margaritas, wedding present, and murder

in preparation for the big wedding present show on friday night, my friend adam and i went to have margaritas at one of my favorite places, el cantinero. we got there at 6pm and the place was already jammed with people dancing and drinking and eating the free happy hour food. it was like an instant party.

so after about 6 margaritas each, it was time for some fresh air. we took a leisurely stroll down to the bowery ballroom. along the way we came across the critical mass bike ride that was happening that night. there weren't that many of them at all. maybe about 50? anyways, adam tends to get belligerent when full of alcohol and started screaming at them...come to think of it, i don't remember whether he was sassing them or cheering them on. either way, i was sad to read this the next day. the city is being a real dick lately.

after another 15 blocks or so, we reached the ballroom. it was about 8 o'clock and by this time i was really hungry so i decided that we should try to find a pizza place before the show. walking past the bowery, we came upon a bunch of police tape and policemen who wouldn't let us pass on the sidewalk. even in the blurry state that i was in, i noticed that the police were pretty serious and kind of sad looking.

we walked on by to try to see what was going on, but all i saw was a bunch of policemen looking at the sidewalk and interviewing some guy.

after passing this scene, i realized that there wasn't a slice place that i knew of nearby so we decided to go back to ballroom and have another drink before the show. we definitely did not need that, but well...yeah.

anyways, i think that the opening band was called 'crystal skulls' or something stupid like that. i don't really remember much about them, but i don't remember hating them so they must've been alright.

then it was time for the wedding present to play. man, was i excited. i have been waiting a really long time to see these guys (or this guy). they played a really simple, no frills or fancy lights set and it kicked ass. my only gripe was that they only played two songs off of seamonsters, but i'll forgive them. also, they didn't play an encore (he said that they never do?).

who needs coachella when the wedding present is in town?

after that, i went back to brooklyn to meet up with my friend nancy and her friend dina at this bar in williamsburg. i spent most of my night helping them win pool games by using my 'mental NO' technique. just ask aaron melander about it's effectiveness. i think that he'll attest to it's jedi-like power.

the next day i went out for sushi and afterwards ended up in a deli while my friends were taking out money. i started reading the papers that were laying there and i saw this and then this.

goddamn.

it really freaked me out to realize that someone had been stabbed right outside of the bowery ballroom only a half hour before we were there. ugh.

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ok, just to lighten the mood a bit, i got this email from elliot today describing last friday's wonder showzen:

"Last night's Wonder Showzen was crazy. The theme word of the day was
"patience". So they had a lot of skits based on people being boring to see
how patient the audience was. This went on for about 12 minutes. Then they
stopped the show and they apologized because it was boring. So they played
it in reverse for another 10 minutes to "take it back". Then they had about
three minutes left so they did a show based around the word "speed". They
did an entire new show in 3 minutes with everything slightly sped up and cut
down. It was an awesome concept piece."

i am sad that i missed it.