Bedford Ave

Where’s the excitement? We know Obama is about to give his historic inauguration on Tuesday, but we should be celebrating an even more important event. After 8 excruciating years, George Pig Fucker Bush will no longer be terrorizing our constitution and the world at large. Yahoo! So, where are the parties?! We’ve dug up a few, but so far it’s pretty slim pickens. On Sunday, get things started at Glasslands:

On Sunday, January 18th, 2009 a fundraising event is being held at Glasslands in Williamsburg to raise money for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project. The mission of the Memorial Project is to commemorate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by leading a project to create a memorial to honor his national and international contributions to world peace through non-violent social change. We want to use this event to remind people that without the tireless efforts of civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr., (as well as those who came before and after him) we might not able to celebrate Obama’s historic inauguration. So let’s party in honor of the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s dream!

Then, on Tuesday Galapagos is organizing a bus trip to watch the inauguration together on the National Mall. We’re told a few tickets remain.
Also, BAM is offering a free screening of the event. Tickets are first-come, first-serve.
There’s also a free screening here in Harlem.
Closer to home, Vivian Girls, Fucked Up and Pissed Jeans will be rocking a raucous blow-out at Market Hotel. This show promises to rule.
TimeOut has more listings here, but nothing that exciting.
Surely, we’re missing something, so let us know in comments.

Hot Lava, c/o Mark Iantosca
Saturday night’s show at Death By Audio was cozy and effervescent, and we’ve got the pictures to prove it. Hey Willpower, Math the Band, and Hologram, all graced the stage with hours of ridiculously catchy indie pop. But our undeniable faves were Hot Lava and Mixel Pixel.

While Brooklyn’s own Mixel Pixel injected the room with their signature brand of computer-disco dance music, they projected equally bizarre video footage and animation on stage. Meanwhile, Hot Lava (who trekked up from their hometown of Richmond, VA) were all handclaps and smiles. The band drew a dense crowd of onlookers who bopped around to their songs about computers, like ‚”Apple+Option+Fire,” as well as other favorites such as ‚”Blue Dragon,” and even a peppy cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s ‚”Mr. Blue Sky.”

Mixel Pixel
More pictures after the jump, if you please…..

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But we still recommend doing this. Gene Robinson: Gay Bishop Giving Obama Inauguration Prayer.

Normally, we find listicles pretty lazy, but the Beast’s year end wrap-up of 2008′s worst people is a gem. The list is spot-on and the writing is hilarious. Case in point, #29 Mary Matalin:

Charges: Surgically mortified face creates the impression of a barely passable ‚”earthling” mask worn by an insectoid alien…. Matalin has served in more unholy positions than Jenna Jameson. To this day, Matalin simply denies the well-documented story of Atwater’s deathbed repentance, which is not surprising considering her main skill is obscuring reality. Matalin’s main contribution to undermining the truth and bolstering closet racism this year was publishing World Net Daily plagiarizing lunatic Jerome Corsi’s Obama Nation, a collection of blatant falsehoods that didn’t come close to meriting its non-fiction categorization, in her role as ‚”Editor” of Threshold Books, a conservative imprint that inestimably diminishes Simon and Schuster’s prestige by its simple existence. Matalin called the book, riddled with easily debunked lies, ‚”a piece of scholarship,” claiming it ‚”does not set out to be a political book,” while Corsi himself said ‚”the goal is to defeat Obama.”

We were happy to see that neck-choker-wearing hack M. Night Shyamalan made the list. And here’s our #1, Hank Paulson. (Their number 6)

6. Hank Paulson
Charges: From Chief of Staff for original Mayberry Machiavelli Lee Atwater to Adviser to George W. Bush, Counselor to Dick Cheney and member of the best sales team in history, the White House Iraq Group, Matalin has served in more unholy positions than Jenna Jameson. To this day, Matalin simply denies the well-documented story of Atwater’s deathbed repentance, which is not surprising considering her main skill is obscuring reality. Matalin’s main contribution to undermining the truth and bolstering closet racism this year was publishing World Net Daily plagiarizing lunatic Jerome Corsi’s Obama Nation, a collection of blatant falsehoods that didn’t come close to meriting its non-fiction categorization, in her role as ‚”Editor” of Threshold Books, a conservative imprint that inestimably diminishes Simon and Schuster’s prestige by its simple existence. Matalin called the book, riddled with easily debunked lies, ‚”a piece of scholarship,” claiming it ‚”does not set out to be a political book,” while Corsi himself said ‚”the goal is to defeat Obama.”
Exhibit A: ‚”This is a crime and — and he did not commit a crime. He had a mis-remembrance of when it was that he heard about it, but clearly he’s not one of the guys that revealed it in the first place, which the revelation of such was not a crime.”
Sentence: Sex with James Carville.

Go read the whole damn thing. It’s hilarious so we’ll forgive them for not including Michael Bay, who should be on every most loathsome list.
A special thanks to rumproast for the hat tip….. go vote for them. They are in the running for best small blog over at the Weblog Awards.

Spotted is another new feature we’re adding to Free Williamsburg this year. It will be a neighborhood snapshot of familiar, interesting, inspiring, head turning peeps that you live amongst but may not know enough about.
You may recognize our first Spotted feature as your neighborhood shoe dealer. He’s the one with the friendly smile who’s always complimenting the shoes you walked in with and doesn’t forget a face.

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Well, give or take a day.

Meanwhile, Bush says this was his most stressful moment as president:

Asked by People magazine what moments from the last eight years he revisited most often, W. talked passionately about the pitch he threw out at the World Series in 2001: ‚”I never felt that anxious any other time during my presidency, curiously enough.”

Bedford Ave and North 8th

John Roberts is my second favorite DJ, my first being the Pantha Du Prince. They both coincidentally happen to be on the best microhouse label Dial records–although John is a transplant New Yorker living in Berlin. Tonight you get to experience him with another fellow Berliner and Berghain (this place rules) resident DJ Marcel Dettman at Public Assembly.
I know it’s cold but you won’t regret it.