Music Monday: 4 Knots Music Festival

Just in time for Music Monday,

I happened to go to an all day free festival/concert this weekend at the Southstreet Seaport.

It was the Village Voice's answer to having cancelled Siren Fest for good...so they were kind enough to bring NYers:

The 4 Knots Music Festival

There were a few bands I wanted to see!
(check them out if you want something new, or maybe you've already heard of them if you're in the know...I am soooooo not "in the know"; I used my San Fransisco friend's music knowledge to find out about one of these bands, then some other friends told me about a few others...but a free show is a free show, and I'm all about free shows and discovering bands I didn't know existed.)

One such band I went to see was Davila 666 (this is the SF friend's suggestion from a few months back, Thanks Kristine!...they did not disappoint; although then again I watched from a balcony overlooking the stage because $5.00 pitchers of beer were calling my name in the hot summer heat, its rare when I stick around front and center for a band if $5 beer is available nearby)


Another band I happened to catch, actually as soon as I walked up they were already playing, was Eleanor Friedberger.  
(Now I'll admit I didn't even know who this was, let alone go to see her, but I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed her sound!  Further research told me she's 1 part of Fiery Furnaces, I wish I knew this kinda stuff beforehand...duh!)

This girl has some fun style, she's quirky and pretty (look at google images!)...what any girl strives for, right?  ummmmm Ok maybe just me.

After a few more songs of hers, my buddy Jess and I walked down to the end of the Pier to check out the sights.  You see, Southstreet Seaport is not an area of Manhattan I usually tend to frequent...um NO!  Not my scene, just my scene for that day...mostly populated by the likes of tourists, sorority types (sorry girls if this is you, but its not my thing), and other douche-y characters I'd rather not deal with.  (yes, I'm stereotyping the Southstreet Seaport "set", but I'll be you 9x out of 10, I've got it nailed!)

With that being said, I won't lie...its pretty nice; beautiful actually...breezy, sunny, and oh-so-nautical!

If only there was a Jack Sparrow on one of these ships, my little heart would've gone " pitter-patter! "
Bummer, no such luck!

After our little jaunt around the pier, a few $5 pitchers of beer, we went back down to face the masses that had joined the crowd since we were last down in the pit.  We weaseled our way up front, just as any experienced cute concert goer should be able to do, and we had a great view for the band we came to see,
TITUS ANDRONICUS!

Holy hell...an electric violin...they were pretty darn good.  A bit of a stupid mosh pit broke out but really what's that; like we can't hold our own ground when jabs are being taken and people are crowd surfing? Actually I just laughed while I shoved back, seriously ...people still do that?  Maybe I'm old, but maybe I held up just fine against the youngin's...YEAH!

Oh geez...what a hot day in the sun, full of free music and cheap beer.  It was just as I imagined it to be...and now I hope you go and listen to some of these bands, or the ones listed on the 4 Knots flier and tell me what you think.  Good, bad, just not your cup of tea???

What about the Seaport, you think you'd hang out here?  Yikes! um, sure you want to read my blog if you answered "yes"?  Something about the financial district, going that far downtown, ewwww just BORING in my world.  But to each his own right?  I don't expect you to like my things, and you should not expect me to like the Southstreet Seaport enough to really go back.  (oh wait, I spoke too soon...darn, I have to go back on 7/31 'cause the Raveonettes are playing for free down there...looks like I've got one more trip to get in under my belt before I call it quits w/the Seaport.  wish me luck!  It could be worse...I mean it could be TIMES SQUARE--eeek!)

Oh, just FYI, it was hot, I wanted to be comfy, that's about all I know with this outfit--short skirt, see through loose fitting top, Yep...cool and comfy (and somewhat questionable as always!).

Wearing: (lots of H&M, whoopsies)
*Black tank-H&M
*Beige skirt-H&M
*Leopard Print booties-F21
*Black purse-H&M
*Whistle necklace-Brooklyn Charm
*Rock necklace-F21
*Sunglasses-Foster Grant

Oh and of course on our way out we couldn't leave without tagging up a graffiti wall w/some gang paraphernalia!  yay for leftover stickers in Jess' bag!  We're nerds of the best sort what can I say!?!

Obviously by the time we were leaving and off the subway we worked up a hunger and were again thirsty...free pizza with every beer just called to us!
Yummy...dinner time!

We shoved our faces then we went home.
This has nothing to do with music, just the pizza is really good for being FREE!  It looks gross, it is gross, but for free--its delicious!

