GAGA the Copycat?

A hot topic of discussion that has arisen from Lady GAGA's video "Marry The Night" is that she has actually stolen a lot of material from Lina Morgana: from her look, to her sound, to her tormented adolescence, etc. So, who is Lina Morgana? As far as the internet knows... she was a talented young girl who committed suicide by jumping off a building circa October 2008, a few months after GAGA's The Fame came out. Her and GAGA were collaborators for a while, and apparently Morgana was very close to making it big. That is, until GAGA gained her own momentum. 


The buzz around VigilantCitizen is that Lina Morgana was a sacrifice to the Illuminati leading way to GAGA's initiation, fame, and success. Then again, a website dedicated to seeing Illuminati mind-control in everything will stretch very far in order to portray that message in a believable light. (But I love it!)

GAGA ripped off Madonna, then she ripped off Marilyn Manson, then some virtually unknown up-and-coming artist. Musically, her influences are pretty clear - except in the case of Morgana. - I don't hear it! However, evidence of her fashionista thievery is everywhere: Madonna, Cher, Grace Jones... the list will never stop. Is this really a rip-off? Many types of artists would have to admit that they emulate in certain ways whatever it is that inspires or influences them. They can therefore call themselves artists because whatever they are creating is still distinctly original, yet at the same time a bigger, better, and improved version 2.0. This is masterful thievery. (see my appeal to authority below). Can't this thievery be seen in a positive light? Can't it be a homage to the musical giants before her? What do you think?

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.” ― Jim Jarmusch

Stop American Censorship!

Marry the Night - Video Premiere

The awaited Marry the Night video now live on the internet! Almost 14 minutes of pure Gaga?! 

I can't wait to see what Vigilant Citizen (our favorite Illuminati influence reporter) has to say about this one. My favorite Vigilant Gaga video response I read is about the Judas video (clicky here for the read). Can it be topped?

What do you guys make of it?

Join the conversation on Twitter! #MarryTheNight 

On Spotify

As an avid Spotify user, I have been very impressed with the type and quality and service they provide. With the access to more than 13 million songs, I have been making many play-lists lately which include a lot of foreign music  More specifically, what really impressed me was how much Romanian music (rap, rock, traditional, etc.) is available. Since my recent trip, I've been craving some of its musical stylings and Spotify has helped me a great deal to find other related music - especially through the new related artists feature.

The artist radio stream is similar to the Pandora service, except you get to listen to and browse by musical genre. I'm not a premium member, mainly because momentarily I don't have a need to sync and stream music offline from my mobile, and don't have a huge preference for the higher bit rate (320kbps) especially since not all songs are available in this format. According to Wikipedia only about 30% of songs are. (That's why YouTube streaming or a simple Google search is handy if I really need to hear certain songs right now.)

One thing thought that caught my attention about Spotify Premium is access to exclusive content such as: info about albums before release, and ability to enter contests to win tickets to live shows and competitions. So, if anything, this would be the thing that wins me over the most about Spotify Premium. However, even though you can download the music and stream it wherever you are, you still don't really own it. It's not like owning a CD or mp3. So, what happens when Spotify goes out of fashion and you played for having all that music "available"?

Is Spotify Premium really worth the 9$ a month? Or should we stick to actually purchasing CD/mp3's?

Hecq Vs. Exillion

Hecq is shrouded in ambient, experimentally rhythmical sounds. Exillion? I have no idea, and if anyone does, let me know because I would be interested. The part where this musical collaboration springs from is still unclear to me, is it a collaboration at all? 

Regardless, I love the video's humorous concept and the serious music-video cinematography with which it is approached. These sounds are soothing to my brain, especially after a long day being engaged in talking to and listening to adolescents and adults. Hecq is like being able to listen to the innerworkings of my brain minus the language component, allowing it to process the day's dialogues without other interfering dialogues. Lately I've been taking a huge comfort in music without words.

