Birthday Girl

I was told by my good friend Dan (Obi) that I tend to extend my birthday celebrations. I just love birthdays, whether they are mine, or yours, or a kid I meet at a bar. There's no reason not to celebrate. Last year I made it all of Memorial Day weekend into the Tuesday that my birthday actually was. This year, I decided to coincide it with the release of the magazine. What can I say, this year was no different.

What a night. I had this nervous pit in my stomach all day, so concerned that everything wasn't going to go okay. I had a dream the night before that Tribeca had no roof and it started raining and all the magazines were ruined. So I naturally had reason to be nervous.

In the end, I had enough alcohol in me and everything went great. Dave Lear and This Radiant Boy warmed up the slowly growing crowd. I heard great feedback on the magazine (including Matt mentioning the "f" in Knitting Factory was not capitalized, typical). It made me a tad bit uncomfortable to see people actually reading the magazine. Is that weird?

Rockets & Cars brought a huge following and got the crowd dancing (okay, mostly me). I swore to myself that I wouldn't dance like a fool this time, but I couldn't help it. Cranberry Vodkas + 21st Birthday + Great Music = Rachael dancing. And I really have no rhythm.

The GoStation hit the stage last, but certainly not least. Liz and I were at our prime, singing our hearts out. Thanks to the boys who gave me a very special rendition of Happy Birthday. It was pretty damn cool.

Thanks to Eddie at Tribeca for helping me plan the whole event and encouraging my alcohol intake.

Thanks to the awesome band The Shapes (who are also in Issue Six) for coming out to celebrate and bringing a bunch of their friends.

Thanks to Ari and Josh of The Upwelling for coming out and falling victim to my impromptu interrogation. Luckily I got my CD first. These guys should have wrote me off a looong time ago, but fortunately for me, they haven't yet.

And finally, thanks to all the bands, The U (Blaire, here is your shout-out), my city kids, my mom (!), my staff, and EVERYONE who came out last night. It was a ball.

I'll post pictures soon, once I find my camera.

In completely unrelated news, I'm super excited for this movie and this one as well.

Great shows coming up in my last three weeks before I head overseas. I can't wait to show those scary bouncers at Mercury and Bowery my real ID.

Coming Up:

6.6 - The Futureheads @ Webster

6.8 - The Upwelling @ Southpaw

6. 9 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah @ The Delancey

6.10 - Maximo Park @ Tonic

6.11 - Country Club @ Mercury

6.14 - Seth Kallen @ Rockwood Music Hall

6.15 - Bloc Party @ Webster

6.16 - The English Department @ Rare

6.20 - The Shapes @ Mercury

6.22 - The Upwelling @ Mercury

Enjoy your weekend! I need a nap...