HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU'RE RIGHT
I'm reposting this press release cause it's awesome.
PLACEBO, CAPITOL MUSIC GROUP AND MOTIONBOX TEAM UP TO MAKE YOU THE STAR OF PLACEBO’S NEW VIDEO, "RUNNING UP THAT HILL"
-- Limited to First One Thousand Users Who Upload --
New York, NY – March 30— For the upcoming video for Placebo’s new single, “Running Up That Hill,” from their critically-acclaimed new album, Meds, Capitol Music Group is partnering with Motionbox for an exciting new music video, starring YOU. The new Placebo video will be a montage of Placebo’s fans singing “Running Up That Hill.”
Placebo’s fans will submit video using Motionbox, the premiere personal video sharing service. Fans will upload videos at www.motionbox.com/placebo. The band is asking fans to submit single-camera shots of them singing their new single, “Running Up That Hill,” sung in its entirety; with the deadline for submissions being April 6th.
“We are very excited to be working with Capitol Music Group,” said Chris O’Brien, Motionbox’s CEO & Co-founder. "Our technology will help further solidify the relationship between Placebo and their fans and we look forward to many upcoming promotions of this type.”
“'This is a great opportunity to get the fans involved in one of our videos!” said the members of Placebo. “Knowing our fans, as visually diverse as they are, we expect some very creative feedback!! Could make very interesting viewing! We look forward to it!”
At www.motionbox.com/placebo :
Fans will be able to:
1) Download the instrumental & lyrics
2) Upload their videos after capturing video of themselves singing the song
For more information on How to Upload your video, please visit:
www.motionbox.com/placebo
Thursday, March 29, 2007
FUCK THE WORLD
A mutual friend of mine and Nick Snow's posted this somewhere:
"so jeremy piven got banned from the entire nobu chain for demanding a table for 12 and then leaving a DVD of the first season of Entourage as a tip, which was later thrown at him by the server.
has the line between actor and character ever been blurrier than with this guy? what an awesomely scumbag maneuver."
to which nick snow wrote:
"true story:
some friends of mine are in somewhat popular band and when they were in LA recording their cd, they went to a justin timberlake show and snuck into the VIP area. their guitar player introduced himself to jeremy piven and they made some small talk, then he started talking about the band. i guess piven stood there for about 30 seconds boredly nodding his head, then all of the sudden he literally grabbed the kids ear, pulled him towards him and whispered "i dont give a FUCK about your band, now get the fuck away from me" and pushed his head backwards and walked away.
i really would have been disappointed if jeremy piven HADN'T done that."
I love Jeremy Piven.
A mutual friend of mine and Nick Snow's posted this somewhere:
"so jeremy piven got banned from the entire nobu chain for demanding a table for 12 and then leaving a DVD of the first season of Entourage as a tip, which was later thrown at him by the server.
has the line between actor and character ever been blurrier than with this guy? what an awesomely scumbag maneuver."
to which nick snow wrote:
"true story:
some friends of mine are in somewhat popular band and when they were in LA recording their cd, they went to a justin timberlake show and snuck into the VIP area. their guitar player introduced himself to jeremy piven and they made some small talk, then he started talking about the band. i guess piven stood there for about 30 seconds boredly nodding his head, then all of the sudden he literally grabbed the kids ear, pulled him towards him and whispered "i dont give a FUCK about your band, now get the fuck away from me" and pushed his head backwards and walked away.
i really would have been disappointed if jeremy piven HADN'T done that."
I love Jeremy Piven.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
ALIVE WITH THE GLORY OF...
For the past year-ish, I've finally jumped on the Say Anything bandwagon. I'm not quite sure why it took so fucking long since I had read nothing but great reviews about their record ... is a real boy, but sometimes, it takes me a minute and i need to approach things at my own pace. I think the thing that converted me was the song "Alive with the Glory of Love" ... the lyrics were the most unbelievably sexy, romantic, and depressing lyrics about nazi concentration camps i've ever heard. Well, kind of the only lyrics about the camps that I've ever heard, so there was no competition, but that's not the point. No matter how depressing the topic is, I still found myself weirdly believing in love more than I did before listening to the song. There's something completely hopeful about the song that's almost comparable to the last few minutes of the movie "Life is Beautiful" but infinitely less depressing. You know in the movie when the father is trying to make his son laugh and not be scared as he's being carted away by the Nazi's, and you really can appreciate the lengths that love will go to make the other person feel better about things -- that song is sort of the musical equivalent of that (mostly because it's based on the same subject).
