parking on u street

so i always knew parking in the vicinity of u street is somewhat sketchy - but i've never really had a problem. sometimes i've paid to park in the 930 club lot - but since we were doing dinner in the neighborhood before the show last night we decided just to try and find a spot on the street. we came up 13th street and then looped around w street back down to u street. we initially saw a bunch of free spots on w street but weren't sure if they were legal spots. so we kept looking, but we ended back on the same block. right ahead of us a cop pulled over into the empty spots so i pulled next to him and rolled down my window.

me: excuse me, can we park here?
cop: i don't know. (in a rude/sarcastic tone)
me: um, ok.
cop: i just pulled in here and now i'm leaving.

and then before i had a chance to say anything else he peeled and raced to the end of the street. so after being confused for a bit we decided to pull into a free spot. and after examining all of the signs on the street we determined my car would be safe there. and safe it was - it was just coated in a rain when we got back after the concert.

rilo kiley

yes, they stood under the blacklight (and luckily the guys were wearing white shirts so you could tell). but no, they didn't play that song. overall the concert was great - i'm just a little tired today that's all.

we missed the first band (thanks to a delicious dinner at creme), but we got there just in time for the second opener. it was a little bizarre because there were people on stage tuning instruments and then suddenly the lights dimmed and the drummer announced "we're grand ole party"/"we're rilo kiley" (it depends who you ask) and then they just started playing. the band was two guys (one on bass, one on guitar) and then a girl drummer who was also the lead singer. once i got past the fact that the girl had a bowl cut and designs drawn around her eyes i really enjoyed their music. i was disappointed in their set though because they literally just played through all of their (really short) songs with no breaks. i could have been just as satisfied at home listening to their cd (that is if i had a copy).

then after some dorky guy in a cardigan (very much like henry on ugly betty) single-handedly tuned every single instrument on stage rilo kiley finally came out for their show. jenny lewis is so vintage chic - i love it! honestly i wonder how many gold sparkly dresses she possibly could have. and she matched perfectly with the gold curtain handing in the back (and the giant balloons that were thrown into the audience that spewed gold confetti when they popped). one complaint - she is probably due for a hair cut - she has literally had the same haircut since she was 12 (or however old she was in troop beverly hills).

although i don't remember the whole set list i do know that it was a good mix between old and new. my only disappointment in the song selection was that they didn't play 15 - and i was especially annoyed to find out that they played it the night before. although from what i've heard thursday night's show was the better of the two (come on - everyone knows the last night is always the better one).

crank that soulja boy

Texas Longhorns Crank Dat Soulja Boy @ UCF - Watch more free videos

i'm not sure what's funnier - this video or when all the thirteen year old girls at the bar mitzvah i went to earlier this month lined up and did this dance.

is today national piñata day?

at least google seems to think so.

update: or it's just google's ninth birthday. whatever.

what i'm listening to

1. matt nathanson.
he's one of my old favorites (and i finally get to see him live next month!). i know i've already told you about him - but his song "car crash" is the itunes free single of the week right now. and for anyone out there without an ipod you can go to apple.com and download itunes for free. do it now.

2. the sketches.
they opened for eric hutchinson last weekend playing an acoustic set. i was hesitant to buy their cd since they promised it was all electric. but i listened to the songs on their myspace and it's not that much different than what we heard on sunday.

3. bellman barker.
just read about them over at dcist so i took a listen and i'm liking what i hear. plus i'm always up for supporting local bands!

4. chrisette michelle.
i've actually been listening to her for a while - ever since my dad gave me her cd. although i did miss out when she was at the black cat a month or so ago - i bet she's really great live!

