One of the other amazing things I learned about this past weekend was Comcast on Demand, which has to be the greatest thing ever invented.
On Saturday night we decided to stay at the apartment rather than go out to see Casino Royale in the theater (which I’m still dying to do). I asked our host if she had any episodes of “Dexter” on TiVo. Whoah nelly–thanks to Comcast on Demand, she not only had a few episodes of the crazy crime drama, she had ALL OF THE EPISODES THAT HAVE EVER AIRED. My mind was BLOWN.
I had first been acquainted with “Dexter” while joining in on some catsitting of an apartment which had it recorded on TiVo. Apparently the people who owned the TiVo didn’t really like it, because they stopped recording it after the pilot episode, but I LOVED it (which is saying a lot–because everyone knows I almost exclusively watch reality TV and episodic crime dramas) and was sad that I’d probably have to wait until it came out on DVD to find out what happened since I do not have Showtime.
If you do not know what “Dexter” is, get thee on the internets and start looking it up. In a nutshell, it’s the story of Dexter, who is a blood spatter expert for the Miami Police Department by day and a SERIAL KILLER by night. But don’t worry, Dexter only kills other serial killers. Totally creeped out yet? Well good, because this show certainly is creepy, but a good, morbidly fascinating creepy.
Michael C. Hall, who many people know as David Fisher from “Six Feet Under”, plays Dexter perfectly, acting on so many different levels. He’s incredible to watch. I gotta say, I never thought I’d have a crush on a serial killer, but Michael C. Hall’s got me on this one.
YOU MUST WATCH “DEXTER” STARTING RIGHT NOW…although you might not want to watch it at night, in the dark, by yourself.
SPECIAL REPORT FROM BAO
As part of the ongoing Modern Age travel series, bringing you the DC shopping scene earlier this week, today we present the DC music scene. Well sorta.
Last night I had the fortune of seeing Cat Power at the 9:30 Club in DC. The Memphis Rhythm Band came out first warming up the crowd. After about 15 minutes or so, a one Ms. Chan Marshall steps out in her fitted black dress shirt and skinny black jeans. She goes through the entire first half of the concert playing songs off her last album, The Greatest, starting with the title track. During “Where is My Love”, a member of the Memphis Rhythm Band comes on to sing with her, and due to his bronchitis, sounded like he was doing his best Tom Waits impression.
Chan walks off for a moment as the band plays “Since U Been Gone”–no not that one. After that, Chan comes on solo and. I’ve seen her solo and with a band and I always enjoy the concert a lot more when it’s just her and the audience. I feel her music belongs in an intimate setting and with a band, it just seems like the stage is just overcrowded. Plus I think her voice really outshines any instrument onstage and sometimes with all those layers, her voice is drowned out. Honestly, I can’t think of any other singer in music right now with a more beautiful voice than her.
As she’s been doing most of the tour, she plays her cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” but the interesting part was not her rendition of the song but of what a member of the crowd was doing during it. Up in the VIP balcony was Sia, who was performing the later show at the venue, doing the robot to “Crazy”! Unlike New York shows, where other musicians are constantly spotted at concerts, it is a bit unusual to see this at a DC show and particularly rare to see them doing the robot to someone’s song.
The infamy of her past live shows resurfaced a bit at the end of the set, where she ended “Anything But Love” in the middle of the song, apologized to the audience and confessed that she “sucks tonight”. If the cheers and shouts from the audience of “Nooooo, you don’t suck!” were any indication, her own critique of her performance definitely wasn’t the consensus of the crowd.
The show was recorded as part of NPR’s Live Music Series.
PHOTOS
More photos at Bao’s flickr
In the history of all-time great Strokes interviews, this one would have to be on the list just for the above quote. Jeff sent me the link to this great interview with The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas about…The Mets!
Julian discusses his love for Beltran, how messing up game 7, 9th inning would have “potentially psychologically wrecked” him, why New York fans are so intense, props to Arctic Monkeys, and Julian’s secret dream to sing the National Anthem at Shea.
Here’s a cute excerpt about Albert:
Y2K: Thoughts on Albert Hammond Jr.’s album [Yours to Keep]?
JC: It’s great. He’s my bro and I’m rooting for him. I like the album a lot, I think it’s cool. When you’re in a band it’s kind of hard to bring stuff that five people agree on, but it’s cool because he wanted to do this, he wanted to do his own thing.