Video from DragonCon 2011

A more perfect video of the DraconCon convention in Atlanta, Georgia does not exist. These are the exact events of what transpires at the con, and the same dreamy feeling you get from the music is equivalent to the fantasy state you are in whilst walking around gazing at all the amazing costumes. There is also a 20-minute Director's Cut (check it out under the cut!) which is definitely worth watching. I have already spotted a couple of the people we have met, including a quasi-Yi, although our 5-group League of Legends costumes did not make the cut. I can't really blame them, it would take a Director's Cut that is hours and hours long to contain the majority of the cosplayers that attended. It is perplexing that we never ran into the film-makers, there were only about 46000 attendants!
Are you in it?

Honda Civic Tour

Matt and Kim, My Chemical Romance, and headliners Blink 182 rocked the Verizon Amphitheater a couple of weeks ago. It attracted an audience which I call the UNCC crowd, meaning mostly college-age people and a minimal amount of adolescents and older people. It was an energetic and fun show for everyone there, except for that one guy that laid down on the lawn and took a nap until the headliner. Seriously who does that? First of all he did not care at all for the openers, and secondly how can you toss and turn on a filthy lawn with all that loudness and energy all around you?

Matt and Kim's energy was fantastic. I love when a two-person band has such chemistry. Kim is my new female musician hero. I wish I could play drums like that at all.

My Chemical Romance had a roller-coaster set, playing really old stuff, and some really new things I have not even heard. I'm an oldschool fan, and I just can't picture the lead singer as anything else but the goth boy with sunken eyes and black locks of old.

I never was a die-hard fan of Blink 182,  but it was fun to reminisce about being an angsty youth; my companions were enjoying it very much. The stage banter of the group only added to that feeling. I enjoy a good amount of stage banter when I'm in a position where I can clearly make out what is being said, or am not yet drunk to the point where anything I hear doesn't get processed.

We overheard some kid say "Yeah let's leave, Blink 182 is my dad's music."
Kids these days...

Open Shimmy Night 2

Bellydancer Neesa

The NoDa bellydance show happened again! Instead of the Salvador Deli lot, it was held inside Dolce. It was so packed that the belly dancers hardly had much space in which to dance around, but they pulled it off pretty well. Check back for future Open Shimmy Night dates! Pictured is my friend and old roommate Neesa.

And now, a few old photos from concerts I have attended a long time ago.

Dragonforce 2006

backstage with Bauhaus 2006

backstage with Bauhaus 2006

Manu Chao La Ventura

Manu Chao is probably used to playing to coliseums and coliseums overflowing with people in South America whenever he holds a concert. His "La Aventura" tour is his first North American tour. The crowds here (depending on the cities, maybe; in this post I'm referring to the Charlotte, NC crowd) are perhaps smaller, but the spirit is the same. The Fillmore was at capacity with fans, the majority of which were Latino (and I use this term in a very loose PC sort of way). Everyone, regardless of race and culture, were transported into the an cultural atmosphere of something distinctly multiculturally Latin psychedelic dub reggae punk alternative. (Those should be enough adjectives to convey the genre clearly, right?)

Can the American experience 'the spirit' of this kind of concert in the same way as the immigrant? 1st gen immigrants? 2nd gen immigrants? Etc?

Read a well-written Live Review by Jeff Hahne



 View one more video after the cut!

Dragon*Con 2011

clockwise from left: Shaco, Heimerdinger, Yi, Soraka, Brolaf

This year's Con was just FANTASTIC! I think it being our second time, we were able to organize better, hit up more events, and spend less time aimlessly walking around. We were probably stopped by more on-lookers and photographers though, and more frequently. We hit up some steampunk trivia, the Battlestar Galactica panel, the Boondock Saints panel, DragonCon After Dark, the burlesque after dark show, Voltaire, Jonathan Coulton, and viewed the parade from the hotel windows among other random stuff like riding the elevator, and showing up to that Lolita costuming tutorial with my entourage of dudes. That was awkward... We also stayed at one of the main hotels, which made it infinitely easier for... costume breaks.

We found surfer Singed! I also doubled as Miss Fortune.

We met some other fun people who were also doing League Of Legends cosplay... of which their names I don't remember. Through the forums and the many cards that I handed out we will all surely reach each other again.

