August, 2004

Last Month in NYC: The August Roundup Part One

August was a busy, busy month. I was running around like a nut packing up my stuff and trying to have fun "saying goodbye to NYC" as I prepared to move out San Francisco - a move that actually only ended up being for three and a half months. Here's the first half of the August roundup.

Sunday, August 1st

I found this pink, plastic mirror frame thrown out on the sidewalk and stopped for a quick "artsy" shot on the walk over to meet up with...

leigh, meredith — ...troublemakers extraordinaire Meredith and Leigh.

Jesus.

What's tougher than this photo?

Tuesday, August 3rd

leigh, me — On Wednesday night I met up with Leigh to listen to some friends play records at Iggy's. A smooch for me.

leigh, me — A smooch for you.

leigh — And a coathook to the face!

Thursday, August 5th

Here's the enormous, creepy stuffed animal perched atop of the traffic signal box on the corner of Houston and Mulberry that I saw while walking up to Bar13 to meet up with...

greg k, leigh, me — Leigh and Greg.

alexis, geordon — Pouty Geordan with Alexis (who's looking like she just got a whiff of catshit!).

greg k — Tins hiding up Greg's sweater. Actually, hey! That's MY sweater! I loaned it to him because he was cold up on the roof and I haven't seen it since! (Actually, now that I think about it, I stole that sweater from Emily Cmielewski back in the fall of '96, so I guess it's only fair.)

Oh my god! Free Bud in the urinal! Suh-weet! (I wish I'd had some ice or something for it - it was really, really warm).

me, sheal — Me and Sheal actin' tough.

geordon, greg k, leigh — Misshapes kids on the decks laying down fat beats for the...

....dancefloor sausage party. (Holy glut of dudes, Batman!)

leigh, me — I put on my riot gear, just in case a dude-fueled dance floor riot broke out.

leigh, me — Be careful Tins, my helmet has "Lice."

greg k, leigh — Dancefloor friends forever! (Look at a Greg's face...hahahah.)

marissa, me — Me and Marissa, keeping the situation under control.

leigh, meredith — Then Meredith showed up.

leigh, meredith — And started a little snuggle party in the corner. Awwww.

geordon — Mmmmmmmmmmm. Jealous.

leigh, meredith — BWA-HAHAHAHAHA! Holy shit. Tinny getting up close and personal with Meredith's bubble-butt.

charlene, me — Charlene showed up late night just in time for last call.

charlene, leigh — Leigh drinks like a hummingbird. Ha!

Monday, August 9th

brett, dad, mom, uncle bruce — On Monday (the day after my birthday) I went down to meet up with my parents and their little shorehouse near Long Beach Island in southern NJ. Here's my mom, brother, dad and Uncle Bruce chilling on the beach at LBI.

elyse, uncle bruce — See those two guys carrying the raft in the background? They kept climbing into the raft together, paddling out a few feet into the water, then getting absolutely hammered by giant waves. They'd wash up on the shore, coughing and sputtering, laugh like fucking loons, then paddle back out and do it again. Beavis and Butthead are alive and well in Jersey, baby. If only my batteries hadn't died.

brett, mom — Later that night, we had a dinner on my parents porch and my mom brough out a birthday cake for me. She forgot to get birthday candles, so instead she substituted this 18" decorative candle that she found unused in a candlestick on the kitchen table. Hahaha.

Here's me with the get a load of my mom photo.

Licking the birthday candle never looked so wrong.

Tuesday, August 10th

On Tuesday afternoon Sarah invited me up to Spin's offices to watch a solo performance by Ted Leo. He played a full set off his new record and then actually took audience requests!

He finished off his set with a cover of Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark." Amazing.

Wednesday, August 11th

I live in downtown Manhattan and "real deal" Chinatown, complete with crazy looks-like-you're-really-in-China buildings, is less than a five minute walk from my apt. I took this picture right before it started pouring rain in an attempt to capture the straight-outta-Ghostbusters sky.

Then later that night at Lit I watched this insane man rip up flyers that Leigh had placed on the table and make little prop-up figures that he then preceeded to move around the table in some elaborate fashion. We were going to ask him what he was doing, but we were scared. Very, very scared.

Thursday, August 12th

ellen s, sid and buddy — On Thursday night Grant, Meredith and I went over to the basement of Remote for karaoke. Here's Ellen on the mic tearing up some Zeppelin.

grant, meredith — Afterwards, we went to the basement of Lit and had ourselves a front-room dance party.

grant — Rudy! A message to you, Rudy!

grant, meredith — Meredith wrestled Grant down and then proceeded to administer...

grant — ...one of the most brutal, hit and run hickies I've ever seen in my life. Grant was fucking pizzissed! Look at him being all angry. Hahahah.

grant, meredith — After he was finished pouting, Grant rallied and exacted his revenge. Not only did he wrestle Meredith down to the filthy floor of Lit and give her a hickey...

meredith — ....he left her laying there.

grant, meredith — And laughed at her.

meredith — Then he gave her the dreaded "Stoddard Thumbs Down." Noooooo!

charlene, grant, meredith — Charlene showed up and actually asked for a hickey! (Check out Grant's face as he questions Charlene's sanity).

charlene, meredith — Hahahah.

charlene — Ouch.

grant — Meredith pretended to leap on Grant and I managed to capture this hilarious "flinch photo."

grant, meredith — Then she actually dived on him and tried to give him a second hickey.

grant, meredith — Grant wasn't having any of that. He quickly pulled a reverse and went in for the suck.

charlene, grant, meredith — By the end of the night, everyone was friends again. (Thanks to you, Pornobum!)

Saturday, August 14th

emilie — On Saturday afternoon, I went out to Brooklyn for Emilie's "I'm moving to LA" farewell party - which crescendoed into a cake-fight finale!

emilie — On the run with cake on her face.

The aftermath! (Cakefights are always best when you're on your way out of an apartment).

emilie — Talk about a sweet face! (*rimshot!*) Goodbye, Emilie! Good luck in LA!

leigh — Later Saturday night I went over to Misshapes. Here's me chilling in the back office with the Tinnz.

Peek-a-boo(b)!

amy k, meredith — Awwww, lookee, lookee! It's my two most favoritest lady photobloggers, Meredith and Amy K. Hey Amy, nice face.

leigh — Leigh and Michael Goodstein (he hate me!)

amy k, me, meredith — Me with my photobloggin biddies.

ryan mcginley — Ryan tearing up the dancefloor with his patented "Irish Jig."

greg k — Greg K crossing the dancefloor with his patented "two-fist choo-choo." "Wooooo! Wooooo!"

ryan mcginley — Riverdance sassiness!

amy k, me — Me and Amy admiring Ryan's moves.

greg k, leigh — And um, this photo is Leigh riding Greg cowboy style on the dancefloor.

Breaking all the straight boys' hearts!

greg k, leigh — Awwww.

me, sheal — Me and Sheal representing for Lodi, NJ.

me, sarah — Bwa-hahahahahaha. No caption could make this picture any better. Period.

amy k, leigh, me — Late night outside. Tinny getting sad because we realized with my impending move to San Francisco just ten days away, this was my 2nd to last Misshapes attendance (or so we thought at the time! Doh!). But that doesn't mean that she wasn't wishing me...

leigh — ...Good Luck! Ta-dah!

meredith — More Good Luck from Meredith. (By the way, whose fucking hat was that anyway?)