I love lists way too much. Time magazine was right in saying you number a list and people will read any pointless list: that's me!! I saw VH1's Top 40 Videos of 2007 a few weeks back and I thought it'd be a good starting point for my end of year diatribe on 2007 music:
Sorry, Fergie, I loves ya and all but VH1 erred completely with your having the #1 video of 2007. Maybe it's because I didn't like that song, or many ballads, but you have done much better. Here's the vids I liked on the list:
#38 Regina Spektor - Fidelity
I think this is one of the best vids and yet it only scored #38! Feh! The song is incredible and the vid shows the transition from the song's tentativeness in love to the full burst of emotion as conveyed by colored powder.
#30 Linkin Park - What I've Done
I'm a total sucker for vids with a social message. The song is pretty much standard Linkin Park (I confess to liking their singles so it's not a bad thing) but the montage of violence and cruelty and stupidity of humanity grabbed me.
#28 Feist - 1234
Best vid of 2007 I think! Maybe I am easily distracted by a variety of colors (see Regina's vid above) so that could be it! Still <3 skipping <3
#27 Nickelback - Rockstar
This Top 40 list is making me sound like a sucker, so it must be true! I confess to liking Nickelback's singles! Well, their recent ones, not sure about their earlier ones. This one has celebrities and common folk alike singing about their wanting to be a rockstar. That's pretty much it. I fall into the camp that wants to sing along to this dreck :D
#23 Finger Eleven - Paralyzer
I had never heard of these guys, but this is one pretty awesome video. Dancers clad in black writhing and sliding and jolting to the music.
#20 Foo Fighters - The Pretender
I haven't paid much attention to the Foo Fighters, I maybe know one other vid off the top of my head but not their songs. This video really caught my eye. It is a standoff between Dave Grohl singing his lungs out and a riot squad. The energy of the music and the singing and the lyrics build into the kind of intense feeling I get from rock music sometimes, the feeling of invicibility and wanting to take on an army with a song. He does that just here. Damn, I love videos.
#15 Gwen Stefani - Sweet Escape
I believe the album was 2006 but the vid was 2007. The vid isn't that great, but the song is such bubblegum pop my love runneth over! :)
#9 Nickelback - If Everyone Cared
Another socially conscious montage/video lesson that captivated me. A sort of bookend to Linkin Park's video, a testament to those willing to step forward, a saving grace for humankind.
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I suppose I should list my fav albums of 2007 but I'm running out of time today, so I'll list my fav new releases I bought this year and a few honorable mentions of albums I bought this year that came out in other years:
2007 in the order I bought them:
The Knife - Silent Shout
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living With the Living
Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion
Tim Armstrong - Poet's Life
Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta
M.I.A. - Kala
Avett Brothers - Emotionalism
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55
The Feeling - Twelve Stops and Home
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Previously released:
Lordi - The Arockalypse
Blitz - Voice of a Generation
Last Resort - Violence In Our Minds
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Okay, last thing. I was watching BET's Top 25 Best Dancers and I was extolling upon Chris Brown's virtues to my sister who hadn't heard of him. He's amazing! (And totally cute!) Here is his awesome MTV 2007 Award performance after which Justin Timberlake commented Damn, I feel old! Hee! Happy New Year's!!
e hënë, 31 dhjetor 2007
e enjte, 20 dhjetor 2007
Back In Black
The other day I was listening to the album "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica. I'm slowly building up my Metallica CD collection, as most of my knowledge of them comes from my brother being a metalhead in his high school years when I was in elementary. I remember him making me and my sister sit down and watch a Metallica documentary with him, which was pretty cool! They were in the studio recording their self-titled album more popularly known as "The Black Album." I think the documentary was the one called A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica.
So this song comes up:
And I remember it instantly. It's so beautiful.
Before I get to the point of this post, I want to add some random metal moments in my life:
Moral of the stories kids: listening to metal gives you weird looks.
Anyway, I was so taken by "Fade To Black" I began to imagine how I could include it on a comp. Make one with all song titles mentioning "black" of course! These immediately sprang to mind:
Metallica - Fade To Black
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration or Dressed In Black
Los Bravos - Black Is Black
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
the Rolling Stones - Paint It, Black
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
AC/DC - Back In Black
Janet Jackson - Black Cat
There's others that came to mind like Michael Jackson's Black or White but I wouldn't want that on my comp! :P What other songs could I include if I decide to go through with this? Ideas please!
So this song comes up:
And I remember it instantly. It's so beautiful.
Before I get to the point of this post, I want to add some random metal moments in my life:
- In a junior high English class, the teacher brings up metal, to pretty much everyone's disgust. Except this one kid in the back of the class (long haired, thick glasses, very quiet) named Alex says he likes metal. In my memory everyone in the class turns around to stare at him, like he sprouted an extra head. He ends up being the only kid in our entire school to pass the entrance exam to get into Hunter College for high school. Smart Alex :)
- In high school, I remember being in a stairwell with a friend and telling her I liked metal. I'd already been listening to punk at this point, but you know, metal is just too much for people (punk was popularized by Green Day anyhow). She did her patented raised one-eyebrow. Be afraid, be very afraid \m/
- I saw Metallica at Lollapalooza when they headlined. I don't remember seeing them, I was near the back and to the side, but holy hell, did i sing along like a crazed maniac. At one point I must've let out some unhuman growl, cuz this guy in front of me turns around and his expression is clearly What was that!? Only concert I've ever completely lost my voice. I was making squeaking sounds on the bus and subway trying to talk.
Moral of the stories kids: listening to metal gives you weird looks.
Anyway, I was so taken by "Fade To Black" I began to imagine how I could include it on a comp. Make one with all song titles mentioning "black" of course! These immediately sprang to mind:
Metallica - Fade To Black
Depeche Mode - Black Celebration or Dressed In Black
Los Bravos - Black Is Black
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
the Rolling Stones - Paint It, Black
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
AC/DC - Back In Black
Janet Jackson - Black Cat
There's others that came to mind like Michael Jackson's Black or White but I wouldn't want that on my comp! :P What other songs could I include if I decide to go through with this? Ideas please!
e mërkurë, 31 tetor 2007
My Autumn 2007 Mix!
First, an apology: I trimmed the second song by 30-40 seconds but the burning program refused to acknowledge this and thus replaced it with silence. I have made four copies at this point. I may or may not be able to fix it for future ones. Stupid VBR. Anyway...
My Autumn 2007 mix! Tada! Some information:
As I started this mix, I envisioned a relaxing, soothing mix. One night I was working on it til late and it tried to become all spooky (which would be fine for a Halloween mix but I was aiming for fall!!!) and almost derailed with an opera song. Ah, but I saved it. Here it goes:
01. Rocky Balboa intro
I'd actually read this on a forum thread about great movie speeches. And it is. I later saw it on DVD and it was still great. I found it on youtube, ripped it and here it is. Not only is it a great message, but I particularly liked the part where he says "The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows" as it is a direct counterpoint to Leslie Gore's Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows song on my Spring 2007 mix. I thought it was a good connection :) Rocky rules!
02. Gonna Fly Now (Rocky Theme) composed by Bill Conti
Here is my problem song. It goes great with the previous quote. It's a bit bombastic and overwhelming and gets you pumped. It's jogging. It's fantastic. Except that I trimmed the last 30-40 seconds. But I already went over this. The second problem was that on my track listing I wrote it down as "Gotta" instead of "Gonna." Eesh. But it's smooth sailing from here, folks!
03. The Shape by Inspecter 7
I toyed with having this be the beginning song for a while. It starts off unsettling. The Halloween movie theme. It slowly builds. The horns. It becomes menacing. Skoochie on sax summons demons. Guiseppe does a great creepy laugh. It's also great to dance to! How'd they do that?!
04. Zombie by the Cranberries
My last pick for spookiness. Not only in title, but the way Dolores O'Riordan sings, about violence and her war-torn country. The wail of her voice, the wall of guitars behind her. It's chilling.
05. The Songs That We Sing by Charlotte Gainsbourg
Ah, another Gainsbourg! Daughter of Serge, she is also an actress, who I saw in The Science of Sleep were she was the most charming thing ever. Her voice is dreamy. I almost put another song of hers on, but it was half spoken word. The line that sticks out for me is: "And these songs that I sing / Do they mean anything? / To the people I'm singing them to / People like you"
06. 1, 2, 3, 4 by Feist
This is a song that may be everywhere, but only if you pay attention to music blogs, sites and watch iPod commercials and assorted other TV spots. But I know a lot of people don't do all that. So I included it. It carries the same feeling as the first song, but more hopeful, more optimistic. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the music video.
07. Volver by Estrella Morente
[Spanish] Another connection to my previous mix. The intro movie quote was taken from Pedro Almodóvar's Volver. Here is the song that is the heart of the story. When this woman sings "tengo miedo de la noche" I feel that fear of the dark as well. I feel the truth she says when she calls twenty years nothing. Volver means to return.
08. Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
[Portuguese] Ahh the sweet sounds of samba/bossa nova. "Mas Que Nada" translates literally as "More Than Nothing" by which they mean "More Than Anything".
09. No One Does It Like You by Dept. of Eagles
My sis alerted me to this sweet, floating song. I thought it fit quite nicely into the mood.
10. Hoppípolla by Sigur Rós
[Icelandic] I don't know what the words to most Sigur Rós songs, but that is almost an asset, an invitation for the mind to imagine and create the landscapes of the movie of life. I love it.
11. Montaña by the Gipsy Kings
[Spanish] Another song about mountains (re: the last song on my spring mix). The beginning lyrics say "Yo voy caminando / a la montaña donde naci" = "I go walking / To the mountain where I was born." The singing style of cante jondo, that flamenco passionate style, always gets me!
12. Go To Sleep by the Avett Brothers
I was tipped off to the this group by a message board whose members not only have great music taste but the descriptions and stories that make them music lovers. The Avett Brothers are great musicians and this is one sweet nugget of a song.
13. Seul by Jacques Brel
[French] I scoured my Jacques Brel song collection, but none seemed quite right til I ran across this video (with handy translation!) which is just Jacques (hee) on his guitar, singing about loneliness and the world. Isn't he faboo?!
14. Waiting For the Night by Depeche Mode
Once, driving from far away Long Island, down the highway which had lightpoles far, far apart, the only light I could see was the few stars shining in the darkness. This song was playing. They complemented each other so perfectly, that the song could--should! have gone on for the full hour of the trip. If a twinkling lone star was made into a song, this would be it. If a single drop of rain was made into a song, this is it. That's how it felt. It's quiet and pensive, it's aprehensive and hesitant and it could turn ominous or it could lead to sunrise. I superheart Depeche Mode!
My Autumn 2007 mix! Tada! Some information:
As I started this mix, I envisioned a relaxing, soothing mix. One night I was working on it til late and it tried to become all spooky (which would be fine for a Halloween mix but I was aiming for fall!!!) and almost derailed with an opera song. Ah, but I saved it. Here it goes:
01. Rocky Balboa intro
I'd actually read this on a forum thread about great movie speeches. And it is. I later saw it on DVD and it was still great. I found it on youtube, ripped it and here it is. Not only is it a great message, but I particularly liked the part where he says "The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows" as it is a direct counterpoint to Leslie Gore's Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows song on my Spring 2007 mix. I thought it was a good connection :) Rocky rules!
02. Gonna Fly Now (Rocky Theme) composed by Bill Conti
Here is my problem song. It goes great with the previous quote. It's a bit bombastic and overwhelming and gets you pumped. It's jogging. It's fantastic. Except that I trimmed the last 30-40 seconds. But I already went over this. The second problem was that on my track listing I wrote it down as "Gotta" instead of "Gonna." Eesh. But it's smooth sailing from here, folks!
03. The Shape by Inspecter 7
I toyed with having this be the beginning song for a while. It starts off unsettling. The Halloween movie theme. It slowly builds. The horns. It becomes menacing. Skoochie on sax summons demons. Guiseppe does a great creepy laugh. It's also great to dance to! How'd they do that?!
04. Zombie by the Cranberries
My last pick for spookiness. Not only in title, but the way Dolores O'Riordan sings, about violence and her war-torn country. The wail of her voice, the wall of guitars behind her. It's chilling.
05. The Songs That We Sing by Charlotte Gainsbourg
Ah, another Gainsbourg! Daughter of Serge, she is also an actress, who I saw in The Science of Sleep were she was the most charming thing ever. Her voice is dreamy. I almost put another song of hers on, but it was half spoken word. The line that sticks out for me is: "And these songs that I sing / Do they mean anything? / To the people I'm singing them to / People like you"
06. 1, 2, 3, 4 by Feist
This is a song that may be everywhere, but only if you pay attention to music blogs, sites and watch iPod commercials and assorted other TV spots. But I know a lot of people don't do all that. So I included it. It carries the same feeling as the first song, but more hopeful, more optimistic. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the music video.
07. Volver by Estrella Morente
[Spanish] Another connection to my previous mix. The intro movie quote was taken from Pedro Almodóvar's Volver. Here is the song that is the heart of the story. When this woman sings "tengo miedo de la noche" I feel that fear of the dark as well. I feel the truth she says when she calls twenty years nothing. Volver means to return.
08. Mas Que Nada by Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66
[Portuguese] Ahh the sweet sounds of samba/bossa nova. "Mas Que Nada" translates literally as "More Than Nothing" by which they mean "More Than Anything".
09. No One Does It Like You by Dept. of Eagles
My sis alerted me to this sweet, floating song. I thought it fit quite nicely into the mood.
10. Hoppípolla by Sigur Rós
[Icelandic] I don't know what the words to most Sigur Rós songs, but that is almost an asset, an invitation for the mind to imagine and create the landscapes of the movie of life. I love it.
11. Montaña by the Gipsy Kings
[Spanish] Another song about mountains (re: the last song on my spring mix). The beginning lyrics say "Yo voy caminando / a la montaña donde naci" = "I go walking / To the mountain where I was born." The singing style of cante jondo, that flamenco passionate style, always gets me!
