birthday + bowling + byob

yesterday was my birthday.... i hit the difficult two-six.

to celebrate, i wrangled up some close friends for an evening of traditional baltimore duckpin bowling and byob.

hours of semi-wholesome fun, followed by the requisite drunk visit to Towson diner.


we found a magical hat


i wore my new LAMB dress


tiff and whit had a good time

Everyone Knows That Crime Pays, and Everybody Does It

Last Friday night, Ben, Tiff and I went up to the Talking Head to see Snakes Say Hisss and Bear Hands.

It was a pretty insane night - so I'll just leave it at that, and get on with the pictures.


Jamie from Snakes say Hisss


Dylan from Bear Hands

If you're not familiar with these bands yet, I highly recommend that you become familiar.

"Order Something Kosher.... Like Pepperoni"

Saturday night, we (me, tiff, ben, matt, mike, cory) went down to DC for Tiff's birthday.
We got a cheap hotel room for the night and partied at DC9, where Simon Phoenix, Cullen Stalin, Stereo Faith and LowBeezy (from Philly) were spinning.

It was an awesome night - drinking, dancing, drunk pizza ordering, slumber partying.

And I got some excellent pictures as well:





more pictures on facebook & flickr

Off to a Great Start

So far, 2011 has been a very fun year, thanks in no small part to the genius of TaxLo.

New Year's Eve: TaxLo at Ottobar




Saturday, January 8th: Simon's Phoenix's Birthday at Golden West





For more pictures, check out my facebook and/or flickr.

I love dance parties, don't you?

rebel rebel

ben got me an awesome xmas gift: a canon eos rebel T2i!

check out my best images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariellealexis

a few samples:


indeed.


birds of a feather, fells point, baltimore, MD

Playlist #10: My Girls.

Mad respect for the musicians who don't need a single Y chromosome. Image is the Dum Dum Girls playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion this past summer.




who are you favorite female musicians? do you listen to more male or female musicians? or neither?

Mine by Taylor Swift

Margaret Vs. Pauline by Neko Case

Bad Romance by Lady GaGa

Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine

Stand Still, Look Pretty by The Wreckers

Walking With A Ghost by Tegan & Sara

Sidedish Friend by Rachael Yamagata

Get Gone by Fiona Apple

China by Tori Amos

It Only Takes One Night by Dum Dum Girls

Much Farther To Go by Rosie Thomas

Don't Leave My Mind by Azure Ray

Actor Out of Work by St. Vincent

Handle With Care by Jenny Lewis/Watson Twins

What It Feels Like For A Girl by Madonna

The worlds collide, but all that we want is a Shady Lane (or a Merriweather Post Pavillion)

Saturday was the annual Virgin Mobile FreeFest... without boring you to absolute death with details, let's skip straight to the highlights (and lowlights):

Best overall set: LCD Soundsystem



with the awesome dance-party energy, seizure-ific light show and enormous disco ball, LCD easily had the strongest set of the night. Despite being absolutely exhausted, I was completely compelled to dance.

Biggest surprise: Matt & Kim



Ben & I have seen Matt & Kim twice before, in the tiny club room at Sonar and Ottobar. we had pretty low expectations considering that the pavillion at MPP is about 1000x larger. plus they're all mainstream (read:lame) now, right?

WRONG. these kids got a new-found swagger. they were crowd surfing, climbing on their instruments, starting sing-alongs to old school tunes.... it was an all-around good time. plus there were balloons involved. who doesn't like balloons? i was smiling and dancing through the whole set.

Reason I'm most glad I went to VFest: Pavement



Pavement are icons of indie music. their influence is obvious in many new albums/artists, and their albums have reached truly classic status. AND, they've been broken up for the last 10+/- years, so i was beyond ecstatic that they were re-united and touring. a chance to see these guys is pretty fucking special. they were really great and made me an even bigger fan. there probably won't be too many more opportunities to see them live in the future.

