Aisle 19

Aisle 19: Seasonal Aisle

Well it certainly has been an interesting past few days for me. Got kind of scammed at a bar that I rather don't enjoy in the first place by crazy chick that was looking for a meal ticket (little did she know I am so not a meal ticket, I'm more of like a snack pack at best); saw an interesting band at Coney Island (more on that in a bit); watched a delightful romp into 60's beach and monster land (some on that in another bit); had my first practice with a new improv group; and have started to commit more ukulele songs to heart. All things summery so far. I've also miss used semi-colons like there's no tomorrow in that last sentence, proving that summer is still very much alive and I refuse to use any of my education in constructing a late night post.


Alright, let us jump into the band I saw. Witches in Bikinis. Possibly one of the more amusing bands I've had the good fortune to accidentally run into. Here's the run down of the act. WiB is more of a theatrical production than an actual band. Being so it is border line cabaret dancing girls act. However the delightfully fiendish twist to all of this is that the bikini clad women with matching wigs sing of vampires, zombies, and alien surfer babes. It is almost like they tapped into my adolescent mind and brought about one of my wildest fantasies (I was an odd teenager). Now before you start to mock me let me just tell you the level of cool this was. They were performing outside in front of the Wonder Wheel, where the crowd was consisted of not just hopeless dorks like myself, but kids and families of all sorts. Little children dancing around to songs that included a letter to Dr. Frankenstein pleading him to put together a recently deceased boyfriend (died in a car crash of course), a love song about how the girl is won over with a trip to the cemetery and presents of animal skulls, and of course a song about coming face to face with witches who happen to wear bikinis ("roasting human wienies and stuffing them in crepes"). To top it off they came dangerously close to making a CHUD reference, which in my book just clinches the deal.

After enjoying a spirited round of crazy sounds I did the next perfectly acceptable thing, went to the Coney Island Museum for the latest movie showing, which coincidentally was The Beach Girls and the Monster with a short independent feature called The Coney Island Killer Craw Fish. Both odd, odd films. I feel they really got away with the "The monster looks like a man in a rubber suit" in both films. I mean that's just what it was, a man in a rubber suit killing bikini clad women, and questionable guys. High lights of the Beach Girls included the most climactic yet unresolved ending (car crash, car almost crashes, oh look a car crash, guess he's dead, BOOM THE END), an odd random puppet routine, spotting of Fidel Castro (he likes the late night beach parties it seems), anti-beard movement at its finest (why no beard love? Why?), and of course excessive crotch shots of women in bikinis dancing on the beach. Could a better film be made involving monsters, death and bikinis? Some might say yes (Psycho Beach Party or Horror at Monster Beach) but this one, man. Science proves to be evil, if not in deed than in not being accepting for the cool cats on the beach.

On the way home from the show I had my ukulele with me. I originally planned on hitting the beach after the show and kind of jamming out under the moon, but as I had no jamming partners I figured I'd cut my losses and head back to the homestead. But I was not going to just sit passively on the subway, oh no. Instead I decided to play what few songs I knew by heart on my little uke and purge myself of beach bumness. Thing was I quickly realized I only knew so many songs by heart. So the semi-longer than I'd like it to be trip home comprised of me playing Mad World, Creep (yes I can play Radio Head on a ukulele, it's actually quite happy sounding), Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth, and the Magnetic Fields' I Don't Love You Anymore. Now tell me... are any of those happy songs? No. Yet they all sound happy for some reason. I decided, when I got home, that I needed to learn some more songs, some that weren't so... upsetting. I think I've managed to accrue a larger list of songs, some happy, some not, some just odd. If you want to see the whole list I'm working on learning here it is. I so far have about a quarter of those down and have to say that the Violent Femmes were made for the ukulele. Soon I may play some for people... I still am crap at singing whilst playing but hey, I can only get better.

As for the improv group, I'm technically involved with two practice groups, one meeting on Sundays and the other on Mondays. However the Monday one I have yet to go to as all the practices have been canceled for the past two weeks. The Sunday group was fun. Played with people far more advanced than me. Realized I'm a lot better with physicality and non-speaking scenes than in scenes where I have to talk (which normally is pretty much every scene in improv land). I feel this should be taken as a sign that I should just bite the bullet and start making short silent pieces to perform places. I do have a great idea for a clown dance love story. Yes, clowns. I know I hate them. I realize this. But there's something about them that I can work with. Eh. Who knows.

Ok so finally, I mentioned in the last post about going to see my friend Margaret's gig at Pianos and Monas. Well I did, got some interesting shots at Pianos, and had a great time. So again I highly suggest people check out Monas on Tuesdays (11pm til close located on Ave. B near 14th St.). To see some of the shots go check out here. For more Witches in Bikinis click here and while your on the flickr account feel free to check out all the other crappy photos I've done. Cause I like taking photos.

So yeah. That was my weekend. Tomorrow I start work at a new joby job. Still have to deal with some personal stuff that's fun and weird. But then that's life ain't it?

Ok buckaroos, keep things in ship shape until whenever I get the urge to ramble on late at night about something.

Cheers