12. Go To Sleep by the Avett Brothers
I was tipped off to the this group by a message board whose members not only have great music taste but the descriptions and stories that make them music lovers. The Avett Brothers are great musicians and this is one sweet nugget of a song.
13. Seul by Jacques Brel
[French] I scoured my Jacques Brel song collection, but none seemed quite right til I ran across this video (with handy translation!) which is just Jacques (hee) on his guitar, singing about loneliness and the world. Isn't he faboo?!
14. Waiting For the Night by Depeche Mode
Once, driving from far away Long Island, down the highway which had lightpoles far, far apart, the only light I could see was the few stars shining in the darkness. This song was playing. They complemented each other so perfectly, that the song could--should! have gone on for the full hour of the trip. If a twinkling lone star was made into a song, this would be it. If a single drop of rain was made into a song, this is it. That's how it felt. It's quiet and pensive, it's aprehensive and hesitant and it could turn ominous or it could lead to sunrise. I superheart Depeche Mode!
I've been dreaming of a time when
Morrissey does not cancel! :)
I'm sure Kill will come up with a well-written Morrissey review at some point, but as for me, I will only say that his voice sounded great and the Hammerstein crowd should really have danced and sang along more. I leave off with the rite that is the stage invaders:
Which brings me to the detour that Kill, Jen and I took after the show on Saturday. We walked from Penn Station to Times Square, stopped by to get drinks and animal crackers and then wasted time at the brightly-lit McDonald's so we could finally get into the free Sons & Heirs' Smiths tribute show at B.B. King's, which started not long after midnight.
Oh, we stood around for the first couple of songs, warming us up with Smiths' songs. But everyone's drinking and fervor eventually got the better of everyone and by the end we were all dancing and singing lyrics as if it was the last concert we'd ever go to. Seriously. Flowers were flying, people jumped up on stage and were lovingly taken back in to the audience, manic flailing, singing along at a level and ferocity that later makes your voice scratchy. Much fun was had by all. We managed to get two encores from them. Great show! Much better than when we caught them at Williamsburg where everyone acted so detached. Midnight BB King crowd had zero shame. It was wonderful! I said afterward that we probably had a better time at the free show than the $$$ actually Morrissey show! Hee! I still love you though Moz! You and your baby seals!
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Bob Mould this Friday. I'm trying to talk Kill into Gogol Bordello on Saturday. EDIT: Hahahaha, Gogol Bordello sold out! That takes care of my indecision. Gogol are great, but I've heard the venue is crap. Irving Plaza was bad enough with sound problems and obnoxious frat boys!
I'm sure Kill will come up with a well-written Morrissey review at some point, but as for me, I will only say that his voice sounded great and the Hammerstein crowd should really have danced and sang along more. I leave off with the rite that is the stage invaders:
Which brings me to the detour that Kill, Jen and I took after the show on Saturday. We walked from Penn Station to Times Square, stopped by to get drinks and animal crackers and then wasted time at the brightly-lit McDonald's so we could finally get into the free Sons & Heirs' Smiths tribute show at B.B. King's, which started not long after midnight.
Oh, we stood around for the first couple of songs, warming us up with Smiths' songs. But everyone's drinking and fervor eventually got the better of everyone and by the end we were all dancing and singing lyrics as if it was the last concert we'd ever go to. Seriously. Flowers were flying, people jumped up on stage and were lovingly taken back in to the audience, manic flailing, singing along at a level and ferocity that later makes your voice scratchy. Much fun was had by all. We managed to get two encores from them. Great show! Much better than when we caught them at Williamsburg where everyone acted so detached. Midnight BB King crowd had zero shame. It was wonderful! I said afterward that we probably had a better time at the free show than the $$$ actually Morrissey show! Hee! I still love you though Moz! You and your baby seals!
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Bob Mould this Friday. I'm trying to talk Kill into Gogol Bordello on Saturday. EDIT: Hahahaha, Gogol Bordello sold out! That takes care of my indecision. Gogol are great, but I've heard the venue is crap. Irving Plaza was bad enough with sound problems and obnoxious frat boys!
e martë, 23 tetor 2007
Radio Rapture
A meme from Music Memoirs:
Is radio even necessary anymore? (elaborate)
Yes, yes! It is like a friend choosing songs for you, a sort of real-time mix. Sure you can lock yourself away into your mp3 player or chain yourself to the songs stored on your hard drive, but listening to the radio brings in the new, the ones you may not have chosen to listen to. The old ones, that nostalgic ones and the just released, the ones the preteens are currently bobbing their heads to. All that good stuff. Plus there's always great radio personalities. I like the friendly voices of the 101.1 CBS FM DJs, like fun uncles :) I like the cool slightly older than you, like older siblings or a year or two above you in high school, snark and man, this rocks! sort of DJs of Q104.3. Ahh...
What song would make you expire from pleasure if you actually heard it on the radio?
I wanted to write a post about this, specifically which songs I first heard on the radio and was immediately, irrevocably captivated. But let me see... if I actually heard ... oh man, way too many. I plead guilty!! :)
What is the most enjoyable thing you can think of about the radio?
Pretty much everything :) Even the radio commercials, or the random news stories, the weather, I love all that. I love the Osgood file when I used to hear it. I like hearing when my dad listens to financial advice from this husband and wife team on the radio. I like when he later listens to medical problems of the elderly which are answered by this old wizened voice. I like the bombastic clashing voices of the futbol commentators on Futbol en Primera, discussing Mexican soccer league, MLS, eliminatorias. I like Aflac commercials. I like Mandatory Monday Night Metallica. I like NPR editorials and concerts and readings. I like getting the Led out. I like getting excited if they're giving away tickets for things I would not normally attend and I fantasize that I will call up and win and go to Ricky Martin or CSNY or Beatlemania concerts. I want to be the 25th caller!!! I WANT MY RADIO!!!!
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Ahem. More on radio. Here are some short radio vignettes of me and my ears and soundwaves reaching them:
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I bought Dave Gahan's new album Hourglass, whose single "Kingdom" I like so much! I don't usually buy songs based on one song, but this is the lead singer of Depeche Mode and he's actually going to be signing this CD and I got a wristband for the event which is one block from my workplace! SCORE! Too bad I am missing the instore performance at the Apple store because...
+ + +
I'm going to the Morrissey show tonight! ZOMG! I hope I don't get bit! :I
Is radio even necessary anymore? (elaborate)
Yes, yes! It is like a friend choosing songs for you, a sort of real-time mix. Sure you can lock yourself away into your mp3 player or chain yourself to the songs stored on your hard drive, but listening to the radio brings in the new, the ones you may not have chosen to listen to. The old ones, that nostalgic ones and the just released, the ones the preteens are currently bobbing their heads to. All that good stuff. Plus there's always great radio personalities. I like the friendly voices of the 101.1 CBS FM DJs, like fun uncles :) I like the cool slightly older than you, like older siblings or a year or two above you in high school, snark and man, this rocks! sort of DJs of Q104.3. Ahh...
What song would make you expire from pleasure if you actually heard it on the radio?
I wanted to write a post about this, specifically which songs I first heard on the radio and was immediately, irrevocably captivated. But let me see... if I actually heard ... oh man, way too many. I plead guilty!! :)
What is the most enjoyable thing you can think of about the radio?
Pretty much everything :) Even the radio commercials, or the random news stories, the weather, I love all that. I love the Osgood file when I used to hear it. I like hearing when my dad listens to financial advice from this husband and wife team on the radio. I like when he later listens to medical problems of the elderly which are answered by this old wizened voice. I like the bombastic clashing voices of the futbol commentators on Futbol en Primera, discussing Mexican soccer league, MLS, eliminatorias. I like Aflac commercials. I like Mandatory Monday Night Metallica. I like NPR editorials and concerts and readings. I like getting the Led out. I like getting excited if they're giving away tickets for things I would not normally attend and I fantasize that I will call up and win and go to Ricky Martin or CSNY or Beatlemania concerts. I want to be the 25th caller!!! I WANT MY RADIO!!!!
+ + + + + + + + +
Ahem. More on radio. Here are some short radio vignettes of me and my ears and soundwaves reaching them:
- George Harrison's Awaiting On You All: I briefly mentioned this before. But I heard this on 104.3 and the lyrics grabbed me. Who could be saying "don't need a church house, don't need a temple"?? Who was this strange artist? It sounded so radical to me, even though it later went into say all you need is Jesus. And as many of the stations do, especially with older songs, they don't announce who it is, assuming the audience will know. So I turned to trusty google and found out it was George Harrison. I love this song.
- Supertramp's The Logical Song: For the longest time I thought this was Rush, because the voice reminded me of Geddy Lee's. The lyrics also caught me here, the echoing words, rhyming, flowing. The way it starts off so sweetly and keeps that tune but goes on to describe becoming jaded. The sax!
- The Four Seasons' Dawn (Go Away): Another one where the lyrics caught me right away, I remember listening to this on 101.1 and leaning in close to the speakers to catch all the words. And though it's a bit melodramatic, I bought it hook, line and sinker. A boy saying that the girl he loves is better off with a richer man. How could he say such things? What a martyr! "I want you to think what your family would say / think what you're throwing away / Now think what the future would be / with a poor boy like me" makes me all !!!!
- Don McLean's American Pie: A long long time ago... actually maybe a few years ago there was this car commercial with a girl sitting outside her car while her boyfriend was singing to a song. After a bit, he stepped out. She said he was a dork. Well, I am that dork. Everytime I hear this song on the radio I have to stick it out and mouth/sing aloud to every gosh darn lyric, pause, note. One of my favorite lines is "Do you believe in rock ’n roll? / Can music save your mortal soul? And can you teach me how to dance real slow?" Total hearts!
- Beyonce's Crazy In Love: I was trying to catch up to what the kids were listening to, so I would sometimes stand with a headset on and hands at the ready on a cassette deck with a blank tape inside, waiting to tape my selections. The crazy static and lightning and whatever other effects they use to introduce a world premiere passed and suddenly this song came on. It had me at the first "uh oh." I was so psyched to have it on a tape that i could play over and over again right away.
- Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Masacree: More on this in the next post.
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I bought Dave Gahan's new album Hourglass, whose single "Kingdom" I like so much! I don't usually buy songs based on one song, but this is the lead singer of Depeche Mode and he's actually going to be signing this CD and I got a wristband for the event which is one block from my workplace! SCORE! Too bad I am missing the instore performance at the Apple store because...
+ + +
I'm going to the Morrissey show tonight! ZOMG! I hope I don't get bit! :I
e martë, 9 tetor 2007
Oye chicos!
Pandillero salvado por Morrissey! Jajaja! :D
Morrissey dice: "I think Latinos are full of emotion, always." Que sabe el!! Jaja! Tengo mucho sangre indio, a veces me emociono, a veces no.
Hoy dia compre boletos para otro concierto de Morrissey, pero casi a un tercer el precio! Red Bull es mejor que Chivas, si si!
~*~ Morir a tu lado es una maravilloso forma de morir ~*~
e hënë, 8 tetor 2007
Untitled #8
I somehow managed to score Sigur Ros tickets to the New Yorker Festival screening of Heima (trailer), where the band also performed a short 3 song set, sat through a painful Q&A at first then later hilarious, then an encore by a guy who had the guts to have the last question be: What can we do to convince you to play another song?
Untitled #8 closed off the film, in an absolutely electrifying pounding drumming momentous exhilarating build-up of tension, pain, heartbreak and elation. It's hard to describe Sigur Ros' music, as my sis and I were later discussing it, what's the point of words, of too many words by critics with too much time on their hands. Just listen. Don't you feel like you're in an epic version of your life?
How does so much pain and longing come from such a frail creature?
The footage of the drummer, pounding as if he was battling demons was incredible. I'm glad the sound at the screening was just a bit above the "ow, that's loud" threshold. :)
Aural landscapes. Images images to sound. Cranial movies. Suffering. I kept thinking, is this song someone wailing upon learning the death of a loved one, or upon the discovery of love letters from a departed one?
Yeah, I have too much time!
e hënë, 1 tetor 2007
Radio, Radio, Radio, Radio!
I have a theory that any song with Radio in the title is great. Here is my list:
The list goes on and on. In fact, I found someone who made a very excellent list here.
I have a new entry for the list! Here is the Boss's new one! I love it already!
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This weekend I caught the Lost Bayou Ramblers performing at the Chile Pepper Fiesta at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I bought myself the new CD, should be good, as the guy selling it said the live album had a lot of hootin' and hollerin' :)
- This Is Radio Clash by the Clash
- Radio by Rancid (great lyrics!! good for singing in the streets :)
- Radio Radio by Elvis Costello (how punk rock is that SNL performance eh? Banned for 12 years for that!)
- On the Radio by Donna Summer (hee!!)
- Do You Remember Rock N Roll Radio? by the Ramones
The list goes on and on. In fact, I found someone who made a very excellent list here.
I have a new entry for the list! Here is the Boss's new one! I love it already!
+ + + + + + + + +
This weekend I caught the Lost Bayou Ramblers performing at the Chile Pepper Fiesta at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Everyone was dancing and having a good time. I bought myself the new CD, should be good, as the guy selling it said the live album had a lot of hootin' and hollerin' :)
World Vegetarian Day
How do people know this stuff? :) From wiki:
World Vegetarian Day is observed annually on October 1. It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 "to promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism"
Haha fun! So, I will do this meme from http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com/ in honor of today's day: "I'm going to find some famous vegetarian musicans from the list at www.famousveggie.com, and you can tell me your favorite song from each artist!"
Annie Lennox -- I feel bad not knowing much of her solo songs, so I'll go with one of my favorite Eurythmics songs "Here Comes the Rain Again."
B52's (the whole band, I guess?) -- "Debbie" is my very favorite B-52s song of ALL. Sure Love Shack is awesome, but Debbie is total euphoria!
Billy Idol -- Tough one. I love all Billy Idols songs quite equally, from White Wedding and Dancing With Myself to Cradle of Love and his cover of the Doors' L.A. Woman. I'll have to go with Rebel Yell!
Bob Dylan -- I need to borrow my sister's Bob Dylan CDs. Rather predictably, I choose "Positively 4th Street."
