reflections on november at bimbo's

last month, i went to 3 shows. all at bimbo's. while i see bands at popscene almost everytime i go, popscene is mostly for dancing. there's only ever a handful of bands that play there (per year) that i actually want to see. but seeing 3 bands all at bimbo's, that's rare. and might i add, unplanned. it was supposed to be 2 but voxtrot postponed their september show to tour with the arctic monkeys. ew, whatever.

the jens lekman show was pretty impressive. it's hard to believe he's only in his mid 20's. he's an amazing singer/songwriter/performer. he's one of those rare natural artists. but, i still can't get over the level of passion in which torque (et al.) exert during their shows. they are super cool, funny & awesome. i've seen them about 5x with the first one about 6 years ago. and there is a huge difference between the first shows and this last one. i've seen the hard work. the sweat & blood. and tears shed to produce such art. it's almost magical. as for voxtrot, i'm still trying to get over the disappointment. ugh.

while i rated both the jens lekman & stars shows 5 ♥s (that's a whole lotta love), the stars show was definitely the best of the 3 last month if not out of the entire year. i would most certainly see mr. lekman again. no doubt, the next stars show is a must but i'm almost sure that i will not be attending the next voxtrot show. boo.

office & popscene

venue: 330 ritch (popscene)
artist: office
who: nina, her friend kearny & will
when: 13 december 2007 (thursday)
doors open at 10p

last week, i went to popscene to see this band called office. they are from chicago. i'd heard them through a couple of cds joe (sorry ro!) had made for me. so when i saw that they were playing at popscene, i thought, i wanna go! my cousin nina had expressed wanting to go to popscene so i asked her to go. the last time we were there together was... wow, the night i met bernie back in september. crazy crazy. and a crazy night that was.

before popscene, i met up with my thyroid cancer sister, funie. she lives in oakland and since it's across the bridge to sf, it worked out perfect. i'd hang out with funie and meet nina for popscene after. funie & her friends decided on karaoke. this whole in the wall place where the clerk barely spoke english. luckily, funie is taiwanese and was able to speak with her for us. this place was like a hole in the wall. you could miss it if you weren't paying attention. there were 4 of us and the private rooms were $25/hour. more of their friends were supposed to show up but it was just us for a little over an hour. her friend erika and i sang and knew the same songs. it turned out that she was 32. funny. this place even had the song come go with me by expose. i haven't sang this song since middle school. ridiculous. what's even more ridiculous is the video my sister, cousin debbie & i made with this song. we had a dance routine and lip synced. debbie's brother lam was the mc. we also had matching outfits. it was so much fun. but alas, the video has gone missing. but i swear debbie & roger have it!

back to karaoke, i sang this song with erika. i didn't really know the words but oh my, i think debbie was only 10 y/o and we were singing songs about sex. then again, i think most of the songs from the 80s were about sex. i stayed there a little longer than i'd planned and didn't make it to popscene until close to 11 instead of 10. luckily, nina was with her friend kearny and they were waiting for me in their car. when i parked, this black civic parked in front of me. and who comes out of it? our long lost friend will! i didn't know he drove but i suspected it had something to do with his gf.

i met up with nina & kearny in line. ken, one of the bouncers (he's the one that asked me if i was chris's girl, if so, it was a shame because i was too fine for him! hahaha), he let us in for free on my birthday last month (with lisa & allen). i didn't really expect him to do it again this time. but then i see him whisper something to the cover chick and she stamps our hands without taking any $$. score! i need to bring him cookies the next time i go...

if you don't know, i absolutely love dancing at popscene. i get on this big natural dancing high. i suppose irish car bombs help too. but i have this big smile almost the entire time. funny, this is actually how bernie noticed me on the dance floor. anyway, i needed my dancing fix. we get on the dance floor and i see will over by the stage dancing by himself. as usual. normally, he would join us but he didn't and i felt bad for him so i went over to him. and we dance the entire night. we also chatted a bit on the dance floor. it was really nice. he's living with his gf now and no longer lives in the ghetto. hahah. he seems happy too which is great.

when office came on, we went and sat down in a booth. i didn't recognize any of the songs. i don't even think they played the two songs i knew. i was really disappointed. despite that, i still had tons of fun with nina, kearny & will. we stayed until closing and walked out with will. i spent the night at nina's and made it to work on time the next day. thanks nina!

