craigslist - musicians

So I was looking through craislist for some people to play music with, when I came accross these back to back posts:

female musicians wanted $$ (brooklyn nyc)
Hey. Im 28 yo guy with talent and depth, looking for some hot females to play some music with. What can I say, Id rather play with girls. There is potential financial compensation involved for your time if you are the right fit.

looking for hot female musicians (brooklyn) Hi. Looking for some girls to play some music with. Im 28 and have talent. get in touch.

A little bored, I could not resist responding. So I sent the following email:

Hot Female Musician you realize you post is a little sketchy, right? are you hot? what kind of talent do you have?

Then I got this essay of a reply:

yes of course. But I'm looking for people who aren't hung up and don't think it's that big of a deal. Cause it's not. It's just a Cl post ya know... Anyway, I am a pro musician with talent and experience looking to do something new. What is the harm in that??? It's not my fault that that there are weird dudes looking for girls on the internet. Tell me something new... I own a recording studio and have hosted and played with some pretty big bands before. I know what I want. I will find it. maybe I do have alot to offer... Maybe I am really hot and love getting girls. I am a man. I know what I can do and cant do. I am not jerk and not unattractive. I am actually a great catch. I am not afraid of offending anyone on craigslist. If you we afraid of my post and it offended you I am sorry, but don't be paranoid. If you play music and you're good then lets see if we can do anything. Aren't men and women supposed to be together and enjoy music together. What's so sketchy about that???

Because his email address included his name, I decided to do a google search, and came up with this:
I then spent about three hours decided whether or not I thought it was mean/unethical to post this all on my blog. I decided that if I didn't say his name, and didn't say anything aside from the facts, how could that be mean? Its not like he knows me and was sharing something personal that he wouldn't have responded to anyone who questioned his post. Maybe I am doing him a favor...

As you can see, the craigslist browsing wasn't so successful. The only response I got was from the one person that I knew I would play with. Next time I will try not to get so easily distracted...

A day at Sziget Festival (Back from Budapest)

I planned my trip to Budapest having no idea was the Sziget festival was. When the friend I was visiting suggested we get a day ticket I was like, "sounds cool". My expectations have never been further surpassed in my life. The biggest festival in Europe, it was like nothing I have ever experienced. Maxing out at 70,000 people, the festival had 13 stages, countless bars, lounges, restaurants, markets, dance clubs, activities (rock climbing, bungee jumping, etc) and more and took up a whole island almost 4 miles around. Honestly, it was more like a city than a festival. It was amazing. Check out the map below for an idea of just how big it is.
So I figure its just easiest if I post my pictures in chronological order and give you an idea of what my day at the festival was like. Below is a look at the schedule, in Hungarian.
Because the festival is on an island, the music on the smaller stages can go pretty late without bothering the residents of Budapest.

Early on, from a bar near the main stage. Anti-Flag was playing. The lead singer wouldn't shut up and was kind of embarrassing me as an American.We explored some of the more chill smaller stages. There is a band playing to the left... We got ambush kisses from painted men and had to wash up to hide the evidence.
MGMT!!! By far the band I was most excited about seeing at the festival. They put on a great show. The album is so great it would have been hard for me not to be into the music, but I think I can honestly say they had great energy and ensemble.

I was pleasantly surprised at how popular MGMT is in Europe. Not only did they have a great turn out (even at an early time slot) but the crowd was singing along and so very into the music. Apparently they are played on MTV Europe almost every hour. I wish I had MTV Europe. Between shows we had a beer and snack in front of the Yoga tent. The snack was good, but for the first time in my life I thought a food had too much cheese.

Flogging Molly was awesome. Its not the kind of music I generally listen to, but its such a fun concert to see. And I was so impressed with the talent of all of the individual musicians (especially the fiddle player!). As you can see from the video, even on the edges of the crowd, people were really into the show. As you can also see, people look stupid dancing when you can here the music.
Those Flogging Molly fans sure are excitable, just ask this lady.
Exploring again, we saw some people that were getting an early start at one of the dance clubs. These are probably people who also got an early start at the bars.
Alanis Morissette was so great. She is an amazing performer with a flawless voice. To my joy she played mostly old stuff, and nearly all of her hits from Jagged Little Pill. I was slightly distracted by some cute French guys behind us. Upon finding out they were 21 and 22 I became obsessed with age for the rest of the evening. Looking around, I would guess that 75% of the crowd was between 18 and 22. Which is consistent with the fact that all of my friend's friends (25+ locals) that we had been hanging out with all week were so over Sziget. While eating dinner near the Kooks show, we met some locals. They provided a drink that was sweet Hungarian wine mixed with club soda. Delicious!
They showed us the museum quarter where there was a lot of cool interactive art, including this exhibit with some much appreciated bean bags. The tents were beautiful under the lantern light. Don't worry, we didn't go inside any.
We checked out the Heaven Street Seven DJ set. Apparently he is in a Hungarian band that my friend really likes. It was a pretty unimpressive DJ set, but the music was fun to dance to.

We did some more exploring, above being an example of the late night scene between stages. With the help of a 24 year old German gentleman, we started to survey the age of the Sziget population. After a 21 year old responded to my age with "25?!!! Where are your grandchildren??!" I nearly wet my pants and had to stop the survey.

We checked out a Hungarian band Kiscsillag. They were pretty good but I was pretty... tired.
This is a pic from another night, just to show the main stage crowd at night.

Sziget was one of the best experiences of my life. Two of my favorite thing are music and meeting people. I frequently meet people at shows but because people come from all over Europe to go to Sziget, it is even easier to talk to everyone. It's a place where "Where are you from?" is the new "Nice pants" and where being from New York is exotic. I can't wait to go back!

Crystal Castles and friends play shows

I am heartbroken that I have to miss the next NYC Crystal Castles show (October 23rd) and that their 12 show tour does not include any cities within bus distance. I highly recommend buying tickets ASAP to anyone, whether you were previously a fan or not. I can't get into how great/fun the last Crystal Castles show I went to was, it would just make me too sad. I decided the next best thing would be to check out the bands Crystal Castles has recently/is going to be playing with. Click the links to listen.

Woodhands. I caught some of these guys at the last show and they were freakin awesome. Their self described "sweaty electro glory" is very accurate and the crowd was going crazy for it. They appear to by playing a Todd P party at Silent Barn, August 16th in Queens. I guess you just show up and pay at the door? Sounds fun.
Fujiya & Miyagi. These guys are playing the Oct 23rd show with Crystal Castles. Basted on the tracks I have heard, they seem more chill than the above mentioned bands, but really cool. Maybe a little TOO cool. I am going to put on my dancing shoes and check them out Oct 22nd at the Mercury lounge (tickets not available yet).
Who Made Who. This band, also playing the Oct 23rd show, has some funk to them and while still having an electronic feel, my impression is that it is mostly live instrumentation: "a house DJ [on] drums, a Bowie-loving bassist who sings too, and an avantgarde jazz guitarist". I am hoping they're not flying over from Denmark for just one show, because from the videos on their myspace page, it looks like it would be awesome to see them live.

My top Karaoke songs

If you sing one of these before I get a chance to program it in ... we've got problems.

1. Avril Lavigne - I'm with you
2. Coldplay - Fix You
3. Kelly Clarkston - Since U been gone
4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
5. The Police - Roxanne
6. Jewel - Foolish games
7. The Cranberries - Dreams

The last one I sing as a duet with V, pictured with me below.

I think in this pic she is nailing some Fiona Apple.

Review of NYC's best Karaoke places to come soon.