nyc nightlife oct 2003 5 years ago this month:

nyc nightlife oct 2003 5 years ago this month:

oct 1 2003 a robert mapplethorpe photo opening at sean kelly

oct 2 2003 Piano's with aerial Love feed: excellent thurs night in the big city. first piano's on lower east. trendy-ish club-lounge opened early spring & still going strong. some people dismiss piano's as a scenester/trendy/superficial venue, the first of its kind on the lower east side in our lifetimes. But i welcome piano's as a cozy place to hang out, it's clean, not a smelly dive like many old-skool NY bars. and they book some good bands, which are great to see in the small-ish music room, prob 100 people , maybe almost 200 when maxed out.
Thurs night was aerial love feed. NYC has produced scores of great bands over last few years, many getting attention starting with the strokes & then YYY, interpol, longwave etc. At this point I like alf the best of any of them. their new dummer really pounds the hard tracks home, i swear he drums like a NIN record. theres even a 4/4 disco beat to new 'lock & load' version. alf sounds like PiL, siouxsie, and some other edgy noise rock cant identify. these 5 guys play great & theyre great people too. so many ny bands try to do a reductivist garage pop but alf is much more ambitious, trying for a dance/new wave/industrial/rock mix that they are totally scoring with now. the 3 best bands in ny now are alf, everyothers and ambulance ltd. everyothers sounds like 70s stones/TRex. ambulance sounds like 80s new order & 90s MBV.
alf is more original than either band & they are kicking major butt with the new drummer. great set ***3/4
SETLIST: [retrieve the history/ CB/ lock n load/ cutdown/ pedestal/ doomsville/ rockethouse/ temp glitch]

* after alf at piano's: over to west soho for beavher 80s night. its been a little quieter lately but the people who come every week are really fun & easygoing. I actually danced a little more than usual, I think I was revved up from alf. also gregg & his new gf jen were there. they had had mucho drinks so we all danced to vacation, upside down, miss you. staying alive.
great to see richie, his gf, hilary monroe, frank, Christiane, even a medium beav night is better than most clubs great nights.
***1/2

oct 3 2003 sweet & tender holligans, smiths covers at knitting factory.

oct 4 2003 sander kleinenberg was at arc. scout headlined tiswas at don hill's. and 2 many DJs were also in town.

oct 8 2003 the black keys were at mercury lounge.

oct 9 2003 LCD soundsystem were at bowery ballrm.

oct 10 2003 the everyothers were at knitting factory. opti-grab was at don hill's.

oct 11 2003 fanny-pack was at knitting factory.

oct 12 2003 junior vasquez was at the roxy. noon to midnight

oct 15 2003 interpol was at hammerstein ballrm.

oct 16 2003 soviet was at pianos, justine d hosted.

oct 18 2003 tiswas' anniversary with aerial love feed. and evena dando at bowerty ballrm.

oct 23 2003 my favorite was at Lit. elefant was at piano's. the thrills & ambulance ltd were at mercury lounge.

oct 24 2003 mark farina was at avalon [ex limelight]. elefant & radio 4 were at bowery ballrm. ARE weapons were at plaid.

oct 25 2003 echo & the bunnymen were at webster hall. orange park was at luna lounge.

oct 29 2003 the strokes played the paramount at msg.

oct 30 2003 ambulance ltd at luna lounge, and the blondes inc. & a boy named george at Tiswas.

Luna lounge: ambulance ltd. extra crowded. this band is blowing up. strummer from beavher came. her hair was like a stevie nicks pineapple splayed hairspray cut in her dark brown color: more of an ann wilson (HEART) look actually. good set by ambulance. they play their dream pop/shoegazing very well, write sweet melodies & sing em nice. but over even like 8 songs it was too repetitive & I can only hope they are writing feverishly for their full length CD in 2004. the 4 song EP I have is awesome.
***
then over to Tiswas. One of best Tis' in months. talked to justine about MBV & moz tees. saw kerri, terry, daniel, saw keith ozar had great talk about new bands & CDs. mike lamorte came. bob, becca, don talked about bebe buell & parker & the website. danced to lets go to bed, 11:51; move yr feet (best song) bohemian like me (2nd best song). WOOO!! gosh that rock star does wonders!! BOY GEORGE came!!!!! everyone was excited, it was cool to see him dancing to disco 2000, his head is shaved for the Taboo play (leigh bowery bio) and george is def heavier than Ive seen him, also not as tall as Id expected...? AND he danced with this small 19 yr old looking girl!! - go figure!!-
[ps jj wanted to know MORE about george: well, he was wearing a charcoal grey sack suit, possibly with subtle pinstripes, but generally a boxy grey suit that looked english/westwood but cldnt be sure. it was very full & boxy & gave the impression that he is quite round shaped now. also if u think about George in Culture club he looked like 6'1" but in person i'd say he looked like 5'10"/11" max. if any makeup it was around his eyes but mostly looked like an actor who had shaved head 7 took stage makeup off. ]

jacqueline the seductress came. nice talking about george with her. blondes inc played. actually they were better than ambulance!! very 70s stones/clash 1980/ Trex 1973 sound. they can play; they write some catchy tunes; they look good. cover of white light/heat well recvd. a few more 'hits' in the song dept & they will be going somewhere. i guess the college kids are back for thksgving break. best tis in months. hopefully Tis will stay strong thru new yrs. *cheers*mates*
***3/4

oct 31 2003 danny tenaglia halloween at arc!

top models in oct 2003 incl gisele bundchen, carmen kass, letitia berkheuer, carolyn murphy, & liberty ross.


the best radio shows in nyc were paul oakenfold global grooves on WKTU saturday nights. and junior's house:
10/24/03: nina skye if you want me to stay. lumidee uh oh. beyo baby boy dance mix
JT senorita . jessica sweetest sin . jay dee plastic dreams . 50 in da club dub
loleatta sweet sensation 03 mx .. kelis milkshake dub .. todd terry bango

junior 10/31/03:.. kristine w where love is.. beyonce me myself & I.. exacta flippin

favourite LPs incl Suede's greatest hits + the strokes 2nd LP.