Happy Birthday to ME!

Yes, as of yesterday, I am officially 25. And let me tell you, this year's off to a helluva start.

Cut Copy, lit my Heart on Fire!

Cut Copy could qualify as # 376 in the long list of "Stuff White People Like", but that's totally fine by me, especially given the energy of last night's show at the 930 Club! The lead singer of the Melbourne based band is a total cliche, but he's totally geek-chic as he flails around in too-tight-skinny jeans and a worn-out-tee, firing up the sold-out crowd by opening with their infectious hit "Hearts on Fire". They got fists pumping and the crowd jumping with their electro-beats; "Lights & Music" and "Feel the Love" and also sampled a new song (whose name I did not quite catch due to the hammered chick next to me dumping her beer down the front of my (skinny) jeans.) And as my friend Matt pointed out to me, "Out There on the Ice" definitely deserves a mention, that got people moving! Not the most amazing band to see live, and they played an exceptionally short set; leaving the stage after 45 mins, returning only to play a two-song encore. Weak. But I'd still recommend seeing them for a seriously fun night of tweaked-out-awkward-white-guy dancing! *Unfortunately they didn't allow camera's so I don't have any pictures of their stage set-up, but it featured really simple bars of retro neon lights, and did a dazzlingly good job of following the fast tempo of the show! Check out DCist for some great shots (and a glowing review)!

Bring It On.

"The sickest thing to drop from a Republican since Bill Bennett ate bad chili."

I try not to post too many clips from John Stewart or Colbert, but every once in a while my restraint wears thin, especially this "slam burger" from Colbert last week. Try to hang in there until around minute 3.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Conservative Rap Battle - Michael Steele's Response
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

Gentleman, Choose Your Weapons...

Pretty much every one's still in disbelief at AIG using their bailout money to give bonuses to "retain" people on staff; despite the fact that hundreds of incredibly brilliant bankers, traders and analysts have been getting laid off ALL over Wall Street. AIG felt it necessary to "reward" their barely competent staff and give them bonuses of up to $100,000 because, you know, they've done such a great job!

This such a ludicrous use of funds, but AIG CEO Edward Liddy seems to be orbiting on his own planet, why else would he think it a good idea dish out tax payer money in such an irresponsible and inappropriate fashion. Nearly every one's got ideas about what should happen to AIG, Liddy and the mysterious recipients of our money, but my favorite call-to-action thus far has got to be these words of wisdom from Iowa Senator-R, Chuck Grassley:

"I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology."

Thank you Senator, while many have criticized you for your harsh words, I think America could use some good, old fashioned humility.

Neighborhood News

Tear. The only delicious and affordable breakfast/coffee/bagelsonUstreet joint has just (unexpectedly to me) closed their doors! I loved haunting Mocha Hut on the weekends for their delicious eggs-on-toast breakfast (so good and only like $4) and huge cups of dark-almost-as-good-as-Peet's coffee. Yummy food combined with free wi-fi...a loss to the neighborhood...

Joke of the Day.

I got a giggle outta this one, given my new hood and general 'tude of the area...

Q. How many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?



A. It's a really obscure number, you probably haven't heard of it.

Modest Mouse: Fail.

Now that I'm living in the U street area, I've been hitting up live music like nobodies business.(As is evidenced by my back-to-back evenings at The Black Cat and the 930 Club, respectively). After having seen them nearly five years ago, just after the release of "Good News for People who Love Bad News", I'd been looking forward to last night's Modest Mouse concert for some time and considering the hype surrounding the sold-out show (please see this DCist find from last week), and re-sell ticket prices at nearly triple face value, I was expecting a solid night of cacophonous brass beats. (I personally think it's bad concert-karma to overprice your tickets that much, do undo to others as they say...)
Anyways, doors opened at 8, so we headed over around quarter to ten thinking we'd catch the tail end of the opener and then MM shortly thereafter. Wrong. We show up to a nearly empty 930 Club, catching the end of the first opening act, wait another thirty minutes before being assaulted by a Mexican version of Franz Ferdinand who decided it was a good idea to project awkward and unoriginal video montages onto a screen behind them. I suppose I wouldn't have been so irritated had they just played a few songs, but they took the stage for a solid hour and fifteen. The worst part was probably that the lead singer was crooning into the mike which had a camera mounted on it, that then projected waytoclose images of the sweaty singer's nose onto the screen behind him. I think he thought he was frontin' Menudo. No gracias.

