Category: Music

Put the Needle on the Record

by Administrator, posted in Art, Books, Music

Because of my age, I came into the 1980s late. It was in high school when my finger nails turned blue, my skirts included clingy black shorts sticking out from under that you could see, and on days when I wasn’t wearing a Sandman t-shirt (I must have had 6 or 7 different ones) my shirts tended to be mesh, neon, or perhaps ripped to expose a shoulder. There I was at the beginning of the grunge era, most days looking like I was on my way to audition to be an extra in a Cover Girls or Salt-N-Pepa video. (Don’t you worry your pretty little heads, as Courtney Love happened some floral dresses and combats boots showed up in the wardrobe as well.) In high school when I purchased music singles they were in the cassette single format, also known as cassingles. I rarely gave their covers a second look. Cassingles were simply a means to an end, it was only the music that mattered. Perhaps that’s why I have such a romantic feeling about vinyl singles. There is a magic about that size and format. You can lose yourself in a vinyl cover in a way that cassette tapes never really allowed.

This brings us to what I’m calling “the bestest thing ever”, “Put the Needle on the Record: The 1980s at 45 Revolutions Per Minute” by Matthew Chojnacki. Let me first start with, that is a bad ass name for the book. I don’t know if it was the author or the publisher that came up with that, but whoever did deserves a big thumbs up! If you’re looking to discover the artistic nature of the eighties, look no further. Chojnacki has compiled over 250 vinyl single covers highlighting every musical and artistic corner of the decade. He presents covers together to show trends; the cover of Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” influencing Winger’s “Madalaine”, album sleeves in denim, the cover of La Toya Jackson’s “Heart Don’t Lie” being derived directly from Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”, covers that have the appearance of postcards, the work of Keith Haring, and more!

Kate Bush, Army Dreamers (Design John Carder Bush, 1980, EMI 5106, U.K.)
Dolly Parton, I Will Always Love You (Design Unknown, 1982, RCA 13260, U.S.)

“Two of music’s most distinguished vocalists and lyricists appear here in ‘autographed’ photos” – Matthew Chojnacki

But hold on folks, because “Put the Needle on the Record” isn’t just filled with beautiful images of vinyl single covers. Chojnacki interviewed loads of people involved with them. Artists, designers, musicians, and whoever else played a hand in the creation of the covers are featured throughout the book. Sometimes offering insight into how the art was created, other times revealing behind the scenes stories, and frequently explaining a meaning to the cover that you may not have seen before. And the whole thing is sandwiched between a great foreword from Jake Shears (of Scissor Sisters) and an equally stellar afterword from Nick Rhodes (of Duran Duran).

Madonna, Everybody (Illustration Lou Beach, Design Christine Sauers, 1982, Sire 29899 12, U.S.)
The Clash, This is England (Illustration Eddie King, 1985, CBS 6122, U.K.)

“Madonna’s ‘Everybody’ depicted New York’s Lower East Side/East Village, while ‘This is England’ portrayed a Brit city landscape.” – Matthew Chojnacki

“Put the Needle on the Record” is an art book beautiful enough to proudly set out on your coffee table that is loaded with enough thoughtful pop culture journalism to keep your friends on your sofa for far too long.

What is New Age Music? And the New Paul Avgerinos Album.

by Administrator, posted in Music

Often times I find it difficult defining labels for types of music. It’s pretty funny considering I worked in music retail for 10 years. Although in thinking about it, it might not be so much of an inability to define a musical sound as much as me personally bristling at attempting to apply super specific labels to music that can preemptively dissuade someone from giving an album a listen, or give up trying to find it in a store. I prefer broad strokes; rock, rap, country, classical, dance, etc., etc. What is really accomplished by going crazy with the genres? Can’t we safely say that alternative, punk, and heavy metal are rock? Do I really need to see a bluegrass mini section within the country music section? Should I have to wonder if Simon & Garfunkel are rock or folk? And what does that mean for finding Paul Simon as a solo artist? I think you get what I’m trying to say here, right?

