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Apparently yesterday was a very stressful start of the week for a number of you and I had a harder time than I expected finding someone to come along to Mercury with me. In the end I recruited my friend A with the added complication that she has a friend visiting who she wanted to bring along. So I go down to Mercury Lounge to find out if I can get a third ticket. The glum troll at the door tells me there are no “tickets” and I cannot have my hand stamped and return; they have a “no reentry policy.” She says there “might be” tickets still available at 10:00 when Nous Non Plus comes on. I pout. I cajole. I reason with the troll, all to no avail.

A+1 arrives and we wander around the LES to find a place to eat. We end up at ‘inoteca, which is owned by the same people who own ‘ino in the W.Village. I’m going to state for the record that I vastly prefer ‘ino; it’s a better value, more creative, and has more of a neighborhood feel.

At any rate, we munched on over-priced salads and panini and then marched back to Mercury to confront the troll once again. Now she tells me she won’t know if she has an extra ticket “until the last band [Nous Non Plus] hits the stage, which of course totally blows because it means I can’t see any of the opening acts and have an hour to kill. I do a bit more pouting and then the three of us walk down to Pianos to have a few drinks.

Pianos has very positive connotations for me; I saw some of my first concerts in NYC there and I feel like the atmosphere is generally cheerful.  We were approached by this very random group of guys, one of whom decided to tell each of us what profession we were suited for. I am apparently destined to be a professional badass. If anyone has advice on how to pursue that goal do let me know!

Finally we end up being given the privelege of purchasing a third ticket and find our way into the back of Mercury to see Nous Non Plus. Luckily they were really awesome and totally worth the nonsense, though I will probably avoid that venue in the future. They were bouncy and faux french and one of the girls was wearing a bodysuit and the other had on a top hat and opera gloves and I was altogether charmed. Here are two (sadly not very clear) pictures:

Nous Non Plus

Nous Non Plus

Nous Non Plus

Nous Non Plus

Here’s the music video for their first single from their new album, Menagerie:

I think it’s awesome that Americans are singing in French, such a cool parallel with all the French musicians singing in English. I’ll be keeping tabs on them!