Voltaire had a lot of fun things going on during his concert, including that song about Twilight and some funny stage banter entertainment. The lit-up helmet that our Yi was wearing was like a beacon to all the League players in the room. I'm pretty sure we ran into everyone else that that was cosplaying as League Of Legends characters. Everyone except for the Teemo, which made us very sad. We heard that she was cute and probably off somewhere laying mushrooms.

After a certain point I just could not take wearing the Soraka hair anymore, so I was very glad I had brought a pirate outfit. It was only while I was getting pirated-up, that I realized I could totally pull off a Miss Fortune costume, half-assed as it was!

There is a ridiculous amount of pictures on my Picasa album, so if you want to look at more of our costumes as as well as the other League cosplayers, click here!

Here are just a few more of the other League cosplayers we met; you guys were great!

Ke$ha Get $leazy tour

Pics from kiss951.radio.com

August 10, 2011. So.. the Ke$ha concert was SO RIDICULOUS! Now, I enjoy Kesha's music, and I love a high-energy concert, so my friends and I had a fantastic time. But let me just say that I have never been around so many middle and high schoolers oozing glitter and colored hair-spray out of their skin in one place at one time. Pretty sure the only older people there were the 15 other people drinking at the Fillmore bar. Oh, and the parents. If I have a dollar for every time a parent left during the show... I would have a lot of dollars. I frequently heard things like "This is not age appropriate, we're leaving." - mother to glitter monster. Quotes of this sort were most frequently overheard about halfway through the show way after Ke$ha's suggestive dance moves, suggestive lyrics, suggestive tour title, suggestive dance beats, and suggestive crab walk. I mean really... if parents are chaperoning, you may as well let the kids enjoy all of it, or just turn on the radio to hear what these songs are saying and not buy tickets! By this time she's already spent about an hour singing and talking about handjobs, blowjobs, and getting wasted. She was literally saying "handjob" over and over. And she wasn't the only one - LMFAO started the show off by asking the audience "Who's getting a blowjob tonight?!" and proceeded to one of their hits titled "Shots." To an audience of 95% underage kids. Yup.

Maroon 5 @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheater

August 2, 2011. This show was SO packed that even on the lawn there was not much space to lay around. But who wants to lay around when THIS SEXYNESS, Adam Levine, is right in front of you moving like Jagger? The Verizon Amphitheater that night was a great atmosphere for this show. Train was the opener, and that was pretty good too from what I saw of their ending set. Anyway,  don't have much else to report other than this was a fun, energetic concert from all aspects, and that Adam Levine is a sexy beast.

League Of Legends Costume Prep for DragonCon

Well I just wanted to write an update about our preparations for DragonCon this year. Since we get most of our traffic from League Of Legends searches I'm going to milk it for the hits.

Last year, my friends and I went as characters from the online MMO League Of Legends and we are planning on doing it again this year. You can see my posts on last year's DragonCon here and here. We were champions [lady] Ryze (myself, and yes, I switched his gender up obviously), Ezreal, Garen, and Singed. We definitely got recognized by some fans and players, and with its increased popularity this past year I am expecting a whole lot more of that! Again, we are going to be a group of 4 and be short one champion. This year we're dressing up as different champions, and we're putting a whole lot more work into creating our costumes. I'm doing a lot of the costumes myself, and am showing progress but I still have SO much more to get done! My costume requires dyeing some fur and it's just not working out.

T- 17 days; LET'S GO!

Would anyone like to guess what champions our costumes & props belong to?

Had to scrap these due to my inability to sow fur

Loredana Agurida

Romanian star Loredana celebrated her 25th year of her singing career by putting on a fantastic concert at an outdoor theater in Herastrau Park.

I'm not completely familiar with the range of her musical style spanning over 25 years, but I do know that she incorporates every bit of culture that can be encountered in Romania. In the Ceausescu era she was known for a very traditional song style, afterwards around the 80's she got a little more into pop, sprinkled in there she had some gypsy inspired styles, and throughout this decade she has even released some CD's in English.

