I'll explain the Gavin picture later. Once again I skated through a night of drinking without stopping to chow on some grub. This has left me with a man-sized growl of a hungry stomach that be rectified until I visit my favorite sandwich artist at Subway. Let me take a quick second to let you all know that a steaming pile of shit has once again been tossed into the fan here at the office. Since a co-worker left (you fucker!), my department head decided to toss her biggest project of the year on my shoulders. As you can imagine, it's a total nightmare, but I'm at the point where if I can focus, it should be done by the end of the week. Yeah, that is a pretty big "IF".

So last night was a bit crazy for a Tuesday especially since the past few have been spent on the couch watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Law & Order. After sometime spent in midtown for a meeting, I returned back to the hood and managed to catch the second half of Sideways before walking over to Pianos. It was kind of the perfect movie to catch on Valentine's Day. It always helps to see a couple of jackasses navigate that terrain - it made me feel good about myself.

Upon entering the club, I found James and his lady friend Andrea hanging out at the bar. We chatted for a bit until Sarah and Emily joined us. As New Sense began to take the stage, we had to leave Emily to wait for Shannon on her own (she was her guest) because no one wanted to miss their favorite song. Thankfully we didn't, and even though they didn't play my jam "Outside Chance", they did manage to impress the early crowd. The band consists of five guys who definitely look like a peppered group of New Yorkers, but the catch is they come from Milwaukee. New Sense did get to a couple of the solid tracks off their Flowers Before Hours EP (Brilliante Records) including "What If I Get Sick", "Songs on the Radio" and the sets closer "Sticks and Stones". They also blasted out "Ready to Leave" which has carefully placed guitar picking in between some straight up dancy programmed beats.

New Sense delivered exactly what I'd expected; there were times that I was reminded of all the reference points my little mind webbed to their sound: Happy Mondays, Phoenix, Soft and New Order. My favorite part of their sound was Ryan's moves on bass. The guy understands what it is to get groovy, and there were parts of songs that had my mind wandering, but before it got too far, Ryan snatched it and placed it firmly back in the room. My least favorite part, and I hate to say this because no matter how bad a band is or how bad someone sucks, the bottom line remains that the artists have the balls to lay themselves on the line. Me, well, I hide behind a monitor of a different sort. My only instrument is a black keyboard, and though it might be easier for most to tell when I miss a note - I could give a shit which I'm hoping is the same for William. Hey man, I say this with a heavy heart - please don't pantomime. It takes away from the beautiful set of pipes you scored. It's a distraction and it has the ability to turn off big fans, (note: Wilderness). Anyway, do what feels right and kick me in the dick if need be, but dude, c'mon - you're killin' me. Check them out here:

02.15.06 :: New Sense :: Rothko (9pm)
02.16.06 :: New Sense :: Living Room (8pm)

After the show, we milled about for a few until someone mentioned free beer at Fat Baby. At this point Shannon, Sarah, Emily, Jeff and I hit the street, but once we got in Fat Baby we realized no one wanted to be there so we pressed onto some 2-for-1 action at 151. While sipping on the finest ales, Jeff quizzed us on our personal musical history:

First Show: Bush, GooGoo Dolls & No Doubt (this was my first show because in Central, PA there weren't many options. I did see a number of VFW and Community Hall shows - RIP LongFuseTrigger, Blinder, Not Your Friends, Dullard, Nicotine Kids & Entropy - but the Bush show was my first big one).
Best Show: Toss up - Trail of Dead @ Bowery, Rolling Stones @ MSG, Beck @ Radio City (and a late entries - Bouncing Souls @ The Continental and Libertines @ CBGB's)
Biggest Disappointment: Weezer @ American University
Biggest Surprise: Big Sleep @ Mercury
Best Bill: David Cross, Guided by Voices & The Strokes @ Apollo Theatre
Band You've Seen The Most Times: Umphrey's Mcgee (ok, it's a lie, but hopefully it makes someone laugh)

Around 11pm I ran upstairs to find out if Juanita's would still serve us margarita's. Naturally, Christen, Jeff and Danny stood outside huffing down the good stuff. After a quick inspection, I returned to the hole for one last Bud before we stepped next door to close out the night with some mad robotic Margaritas, (what the shit Nicolas). All and all it was a solid Valentine's Day. It was definitely a lot different from last year when my face got rocked off by Blue Sparks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Kaiser Chiefs at the Mercury Lounge or the year before when I saw the Shins at Irving (a day before hanging with them in their hotel). Wow, Valentine's Day rocks.