A WEEKEND WITH GRAM PARSONS AND A-HA

what a terribly exciting couple of days! first i hit chi-town for the first time ever and had a fantastic trip. hey chicago people, you have a great town! crap baseball team, cool town. (ps - booo omar minaya, first misstep in my book. i heart nady!) i had the usual slew of health-deprived nights with art brut et al. (et al in this case being keith totp, swedish joel and texas jess, not to mention fuschia leslie, the crazy ponys and chinese nige). between the empty bottle's $3.75 absolut cocktails and the art brut tour rider i was so freakin stoked on life. in retrospect that kinda brands me an alcoholic, but as a las vegas frequenter would say, hey, i was on vacation!

the pitchfork festival itself wasnt the highlight. nothing against those folks, but the overall "genre" of the festival wasnt my usual steeze. i will say that mission of burma were fucking awesome, and yes, it was my first time seeing them. apart from that, it was the q-time with my darlin futureheads and art brut that kept me entertained. may i submit my collection of festival wisdom courtesy of its eclectic participants:

barry hyde - cancers (as in the sign) are drawn to people with smooth skin and have a higher susceptibility to hay fever.

eddie argos - wearing male polish and white shades makes you "glam rock." and yes, in my book, the brut are going glam.

devendra banhart - andre the giant used to get his cowboy boots made at some unidentified chicago location, possibly by the name of "lackalackalacka."

jens lenkman - you should never allow strangers to ask you questions about the festival shuttle, especially if they dont recognize you for the non-british speaking meaniepants that you are.

diplo - the best way to ditch unwanted members of the opposite sex is to bring them into the neighboring hotel room party of your favorite british band for a vodka-mountain dew, and then leave. amazing.

all in all a very educational trip to the midwest!

now im back in new york trying to catch up on all the jared gossip that i missed. you see, ive known this dude since high school. hell, we made out one passover in miami. how the fuck did i miss the boat on his potential?? dammit! if i had the foresight when i was 16, i couldve been dating a media mogul. now i just date poor musicians. ugh.

ok anyway, final note on the weekend: devendra drinks frappuccinos. with whip. pass it on.