It was truly a concert festival. She is known for her concerts which range from traditional dances and songs featuring dance and song troupes, as well as having other famous musicians. I really did not know what to expect, because the show was only advertised as "Loredana and friends" so it was a big surprise for everyone when Smiley, Directia 5, Caddy (BUG Mafia), Jay Ko, Osoianu sisters, Cristi Iacob, and the Agurida band became a part of the show. My favorite was probably Smiley. There are a lot of female singers that like to think of themselves as "divas", but Loredana is probably the single greatest Romanian diva ever. Her stage presence is strong and confident, and she somehow represents many different facets of the culture just by being.

Watch the videos (after the cut) to get an idea of what a Romanian concert with various cultural influences looks like!

Nero Remix

Calvin Harris's new release "Feel So Close" is good, but Nero's dubstep remix is HOT!

Take a listen after the jump!

Scapegoat's new Music Video

Just yesterday Scapegoat released their new music video for I AM ALIEN!!! Check it out!

Are Kit's blackout contacts eerie or sexy? They seem to be one and the same, so I'm not going to even try to decide. The CD release will be happening at Tremont Music Hall on 09.03.11.

On Romanian MTV

Remember how I mentioned that popular radio, clubs, and the equivalent of MTV in Romania are dominated by house music? Well, when I don't have to listen to the same 5 songs being looped continuously for long periods of time, some are actually enjoyable.

In this post I will feature some of the music videos that are popular right now.

Check behind the cut.

Jamiroquai Orange Summer Party

Whether I had to bike there, I was determined to make it to Jamiroquai's concert. Good thing I didn't, because after approximately 1 mile of overexerting myself on a bike I'm dead. Plus, the journey would have been ~20 miles. Feck that!

Jamiroquai put on a fantastic show, each song lasting about 3x longer than usual because every song's potential to be jammed out to was exploited to the fullest extent.

At some point during the show a Romanian flag was bought out, with a large print in the middle of Jamiroquai's symbol. "Jami-Ro-mania" he said. I was curious about how this would be perceived by the crowd, but the crowd responded with cheers and woots, so... not bad! At least he didn't get booed like that time Madonna tried to interfere with Roma (gypsy) perceptions that likely will never change.

There was a release of giant bouncy light balls into the large beach crowd. They were fun for about 3 minutes, until the crowd bounced them all the way into the ocean, without recuperation or recovery. The show ended with a nice fireworks show, plenty of trash on the beach, and who knows what else! I got out of there to try to navigate through the clusterfuckery of thousands of people and their cars.

I got the feeling that people who were fans were in the very front of the crowd (as per usual). Immediately following the conglomeration of fans, were people that were there to enjoy smoking drugs. The largest, outer layer of people consisted of more young people, children and parents, and whoever came out to see a fun beach show. My impression was that the largest amount of the crowd was expecting it to be a house beach party. WTF is up with this house fixation!?

URSUS Evolution, Cluj Napoca

The URSUS Evolution concert took place in Piaţa Unirii (Unirii Square) in central Cluj Napoca, Romania. A two-day event, stage preparations started happening days before. I only attended the first day which consisted of Cargo, Paraziţii, and Zdob & Zdub, among others. I couldn’t stay for the second day, but it didn’t interest me too much either as it was more focused on house music. (And you know how I feel about house.) A big concern early in the day was the weather, which was terrible and the rain was coming down in buckets. I knew that the show will go on, despite if there would be rain. I have a 6^th sense about concerts, so when I arrived and nothing was starting, I was right in thinking it would be operating on a delay. To my cynical and very sleepy cousin’s surprise, an hour later the show started. I missed a some of the openers, but no matter, I was able to see exactly who I wanted to see!

Cargo was a crowd favorite, with their rock ballads, inspiring everyone to sing along in the spirit of rock’n’roll. It was very moving, inspirational, classic rock atmosphere, including the hit “Nu Mai Am Ţigari” (I’m out of cigarettes). The spectators did not suffer this misfortune, and it was pretty obvious from the big cloud of cigarette smoke that hovered above us during the duration of this song.

Cargo’s transition evolved with Paraziţii (Parasites) who are a Romanian rap group, singing about corruption, poverty, life on the bloc, smoking drugs, and obscenely blatant messages of adoration for the Romanian police (and actually everyone else too). They were quite obviously stoned all day, but they didn’t miss a beat from their performance. They censored themselves onstage, but to no use, because where they didn’t say it, the crowd filled in.

