at the opening credits shot of the "7th Ave/Fashion Avenue" street signs and got all giddy. Mood itself is crazy. You get pointed into an elevator to head up to the store and have to wait until there are enough people in the elevator before the operator will take you up. Then the door opens and you see the infamous notions wall that Tim Gunn is always standing in front of, warning the contestants about the dwindling time limit. There was also a bulldog in there running around, which I found to be quite odd. But the place is jamming - it's organized by fabrics, with aisles for "silk organza" and "cotton jersey," etc. I actually needed some fabric, so it was fun to carry my bolts around. Oh Mood, you did not disappoint. Well, except for the high prices. I don't know how they make things with the small budgets they get on the show.
Anyway, after my trip to Mood, I headed back to the lower east side and did some shopping around the hotel. My girl Lucy Woodward had recommended some stores to me, so I checked out some of the goods and then bought some AMAZING shoes at a Steve Madden Steven store. I'm SO going to win the shoe-off with Lucy when I see her in April. After some shopping, I made my way over to teany, which is Moby's tea cafe. All of the food is vegan or vegetarian, which is normally a turn-off for me, but I was going there for the tea anyway. However, the menu listed a vegan red velvet cake dessert on there, so I had to see what that was all about. It ended up being really good. You go, Moby! But really, I need to talk about the tea. People, the tea menu is ridiculous. They have 98 different flavors. 98!!! As soon as I saw this one, I knew I had to get it. Who cares if a pot of the tea was $7.50? The leaves were hand-picked by monkeys, people! MONKEYS! And I'm not just saying this because of my monkey bias - that was the best tea I have ever had in my life. I had to buy some to take home and I plan to buy another container when I go back in April. Those monkeys know what they're doing. They don't mess around!
After that, I headed back to the hotel to watch some TV while I got ready to hit the National Underground. I had heard that Tuesdays were going to be the new fun night at the bar because a bunch of Joey and Gavin's friends play, and the rumors turned out to be 100% correct. I had made plans to meet up with my pal Karyn, who had been a few Tuesdays recently and declared them to be quite fun, so she was happy to join me for the evening. I got all duded up in my little shirt and tie:
I got halfway into the bar before I heard, "SOCK GIRLLLLLL!!!" It was my pal Sasha, who I decided to surprise this time and not tell him that I was coming in advance. He was happy to see me as always, and the feeling was mutual:
He's so much fun.
I got there a little before the band started so I got to catch up with some folks who work there. They were both off for the night, but were there for the bands. Sadly, Joey was in Florida, so it was my first trip to the bar without Joey being there, which was too bad since he always makes me laugh. Up first on the stage were Chris Barron & The Time Bandits, who are doing a month-long "Exile on Houston" gig at the bar on Tuesdays. For those who don't recognize the name, Chris Barron is the lead singer from the Spin Doctors. I've met him at the bar a few times before, but this was the first time that I got to see his band play and they were really good.
It's a fun atmosphere because the guys in the band are just there to play and have a good time. They're all kind of musician's musicians so they enjoy it as much as the crowd does, which makes it that much more fun to watch. So much fun for some people that they creep into your picture out of nowhere and kiss you on the cheek:
I still have no idea who that guy is, but he told me that I was "dead sexy," so he is clearly my new best friend. After Chris's set was over, the crowd thinned and we could relax more and talk to everybody. Karyn knows most of the guys who were playing that night, so we got to chat with everybody between sets. Speaking of Karyn, here we are:
And here are some pictures of us hanging with the boys:
I loved him.
With Sasha and Travis DeGraw, the bar manager.
Kris (Man With a Van), Matty and Andy Clayburn.
Love the munching on the Underground hot dogs.
It was boot night at the Underground.