Chrissie Hynde (that means the Pretenders) -- I suck because I hardly know any Pretenders song, so I'll say "I'll Stand By You" (which I never knew was theirs!)
Elvis Costello -- Pump It Up RULES!
George Harrison (to challenge you - only his solo stuff) -- Ha! Challenge? Hands down, my fav is "Awaiting on you All." I remember hearing this on the radio and noticing the lyrics and going WTF is this AWESOMENESS?! It is a song calling for people to find Jesus, and though I'm pretty much an atheist, I can't help loving this song in all its religious fervorish glory.
Peter Gabriel -- erm... Sledgehammer? :P
World Vegetarian Day is observed annually on October 1. It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 "to promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism"
Haha fun! So, I will do this meme from http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com/ in honor of today's day: "I'm going to find some famous vegetarian musicans from the list at www.famousveggie.com, and you can tell me your favorite song from each artist!"
Annie Lennox -- I feel bad not knowing much of her solo songs, so I'll go with one of my favorite Eurythmics songs "Here Comes the Rain Again."
B52's (the whole band, I guess?) -- "Debbie" is my very favorite B-52s song of ALL. Sure Love Shack is awesome, but Debbie is total euphoria!
Billy Idol -- Tough one. I love all Billy Idols songs quite equally, from White Wedding and Dancing With Myself to Cradle of Love and his cover of the Doors' L.A. Woman. I'll have to go with Rebel Yell!
Bob Dylan -- I need to borrow my sister's Bob Dylan CDs. Rather predictably, I choose "Positively 4th Street."
Chrissie Hynde (that means the Pretenders) -- I suck because I hardly know any Pretenders song, so I'll say "I'll Stand By You" (which I never knew was theirs!)
Elvis Costello -- Pump It Up RULES!
George Harrison (to challenge you - only his solo stuff) -- Ha! Challenge? Hands down, my fav is "Awaiting on you All." I remember hearing this on the radio and noticing the lyrics and going WTF is this AWESOMENESS?! It is a song calling for people to find Jesus, and though I'm pretty much an atheist, I can't help loving this song in all its religious fervorish glory.
Peter Gabriel -- erm... Sledgehammer? :P
e hënë, 17 shtator 2007
Rudeboys, are you ready?!
Had a music-filled weekend. On Friday I made a mix for a friend:
Sept 14 Mix
1. "You think you can dance?" intro (taken from the Simpsons)
2. Anthrax - Got The Time
3. Motorhead - Ace of Spades
4. Blitz - Someone's Gonna Die
5. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
6. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travelin' Band
7. Tom Petty - Saving Grace
8. Green Day - Working Class Hero (John Lennon cover)
9. Gogol Bordello - Not A Crime
10. Gogol Bordello - Think Locally, Fuck Globally
11. "Four minutes of my life" interlude (taken from the Simpsons)
12. Gogol Bordello - Supertheory of Supereverything
13. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Get Down Moses
14. Tim Armstrong - Into Action
15. Rancid - I Wanna Riot
16. Blitz - Never Surrender
17. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Rappaport's Testament: I Never Gave up (Chumbawumba cover)
It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. :)
+ + + +
Then on Friday night the Inspecter 7 show! Where much fun and dancing was had by all, except for a few brief minutes during Step2Far's set where a fight threatened to break out twice. Luckily cooler heads prevailed. We showed up late missing maybe four opening acts, but got to see Step2Far ("Pa'lante" is such a great song), the Krays ("Too Lazy" was a standout) and the Wretched Ones with "Oi! Rogers", "Leave the Old Man Alone" and the excellent "Going Down the Bar."
Somehow Inspecter 7 managed to fit all 10 of the bandmembers (and later on 12, maybe more) on the small Knitting Factory stage. T-Dog came on and said a reward for anyone who finds Giuseppe and gets him on stage! Ha! And on he came with another vocalist (3 total!). Much skanking ensued. It was a regular dance party! Except rudie/skin style! :) Also: SKOOCHIE, but with no make-up!! Songs included (out of order) "The Infamous", "Sharky 17", "Regret" (the first and part two), "Asbury Park", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Popeye" (SO good live. My sis almost screamed for this right before they played it, ha!), "Channel 7" and "Agent 86." The encore was a superb cover of the Special's "Gangsters". Here's to more shows I hope!
+ + + + + + + +
Then Saturday, I was talked into the Raybeez tribute show. It was free and in Bushwick, so it was all good fun at the Wreck Room (which is a bar, which is why they kept on having to kick out the under-21 youngsters). The atmosphere was fantastic at this show. Once the crowd got worked up, it was much enthusiastic dancing (I say dancing because while it was energetic and rough, it was all in good spirits, so dancing!) Each band did at least one Warzone song. One band covered "Real Enemy." The girls were especially awesome at this show, go them, they tore it up gleefully! I talked with a promoter, asking her wasn't the Pyramid a gay club? And she says they have a gay night, but Sundays they got for hardcore shows since CBGB's closed. Awesome. Good work! Ah, but the show was loud. Maybe it's high time I invest in earplugs for punk/hardcore/oi! shows? Eek.
+ + + + + + + +
Total success with getting Sigur Ros tickets though TICKETMASTER IS STILL VERY ANNOYING AND CRAPPY AND NOT FAN FRIENDLY. I just got lucky, as opposed to ALL THOSE OTHER GODDAMN TIMES when I was unlucky. We pay for this torture? Feh to that.
+ + + + + + + +
Sunday there was a Queens County Fair which had an old carnival machine pumping out "authentic carousel music." It sounded like that grand intro to the Adicts' "Sound of Music" album. Later on my sis said it was playing Bye Bye Blackbird, which she recognized off the History Boys soundtrack. Ha! Good grief!
Then we were in the Bavarian garden section and listening to a German band play drinking songs and we were all "hoi hoi hoi!" though we did not drink beer and counting "eins zwei... schouk-something," whatever the German word was for DRINK! (It wasn't trinken though...) After eating apple strudel, we caught a small marching band on stilts and then we heard awesome covers by Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society which was a choir made up of elderly gentlemen! They did "Under the Boardwalk" beautifully!!! I'll have video later. There was also a performance by the AfterGloWorms which I think is a great name!
Phew. The End.
Sept 14 Mix
1. "You think you can dance?" intro (taken from the Simpsons)
2. Anthrax - Got The Time
3. Motorhead - Ace of Spades
4. Blitz - Someone's Gonna Die
5. Stiff Little Fingers - Suspect Device
6. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Travelin' Band
7. Tom Petty - Saving Grace
8. Green Day - Working Class Hero (John Lennon cover)
9. Gogol Bordello - Not A Crime
10. Gogol Bordello - Think Locally, Fuck Globally
11. "Four minutes of my life" interlude (taken from the Simpsons)
12. Gogol Bordello - Supertheory of Supereverything
13. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Get Down Moses
14. Tim Armstrong - Into Action
15. Rancid - I Wanna Riot
16. Blitz - Never Surrender
17. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Rappaport's Testament: I Never Gave up (Chumbawumba cover)
It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself. :)
+ + + +
Then on Friday night the Inspecter 7 show! Where much fun and dancing was had by all, except for a few brief minutes during Step2Far's set where a fight threatened to break out twice. Luckily cooler heads prevailed. We showed up late missing maybe four opening acts, but got to see Step2Far ("Pa'lante" is such a great song), the Krays ("Too Lazy" was a standout) and the Wretched Ones with "Oi! Rogers", "Leave the Old Man Alone" and the excellent "Going Down the Bar."
Somehow Inspecter 7 managed to fit all 10 of the bandmembers (and later on 12, maybe more) on the small Knitting Factory stage. T-Dog came on and said a reward for anyone who finds Giuseppe and gets him on stage! Ha! And on he came with another vocalist (3 total!). Much skanking ensued. It was a regular dance party! Except rudie/skin style! :) Also: SKOOCHIE, but with no make-up!! Songs included (out of order) "The Infamous", "Sharky 17", "Regret" (the first and part two), "Asbury Park", "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Popeye" (SO good live. My sis almost screamed for this right before they played it, ha!), "Channel 7" and "Agent 86." The encore was a superb cover of the Special's "Gangsters". Here's to more shows I hope!
+ + + + + + + +
Then Saturday, I was talked into the Raybeez tribute show. It was free and in Bushwick, so it was all good fun at the Wreck Room (which is a bar, which is why they kept on having to kick out the under-21 youngsters). The atmosphere was fantastic at this show. Once the crowd got worked up, it was much enthusiastic dancing (I say dancing because while it was energetic and rough, it was all in good spirits, so dancing!) Each band did at least one Warzone song. One band covered "Real Enemy." The girls were especially awesome at this show, go them, they tore it up gleefully! I talked with a promoter, asking her wasn't the Pyramid a gay club? And she says they have a gay night, but Sundays they got for hardcore shows since CBGB's closed. Awesome. Good work! Ah, but the show was loud. Maybe it's high time I invest in earplugs for punk/hardcore/oi! shows? Eek.
+ + + + + + + +
Total success with getting Sigur Ros tickets though TICKETMASTER IS STILL VERY ANNOYING AND CRAPPY AND NOT FAN FRIENDLY. I just got lucky, as opposed to ALL THOSE OTHER GODDAMN TIMES when I was unlucky. We pay for this torture? Feh to that.
+ + + + + + + +
Sunday there was a Queens County Fair which had an old carnival machine pumping out "authentic carousel music." It sounded like that grand intro to the Adicts' "Sound of Music" album. Later on my sis said it was playing Bye Bye Blackbird, which she recognized off the History Boys soundtrack. Ha! Good grief!
Then we were in the Bavarian garden section and listening to a German band play drinking songs and we were all "hoi hoi hoi!" though we did not drink beer and counting "eins zwei... schouk-something," whatever the German word was for DRINK! (It wasn't trinken though...) After eating apple strudel, we caught a small marching band on stilts and then we heard awesome covers by Nassau Mid-Island Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society which was a choir made up of elderly gentlemen! They did "Under the Boardwalk" beautifully!!! I'll have video later. There was also a performance by the AfterGloWorms which I think is a great name!
Phew. The End.
e premte, 14 shtator 2007
orgullo latino!
Oh man, I don't know what it is with me lately, but I *cannot* get enough of this Ricky Martin song:
RICKY MARTIN - PÉGATE
or this Thalia song, usually played back to back.
Thalia - Mujer Latina
I can make out (and try to sing along to) about 70% of each song. My favorite line in the Ricky Martin song goes:
"Que como decía mi madre Like my mother said
bailando todo se arregla" Dancing fixes everything
Or that's my really bland rough translation. Dance to this song. It'll feel like the truth, I SWEARS.
Here are a few other links to vids of my totally fave latin-flavored songs:
Thalia - Arrasando
Juanes - A Dios le pido
Shakira - Hips don't lie
Shakira - Ojos Asi
+ + + + + + + + + + +
Inspecter 7 show tonight! Eeks! Must get a nap first, gonna be a looong night.
Must TRY to get Sigur Ros tickets tomorrow too! Ack!
RICKY MARTIN - PÉGATE
or this Thalia song, usually played back to back.
Thalia - Mujer Latina
I can make out (and try to sing along to) about 70% of each song. My favorite line in the Ricky Martin song goes:
"Que como decía mi madre Like my mother said
bailando todo se arregla" Dancing fixes everything
Or that's my really bland rough translation. Dance to this song. It'll feel like the truth, I SWEARS.
Here are a few other links to vids of my totally fave latin-flavored songs:
Thalia - Arrasando
Juanes - A Dios le pido
Shakira - Hips don't lie
Shakira - Ojos Asi
+ + + + + + + + + + +
Inspecter 7 show tonight! Eeks! Must get a nap first, gonna be a looong night.
Must TRY to get Sigur Ros tickets tomorrow too! Ack!
e martë, 4 shtator 2007
Post-Labor Day memes
From: http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com/
1. The quarterback is the most important player on a football team. He controls the action, and the responsibility for the team's success is on his shoulders. Which musician is your choice for musical QB?
At first I wanted to say Green Day because from there evolved most of my future music choices, but they would be more like a pioneer, a guide. My musical QB, helping everyone look good and looking good because of everyone else around them, would be the Clash. See below:
2. What album scores a touchdown for you (i.e. it's just the best)?
London Calling. It is cliche, but really, it expanded punk rock. It took other genres, notably ska and reggae into the mix. It rules.
3. What song needs a game ejection?
A song off the aforementioned album? Hmm... oh man, this is tough. I just looked at the track listing. Maybe... I'm Not Down. Eeep. Someone shoot me. Haha once I read this awesome thread on a message board about what was the best song off London Calling and some poster's best would be someone's worst and they'd go at it like the other was crazy. Like someone said "Hateful." HATEFUL RULES!! ZOMG.
4. Football is about intense, bone-crushing excitement. What song or artist gives you that same feeling?
NIN's March of the Pigs always makes me want to riot. MARCH! Sham 69's Borstal Breakout and Blitz' Someone's Gonna Die Tonight are excellent boot stompers.
+ + + + + + + +
from http://musicmemoirs.blogdrive.com/
Are you a completeist when it comes to your favorite recording artists? (Meaning do you have to have everything they release even if its another best of compilation or something of that nature)
Not a true completist, but pretty darn close. My sis verges on being a true completists, for Depeche Mode where she was buying singles and box sets and b-side comps and bootlegs and live recordings, which she currently does for Erasure, getting overseas versions and then the domestic ones when they are available. Also she collects rare mixes done by EvilJames. Ha! :P I did purchase Depeche Mode's latest Best Of... because it a) had a new single and b) came with VIDEOS. <3
But me! I like to have everything they release, even best of compilations and live albums (see Green Day--though I think I am still missing Bullet in A Bible--and Bouncing Souls--never even listened to that live album of a show we were at...) and comps that have a song that is not on any other release (i've done that like 3 times already for Rancid--though I am still missing one song of theirs backed by the ska group East Coast All Stars, which is on the Beavis and Butthead soundtrack). I also tried to hunt down Green Day's cover of the Simpsons theme tune but.. uh, i forgot the story. I think it was just a single and never on the Simpsons movie soundtrack.