Paraziţii evolved into ZDOB si ZDUB, who are a mix of Moldavian traditional music and punk. Can you guess which performance was my favorite? They are strongly resonant of Gogol Bordello’s gypsy punk style, starting happy mosh pits every which way you looked. They appeared on EuroVision some time ago, and that’s when the infatuation with this style took Balkans by storm. Singing about nice wholesome things, like life in the countryside, celebrations, weddings, and making bread! The punk renditions of traditional “muzica populară” songs and dances like the horas, or sârba, makes people go crazy!

Foxy Shazam, Fun, Panic at the Disco

First I would like to say a few laudatory words about The Fillmore and its fantastic management. It’s probably the classiest, if not the only classiest venue in Charlotte. If you want to experience a great concert the Fillmore won’t let you down, with its nice acoustics, lights, stage, two or three tier viewing levels. But it’s no smoking, and make sure you pre-game or else you’ll be dishing out 8$ for a tallboy. And one tallboy is never truly enough. It’s a sharp contrast to Charlotte’s usual grimy hole-in-the-wall venues which are the top choices for Charlotte’s musician elites. I think The Fillmore offers a cleaner, bigger space, a nicer atmosphere… which makes sense in correlation with its expensive admissions and dranks.  

Moving on, this is where I got to see the concert, and I was really blown away by the entourage of bands that performed as openers. Foxy Shazam were so full of energy! I especially adored the keyboardist, who I could only picture as an energetically bouncy Tribal Ryze come to life and getting as close as he could to making love to his keyboard with his clothes still on, beating it up, and riding it like he was taming a wild animal. He definitely rune prisoned the audience with his charisma. 

I can only describe the band Fun in the following way: music for a Gray’s Anatomy Seattle atmosphere. It’s that whole reminiscent key and tone that makes you feel reflective, happy, sad, and a lot of other emotions all at once. 

Panic at the Disco! Put on an amazing show as well. The song lineup was well mixed between new-old-new-old-old-new-new-old-new-etc so they did a great job at keeping the crowd on their feet with what’s coming next! Between humorous anecdotes, their performance was fantastic, and it took me all the way back to angsty high school times.

Orange Summer Party

Where I'll be in a couple of weeks:

Scapegoat Pre-release // Snug Harbor

Scapegoat's recent show at Snug Harbor, May 14th 2011, was amazing to say the least.  It was part of a string of shows to promote their new album, with creepy rock tracks like I am Alien and Transylvania that contain some grim lyrics alongside perfected harmonies. Their live shows keep coming harder every time, and the new stuff is chocked full of angsty yet reflective weirdness. Hold tight for its release, it will blow your mind. Also, expect a new music video that may rival Zombies.

09.03.11 - NEW RECORD

Photos by Lidz soon.

Everclear // Speed Street

I just don't know what to say about Speed Street other than it managed to bring out many people who were rather obviously not from the city. As a NASCAR event of a series of concerts and events that happen all weekend long and it reminded me of those crappy state fairs but with more terrible food and boozers. But seriously, why does this happen uptown of all places? The street washing vehicles were hard at work after the concert, going up and down the streets repeatedly to wash away the stench of beer, drunkies, terrible concession foods, and restore it back to its business-professional uptown area.  Luckily I was able to escape the crowd, including hard-to-miss cop involved drama consisting of a redneck-cat-fight, by entering the great mead-hall of VALHALLA! (Formerly the beloved Eggheads, wherein many a great time was had alongside the owners and servers. Them fishbowls were real, Eggheads.)

I would like to address some of the negative reviews and feedback I've received from friends, fans, and various internet sources: What were you people expecting from a band that peaked in the late 90's? The show was nearly rained-out, not to mention these guys are older now, playing at a free event, with terrible outdoor acoustics, on the Miller Lite stage, to a crowd 2x smaller than usual for Speed Street, who were half drunk, and half disinterested, yet all somewhat disappointed. Whatever the reasons, their performance received low ratings all around. Many mentioned that if they would have been really disappointed if they would have have had to pay - but that's the point, you didn't. You can only hope that in such a case the band may have exhibited a greater desire to put on a better show. All those angsty-daddy-issue songs of your childhood were probably ruined, because it became apparent that the band was not too sober themselves. As my first experience with Speed Street, I don't really think that many bands would put forth their best effort for this type of event. Given the conditions, why should they?

