Catching up -or- Why I'm a Lazy Bum

So my excuse for this weekend is that I've been pretty much incapacitated with the stomach flu. And it sucks. I haven't left my apartment in 3 days... Sigh. But as for the last week+, I have no good excuse as to why I haven't updated my blog at all. So I'll try to catch up from Thanksgiving on.

Had a lovely Turkey Day at the Elson's house--one of the better meals Sandy has cooked over the years. Excellent bagel stuffing and cranberry-ginger sauce. Hated watching Romo and the Cowboys do so well. Sigh... Can't win 'em all. Flew back to NYC early on Friday. Got to an unseasonably-warm Brooklyn late afternoon and relaxed on my couch for a hot minute. Met Gabe in penn station (his birthday!) and hopped the train to the Upper East Side for Jordan Zucker's dinner party. Super swanky, great food, drinks a-flowin', fart machines a-fartin' and people a-laughin'. Much merriment. Everyone in good spirits.

Took a cab down to the Nokia Theatre (where I had only been once before, exaclty one year prior--for the Mediocre Meters). Hung with Russ, Beth, Dina, Jordan, Jesse and Gabe for the end of a hot '76 Orpheum show. Lots of singing and dancing and I even called the set closer (The Music Never Stopped). Caught up with some friends during setbreak and skeedaddled over to HammerTime Ballroom (Thanks, Dee) for the Biscuits. Got there during setbreak and saw everyone. Got to the side box for the whole second set--great Little Shimmy. Then ran down to Deanna's place to see her. What a perfect whirlwind night!

Saturday was a perfect day... slept in, went to an excellent brunch at Alias (which officially kicked off the letter game with Deanna--a restaurant that neither of us has been to, going in alphabetical order). Watched some college football and then went up to Mikey's pre-Biscuits party. Lots of good people there. We all went up to HammerTime together--me and 11 friends. Much thanks go out to the Disco Biscuits, their management and especially their tour manager, Mike Polans (who I've known since his Caveman days). The should couldn't be more perfect.

My whole crew found their way into the top side box. A fun Mulberry's Dream to open the show and everyone was dancing. A long, stretched-out Basis intro mid-eastern jam brought the energy up. The band nailed the composed section and segued very nicely into Spacebird. Which went right back into the Basis ending and Aaron was a happy camper. Nothing gets me off quite like a Basis endind...

And I was sure that would end the set, but then I heard a familiar ping sound. Oh wait, that sounds like Echoes! Where's Russ?? How did they know that covering Echoes well is the way to Russ's heart? Well, they did it perfectly--and during the latter half spacey section, they looped the pings and left the stage with the lights down and full of smoke. The loop lasted all of setbreak as I got to see all my friends (many of them seeing their first biscuit show) and life was good. The band came back during the second set to finish Echoes and Barber (wearing a Tiki Barber jersey) ripped it up. Man can these guys tear up a show!

The rest of the set was filled with peaks and tight jams. MEMPHIS was just what the doctor ordered and Hot Air Balloon seemed to come out of no where. Dribble was well-placed too. All in all, an excellent show. Everyone had a blast and I couldn't have been happier.

I'll finish up in another post... this is one is probably too long already...