I thought of this, mostly because I just saw the video for "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" which is about love, and is not romantic in the least, but kind of funny. There's just something about Max's lyrics and vocal delivery that is just so great and makes me love the songs that I feel somewhat lukewarm about. I do really like the bridge of that song, and the video is so unfitting, it's hilarious.
I stayed away from downloading the internet copy of the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible (watch Arcade Fire videos here) because I wanted to hear the high quality version that the band intended fans to hear -- not the lowbitrate version that got passed around. I was on the subway listening to it when "intervention" came on -- was that the song they performed on SNL? I've gotta double check. Anyway, when "intervention" came on, I pressed my headphones close to my ears so i could hear the lyrics better and feel like i was surrounded by the music and not in a gross subway that feels like a coffin everytime i step into it.
i hate this song. i hate it because i love it so much and I cant listen to it without bursting into tears -- which is basically my relationship with the arcade fire. they make life more beautiful, and give it reason. its like gospel music without the God... it's hope and suffering all in one. I think that in 20 years, kids will still be discovering the Arcade Fire the same way they're discovering the Smiths and Joy Division today and be completely inspired and feel the same exact same way I am feeling this very second as I type this and listen to the song on repeat.
By the way, the Christina Aguilera video in which she plays three diff colored haired versions of herself is awesome. i'm not listening to the song cause i'm listening to the AF, but that video is fucking fantastic. I wonder what it sounds like.
I had dinner with my family last night to celebrate my Dad's 61st birthday. I was sooo nervous to see my dad cause I wasnt sure if he had seen the cover of the Village Voice yet or not. Coincidentally, my mom had only called me from her cell since it came out and i was convinced that it was cause my dad was really upset about the cover which displayed me in a slightly (although tastefully) provocative manner. But he had asked me to bring him 10 copies of the Voice for his birthday (how fucking cute, right?), because he was really proud and loved the article. It turns out that one of my uncles was less than pleased saying that I would embarrass the family if one of our Rabbi's saw it. I'm not sure how many of my family's rabbi's know me as "ultragrrrl" and would pass by the VV box and see "ultragrrrl" in huge letters and think "oh, there's is ondine and marc's daughter! what a ho!" Even my mom's nearly hasidic sister thought it looked great, which surprised the fuck out of me. I'm still nervous about Passover when I have to face my extended family and they give me the cold shoulder over the cover. But the important thing is that my parents are proud. I can live with that.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to live from the concussion i'm certain i have, which has left me with slightly fucked up depth perception and a backache that is going to have to demand medical attention as soon as possible. As if my memory wasn't bad enough before, it's kind of gone downhill. Thankfully, i think i got my love of emo knocked the fuck out of me since anytime i listen to an emo band demo i get disgusted and shut it off immediately. maybe it's just because they're all really bad demos.
By the way -- the best Chris Black quote from last night: "I love jewish girls -- they've got exaggerated features in various places."
For the past year-ish, I've finally jumped on the Say Anything bandwagon. I'm not quite sure why it took so fucking long since I had read nothing but great reviews about their record ... is a real boy, but sometimes, it takes me a minute and i need to approach things at my own pace. I think the thing that converted me was the song "Alive with the Glory of Love" ... the lyrics were the most unbelievably sexy, romantic, and depressing lyrics about nazi concentration camps i've ever heard. Well, kind of the only lyrics about the camps that I've ever heard, so there was no competition, but that's not the point. No matter how depressing the topic is, I still found myself weirdly believing in love more than I did before listening to the song. There's something completely hopeful about the song that's almost comparable to the last few minutes of the movie "Life is Beautiful" but infinitely less depressing. You know in the movie when the father is trying to make his son laugh and not be scared as he's being carted away by the Nazi's, and you really can appreciate the lengths that love will go to make the other person feel better about things -- that song is sort of the musical equivalent of that (mostly because it's based on the same subject).
