On the L, We're doin' swell....
Yeah, it's 11:35 on a Friday night and at at home in my pajamas, chain-smoking and writing on my stupid blog. Wanna make something of it? I did my requisite amount of weekend drinking last night at my "welcome to nyc, kenneth" party, so I feel no pressure to be super fun on the first Saturday night that I haven't had to work in months. It actually feels kind of luxurious to be at home alone, catching up on the Olympics, watching sad movies on HBO and getting high. I feel no shame. Hell it's been raining for three straight days with no signs of stopping and 50 percent of my friends are out of town- many in glamourous locations like fucking France or Turkey- so what the hell else am I gonna do? I'm embracing couchpotatoville!
Today I spent an unspeakable amount of time hanging out in the Virgin Megastore, waiting for Shaya to finish working so we could go to the movies and, though I managed to behave myself and not spend any of my non-existant money, I did manage to listen to practically every album they were featuring on their listening wall. I learned that Ashlee Simpson's album really is as bad as I imagined, the Frou Frou song that features in the commercials for Garden State isn't actually a good song if its not accompanied by bittersweat images from the movie, the Killers are so infectious that when a big, doofy frat dude in a football jersey listens to it on the headphones, even he has to dance like he is in that scene in Empire Records, and I have two new favorite songs. The weird things about these songs is that they are songs that I knew before and either didn't like or didn't care about but somehow today the planets aligned and I had to rush home and download them from iTunes and now I'm listening to them on repeat like a 13 year-old superdumbass. Those songs, divergent as they may be, are the Beastie Boys' "An Open Letter to NYC" and Muse's "Time is Running Out."
Now the Beastie Boys song is based on a killer sample- the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer"- so I knew I was bound to like it because I love the original. Plus it has this great little repeated sound that plays throughout that sounds like a tape rewinding really fast that I love! I'd read about this song ad nasuem in all of the reviews of the album and the reviewers mentioned the use of the Dead Boys and talked about how it was the apotheosis of the album because it was a love letter to the city. But actually listening to it today - the song really grabbed me. I mean, the hook is cute but, on headphones where I could really concentrate on the words, I became obsessed with it. I know that real New Yorkers- the born and bred kind- will scoff at my New York credentials. But, fuck 'em. I feel like a New Yorker. This feels like home- more so than any other place I've lived. And once you've had to escape the city in a cloud of smoke on the worst day of your life and walk 4 1/2 hours to your apartment in Brooklyn, unable to contact anyone and sure that the world was over, and you still are obsessed with this expensive, too hot, too cold, crowded, amazing city- you've earned the right to call yourself a New Yorker. I think the reason we- as New Yorkers- think that we are the center of the universe is because with all the media centered here and so many tv shows and movies set here the universe (as shown to us by our tvs and magazines and films) is centered here. And this is a song that cements that. I mean, it shouts out 1010 WINS and Live at 5 and -yes, it makes too facile reference to 9/11 and that's kind of annoying and trite- but I dare you to not feel like they are talking to you when they mention your train or neighborhood or record store (Bleeker Bob's) by name:
An Open Letter To NYC Lyrics
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Brownstones, water towers, trees, skyscrapers
Writers, prize fighters and Wall Street traders
We come together on the subway cars
Diversity unified, whoever you are
We're doing fine on the One and Nine line
On the L we're doin' swell
On the number Ten bus we fight and fuss
'Cause we're thorough in the boroughs and that's a must
I remember when the Duece was all porno flicks
Running home after school to play PIX * 1
At lunch I'd go to Blimpies down on Montague Street
And hit the Fulton Street Mall for the sneakers on my feet
Dear New York I hope you're doing well
I know a lot's happen and you've been through hell
So, we give thanks for providing a home
Through your gates at Ellis Island we passed in droves
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
The L.I.E. the B.Q.E
Hippies at the band shell with the L.S.D.