Sooooooooo, ok...go listen to some music!  Hope you like something I talked about...if not, what are you listenin' to???
 I want to know...as I said, "I'm soooooo not in the know", so help a girl out musically wouldya!?!

Weekend Rewind: August 7th-8th, 2010

Lately these past few weekends have been so busy crazy, with me and all the concerts I'm going to :), I just can't keep up with this here ol' blog.  And I know for certain the Weekend Rewinds have been lacking.  As in--NON EXISTENT!

Well when your little bloggity blog friend comes to town (that's you ClydesRebirth!) sometimes these visits just call for a good friggin' time on the town.  And that just leads me to having a pretty darn fun Weekend Rewind.


Saturday: August 7th, 2010-
After a long rough night on Friday, we found ourselves back at it again come Saturday evening.  Not only did I get to run around with Merl in tow, I also got to meet up with a brand new face, Morgan over at Morgan and Lua
We spent the majority of the evening hours in the East Village.  Not so sure my choice of bars are up their alley, but nonetheless they seemed ok to kill some time at Cherry Tavern before hitting up the dancefloor around the corner.

(Merl and Morgan @ Cherry Tavern)

But before we could hit up the dive bar scene, or the dance floor at my little beloved rock n roll skeeze fest of a place (LIT), we had a Karaoke Birthday Party to attend.
And just tell me, what Karaoke Party would you NOT find a little '80s Hair Hotness, I mean Bon Jovi, blaring on the screen?  Yeah, that wouldn't be much of a karaoke shindig if there wasn't a little Jovi to heat things up!

(Cupcakes and Karaoke! Happy Birthday Jana!)

And just when I was pretty steamed up from the Bon Jovi, I freakin get an eyefull of sweaty abs and workout girls.  All the while hearing one of our peers, ok many of them (including myself), yell out a few lines of MJ's (woot woot, Indiana....Michael Jackson, HOOSIER PRIDE).  This is the stuff karaoke is made of!  I could watch these ridiculous "Made-for-Karaoke" videos nonstop--some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long LONG time.

After Karaoke that's when we headed back downtown (because I'm soon to be a Downtown Doll--sorry, girl gang side project going on--whole other story), where I clearly had enough beers that it was time to accessorize the "super classy" denim cut-offs the best way possible, with yet another beer-and a super classy fine one at that.  Hipster-fest 2010, PBR in hand!  YIKES (ok not so Yikes, I've been drinking this stuff since about 1999)

BTW-
I think I've touched on weekend clothing here in NYC before--the thing is, you go out in the afternoon (say 2pm) and you just DONT GO HOME until the sun comes back up!  So as it happens, I tend to be in my daytime jean short look a lot of the time, so much for getting dolled up for a night on the town...it just doesn't happen when you roll my way.  (Just wanted to explain why I always am dressed like a Saturday afternoon even when I claim its after midnight.  This explanation should be suitable)

Saturday's attire includes:
*Pink silk blouse, F21 (now thrown in the garbage because I stained the heck out of it with spilled drinks)
*DIY denim cut-offs, Gap
*Brown suede sandals, Target
*Pearl and chains necklace, Topshop
*vintage Cameo necklace, Thrift Store
**Best accessory yet (better than the PBR, but still along the same lines)...HUGE KNOT, aka SWOLLEN RIGHT KNEE--another name for "I fell and bruised my knee pretttt-y bad".  You just didn't notice 'till I pointed it out right?

Sunday: August 8th, 2010--
Obviously I slept in on Sunday, and when I did manage to get up and out of the house I took it uber casual.  I like to call this look my "Urban Cowgirl" attire.  I think its got lots of western undertones, but I'm here in the city with a city-set mind about me, so yeah...Urban Cowgirl seems about right.  (I was once called this by a man on the street about a year ago.  Ever since, I'm pretty certain he was right, and its fine by me).

I was due uptown at the Central Park Summerstage for another Free Concert (seriously, I'm crazy about these free concerts!  I'm going to them right and left this summer).  This time I was meeting my lil' possee to see the XX and Chairlift.  The line was much too long and there was no way of getting in with the loads of people that showed up so we just opted for the rocky bluff outside the gates.

Since we did a little impromptu rock climbing to get to our destination I was rather proud of myself for making a semi-sensible clothing decision.  I was pondering wearing a skirt and my sky-high wedges, and now in hindsight I'm 110% positive that just wouldn't have worked out well for me.  So yay Nickie--way to dress accordingly.

And on a completely different note, I planted my tripod in yet another area of my roof for these shots.  surprisingly no one was up there at 2pm on Sunday...note to self, "Maybe no one will be up there for my little clothes swap I'm having next Sat. at 2pm"-wanna come?

