Last night, I saw the amazing Nikka Costa at Bowery Ballroom. Don't think I've been to a show by myself since The Coathangers on Halloween. But I had a fantastic time watching Nikka perform both new and old songs. She's got a new album coming out in September and she played quite a few new joints, which all sounded amazing. And of cours she played some oldies like Push and Pull, Like a Feather, Happy in the Morning, and Everybody Got their Something. The New York crowd was definitely full of faithful Nikka fans who knew the songs very well and weren't shy about singing along. And Nikka brought down the house with her dancing, her witty banter and her unwavering, non stop energy. And as always, her voice was angelica, fierce, and firey all at the same time. Props to her for getting back into such amazing shape after having a baby too. To check out some pictures, visit my flickr page here.

'Cause we got much further than I thought we'd get tonight.

A very special thing happened recently that may have gone unoticed by many of you. It's something that I've been waiting for for many years, and now that's it's finally happened, I'm SOO excited! The thing that I'm talking about is the release of the My So-Called Life box set.

Yesterday, I was in Best Buy with my cousins doing some black friday shopping, and I walked passed the box sex on the shelf. I was shocked that I had forgotten that it was released at the end of October, but even more shocked that it was actually right there, in front of me, tangible, and ready to be purchased. However, the price made me wince, and I figured I'd could find it much cheaper on amazon. And thankfully, Amazon is selling it for the very reasonable price of $37.99. So I bought it of course and I will eagerly await its delivery to my house.

I loved this show, so much, as I'm sure a lot of you did. I actually watched this show when it was on ABC, and wrote a letter to the channel when I heard it was going to be cancelled. I must've been 14. I wrote a fan letter to Jared Leto, and several months later received a postcard sized autographed picture in the mail which I spazzed over for at least a week. I taped the episodes when they were played on MTV on Saturday nights, and watched them over and over again until the tape in the VHSes looked like another run would break them.

The first DVD box set of the serires was released in 2002. It went out of print not too long afterwards when BMG lost the rights to distribute it. And so, the only hope of getting your hands on this box set was to pay a good $150 + for a copy on ebay, or through an individual seller on Amazon. I'm happy that I was patient and never paid an arm and a leg for it. Now when you look at the 2002 copies of the box set for sale through sellers on amazon, the price is SIGNIFICANTLY lower.

I was so upset when My So-Called Life was cancelled and couldn't understand why enough people weren't watching it. But perhaps I related it to so much because I was only a few years younger than most of the kids being portrayed.

There was a great LA Times article about the show that ran last month, and I think it really sheds light on what made this show so awesome to so many people.

"In its parts it may have resembled things that came before, but in its sum it was unique, as one would say every life is unique, and yet part of some universal chord. A nonjudgmental mix of journalistic and spiritual attitudes, "My So-Called Life" at once romanticized and accurately portrayed what it is to be young and changing, to be elevated and wrecked by the same powerful emotions, and it did it without descending into melodrama or selling soap. It was, in fact, a quiet show, devoted to long takes, long looks, long silences. But constantly . . . vibrating." - Robert Loyd, LA Times.

And so, I can't wait to relive the World Happiness Dance, and Buffalo Tom playing at Pike Street, and Rayanne handcuffing herself to Angela's parents bed, and Mr. Katimski badgering Ricky to join Drama Club, and Jordan being Jordan and saying stuff like, "Why are you like this? Like how you are?" And of course Angela jumping around her room and dancing to "Blister in the Sun".

They sure don't make 'em like they used to.

So CMJ 2007 has come and gone. Considering I only saw one show last year (Snowden at White Rabbit), I think I did much better this year. Although, I didn't even need my pass really. All the really good shows weren't letting anyone in without tickets, so if you didn't have a ticket, or if the show wasn't already free, you were out of luck. But that's ok. I saw Black Kids so it was all good.

Tuesday night, I saw Regina Spektor at Hammerstein with Robin. Now, this wasn't a CMJ show, but it was still amazing. I hadn't heard too much of Regina's music before Tuesday, but her performance was AMAZING. She totally blew me away. On Thursday, I ordered all of her records and I'm eagerly awaiting them in the mail.

Wednesday night I TRIED to see Black Kids at The Annex. Mates of State were headlining and it turns out that the show had been sold out for awhile. I was disappointed, but learned a little while later that would be playing the free Brooklyn Vegan showcase on Friday at R Bar.