Hmm, looking back at this question I am being more of a music nerd than the question is asking. Hell yeah if I like a group I buy all their releases. That's like 90% of my music collection. What fun is only owning one album by a band (unless that's like their only release-- Operation Ivy much? Though then of course I had to hunt down a bootleg LP with songs that were not on their one release. Bad quality though. Ha!)
Okay, that's enough for now.
Have you ever bought more than one copy of a certain album? If you did, tell us why.
Yessss. Because! They were special editions! Newly expanded booklets! Digitally enhanced! Pretty covers! Also some were signed. Plus some I share with my sis, so she sometimes has a copy and I want/need another. This is what we have two of, off the top of my head (and these are only CDs, forget about ALL the cassettes we had and later had to get CDs of)
Gosh I know there's more. May make a list later. Gee. Obsessive much?
Which bands make up the majority of your collection? How many CDs, Lps, cassettes etc?
It used to be 90% cassettes, but I actually chucked about 30 or 40 cassettes a few months ago as I know have most of them on CD. Now it's 95% CDs and I have a few EPs (Bikini Kill!!! <3 and uh... Poison. It was at a flea market!!)
Do you buy an album from a band just because you like them or do you wait until you've heard it before making the purchase?
I've got to have heard at least one song. In my weak moments I buy an album because of one song. Oops I read the question wrong. Of course I buy the new album of a band that I like, DUH! I thought this question was about any ol' music purchase. In any case, I usually end up hearing new stuff off new albums by band's either from the internets or they play it at shows and I'm already acquainted with it by the time it gets in my grubby hands. Yum.
1. The quarterback is the most important player on a football team. He controls the action, and the responsibility for the team's success is on his shoulders. Which musician is your choice for musical QB?
At first I wanted to say Green Day because from there evolved most of my future music choices, but they would be more like a pioneer, a guide. My musical QB, helping everyone look good and looking good because of everyone else around them, would be the Clash. See below:
2. What album scores a touchdown for you (i.e. it's just the best)?
London Calling. It is cliche, but really, it expanded punk rock. It took other genres, notably ska and reggae into the mix. It rules.
3. What song needs a game ejection?
A song off the aforementioned album? Hmm... oh man, this is tough. I just looked at the track listing. Maybe... I'm Not Down. Eeep. Someone shoot me. Haha once I read this awesome thread on a message board about what was the best song off London Calling and some poster's best would be someone's worst and they'd go at it like the other was crazy. Like someone said "Hateful." HATEFUL RULES!! ZOMG.
4. Football is about intense, bone-crushing excitement. What song or artist gives you that same feeling?
NIN's March of the Pigs always makes me want to riot. MARCH! Sham 69's Borstal Breakout and Blitz' Someone's Gonna Die Tonight are excellent boot stompers.
+ + + + + + + +
from http://musicmemoirs.blogdrive.com/
Are you a completeist when it comes to your favorite recording artists? (Meaning do you have to have everything they release even if its another best of compilation or something of that nature)
Not a true completist, but pretty darn close. My sis verges on being a true completists, for Depeche Mode where she was buying singles and box sets and b-side comps and bootlegs and live recordings, which she currently does for Erasure, getting overseas versions and then the domestic ones when they are available. Also she collects rare mixes done by EvilJames. Ha! :P I did purchase Depeche Mode's latest Best Of... because it a) had a new single and b) came with VIDEOS. <3
But me! I like to have everything they release, even best of compilations and live albums (see Green Day--though I think I am still missing Bullet in A Bible--and Bouncing Souls--never even listened to that live album of a show we were at...) and comps that have a song that is not on any other release (i've done that like 3 times already for Rancid--though I am still missing one song of theirs backed by the ska group East Coast All Stars, which is on the Beavis and Butthead soundtrack). I also tried to hunt down Green Day's cover of the Simpsons theme tune but.. uh, i forgot the story. I think it was just a single and never on the Simpsons movie soundtrack.
Hmm, looking back at this question I am being more of a music nerd than the question is asking. Hell yeah if I like a group I buy all their releases. That's like 90% of my music collection. What fun is only owning one album by a band (unless that's like their only release-- Operation Ivy much? Though then of course I had to hunt down a bootleg LP with songs that were not on their one release. Bad quality though. Ha!)
Okay, that's enough for now.
Have you ever bought more than one copy of a certain album? If you did, tell us why.
Yessss. Because! They were special editions! Newly expanded booklets! Digitally enhanced! Pretty covers! Also some were signed. Plus some I share with my sis, so she sometimes has a copy and I want/need another. This is what we have two of, off the top of my head (and these are only CDs, forget about ALL the cassettes we had and later had to get CDs of)
- Green Day - Nimrod (special edition with biiiig colored booklet)
- Pet Shop Boys - Disco 2 (one of them had an extra disc!!)
- The Clash - London Calling (newly remastered! plus pretty packaging!!)
Gosh I know there's more. May make a list later. Gee. Obsessive much?
Which bands make up the majority of your collection? How many CDs, Lps, cassettes etc?
It used to be 90% cassettes, but I actually chucked about 30 or 40 cassettes a few months ago as I know have most of them on CD. Now it's 95% CDs and I have a few EPs (Bikini Kill!!! <3 and uh... Poison. It was at a flea market!!)
Do you buy an album from a band just because you like them or do you wait until you've heard it before making the purchase?
I've got to have heard at least one song. In my weak moments I buy an album because of one song. Oops I read the question wrong. Of course I buy the new album of a band that I like, DUH! I thought this question was about any ol' music purchase. In any case, I usually end up hearing new stuff off new albums by band's either from the internets or they play it at shows and I'm already acquainted with it by the time it gets in my grubby hands. Yum.
e premte, 24 gusht 2007
He's insa-a-a-a-ne!
The L.E.S. Stitches are back 2007-style and I have video proof! Behold, videos from the Luna Lounge August 17 show:
NYC Is Dead!
One of the best moments in the show, which I did not catch on video, was when Mick tried to sing into the beer bottle, realized his mistake and switched to the mic, but kept on laughing. Hahahaaa!!!
Never Comin' Back
Automatic Pilot
This was particularly hilarious, as it is one of their slower (if not almost ballad) songs, yet this one dood LOST IT completely and was fistpumping like it was Slayer's Reign in Blood. You can see his long hair flying and arm flailing in the middle of the vid. That was great.
Nutjob
Mick announces upcoming shows, one of which we can't go to because it's the same damn night as the Inspecter 7 show!!! IMAGINE! But will go to the Sept 18 show with Sham 69--WTF? Okay, after some wiki, myspace and googling, it seems that Jimmy Pursey was kicked out of the band and now they are all angry at each other and Jimmy says that the Sham 69 touring now is not the real one. Drama!
+ + + + + + + +
This weekend I am planning a one-person, four-budgie CD-listening party for my newest purchases: Gogol Bordello's Super Taranta (whose "American Wedding" is my new favorite song) and M.I.A.'s Kala (whose "Jimmy" and "Bird Flu" have already infected me). World-influenced music dance party, WOO HOO!!!
NYC Is Dead!
One of the best moments in the show, which I did not catch on video, was when Mick tried to sing into the beer bottle, realized his mistake and switched to the mic, but kept on laughing. Hahahaaa!!!
Never Comin' Back
Automatic Pilot
This was particularly hilarious, as it is one of their slower (if not almost ballad) songs, yet this one dood LOST IT completely and was fistpumping like it was Slayer's Reign in Blood. You can see his long hair flying and arm flailing in the middle of the vid. That was great.
Nutjob
Mick announces upcoming shows, one of which we can't go to because it's the same damn night as the Inspecter 7 show!!! IMAGINE! But will go to the Sept 18 show with Sham 69--WTF? Okay, after some wiki, myspace and googling, it seems that Jimmy Pursey was kicked out of the band and now they are all angry at each other and Jimmy says that the Sham 69 touring now is not the real one. Drama!
+ + + + + + + +
This weekend I am planning a one-person, four-budgie CD-listening party for my newest purchases: Gogol Bordello's Super Taranta (whose "American Wedding" is my new favorite song) and M.I.A.'s Kala (whose "Jimmy" and "Bird Flu" have already infected me). World-influenced music dance party, WOO HOO!!!
e hënë, 20 gusht 2007
I'm a bit, I'm a bit PISSED OFF
Picture this. 1997. Or maybe it is 1998. But 1997 sounds more dramatic because it is ten years.
Imagine this. 1997. CBGBs. Some bands opening and some headlining act, but you are there for the L.E.S. Stitches because your sister has picked up the CD at Generation Records in the Village after a listen at their newly installed listening stations by the cashier. The CD is really good. So the place is packed. Or it is up front, and CBGBs is really small anyway, so it feels cramped.
The L.E.S. Stitches come on. Everyone is mostly standing still, listening. Except for you, your sister and one other random dood with glasses. Mick the singer notices this and hops onto the floor and we crowd around to sing choruses. Fun times!
So now it's 2007. They have had a few sporadic reunion shows, but here (August 17) they are playing in Williamsburg. Some true nuts are screaming and flailing around like crazy, including that sister and me :) In fact, during the encore songs when they refused to get off the stage (that is to end their set; Mick got off the stage more than a few times, running into the audience like a mad man) and said two more songs, then three more songs! and ended up playing five more even though they are technically not the headliner. Yes, during that encore, we're near the front yet again and screaming lyrics, and this chick in front of us looked SO PUZZLED, her eyes were shifting back and forth, as if she was saying WTF? in her head. It was awesome. Somehow I didn't lose my voice.
I have video I'll put up later, but in the meantime I'll link up some of their older reunion shows (which are also on their Myspace page)
2005 after a hiatus of a few years (two or three?)
2006, the L.E.S. Stitches' last time at the Continental before it stopped having live shows:
2007 vid coming up soon!!!!!!!
Imagine this. 1997. CBGBs. Some bands opening and some headlining act, but you are there for the L.E.S. Stitches because your sister has picked up the CD at Generation Records in the Village after a listen at their newly installed listening stations by the cashier. The CD is really good. So the place is packed. Or it is up front, and CBGBs is really small anyway, so it feels cramped.
The L.E.S. Stitches come on. Everyone is mostly standing still, listening. Except for you, your sister and one other random dood with glasses. Mick the singer notices this and hops onto the floor and we crowd around to sing choruses. Fun times!
So now it's 2007. They have had a few sporadic reunion shows, but here (August 17) they are playing in Williamsburg. Some true nuts are screaming and flailing around like crazy, including that sister and me :) In fact, during the encore songs when they refused to get off the stage (that is to end their set; Mick got off the stage more than a few times, running into the audience like a mad man) and said two more songs, then three more songs! and ended up playing five more even though they are technically not the headliner. Yes, during that encore, we're near the front yet again and screaming lyrics, and this chick in front of us looked SO PUZZLED, her eyes were shifting back and forth, as if she was saying WTF? in her head. It was awesome. Somehow I didn't lose my voice.
I have video I'll put up later, but in the meantime I'll link up some of their older reunion shows (which are also on their Myspace page)
2005 after a hiatus of a few years (two or three?)
2006, the L.E.S. Stitches' last time at the Continental before it stopped having live shows:
2007 vid coming up soon!!!!!!!
e martë, 24 korrik 2007
I love hardcore boys
Back in high school there was this awesome girl who always dressed in black, had combat boots on and the sides of her head were shaved. We had math class together, and though she seemed to scare everyone (even the teacher who did not question when she was told that the sunglasses she wore had a prescription), she was really nice to me. I saw her chase after a guy on the top of classroom desks to hit him. Like i said, she was awesome. I remember her schoolbag had this logo painted on in white-out. I did not find out til later that it was the Sick of It All logo. I own one of their albums, which I love, which makes it weird that I own only one, no?
Here is Sick of It All's video for Step Down. Picking up change is the best dance move EVER. You can't deny.
Blood for Blood was recommended to me by another hater-of-all-the-world :) I trust his judgment. The vid below does not show off the music too well, but I love that sweaty crowded atmosphere of small intense shows:
Possibly one of the best concerts I've ever been to was like how I described above and it was for a gay straight-edge hardcore group called xLimp Wristx.
I love hardcore voices. Martin's guttural screech, Lou's deep I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass voice, it releases the pent-up teen and now adult angst in me. No thanks emo :D (i make an exception for Morrissey, after all i am a Gemini!) I'll probably make an entry on twee at some point! HA!
Here is Sick of It All's video for Step Down. Picking up change is the best dance move EVER. You can't deny.
Blood for Blood was recommended to me by another hater-of-all-the-world :) I trust his judgment. The vid below does not show off the music too well, but I love that sweaty crowded atmosphere of small intense shows:
Possibly one of the best concerts I've ever been to was like how I described above and it was for a gay straight-edge hardcore group called xLimp Wristx.
I love hardcore voices. Martin's guttural screech, Lou's deep I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass voice, it releases the pent-up teen and now adult angst in me. No thanks emo :D (i make an exception for Morrissey, after all i am a Gemini!) I'll probably make an entry on twee at some point! HA!
e hënë, 16 korrik 2007
Turkish Punk
I read in the paper this morning a blurb about a punk band being taken to court by the Turkish government, over a song that they wrote about not liking exams. Hardcore! Here is the full story as reported by the Associated Press.
And this may be the youtube in question (the link at the end of that article was invalid)
This is further proof that youtube will be the doom of us all. I kid! I have an unabashed love for lipsyncing youtubes! My faves include this young kid doing Cher like FOR REALZ, the drunk Brit kid flailing to Morrissey, and any drag performance.