Not only am I finding my roof is full of wonderful locations to shoot, I'm also realizing its like my own personal WHITE SNAKE video!  Hello WIND MACHINE!  Enter Nickie's ROCK N ROLL DREAM--I'd love to have a wind machine follow me EVERYWHERE.  Not only for the obvious "effortless cool" a wind machine can offer, but c'mon--who wouldn't want a little extra breeze, say on the skeezy dance floor I mentioned above?  This girl totally wants that!

Back on track folks....
Sunday's attire included:
*Vintage plaid button-up, courtesy of ex bf (thanks, it doesn't fit you anymore anyway)
*Denim Shorts, F21
*Brown booties, Steven Madden
*Brown vintage Coach purse, Thrift Store
*Red necklace, F21
*Brown sunglasses, H&M
*** And Red Benefit Benetint lip gloss of course!  You know I love that stuff!

Ok kiddies...I have to admit, I've fallen asleep about 7 times trying to get thru this.  So as the ever so awesome song "1999" goes, "I was dreamin when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray" but I need to hit the hay.
Later friends!

I'm With the Band

Ok, that's a lie...I'm not really "with the band", more like just "following the band".  I've been a little preoccupied the past few days running here, there, everywhere--taking in 3 concerts in less than one week's time.  Phew!  I'm no rockstar like I wish it were, so needless to say I'm a little worn out.

First up, last Wednesday night I was at Madison Square Garden.  And what's not a lie is that
"She grew up in an Indiana town, had a good look'n mom never was around"
(ok that's a lie, my mom was always around)

"But she grew up tall, and she grew up right...w/'em Indiana boys on 'em Indiana nights"
(true story, they do grow up pretty tall and right in Indiana...we're cornfed and European descent, what can I say?)
I'm guessing by now you might've figured who I saw at MSG.  Free Fallin'?  American Girl?  ummm...YES PLEASE!  Tom Petty and the Eff'n Heartbreakers!!!!!  (my friend just told me the other day that her boss said only white trash from the midwest like Tom Petty...fine by me, I'll be white trash and I'm completely MIDWEST  if that's what it takes because that was one good concert I'll tell you what!)



Then, last Saturday, in case you missed our tweets--my friends and I headed to Prospect Park to claim our spot in line for an 8:40pm show...we're the REAL DEAL-considering we were there to be in line at 3:30pm!

And this is the only documentation of an outfit I have in over one week's time...and eeek!  That's No Outfit!  That's just me in my regular weekend attire these days, Cut-off shorts...
(silk dress-Urban Outfitters, DIY cut-offs-GAP, Vintage Owl Necklace-gift from Leprouse Vintage, vintage belt-Thrift Store)

But who cares about outfits when we're talking a FREE SONIC YOUTH show!!!  It was pretty rad and well worth the long long wait we endured in line.  We were probably about the 75th people to enter the stage area, so it was not too shabby of an idea that we parked our butts in the queue when we did.

And then last night, I rushed outta work-hit the subways-found myself somewhere in the middle of Brooklyn to take in a night of some of hip-hop's finest (and I'll admit, I'm such a white girl-laugh now, but least I wasn't called "Snowflake" like Mel was!  I'm sorry but it was pretty funny!)

Another FREE concert--I'm so there!  And who wouldn't want to go to this if given the opportunity?  I got to see Slick Rick (evidence shown above--I bypassed the security so cunningly as I snuck my camera into the "no cameras allowed" concert-yeah!)

And NAUGHTY BY NATURE!!!!!

And when the night was goin' good...they brought out a "special treat" for us:
BUSTA RHYMES!

But girls...get ready for this one:

Are you ready....ready for this fierce little duo (because sadly, breaks my heart...but they're missing the cool one-Spinderella)?  SALT N PEPA!!!!!!!!!!

So tell me now who wouldn't seize this opportunity to see this show?

So yeah....I've been taking in the concerts, soaking up what it is to live in NYC during the summertime.  It's one fine place to live, I'll tell you that much....FREE CONCERTS GALORE-and those that aren't free are pretty bigtime dudes in the music industry, and well worth every penny!  So while I merely wish to claim,  "I'm with the Band" (sometimes Pamela Des Barres style), I can really just tell you I'm watching the band.  And I'm rather quite liking the view!

Outfit posts to resume shortly....like when summertime is over and my social agenda sucks.

Daily Outfit: Where's my Gatsby Finery?

