Friday night my friend Erika invited me over to dinner at her warm and cozy home in the Excelsior which she shares with her lovely husband and their animals. Even though Erika and I have been friends since junior high, it had been five years since the last time we'd seen each other, so we had a lot of catching up to do. She and I were candy stripers at St. Joseph's Hospital in Orange County thoughout high school, and we both worked at Disneyland during our college summers. Then there were the glorious weekends in London while we were living in England at the same time. Gothing out for the Rocky Horror Picture Show, getting turned away at Heaven's door because they didn't think we were lesbians, double-fisting Moscow Mules on the Tube, wreaking havoc in Madame Tussaud's, flirting with the Britpop aristocracy — we were determined to get up to no good, and sometimes we succeeded.

That year I spent abroad was also the year I first heard Pulp, Belle and Sebastian, and (most importantly for the purposes of this column) Underworld. Once Second Toughest in the Infants came out it rarely left my CD player, and I can probably put a lot of blame on Underworld for my current love of all things electronica. I recently discovered that the band's current members, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, were the ones who formed Freur back in the days of New Wave. It all makes sense now. Of course the men who laid me flat with "Doot-Doot" can still do it to me with "Cowgirl" and "Confusion the Waitress." Underworld are also really great live, which is a high compliment for an electronic act. I'd never been precisely sober when I'd seen them play before, but last night when they came to the Warfield I had to think about making it to work today. Therefore I was consuming nothing more exciting than bottled water, and I relaxed in the balcony with a great view of all the knob-twiddling and goofy dancing. I was compelled to jump up and down for "Born Slippy" when the time came, of course.

she said you can do anything you want. she said you can be with anyone.
she said you can go anywhere you want she said.
she said you can say anything you need. she said you can be anywhere you feel. she said just pick up the phone.
(confusion the waitress.)
she said dont go dark on me again. she said.
she said the silence in the silence i see you my confidence she said.
she said loophole how are you. she said oh no once again the superstar.
she said he loves you but can you name me his children.
she said oh the god you lost again. she said the colour of your boyfriend.
she said get out of bed. answer the phone.
she said in the belly of st pauls again. she said goodyear rubber man.
she said i'm smiling with the sun. she said two years is a small price.
she said loophole. how are you. she said once again the superstar.
she said look at the size of it. she said.
she said you can do anything you want.
she said you can be with anyone.
she said you can go anywhere you want she said.
she said you can say anything you need.
she said you can be anywhere you feel.
she said just pick up the phone.

The Pit of Despair
Underworld