I thought of this, mostly because I just saw the video for "Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too" which is about love, and is not romantic in the least, but kind of funny. There's just something about Max's lyrics and vocal delivery that is just so great and makes me love the songs that I feel somewhat lukewarm about. I do really like the bridge of that song, and the video is so unfitting, it's hilarious.
I stayed away from downloading the internet copy of the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible (watch Arcade Fire videos here) because I wanted to hear the high quality version that the band intended fans to hear -- not the lowbitrate version that got passed around. I was on the subway listening to it when "intervention" came on -- was that the song they performed on SNL? I've gotta double check. Anyway, when "intervention" came on, I pressed my headphones close to my ears so i could hear the lyrics better and feel like i was surrounded by the music and not in a gross subway that feels like a coffin everytime i step into it.
i hate this song. i hate it because i love it so much and I cant listen to it without bursting into tears -- which is basically my relationship with the arcade fire. they make life more beautiful, and give it reason. its like gospel music without the God... it's hope and suffering all in one. I think that in 20 years, kids will still be discovering the Arcade Fire the same way they're discovering the Smiths and Joy Division today and be completely inspired and feel the same exact same way I am feeling this very second as I type this and listen to the song on repeat.
By the way, the Christina Aguilera video in which she plays three diff colored haired versions of herself is awesome. i'm not listening to the song cause i'm listening to the AF, but that video is fucking fantastic. I wonder what it sounds like.
I had dinner with my family last night to celebrate my Dad's 61st birthday. I was sooo nervous to see my dad cause I wasnt sure if he had seen the cover of the Village Voice yet or not. Coincidentally, my mom had only called me from her cell since it came out and i was convinced that it was cause my dad was really upset about the cover which displayed me in a slightly (although tastefully) provocative manner. But he had asked me to bring him 10 copies of the Voice for his birthday (how fucking cute, right?), because he was really proud and loved the article. It turns out that one of my uncles was less than pleased saying that I would embarrass the family if one of our Rabbi's saw it. I'm not sure how many of my family's rabbi's know me as "ultragrrrl" and would pass by the VV box and see "ultragrrrl" in huge letters and think "oh, there's is ondine and marc's daughter! what a ho!" Even my mom's nearly hasidic sister thought it looked great, which surprised the fuck out of me. I'm still nervous about Passover when I have to face my extended family and they give me the cold shoulder over the cover. But the important thing is that my parents are proud. I can live with that.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to live from the concussion i'm certain i have, which has left me with slightly fucked up depth perception and a backache that is going to have to demand medical attention as soon as possible. As if my memory wasn't bad enough before, it's kind of gone downhill. Thankfully, i think i got my love of emo knocked the fuck out of me since anytime i listen to an emo band demo i get disgusted and shut it off immediately. maybe it's just because they're all really bad demos.
By the way -- the best Chris Black quote from last night: "I love jewish girls -- they've got exaggerated features in various places."
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
ALL THE GIRLS OUT THERE ARE TOTALLY LYING WHEN THEY TELL YOU THAT SIZE DOES NOT MATTER... IT DOES
Here's a handy slideshow of some choice pictures from our time at SXSW... There's some Photo Atlas, some Horrors, some drunk ST employees, and some Young Love.
Unfortunately our photo dude Penta couldn't get down in time to get some shots of BLF, The Oohlas or Monty Are I.. so if you have any, send them to st.board@gmail.com and we'll throw them up!
Also, The Photo Atlas are up for voting on mtvU's The Freshmen for their video Handshake Heart Attack. Click here to vote for them and hopefully we'll see them on mtvU!
Checkit...repeated voting is allowed. Just sayin.
Here's a handy slideshow of some choice pictures from our time at SXSW... There's some Photo Atlas, some Horrors, some drunk ST employees, and some Young Love.
Unfortunately our photo dude Penta couldn't get down in time to get some shots of BLF, The Oohlas or Monty Are I.. so if you have any, send them to st.board@gmail.com and we'll throw them up!
Also, The Photo Atlas are up for voting on mtvU's The Freshmen for their video Handshake Heart Attack. Click here to vote for them and hopefully we'll see them on mtvU!
Checkit...repeated voting is allowed. Just sayin.
Monday, March 19, 2007
OUCH FUCK
First off, see any good boobs lately?