Bellydance in NoDa

Lots of bellydancers and bellydance enthusiasts from various troups in Charlotte gathered in NoDa, next to Salvador Deli, for a couple of hours of fun bellydance exhibitions. Enjoy the videos! Pretty sure this will turn into a recurring event, happening every month, so be sure to make it out next time! Check Noda's calendar for future events.

Ready for the Weekend || A Review

I'm going to viciously defend this album against all the negativity from places like ArtRocker and Pretty Much Amazing.

This album has an increasingly more personal feel than Calvin Harris's debut. While it does mess with people's perceptions of what to expect from Calvin Harris, it messes with it in a way that allows room for growth, adaptation, and change - while keeping his distinct sound.

At first I was put off by the slightly different feel of the album: there was more singing, more lyrics, more featured artists, and more music that was not electronic based.

Nearly every song starts off with an intro of actual .. instruments.. playing actual music? That's not what I was expecting at all, but the electronic beats subtly and quickly creep in, transforming the tracks completely as they bloom electronically. I can see the incorporation of an instrumental intro for say, playing shows with a live band, and it doesn't detract from the music, but yes, it's something different.

So, now that we've gotten over the shock of actual instrumentation, the lyrics and vocals pose the following characteristics: Calvin Harris is definitely more vocal in this album, and I don't think it could have been any other way in order for this album to convey the unified feeling of a narrative. Harris may not have a naturally amazing ability to sing, but the depth of his emotions are apparent. Which I think is what music should really be about - the feelings that emotive music/lyrics/vocals invoke in the people that hear it.

From the first track to the last, an emotional journey that could only pertain to one's love life begins to unfold as the tracks waver between reminiscence, loneliness, rebounding, confidence, regret. The tracks flow into one another much like a person's emotive state. It's hard not to be able to relate. Compared to his debut, Ready for the Weekend is more intensely personal.

Calvin Harris tries his hand at singing more, at introducing a live aspect to his music. The cohesion of the new album is in many ways more masterful than his debut. It may be more upbeat but you kind of need that to balance the sad emotions. At the core you are able to hear the same kind of simple, electronic chords overlapping and synching that made us love him.

Blue Man Group

I was lucky enough to get to go see The Blue Man Group this weekend, and it was so much fun! I was really surprised at the interactivity with the crowd, I wasn't prepared for so much interactive fun. I expected some great performance art, but I got more than I even imagined. Now if I had only been picked for a skit.. that would have been the ultimate experience. Props to the lady that was chosen for the dating skit, where she was on a dinner date with all 3 blue men - and to the man who was blue-napped from the crowd, put in a body suit, escorted backstage, hanged by his feet, painted, and slammed against a giant canvas in an artistic emulation of the human body. The latter came up in later discussions of the show: did they really do that to the guy from the crowd? He came out wearing the suit, and I thought I noticed blue paint on his face and fancy shoes, but did the "backstage" show actually take place or was it pre-recorded? It seemed rather extreme to slam a person hanging from their feet against a wall who did not volunteer and was merely a spectator. The consensus is that if it really happened then it might as well have been on the actual stage.

In addition to the actual music, BMG is 80% performance art. I thought I picked up on non-verbal criticisms about art, technology, and culture throughout the show. The most obvious being the synchronized apps skit where there was so much going on it was hard to keep up with it all - a criticism on the effect of reliance and constantly divided attention that technology provides. Another example being the paint-ball skit where one Blue Man kept catching white balls in his mouth and he put it on a canvas as it turned into a esophageal sculpture. What I got from that was that anything can be considered art by modern standards, even something that was almost literally regurgitated.