Here we are with Jill, my favorite NU bartender. Karyn brought her black wig so we could be the Ravenheads again, and Jill completed our trio quite nicely. We're totally starting a Ravenhead Gang. Looking to join the gang? The Professor, who made a late-night appearance at the bar and tried his best to join the gang, but just ended up looking like comic-strip character Nancy:
He does much better without the wig:
Speaking of The Professor, we now interrupt this entry to bring you some of the cool pictures that he took while he was off exploring Brooklyn and other places. I got him this little box-head guy for Valentine's Day, and he just makes such an adorable little subject:
Awww. Okay, back to the bar, where in what I guess has now become tradition, Sasha and I had to pose for a licking picture:
Soon after that, Andy Clayburn took the stage and he was really good. Andy usually plays guitar in Joey's band, so it was cool to see him doing his solo thing. The guy playing piano with him was sick on the keys and various people jumped in and did songs with him throughout the night, including Kris, Sasha, and Chris Barron. It was just like sitting around and having a jam session with your pals, singing songs like You've Got To Have Friends - I loved every minute of it.
Man, what a fun night.
Even though it was dark in there, I did grab a little bit of video footage. The first part is from Chris Barron's set - he busted out three Spin Doctors songs at the end, and the second part is Andy getting mellow:
Happily, the next time I'm going to be in NYC is in a few weeks and it falls on a Tuesday, so I'm going to have to stop by the bar at some point because that was some crazy fun.
The next morning, The Professor and I met up for coffee with my internet friend Rich, who runs Orangutan Outreach, the charity that I want to give all of my money to. That's where I adopted my "daughter" Kesi, who is growing up to be quite the orangutan. She had a cameo on Orangutan Island a couple of weeks ago and I was yelling at the TV, "that's my daughter!" I try my best to get as many people as I can to watch the show and give to the cause because the money all goes to the rescue center for the orphan orangutans in Borneo. Rich was lucky enough to go and visit the center (for the third time - I am SO jealous) in December, and his pictures from the trip are AMAZING. It was really great to finally meet up with him and chat - he had some great stories and really interesting info about all kinds of things. The Professor was loving hearing about the advances being made in terms of the possibility of creating rainforests and climate change and whatnot. That stuff was a little out of my depth, but it was fascinating to hear about. Rich invited us back to his office, where I picked up my new friend Harlan:
I also got a book about the creator of the center, which I have been passing around work. It was all really wonderful, so I thank Rich for taking the time out of his busy day to meet up with us. You rock, Rich!
After that, we finally headed home, but not before making a stop along the way at our favorite place, where I found Paul's new car:
I NEED a Duchessmobile in my life. I also found out this time that the Duchess restaurants are only located in Connecticut, which saddens me. Now everyone has to book a trip to good ol' CT so you can go to a fast food place and order chicken parmesan. Seriously.
So thus ends another NYC adventure and another fantastic time. I do love that city and that bar. Thanks to Karyn and Rich for meeting up with me, and to all of the musicians - I'll see you in a few weeks. And next time? Oh lord. I'll be there with Paul, David, Lucy and Joe - THIS ought to be interesting. Stay tuned!
Y'all - I am sick, so I'm making this one a photo essay just because I want to go crawl back in bed soon. Plus, I'm lazy. Win-Win for me! Wow, the sick is seeping in and bringing the crazy, so I should just get started on this before it ends up with me writing things like "purple dentures make unicorns happy." I'm heading that way, friends, so let's just get to it.