And this may be the youtube in question (the link at the end of that article was invalid)
This is further proof that youtube will be the doom of us all. I kid! I have an unabashed love for lipsyncing youtubes! My faves include this young kid doing Cher like FOR REALZ, the drunk Brit kid flailing to Morrissey, and any drag performance.
e hënë, 9 korrik 2007
That Guitar Man
The excellent DrS took Kill and me to go see David Ippolito at an indoor show of his yesterday. A honest to goodness hippie, a folk singer! <3 He covered Jack Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, Paul Simon (Kodachrome) and Crosby Stills & Nash (Our House). His own material was very good too. Here are two stand-outs that fans sing along to:
Tom Cruise Scares Me
Bill O'Reilly: The Big Giant Head
from his meager, tough beginnings in the upper middle class :)
Thanks to DrS for taking us along! Good stuff! :D
Tom Cruise Scares Me
Bill O'Reilly: The Big Giant Head
from his meager, tough beginnings in the upper middle class :)
Thanks to DrS for taking us along! Good stuff! :D
e premte, 6 korrik 2007
List 10! Meme
List 10 artists/bands that you've seen live in concert
(no peeking at the questions beforehand!) <-- I put those in the previous post, so pretend it's a kind of space, okay?
1. The Adicts
2. Green Day
3. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
4. Goat Explosion
5. Gogol Bordello
6. And One
7. Depeche Mode
8. Rancid
9. Erasure
10. Inspecter 7
(okay now I feel bad that I did not squeeze in Bouncing Souls or Anti-Flag :( These are fun questions!)
(no peeking at the questions beforehand!) <-- I put those in the previous post, so pretend it's a kind of space, okay?
1. The Adicts
2. Green Day
3. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
4. Goat Explosion
5. Gogol Bordello
6. And One
7. Depeche Mode
8. Rancid
9. Erasure
10. Inspecter 7
(okay now I feel bad that I did not squeeze in Bouncing Souls or Anti-Flag :( These are fun questions!)
Answers
Answers to the Above:
Song you wish you'd seen number 2 do?
#2 Green Day: Paper Lanterns!!!!
How many times have you seen number 3?
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Oh snap... uh... estimating.. 10 times? More?
Where did you see number 9 play?
#9 Erasure: At the Ethical something Center, Townhall and somewhere else... I think?
Favorite song number 8 played?
#8 Rancid: The last time I saw them, it'd been so long since i saw them, that every song they started registered in my brain as "OMG MY FAV!!!" That being said, Radio is near the top.
Who did you see number 7 with?
#7 Depeche Mode: With Kill, mlebot, xian in Toronto. Poe opened!
Favorite venue you've seen 4 play?
#4 Goat Explosion: Mercury Lounge. That show was awesome! There were like maybe 10 hardcore fans.
Favorite concert memory from number 6?
#6 And One: Just seeing them for the first time in many many years and seeing mlebot scream like no one's ever screamed before :) Also that Steve said they'd come back. Please please please!!
Song that always goes off when you see number 10?
#10 Inspecter 7: When they cover "One Step Beyond" the entire crowd recites the beginning and rushes the stage at the same time and it's friggin' awesome. HEY YOU!!! But for one of their own songs, it's Sharkey 17 and the horns go two beats and when the drums do the same two beats, the crowd shouts over it "SKINHEAD!" It's a very shouty fanbase :)
Best thing about number 1's performance?
#1 The Adicts: Audience interaction!! Throwing decks of cards and confetti and streamers at us! Singing along to every single goddamn word. Going "woo woo WOO" during "Chinese Takeaway". Counting off "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8!" with fists in their air during "Number". Girls climbing onstage to dance to "Naughty Girl". Everything really. Especially Monkey. Or Dan the violinist. Or Scruff the young guitarist. Everyone really. I <3 all you Adicted fans! :)
Why did you go to see number 5?
#5 Gogol Bordello: Cuz their CD was so great, to see if they could match that intensity in their live acts. OMG it's even worse. I mean better! Haha! HUTZ! <3
How old were you when you saw number 2?
#2 Green Day: Ahahaha, hilarious. 16!
Favorite concert memory from number 8?
#8 Rancid: First mosh pit. Said to friends, we'll hold onto each other, okay? Then the first power chord hit and we were scattered like socks in a washing machine. We lost a friend to the other side, didn't see her til the end of the concert; my glasses made their first fall onto the floor of a pit, retrieved intact :) Survived!
Best cover song you've seen from number 4?
#4 Goat Explosion: I only know one that they've covered, which is Goodbye Horses which was practically a revelation!! But I suppose Apart would count, as it's an Elkland song.
Would you go to see number 7 again?
#7 Depeche Mode: They have come back since I last saw them, but in MSG usually because they are huge but MSG kinda stinks because it IS huge, so no, not really. Maybe in any other venue but MSG. Though I still love putting in their live DVDs and watching those. Martin <3
Song you never really liked until seeing number 1 in concert?
#1 The Adicts: Dang, I dunno. All their songs are ace and seeing them in concert made them even better. Oh wait! Nanana! I actually don't have that on an album (not even sure which one it's on, despite having all their full lengths i think.. stupid imports and stupid Cleopatria reissues!!) but they played it and had violin echo the chorus of nanana and it was so beautiful, wah! ;_; You think I kid! Ha!
Which albums do you own from number 6?
#6 And One: All of them, but half are copies from mlebot and the more recent ones are crazy imports I paid a lot for. I also got 3 singles which each cost about the price of full length CDs (then I made mlebot copies because I owe her tons!!) Oh, and the Frontfeuer EP which is AWESHUM. I also like the sorta-stinky recordings I made of their NYC show. STEVE!!
Best dance sequence you've ever seen from number 10?
#10 Inspecter 7: The crowd skanking of course. Or the lone dude doing a windmill. Whatever works. Picking up change is good too! :P
Worst thing about number 3's concert.
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: The immobility of some fans. Show some love! But I think the last Webster Hall show finally broke through that :)
The only three songs that number 3 would have to play to make a concert?
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Timorous Me, Counting Down the Hours, Suspect Device.
How far did you travel to see number 5?
#5 Gogol Bordello: Took the LIRR to some odd town on Long Island. Hehe, I like trekking for bands! They were not even headlining, we high-tailed it out of there after Anti-Flag. Ah, Anti-Flag. These questions were fun :)
Song you wish you'd seen number 2 do?
#2 Green Day: Paper Lanterns!!!!
How many times have you seen number 3?
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Oh snap... uh... estimating.. 10 times? More?
Where did you see number 9 play?
#9 Erasure: At the Ethical something Center, Townhall and somewhere else... I think?
Favorite song number 8 played?
#8 Rancid: The last time I saw them, it'd been so long since i saw them, that every song they started registered in my brain as "OMG MY FAV!!!" That being said, Radio is near the top.
Who did you see number 7 with?
#7 Depeche Mode: With Kill, mlebot, xian in Toronto. Poe opened!
Favorite venue you've seen 4 play?
#4 Goat Explosion: Mercury Lounge. That show was awesome! There were like maybe 10 hardcore fans.
Favorite concert memory from number 6?
#6 And One: Just seeing them for the first time in many many years and seeing mlebot scream like no one's ever screamed before :) Also that Steve said they'd come back. Please please please!!
Song that always goes off when you see number 10?
#10 Inspecter 7: When they cover "One Step Beyond" the entire crowd recites the beginning and rushes the stage at the same time and it's friggin' awesome. HEY YOU!!! But for one of their own songs, it's Sharkey 17 and the horns go two beats and when the drums do the same two beats, the crowd shouts over it "SKINHEAD!" It's a very shouty fanbase :)
Best thing about number 1's performance?
#1 The Adicts: Audience interaction!! Throwing decks of cards and confetti and streamers at us! Singing along to every single goddamn word. Going "woo woo WOO" during "Chinese Takeaway". Counting off "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8!" with fists in their air during "Number". Girls climbing onstage to dance to "Naughty Girl". Everything really. Especially Monkey. Or Dan the violinist. Or Scruff the young guitarist. Everyone really. I <3 all you Adicted fans! :)
Why did you go to see number 5?
#5 Gogol Bordello: Cuz their CD was so great, to see if they could match that intensity in their live acts. OMG it's even worse. I mean better! Haha! HUTZ! <3
How old were you when you saw number 2?
#2 Green Day: Ahahaha, hilarious. 16!
Favorite concert memory from number 8?
#8 Rancid: First mosh pit. Said to friends, we'll hold onto each other, okay? Then the first power chord hit and we were scattered like socks in a washing machine. We lost a friend to the other side, didn't see her til the end of the concert; my glasses made their first fall onto the floor of a pit, retrieved intact :) Survived!
Best cover song you've seen from number 4?
#4 Goat Explosion: I only know one that they've covered, which is Goodbye Horses which was practically a revelation!! But I suppose Apart would count, as it's an Elkland song.
Would you go to see number 7 again?
#7 Depeche Mode: They have come back since I last saw them, but in MSG usually because they are huge but MSG kinda stinks because it IS huge, so no, not really. Maybe in any other venue but MSG. Though I still love putting in their live DVDs and watching those. Martin <3
Song you never really liked until seeing number 1 in concert?
#1 The Adicts: Dang, I dunno. All their songs are ace and seeing them in concert made them even better. Oh wait! Nanana! I actually don't have that on an album (not even sure which one it's on, despite having all their full lengths i think.. stupid imports and stupid Cleopatria reissues!!) but they played it and had violin echo the chorus of nanana and it was so beautiful, wah! ;_; You think I kid! Ha!
Which albums do you own from number 6?
#6 And One: All of them, but half are copies from mlebot and the more recent ones are crazy imports I paid a lot for. I also got 3 singles which each cost about the price of full length CDs (then I made mlebot copies because I owe her tons!!) Oh, and the Frontfeuer EP which is AWESHUM. I also like the sorta-stinky recordings I made of their NYC show. STEVE!!
Best dance sequence you've ever seen from number 10?
#10 Inspecter 7: The crowd skanking of course. Or the lone dude doing a windmill. Whatever works. Picking up change is good too! :P
Worst thing about number 3's concert.
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: The immobility of some fans. Show some love! But I think the last Webster Hall show finally broke through that :)
The only three songs that number 3 would have to play to make a concert?
#3 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists: Timorous Me, Counting Down the Hours, Suspect Device.
How far did you travel to see number 5?
#5 Gogol Bordello: Took the LIRR to some odd town on Long Island. Hehe, I like trekking for bands! They were not even headlining, we high-tailed it out of there after Anti-Flag. Ah, Anti-Flag. These questions were fun :)
e enjte, 5 korrik 2007
inspire!
To celebrate the 4th of July, I finally saw Rocky. This montage is fantastic:
Then Kill sent me this vid, which inspired me to make this post about inspirational music, interpreted how you will. Beautiful vid by Sigur Ros:
And finally, a song with many words of wisdom:
Wear sunscreen!!!
Then Kill sent me this vid, which inspired me to make this post about inspirational music, interpreted how you will. Beautiful vid by Sigur Ros:
And finally, a song with many words of wisdom:
Wear sunscreen!!!
e premte, 22 qershor 2007
Skoochie
I forgot to link Inspecter 7 music at their myspace. But really I was just looking for an excuse to type Skoochie. Hee hee. SKOOCHIE!
Actually I wanted to note that their excellent album "the Infamous" came out in 1997. Ten years man! How time flies! Also that they are playing their first reunion show in a while on July 7, 2007 (7-7-07), and I wonder if other things are happening that day, much like last year's 6-6-06 when it was SLAYER day. MetalRon did 24 hours of SLAYER last year, which was awesome.
SLAYER!
I mean, SKOOCHIE!!!
Also I just wanna wish the US good luck on kicking Mexico's ass on Sunday. Here is an awesome Kinky song used for some MLS montage:
Hmm, I can't seem to find out which album this would be on, if any. Virgin also only had one Kinky album on its shelves. Virgin is not very good. Must get on download-wagon. Why no, I will not acknowledge using a song by a Mexican band to cheer for the US against Mexico as irony! :P Hee hee. Skoochie!
Actually I wanted to note that their excellent album "the Infamous" came out in 1997. Ten years man! How time flies! Also that they are playing their first reunion show in a while on July 7, 2007 (7-7-07), and I wonder if other things are happening that day, much like last year's 6-6-06 when it was SLAYER day. MetalRon did 24 hours of SLAYER last year, which was awesome.
SLAYER!
I mean, SKOOCHIE!!!
Also I just wanna wish the US good luck on kicking Mexico's ass on Sunday. Here is an awesome Kinky song used for some MLS montage:
Hmm, I can't seem to find out which album this would be on, if any. Virgin also only had one Kinky album on its shelves. Virgin is not very good. Must get on download-wagon. Why no, I will not acknowledge using a song by a Mexican band to cheer for the US against Mexico as irony! :P Hee hee. Skoochie!
e enjte, 21 qershor 2007
Summertime when the weather is hot
Happy first day of summer everyone!!!
That means the time of summer songs is here! As a semi-listener of top 40 pop music, I am disappointed in the contenders for the song of the summer. I ran across this list on Yahoo one day. While sorta-catchy, the #1 song by Rihanna isn't doing much for me, which is weird, because it should be right up my alley. The second song by Fergie is a balladish number, and not a good one at that, I can't even remember the tune though I've watched the video maybe twice. I don't even know the others, except that maybe "Lean Like A Cholo" would so be worth hunting down just for the song title.
#13 on the list is my favoritest of those listed. Lil Mama making a song all about lipgloss is just perfect. A little brattish and way way catchy.
However just yesterday I heard my own song for the summer, a nice ska-tinged tune by Mr. Tim Frickin' Armstrong:
ISN'T IT GREAT?! I LOVE IT!!! I've heard it's getting radio play. He's got an ear for a tune, whether it was Operation Ivy, Rancid, the Transplants or the one-off song by the Silencers, or writing songs for Pink.
Also finally, Ted Leo gets his answer on where the rudeboys have gone. They're still influencing music, thank goodness!
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I know where more rudies (and skins) will show up! At the scattered Inspecter 7 shows happening this summer!! I am so psyched! I got my worst concert injury at an Inspecter 7 show--where this big skinhead collided against me and my glasses scratched my eyes--MY EYE! Actually, it was okay, it just looked like I had purple eyeliner for a while. Hot. (My glasses were still okay. They always seem to survive intact :) ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOSE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. OI! OI!
KILL, WHERE IS MY INSPECTER 7 CD????!!?!!