5. tyrone wells.
odds are you'll like his music - he pulls from so many different styles. and he's currently touring with stephen kellogg - but tragically not for the birchmere show in november. i'll just have to catch him the next time he's in town.

this weekend in a nutshell

michael's, snake bites, zydeco, washington apple, dragon beer, bronchitis, three ring circus at 1815, french toast, football game in the brutal heat, lots of g.o.s. singing, arch's, lots of football, south street, crepes, five dollar cab rides (for seven people), biltmore, bodos, mincer's, bellair II, eric hutchinson.

so except for the skins totally blowing it i'd say this weekend was great!

charlottesville tonight!

nine hours and counting... clearly because of that today will totally drag on forever. but i have two tubs of smore cupcakes waiting for me when i get home (just a friendly tip - when a frosting recipe calls for sour cream don't use it - it totally botched up the marshmallow frosting for my otherwise amazing smore cupcakes!).

but back to charlottesville - i'm really excited to see all the changes since april (when i was last down there). i already know that jaberwocke has been renovated and reopened under the name 3. and amigos closed to make way for another location of christian's (ha haha ha). also i heard that o'neills is closed for good - although i'm not sure that anything has opened in it's place.

oh, and the game. we generally play georgia tech pretty close (and usually win!) so i'm hoping for the same result tomorrow. i still remember first year when we beat them on the hook and ladder play and everyone rushed the field!

hooray, beer!

so i called back this week and got pretty much the same answer as last time: "um, i don't really know." but then i just got an email from sweetwater saying that their oktoberfest is on tap now and their pumpkin ale isn't too far behind. i can't wait!

the most ridiculous kitchen gadget

seriously - check it out. i mean i'm sure there are worse, but this one seems pretty useless.

shiver me timbers

today is talk like a pirate day!

hail to the redskins!

remember last year when after two weeks we were 0-2?? well now that's officially in the past with the skins off to a 2-0 start and fresh off a road win in the nfc east. and with the next three games at home (the struggling giants, the lions and the cardinals) things are looking like they finally might go our way.

and i'm really glad the game didn't go into overtime since i was majorly struggling to stay up as it was. but watching the skins beat up on the eagles up in philly is totally worth me being exhausted today.

side note: please tell me you saw sean taylor's fro last night. you could see it creeping out of his helmet all night and then after the game ended they had a great shot of him and all of his hair (yes, i will try to find a picture of it later).

update: here's the picture.

eammon's

eammon's opened in old town over a year ago, but it's taken me that long to get down there and try it. we even made it to px (the exclusive bar above eammon's) months before i made it back to give the food a try - but friday i made it down there to try the fish and chips place behind the folks at restaurant eve. there's nothing like some good indigestion to start off the weekend, right?

the weather was dreary so it made for a perfect night to stuff myself silly with fried food. literally everything on the menu is fried. between four of us we ordered the cod, the grouper, chicken bites, a burger, coleslaw and of course some chips (aka fries). we thought that wouldn't be enough and contemplated ordering more - but it's a good thing we held off - it was more than enough.

all the fishes come with your choice of sauce. i think there were six choices for sauces - we ended up getting four of them - tartar sauce, dijon, old bay and some spicy sauce - and of course we had a side pile of ketchup going for the fries (oops - i mean chips).

i was expecting a night of fried food - but i was somewhat shocked when the burger came out deep fried. the patty had been cooked and then dipped in batter and deep fried. it was good, but not really what i was expecting at all.

and in case you're thirsty they have guiness on tap and a few other bottled beers to wash down all the fried food. and they have a cooler of water set up in the back so you can keep going back for more (one complaint - they're water cups are about the size of panera's if you know what i mean). if you want anything more substantial in the drink department you'll have to head upstairs to px - and let me tell you it's definitely worth it.

honestly the real reason i had been looking forward to going to eammon's was for their dessert. mainly the fried milky way. everyone else i went with was stuffed to the brim - but of course i was more than ready for dessert. i went up to order the milky way and they were out! instead i just settled for a snickers (i'm not sure why they couldn't have just gone down the street to cvs and picked up a few milky ways - but whatever).

even though it wasn't my first choice - the fried snickers was everything i dreamed a fried candy bar would taste like. it was delicious - crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside:)

and great win for the hoos on saturday (i got a little scared there towards the end). i'm pumped to go down to charlottesville for the game this weekend!