|
HELLO
Dooo youuuu REALLIIIIZE that this was best Friday fucking EVAR?
(...hm, maybe should've worded that differently.)
Lately, Sophie and (NOT NOT NOT) Bryan have gotten me to listen to Ladytron, this Kraftwerk-esque, minimalist electronica group from England. So lo, just around a week after I started listening to and liking 'em, I heard that members will be spinning at Amoeba Music in San Francisco, a massiv independent music store that I've always wanted to check out. Steve was interested in going (although he admitted that he didn't like Ladytron's music all that much), and although I tried to convince Felix to drive us, he wasn't interested in the group, and had to hang out with his exotic girlfriend anyway. Harumph.
Fortunately, things probably wouldn't have ended up half as fun had we simply driven straight to Amoeba Music ("--and then Felix would be freaking out and we'd still be listening to loud electronica that we only wouldn't like because Felix would be freaking out..." - Steve). So after track, I did some quick freestyle at the mall (my only 4 songs of the day, believe it or not :P) and finally picked up The (GRAMMYWINNING) Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots with a gift certificate from, er, two years ago. With leftover cash in my pockets, I then met Steve and we headed off to the bus stop like the two non-driver seniors of TL that we are.
Before we made the sensible decision to walk down to the bus stop and wait, though, Steve figured we have enough time (10 MINUTES) to go to Safeway to buy some Ramen noodles (wtf). Despite my protests, we made it in and out of Safeway with 3 packs of Ramen and a fat bottle of water in record time, then ran a couple blocks all the way to the highway bus stop to just barely catch the bus to San Francisco. And yes, with the little money we had, and the deal you can get on the packets, we wanted the bang for our buck, and were confident in eating the Ramen dry. "It's like a giant cookie," said Steve.
On the SF bus, we sat in the very back so we could munch down on the Ramen, and this gruff, homeless looking guy sitting next to us was forced to watch every bite of salty, cracker-like goodness ("Yeah, my nephew does that shit."). When we answered that, indeed, we were going to eat the taste-bud-frying flavor packets as well, we got the observation, "You guys are hardcore." =D
Best of all, Steve said "Have a good one" to the guy as he was getting up for his stop, and was lambasted for doing so. The rant that ensued went something like "Don't tell me how to fuckin' live my life...yeah, that's what you say to guys in New York and everywhere else...'How's it goin?'...how about you stay outta my fuckin' business, how's that for how's it goin'..." Hee.
...and even better, the angry guy got up too early for his stop, so he was just standing there, staring a hole through Steve's head. The bus then jerked to a halt, he almost fell--had it not been for a nearby bus "holding pole"--righted himself, and stumbled off the bus. Comedic gold!
When we got off in Frisco, I realized that 1) We were late for Ladytron, so we'd have to figure out where we were fast, then haul it to the next bus stop, and 2) It was time for Marin-boy to stand out in this city once again. You think I would have learned from my light clothing standoutathon at Game 6 of the World Series at the Metreon, but no, I was, once again, the most Marin-like person walking the streets. I had my khaki corduroys, khaki button-down overshirt, online-ordered "WTF?" shirt (at least that was black), and NO JACKET, so I was freezing and so were my two cancers. I shrugged this feeling off after a while though, since Steve and I were having a good time, talking 'n taking in the scent of poverty and liquor stores all around us. I'm still in need of a thick, monocolor jacket, though. >_<
After being impressed by a homeless guy without any legs who coasted down the sidewalk on a skateboard (anybody seen "Kids"?), we successfully found the Market-to-Haight-St. bus, and were a mere 15 minutes away from Ladytronness. The driver let each of us pay the $0.35 "under-17" bus fare, even though I'm 6'4" and have a full-on GOATEE, and Steve was looking like a seedy drug dealer and carrying a briefcase. XD Speaking of that, Steve talked to me about his friend Shane wanting me to be a cameraman for a short film that's in the works, starring Steve as, surprise, a seedy drug dealer who shoots Aaron Jeweler with a Glock. I love my digicaam!
Anyway, we got off the bus a little early, thinking we passed Amoeba Music by mistake--it turned out that the store was just a little further down towards the end of Haight, complete with GIANT PINK LETTERING that we would never have missed on the bus. >_<
Meanwhile, at the Oasis:
elementboard87: and then theere was a lot of ass grabbing
Entering Amoeba for the first time, we were simply blown away at the size of the place. All the while, Ladytron played some funked up ambient stuff/elevator music, which was fooling-around-with-Summer-Samba-at-radio-class cool. After going to The Wherehouse to get the Flaming Lips earlier, Amoeba Music blew its corporate ass out of the water--it was such a contrast in every way that I fell in love with it. The floor was gigantic--filled with aisle upon aisle of independent and mainstream music alike, records and CDs, with prices as low as $3.00 for a regular CD...also, one could tell it was where the real music lovers went because everybody except me wore glasses like this. XD
The selection of electronica dwarfed anything else from Tower or the Wherehouse I'd ever seen...the more Steve and I browsed, the more and more we wanted: Coldcut, Underworld, DJ Shadow, Massiv Attack, Mirwais, the E-Z Rollers, Dieselboy, DJ Dan, Felix Da Housecat, Ladytron (...duh), Christopher Lawrence, DJ Keoki, Armand Van Helden, all the Plastic compilations, Cafe Del Mar, copious amounts of BT, PVD, Oakie, Chem Brothers, and a whole lot more, all at surprisingly cheap prices. Looking back on it, I'm kicking myself for not trying to find DJ Gay-Boy. =\
After leaving (and *sigh* not buying anything--we had just enough left for possible bus fare/food), we took two buses back to San Rafael, crunched up the last of the Ramen that we still had--thank you, cargo corduroys--and read books from Steve's briefcase. Now that I remember what this "reading-for-pleasure" thing is like, I want to check out the rest of Crime and Punishment. Cold and left with six bucks, Steve and I agreed that the only thing to top off the night was to get "Thainese" at this place we both go to before radio in SR, "Yang's Asian Food". Unfortunately, they don't serve borscht or curry, but they're Asian enough.
After a spicy stomach-warming Kung Pao chicken + hot and sour soup combo, 1984 reading, bus ride, and 20 minute walk from the highway to my house (again: ULGH I need a jacket), I was home and happily listenin' to the Flaming Lips in bed (Indogutsu wants to also recommend the Yoshimi album, especially for "One More Robot".). What an awesome break from the ordinary that was.
(oh, there's a new blog underneath this one that I'd been meaning to post)
|
|
