I’ve been sick pretty much since I got to NYC. Something about this town, as soon as I walk in, brings on flu-like symptoms — body aches, fevers, coughing — so it’s no surprise that I’m already feeling like shit two days into the festival. Good thing I don’t drink, otherwise I’d probably be in really serious trouble right now.

Day One of CMJ was Halloween. I really can’t imagine there being much to do on Halloween in NYC except to check out the parade. This is the first Halloween I’ve been in NYC where I didn’t go to the parade. The label I work for, Sarathan Records hosted an intimate showcase at BLVD inside Crash Mansion featuring Shane Bartell, Abra Moore, and a breathtaking performance from Two Loons For Tea. Forget that I work for the label for just a second, I’m a music fan first. If you’re a regular reader, you know that I don’t talk about my job for reasons of integrity in what I publish. But after seeing Two Loons For Tea the other night, I would lack the integrity of a true music fan if I didn’t speak up and say how moving they are to hear and see perform live. If you’re sensing a shill, then by all means — don’t listen to me, go over to Spin.Com and see what they had to say about it. No clicky-click?

Sarah Scott’s vocals snapped from soaring to breathy in one verse, and with perfectly controlled flutters a la Billie Holiday, her band was both lush and bittersweet. While guitarist Jonathan Kochmer and drummer Tom Armstrong’s emotion was clearly written on their contorted faces as they played, Scott‘s was only evident in her voice.

I tell people I have to pinch myself every day and remind myself I’m still alive when I think about the people I’m blessed to work with. Maybe it’s time the rest of the world figured out what I already know.

Afterwards, my buddy Chris and I wandered around in the East Village checking out the remainders of Halloween — and boy were there ever some doozies. We eventually ended up at Sin-E for an appearance by one of my favorites, Mickey Avalon who did not disappoint in the least. The crowd was pretty subdued for a Mickey show, however, and I would’ve liked to see more ass wiggling and craziness from the girls in the audience. Mickey shrugged it off, telling me, “It’s an industry show. You can expect it to be like that I guess.”

Leaving the show, I turned my head only to see old acquaintance and sometime friend Courtney Taylor of The Dandy Warhols. It was one of those E.J. moments that happen to me all too frequently of, “Whoa, dude how are you?” followed by a three-minute tearful reunion. Courtney and his girlfriend Locket were in town just hanging out, apparently, and had ducked in to catch Mickey’s set. When I asked him if his band was playing, he said, “Nah, that’s really not our style.” I asked him what he meant, and he echoed a sentiment that I wish more popular bands would echo with him: “I made a promise that when we got successful, we would never play a ‘new artist showcase’ like CMJ because, you know, if we’re playing then some other deserving young band doesn’t get to play. I think that’s really dick-like and unfair and I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone else.” Some friends of his from Portland are playing on Thursday at like 4pm somewhere (I am so tired I can’t remember who the band is I’m sorry), and I know he will be sitting in on drums for them. As soon as I remember, I will write it in here.

Day two went by in a blink of an eye. I was so ill by the time I got home from the night before that I slept in — almost too much I’d think. I saw a handful of things, first catching a blistering performance from Snowden at The Fader Magazine Party, followed by a taste of The Bird & The Bee at Bowery Ballroom. I began to hem and haw about going to see The Knife knowing full-well I probably wouldn’t get in. Eventually, I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t get it (though I would later run into Tom Windish who offered that he would have kindly gotten me a ticket had I asked….sigh….). After said resignation, I strung along with various friends and acquaintances to see other shows at The Living Room and Pianos.

I ran into Scott and Amrit from Stereogum in front of Cakeshop who told me that the recently-recommended-to-me Baltimore band Beach House was performing in minutes. I joked with them, “Why aren’t you guys at Cold War Kids, HUH?” But it made sense: once you’ve seen a band and supported them as vehemently as they have CWW, it was time to support another new artist worth hearing. It was very crowded and the audience, myself included, frequently stopped in their tracks slackjawed and awed at the hypnotic combination of tropical melodies and auspicious ambient music. Victoria LeGrand’s vocals and piano mixed with Alex Scally’s melodic guitar work left me cloudwalking from the venue, still trying to process the entirety of what I had heard. Beach House was far and away the best thing I have seen and heard at CMJ (other than Two Loons, of course, but I work for the label so take my sage advice however you see fit). I wandered off to a number of other showcases, including an impressive set from Scissors for Lefty at Midway, eventually ending up at an after-hours party where I witnessed the strength of 120 Days burning through my senses.

Now, I must sleep or I will surely die from exhaustion. See you tomorrow kids.

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