What's
youra favorite holiday memory?
Getting a puppy. And my sister being so psyched out about attacking her stocking that she stepped right over the dog without even noticing her.
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01/23/10 Ampere München
Discography
01/24/10 Studio 672 Köln 01/26/10 Magnet Berlin 01/28/10 Rocking Chair Vevey 01/29/10 Ziegel Oh Lac Zurich 02/01/10 Prinzenbar Hamburg 02/09/10 Thekla Bristol 02/10/10 Hare & Hounds Birmingham 02/11/10 Brudenell Centre Leeds 02/12/10 ULU London 02/13/10 Audio Brighton
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Straitjacket Escape ♥ photo by Dave
The straitjacket incident was obviously the most epic moment of the night, but the theatrics didn’t end there. There was interpretive dancing, rogue boomerangs, and a pretty intimidating box accordion. Throw in a picturesque stage setting and a watering can attached to the drum kit, and it wasn’t an average Webster Hall show. The band managed to take a spacious, relatively normal venue and shift the atmosphere to match that of the album: warm, enthusiastic, and frenzied.
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by DaveWith only one album, they had a limited supply of songs to play. My personal favorite, “I’m a Pilot,” drew from the band’s most appealing quality: their infectious camaraderie. This was most apparent during the encore, when they had run out of songs to sing, so they resorted to the obligatory cover, Low’s “Just Like Christmas,” featuring opening band, Freelance Whales. Anything holiday-related is instantly a cheese-fest, but throw in a cavalcade of instruments and a dozen earnest musicians and it becomes easy to suspend any cynicism.
(I really wanted to end this review by writing, “...and by the end of the night, you could say that the entire audience had shed an emotional straitjacket – and put on a fringed vest of love.” But I won’t. Swearsies.)
Photos by Dave:
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave 
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo & Freelance Whales
12/22/2009 00:12:42 ♥ kateg (
)
♥ fanfarlo.com
♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo
Where the heck is my remote control?
Bonus Q: How do I manage to misplace it so often?
Almost considered skipping the show tonight but soooo glad I didn't.
Traffic was HORRID - but it's LA, at the holidays, and the weather today was FANTASTIC (around 80) so I should have expected that.
Valet was $25... but they gave me a free carwash. Granted, it turned out to be a pretty shitty carwash - but it was free so, whatever!
The lineup was Royal Crown Review (very short set), The Ventures (THE original surf guitar band - over 100million records sold), the Brian Setzer Orchestra.
Brian never played guitar one-handed, which kinda bummed me out. But it was still a great show. I have a billion photos and video to sort through after I recharge the cell phone... or plug the micro sd card into a reader.
My knees were okay till about the time Brian Setzer came out. By then, they were thrashed. I had some empathy from the couple behind me (father & daughter) who also had knee/leg/foot problems. I got into the venue shortly before 8 and into my car round 12:15... 4+ hours of standing and/or walking. I would have done rude things for a drink after the show but nearly everything at Universal City Walk was either a disco or closed. So I did without...
...till I got back to Long Beach, where I stopped at Puka Bar for a drink... or 20 (I think it was actually 4).
I almost bought Crankypants a big carry-all bag at Universal CityWalk. It had something about being angry, or hating people, or something like that. Would easily work for me but seemed more "okay" if I got it for Cranky. But I eventually decided we could both do without it.
So now it's after 2a and I'm too awake (even after 4 mixed drinks) and tomorrow has only one commitment (hair color & cut at... 4??). I actually tried to run some errands today but I got there too late and the only errand I actually accomplished was getting fake eyelashes (they look GREAT).
late to bed, late to rise (makes a chick look lazy to morning people)
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The Zatoichi series ran 26 movies (1962-1982) and a television series ran for five years (1974-1979). Twenty years later, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano reinvented Zatoichi with his version of the character. This was easily one of my favorite movie at the time, I saw it at the independent theater twice in 2003 and ordered a region 3 release of the DVD as soon as it was available on import. Incidentally, to show support for the US market, I also bought the US edition of the DVD, which came with a bonus Sonatine movie (which was originally released in the states by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder productions).
Considering the movie did quite well, critically and (I'm assuming) in sales, I was hoping for a follow-up movie by Kitano, but unfortunately there's no such plan. However, interestingly enough, one of my all-time favorite Japanese director, Takashi Miike* directed a stage adaption of Zatoichi for live performances in 2007.
I'm happy to report that, I saw a very good re-imagined of the familiar character, reinvented as a female protagonist, called Ichi. I wish the producers had kept the brand of "Zatoichi", as people who hear "Ichi" does not always associate the name with the blind swordsman. To be fair, Ichi is the original character's name. The term "zato" means low-ranking blind person (low-ranking in the Todoza guild). Logically, they could've named this movie Gozeichi, because Goze refers to blind musician women of that time period.
Anyway, beside my gripe about the Ichi name as the movie title, I also didn't like the idea that a model (Ayase Haruka) is playing the part of the protagonist. All that was really not worth worrying, because the whole movie is quite entertaining and enjoyable, and there is only once where Haruka is seen 'dolled up' for a music performance (most of the movie, she's covered from head to toe in dirty rags). However, there are at times when the director Fumihiko Sori choose to stay too long on Haruka's beautiful unblemished face. We get it, she's cute.
The story is uncomplicated, Ichi wanders into some town with an inept sword-drawing samurai Toma (the name is close to a slang "tonma" for idiot or fool). The town is in trouble from the Banki gang, and in Zatoichi fashion, Ichi and Toma saves the town. During the course of the film, there are the tried-and-true Zatoichi moments like slashing out the lights and Ichi triumph in complete darkness, the use of sound to throw Ichi off, and, of course, the Cho-Han Bakuchi dice gambling.
