JJ & LDE at Arlene's Grocery - Aug 10 recap

I’ve waited most of the summer for August 10th to come. JJ Appleton and Lloyd Dobler Effect were playing Arlene’s - a show I can walk to, plus a fun venue!

At seven I bolted out of work and hopped on the subway to Houston. Our posse decided to meet at Nice Guy Eddie’s. I’ve been going to this place before shows in the LES ever since we discovered it before and Omnisoul show last year. They have half priced booze until 8 pm and good, cheap eats.

I met up with Maryellen and Morita and quickly start a round. It was almost near 8 pm, so once Moses joined us, our waitress just brought out about 12 bottles and glasses for our whole table before the special ended. CB was calling from the road and I was able to give the van directions in the city without questioning myself, nice!

We ordered our food and listened to Maryellen’s stories about New Orleans and Morita’s adventures with the band Honestly. Judy and Angela joined us and I barely had started eating while everyone else was nearly done. They made fun of me for talking too much, though I had lots of important things to say. See…my friends are so mean. ? jk.

I accidentally sprayed Moses with my coconut lime spray stuff, but that’s ok because he grabbed my boob….multiple times. The waitress loved us and brought us out free shots, then we departed down Houston towards Arlene’s. We approached Arlene’s, which had a huge group of people out in front, excellent!

We get in and say our hellos to everyone. So many people to see and talk to. I reintroduce LDE to my friends and sit and chat with Phil and Chris. I was the fashion consultant and hairdresser for the evening, have to have the guys looking their best. I think the venue probably thinks I’m the band whore since I went into the backstage bathroom with the guys individually at least once.

Phil and I sat down and talked about businessy stuff as best we could despite the people and loudness. CB looked dejected, but that’s ok since he is always included. I joined his table afterwards and showed the boys the mint condom someone gave me at the Coldplay show. Of course we have to read it and laugh as if we were in fifth grade. This prompted a conversation about road sex, in which CB trumped me. Touche.

Donnie and I shared a few rounds and I met Johnnie’s very extended family. Then it was time to rock! JJ played a great set, as always. And LDE shared the same packed room. So glad some of the JJ fans stayed for LDE and some of the LDE fans came early for JJ – it was a great crowd. I caught up with a lot of people and met even more faces. Thank you all for coming out on a Wednesday night ?.

Lloyd Dobler Effect played the best show I have seen them play since they headlined the 9:30 Club in March. The setlist was perfect and Evan and John manned the sound board the best yet. Their energy and presence on stage was unstoppable, I don’t think I stopped beaming once. This is what rock is all about.

Afterwards we packed up the van and met a bum. The girls were outside talking to Phil as Mike the Bum started to should out obscenities. Instead of getting feisty, we asked him to join in the pictures. Instead of just posing, he started to take off his shirt. Johnnie took this as a competition and came over and started to unbutton his pants… I’ll stop this paragraph now.

We trekked down the block to the market. Phil stole my accessories. Johnnie and Phil took scandalous pictures. We hopped in the van and drove through Manhattan. We took Corrine and Vicky to the train station, but my distracted mind directed CB to Port Authority, not Penn Station. Whoops – sorry girls! CB then yelled at us for one of us to join him in the front, but instead the rest of us conversed in the back. Sorry, but it was too much effort!

CB got me to my apartment in Hoboken without any directions and navigated through town like a champ. When I got upstairs I looked at the clock and it was almost 4 am. How in the hell did that happen on a weeknight?!