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I got a new CD yesterday, because I really really liked one song off it and it was cheap with a DVD! Rodrigo y Gabriela's self-titled CD is acoustic guitar genius! <3
That means the time of summer songs is here! As a semi-listener of top 40 pop music, I am disappointed in the contenders for the song of the summer. I ran across this list on Yahoo one day. While sorta-catchy, the #1 song by Rihanna isn't doing much for me, which is weird, because it should be right up my alley. The second song by Fergie is a balladish number, and not a good one at that, I can't even remember the tune though I've watched the video maybe twice. I don't even know the others, except that maybe "Lean Like A Cholo" would so be worth hunting down just for the song title.
#13 on the list is my favoritest of those listed. Lil Mama making a song all about lipgloss is just perfect. A little brattish and way way catchy.
However just yesterday I heard my own song for the summer, a nice ska-tinged tune by Mr. Tim Frickin' Armstrong:
ISN'T IT GREAT?! I LOVE IT!!! I've heard it's getting radio play. He's got an ear for a tune, whether it was Operation Ivy, Rancid, the Transplants or the one-off song by the Silencers, or writing songs for Pink.
Also finally, Ted Leo gets his answer on where the rudeboys have gone. They're still influencing music, thank goodness!
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I know where more rudies (and skins) will show up! At the scattered Inspecter 7 shows happening this summer!! I am so psyched! I got my worst concert injury at an Inspecter 7 show--where this big skinhead collided against me and my glasses scratched my eyes--MY EYE! Actually, it was okay, it just looked like I had purple eyeliner for a while. Hot. (My glasses were still okay. They always seem to survive intact :) ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOSE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. OI! OI!
KILL, WHERE IS MY INSPECTER 7 CD????!!?!!
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I got a new CD yesterday, because I really really liked one song off it and it was cheap with a DVD! Rodrigo y Gabriela's self-titled CD is acoustic guitar genius! <3
e martë, 19 qershor 2007
Two Hours in Times Square's Virgin Megastore
Here is my short summary, as I am sure Kill will have a post with pix about the Erasure signing at Virgin yesterday. We arrived early to find no one, so we quoted some Spinal Tap and wasted time looking at music. I become a VIP member and purchase:
Musical World: Andes
Manu Chao - ...proxima estacion...Esperanza
and when I go upstairs I find
Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life
and buy that too, that's when I spy some wristbands. So I ask someone and there's already a line outside! We wait with hardcore Erasurites (if that's not their moniker, it should be!) and then I am told I can't be on the line because I have no wristband (stupid policy, but we only make sad faces) and everyone is hustled downstairs. Vince and Andy arrive soon after (earlier than 6)! I take many pix. Kill is about 14th on line, so she gets there quick, snap snap, and tada we are done at 6:04.
The short samples I heard of Tim's solo CD are AWESOME! Too bad I am backlogged with my CD listening, as I still have Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris soundtrack to get to (which is a great off-broadway musical by the way).
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Here are two Manu Chao anecdotes: The first song I heard of him was "Dia Luna, Dia Pena" on one of Lena's awesome mixtapes. Simple song, simple lyrics, but omg, what lyrics! "Hoy me levanto sin razon, hoy me levanto y no quiero" = "Today I awake without reason, today I awake and I don't want to" all in this soft sleepy voice, belying a deeper dissatisfaction.
Funnily enough when I went to buy Mika tickets, some people in front of me thought they were only selling tickets for his show (and got huffy when asked what tickets they were purchasing) but the only other two non-white people in the line ahead of me were buying Manu Chao tickets. HA!
Okay, a third. I cut out articles. I have one somewhere of Manu Chao from some magazine. Without even owning any other song but that one til yesterday. I think it's my brain's way of knowing the future somehow. Like when I was saving all those Rufus Wainwright articles before my sis was really into him and I was all ORLY? and handed her a few articles, among then the one with the infamous Bea Arthur quote "I'm not your fucking grandmother!" Ahh, good going, brain :)
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I am sure there's a reason I named the last post Mambo! but I forget.
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Look at me, I am using tags!! So schmart am I.
Musical World: Andes
Manu Chao - ...proxima estacion...Esperanza
and when I go upstairs I find
Tim Armstrong - A Poet's Life
and buy that too, that's when I spy some wristbands. So I ask someone and there's already a line outside! We wait with hardcore Erasurites (if that's not their moniker, it should be!) and then I am told I can't be on the line because I have no wristband (stupid policy, but we only make sad faces) and everyone is hustled downstairs. Vince and Andy arrive soon after (earlier than 6)! I take many pix. Kill is about 14th on line, so she gets there quick, snap snap, and tada we are done at 6:04.
The short samples I heard of Tim's solo CD are AWESOME! Too bad I am backlogged with my CD listening, as I still have Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris soundtrack to get to (which is a great off-broadway musical by the way).
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Here are two Manu Chao anecdotes: The first song I heard of him was "Dia Luna, Dia Pena" on one of Lena's awesome mixtapes. Simple song, simple lyrics, but omg, what lyrics! "Hoy me levanto sin razon, hoy me levanto y no quiero" = "Today I awake without reason, today I awake and I don't want to" all in this soft sleepy voice, belying a deeper dissatisfaction.
Funnily enough when I went to buy Mika tickets, some people in front of me thought they were only selling tickets for his show (and got huffy when asked what tickets they were purchasing) but the only other two non-white people in the line ahead of me were buying Manu Chao tickets. HA!
Okay, a third. I cut out articles. I have one somewhere of Manu Chao from some magazine. Without even owning any other song but that one til yesterday. I think it's my brain's way of knowing the future somehow. Like when I was saving all those Rufus Wainwright articles before my sis was really into him and I was all ORLY? and handed her a few articles, among then the one with the infamous Bea Arthur quote "I'm not your fucking grandmother!" Ahh, good going, brain :)
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I am sure there's a reason I named the last post Mambo! but I forget.
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Look at me, I am using tags!! So schmart am I.
e hënë, 18 qershor 2007
Mambo!
I thought I should have a non-video-stuffed post! Mika was great! The line to the Nokia Theatre Times Square clogged up the already crowded Broadway sidewalk, but once we made it inside, it was all nice and dim and underground and cool and there were super neat bathrooms with cute mirrors. Lollipop Girls ran around in blonde wigs and hot pink dresses with big white bows at the back, carrying around baskets of lollipops and spreading their good cheer throughout! MTV Guy with Mohawk got in on the fun and told them where the Bear was hiding so two of the Lollipop Girls were like OHNOOOES and they flounced away, denying me my fourth lollipop of the evening. We sat in the old fogeys section (if you hit 20 at this show, you were eligible for fogeydom). The show was supposedly 16+ but I saw an 8 year old kid there. Also tons of grannies in the VIP section (we joked about this til later Mika said that his grandma was in the VIP section. HA!)
The opening act was short and sweet. They later put a breakdancing crew for our enjoyment. Weird music throughout the evening was played, such as Funkytown and other nonsense which i knew way to much of.
Finally, Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 comes on (sis says: OMG SO GAY!!!) and Mika and band comes on, woo hoo!!! Everyone squeals like piglets. People go dancing up and down aisles and generally spazzing out, and waving their arms like they are at the Roxy. Even MTV Mohawk Dood rocks out completely, between audio note taking. Tons of cameras flashing nonstop. As Mika only has one album, he snuck in two covers, one of a Jackson 5 song whose title escapes me and the Eurythmics's Sweet Dreams. There is an absolutely AMAZING rendition of Love Today. There's already lots of vid clips on youtube.
He is such a great performer. His happy dancing, plus these grand silouhettes as he hits high notes = FANTASTIC!! Also he and his band later came on all wearing animal costumes to the Teddy Bear's Picnic which I found mildly creepy (you could hear the audience go AWWW when the bunny was getting picked on by the rest) and which my sis declared the best thing EVAR. Mika is love <3
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I love me some memes! Here are my answers for http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com/
If you were given an unlimited budget for one day, what music-related things would you splurge on? You could buy CDs (or ultra-rare LPs), concert tickets, memorabilia - anything related to music.
WHAT WOULDN'T I GET?!?! I would order rare CDs that I can't even get at Virgin, such as Salsa Celtica and Moi dix Mois online, along with download music that's only availably digitally (I just found out today that the reason I haven't been able to track down Dizzee Rascal's Maths and English is because it's only available by download in the US!! WTF!!). Buy multiple copies of CDs I really really like and give them to my peeps. I would buy lots of CDs that I only have on cassette right now. I would buy lots of CDs of bands I've really liked one song of and hope for the best. Buy a lot of CDs of artists my parents are into. I would buy a lot of those Best of and Taste of compilations. I would order a bunch of band merch, like more Ted Leo junk, band t-shirts, wallets, whatever, stickers and posters, omg posters posters and books and biographies. I would get lots of concert tickets for things I was even remotely interested in, and even use my unlimited budget to get to out of the city/state concerts. I suppose I could go on ebay and see if i could get autographed things, but really I like having my things autographed in person, that's what makes it special! Etc etc ad nauseum.
What is your favorite style of music, or band/artist, that uses the violin/fiddle?
Sorry, can't pick :P I love a good ol' celtic fiddle, classical violin, folk music, world music, opera, country music (Charlie Daniels' Devil Went Down to Georgia = best song with violin EVER?), grandiose metal songs, whatever, I love it. Specifically, off the top of my head, Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello use violin to great effect in their music.
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Oh snap. Off to Erasure signing!!!
The opening act was short and sweet. They later put a breakdancing crew for our enjoyment. Weird music throughout the evening was played, such as Funkytown and other nonsense which i knew way to much of.
Finally, Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 comes on (sis says: OMG SO GAY!!!) and Mika and band comes on, woo hoo!!! Everyone squeals like piglets. People go dancing up and down aisles and generally spazzing out, and waving their arms like they are at the Roxy. Even MTV Mohawk Dood rocks out completely, between audio note taking. Tons of cameras flashing nonstop. As Mika only has one album, he snuck in two covers, one of a Jackson 5 song whose title escapes me and the Eurythmics's Sweet Dreams. There is an absolutely AMAZING rendition of Love Today. There's already lots of vid clips on youtube.
He is such a great performer. His happy dancing, plus these grand silouhettes as he hits high notes = FANTASTIC!! Also he and his band later came on all wearing animal costumes to the Teddy Bear's Picnic which I found mildly creepy (you could hear the audience go AWWW when the bunny was getting picked on by the rest) and which my sis declared the best thing EVAR. Mika is love <3
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I love me some memes! Here are my answers for http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com/
If you were given an unlimited budget for one day, what music-related things would you splurge on? You could buy CDs (or ultra-rare LPs), concert tickets, memorabilia - anything related to music.
WHAT WOULDN'T I GET?!?! I would order rare CDs that I can't even get at Virgin, such as Salsa Celtica and Moi dix Mois online, along with download music that's only availably digitally (I just found out today that the reason I haven't been able to track down Dizzee Rascal's Maths and English is because it's only available by download in the US!! WTF!!). Buy multiple copies of CDs I really really like and give them to my peeps. I would buy lots of CDs that I only have on cassette right now. I would buy lots of CDs of bands I've really liked one song of and hope for the best. Buy a lot of CDs of artists my parents are into. I would buy a lot of those Best of and Taste of compilations. I would order a bunch of band merch, like more Ted Leo junk, band t-shirts, wallets, whatever, stickers and posters, omg posters posters and books and biographies. I would get lots of concert tickets for things I was even remotely interested in, and even use my unlimited budget to get to out of the city/state concerts. I suppose I could go on ebay and see if i could get autographed things, but really I like having my things autographed in person, that's what makes it special! Etc etc ad nauseum.
What is your favorite style of music, or band/artist, that uses the violin/fiddle?
Sorry, can't pick :P I love a good ol' celtic fiddle, classical violin, folk music, world music, opera, country music (Charlie Daniels' Devil Went Down to Georgia = best song with violin EVER?), grandiose metal songs, whatever, I love it. Specifically, off the top of my head, Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello use violin to great effect in their music.
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Oh snap. Off to Erasure signing!!!
E-ray-shore
Ages and ages ago (okay, maybe a few years) I was scoping out the clearance cassettes (okay maybe it was more than a few years) in the basement of Bradlee's at Union Square (since closed and turned into something which was changed into Whole Foods, etc etc). I was into punk, which was leading me into new wave and 80s music. I found an Erasure cassette. It was of Chorus. I thought, my sis might like this. Besides it's $2.99, what a steal! So I bought it and gave it away. Then months and months later my sis is Erasure-obsessed and now collects imported CDs and singles and orders ridiculous things like Erasure torches (that is flashlights promoting their newest album Light at the End of the World) to this day.
They are doing a signing today at Virgin, where I will play the dutiful photographer and companion much like she did for me at the Mika in-store performance at Borders. So here are some Erasure tunes for today:
One of their most well-known songs A Little Respect has such a cute vid. Vince is kyooot!
Love To Hate You got my sis hooked. I blame it for Erasuritis. I'd like to know the killer isn't meeee :)
Erasure released an EP of Abba covers called Abbaesque. Here is Erasure in drag, looking oh so cute, doing Take a Chance on Me
One of their 90s hits Always is so sweeet. Wah.
Dancing on rooftops is ace! Witness: Sometimes
Now I present to you a battle of two of the worst vids ever! Bwahahaha. Here is Star
against Heavenly Action. No wonder Vince doesn't want to be in any more vids! Eesh :P
Lastly, another of their well-known hits Chains of Love.
For extra chuckles, check out Erasure Comics! Snoo is great!
They are doing a signing today at Virgin, where I will play the dutiful photographer and companion much like she did for me at the Mika in-store performance at Borders. So here are some Erasure tunes for today:
One of their most well-known songs A Little Respect has such a cute vid. Vince is kyooot!
Love To Hate You got my sis hooked. I blame it for Erasuritis. I'd like to know the killer isn't meeee :)
Erasure released an EP of Abba covers called Abbaesque. Here is Erasure in drag, looking oh so cute, doing Take a Chance on Me
One of their 90s hits Always is so sweeet. Wah.