Biggest disappointment: the crowd at Neon Indian



Let me start by saying that this is NOT Neon Indian's fault. they were great, just like when i saw them at Sonar. but the crowd in the dance forest SUCKED. it was a bunch of douchey-looking bros standing around, smoking cigarettes. i tried dancing through the crowd and getting them pumped, but i'm pretty sure i just made an ass of myself. apparently everyone at VFest was too cool to dance to Neon Indian.

Dear Neon Indian,
I swear that not all marylanders are that fucking lame. We had a good time at Sonar, didn't we?
Love,
ML






All in all, a pretty successful day of live music.

One Night in Canton (Ohio)

Over the weekend, Ben & I drove out to Canton, Ohio for my co-worker Andrea's wedding. The 6 hour drives (Saturday + Sunday) could have been worse - the Pennsylvania mountains out that way are just gorgeous. It was a really short weekend but so worth it. It was great to be there for the wedding and the reception was realllllly fun. Baltimore kept the party going 'til 2am. We shut that place down.


Ben & I


All the UA girls!

One Huge, Expensive Show; One Tiny, Free Show

This was a very musical few days!

After Gaga on Tuesday, Ben and I went with our friends Mike and Whitney to see the Dum Dum Girls, Beach House and Vampire Weekend at Merriweather Post Pavillion on Saturday.

It was a really fun show. My second time seeing DDG and BH, my first seeing VW. The energy was way up and the crows was really into it. Lot of dancing in our seats of course!

I'll be the first to admit that Vampy Weeks is not the greatest live band ever - but - it was definitely worth it to see them since the two openers are among my recent favorites. There are definitely people who are MUCH biggers fans of Vampire Weekend than myself.

Pictures!


Dum Dum Girls

Beach House (lots of Victoria LeGrand hair swooping of course)


Vampire Weekend


Love those chandeliers.

Last night, Ben and I went over to the SoundGarden in Fell's (amazing indie music/movie shop) to see Ra Ra Riot for a live in-store. SO. GOOD.


Tiny widdle stage


I got a pic with Wes of RRR and Discovery.

And the whole band signed my LP...that's a framer.

Little Monsters, You Were Born This Way

Last night Tiff and I went to the very long-awaited Lady Gaga Monster Ball concert in DC! Of course it was absolutely incredible - but in my mind, Gaga can do no wrong!

Making Gaga-inspired outfits was very neccessary - when you go Gaga, you go hard. It took a lot of crafting + sewing but we looked FUCKING AWESOME, in my humble opinion.


We are SO ferosh.


My inspiration: Lady Gaga + Clark Kent


Flaming piano was badass, and Gaga was ROCKING the ballads. Her voice was definitely on point last night.


The outfit was incredible. It was motorized, and would GROW throughout the song.
Reminded me a lot of Hussein Chalayan's Spring 2007 transforming dresses collection

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

Hilton Head was excellent!

Lots of beach time + lazy reading + pool swimming + eating + family time.

With some fabulous bonuses: a fantastic mani-pedi at Faces, Pirate themed mini-golf, massage at the Westin Heavenly spa, indulgent shopping splurges at Porcupine.

I definitely did not want to leave, especially with an 11 hour drive back on Sunday. But we survived. And its nice to be back home in Charm City.


Ben's mom took this on her iPhone... pretty good quality for a cell phone camera, eh?


As usual, Ben successfully ruined every picture that I took of him.

Did you go on any vacations this summer?

Semi-Related: do you have any good book recommendations?
I ask because I read two very good books while I was in HHI, and would like to continue that streak ;)

• War by Sebastian Junger
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
  

Playlist #5: Q1 + Q2 2010 Shows

Key tracks from bands I've seen live in the first half of 2010. Image is the only reasonably focused picture I took at the Neon Indian show.

GO SEE LIVE MUSIC.

http://8tracks.com/mlalexis/q1-+-q2-2010-shows

What are some live shows you've been to recently?

What are some of your favorite bands to see live?

What are some of your favorite venues for live music?