rating: ♥

caroline's 23rd birthday & drunk dialing

my younger cousin turned 23 recently. it made me a little sad as i am ten years older than her. and i chose to be 23 for a good 8 or 9 years. now that i think about it more, i'm glad that i'm no longer in my 20s. i dare say i am even happy to be in my 30s. i choose the age 23 because it was one of the best years in my life. school was done, i travelled to europe, and thought i found the one i was going to marry and have babies with. it was truly the age of innocence for me. but now, who wants to be innocent at 33? pas moi!

last year at my cousin's party, i think i had 4 or 5 shots of vodka. i can't remember. then i had some plum wine or guinness. i mixed. and then it was all over for me. next thing i knew, i was waking up in my cousin's bedroom with her sleeping in the bed next to me. i suddenly saw flashes of yakking and what not. at first, i had no idea where i was. that's never good. this year, i told myself... i only want to get drunk enough to drunk dial bernie. so i stopped at 3 vodka shots. i planned on coming into work on sunday so i couldn't pass out anywhere but in my bed. i even texted him a warning message. possible drunk dialing tonight. he texted me back right away. he was going to bed soon so i had to call him soon. and i did. i can't remember a whole lot but it was nice hearing his voice and chatting with him. i'm a little smitten with him. clearly.

anyway, poor caroline got sick as did many others (including a 40 something y/o man who yakked everywhere). not me. i drove my mostly sober ass home. i even went to the office the next day. and hung out with a 4 y/o the entire day. having spent quality time with my dear cousins and their significant others (aka my cousin-in-laws & future cousins) is always such a joy despite how rare it is. it makes me really happy that i have such a lovely relationship with them. i'm also happy that bernie picked up when i drunk dialed him. heehee.

tube free!

last thursday, i had my last appointment with my ent doctor, dr. falsafi. he's been treating me since late last year and we actually said our goodbyes that afternoon. i saw him for the first time last december. despite having numerous specialists treating me, it's still a little sad to see them go. with all of my health issues, i feel extremely fortunate to have received such great care from most of them.

i had a total of 3 surgeries (done by the good doctor) all within 2007. now that being in his care is over, it's kinda bittersweet. i'm sad i won't see him anymore but i'm also happy that my problems have been resolved. for the most part anyway. i mean, seriously, i breathe so much better. i can't believe i didn't for most of my life. i don't miss the tube in my eye at all. hopefully, this is also goodbye to any pink eye recurrences.

thank you dr. falsafi!

your biggest fan? not quite.

venue: bimbo's
artist: voxtrot & new division
who: alex & betty
when: 30 nov 2007 (friday)
doors open at 8p

the night started off at burger meister in north beach on the way to bimbo's. unfortunately, we found ourselves sitting by the most obnoxious douche bags from the marina. i don't even think they were drunk. not that its an excuse for being obnoxious but it happens. not them. they were totally annoying. we hated them. so did the rest of the patrons there. we ended up staying longer than we should have.

we head over to bimbo's close to 8p. i love bimbo's. it's really a great venue. small enough where the musicians themselves are walking about. that's where i met david gedge from cinerama/wedding present. the sound is awesome. the ambiance is much better than the other venues. you can't beat the girl in the fish bowl either. it's so quaint. and the ladies restrooms are monitored by the coolest lady ever. the only problem is that it's cash only. but there are plenty of atms around so no biggie.

we got there early and scored a nice table off on the side right next to the bar. perfect location if you ask me. it was also a good spot for people watching, more like, stalker spotting. we saw a girl in a hideous dress stalking ramesh and then the rest of the band members. i'm happy to report that, thanks to my awestrickeness when it comes to rock stars that i can only blurt out one thing (along the lines of... i love your music). and then i'm gone.

the opening band was called new division. i overheard someone say that they were supposed to be like joy division. um, wrong division. they were nothing like joy division or any of their one songs. they were all over the place. one song was like toad the wet sprocket, another song was very 80's. the first song was ok but they went downhill after that. they kinda sucked. it's a harsh world out there and i'm not one for pacifying.

voxtrot started off great, as usual. their energy on stage was comparable to the energy in their songs. very jumpy and upbeat. especially their bass player, 70's guy who looks like a cross between topher grace and alex's german bf. more like topher grace though. then, towards the end (thankfully) their ratings fell rapidly. these slutty hags went up on stage and started dancing on stage. not only were they drunk & ugly, they were horrid dancers. ugh, in cheap grotesque sequins dresses. to keep this post brief, voxtrot allowed the sluts to stay on stage and did not seem to realize that we paid to see them, not stupid ugly old dancing sluts on stage. so we left.

rating: ♥ very very disappointing...