I started thinking about all of this when I decided that I was going to mention friend of The Buffet, Paul Avgerinos’ new album “Bliss” here on the site. Paul Avgerinos creates “New Age” music. I began to wonder if all it took to be classified as New Age was that the music was relaxing. Is my Sa Ding Ding album New Age? What about the Atman cd? Surely the “Pure Moods” cds I own are New Age. But wait! Those albums have songs from Moby and Peter Gabriel on them. Those two artists aren’t New Age, are they? All of those artists, albums, and more (including Paul Avgerinos) live in my “Relaxation” playlist on my iPod. Is that enough for them all to be New Age?

Like all matters such as these I turn to the anonymous peeps at Wikipedia to help a sister out, “New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often associated with environmentalism and New Age spirituality.

The harmonies in New Age music are generally modal, consonant, or include a drone bass. The melodies are often repetitive, to create a hypnotic feeling, and sometimes recordings of nature sounds are used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common.

New Age music includes both electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained synch pads or long sequencer-based runs, and acoustic forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar and a wide variety of non-western acoustic instruments.

Vocal arrangements were initially rare in New Age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American, Sanskrit, or Tibetan influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends or the realm of Faerie.” And that sounds as good as I could hope with regards to defining New Age music.

All of this is just a really wordy, rambling lead in to me telling you guys that Paul Avgerinos has a new album out called “Bliss” and if you like “New Age” music or just music to relax and reflect to, you should consider checking it out.

A “Deluxe” Review

by Administrator, posted in Music, Reviews

As a general rule, I hate the “deluxe” album. As someone who worked in music retail, I have an extra reserve of hate for them based on endless customers complaining that “they’re expected to buy the album….again?” Of course the worst is the greatest hits collection with those two extra songs there to annoy the devoted fans who already bought every album the artist ever released, but I digress, we’re discussing the “deluxe” album. In my experience “deluxe” is a meager handful of additional tracks, heavily featuring demo versions (and often times demo versions are better left unearthed) and remixes (which I sometimes enjoy, but to buy an album a second time for a few remixes….not likely). Now you can understand why despite how much I enjoyed the Florence and the Machine album “Lungs”, I kept turning my nose up at the “deluxe” edition out on store shelves.

Well one day in a moment of weakness and curiosity I finally picked it up to see what was so darned “deluxe” about this version of “Lungs”. I bought it that day, so as you may guess a lot. Let’s break it down for you. There are 11 additional tracks. Yep. Eleven. As in someone took the dial for “Lungs” and turned it up to 11. So there is a whole second disc of “deluxe”.

How many demo versions? One. The track “Ghosts” is the origin of the song “I’m Not Calling You A Liar” from the original album. Although not a revelation, it’s quirky and slightly more uptempo feeling demo was fun, and not a regrettable addition. Remixes? I’m going to stretch and say two. The deluxe disc features a remix of “Dog Days are Over” by Yeasayer. Honestly, not that impressed. However, there is also “You’ve Got the Dirtee Love” as performed at the 2010 Brit Awards. Since this introduced me to Florence and the Machine, I’ve got a soft spot for the performance. Also it is a fun mash up of Florence and the Machine’s “You’ve Got the Love” and Dizzee Rascal’s rap “Dirtee Cash”, so we can call that a remix if you like. (Fun fact: Florence won for best British album of the year at that show and Dizzee won best British male.)

A few other common tropes for the “deluxe” album are tracks from other compilation albums and covers of other songs, and the “deluxe” “Lungs” has those too. You’ll find “Heavy in Your Arms” which was originally on “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” soundtrack. I still haven’t seen the movies, but I really should just man up and buy all the soundtracks because I seem to like every song I hear from the darned things, and this song is no exception. It’s almost a death march sound chronicling the overwhelming, unbearable, weight that love can have on a couple. As for the covers, they’re the real stand outs for me. So much so I’m going to toss a couple of videos at you!

Florence and the Machine take Robert Palmer’s gritty, grinding, and all around universally accepted as bad ass song “Addicted to Love” and turn it into a more delicate, pulsating version. (By the way, there was no “official” video for this song but this guy made a video for his Media Studies course at The New School in New York City, so I thought, why not share his work with more people.)

The other stand out cover is “Hospital Beds” which was originally done by the Cold War Kids. The live clip I’ve got here highlights Florence’s powerhouse voice as she adds her personal touch to the song.

