stabbed.....

this is how i feel today: i have been stabbed, in the left side of the chest between the 3rd and 4th ribs; with a strait blade that has severed the pulmonary artery and has punctured the left atrium of the heart.... a sharp pain lies within, the life slowly leaving......

I Love Shoes/Sneakers

I love shoes, if you don't know me i love to get new shoes and sneakers as often as i can. in the past i have had trouble finding my size (13 EE) but since early 2005 i have been exclusively buying my shoes online from two stores with great inventory; ShoeBuy.com and Zappos.com. I love the fact that i can order a 100 pairs of kicks, and sort through em, and ship back the 98 pairs i don't like, all without leaving the house, no more finding a shoe i love @ the shop and then receiving total rejection from the clerk when they don't have your size, this was pure hell for me in China, you cannot believe what small feet they have there!!!!



Today i was going through my purchase history on Zappos, and i found that i was never issued a credit for a pair of shoes which i had returned, i bought the same show in a different color but i returned the other, so i call them up and they quickly look up the order and sure enough i was right, they promptly issue me a refund, and then the representative issues me a $25 off my next purchase, it was great, thats a better return then my crappy savings account @ 4% !!!

anyway it made my night that i found $150 ($125 + $25 coupon), just figured i'd share the great news with y'all. in short o love Zappos.com


ttyl

Gomez w/ Ben Kweller (Webster Hall 3/8/07)

Tonight I had tickets to two shows, and well it kind of stunk because I only wanted to go to one of them, and bought the others out of haste. I got tickets to the Gomez show while in china, and I thought they'd sell out and I could flip a profit on this lousy show; the next show I got tickets for was The Walkmen down @ the Bowery, this show sold out, and it was the one I wanted to go to. I was able to sell off The Walkmen tickets and I’ll see them again in April when they are back touring with the Kaiser Chiefs. anyway, I headed up to Webster hall for the show, doors were at 7:30 and I was in no rush, cause well music was not my speed, I arrived around 8:15 and went to look to unload my two extra tickets, I stood out there offering my tickets away for free, I had no takers, so the friend I was with went and asked the homeless guy across the street if he wanted to come to the show for free, and to my surprise he took us up on the offer, it was so damn funny to see this guy walking around the venue, you just have to picture a homeless guy at a concert.

so I got to the main floor at around 9:00 and it was more crowded then I had anticipated, I mean I didn’t know that Ben Kweller was so popular, anyway I made my way to the Balcony and found myself a nice spot I can take pictures from, and stood through a dreadful Ben Kweller act, Gomez went on about 25 minutes late @ 10:25 and I like there latest album How We Operate , so I knew the song they opened with, and a few afterwards, hated all there acoustic songs, but the I rather enjoyed the non-acoustic songs. I left around 11:15 after I got fed up with the acoustic song they were doing, I figured I’ll cut my losses and get home early and get some well deserved shut eye.


anyway I am looking forward to the Tea Leaf Green and Birdmonster shows later in the month (3/24 and 3/31 respectively) and I really cant wait until Bonnaroo only 97 days left.... and I cant wait...


good night all

ttyl

PS: Pics will be posted when i am done processing them.

Elvis Perkins

wow, this weekend started off alright, and it got progressively worse... i woke up on Sunday @ 3PM went to eat and drink, down a good bottle of red wine, and i was buzzed, i continued to drink, and drink and it was great. i visited my second set of parents, and it was nice to see them i haven't seen them since before i left for China. at around 7pm i headed to Williamsburg, to the Luna Lounge for the sold out Elvis Perkins show, and i was a bit skeptical about the venue at first, but once i got in it was better then i had anticipated, and it was very roomy for a sold out show, and the drinks were cheap. i went to the merch table and picked up the Ash Wednesday, i didn't want to wait to get it via amazon.

any way, Elvis Perkins took the stage and totally blew me away, the lyrics, his mellow voice, the harmonica, it just all came together really well. i loved his performance when i saw him back at CMJ and that was a showcase show, getting to see him preform a full set plus encore was a treat, and well if you have not heard any of his stuff, check out his myspace page and listen to a few tracks he has streaming there. ( http://www.myspace.com/elvisperkins )

i took a few pics, I'll post em when after i process them.

ttyl

Bonnaroo.......................107 days to go!!!!

So, its official i am headed to B0nnaroom down in Manchester, Tennessee.

I got my tickets on Friday, and i am really looking froward to spending the weekend with 80,000 strangers, all gathered because of our common love of the music.

i hope to make a roadtrip out of it, and i will be sure to make a stop or two @ my favorite bar in Nashville, the Beer Cellar.

any way I'll keep you posted with details as they come to light.

here is the initial lineup, i am so psyched

Weddings

edit: Drunk Post....

confused...

how to approach the puzzles of life.... and which way to i go left or right?