I'm not the only one:

"One of the secrets to the success of "Tubes" is that it always seems as if there might be more to it than there actually is. Look hard enough, and you can find pointed comments about prefabricated culture and the dangers of technology." (Music & Marshmallows, In Sync)

Purgatory Reunion 2011

Purgatory is coming back! If you don't know what Purgatory is, it's the Triad's biggest goth club event with lots of fetish-related performances, gogos, domination (including someone calling themselves Dr. Spankenstein), wax burning, rope suspension, the list goes on! Someone called it "basically a big stripper show." A lot of people either showing up almost naked (such as women wearing electrical tape over their breasts) OR ending up nearly naked by the end of the night. There's usually an event theme, but since this is a reunion, the makers have left it open for people to choose from the hodge-podge of previous themes.

Make sure to check out the galleries of previous Purgatory events, especially the ones from local photographer Justin Kates. (Prooobably not work safe)

See you in VIP!

Or dangling from the ceiling...

Finnish Metal Tour 2011

My post on the recently attended Finnish Metal Tour is kind of overdue.

First of all, it was kind of strange that Tremont Music Hall had two events happening simultaneously. Big stage and little stage were catering to two different audiences. The big stage was catering to a hardcore crowd, and the much smaller crowd was populated with Finnish metal fans. I thought that surely everyone was there for the metal, and was sure that it was going to sell out until I got there and realized that the metal was happening on the little stage! What?! I suppose there isn't much of a scene for that in America, much less in Charlotte. But my rationalization was "People will travel far and wide just to be part of this." Anyway, I overestimated the popularity of Finnish metal in Charlotte.

The metal that was enjoyed was Barren Earth, Ensiferum, and Finntroll.

Looking back, I'm not sure what I was expecting from this concert, except thinking that it will be the hugest event ever, and being totally wrong (about the fan turnout). Ensiferum was an immediate crowd pleaser, as their tales of musical epicness were delivered expertly. Finntroll on the other hand very gritty-sounding because were missing all of their harmonics. It was a rather different experience to hear them like this.

I didn't get to take any videos because I was running low on memory and I was too drunk to scroll through and delete the videos of my friends and I hanging out drunkenly. Enjoy the few photos.

Ke$ha and Van Der Beek's Unicorn Battle

As a self-professed "sexy hobo" I feel like all her videos portray this very accurately... and... I love it. This interview makes me love her even more (Ke$ha on her Haters) for some odd reason. I love what she says and how she says it, and her weird humor. Maybe I just love her dark freckles that give her that rough look. And that 90's ring nose-ring (I haven't seen anyone wear those in approx 10 years; she might single-handedly bring it back into fashion.)

Next time she tours, I'll be sure to buy some tickets. (Even if I heard mixed reviews from people who attended Gravedigger's Ball) I don't want to miss this:

"On my last tour, butts came out frequently; sometimes we mooned the audience, sometimes we pulled band members' pants down during their guitar solos. I mean, my pre-show ritual involves covering my bod in baby oil and glitter and then my band and I high-five each other with our asses."

Anyway... James Van Der Beek is making a comeback too, in Ke$ha's new music video for "Blow"... You take that shirt off, Dawson!

This video is worth watching until the end...

CDs in my car: SOAD

So I haven't completely gone mainstream mp3 format, although I'm trying very hard to rip my music collection. Anyway, no matter what time of day, if I hop in my car and some grimy SOAD sounds are blasting then I know I'm ready to wind up/wind down a busy day.

No doubt that Serj Tankian is one extremely talented individual, but the question comes to mind. Which do people prefer more: SOAD or his solo stuff? I personally like SOAD because I love the musical dichotomy between the breakdowns and the melodies represented both musically and vocally. To use a quote from Flea of Rammstein “Hard riff, hard lyrics. Soft riff, soft lyrics.” Many people hate screaming in music, but that’s a subjective preference not taking away from their actual talent. Other people also feel that Daron Malakian was playing too big of a vocal role, but I disagree! Their vocals together complement each other, and paired with the music it creates a nice symbiotic relationship of which everything becomes complementary.