Dancing on rooftops is ace! Witness: Sometimes
Now I present to you a battle of two of the worst vids ever! Bwahahaha. Here is Star
against Heavenly Action. No wonder Vince doesn't want to be in any more vids! Eesh :P
Lastly, another of their well-known hits Chains of Love.
For extra chuckles, check out Erasure Comics! Snoo is great!
e premte, 15 qershor 2007
Mika at Nokia Tonight!
I'm seeing Mika tonight with a bunch of other screaming, screeching, silly psychos--I mean, pop fans. Didn't want to include him in the falsetto list below, because I wanted an entire post for him. Tons of his songs have vids, official and fan-made. Here is a sampling:
His first hit Grace Kelly. I was hooked from the first listen. Little did I know I would be caught in a downward (maybe upward) spiral into pop-delirium.
Some fan made a vid with pictures of lollipops for his song Lollipop. Brilliant concept, no?
Love Today! Triptastic!! (to use the word of a Metro article) Love, love me!
Relax, Take it Easy has excellent falsetto to scare--I mean, delight my budgies.
"Diet coke, I'm on my knees" is a great line. What? How about "You take your girl and multiply her by four"? He is so great. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) fan vid, just audio:
His first hit Grace Kelly. I was hooked from the first listen. Little did I know I would be caught in a downward (maybe upward) spiral into pop-delirium.
Some fan made a vid with pictures of lollipops for his song Lollipop. Brilliant concept, no?
Love Today! Triptastic!! (to use the word of a Metro article) Love, love me!
Relax, Take it Easy has excellent falsetto to scare--I mean, delight my budgies.
"Diet coke, I'm on my knees" is a great line. What? How about "You take your girl and multiply her by four"? He is so great. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) fan vid, just audio:
e enjte, 14 qershor 2007
Let no one sleep
I couldn't hold off on the aria I mentioned before, because I saw the below vid and just had to make a post on opera, with what little I know of it.
Meet Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman from Wales. Just... watch:
Just. Wow. Paul Potts, you are my new hero. Also, that exhalation the female judge gives at 1:57, yes yes, that's the awe of being in the presence of greatness.
Here is Pavarotti doing Nessun Dorma, the same aria:
That piece sounds so much like a Phantom song... but I digress. Isn't opera great? ^_^ Sis took me and our parents to see Juan Diego Flórez, a great tenor from Peru, in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (with a bang and a boom and a catchy little tune by Rossini ;) at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Now, for the ladies, with the famous Queen of the Night aria. Here it is sung by Diana Damrau (begins at 2:10 in the video below)
German <3 Is she not absolutely fabulous? *flails* Those notes!!! INHUMAN! *flails some more*
Last, but not least, let me present Florence Foster Jenkins! She was a socialite who wanted to be a great opera singer, just like our Mr. Potts. Except she was umm...not so good at it. But she had money to throw around and persisted and persisted--and didn't get any better, but society thought her crazy and funny and she sold out Carnegie Hall. Here is an audio sample of her rendition of the Queen of the Night aria:
Yeah her voice is like a dying bird.. but this is what raises her to awesomeness: she once said "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." THAT IS SO PUNK! LOVE YOU FLORENCE <3 <3 <3
edited to add: I was just reading up on Diana Damrau and found this snippet in her wiki page: "Both Damrau and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez revealed in a joint interview on New York Radio Station WNYC, November 2006 during their run in Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera..."
WE SAW THE BARBER OF SEVILLE IN NOVEMBER 2006 SO I PROBABLY SAW HER AND DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT. WHOA. *brain explodes*
Okay, I lied, one more vid. L'amour est un oiseau rebelle from Carmen:
Love is a Rebellious Bird :)
Meet Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman from Wales. Just... watch:
Just. Wow. Paul Potts, you are my new hero. Also, that exhalation the female judge gives at 1:57, yes yes, that's the awe of being in the presence of greatness.
Here is Pavarotti doing Nessun Dorma, the same aria:
That piece sounds so much like a Phantom song... but I digress. Isn't opera great? ^_^ Sis took me and our parents to see Juan Diego Flórez, a great tenor from Peru, in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (with a bang and a boom and a catchy little tune by Rossini ;) at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Now, for the ladies, with the famous Queen of the Night aria. Here it is sung by Diana Damrau (begins at 2:10 in the video below)
German <3 Is she not absolutely fabulous? *flails* Those notes!!! INHUMAN! *flails some more*
Last, but not least, let me present Florence Foster Jenkins! She was a socialite who wanted to be a great opera singer, just like our Mr. Potts. Except she was umm...not so good at it. But she had money to throw around and persisted and persisted--and didn't get any better, but society thought her crazy and funny and she sold out Carnegie Hall. Here is an audio sample of her rendition of the Queen of the Night aria:
Yeah her voice is like a dying bird.. but this is what raises her to awesomeness: she once said "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing." THAT IS SO PUNK! LOVE YOU FLORENCE <3 <3 <3
edited to add: I was just reading up on Diana Damrau and found this snippet in her wiki page: "Both Damrau and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez revealed in a joint interview on New York Radio Station WNYC, November 2006 during their run in Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera..."
WE SAW THE BARBER OF SEVILLE IN NOVEMBER 2006 SO I PROBABLY SAW HER AND DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT. WHOA. *brain explodes*
Okay, I lied, one more vid. L'amour est un oiseau rebelle from Carmen:
Love is a Rebellious Bird :)
strutting songs
Poptart agreed with my comment below on the KT Tunstall song re: strutting :)
I admit it. I start staring people down in the street when certain songs come on. I start strutting, walking like I own the streets -- I usually do that anyway, but even moreso :P
The background beat plus the message + the incredible Mary J and the kickass Eve: "Not Today" is a total strut song. Don't ever waste your time girl.
Missy Elliott! The song title says it all "I'm Really Hot." The boasting themes of rap lend themselves to songs that make you feel good just repeating their words. "I lick my lips like I'm LL, and i'm doing it and doing it and doing it well" <3 Great dance vid too.
"I'll serve your ass like John MacEnroe
If your girl steps up, I'm smacking the ho"
!!!! Coming from a House of Pain, yeah whatever. Coming from me = :D
One last rap song before I move onto struttable rock songs. Like the House of Pain lyrics above, they come off even better when I'm saying "i got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one." Instant 'tude. Love it.
My fav lyric in Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" is "I'm worth a million in prizes." I feel it every time :D
From the very moment that crazy laugh and the slamming jaildoors and the guitars hit in the first second of Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout", I totally imagine a great sprint over backyards away from the police, ala that scene in Billy Elliot. I eat up that whole bravado. Nevermind that it almost comes off as a love song "Now I'm nearly home nearly back for you", it just rules as a these streets are ours kind of way. Haha look at that crowd. People all smashed up at the front. Haha I laugh at you in a i've-been-there sort of way. HA.
Okay, those are just off the top of my head, but I stop now :D Feel free to leave comments with your own strut-inducing music.
I admit it. I start staring people down in the street when certain songs come on. I start strutting, walking like I own the streets -- I usually do that anyway, but even moreso :P
The background beat plus the message + the incredible Mary J and the kickass Eve: "Not Today" is a total strut song. Don't ever waste your time girl.
Missy Elliott! The song title says it all "I'm Really Hot." The boasting themes of rap lend themselves to songs that make you feel good just repeating their words. "I lick my lips like I'm LL, and i'm doing it and doing it and doing it well" <3 Great dance vid too.
"I'll serve your ass like John MacEnroe
If your girl steps up, I'm smacking the ho"
!!!! Coming from a House of Pain, yeah whatever. Coming from me = :D
One last rap song before I move onto struttable rock songs. Like the House of Pain lyrics above, they come off even better when I'm saying "i got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one." Instant 'tude. Love it.
My fav lyric in Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" is "I'm worth a million in prizes." I feel it every time :D
From the very moment that crazy laugh and the slamming jaildoors and the guitars hit in the first second of Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout", I totally imagine a great sprint over backyards away from the police, ala that scene in Billy Elliot. I eat up that whole bravado. Nevermind that it almost comes off as a love song "Now I'm nearly home nearly back for you", it just rules as a these streets are ours kind of way. Haha look at that crowd. People all smashed up at the front. Haha I laugh at you in a i've-been-there sort of way. HA.
Okay, those are just off the top of my head, but I stop now :D Feel free to leave comments with your own strut-inducing music.
On a high note...
It is under great duress that I write this post (actually i'm just rushing)
When I was pondering a theme for my last mix, I considered briefly a falsetto mix. I <3 falsetto. Here is a bunch of falsetto (or at least hi-note containing) songs that are fun to sing along to. By men. I'll have a high-note ladies post another time (I'll include my favorite Mozart aria too).
The obvious: Bee Gees. I don't know what "more than a woman" means, except that it cracks my sis and me up for no reason. Kind of like Dress Barn Woman. WTF! Also I confess that I have not seen the last half of Saturday Night Fever. Watch the haair!
They had the Jersey Boys perform "What a Night" at the Tonys, but really, my favoritest Four Seasons song is "Dawn (Go Away)." I vividly recall hearing the lyrics on the radio, and turning it louder and putting my ear to the speaker to catch it and going omg ;_; such a sad song. Now think what the future would be with a poor boy like me:
I'm skipping around, forgive for the order. Ted Leo uses some falsetto to great effect in lots of his songs. In fact, the first time I heard an interview I was surprised at how low his speaking voice is! "Oooh to that two-tone beat!"
Ah, the Darkness. Going with "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" would be too obvious, and besides, I like lots of their songs. Here is "Growing on Me" with super high notes dotted through out (first at 2:02)
More metal! Pantera's Cementary Gates!!! <3 The high notes start at 4:55 and go increasingly higher. It's TEH AWESOME. There's a longer version, but we'll just have to make do with this vid:
Speaking of cut-off vids, the Isley Brothers' "Shout" has a second part, which contains more high-note goodness, but this shorter version has some good WOOOOs at the end, around 1:44
If I wrote you a symphony... oh but you did Justin! HEE. I mean, what? I don't get your sex appeal, but i do <3 this song lots.
Sylvester had a classic with "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)." This is awesome awesome awesome. Note that he was a drag performer, and in drag circles "real" means passing, but of course it works just on the level of being so in love that you feel complete. So yeah, gay love song = YAY!!
Here is Jimmy Somerville's cover of the above song. It's even campier, if possible. Oh Jimmy i loves you! I think my sis has possession of our only Somerville CD which we bought for a superhigh price at Virgin as an import. I also have an album of his on cassette, must get on CD!!! *Dances* Also, best video ever, right? HEE!
Here is Jimmy Somerville's band in the 80s, Bronski Beat with their hit "Smalltown Boy." Glorious falsetto you have there Jimmy.
I saved the best for last :) The song starts at 2:34. TROGDOR!!!!!!!
When I was pondering a theme for my last mix, I considered briefly a falsetto mix. I <3 falsetto. Here is a bunch of falsetto (or at least hi-note containing) songs that are fun to sing along to. By men. I'll have a high-note ladies post another time (I'll include my favorite Mozart aria too).
The obvious: Bee Gees. I don't know what "more than a woman" means, except that it cracks my sis and me up for no reason. Kind of like Dress Barn Woman. WTF! Also I confess that I have not seen the last half of Saturday Night Fever. Watch the haair!
They had the Jersey Boys perform "What a Night" at the Tonys, but really, my favoritest Four Seasons song is "Dawn (Go Away)." I vividly recall hearing the lyrics on the radio, and turning it louder and putting my ear to the speaker to catch it and going omg ;_; such a sad song. Now think what the future would be with a poor boy like me:
I'm skipping around, forgive for the order. Ted Leo uses some falsetto to great effect in lots of his songs. In fact, the first time I heard an interview I was surprised at how low his speaking voice is! "Oooh to that two-tone beat!"
Ah, the Darkness. Going with "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" would be too obvious, and besides, I like lots of their songs. Here is "Growing on Me" with super high notes dotted through out (first at 2:02)
More metal! Pantera's Cementary Gates!!! <3 The high notes start at 4:55 and go increasingly higher. It's TEH AWESOME. There's a longer version, but we'll just have to make do with this vid:
Speaking of cut-off vids, the Isley Brothers' "Shout" has a second part, which contains more high-note goodness, but this shorter version has some good WOOOOs at the end, around 1:44
If I wrote you a symphony... oh but you did Justin! HEE. I mean, what? I don't get your sex appeal, but i do <3 this song lots.
Sylvester had a classic with "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)." This is awesome awesome awesome. Note that he was a drag performer, and in drag circles "real" means passing, but of course it works just on the level of being so in love that you feel complete. So yeah, gay love song = YAY!!
Here is Jimmy Somerville's cover of the above song. It's even campier, if possible. Oh Jimmy i loves you! I think my sis has possession of our only Somerville CD which we bought for a superhigh price at Virgin as an import. I also have an album of his on cassette, must get on CD!!! *Dances* Also, best video ever, right? HEE!
Here is Jimmy Somerville's band in the 80s, Bronski Beat with their hit "Smalltown Boy." Glorious falsetto you have there Jimmy.
I saved the best for last :) The song starts at 2:34. TROGDOR!!!!!!!
e martë, 12 qershor 2007
football songs!
Another youtube post! About footie-related songs.
Okay, I know I should probably put a Liverpool version of this, but this Celtic one is fantastic, in tribute to the recent Spain bombings, what glorious condolences! The Adicts also sing this on their tours, sing-alongs are fun!!
This is probably the best official world cup song yet! From 1998, Ricky Martin, aww yeah!! <3 Kill and I did this song mucho justice in karaoke once. Allez allez allez!
Shakira performing at the 2006 World Cup. Love this version of the song. Heck, I love any version of this song. Shakira, Shakira!
Here is a rap song by the only US player to score in the 2006 World Cup. Love ya Deuce!! Call me crazy, but I think this song is GREAT. I made the game ferocious!
Now here's some fans singing at a stadium. Turkish fans are cah-razy! What are they saying I wonder.. something nice, i am sure :)
Youtube kinda sucks because it doesn't have Madix's Keepah, this awesome soca dance song made about the Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop! However I found a post on this World Cup Blog where you can listen or download. Yay! Jump and wave!