What made the film interesting, at least to me, is that the soundtrack is by Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard! So throughout the movie, you do hear that ethereal vocals, similar to her efforts on Ridley Scott's Gladiator. I suspect she only wrote the vocals, the credit I have for composer is Michael Edwards, who previously worked with Gerrad on her solo material. The soundtrack was a bit of a surprise to me, generally these J-movies' music and production team are usually kept inhouse. Although, having said that, the one outro credit song is by Korean J-Pop singer SunMin.
Ichi the movie will be made available in the US market via Bluray and DVD in two days (December 22nd), just in time for last-minute xmas shoppers. Hopefully those Best Buy tonmas will be smart and order some copies for their store (however, if it costs over $25, I'd rather order it online, or not own it at all - hey times are tough!).
* I love all three billion of his movies! Audition, City of Lost Souls, One Missed Call, Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Zebraman, Sukiyaki Western: Django, etc.
12/20/2009 02:06:34 ♥ vu (
) ♥funimation.com/ichi
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For this Christmas, I did buy myself Swords deluxe edition via my favorite store, amazon. It was a bit pricey for a CD/DVD combo ($23 vs $12 for the standard disc), but I'm worth it.
I actually have had a digital copy of the B-Sides compilation since late October, thanks to pen pal friend Mel, as it was a "bonus" if you had preordered tickets to see Morrissey in live in 2009. And of course, like most fans, we still buy the physical release anyway, so it's a bit of a win-win situation for everyone.
I'll briefly summarize Morrissey's history: he's a bit of a sensitive, indie songwriter with The Smiths. He went solo in "nineteen-eighty-hate" with some classic modern rock hits with "Suedehead" (aka that "I'm So Sorry" song) and "Everyday is like Sunday". He went a bit rockabilly with Your Arsenal (his previous album Kill Uncle was heading to this direction, especially with the B-Sides and singles from this era), and pretty much stayed in this "muscular" rock type music since. As I previously mentioned, I think this has to do with his musical collaboration with Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte.
If you're new to Morrissey, I don't think Swords would be a good starting point for you. I would recommend starting with Bona Drag, a weird mix of b-sides and oddities. Most of the songs on Swords were co-written by Alain Whyte, and there's a nice cohesive feel to each song as they have similiar song writing structure. When you do run into a non-Whyte song, such as "Sweetie-Pie", it just feels out of place. In fact, I think this is possibly one of the worst Morrissey song, right up there with "Michaels Bones".
There is one non-Morrissey-penned song, and it's a live recording of "Drive-In Saturday" (live at Omaha on 11 May 2007). Morrissey's music obsessions tend to be from the 60s and 70s era, so it didn't surprise me to hear him doing a David Bowie cover from the Aladdin Sane time period. But the two are friends, I know that Bowie showed up at a Morrissey show in Los Angeles in the early 90s to do a duet of a T.Rex's song for "Cosmic Dancer", and, of course, Bowie would later record a soul-ish version of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" in 1993.
Also, it seems in post-2008, Morrissey's songs have been about fatherhood and retirement. Just looking over his titles: "Good Looking Man About Town", "Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice", "Teenage Dad on His Estate", "Children in Pieces", that "constipated look" for Swords, and that controversially album cover for Years of Refusal ... you would think that he's married with kids. Maybe that's not a bad thing, with Morrissey's heath in question, maybe he should take it easy. We all can't be like James Dean, you know.
12/19/2009 03:47:04 ♥ vu () ♥itsmorrisseysworld.com ♥ truetoyou.com ♥ morrissey-solo.com
I'm currently watching you on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
I don't know if anyone's told you but you are NOT Steven Tyler. Let it go!!
Cause I am REALLY out of sync tonight.
I got up at noon, thinking it was 10a, cause I forgot that I reset my alarm clock yesterday (I still haven't remembered WHY I reset it). So I started the day an hour late.
Then I heard a police scanner say something about "do you have the suspects?" and it was REALLY close so I checked the windows and found out it was pretty much in front of my house. Then I recalled strange noises and lots of barking by the neighbors dogs, and Boo sitting in the backyard with her look that conveys something is wrong. When Boo gave me the look, I understood that there were people in the neighbor's driveway - but I didn't process the fact that it was a bad thing. (I suspect, based on little, that it was more than 1 person and they were trying to break into homes.)
So waiting for police issue to resolve delayed me a little more.
Knowing I'd miss lunch at work, I stopped at 7eleven and snagged a sammich and coffee - to which I added an energy shot.
Traffic was freakishly horrid, on all 3 freeways that I use, so that delayed me even more.
The day just zooooooomed by. I was driving home and shocked/annoyed that the Sketchers store was closed, as was the mexican food joint at the end of the street. Oh yeaaaaaa... it's almost 11pm. Duh!!
Now it's after midnight and I feel like it's about 9pm, max, and I'm really really thankful that it's Friday so I can not care about being awake all night and sleeping late tomorrow.
BRIAN SETZER CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA CONCERT tomorrow night (with Royal Crown Review opening).... BOOO YAAAAA!!! I'd like to do the retro/40s hairdo that I learned but I'm sure I'm too lazy to bother.
Today I got a wild hair and bought a ticket to Timbaland, at the HOB WeHo, on Jan 29. I like his music. He pairs with lots of celebrities. He'll be in LA (maybe some cool special guests??!). Tix were cheap ($45-ish; So I won't feel bad if I can't make it). It's all good.
ZOOOOOM ZOOOOOOM ZOOOOOOOM@!!
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