I’ll tell you though, I don’t know how he does it, going straight from our tour to his tour, I think he’s gonna crash after this.
LET’S GO METS!
Barbie Doll & Tanner Dog – Wal-Mart
When Tanner has to go to the bathroom, Barbie doll cleans up with her special magnetic scooper and trash can.
digg – Barack Obama apologizes for being a cock blocker
Hilarious
Henry Daily Herald, McDonough, GA – Obama owes me an apology
It took me nearly two months of running into each other at various news events before I worked up the nerve to begin talking to her. And then Obama shows up.
Shopping Site Offers a Way to Raid a Celebrity’s Closet – New York Times
Now a new search site, Like.com, offers a shortcut for the budget-minded wannabe. The site, rolled out last week, relies on artificial intelligence technology to search images on the Web, and serve up goods for sale that visually match items on a shopperâ
LISTEN NYC
Art, clothing, and music made by NYC locals
Mama Was a Riot Grrrl? Then Pick Up a Guitar and Play – New York Times
There is a developing under-age music circuit in New York, where bands too young for driving licenses have CDs, Web sites and managers.
UrbanDaddy – Sweet Paradise Lounge (New York City, NY)
The newly opened LES bar is the latest destination for hipsters and hipster wannabes alike, brought to you by the owner of the original on-the-cheap dive spot, Welcome to the Johnsons.
This weekend I was in Washington DC/ Maryland for early Thanksgiving festivities with some very special people and riding around, looking at all the monuments and tourists stuff in the car was fun, BUT the most fascinating thing I did all weekend was go to a regular ol’ suburban mall in Maryland.
Since I live in the city, I’m always really excited to have a car and to go to big huge malls. When we went to the Target, I almost had a nervous breakdown because they had almost the ENTIRE Behnaz line with every size available. I’d never SEEN so many specialty items in one spot. They even had the amazing black trenchcoat–and the only size available was an XS!! When does that EVER happen in the city?
Then I found this other store in the mall called Up Against the Wall, which totally BLEW MY MIND because not only did they have Beyonce’s House of Dereon line, but they also had the low-end Gwen Stefani line, Harajuku Lovers, and the low-end Heatherette line, which I think I knew existed somewhere in the back of my head. It was just funny to see them all in one place–I guess I never go to any stores where they carry that stuff, but I was fascinated by the fact that somewhere a Maryland teenager is walking around wearing Heatherette clothing.
Last night I headed over to Rebel, which is *gasp* midtown east, making it my second night in a row in that neighborhood–which is kinda like a nightmare of mine. But I sucked it up in order to see the great Scottish band, The Cinematics, who I have gushed about 10x over on this site.
Have you ever gotten into a situation where the first time you saw a band you SOOOO LOVED them and then the next time you saw them you felt stupid because for some reason they weren’t nearly as good as you remember them being? I have, so I was a little nervous to see the ‘Matics again for this very reason. But luckily for me, they still had the magic I distinctly remember. Lead singer Scott Rinning (below) is still as dishy and sings just as angelically as I remember.
The whole show I was STILL contemplating why the Cinematics aren’t superhuge already. Maybe all that will change once their first full length album comes out next year. I think TV networks and movie studios should be tripping over themselves to pay the band to use their song “Chase” for an opening credits sequence or trailer. So epic, so pretty.
Whilst there I met some lovely Scottish friends of my friend Sarah. They were visiting New York from Glasgow and Edinburgh, two cities I’ve actually been to! They called themselves “The Men About Town” and they talked at length about all the cool places and people they had been carousing with during their stay. They also kept insisting everything was “Sooooooooooooo nice”, but since they were Scottish it sounded more like “Seuuuuwwwwww nice”. Example, “Nelly Furtado–seuuuuwwww nice!” “Fran Healy from Travis, what a nice man. Seuuuuuwwww nice!” It was pretty hilarious after a while.
Martin, one of The Men About Town, said that he would be “seuuuuuwwww happy” if I put a photo of him up on my website. Then Alan, the other Man About Town said the same. So I took a photo of both of them with the hustle and bustle of MSG in the background. I don’t think they believed me when I said I would put their photo up, but here they are!
Hope you guys have a safe trip home tomorrow.
