So on the last Monday of Sept. I finally made it back in the money at the old Ad Biz poker night. How it happened, you might ask? I probably played tighter than usual and then got lucky somewhere towards the middle, and the end, then got cocky and lost to Paul for 2nd place taking in a nice 80 beans. Yup, that’s probably what happened but who can remember these things anyway?

That Tuesday, the office got a delicious cate surprise. Special guests Garza and the elder Ryang illuminated us with their presence.

And the Cate Connection surprisingly did not stop there. Later on that night, continuing the glorious concert week with an Of Montreal evening, who was at the door but Ms Meredith S.

Slinging Wired promotional material. Crazy pequena coincidencia.

The scholastic tie ins did not stop there, it turns out good old Josh G. made it to the concert as well.

Since it was a Wired sponsored even for some tech convention, they had some cool shit, like this device that shines a special sort of light that makes your veins pop out.

Then the show began, the very androgynous Of Montreal all came out wearing these huge masks.

And pointing.

The lead singer wore this frilly shirt, while the guitarist sported a skirt.

Then a man in an 18th Century wig came out and they tied up the lead singer.

And beat him down.

Umbrellas made an appearance.

And next thing you know, he’s down to some tiny daisy dukes.

One of my favorite parts came at the costume change, when the band kept the mood going by playing the Os Mutantes classic “Ba Ba Cumba O Hey”

Quite a show indeed.

Thank you oh skirted ones.

Wait, stop the presses, is that David Byrne?

Why so it is… and to think I didn’t have the balls to take a picture with him.

But the show did not end there, either, the gold coated Jamie Lidell took the stage.

Solo. He is a one man looping machine with an incredibly soulful voice. You probably should not miss it.

Josh then somehow scored a VIP pass (he said a drunken person leaving dontated it to the cause, but we have theories of sexual favors).

And who did we find but fellow eclictite Ben in the crowd.

In the end, who looks cuter in the T Shirt? I think we all know the answer to that.

Oh what joy! Much have we blogged to try and catch up to begin the auspicious retelling of a glorious time we can only refer to as, drum roll please, CONCERT WEEK. Can you feel our excitement?

Indeed. 3 concerts just happen to span but one seven day period, and what started us off but the illustrious Flamming Lips, and the beautifully ceilinged Hammerstein Ballroom.

With it’s many balconies.

As we were waiting, the crowd was quite surprised to see the band members themselves helping to set stuff up.

But more surprising was the free dispersal of laser pointers to the entire audience, who put them to good use right away.

And thus began the show, with stage left inundated by dancing Santas.

And stage right by girls wearing alien masks.

Then the lead singer came out, and with quite an entrance. They put him in a huge inflatable ball.

And I just rolled over the entire audience.

I can only imagine how dope it was to ride a sea of adoring people.

Then the music began.

And with the first crescendo, more surprise surged from all directions.

Confetti and balloons were everywhere.

The excitement was palpable.

And it just kept going for the first 20 minutes.

Its hard to explain how fucking cool it was. The music surging, the crowd cheering the lights flashing, bouncing balloons everywhere…

The flaming lips understand that as much as we want their music, we also want spectacle, something that makes us forget that ticketmaster raped us.

The fun didn’t stop there, the lead singer had a camera on his mike which would be projected on the huge screen from time to time.

Also, different songs would be introduced by old celebrity clips from talk shows and SNLs, like John Stuart on Remote Control.

The colors surged from hot reds.

To cool blues.

Then the countdown began.

And upon hitting zero, with a mirror held aloft, we all  shot it with our lasers.

And what a moment we all witnessed.

Later, we shot one particular balloon, and that shimmered a magical moment as well.

And so the songs went on, and the confetti cannons kept shooting.

The performance was tight. They are the consummate musicians.

As well as the ballooners, some which would explode.

Into more confetti.

Then the bassist put on the big hands.

And the sun came out for the finale.

If you weren’t there, then I’m sorry. No photos or description will ever really impart to you what a fucking incredible show this was. We found ourselves honored to have made it.

Towards the end of Sept., Nicole has her birth anniversary.

And all of PS was in attendance.

And her gift.

Made her quite excited.

We hung out on the roof with a special guest.

Then took off.

Through the underground network of rat homes.

And a little Italy street fair.

To reach a very red bar.

Where the hang continued.

And the lights shown bright.

We even got to do the most hallowed of traditions.

Birthday Shots.

On the way back home, we ran into one Mr. Sean N., in a random NY sighting.

The next day, boy did we get a surprise… our dearest friend from across the pond: Rehana C. Visiting from Welsh country.

Oh happy day! Everyone rejoicing at her presence.

And quite a group it was.

With happy people.

Or maybe kids that didn’t want to get pictured.

Awwww. Cute couples.

And an unprecedented reunital of 4 Clark 1 hallmates.

We left for another bar.

And Rehaha explained the big news.

To everybody, including girls giving my camera the finger.

That she’s getting married.

To this English chap. Incredible.

Even Woomsies 2 (the bag) couldn’t believe it.

Well, thanks guys.

And thank you, Rehaha, for being so cool still. And congrats on getting hitched, buying a house, and finally making the blog.