Lastly, here is the youtube clip of the Arash song for Iran's 2006 World Cup. Love love love this. Drums rule!
Okay, I know I should probably put a Liverpool version of this, but this Celtic one is fantastic, in tribute to the recent Spain bombings, what glorious condolences! The Adicts also sing this on their tours, sing-alongs are fun!!
This is probably the best official world cup song yet! From 1998, Ricky Martin, aww yeah!! <3 Kill and I did this song mucho justice in karaoke once. Allez allez allez!
Shakira performing at the 2006 World Cup. Love this version of the song. Heck, I love any version of this song. Shakira, Shakira!
Here is a rap song by the only US player to score in the 2006 World Cup. Love ya Deuce!! Call me crazy, but I think this song is GREAT. I made the game ferocious!
Now here's some fans singing at a stadium. Turkish fans are cah-razy! What are they saying I wonder.. something nice, i am sure :)
Youtube kinda sucks because it doesn't have Madix's Keepah, this awesome soca dance song made about the Trinidad & Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop! However I found a post on this World Cup Blog where you can listen or download. Yay! Jump and wave!
Lastly, here is the youtube clip of the Arash song for Iran's 2006 World Cup. Love love love this. Drums rule!
I <3 Musical Theatre
On Sunday, after a failed attempt to reach the Puerto Rican Day parade and screech at Ricky Martin (who wasn't singing anyway, so I guess we didn't miss much), Kill and I made our way to the Broadhurst Theatre to catch Les Miz. Sure it's overly dramatic -- that is the whole point! They're miserable!! Kill never weeps, but this got her and the hulking dood next to me all misty:
Marius <3 ! "Oh my friends, my friends!!!" <-- gets me every time
In honor of the Tonys (which I watched on Sunday as well--i love me some awards shows, man!) here are some of my favorite musical songs:
Jennifer Holliday schools you all!!! I get the shakes watching this.
Idina Menzel!! In your face, Oz!
Christine Ebersole PWNS the leading actress category! Amazing role. I want to be like Edie, til Kill reminded me we are dressing like that already. HA! And that's the revolutionary costume for today! The NYTimes review said it best:
"Da-da-da-da-dum." Not exactly a phrase that gleams with Shakespearean eloquence, is it? But once you’ve heard Christine Ebersole sing it — and believe me, this is an experience no passionate theatergoer should miss — "da-da-da-da-dum" is guaranteed to enter your personal memory bank of cherished quotations, the kind you summon when you’re feeling down and thwarted and need to smile.
And finally, off-Broadway, I've seen this twice and this is my fav song:
Boy, am I a sucker for musicals. I wish they had some Guys & Dolls clips from the movie online, I'd link that too. I'm too lazy to dig up some Phantom now, but man, do we love our Phantom. Mlebot did a crazygood rendition of Phantom of the Opera at karaoke!!! :)
I like writing pwn!
Marius <3 ! "Oh my friends, my friends!!!" <-- gets me every time
In honor of the Tonys (which I watched on Sunday as well--i love me some awards shows, man!) here are some of my favorite musical songs:
Jennifer Holliday schools you all!!! I get the shakes watching this.
Idina Menzel!! In your face, Oz!
Christine Ebersole PWNS the leading actress category! Amazing role. I want to be like Edie, til Kill reminded me we are dressing like that already. HA! And that's the revolutionary costume for today! The NYTimes review said it best:
"Da-da-da-da-dum." Not exactly a phrase that gleams with Shakespearean eloquence, is it? But once you’ve heard Christine Ebersole sing it — and believe me, this is an experience no passionate theatergoer should miss — "da-da-da-da-dum" is guaranteed to enter your personal memory bank of cherished quotations, the kind you summon when you’re feeling down and thwarted and need to smile.
And finally, off-Broadway, I've seen this twice and this is my fav song:
Boy, am I a sucker for musicals. I wish they had some Guys & Dolls clips from the movie online, I'd link that too. I'm too lazy to dig up some Phantom now, but man, do we love our Phantom. Mlebot did a crazygood rendition of Phantom of the Opera at karaoke!!! :)
I like writing pwn!
My Spring 2007 Mix!
I made a spring-themed mix for my peeps. I drew a cute cover (must scan to put here) and had a track listing of course. I had planned on making liner notes, but I ran out of time and it would have involved weird printing out techniques to print on the inside of my cd booklet and i am lazy! So I think I'll just put it here:
01. Volver intro
I snagged this from the trailer for Almodóvar's Volver. The translation goes as follows: Penelope Cruz's character confronts her sister, asking "Is there something I don't know which I should?" Her sister replies "A ton."
02. Lesley Gore - Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows
I was working on this mix for over a month, agonizing on the order of songs, none of them were quite right, til this song came into place. Perfect! I love it!
03. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - A Bottle of Buckie
Not many people write good friendship songs. This is a great one :) This is off his latest "Living with the Living."
04. Lily Allen - LDN
This came out last year and I guess is more of a summer song, but who cares? I love me some britpop, especially ska-tinged. Ah, what a perfect ode to a city. You love it despite its madness. Maybe you love it for that reason. I do :) Her whole album "Alright, Still" has that same feel: sounds cute and fun, but lyrically is darker, snarkier, jaded.
05. Mika - Love Today
More britpop, but campier! Mika is pure pop crack. It also makes me practice my falsetto which can only be a good thing. The songs on his album "Life In Cartoon Motion" are either wheeee or aww ;_;
06. The Knife - Heartbeats
Mlebot and me have waxed poetic on this song. It's just so good. It's nostalgic and heartbreaking and heartswelling and all this good stuff. The way she sings "we had a promise made, we were in love" is just about the perfectest thing ever!! <3 (Haha I am like the worst describer ever! Also a proud member of the hyperbole club :)
07. M - Close To Me (the Cure cover, in French)
I snagged this off a music blog and unfortunately don't know much about them. The original is quite possibly my favorite Cure song. One of my mix recipients said she was dancing around the room when she heard this. Yes yes yes, that's exactly the response I was looking for!!! My suggested dance move for this track: elbows at sides, with forearms at 90 degree angles, fingers pointing out, going up and down a few inches, while you shake your shoulders and swivel your hips to the beat. HAHA!!
*update* Info on M on wiki!
08. April March - Laisse Tomber les Filles (written by Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall cover)
I read somewhere that the English version of this song "Chick Habit" was used in the credits of Grindhouse. I've heard it, but it does no justice to the French version, which I have no idea what it's talking about, but goddamn, do I care? No way, total bopfest. You dance to this one like a 60s yeye girl! Bonus points for using your faux French to sing along.
09. Pirates of the Caribbean - He's A Pirate (soundtrack)
Thanks for TJ for this track! It's spectacularly swashbuckling fun. Arrr! I have piratey fight fantasies in my head when i'm in the subway.
10. Lupe Fiasco ft Jill Scott - Daydreaming
I love me some Lupe Fiasco. The chorus "I fell asleep beneath the flowers, for a couple of hours" is so great. Is that not what spring makes you feel like? Then of course there's powerful social commentary in the song. Can't get too comfortable ;)
11. Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
What a great sunny song! I am especially partial to the "Another day in June, we’ll pick eleven for football / We’re playing for our lives, the referee gives us fuck all" Hee hee, brilliant!
12. KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Also a last summer song, but man, does this not rock? And make you walk down the street like a strutting rooster? No, just me? -_-
13. Plastic Bertrand - Ça Plan Pour Moi
More French songs! A version of this was used in a Pepsi commercial, but you don't need to know that! Wham-bam, French new wave classic! This is also really good for fake-singing along to. Not that I do that, you know.
14. Goat Explosion - Come On, Make Me Feel
Goat Explosion is great. All their songs are great. Electropop is still alive! Thank God!
15. Amelie - La Valse d'Amelie (soundtrack)
OMG! I caught this movie on tv not too long ago and that last scene, her and her love scooting around Paris to this instrumental song! Gah! <-- i am very succinct
16. Maneja Beto - Ciudadano
Ciudadano is Spanish for city dweller. But it sounds semi-laid back, and yet the lyrics decry the city, with the singer lamenting "oh God, oh God."
17. Arash - Iran Iran
My sis sent me this youtube song. World Cup songs are fantastic! I'm gonna make a future post all about them. I love me some world music (to use that odd term... western music is not part of the world?). This song is in Farsi/Persian, but lord if i don't try to sing along too. Iran Iran Iran! :)
18. Bjork - Declare Independence
Raise your flag!
19. Neil Armstrong - Lunar Landing 1969
I love including quotes in my mixes. I thought this fit great after Bjork.
20. Inca Son - Viaje a la Montaña
Lovely instrumental piece by this Andean musical group. The song title translates as Trip/Voyage to the Mountain. Nothing reminds me more of mountains than the pan pipes, this sort of eternal whisper.
More fun posts to come! So many ideas, I write them down now: musical theatre, world cup songs, hopefully with youtube clips.
01. Volver intro
I snagged this from the trailer for Almodóvar's Volver. The translation goes as follows: Penelope Cruz's character confronts her sister, asking "Is there something I don't know which I should?" Her sister replies "A ton."
02. Lesley Gore - Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows
I was working on this mix for over a month, agonizing on the order of songs, none of them were quite right, til this song came into place. Perfect! I love it!
03. Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - A Bottle of Buckie
Not many people write good friendship songs. This is a great one :) This is off his latest "Living with the Living."
04. Lily Allen - LDN
This came out last year and I guess is more of a summer song, but who cares? I love me some britpop, especially ska-tinged. Ah, what a perfect ode to a city. You love it despite its madness. Maybe you love it for that reason. I do :) Her whole album "Alright, Still" has that same feel: sounds cute and fun, but lyrically is darker, snarkier, jaded.
05. Mika - Love Today
More britpop, but campier! Mika is pure pop crack. It also makes me practice my falsetto which can only be a good thing. The songs on his album "Life In Cartoon Motion" are either wheeee or aww ;_;
06. The Knife - Heartbeats
Mlebot and me have waxed poetic on this song. It's just so good. It's nostalgic and heartbreaking and heartswelling and all this good stuff. The way she sings "we had a promise made, we were in love" is just about the perfectest thing ever!! <3 (Haha I am like the worst describer ever! Also a proud member of the hyperbole club :)
07. M - Close To Me (the Cure cover, in French)
I snagged this off a music blog and unfortunately don't know much about them. The original is quite possibly my favorite Cure song. One of my mix recipients said she was dancing around the room when she heard this. Yes yes yes, that's exactly the response I was looking for!!! My suggested dance move for this track: elbows at sides, with forearms at 90 degree angles, fingers pointing out, going up and down a few inches, while you shake your shoulders and swivel your hips to the beat. HAHA!!
*update* Info on M on wiki!
08. April March - Laisse Tomber les Filles (written by Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall cover)
I read somewhere that the English version of this song "Chick Habit" was used in the credits of Grindhouse. I've heard it, but it does no justice to the French version, which I have no idea what it's talking about, but goddamn, do I care? No way, total bopfest. You dance to this one like a 60s yeye girl! Bonus points for using your faux French to sing along.
09. Pirates of the Caribbean - He's A Pirate (soundtrack)
Thanks for TJ for this track! It's spectacularly swashbuckling fun. Arrr! I have piratey fight fantasies in my head when i'm in the subway.
10. Lupe Fiasco ft Jill Scott - Daydreaming
I love me some Lupe Fiasco. The chorus "I fell asleep beneath the flowers, for a couple of hours" is so great. Is that not what spring makes you feel like? Then of course there's powerful social commentary in the song. Can't get too comfortable ;)
11. Belle & Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
What a great sunny song! I am especially partial to the "Another day in June, we’ll pick eleven for football / We’re playing for our lives, the referee gives us fuck all" Hee hee, brilliant!
12. KT Tunstall - Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
Also a last summer song, but man, does this not rock? And make you walk down the street like a strutting rooster? No, just me? -_-
13. Plastic Bertrand - Ça Plan Pour Moi
More French songs! A version of this was used in a Pepsi commercial, but you don't need to know that! Wham-bam, French new wave classic! This is also really good for fake-singing along to. Not that I do that, you know.
14. Goat Explosion - Come On, Make Me Feel
Goat Explosion is great. All their songs are great. Electropop is still alive! Thank God!
15. Amelie - La Valse d'Amelie (soundtrack)
OMG! I caught this movie on tv not too long ago and that last scene, her and her love scooting around Paris to this instrumental song! Gah! <-- i am very succinct
16. Maneja Beto - Ciudadano
Ciudadano is Spanish for city dweller. But it sounds semi-laid back, and yet the lyrics decry the city, with the singer lamenting "oh God, oh God."
17. Arash - Iran Iran
My sis sent me this youtube song. World Cup songs are fantastic! I'm gonna make a future post all about them. I love me some world music (to use that odd term... western music is not part of the world?). This song is in Farsi/Persian, but lord if i don't try to sing along too. Iran Iran Iran! :)
18. Bjork - Declare Independence
Raise your flag!
19. Neil Armstrong - Lunar Landing 1969
I love including quotes in my mixes. I thought this fit great after Bjork.
20. Inca Son - Viaje a la Montaña
Lovely instrumental piece by this Andean musical group. The song title translates as Trip/Voyage to the Mountain. Nothing reminds me more of mountains than the pan pipes, this sort of eternal whisper.
More fun posts to come! So many ideas, I write them down now: musical theatre, world cup songs, hopefully with youtube clips.
e hënë, 11 qershor 2007
ME TOO ME TOO ZOMG
Me start a music blog too :) Cuz I see monkey do and I do it too
Mlebot got me to sign up to last.fm too: http://www.last.fm/user/shimmerot/
Man, I am easily influenced!! :PMeep, all my sentences are starting with the letter M.
Which is funny cuz Kill and I are seeing Mika this Friday and Morrissey later this month.
This month's letter is M, kids!
Man I love music!! In fact, I am listening to "Mad World" by Gary Jules right now. Ahahahaha. Worst first post EVER!
Abonohu te:
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