Fuck Williamsburg

Tom and Emma and I went to trivia night at the Greenwich Treehouse on Monday night, and I'm pleased to say our fortunes improved over the last time she and I'd gone. The Comancheros (nee Brooklyn Excelsiors) finished squarely in the middle -- as opposed to dead last. I give myself props for knowing that Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar for Gone With The Wind even though I've never seen it, and for identifying the UB40 song "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You;" I do not deserve props for forgetting to double the length of the hypotenuse in the one math problem of the evening.

It was around 10:00 when trivia night got out and I was tired and drunk, but I decided to head out to Williamsburg anyway to catch the Horrors show at the Luna Lounge. And... well, I'd typed up with a total indictment of the borough and its people, making the claim that I finally understand what everyone is talking about when they say they hate the place, but, you know, it came off a bit shrill. Suffice it to say that the show was not so great, not least of all because the Horrors are not very good live -- kind of a surprise because I'd liked the stuff of theirs that I'd listened to on the 'net. The lead singer has this total lack of charisma and stage presence; he's an obvious, nervous poseur with a lousy voice, and the brief bit of stage-diving he did was a pallid gesture towards proper rock star behavior. The rest of the band was an awkward, silly embarrassment. The audience didn't help, either -- very bridge-and-tunnel, and fucking everyone close to the stage was taking pictures with annoyingly professional-looking cameras. When I finally slouched my way back to Bedford Ave., it took literally 45 minutes for the L to come.

But I hadn't learned my lesson, because last night, I went back out there with Nina and her friends Thomas and Evan to see The Fucking Champs at Studio B. It was a much better show, especially in comparison, except, I guess, for the fact that the audience could not be persuaded to dance around. Oh, and that apparently those guy are an all-instrumental act? Don't know how I missed that. They sound great, though -- and, as Nina pointed out, they are almost certainly better than you at Guitar Hero.

Watching Hoop Dreams right now and eating a veggie burger. As everyone told me at the time it came out, it's pretty amazing. It's like that episode of Star Trek where Picard gets to experience the entire life of that dude on that alien planet in the span of a few minutes. I mean, it's not quite like that, but.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to hit up the Pyramid club for the first time since high school (for a Diplobrats show where I met Archie's dealer / modeling agent) to see Direct From Hollywood Cemetery -- for the first time since they opened for Ted Leo a year and some change ago. Look at their MySpace page, NYC people, and tell me you don't want to come see them with me.