Secondly, I have the best fucking big brothers on earth. Two of them, infact, but Lawrence is like a "dont fuck with my family" kind of big brother. So good to me!
i'm back from south by south west (aka sxsw), and boy is my body aching me. let me explain something to you about sxsw -- it's basically a ton of people in the music industry, converging onto austin like ants to a pile of shit. in this case, the shit is replaced by free booze, bbq, and band... we're all still fucking ants though. little, creepy, crawling ants pissing in a port-a-potty and making out in a back alley.
so four days of waking up, drinking bloody marys that are free or paid for by someone else, seeing bands, drinking redbull, going to hear more loud bands, trying to talk over the loud bands, and attempting to find your hotel room at the end of the night.
previously when going to sxsw while at spin, i spent the entire time trying to find new bands and see whatever the buzzband of the moment was. well, this time at sxsw i spent the entire time seeing the bands on stolen transmission -- not because i had to, but because i wanted to and because that was the fucking place to be.
The Stolen Transmission showcase this year was the first ever ST SXSW party that not only featured our bands (Young Love took permanent me's spot as PM got some rest in Long Island), but also had a cash bar.... and it was PACKED! It was so packed that i had to beg and beg the door guy to let MC Nick Snow back in so he could finish MC'ing the event. After drunkenly begging, Rob came to the rescue or some shit. He tends to do that.
Every band played an amazing show -- whether it was bright light fever making new fans and opening the show up with a fucking killer set, or monty are i's steve totally fucking shredding to high hell on his guitar and stomping his way into guitargodlikeness, or young love making everyone dance their goth asses (i'm looking at you, joshua von grimm), or the photo atlas kinda stealing sxsw (vote for them on mtvu), or the oohlas turning into my own personal Nirvana for the millionth time this year, or the fucking horrors. oh the fucking horrors.
there's this thing about the horrors' song "gloves" that causes me and rob to sort of lose our shit. it's our time to get free primal scream therapy and scream in each others faces for no reason. we typically get so excited all set long for this song that we start spazzing out like half way into the whole shebang. so for like 20 minutes i found myself moshing with the people next to me that didnt want to mosh, then hurling myself to the front with the people who had no choice but to mosh, then falling to the floor, then grabbing hold on faris (the singer) when he came into the audience, then throwing a pinata's parts at faris when he got back on stage with Rob, then watching faris as he walked to the back of the audience where he grabbed a garbage can filled with bottles, cans, cups all filled with beer and tossed it onto the audience... then running to the front of the stage with rob so we could violently spin around and then get jumped on by faris from stage and land in a pile of garbage. Oh, and then JennyPenny and Casey threw a garbage can filled with trash back on the stage.
IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING.
I ended the festival at the horrors show for the alternative press party where i got beckoned onto stage by faris asking "where is my sheena? where is she?" So in a white dress, referencing their "sheena is a parasite" video, i got on stage and started dancing like the girl... but instead of squid coming from my nether regions, i sprayed beer onto faris and the audience. it was at that exact moment that Faris decided to surprise me by tossing me into the audience -- where i fucking landed on my back and hit my head on the cement floor... but that didnt stop me, i just jumped back up and started a mosh pit.
i'm in a lot of pain right now.
First off, see any good boobs lately?
Secondly, I have the best fucking big brothers on earth. Two of them, infact, but Lawrence is like a "dont fuck with my family" kind of big brother. So good to me!
i'm back from south by south west (aka sxsw), and boy is my body aching me. let me explain something to you about sxsw -- it's basically a ton of people in the music industry, converging onto austin like ants to a pile of shit. in this case, the shit is replaced by free booze, bbq, and band... we're all still fucking ants though. little, creepy, crawling ants pissing in a port-a-potty and making out in a back alley.
so four days of waking up, drinking bloody marys that are free or paid for by someone else, seeing bands, drinking redbull, going to hear more loud bands, trying to talk over the loud bands, and attempting to find your hotel room at the end of the night.
previously when going to sxsw while at spin, i spent the entire time trying to find new bands and see whatever the buzzband of the moment was. well, this time at sxsw i spent the entire time seeing the bands on stolen transmission -- not because i had to, but because i wanted to and because that was the fucking place to be.
