Bad Boy Lifestyle, Might Not Make It
August 29 - September 3
To my loyal readership—It’s been a hell of a week here in our nation’s capital, New York City of angels. Kevin Carpet yelled at my dad’s boss. More on that later.
8/29 ~ Frost Children & Co.
The Frost Children never stop playing, and Christian is the king of the low-key meetup. Follow the man wherever he works and you’ll have friends automatically. Nice ones too.
That’s why I love going to shows—it’s like having a lot of friends but everything is on Instagram, so you don’t really have to get invited.
A classic Monday night at Bex. Angel played Crazy Frog, and we pounded spaghetts.
8/30 ~ Chloe MK
Bought tickets right when they dropped. The only time I’d seen Chloe perform was at the Porches show at Baby’s last year. I remember being impressed by the way she sounded when she yelled, “Come on!” Stadium rockstar vibes.
Loved the sludgy moments in her set. The band was 60% mullets. I think Eva was playing a baritone guitar instead of a bass, but I was standing behind a pole. I’ve been eyeing Chloe’s guitar-pick necklaces for a while, and I’m finally a proud owner.
Chris Danis booked the show. Last time I mentioned him, he noticed that I didn’t link to TBA, so here’s the link to TBA. My loyal readers will know that I hold myself to the highest standards of journalistic integrity—out of an abundance of caution and an unwavering commitment to the truth, I will disclose that I applied to be a Music Assistant at TBA in May and again in December. If the company, or any company for that matter, would like to reconsider, my resume is available upon request.
8/31 ~ Baby’s All Right x the Taxidermists
Another dinner with La Cosa Nostra. This time at Kings Co Imperial. Tom Moore ordered for the table. From Kings, we went to Night of Joy. They have a fence-like partition hanging down in front of the bar that makes it feel like a confessional.
I am grateful to have friends I trust. This was a night when I felt close to all of them. Especially Greg Rutkin when we kissed on the lips.
When friends started to filter out, I bounced over to Chaos Computer. Now that seemingly everybody in NYC is Lucy-pilled, we have to talk about the Taxidermists. The legendary Western MA duo is Cooper Handy and Sal McNamara. They’ve been playing together since they were 14, and they’re never gonna stop.
I’ve been pretty nice for a decade
I feel like a drummer in a parade
Keep an eye out for members of Horse Jumper of Love and Show Me the Body rocking old-school Taxidermists merch. I’ll save you the time trying to find Cooper’s fuzz tone on Reverb.com—the pedal was hand-built by Sal’s brother, and the backup is long gone.
It’s been years since I last saw Sweet Baby Jesus. Not sure I realized how sick they are. The singer is a powerful presence. He kept asking if anyone in the audience had ever had a group sexting experience. I have not.
I stood behind the PA so I could focus in on the rhythm section. I knew Charlie was a next level extra advanced show booker, but I didn’t realize he was a next level extra advanced bass player too. Charlie and Paco stood facing each other the whole time and they were super locked. Both are sneaky shredders, and both poured themselves into it.
I had a long conversation with Marcus in the smoking room. Mostly off the record. “You and me time,” he called it. But we also talked about how he connected with collectors (including Hayley Williams and the Whitney) and his advice for young budding creatives like myself: “A dude can change your life.”
He explained why his photography will not be released in any capacity for 3 years, and we looked back on Blaketheman1000’s evolution from quirky indie singer songwriter to self-proclaimed ‘downtown Dimes Square diamond.’ According to Marcus, the core of what Blake is about hasn’t changed since his days in Nashville: “He was still taking his shirt off. Just with guitars.”
9/1 ~ Julia Cumming x The Dare
Julia Cumming of Sunflower Bean is brilliant and articulate. Her boyfriend Steele only talks about his tooth pain. I don’t typically get enough intel to make this a formal gossip column, but I can report that just a few days after we spoke on September 1st, Steele got his wisdom teeth removed. The operation went poorly.
We migrated from midtown to LES for Harrison’s DJ night. My dad’s boss texted me asking if anything fun was happening, so I told him come on down.
Have you ever had an argument with someone laying on the ground? Kevin Carpet seems to be bothered when people tell other people that he’s there. My dad’s boss was explaining the situation to a friend when a head peaked out from under the tarp and started yelling, “Get out of here! Get out!” At least that’s what I think he said. Turns out it’s hard to sustain a back and forth with someone in that position, so the conflict didn’t get very far. I think my dad’s boss was mostly confused, but I hope he feels like he’s really a part of NYC nightlife now.
9/2 ~ DPI x Sipper Pod
Got dinner at Congee Village with Dots Per Inch associates. Tom Moore ordered for the table. Loved the cucumbers. I’m surprised every time I get excited about a vegetable.
After dinner, we walked to KGB Bar. There was another jazz trio. The drummer had a tiny kickdrum, no toms, and two giant ride cymbals—into that vibe. I left early to catch up with Jack and hit the Shabbat dinner/party Avi invited me to at the Sipper residence.
Isaac was sitting on the sidewalk when we arrived. Love that dude. Avi was skating, and a bunch of others were huddled around a mass of microphone cords and recording equipment. We recorded what is almost certainly the most overstimulating podcast in the medium’s history. Multiple microphones being passed around & recording multiple conversations simultaneously. Over the course of the podcast, we met a three legged dog named Baby, and a British man offered Sipper a publishing deal on the spot.
The Dare kept texting things like “I’m omw with like 10 people” for an hour and a half. Isaac checked his location and the mans was in Soho. In the time when we were expecting to see Harrison, Eva came out with two blenders full of sorbet she’d made. It was fucked up good. When I was leaving, I asked what was in it, but she didn’t want to tell me. She said, “You’re not gonna make it.” She’s right. My blender is in my closet, and I pretty much subsist on GoMacro bars.
The Sipper team closed up shop before Harrison arrived, so we met him, Amana, and Perla at the Narrows. I went outside while Harrison was getting a drink and I heard a guy at another table say, “The Dare’s in there.” Harrison said his next show is going to be in the back of a truck or something. Probably like that U2 video.
9/3 ~ Dan English @ The Cactus Store x Winnie’s x Sunny & Ann’s
On the 3rd, Angel Emoji and I were kicked out of the Harvard Club while shooting for our new collection, Coastal Elite.
It was a tough start to the day, but I had the final show with the Dan English Acoustic Guitar Orchestra to look forward to. I didn’t realize how early this gig was, so I am sad to say I missed most of Emma’s set. There were no more chairs available in the band area by the time I arrived, so I stood in the doorway next to a sea of other acoustic guitarists.
I was skeptical of Dan’s plan to add double digits to an already extravagant ensemble of acoustic guitars. But the 40+ members pushed the performance into new territory for me. I was impressed by Dan’s commitment to making his music participatory. The cactus store show put a lot of faith in a lot of different musicians, and left so many variables up to chance. There were enough people that the tempo could surge in one section of the orchestra while dragging in another. When the power cut out a few songs in, nobody seemed all that worried. Dan said, “Worst case scenario we can just do everything acoustic.” We didn’t have to, but it would have been a fitting farewell to the guitar orchestra experiment.
After, we walked to Winnie’s. I didn’t sing.
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More soon : )
This may be my favorite one yet