Strokin'. . .

Alex and Pierre arrived in Boston at like 6 p.m. after dropping Nikolai off at the arena. Alex is visibly still in a bad mood about his attempt to reconcile with his girlfriend Millie - who, as it turns out, is now "in love" with one Mr. Nate Miller. Nate, who took a job in NYC to be with Millie referred to the situation as "really difficult, like a real Shakespearian Tragedy." We went to the bar and had a friend-support/therapy session to try to cheer him up and help him move forward. We all talked over a few shots of Jack (which was really cheap whiskey they passed off as Jack) and some pints before the show. Pierre had been unsuccessfully trying to get him out of his down-in-the-dumps move all day. When they were in the supermarket earlier in the day, Pierre had to take a piss really bad, which caused him to get a slight boner. So, he ever-so-gently caught Alex off guard and pressed it into his thigh. This only seeemed to compound his general irritability for the remainder of the day. . . .



We caught a cab to the show and arrived about ten minutes before the Strokes were to play. Pierre tried to wing it see if he could upgrade my ticket at the last minute, but he couldn't get in touch the tour director, and the VIP security was tight, so I had to use my original ticket. I had a floor seat in teh back, but I didn't feel like standing up the whole time in the back by myself, so I just took an arena seat. The new songs sounded better live than I thought they would. Of these, "Ize of the World" was clearly the best. That was one of those songs that reverberated my chair and gave me the awe-inspired chills. They played most of the first album, with the notable exclusion of "The Modern Age." Those were the obvious fan favorites, especially "New York City Cops and the closing "Take it or Leave It", but the live experience dimmed in comparison to the show I saw in Detroit in 2001. Overall, the show was great, but the acoustics from my seat were less than ideal. I am still kind of getting used to the fact that the Strokes will never be what they once were, but they are still a very good band. They are all grown-up at like 25 now. Pierre said they were all hopping on a bus right after the show to go back to NYC. . . .

After the show we went back to the bar on my corner for a couple of pints since it was still relatively early. Alex was still down-in-the-dumps. We started talking about the Strokes New Years' Party in 2001, and Pierre started laughing saying "I freaked out and had to run out," which is only partially true. A lot of people were on drugs, and I caught a glimpse into a restroom only to see a girl with blood on her hands. I said to Alex, "I need to get out here man, someone's gonna die." Pierre said "Oh it's ok, she just cut her finger. . .you should stay, man "(heh) Even though only like ten or fifteen people were left, several were starting to seem strung out, and there were two 19 year-old Italian birds that were pounding vodka earlier that were throwing themselves at Julian while appearing only semi-conscious. Anyways, I left and everyone lived. Pierre asked if that was when we met. It was not, though. I later remembered it was at Max Fish in NYC, and I took the subway home with him and Gretchen - Pierre lectured us for 45 minutes about life while intoxicated and not one sentence made any sense whatsoever. . . so all in all, good show, good time. . Cheer up Alex. It can always be much worse - force yourself to focus on the bright side of life for a while. . .