music and lyrics…and a PLEA FOR YOUR VOTE!

So my weekend was all about music. Music in Brooklyn to be precise. My band played at the Luna Lounge in Williamsburg last Friday. The whole point of that show was so this indie label (who we’ve been communicating with) could come and watch us play at the venue they picked. Well, it didn’t turn out so well. Mainly because they didn’t show up. Bloody bastards! They emailed us Friday afternoon saying due to unforseen circumstances, they couldn’t come up from wherever they were. Whatever. Things happen. So we play anyway. Aside from the fact that our bass player came 15 minutes late for our set, it was all good. We had fun as usual.

Then Saturday, I got to see Sonic Youth! I haven’t been to a show in ages (aside from the ones where I play), so I was super-excited to see Sonic Youth at McCarren Park Pool. Oh, and did I mention I saw them for FREE?! Yep. Courtesy of my cousin Junior. They’re doing the Daydream Nation tour (classic, classic SY album) and played all the songs from that album. They also did a super-long encore featuring more current songs. They were excellent as usual. This is probably the 5th time I’ve seen them, and they are amazing live. (Aside: I also had a celeb-sighting while at the show and saw Chloe Sevigny –she’s much, much prettier in person). Even though I was close to the stage, I couldn’t take cool pictures with my rinky-dink camera. So here’s a few from Forklift which are just gorgeous:

Sonic Youth

Kim Gordon

Thurston Moore

All photos by Forklift.

Lastly, here’s a music plea for you. My band is one of 6 semi-finalists at the Biore GenArt Competition. We need your vote! All you have to do is click HERE, go to the MUSIC section, and vote for Plastiq Passion (under Jessica Chaos…dunno why it’s just her name now). The winners get a $20,000 grant! Thanks in advance for your help!

i heart Harry Potter!

WARNING: Comments contain spoilers! Enter at your own risk

I’ve been a loyal Harry Potter fan since the first book came out. I’ve seen his popularity rise from being just a cool book that everyone talks about and saw it become THE BOOK where bookstores and people throw a party for it! J.K. Rowling truly is a gifted writer who has created this fantastically wonderful new world for us. No other book has come close to its mass appeal. I’ve been to the midnight book parties, waited on line for the movies wearing Potter gear, and read and re-read each book. Harry Potter is part of my life.

And now, the series has ended. WAH!!! *Sniffle*

I told myself that I would not, would not, would not read the book in one sitting like I normally do. I even re-read Book 6 first to quell my impulse and refresh my memory (however, I finished it in 2 days, right before the new book came out). As I was reading Half-Blood Prince, I started sobbing. Not just for Dumbledore, but because I was sad that the last book was coming out.

But of course, just like I did with the other books, I finished Deathly Hollows last night. You just can’t help it. It’s a page-turner. Even with rockstar baby jumping on me and grabbing my book, I managed to read it all over the weekend. And I did it with the hubs being away and everything! You see, he left Friday morning to go to Las Vegas for his brother’s bachelor party. Already I was thinking in my head “how the hell am I supposed to read HP with the hubs gone?!” But read it I did. Saturday morning, the kid and I played and I took him to Borders Bookstore to get the new book just in case the one I ordered didn’t come that day. Then we played some more. Around noon, my book arrived by owl post! Yes! I officially start reading around 2:30 pm after the kid fell asleep. Then I read again after I put him down for the night at around 8:30 pm. I read until midnight. Sunday, I read for about 2 hours while the kid was napping. Then read again at nightime from 9-11 pm. I finish at exactly 10:52 pm. *sigh* Towards the end, I tried to read as slow as possible….

What an amazing journey….but I have so many questions! And no one to talk to about it! Finish reading it you people so we can discuss!! I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!

But let me just say, I loved the way it all ended. It was beautiful. It was everything I expected it to be.

But I still have questions dammit! Let me know if you’re done so we can talk!

how i spent my summer vacation

It’s been a whirlwind, really. Don’t know how to begin and to cram it all…*whew* Okay. So I’ve been back from my San Francisco trip for a week now, but I’m still trying to find time to breathe. I need a vacation from my vacation because it was exhausting taking care of rockstar baby! Traveling with a toddler is HARD. Whatever notions I had of bringing him to the Philippines this December is definitely out the door (and well, we weren’t goinig anyway but if we were, I would’ve cancelled!)! It’s hard enough to fly with him for 11 hours (about 5.5 hours each way), so an 18+ hour flight will just about kill me, I think… But let me backtrack a bit… the holiday itself was pretty nice, but can I just say that he’s not going on any more plane rides until he’s 4 years old! It’s not that he was a terror (although at certain times, he was definitely impossible!). It’s just the constant tension you feel, this sense of apprehension that he’s going to go berserk and yell and scream at any given point in time. Half the stress came from taking “preventive measures” that he won’t cry. I mean, who wants to be the parent of that crying child, you know?

Here’s an example of the not so good stuff:

imagine being on the runway in a plane for 2 hours waiting for the plane’s turn to take off — DVD’s couldn’t be turned on, the kid is whining, you’re starving, you can’t get up to walk him around, and everyone is cranky because the plane is delayed.

so you finally arrive at your hotel at 2 am, you go to sleep, only to be awakened at 5 am because rockstar baby decides it’s time to wake up (after all, it’s 8 am in the east coast)

you can’t relax over a nice meal at any restaurant because rockstar baby can’t sit still; he wants to walk around and explore and will fidget and yell until you get up.

Those are just some of the examples of how our holiday isn’t like what it used to be! In addition, I was washing his bottles everyday at the hotel sink, running around after him every where we went, and having a hard-ass time feeding him. Ok, but on the good stuff…

we got to hang out with rockstar baby’s Ninang Karen (aka Ninang Camera) and Uncle Babs

we got to see the sights of San Francisco (e.g., the Golden Gate bridge, Ghiradelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, etc.) and attended the wedding of our friends

we have great new memories with rockstar baby (e.g., him laughing hysterically at the seagulls eating bread and running after them

spending my birthday at Napa Valley and spending time as a family.

It was definitely memorable! Exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I just wish that rockstar baby was older so he could remember (that, and maybe he would’ve behaved a bit more!) I also wish the hubs and I could’ve just relaxed a bit and spent more time doing tourist-y stuff.

But like I said, no more plane rides for rockstar baby until he hits 4 years old. Maybe 3 if he’s good. We’re planning a Disneyworld trip this December (because wedding #7 of 7 will be in Orlando, FL) and the hubs already decided we are going to drive there. Ooh. Because driving for 14 hours will be so much better with a toddler in the car. *smirk*

Here’s our photo album of completely UNedited pics:

oh yeah!!!

The Transformers movie kicked arse!!#&*#$!! Run, don’t walk to your nearest theater to see it!! It was fucking sick!!

I’ll leaving for San Franciso tomorrow and will be back on July 10th –hurray for holidays!

I’ll be one year older when I get back from my holiday! I will officially be a “thirty-something” on July 9. Yikes. But hey, I still feel like a kid and I’ll celebrate like one!

When I get back, I get to celebrate my birthday with a Harry Potter Party! I’ll be watching Order of the Phoenix on IMAX with my friends! That should be another kick-arse movie!

See you all when I get back!