Had a nasty dinner at Old Devil Moon in the East Village tonight. It's a southern-style bbq joint that has tofu selections, but the tofu was just all wiggly and flavorless, covered in weird cheese and "gravy" sauces. I had a Lone Star Beer which was pretty good though. I like trying regional beers.

Before dinner I had a complimentary haircut at a new salon called Carsten in Union Square. They are affiliated with Aveda, and at the Aveda store on 6th Ave. they were handing out these cards for free haircuts so I thought why the hell not so I took one. I was a little nervous I'd end up looking like a q-tip, but luckily the woman did a good job. Although, I did notice a few weird things:

1)My hairdresser did not keep her combs in one of those vessels filled with "barbacide".

2)Her neice was tugging at her shirt and getting in the way while she was cutting my hair, like it was daycare or something.

3)The smock they gave me didn't cover my arms, so by the end of the haircut I looked like I was morphing into the wolfman.

4)She asked me if I was "single, married, divorced or what?"

But back to dinner. So as we're waiting for our food to come out they start playing the Pixies. Or we thought it was the Pixies. It was live and Kim Deal was signing and it sounded really good. I started waxing nostalgic about seeing the Pixies at the Orpheum in Boston when I was in high school. But about four songs later when we realized Kim Deal was still singing, we were like, holy crap, this is the Breeders! I didn't think I liked the Breeders, but they sure sounded good live. The guitar reminded me of Bauhaus. It made me think of some of the best shows I'd ever seen:


1)The Pixies at the Orpheum in Boston. I'm just so glad I saw them. We were in the balcony and you couldn't stand up because every time you did someone would shine a flashlight in your face until you sat down. My Dad is Dead opened, and they were awesome.

2)Morrissey at Brixton Academy in London. Oh my god Kerry and I nearly died at this show. There was a mad crush to the front of the stage when the doors opened and we got swept along into a sea of crazed fans. Our arms got stuck in the air, our feet could barely touch the ground, it was seriously a mob scene. We spent the first two songs trying to fight our way to the back. We were screaming "let us out!" and somebody said "you can't get out!" Although I do remember for a brief moment I was barely a foot away from him. Ahhh...

3)Fugazi at the Channel in Boston. My introduction to "stage-diving;"I got a Doc Martin to the head and was seeing stars for about 15 minutes.

4)Flying Saucer Attack at the first Terrastock. I just coulnd't believe I was seeing him. It was the first time he played in the US (and he'll probably never play live again). He was playing with Jim O'Rourke who told this horrible, long-winded joke about a clown while somebody changed a guitar string. The joke kept on going even after the guitar string had been changed and people were getting really antsy, even Dave Pearce. It was so annoying.

5)Yo La Tengo at a gay bar in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were just really, really good that night. Right after the show we drove all the way back to Yarmouth (2 hours I think) to get the ferry back to the US in the morning; it was the thickest, densest fog I'd ever seen in my life and I was scared witless, as we'd be driving along and all of a sudden there would be a huge pair of truck headlights coming at us, seemingly out of nowhere. Plus a lot of cars pulled off to the side of the road made it even more eerie.

6)White Stripes at Mercury Lounge in NYC. Before they were fucking huge. I'll never get that close to them again; I doubt anybody will now that they open for the Rolling Stones, or whoever. They are one band that deserves all the praise they get; I hadn't felt so energized or so moved by music in a such a long time before that show (Well, that's not totally true: The Mooney Suzuki got me pretty riled up, but with each passing show they got worse and worse until I just stopped going. I'm glad I saw the WS one perfect time and that's the memory I'll have forever).

And how can I leave out New Order, PIL and Sugarcubes at Great Woods in Mansfield MA., my first show ever? That holds a special place in my heart. It stands alone. Man, there are just too many shows to mention...