The Stolen Transmission showcase this year was the first ever ST SXSW party that not only featured our bands (Young Love took permanent me's spot as PM got some rest in Long Island), but also had a cash bar.... and it was PACKED! It was so packed that i had to beg and beg the door guy to let MC Nick Snow back in so he could finish MC'ing the event. After drunkenly begging, Rob came to the rescue or some shit. He tends to do that.
Every band played an amazing show -- whether it was bright light fever making new fans and opening the show up with a fucking killer set, or monty are i's steve totally fucking shredding to high hell on his guitar and stomping his way into guitargodlikeness, or young love making everyone dance their goth asses (i'm looking at you, joshua von grimm), or the photo atlas kinda stealing sxsw (vote for them on mtvu), or the oohlas turning into my own personal Nirvana for the millionth time this year, or the fucking horrors. oh the fucking horrors.
there's this thing about the horrors' song "gloves" that causes me and rob to sort of lose our shit. it's our time to get free primal scream therapy and scream in each others faces for no reason. we typically get so excited all set long for this song that we start spazzing out like half way into the whole shebang. so for like 20 minutes i found myself moshing with the people next to me that didnt want to mosh, then hurling myself to the front with the people who had no choice but to mosh, then falling to the floor, then grabbing hold on faris (the singer) when he came into the audience, then throwing a pinata's parts at faris when he got back on stage with Rob, then watching faris as he walked to the back of the audience where he grabbed a garbage can filled with bottles, cans, cups all filled with beer and tossed it onto the audience... then running to the front of the stage with rob so we could violently spin around and then get jumped on by faris from stage and land in a pile of garbage. Oh, and then JennyPenny and Casey threw a garbage can filled with trash back on the stage.
IT WAS FUCKING AMAZING.
I ended the festival at the horrors show for the alternative press party where i got beckoned onto stage by faris asking "where is my sheena? where is she?" So in a white dress, referencing their "sheena is a parasite" video, i got on stage and started dancing like the girl... but instead of squid coming from my nether regions, i sprayed beer onto faris and the audience. it was at that exact moment that Faris decided to surprise me by tossing me into the audience -- where i fucking landed on my back and hit my head on the cement floor... but that didnt stop me, i just jumped back up and started a mosh pit.
i'm in a lot of pain right now.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
IT'S RAINING IN AUSTIN
So NickSnow and I are watching awful television in my hotel room and i target="_blank">just read this. STOKEDFACE!
So NickSnow and I are watching awful television in my hotel room and i target="_blank">just read this. STOKEDFACE!
Friday, March 9, 2007
PUNK DEBUTANTE
Has anyone been watching Pussy Cat Dolls Present the Search for the Next Doll? I didnt think I would ever watch it (though, my memory is failing as i apparently told brandon's friend that i was gonna audition last summer), but I was bored the other night and it was on -- and that's how shit usually starts. I get bored.
Anyway, there was this one girl on who kinda looked like Kirsten Dunst (whom i actually like a bit). She seemed to have spunk and a great look... she was cute and had the right attitude.
So in one of the interviews she mentions that she was in some sort of punk band and naturally i was like "oh man... she wishes! No future pussy cat doll could ever be a former punk" because, apparently i think i'm an expert on these things. And then i started to think -- Debbie Harry was in a punk band AND a playboy bunny. Maybe this girl IS a punk. And then I recognized her name: Sisely. My friend Hot Robbie was telling me a story about some girl he was friends with named Sisely who was in a group called the Cooler Kids -- and as it turned out, I really loved the Cooler Kids' album. So when I saw that this cutie had the same name as the cooler kid, i texted robbie who confirmed that it was infact the same person! You should check out the Cooler Kids' MySpace page. Their songs are really great and catchy.
I love watching Fuse all day because they always play Muse's video for "Starlight" like 29 tiems a day. The video is as over the top as the band -- with them performing on an aircraft carrier, multiple camera angles from helicopters, fireworks, other boats, more helicopters (i think i counted 8), more fireworks,... its bombast that only Muse could get away with. If you haven't seen the video, watch it on youtube:
Ciara's video is the most masculine thing i've ever seen. The sound wasn't on when i saw it so i dont know if the song is any good because rob and I were blasting something else. What is that something else? There are rumors that a record from a now-defunct legendary post-hardcore band exists. Well, not only do i know that the album exists, and not only am i listening to it right now, but it's likely that we will be putting it out on stolen transmission. stay tuned for more news on this.
