andy and i saw pinback on tuesday. they were giving out a few free tickets to each show via email, so we got in free. aw, yeah. the show was good, although about the same as the other two i've seen. but the newer songs were thoroughly enjoyable. one song, "microtonic wave", is on the offcell EP which i've been listening to and which has this funk sort of waah waah guitar which is a new sound for them. another one, which people refer to as "fortress" sounded to me like a new wave song a la pinback at first, but it's an original apparently. not sure what the name of the third one is yet, but it's as catchy as anything they've written. looking forward to the album. been to some restaurants for the 2nd or 3rd time lately. winnie and i have talked about how important it is for a restaurant to be not only good but consistent as well. so here's the skinny: via matta: seemed to have more vegetarian stuff than last time i went. i had the minestra which was chockful of nice veggies in a savory but understated broth. i also had the crispy eggplant again, and though it wasn't quite as smooth as before it was still quite good, and the tomatoes were nice and fresh. both appetizers were quite big and overall very good. oh, and the olive oil they have is nice and grassy. heh. andy had the arugula salad and the homemade ravioli. i'm probably likely to go back here sooner than most others. hamersley's: got the mushroom sandwich again, which was again quite excellent. nice and garlicky. also had this baked penne in a cream sauce which was good although a little plain. the major drawback w/ that dish was that it was way too hot temperature-wise. i had to wait at least five minutes before i could eat it w/ out scalding my tongue. troquet: everyone i went with got the beet salad. i think i might have had this before, and it was quite good. big and straightforward. i'd had the mushroom cavatelli about two years ago and it was definitely not so good this time around. andy had the game pigeon which he said was only about average. all in all the place is a bit overpriced.