I Will Come Back by Holy Ghost! [06/18/10 at Sonar]

Deadbeat Summer by Neon Indian [06/13/10 at Sonar]

Autonomy by the Buzzcocks [05/12/10 at Ottobar]

O.N.E. by Yeasayer [05/06/10 at Ottobar]

Fantasy by the XX [04/23/10 at Sonar]

My Propeller by Arctic Monkeys [04/07/10 at Ram's Head Live]

Shake It Out by Manchester Orchestra [04/05/10 at the Recher Theatre]

Lauren Marie by Girls [03/30/10 at the Recher Theatre]

Sleepyhead by Passion Pit [03/29/10 at Penn State York]

Yalira by The Very Best [03/14/10 at Sonar]

Farts & Craps

BIG NEWS:

Tiff and Tricia have officially moved to Charm City!

This is GREAT. Pretty much the icing on my Baltimore-life cake.

One of the best things is that Tiff and I can shop at fabric and craft stores together & then take those purchases home for Arts and Crafts evenings. LOVE.

I finally feel some of my creativity coming back! My current craft obsession: hair accessories.

My creations thus far:










Apparently my preppy side (that I was unaware I had) has been coming out in full-force.

You like? Dislike?
Pretty? Ugly?
Feeling crafty yourself? What have you been crafting lately?

We Used to Wait

On Friday night, Ben and I went down to Merriweather Post Pavillion to see Arcade Fire (Spoon opened).

Arcade Fire totally blew me away. I had pretty high expectations, and I really love all 3 of their albums. And the newest album - which came out on Tuesday and has been on repeat ever since - is EXCELLENT. The live show did not disappoint. Such a great live band, awesome energy.

One of things that I was especially impressed with was how Arcade Fire managed to make such an enormous venue still feel intimate. As someone who almost always goes to tiny shows, I was a little concerned with getting lost in the massive crowd. But I hardly noticed the gigantic venue, I was so entranced with the band.

And that's definitely a sign of a great show.

Spoon was pretty good, especially considering how little the crowd was paying attention to them. At a pavilion like Merriweather, there's lost of people wandering around the grounds/hanging on the lawn, so it can be very distracting. But I digress..

On to the photos:







p.s. beers were $8 at MPP. that's highway robbery! tailgating highly recommended.

Only Minor Emotional Damage

This past weekend, Ben & I survived my family reunion shockingly well. The drives there and back really sucked, but the actual reunion had it's moments.

My cousins are awesome and their kids are ridiculously cute.


Beautiful Anna


Gorgeous Julia


& Ben was looking pretty freaking cute too.

Artsy-Fartsy-Scape 2010

Ben & I went up to Artscape today - "America's largest free arts festival" - which ALWAYS is over the hottest damn weekend of the summer.

There's a mix of very cool installations, greasy fair food, and craft-fair tchotchkes.

Some of my favorites:

• Bowerbox Press (kind of obsessed)

• Marissa D. Molinaro

Ben purchased a beer glass made from a Rouge Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout bottle

• MICA Masters in Community Arts Thesis Exhibition

we also enjoyed this:



more pictures on facebook.

Is It Still a Picnic If It's Indoors?

My very lovely friend Jehan invited Ben & I to join himself and his friends to a picnic at Boordy Vineyards, just outside the city. It's nice to be able to escape to the country for an afternoon, especially when it's only half an hour away.



The rain did not cooperate, but it was still romantic.



For about 2 seconds.

America the Beautiful, and Drunk

Over the weekend, Ben and I went up to Delaware to visit our friends Sarah and Scott, who hosted an excellent Independence Day shindig.

Some highlights:


Scott made some delish kabobs.


We set off some roman candles in the parking lot.



The fountain was pretty.

UDFRW2010

Last weekend was the second annual University of Delaware Forum & Reunion Weekend. It's basically just a huge drinkfest and excellent excuse to get all your old college buddies together and pretend to be back in undergrad. I loved every minute of it.







You definitely do not want to miss this next year.