Also, Bright Light Fever are on tour! Horay!
Has anyone been watching Pussy Cat Dolls Present the Search for the Next Doll? I didnt think I would ever watch it (though, my memory is failing as i apparently told brandon's friend that i was gonna audition last summer), but I was bored the other night and it was on -- and that's how shit usually starts. I get bored.
Anyway, there was this one girl on who kinda looked like Kirsten Dunst (whom i actually like a bit). She seemed to have spunk and a great look... she was cute and had the right attitude.
So in one of the interviews she mentions that she was in some sort of punk band and naturally i was like "oh man... she wishes! No future pussy cat doll could ever be a former punk" because, apparently i think i'm an expert on these things. And then i started to think -- Debbie Harry was in a punk band AND a playboy bunny. Maybe this girl IS a punk. And then I recognized her name: Sisely. My friend Hot Robbie was telling me a story about some girl he was friends with named Sisely who was in a group called the Cooler Kids -- and as it turned out, I really loved the Cooler Kids' album. So when I saw that this cutie had the same name as the cooler kid, i texted robbie who confirmed that it was infact the same person! You should check out the Cooler Kids' MySpace page. Their songs are really great and catchy.
I love watching Fuse all day because they always play Muse's video for "Starlight" like 29 tiems a day. The video is as over the top as the band -- with them performing on an aircraft carrier, multiple camera angles from helicopters, fireworks, other boats, more helicopters (i think i counted 8), more fireworks,... its bombast that only Muse could get away with. If you haven't seen the video, watch it on youtube:
Ciara's video is the most masculine thing i've ever seen. The sound wasn't on when i saw it so i dont know if the song is any good because rob and I were blasting something else. What is that something else? There are rumors that a record from a now-defunct legendary post-hardcore band exists. Well, not only do i know that the album exists, and not only am i listening to it right now, but it's likely that we will be putting it out on stolen transmission. stay tuned for more news on this.
Also, Bright Light Fever are on tour! Horay!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
COMING SOON... THE ULTRAGRRRL BACKLASH VOLUME 1 MILLION
I've been trying to dig deep into my old collection of what really got me living and loving life when i was 20ish years old.
There's been a lot of Kill Hannah revisiting in my life and I think I have Mikey (mazel tov) to thank for that. There was this little thing in SPIN asking MCR what they've been listening to and Mikey mentioned the shoegaze beauty of Kill Hannah -- which caused a friend to say "wait, they're not shoegaze, what's he smoking?" which caused me to play him "The Curse of Kill Hannah" which was all their early stuff from 96-98. i met Mat Devine -- the singer -- at a New Years Eve party 98/99, and thought he was the coolest looking dude i'd ever laid eyes on. He looked like Adam Ant with a stripe across his cheek, a marching band uniform, and wild hair. I immediately started talking to him and found out he was in Kill Hannah. I had heard about them through my friend Marti Zimlin, and was like "cool, you're in a band..." i wasn't impressed since basically everyone in nyc is in a band and they typically suck -- well, at least in 98/99 they did. I didnt get any kill hannah music, cause i didnt know where to find any since they only had releases in chicago and this was before e-commerce, so i was like, screwed.
Then this guy named Adrian somehow got my aim and started IMing me and I found out that he was from Chicago and was a fan of Kill Hannah so i got him to send me a cassette tape of KH on side A and he threw the Longpigs on side B. THIS WAS MY FAVORITE FUCKING THING THAT I OWNED when i got this. I would listen to the tape over and over again until it eventually wore out and broke. I also became friendlier with Matt over the next couple of years, hanging out with him and his bassist greg whenever they'd come to nyc and giving them a place to stay. (BY THE WAY PEOPLE, IF YOU EVER SEE A BAND PERFORM IN YOUR TOWN, PLEASE OFFER THEM A PLACE TO STAY. BANDS ARE BROKE AND THEY NEED A NICE PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEAD AND SHOWER AND HOTELS ARE EXPENSIVE AND BANDS DONT REALLY GET TOUR SUPPORT). Matt, Greg, and I would run around NYC like we had the keys to the city and I would show up to school hungover and smelling like puke and it was actually really an amazing time in my life that I will forever cherish. Adrian and I also became incredibly close. He changed his named to Adi after finding Judaism (i think i was his first jewish friend and attributed heavily to this, but i'm not sure). Adi is now like BFF with my brother Lawrence.