I rushed to R Bar after work so that I wouldn't miss Black Kids set. But when I got there, Yeasayer was still on stage much to my delight. They were very good actually, and I was happy that I caught a couple of there songs. After their set, the room got REALLY packed for Black Kids. They opened up with "I'm Not Going To Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" and it sounded great! I think they played 4 or 5 more songs. This band is totaly worth all the hype. They're energetic, fun, and definitely make you want to dance. Reggie said something about how they had been having some problems with some of the shows, but it seems like their set at R Bar went off perfectly. They were the one band that I REALLY wanted to see so I was happy that I was ab;e to make it out there. I only wish that I could see their shows in Atlanta in November. And they're only playing like a week before I get there. UGH!

Later on in the night, Georgia and I saw M.I.A. at Terminal 5. We got inside the venue probably around 9:30, so we didn't see the opener. Terminal 5 is a new venue ALLLLL the way down on 11th and 57th. It's not around anything, but it's a good size. There's the floor of course, and then two balaconys, each with a sitting area and bars. I guess M.I.A. went on around 10. She tore that shit up! I didn't know if I'd have as much fun as when I saw her at th 40 Watt two years ago, but I had even more fun because I had Georgia to sing all the songs with. I think she opened with "Bamboo Banga". From Arular she played "Amazon," "Galang," "10 Dollar," "Bucky Done Gun," "Pull Up the People," and "Sunshowers." From Kala she played, "Paper Planes," "XR2," "Bird Flu," "Jimmy," "Hussle," "20 Dollar," and "Down River." She had African Boy come out and do "Hussle" with her and she invited the audience up on stage with her for "Bird Flu." She was like, "If you can make it on stage, you can come up here and dance." Of course there were mad people that got up there, but I must say it was pretty cool, especially the fact that she got them all to get off the stage when the song was over (this was in the middle of the set) so that was pretty impressive. She encored with "Boyz" and "URAQT" which was AWESOME! M.I.A. shows are so much fun because everyone knows the words and you can't help but jump around and scream your head off and get sweaty. Not to mention that M.I.A. and Cherry are mad awesome whiners.

I'm exhausted, but this week was definitely a good week of shows.

Amy Winehouse was amazing! Here are some pictures

So I thought I'd post a blog for all of you who I haven't talked to in awhile, or who haven't had the exciting pleasure of reading my LJ (either because you care not to, or you aren't on my friends list. boo hoo!)

First and foremost, I love Amy Winehouse. I've been listening to her like mad, and I'm so in love with her voice. My favorite tracks at the moment are "Me & Mr. Jones", "He Can Only Hold Her", "Addicted", and her cover the the Zuton's "Valerie." You NEED to listen to "Valerie" Like right now. It's a great song at its core, but when Amy sings it... Just wow. Watch the video of her performing it on my profile. You won't be disappointed. Most people seem to have an opinion about Ms. Winehouse. Half the time, it's not about her music, but her behavior. Ok. So she drinks. And she's cancelled a few shows. But anyone that sings like that girl can should be forgiven for any and all sins.

I don't think I'm going to any shows this month, but next month I'm seeing Amy, Pretty Girls Make Graves (TWICE) and Deftones. I'm excited and sad for the Pretty Girls Make Graves shows. I wonder if it will hit me that those will be the last times I get to see one of my favorite bands. How do you say thank you to a band that affected you in such an imensely positive way? I guess by being in the front and screaming your lungs out. At least, that's what I plan to do.

My mom is in town for a little while, which is nice. I'm going to Atlanta next month, and I can't wait. I need that place.

I'm trying to cut down on all of my soda drinking. And I've switched from chai, to green tea with honey, and back to chai again.

Um, so I guess those are the most important things. It's still really cold her in New York, and I'm craving sunshine. I'm looking forward to the date that i don't have to wear my grungy brown hat and my bulky navy jacket.

And now, I think it's time for bed.

Here's a picture of some of us at Karen's wedding this past weekend:



Elizabeth, Jono, Kulinski, Katie, Leah, Ed, Terri, Jeff, and Me

Go to The Prid's Myspace page to watch their video Let It Go.

http://www.myspace.com/theprids

or if you're lazy, watch it here.

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Mi familia.
Without them, New York wouldn't be half as much fun for me as it is

And it only took 5 months!

So I'm going to be online a lot more from now on. YAY for me!

Oh and if you didn't know, Pretty Girls Make Graves in ONE WEEK!!!!