Anyhoo - The Professor and I headed to New York City on New Year's Day in the hopes of catching up with my pal Eric (aka Nun Clown), who was going to be in town for the day before heading back to L.A. Sadly, we didn't get to meet up as Eric and Dan's friend had a baby that day, so I'll just have to make a trip to the west coast soon to catch up. And attend a Slow Roll, obviously. In any event, The Professor and I had a great time anyway. And I was excited for The Professor to finally see more of the city since the only other time he's been to New York was for the Gavin video shoot and he spent 11 hours on set, so it was time for him to branch out. We actually were having such a good time that we stayed an extra day, which worked out quite well as some places we wanted to go were closed on New Year's Day. Also? New Year's Day was ass-out FREEZING. I'm talking below-zero wind chills, and when that wind hit? Oh, lordy. But we made the best of it and survived, even if I did have to sacrifice fashion and wear my little ski parka because it has down filling. That was much needed.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of some of the things we did during our trip: we hit Times Square and Rockefeller Center, met up with Shmuel for karaoke, went shopping in the east village where I bought some great things, went to Magnolia Bakery (of course), experienced Pinkberry for the first time, and of course, ended our last night there with a trip to The National Underground. I had so much fun at the bar that night and it was crazy because it was 3 days shy of the one-year anniversary of when I first went there, and the same band was playing and Chris Barron from The Spin Doctors was there hanging out again. So to sum up - fun trip - freezing cold, but good times. Here's some pictures and a few video clips from our adventures:
That was my first time seeing the tree at Rockefeller Center and it was gorgeous.
I love how The Professor looks like the most excited one to be in the 2-story Barbie townhouse in Toys R Us.
Karaoke! I actually have a couple of video clips from our night. First is Shmuel busting out some German on one of the verses of 99 Luft Balloons:
Awesome.
The other is a video The Professor took of me performing It's Oh So Quiet. He recorded the full song, so you get to see all of the screaming and jackassery in its full glory. I may get into this song a little too much:
Wow, bam, indeed my friends.
Pinkberry!
Oh, Pinkberry and Fruity Pebbles. Apparently, there is a way to pose while eating Pinkberry that makes it look quite delectable:
Then there is this:
I may look a little creepy, but at least I'm not trying to make out with any posters on the street:
I save that for the privacy of my own home, of course.
Here's my mannequin shot that we took before heading to the bar:
And then, the bar!
And, of course, my pal Sasha:
And Joey, who thankfully went back to the goatee after the moustache experiment that made him look child molestery:
The next morning, we said our proper goodbyes:
...And then headed to the only place to go on the ride home:
Oh, Duchess. It was The Professor's first foray into the land of Duchess and I'm sure it will not be his last.
Oh, and on the way home we did get to experience my favorite saying by the love of my life, my GPS guide Count Wackula. He only says this when you are taking a left exit, which is unusual for me, so it's always a treat to hear:
Oh, Count Wackula - we will ALWAYS be going to my mummy's house.
________________________________
Awesomeness of the Day: Check out the Dr. Horrible sock monkey that The Professor made for me for Christmas:
Isn't that one of the greatest things EVER? Sock Horrible!
Last Friday David and I headed to Hartford to go see the DeGraw boys in concert. It's not often that Joey opens for Gavin, so the double feature was a special treat for me. Since Hartford is about a two hour drive, we decided to book a hotel room because I knew I wouldn't feel like driving home if we were out late, which I planned to be. The rates were good at most of the hotels, so we just grabbed a room at a Days Inn that was about a mile away from the venue. Y'all - now I know why the rates were so cheap. David and I spent most of the night saying to each other, "We're going to die in Hartford tonight."
For those who have never been to Connecticut, it is generally a really pretty and nice state. Hartford, however, is disgusting. There's really no other way to put it. It's nasty. The last time I was in Hartford, I ended up having to get a tetanus shot a few days later. Seriously. (I had cut my foot somewhere on the filthy streets of Hartford.) Anyway, Connecticut traffic can get a little clogged in the late afternoon, so David and I decided to both take the afternoon off from work and head down to the city early to avoid any of that mess. Surely we could find all kinds of things to do in the city, right? Eh, not so much. Sure, we could have gone shopping for CAT BOOTS:
WTF??? Can you get tabby boots? I am intrigued by the dingo boots, but cat boots????
Creeps.