Anyway, in like 2000, Kill Hannah was looking for a new guitarist and i recommended Mikey for this position. Mikey and Matt talked quite a bit over the phone and online and there was a brief moment in time when it looked like Mikey (whom i called Mike back then, btw), was gonna be the guitarist for KH, but he either couldnt afford a plane ticket to chicago or his mom wouldnt let him go or something. Then about a year or so later, mikey joined his brother gerard's band and Johnny joined KH after Mikey met him at some Nine Inch Nails or Smashing Pumpkins thing that's that. Small world, huh?
But anyway, I played the "Curse of Kill Hannah" CD for a friend of mine whose exact quote was "I HAD NO IDEA WHY YOU LIKED THESE GUYS UNTIL NOW -- HOLY SHIT THIS STUFF IS SO FUCKING GOOD." That's not to say that their new stuff isn't. It's awesome, but this old stuff -- in all it's low-fi glory, is what made my car drive faster, my self-imposed alienation from my friends that much more tolerable, and gave me some sort of weird love for the midwest ... a land i had never seen before.
You can download a song here: Click Here
And click here to buy it from their website. It's worth it. i Promise.
I've been trying to dig deep into my old collection of what really got me living and loving life when i was 20ish years old.
There's been a lot of Kill Hannah revisiting in my life and I think I have Mikey (mazel tov) to thank for that. There was this little thing in SPIN asking MCR what they've been listening to and Mikey mentioned the shoegaze beauty of Kill Hannah -- which caused a friend to say "wait, they're not shoegaze, what's he smoking?" which caused me to play him "The Curse of Kill Hannah" which was all their early stuff from 96-98. i met Mat Devine -- the singer -- at a New Years Eve party 98/99, and thought he was the coolest looking dude i'd ever laid eyes on. He looked like Adam Ant with a stripe across his cheek, a marching band uniform, and wild hair. I immediately started talking to him and found out he was in Kill Hannah. I had heard about them through my friend Marti Zimlin, and was like "cool, you're in a band..." i wasn't impressed since basically everyone in nyc is in a band and they typically suck -- well, at least in 98/99 they did. I didnt get any kill hannah music, cause i didnt know where to find any since they only had releases in chicago and this was before e-commerce, so i was like, screwed.
Then this guy named Adrian somehow got my aim and started IMing me and I found out that he was from Chicago and was a fan of Kill Hannah so i got him to send me a cassette tape of KH on side A and he threw the Longpigs on side B. THIS WAS MY FAVORITE FUCKING THING THAT I OWNED when i got this. I would listen to the tape over and over again until it eventually wore out and broke. I also became friendlier with Matt over the next couple of years, hanging out with him and his bassist greg whenever they'd come to nyc and giving them a place to stay. (BY THE WAY PEOPLE, IF YOU EVER SEE A BAND PERFORM IN YOUR TOWN, PLEASE OFFER THEM A PLACE TO STAY. BANDS ARE BROKE AND THEY NEED A NICE PLACE TO LAY THEIR HEAD AND SHOWER AND HOTELS ARE EXPENSIVE AND BANDS DONT REALLY GET TOUR SUPPORT). Matt, Greg, and I would run around NYC like we had the keys to the city and I would show up to school hungover and smelling like puke and it was actually really an amazing time in my life that I will forever cherish. Adrian and I also became incredibly close. He changed his named to Adi after finding Judaism (i think i was his first jewish friend and attributed heavily to this, but i'm not sure). Adi is now like BFF with my brother Lawrence.
Anyway, in like 2000, Kill Hannah was looking for a new guitarist and i recommended Mikey for this position. Mikey and Matt talked quite a bit over the phone and online and there was a brief moment in time when it looked like Mikey (whom i called Mike back then, btw), was gonna be the guitarist for KH, but he either couldnt afford a plane ticket to chicago or his mom wouldnt let him go or something. Then about a year or so later, mikey joined his brother gerard's band and Johnny joined KH after Mikey met him at some Nine Inch Nails or Smashing Pumpkins thing that's that. Small world, huh?