Around Midnight 930 was packed and there was still no sign of the boys. They finally did come on around 12:15, had it been a Saturday night I probably wouldn't have minded as much, but coming off a long work week, then standing around guzzling luke warm Miller Lites (and Guinness in early honor of St Paddy's day) put me in no mood to then deal with the pre-teens attempting to mosh to "City made of Ashes". While the band played a lot of their popular songs and their stage lights were pretty cool, I wasn't even interested enough in their show to stay and hear them do "Float On" for the encore. That might have also been due to the fact that someone evidently had vomited in close proximity to us, and the barman attempted to cover up the smell by spraying it down with catastrophic amounts of disinfectant. (I had to use my pashmina like a burka to keep my nostrils from burning). All I can say is that I hope they improve their stage presence for the remainder of their tour, otherwise, I'd say keep your $50 and listen to them on your ipod en route to work. Much more enjoyable.

The Airborne Toxic Event

And no, I'm not talking about the George W. Bush Sewer Plant...this was the awesome show my roommate and I saw at The Black Cat last night! They sounded like a cross between Vampire Weekend, Ryan Adams and The Shins...I loved them! Click here to go to take a listen!

Mean Girls.

While I am still big no Meghan McCain fan, I can appreciate her foray into blogging, and I really did get a kick out of her blasting Ann Coulter, She does her research and speaks her mind, even if she's still a die-hard Republican, she's cool with me. Thus when I heard Laura Ingrahams snarky comments in response to McCain's interview with Rachael Maddow, I was pretty peeved. Conservative radio host Ingrahm didn't even address the real issues she has with McCain, rather she chose the tragically petty route of name calling. Not only name calling, but also the lowest form of female bitchiness...the weight slap. Yep, she went there. Laura Ingrahm, a seasoned conservative, resorted to calling the daughter of the former GOP presidential nominee fat.

“too plus sized to be a cast member on the television show The Real World”

McCain's 140 character response via Twitter, telling gals to embrace their curves, and to not let anybody make them feel bad about their body was beautifully executed. Good move, lady.

Stay classy Laura, you really proved your point on that one.

The PR firm from Hell.

Of all the talking heads out there, Rachael Maddow is far and away my favorite. I just love watching her unapolagetic sarcasm as she points out the absurdities of politicos, celebs and pretty much anyone else newsworthy or noteworthy. I watch her show fairly frequently and was pretty tickled watching her the other night as she absolutely nailed Burson Marsteller. See the clip below to watch Racheal Maddow in all her high-brow-sarcastic glory, rip Burson a new one. This is pretty much the worst publicity a PR firm can come by...but hey, who can really blame them? In this economic environment, at least they've got clients!

Summit Series

I was lucky enough to not only score some prime time at the Gibson Friday night, but to also get the low-down on the most recent Summit Series event held at the White House. My buddy Seth, filled me in on his day of discussion with young entrepreneurs including (my personal crush) Tom's Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie, Twitter co-founder and CEO Evan Williams, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Ecko Enterprises founder Marc Ecko, Tishman Speyer co-CEO Rob Speyer, Trump SVP Ivanka Trump, Mint.com founder and CEO Aaron Patzer, College Humor co-founder Josh Abramson and others. He said they rapped about their experiences and bounced around ideas on a variety of topics including job creation, energy and the breadth and depth of new social media.