Anyway, in lieu of cat boot shopping, we decided to just drive around the city and see where that took us. It...was scary. We almost ran over the same rabid-looking chihuahua TWICE, and the rest of the time we bemoaned the fact that our wills weren't ready yet, which was a shame because we were pretty sure we were going to die. Then we went to McDonald's for dinner and I was about to use the restroom until I saw a sketchy-looking woman wandering around the whole restaurant openly scratching her hoo-ha through her filthy sweatpants. She was just scratching that thing for days. Then she headed into the bathroom, so that was enough for me in terms of any need to use that bathroom EVER. Instead, we headed next door to the only other happening place around, VIP. VIP, of course, stands for Very Intimate Pleasures. I assumed it was a sex shop, while David thought it was a strip club, which led to both of us wondering what we would do if it were a strip club.
DAVID: How do titty bars work? Do they just come up to you?
PAM: I don't know, I've never been to one! What happens in the movies?
Because clearly, everything you see in the movies is totally true to life. Anyway, lucky for us I was right and VIP ended up being a sex shop, and it was gigantic. We wandered around for a while and then headed back to the hotel, where I noticed an odd looking stain on the rug in our room:
Is that a face? And is it made out of blood? What is that? Does he know Bedface? And still, and most importantly, IS THAT BLOOD??
Instead of pondering the horrors that could have taken place in our room, we busied ourselves getting ready and, doing things like taking a time out in the random chair in the corner:
Reading The Bible:
Wrapping a towel on your head and singing into the hair dryer:
And building pillow forts:
You know, the usual things you do to get ready. We then headed out to the show, and all of the thoughts of impending death drifted away as soon as I the first of the DeGraws hit the stage. Joey opened the show, sounding terrific yet sporting a new Freddie Mercury-inspired mustache. He had the mustache when I saw him at the bar a couple of weeks ago, but I just figured it was a fluke. Apparently, not. So now Joey looks a little like a child molester:
Okay, maybe he looks more than a little like one.
Eh, no matter, because he put on a great show. Here's a clip from my favorite Joey song:
After Joey's set, there was the little matter during intermission of some drunk girls who wandered off trying to reclaim their spots in the crowd near me, but people had taken them. This prompted one drunk girl to start pushing up against the new people that were standing there, trying to get them to move. It ended with drunk girl being removed by security and having to stand in the back for the concert, but there was a brief moment in the middle where I turned into a completely different person when one of her drunken pushes sent two people flying into me and led to me knocking into other people. I may have shoved the girl hard and yelled something along the lines of, "STOP IT, YOU STUPID BITCH!!!" That may have happened and David may have loved every minute of it. Moral of the story: don't mess with me while I am waiting for Gavin to take the stage. Speaking of which, shortly thereafter, he did take the stage, and all was right in the world again:
By the way, this was my first night using my new fancy camera and I love it to death. Especially when it captures Gavin shooting at me:
I love that.
The sound is also better in the videos - here's a clip from a non-album track that I have a live version of and love, but have never seen Gavin perform, so I was quite excited when he did. I mean, how can you not love a good ol' fashioned drinking song?
Here's a couple more of my favorite shots from that night:
And a montage of clips from a bunch of songs, including my favorite clip at about the 1:53 mark when Gavin is singing Proud Mary and shaking his ass. When he starts doing the train-rolling arm motions at 2:35? Pure bliss for me:
Oh, Gavin - how I have missed your shows. Now I'm going to be in withdrawal since there aren't any coming up anytime soon. But hey, at least I have lived to see the next one since David and I weren't so sure about that when we returned to the hotel to crash and were met with the soothing and dulcet tones of people drag racing outside.
PAM: What is going on right now?
DAVID: Are we going to die?
PAM: Who drag races anymore?
DAVID: People in Hartford since there's nothing else to do besides go to VIP and shop for cat boots.
PAM: What is this, Tokyo Drift? Are they Days Inn Drifting?
DAVID: Help!
Ah, but we made it and were quite happy to make our way into the nicer parts of Connecticut the next day, where there were homemade chocolate shops and such. Plus, I'd still go to Hartford any day to see a great concert like that. Double DeGraws makes everything better, even Days Inn Drifting.