But anyway, I played the "Curse of Kill Hannah" CD for a friend of mine whose exact quote was "I HAD NO IDEA WHY YOU LIKED THESE GUYS UNTIL NOW -- HOLY SHIT THIS STUFF IS SO FUCKING GOOD." That's not to say that their new stuff isn't. It's awesome, but this old stuff -- in all it's low-fi glory, is what made my car drive faster, my self-imposed alienation from my friends that much more tolerable, and gave me some sort of weird love for the midwest ... a land i had never seen before.
You can download a song here: Click Here
And click here to buy it from their website. It's worth it. i Promise.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
This is like watching Brian Battjer at Brunch.
AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA
AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
This is like watching Brian Battjer at Brunch.
Monday, March 5, 2007
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEREDITH
I'm cooking dinner tonight. Fiery Angel Hair Pasta and Salad with Ponzu Dressing. Yum. What's for dinner tonight at your house?
The oohlas are playing with William Tell at the Troubadour!!!!
Click image for larger version:
I'm cooking dinner tonight. Fiery Angel Hair Pasta and Salad with Ponzu Dressing. Yum. What's for dinner tonight at your house?
The oohlas are playing with William Tell at the Troubadour!!!!
Click image for larger version:
Friday, March 2, 2007
IS ANYONE STILL READING THIS?
Alex and I are watching the Making of OK Computer right now. I'm not sure I am ready to deal with this to be honest. It's been ten years since the album came out and it still makes me feel the same damn way now as it did back then. I spent 3 years listening to that album once a day... their EPs, their B-sides, everything. I only would be friends with people that loved radiohead as much as I did and I would spend all my free time on radiohead newsgroups and message boards reading as much as my fucking head could consume. I made a lot of friends online with other kids that i met online. We'd meet in lines for tickets -- sleeping on the street overnight to get tickets, we'd hang out, we'd trade b-sides and live recordings and everything. oh my god, i lived for that band. every single fucking minute of my day was about radiohead. that's it. oh, and the only website i thought was really worth visiting was GreenPlastic.
When I went to see Radiohead for the first time at Radio City (i went all three nights to see them, btw), it was the first time that i was surrounded by people that were different than the people i knew at home. i felt like i belonged... which is ironic since one of the most famous lines in rh's most famous song "creep" is "i dont belong here..."
when i was 17 i was interning for abc.com and was asked to review "ok computer" and so i took home all the press material and read them on my bus rides from tenafly to the 178th street bus terminal in nyc. i would read other writers flipping out for this band the same way i did, but at the age of 17 didnt know how to articulate (still cant, really). that's when i decided that i wanted to be involved in the music industry. that's how i ended up here.
OH MY GOD, I LOVE RADIOHEAD...fuck. i can't believe how much all my feelings are rushing back to me right now, i'm on the verge of tears.
Alex and I are watching the Making of OK Computer right now. I'm not sure I am ready to deal with this to be honest. It's been ten years since the album came out and it still makes me feel the same damn way now as it did back then. I spent 3 years listening to that album once a day... their EPs, their B-sides, everything. I only would be friends with people that loved radiohead as much as I did and I would spend all my free time on radiohead newsgroups and message boards reading as much as my fucking head could consume. I made a lot of friends online with other kids that i met online. We'd meet in lines for tickets -- sleeping on the street overnight to get tickets, we'd hang out, we'd trade b-sides and live recordings and everything. oh my god, i lived for that band. every single fucking minute of my day was about radiohead. that's it. oh, and the only website i thought was really worth visiting was GreenPlastic.
When I went to see Radiohead for the first time at Radio City (i went all three nights to see them, btw), it was the first time that i was surrounded by people that were different than the people i knew at home. i felt like i belonged... which is ironic since one of the most famous lines in rh's most famous song "creep" is "i dont belong here..."
when i was 17 i was interning for abc.com and was asked to review "ok computer" and so i took home all the press material and read them on my bus rides from tenafly to the 178th street bus terminal in nyc. i would read other writers flipping out for this band the same way i did, but at the age of 17 didnt know how to articulate (still cant, really). that's when i decided that i wanted to be involved in the music industry. that's how i ended up here.
OH MY GOD, I LOVE RADIOHEAD...fuck. i can't believe how much all my feelings are rushing back to me right now, i'm on the verge of tears.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
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