I am just hoping that the recently announced SOAD reunion of European tours will bring them back together for some new stuff.

edit: Well, after recently finding out that SOAD is going on a brief tour of the Americas and Europe, I also became informed that part of their tour will be with Gogol Bordello. Right after finding out, I began planning an expensive trip to their Albuquerque show, despite lack of funds and lack of companions. I was going to grab my bff on my way to New Mexico, and I was going to work every day if it meant more $$, and we would have our amazing bff trip that we kind of planned for a couple of years ago + the best show in the universe. Anyway.. my spontaneity ran into a brick wall so needless to say, I was instantly thrilled and almost as instantly disappointed by distance. :(

SOAD	SOLO
Daron Malakian vox	no Daron Malakian vox
Screaming	No screaming
Hard Rock vs. Melody	Electronically Inclined Melody
Repetitive Lyrics	More complex lyrics

LOST Premiere Party

I have decided to merge another one of my photo-blogs with sexyDEATHparty. For the season 6 premiere of the tv show LOST, my friends and I threw a LOST themed party to celebrate. This is the result...

Dharma food and fish biscuits! Om nom nom!

Our version of the New Dharma Recruits photo... the banneractually does say "NAMASTE NEW RECRUITS"!

VIEW MORE PHOTOS BEYOND THE CUT!

Japanese Feature // Shiina Ringo

Frontlady of 東京事変 Tokyo Jihen and sometimes solo artist, Shiina Ringo has made music that can only be described as avant garde. The J-pop star has challenged genres of music, by way of infusing her music with obscenely distracted melodies that ranged from distorto-rock to off-putting hybrids of ska and lounge jazz, starring Ringo’s ever-present pitchy, rolling vocals (1).

Ringo's work with Tokyo Jihen differs from her solo albums which have more melodic tones and less distracted melodies. In other words, not so much jazz. Less... mixture. [Less] cerebral musicality of Jazz mixed with the visceral groove of funk. - Howard Moon, (see what I did there? Sneaked in a Mighty Boosh reference.) Her album Utaite Myori is my favorite with a compilation of various covers such as The Beatles and Frank Sinatra in which she sings in German, French, and English. And she doesn't sound that predominately asian when she sings, unlike many other Japanese singers attempting to sing in other languages.

The video Killer Tune has been one of my long-standing anthems of reclaiming my independence after a certain bad breakup of a bad relationship. The words don't matter as much as the way it made me feel. I guess I found a lot of symbolism in emerging into the open rain then breaking into dance!

 ご覧、ほらねわざと逢えたんだ
季節を使い捨て生きて行こう

What are they working on now? Ringo is taking a hiatus from her solo stuff. They just released Sports in December, and they're releasing a new single this February. More info is all available for viewing on their official site (don't worry, it's available in English also)

1. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/j-pop_will_eat_itself/shiina-ringo.htm

The Linguistics of "Baro Foro"

    Trans-Continental Hustle is the latest album of Gogol Bordello. The album was produced by Rick Rubin, under a different label (American Recordings) and somewhere in that shift of American and world-wide fame they lost some gypsy and gained more punk. This has resulted in the traditional instruments and group vocals that are basically the essence of the band to take a backseat to drums and Eugene Hutz's voice. And I LOVE Eugene Hutz's voice, but their sound as a band does seem somewhat altered. Do others think it delivers the same gypsy-punk kick as their previous album?

     HOWEVER, their new video Immigraniada is great, much better than the new Lela Pala Tute video (and I'm hating on it because I can't stand claymation, ALSO that it can't ever compare to Eugene Hutz's acoustic version of it; I'm anticipating the day they announce an acoustic album). It exhibits real experiences of the band members as immigrant workers, and it speaks to the sort of things that immigrants have to deal with when it comes to terrible immigration laws and cultural assimilation.

One of the most interesting things about Gogol Bordello is that they sometimes sing in Rromanes, a gypsy language (or rather, dialect, as gypsies are far spread throughout the world). While I also love their incorporation of Ukrainian lyrics, Rromanes has caught the attention of linguists and people studying linguistics. Portland State University has actually dedicated a class project to the analysis of the song "Baro Foro."

This link goes to a pdf file of such a study from the Portland State University, and also provides some links for a Rromanes online dictionary and grammar. It goes line by line and dissects the song into a rough English translation.

Cool right?! Maybe you need to be a linguistics nerd to really get into it...

Woo Roma Inclusion Act!