I took my brother on one of my NYC jaunts over the weekend and although it was FREEZING, we had a great time. He wanted to do the NBC Studio Tour again, but when we got there on Saturday afternoon, all of the rest of the tours were sold out for the day. While we were finding out this news, I got a text from Paul, who also happened to be in the city with some friends, and he said that he just sang Hollaback Girl at the American Idol exhibit at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. My brother and I just looked at each other and said in unison, "Well, let's go then." Paul was gone by the time we got there, but we spent time enjoying some of the newer figures since we last went a few years ago, such as Angelina Jolie:
Angelina was standing with Brad Pitt and they were the only statues that had a line of people waiting to pose with them. My favorite thing about it was that both my brother and I asked each other if we wanted Brad in the picture as well and we both gave it a big "hell no." I love Brad and all, but Angelina is my "I would go gay for her for 2 hours" girl. I also got to be creepy with wax Johnny Depp:
And hold hands with George Clooney in honor of the Fug Girls:
My brother visited with his old Sims wife, Britney:
While I was amazed that even wax Tyra Banks was smiling with her eyes:
The American Idol exhibit shows up halfway through the museum and there is a snack bar area and a bunch of tables and chairs in front of a karaoke stage. On the side, there is a wax Simon Cowell sitting on a couch and after you sing, he tells you what he thought of your performance. The karaoke was free and there weren't many people going up, so we decided, "What the hell?"
The audience didn't know what to make of my brother since he went up and sang Since U Been Gone - people rarely know what to do when a 6'4" man gets up and blasts out some Kelly Clarkson. Wax Simon told him, "That was my favorite song until now."
I was resistant to go up and sing because there were a lot of people there watching (and they weren't drunks like I'm used to at the bars), but my brother talked me into it. Here's a short video clip that my brother took of me up there:
vid
I love the pan over to Wax Simon sitting on the couch at the end of the clip. After I sang, Simon told me that he had one word for me: congratulations. I was quite relieved about that. Oh, Simon.
Anyway, after the museum and a little bit of walking aorund Times Square, we headed back to the lower east side and stopped into The National Underground for some of their famous burgers. I still hadn't tried one yet, but everyone I've talked to loves them and Gavin told me that they're "ridiculous" the last time I saw him, so it was time to give them a taste. My brother got the full burger with the works, while I opted for the slider, and they were delicious. I also got to see my boy Sasha, who had to stand outside in that ridiculous cold. I think the wind chill was about 20 degrees that day and it was WINDY. After a little while, someone lent Sasha a second coat to wear over his, and he ended up looking like this:
Which = awesome.
While we were eating, we asked Sasha and another guy at the bar where we could go to kill a couple of hours, so they suggested a bar around the corner that had a mechanical bull. Mechanical bull are the only two words that I have to hear before I'm completely sold. So after we finished eating, my brother and I headed over to this place, which was as good as they described. I can't WAIT to bring a crew there and ride the bull all night. This time around we just remained spectators, but it was quite amusing. But next time I am taming that bull.
After that, I brought my brother to a nearby karaoke bar that I've been to before and it was so much fun. The place was hopping and everyone was into every song. It was probably the bext crowd I've ever seen at karaoke. I sang Bjork's It's Oh So Quiet and people were singing along and doing all of the shushing with me. Good, good times. We stayed there for a while and then headed back to the bar to hang out for a bit. You know it's got to be pretty cold outside when I get desperate enough to wear a hat, because hats don't work on me very well. Lucy can wear just about any hat and look awesome. Me? Dork.