Get my BVD's from VIM
You know I'm reppin' Manhattan the best I can
Stopped off at Bleeker Bob's got thrown out
Sneakin' in at 4:00 am after going out
You didn't rob me in the park at Dianna Ross
But everybody started looting when the light went off
From the South South Bronx on out to Queens Bridge
From Hollis Queens right down to Bay Ridge
From Castle Hill to the Lower East Side
From 1010 WINS to Live At Five
Dear New York this is a love letter
To you and how you brought us together
We can't say enough about all you do
'Cause in the city were ourselves and electric too
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Shout out the South Bronx where my mom hails from
Right next to High Bridge across from Harlem
To the Grand Concourse where my mom and dad met
Before they moved on down to the Upper West
I see you're still strong after all that's gone on
Life long we dedicate this song
Just a little something to show some respect
To the city that blends and mends and tests
Since 911 we're still livin'
And lovin' life we've been given
Ain't nothing gonna take that away from us
Were lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust
Dear New York I know a lot has changed
2 towers down but you're still in the game
Home to many rejecting know one
Accepting peoples of all places, wherever they're from
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Trust me, it's a million times cooler when this is being yelled "No Sleep to Brooklyn"-style over "Sonic Reducer."
Now, the Muse thing is a little harder to explain. Especially since I hate them. Kinda a lot. I first saw a video of theirs on British MTV with Beth and we decided that, in the local vernacular, they were total wankers. Their lead singer is totally aping Thom Yorke (and frankly his overly-dramatic falsetto would be annoying if he weren't, you know, Thom Yorke!) and they have goth-y riffs that are totally stolen from Linkin Park (and they are annoying and frankly, bad!). At Curiosa a couple of weeks ago I didn't even go over to see them- though they were the only band playing. Jen and I sat in the grass and made fun of drunk people for 40 minutes instead while we waited for the Cure to come on. I just don't get the appeal. They are derivative in the worst possible way and I feel like the people who love them are the sorts of people that are responsible for the success of Evanescence. But I do remember hearing this one song at Curiosa and thinking, "Hmmm... that's not bad." And I since then, the song has been stalking me. It was on MTV2 the other day and then on internet radio . And while killing time at Virgin today I thought, as I stood next to a cute blond boy who was listening to Franz Ferdinand, "hey, I wonder what that Muse song was that I didn't hate?" So I stood at the Muse keyosk and whaddya know? Song #3 was that song that had been stalking me. Now, the opening is kind of abysmal and Linkin Park-ish- whispered vocals over some kind of farting keyboard- but the chorus.... I'm sorry it's won me over, against my better judgement. It's a really simple repeated melody with a whining Radiohead croon. I can't stop fucking singing this in my head.
So that was my day. Two new favorite songs. Too many cigarettes smoked. Too many hours logged at the Virgin Megastore.
And guess what? I've got no other plans for tomorrow.... Well, aside from watching "Six Feet Under" because this week (according to my Entertainment Weekly) BILLY RETURNS! And, as it says in the about me box above, Jeremy Sisto is my boyfriend. Only he doesn't know it.
Today I spent an unspeakable amount of time hanging out in the Virgin Megastore, waiting for Shaya to finish working so we could go to the movies and, though I managed to behave myself and not spend any of my non-existant money, I did manage to listen to practically every album they were featuring on their listening wall. I learned that Ashlee Simpson's album really is as bad as I imagined, the Frou Frou song that features in the commercials for Garden State isn't actually a good song if its not accompanied by bittersweat images from the movie, the Killers are so infectious that when a big, doofy frat dude in a football jersey listens to it on the headphones, even he has to dance like he is in that scene in Empire Records, and I have two new favorite songs. The weird things about these songs is that they are songs that I knew before and either didn't like or didn't care about but somehow today the planets aligned and I had to rush home and download them from iTunes and now I'm listening to them on repeat like a 13 year-old superdumbass. Those songs, divergent as they may be, are the Beastie Boys' "An Open Letter to NYC" and Muse's "Time is Running Out."