Seriously, something is wrong with me...I'm beginning to worry I'm narcoleptic or something.  This is an outfit post from Sunday--what's today?  Thursday!!!!!!
I honestly cannot seem to stay awake past 10pm, I fell asleep in the middle of uploading these pictures to Flickr last night.  And not just like letting the computer do its thing, I mean I fell asleep while I was physically clicking which ones to upload to my photostream!

So I apologize for my random weekend posts during the middle of the week.  And my lack of consistency in posting.  I'm very unhappy with myself for this...but something is physically wrong and I cannot keep my eye open!  (I have a doctor's appt. next weekend for a whole slew of issues I'm finding myself coming upon...damn WebMD-it turns me into a crazy woman with a million health issues).

Ok, well let's backtrack to last Sunday...
I hopped on the ferry to Governor's Island with my friend Cristina, and her lil' man.  We were headed to a Gatsby-era Lawn Jazz party.  While most of the attendees were dressed in their best 20's and 30's garb, we knew we might not stay there all day, nor do we have attire suitable to this point in time, so we opted for our own little picnic-y finery.  (It's unfortunate that I do not own a single 1920's piece considering that one of my favorite books/movies of all time is THE GREAT GATSBY!  Oh that Robert Redford back in the day!  and what I wouldn't give to be Jordan Baker!  Forget Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanon, seriously--she's a whiny dainty little flower of a girl, so not my style...i'm all about being Jordan if I ever choose to go that route!)

It was awesome, parked along side of the great lawn party were a bunch of old cars.  "Lil' Man" immediately took a liking to them! He absolutely could not wait to get his photos taken with the vehicles.  (PS-cutest Kid EVER!  no?)

Then of course it was my turn...I couldn't wait to get my own photos taken with my favorite of the group...the Ivory Car.  It's a beauty for sure...and it happened to match my outfit better than the rest!



Since I didn't have any Gatsby-appropriate clothing, I went with a new dress I had found at Beacon's Closet last time I was visiting Mel in Park Slope.  I thought it was a perfect option for a hot hot day picnicing on an island in the summertime.
It was a pretty good solution for the heat, but it was also a little more open in front than I'm used to wearing.  I think I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself in terms of putting "the girls" on full display like that.  I almost left without the huge pearl necklace--luckily I remembered to put it on before I was out the door, and it kinda helped me conceal some of all that fleshyness. 



Wearing:
*Peach cotton sundress, Beacon's Closet
*Straw Bag, Thrift Store
*Pearl necklace, Topshop
*Brown suede sandals, Target
*Brown sunglasses, H&M

After the Lawn party, we headed back to Williamsburg so "Lil' Man" could be the total hipster-dude he was born to be.  I mean look at him...is he not a mini-hipster or what?  He's gonna break some serious hearts when he's older.  We went to the free show to see some bands at the waterfront, where "Lil' Man" immediately popped a squat like a regular outdoor concert goer. 

And before too long, I took a cue and popped my own squat.  Then he proceeded to take off his shirt cause it was so freakin hot.  And we had a pretty feisty game of tug-o-war going on from then on out.

Ah Sunday...it was a good day.  I can't believe I've been so tired lately that I couldn't even post this until now though :(  It would've made for such a good Weekend Rewind had I put both Sat. and Sun. together into one post.
Maybe this weekend, considering it's only 1 day away!  I'm living in a haze, this week has flown by and now its almost time to create some more fun for this weekend.  Crazy!

Please excuse my Absence.....I'm sure you will.

As Donnie and Marie would sing, 

"I'm a little bit Country...."

The Coney Island concert attire included:

*Basic white T-shirt-Uniqlo

*White crinkle scarf-H&M

*Basic skinny jeans-Uniqlo

*Cowboy booties-Steve Madden

(clearly a Fave Rave of mine)

But one should also know the other part of Donnie and Marie's song,

"I'm a little bit Rock n Roll"

(Above pic: Halloween 2006-"Love is a Battlefield")

So obviously I was not going to pass up a

FREE

concert in Coney Island with two of my favorites of all time:

PAT BENATAR

&

BLONDIE

!!!!!

Yeah, FREE, that's what I said.  

Can you imagine seeing two icons in one day for absolutely no cost?

Well it's an awesome thing, let me tell you.

You'll have to excuse the poor photo quality, we were not all that close, and the jumbo-trons and my crappy camera do not make for a great photo.

Rest assured, I'll be back later this weekend with lots of pictures, goodies, and my outings about town, on my "Weekend Rewind", so make sure to check back in a few!