Sasha was warming up with yet another coat and some hot chocolate. Inside, we got to see a really good band play while we warmed up ourselves. I also got to say a brief hello to Joey who made a quick stop over to give me a hug and meet my brother before disappearing into the back room with his manager and folks. Once we were all warmed up, it was time to head out once again to go see Sasha's band play at another club. He was playing at the same club that I saw him at back in July when I went to see his show with my pal Karyn and he brought me on stage and let me sing with the band. Here's Sasha working the crowd the other night:
Happily, he brought me onstage to sing again, but this time I opted for some Welcome to the Jungle instead of Sweet Child of Mine. Here's a short video clip that my brother took, including the part that my brother described as such: "I got some footage when Sasha was groping you." HA! Of course, it was also said with the patented brotherly "Ew! That's my sister!" face. (And for the record, there was zero groping going on, but 1000% rocking happening.) Anyway, here's the clip:
We stayed for about half of the show, but by that time it was 2:30 AM and time for BED, so we headed back to the hotel. It was a long, but terribly fun night. I'm also glad that I was finally able to get my brother to the bar. And then the next morning we were able to get a reservation for the NBC Studio Tour and then hit a Magnolia Bakery on the way out for cupcakes. That was just the perfect ending to a fun trip.
Actually, in honor of Paul, here was the perfect ending on the ride home:
Now my trip was complete.
And now I can't wait to go back again. See you on December 20th, NYC!
Last week, I finally convinced my mom to take a litle jaunt to NYC with me. I wanted to spend my birthday at my favorite bar, which we all know is The National Underground, and I've been wanting my mom to see the bar for ages, so it all worked out when I pulled the "we're going for my birthday" card. When I had told my girl Lucy Woodward in August about my upcoming trip to the city, she had just booked a show for the week after my birthday, so I decided to go the week after my birthday to coincide with her show. National Underground and a Lucy Woodward show in one night? Sold! My mom had enjoyed Lucy's performance at the fundraiser she did for us back in February, so the plan was on. Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay in one of my regular hotels since almost everything was booked or double-priced due to the UN Conference in the city last week, so my mom didn't get to enjoy the glass-walled bathrooms or the awesome rooftop. But she did get to enjoy this on the ride home:
Oh, Duchess - how we love you so.
Anyway, Lucy was playing at The Canal Room, which looked pretty swank, so I glammed it up for the occasion:
I like to glam it up for Lucy's shows anyway, and I always have to rock some killer shoes for our shoe-offs. This time I was declared the victor with these bad boys:
Red into black? Someone out there is just making shoes for me now. This person has clearly seen into my brain and just designs for me, because come on. First the black and white ones and now these? Anyhoo, I also won the shoe-off because Lucy had already beaten me before with her gold bad boys that she sported again at her show:
She was amazing as usual, and it was a great crowd. I love going to see Lucy play in NYC because it's her hometown and the people just go crazy for her. It's awesome and needs to be like that in every town she goes to because she just rules. Here's a couple of other shots I took during the show - I love the orange-lighting one:
After Lucy's show, my mom and I grabbed a taxi and made our way over to the bar. As I was getting out of the taxi, I heard this all-too familiar Yugoslavian voice shouting, "Sockgirrrrrrl!!" Oh, Sasha:
He was all excited to meet my mom, and when they did, I managed to take what may be one of the greatest photographs in the history of the world. People, I give you my mom and Sasha, chilling:
CLASSIC.
My mom also got to meet Matt, and I think it made her feel better about my solo jaunts because I've got those two boys looking out for me. I showed her around the neighborhood ("There's the island where we had to walk the 'circle of death' around Gavin 50 times at 2 AM," "There's the club where Joe got the mystery hickey," "There's where I saw my first NYC rat," etc.) and then around the bar, which she deemed "a cute little place." My mom rules. She also came on a good night, since she got to meet my favorite bartender Jill, the bar manager, Joey's manager, and of course, Joey.
They shared some laughs, which was just so fun for me to watch. My mom laughing it up with Joey DeGraw while sidled up to the bar at the National Underground - it was just too perfect for words. Well, I suppose there is one word for it - awesome. Yay Sockmommy!
Celebrity Sighting I May Have Been A Wee Too Bit Excited About: George from The Apprentice. George!!
