november 30, 2002:

with the 2003 SF asian american film fest around the corner, the clarendon hills spent a hectic sunday afternoon with eugenia and a few close friends concocting a short video for submisssion. armed with two canon GL-1 digital camcorders, a pair of cheap clip-on construction lights, a small boombox, and an assortment of props (a 40 oz of MGD, a box of

applejacks cereal, shaving cream, and a black telephone), a quick and dirty video for "in my head (the phone is dead)" was shot in a mere six hours. set in the towering entropy known as joe steal's apartment, christine played drums in the bathroom, elbert was stowed in a cluttered corner, and pepito sat on dirty dishes and joe's kitchen sink.

the inimitable miya osaki starred as the baddest girl to grace the screen since nancy spungen. her acting repertoire now includes: repeating the word "fuck" over and over with a straight face, eating applejacks soaked in beer, and smashing a phone to smithereens with her bare hands.

after wrapping up the shoot, the c-hills ran across town just in time to catch the long awaited first show of citizens here and abroad. citizens is two parts secadora, two parts dealership sum totalling an all-star band of infinite quiet-pop goodness. rilo kiley was absolutely phenomenal. the way jenny lewis rolls her eyes back and screams her heart out while banging on the keyboard is like watching some alternate pop reality where kim shattuck of the muffs joins the rentals. rk performs pop how it should be-- with fury and vulnerability. pepito thinks rainer maria are good at what they do-- namely playing loud yet shimmery indie pop. elbert, however, was underwhelmed. regardless of what the magazines say, latest swede imports and soon-to-be hipster pin-ups, sahara hotnights are neither like the donnas nor the hives, but more joan jett and the pandoras.

pepito missed seeing stereo total play live on KALX and then again at slim's, but he did get to catch old friends matt skiba and mike park play a short-notice acoustic show at the cat club in SF. matt apparently has the hots for the girl who books there, which was the sneaky impetus for the whole show. crazy. afterwards, it was 2am burritos with mike and bridgett, julie, grant, and zach in the mission.

tidbits: christine got nailed with a jaywalking ticket of $104 in downtown berkeley. ooh la la! first, chris, and now elbert has an admirer from afar. pepito is fucking shit up and killing cops in grand theft auto: vice city. the clarendon hills are busy stuffing records and hand assembling jewel cases in preparation for the twin arrival of their full length record "all day, all night, all right" and their split 7" with the skyflakes.

*** FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13th @ rooster's roadhouse, alameda, all ages. 9pm. $6. ***
this is the S.P.A.M. records showcase for this year's bEASTfest. the rocknroll adventure kids, sexy, da hornay troof, finky binks, and nebulous are playing too. come tell christine not to worry about her final exams.

*** SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14th @ cafe dunord, san francisco 21+. 8pm. $6. ***
this show is like some sort of SF indie rock valhalla: the skyflakes, eE (ex-seam), from monument to masses, and whysall lane (ex-jawbreaker, members of versus). the c-hills play first because we are the worst.

november 10, 2002:

the uc deputy fire marshall pre-emptively cancelled this year's cloyne court halloween party just two nights before it was to happen. thankfully, neither the clarendon hills nor knulla roofs were invited to play. instead, the c-hills and k-roofs embarked upon a clandestine cloyne court halloween show of their own-- in kendra's tiny bedroom on the third floor. with PA, speakers, and equipment tucked in every nook and cranny, and the remaining space crammed with kids, pepito had the balancing act of playing barefoot atop kendra's bed.

switching off two songs a piece, the clarendon hills and knulla roofs peeled the paint off the walls for ten glorious minutes before an uptight freshman started complaining about his inalienable right "to get some sleep at 12:30am on a saturday night." so after ten more minutes of broken glass, flickering lightbulbs, spilt beer, and a near-death experience of kendra nearly falling backwards out of her 3 story window, jason convinced everyone to take one piece of equipment and promenade down three floors to continue the mayhem in the bowels of the cloyne court dungeon. more beer and loud music commenced, culminating in drunken chants of "skyflakes! skyflakes! skyflakes!" resulting in a joyous and impromptu two song set.

24 hours earlier, elbert, christine, and ollie celebrated their collective birthdays at bindlestiff. armed with lots of tasty vegan (and non-vegan) food, hard booze, a karaoke machine, dance dance revolution, and mercury bonez behind the turntable, the party lasted until 4am, at which point, fingers had to be pried off the karoake mic. thanks to joe steal for the vegan cheesecake, antares for the vegan cupcakes, trish and ron for the lemongrass and blackbean tofu, mimi for the pyrotechnic birthday candle, josh for the falafel, hellen for the homemade sharpie shirts, eugenia for the pasta salad, tina for the mango salsa, and everyone else who showed up and strutted their stuff karaoke style. finally, congrats to jericho for his surprise come-from-behind victory over teresa for title of "karaoke queen" with his stunning rendition of blondie's "call me."

in other related news:

* swoon over a love song composed from afar about christine: HERE.
* admire yet another DIY guitar pedal that elbert fashioned for himself by hand: HERE.
* check out the frontpage story in the oakland tribune that reveals pepito's true name: HERE.
* watch two new live videos of the clarendon hills as documented by eugenia chan: HERE and HERE.

zounds! another show:

*** FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22th @ bindlestiff, 185 sixth street, san francisco. all ages. 8pm. $6. ***
come celebrate a "crappy thanksgiving" at bindlestiff with perennial losers: charmin, the skyflakes, knulla roofs, and the librarians. you bring the gravy, we'll supply the cranberry sauce.