Now the Beastie Boys song is based on a killer sample- the Dead Boys' "Sonic Reducer"- so I knew I was bound to like it because I love the original. Plus it has this great little repeated sound that plays throughout that sounds like a tape rewinding really fast that I love! I'd read about this song ad nasuem in all of the reviews of the album and the reviewers mentioned the use of the Dead Boys and talked about how it was the apotheosis of the album because it was a love letter to the city. But actually listening to it today - the song really grabbed me. I mean, the hook is cute but, on headphones where I could really concentrate on the words, I became obsessed with it. I know that real New Yorkers- the born and bred kind- will scoff at my New York credentials. But, fuck 'em. I feel like a New Yorker. This feels like home- more so than any other place I've lived. And once you've had to escape the city in a cloud of smoke on the worst day of your life and walk 4 1/2 hours to your apartment in Brooklyn, unable to contact anyone and sure that the world was over, and you still are obsessed with this expensive, too hot, too cold, crowded, amazing city- you've earned the right to call yourself a New Yorker. I think the reason we- as New Yorkers- think that we are the center of the universe is because with all the media centered here and so many tv shows and movies set here the universe (as shown to us by our tvs and magazines and films) is centered here. And this is a song that cements that. I mean, it shouts out 1010 WINS and Live at 5 and -yes, it makes too facile reference to 9/11 and that's kind of annoying and trite- but I dare you to not feel like they are talking to you when they mention your train or neighborhood or record store (Bleeker Bob's) by name:
An Open Letter To NYC Lyrics
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Brownstones, water towers, trees, skyscrapers
Writers, prize fighters and Wall Street traders
We come together on the subway cars
Diversity unified, whoever you are
We're doing fine on the One and Nine line
On the L we're doin' swell
On the number Ten bus we fight and fuss
'Cause we're thorough in the boroughs and that's a must
I remember when the Duece was all porno flicks
Running home after school to play PIX * 1
At lunch I'd go to Blimpies down on Montague Street
And hit the Fulton Street Mall for the sneakers on my feet
Dear New York I hope you're doing well
I know a lot's happen and you've been through hell
So, we give thanks for providing a home
Through your gates at Ellis Island we passed in droves
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
The L.I.E. the B.Q.E
Hippies at the band shell with the L.S.D.
Get my BVD's from VIM
You know I'm reppin' Manhattan the best I can
Stopped off at Bleeker Bob's got thrown out
Sneakin' in at 4:00 am after going out
You didn't rob me in the park at Dianna Ross
But everybody started looting when the light went off
From the South South Bronx on out to Queens Bridge
From Hollis Queens right down to Bay Ridge
From Castle Hill to the Lower East Side
From 1010 WINS to Live At Five
Dear New York this is a love letter
To you and how you brought us together
We can't say enough about all you do
'Cause in the city were ourselves and electric too
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Shout out the South Bronx where my mom hails from
Right next to High Bridge across from Harlem
To the Grand Concourse where my mom and dad met
Before they moved on down to the Upper West
I see you're still strong after all that's gone on
Life long we dedicate this song
Just a little something to show some respect
To the city that blends and mends and tests
Since 911 we're still livin'
And lovin' life we've been given
Ain't nothing gonna take that away from us
Were lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust
Dear New York I know a lot has changed
2 towers down but you're still in the game
Home to many rejecting know one
Accepting peoples of all places, wherever they're from
Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten
From the Battery to the top of Manhattan
Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin
Black, White, New York you make it happen
Trust me, it's a million times cooler when this is being yelled "No Sleep to Brooklyn"-style over "Sonic Reducer."
Now, the Muse thing is a little harder to explain. Especially since I hate them. Kinda a lot. I first saw a video of theirs on British MTV with Beth and we decided that, in the local vernacular, they were total wankers. Their lead singer is totally aping Thom Yorke (and frankly his overly-dramatic falsetto would be annoying if he weren't, you know, Thom Yorke!) and they have goth-y riffs that are totally stolen from Linkin Park (and they are annoying and frankly, bad!). At Curiosa a couple of weeks ago I didn't even go over to see them- though they were the only band playing. Jen and I sat in the grass and made fun of drunk people for 40 minutes instead while we waited for the Cure to come on. I just don't get the appeal. They are derivative in the worst possible way and I feel like the people who love them are the sorts of people that are responsible for the success of Evanescence. But I do remember hearing this one song at Curiosa and thinking, "Hmmm... that's not bad." And I since then, the song has been stalking me. It was on MTV2 the other day and then on internet radio . And while killing time at Virgin today I thought, as I stood next to a cute blond boy who was listening to Franz Ferdinand, "hey, I wonder what that Muse song was that I didn't hate?" So I stood at the Muse keyosk and whaddya know? Song #3 was that song that had been stalking me. Now, the opening is kind of abysmal and Linkin Park-ish- whispered vocals over some kind of farting keyboard- but the chorus.... I'm sorry it's won me over, against my better judgement. It's a really simple repeated melody with a whining Radiohead croon. I can't stop fucking singing this in my head.
So that was my day. Two new favorite songs. Too many cigarettes smoked. Too many hours logged at the Virgin Megastore.
And guess what? I've got no other plans for tomorrow.... Well, aside from watching "Six Feet Under" because this week (according to my Entertainment Weekly) BILLY RETURNS! And, as it says in the about me box above, Jeremy Sisto is my boyfriend. Only he doesn't know it.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home