Yes, my 1st show of the year

alright; so my friend J calls me up the other night and says he might have an extra ticket to the
Peter Bjorn and John show @ the Mercury Lounge, so I am definitely in. I dig PB&J and the show was sold out before I had a chance to get a tickets, and its at one of my favorite venues the Mercury Lounge so its even sweeter. sure enough J came through and we went to the show tonight.

we got there late and the show didn't start on time, it got started about 45 minutes late.

The White Rabbits opened the show, and well i like what i heard, it sounded like a San Fran band, but the singing was mellow, so i guess it's there Brooklyn flair. anyway check them out @ http://www.myspace.com/whiterabbits

the next band up were the Born Ruffians out of Toronto. http://www.myspace.com/bornruffians

it was 11:15 and Peter Bjorn and John finally took the sage, it was an amazing set, they had some fun with the crowd, they have not mastered english yet, which made there talk in
between songs just funny, they'll have it mastered by the end of there US tour.

toward the end Victoria Bergsman and Lars came on for Young Folks . the place went crazy, and it was a fun show,
I'm happy i went, if you have not seen Peter Bjorn and John yet, go see them !
http://www.peterbjornandjohn.com/

anyway I have posted pics from the show up on my picture site (some below), and I'm
almost done with sorting and developing my pics from my trip 2300 down only 1300
left to go, so keep checking the site it should be done my mid February.

ttyl

I'm Back

alright, I'm back from China. enjoyed my first weekend working, looking forward to my last 7 months of college. have a ton of concerts coming up, I'll be sure to keep y'all posted, and if you look over @ my picture site I have begun to post pics from my trip (www.gruen.smugmug.com).

Enjoy,

ttyl

Last night in China (Shanghai)

boy will i miss this place, thanks to Sara, Fred and Tomer who forced me out of my hotel room and into some bar, where some Indian guy from Chicago kept buying us rounds because we were American, i truly do love free beer i appreciate it even more when i remember it the next day!!!

hit up Starbuck's for the last time in Asia, it was all good at 2 AM.....

again thanks to the J Crew for watching my back, and well i cant wait to see ya'll in NYC, well really i don't want to see all of you , but most of you would be alright.... you know where i', headed with this....

again i had a great time in china and i'll see ya'll stateside... NYC cant wait to go to a show.... and have a real lager.....


ttyl

Stateside..... wooooohoooo...I love hearing english!!!!!!!

one more thing

just a quick stat:

on this trip i have taken 2,947 pictures with my dSLR and 600 pictures with my point and shoot. total amount of pictures taken on the my trip to china so far 3,547.

ttyl

Winding Down (Shanghai)

Today my only day in Shanghai and all I got was miserable weather, but I had to go and see some of the city, it was my only day in Shanghai. we started off by heading to the Pearl TV Tower, went all the way up hoping to see the unbelievable Shanghai skyline from the vantage point of 1500+ feet, we got to the top and well visibility was only a couple of hundred feet, still really cool, but it would have been better on a clear day. after this we split into two groups, one went to the Shanghai Aquarium, and the other headed to the Shanghai Art Museum; I headed to the art museum, after all aquariums are similar and well I have been to a few, so I headed toward the arts. the museum is in an elegant building, I walked in and paid the 5 Yuan admission, there were 4 floors each a different exhibit, the first was a Photography exhibit represented about half the exhibit, I particularly enjoyed the Satire of the photograph entitled "Suicide" (below). The second level had some cool sculptures as well as some contemporary art; I just loved the sculpture “Baby Gay" by Livio Scarpella (below). the final two floors were a treat but I forgot to write down the artists I truly appreciated, and the main exhibit on the fourth floor was great, but again no name, but there were some great portraits up there, and well after 3 hours in the museum and looking at all I could, I went down to the gift shop, didn’t find anything of interest and exited the building. At this time it was raining so I ran down to Starbuck’s and had a refreshing hot drink, and headed out into the rain. I found myself aimlessly roaming I stumbled into a mall, and 6 others in search for the a red pair of Nike’s that my barber in Nanjing was wearing, but to no avail, and when I found others that I liked they didn’t carry my size (47). I wandered even more down Nanjing road, and well it reminded me a little of times sq, not as many lights but I was offered everything from watches to weed, and well it was all in the open the vendors did almost nothing to conceal what they were selling. I was tired I got into a cab and headed back to the hotel, I hope to enjoy some of Shanghai’s great nightlife this evening, but we'll see, I am wiped, and out of cash..... cant wait to be back stateside where i can make money to spend on beer and shows....

ttyl






Suicide by Man Ray


Baby Gay by Livio Scarpella