So I leave for New York City in exactly one week from tonight and my allergies are fraking kicking my ass BIGTIME. It’s exactly like what happened a couple of days into my New York trip last year after I went to visit Ground Zero. Hopefully I will clear up in time for this year’s trip. I hope to be more proactive in documenting my trip this year than I was last year.

I am attempting to go to No Fun Fest again this year. Last year was nerve-wracking because of a) the violence that ensued on the first night of the fest and b) the discomfort of the unfamiliar surroundings in the industrial area of Brooklyn near the Hudson. I was afraid that Tony Soprano was going to knife me in the middle of nowhere with no witnesses. This year, however, No Fun Fest has moved from The Hook in Brooklyn to the Knitting Factory in Manhattan, which makes me feel more comfortable. I am not necessarily anticipating that this year’s fest is going to be any less chaotic or testosterone-driven, but at least I feel more comfortable in Manhattan later at night. We will have to wait and see.

I have even more shows going on while I am out there than last year. Besides No Fun, there is A Silver Mt. Zion, KTL, and potentially DJ Magda, Seattle’s The Dead Science, DFA’s Hercules and Love Affair, Carl Craig, and Lisa Lampanelli. WOW! What a lineup of shows! I am going to be exhausted when I get back. However, I have Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend to unwind.

I will write when it gets closer to the departure date, May 15th at 12:50 a.m.