Now would be a good time to remind you that there are a few totally 100% new tracks on here too. Technically I think they were part of some iTunes deal, but they’re new to me, so I’m calling it new! These songs reaffirm that Florence continues to have a crazy good voice, an ability to write compelling complex lyrics, and an adventurous spirit when it comes to making music.

Here is a live performance of “Swimming”.

Yes, I bought “Lungs” again, and I don’t regret it one bit.

The Pop Up Post

by Administrator, posted in Geek Stuff, Music, Television

Rejoice pop culture junkies! At the end of May VH1 announced the return of “Pop Up Video”!

“Pop Up Video” would generously sprinkle music videos with facts and trivia about the artist and video heavily laced with sarcasm. For those of you unfamiliar with the awesomeness that is “Pop Up Video”, let me demonstrate the fun with this true classic of the original “Pop Up Video” series, Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna’ Give You Up”.

(It’s well documented that Magical Buffet founder Rebecca Elson is a big fan of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna’ Give You Up”.)

ET.com’s PopWatch writer Jeff Labrecque reports, “After a 10-year hiatus, ‘Pop Up Video’ is coming back to VH1, with 60 new episodes ordered for this fall. This time, not only will the show tackle classic hip-hop and rap music videos for the first time, but the ‘Pop Up’ treatment will feature user-generated pop up content and updated polls in its bubbles.”

(Rebecca copied and pasted this quote while listening to the “Family Guy” television show. She often works this way.)

With 10 years of catching up to do, I can’t wait to see where they start! I mean, one can only assume there will be an all Lady Gaga show, right? One day soon we may get to see “Poker Face” get the kind of treatment that REM’s “Losing My Religion” received.

(Rebecca originally planned on using the “Pop Up Video” version of No Doubt’s “Ex-Girlfriend” but in the end opted for the more iconic “Losing my Religion” video.)

Do you remember “Pop Up Video” too? What videos do you hope to see them tackle?

(Most bloggers end posts with questions like these as a blatant attempt to get readers to leave comments on their website.)

(It rarely works.)

Doctor Dee….The Opera

by Administrator, posted in Magic/Occult, Music

Who is John Dee? That can be a complicated question. He is different things to each person familiar with him. Like all complex things, let’s go to the anonymous folks at Wikipedia for the general gist.

John Dee was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy.

Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of those who would conduct England’s voyages of discovery.

Simultaneously with these efforts, Dee immersed himself in the worlds of magic, astrology and Hermetic philosophy. He devoted much time and effort in the last thirty years or so of his life to attempting to commune with angels in order to learn the universal language of creation and bring about the pre-apocalyptic unity of mankind. A student of the Renaissance Neo-Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, Dee did not draw distinctions between his mathematical research and his investigations into Hermetic magic, angel summoning and divination. Instead he considered all of his activities to constitute different facets of the same quest: the search for a transcendent understanding of the divine forms which underlie the visible world, which Dee called “pure verities”.

Dee’s high status as a scholar also allowed him to play a role in Elizabethan politics. He served as an occasional adviser and tutor to Elizabeth I and nurtured relationships with her ministers Francis Walsingham and William Cecil. Dee also tutored and enjoyed patronage relationships with Sir Philip Sidney, his uncle Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Edward Dyer. He also enjoyed patronage from Sir Christopher Hatton.

Damon Albarn is a British singer/songwriter/producer that you may know best as the front man for Blur and the Gorillaz. He is also preparing for the debut of an opera that he collaborated with theater director Rufus Norris on about the life of John Dee. Intriguing, no?

BBC News reports, “This concoction of Renaissance ideas and a human story is being brought to life with an eclectic musical composition – featuring medieval instruments, West African drummer Tony Allen, and Damon Albarn’s unmistakable vocals.” Albarn goes on in the article to explain that he feels Dee has been “whitewashed” out of history, and is quoted as saying, “It’s just amazing how much colour there is in his ideas. Just imagine the English now if we had kept that spirit in our hearts.”

The opera is called Doctor Dee and will be debuting in July at the Manchester International Festival.

Hadi Thawra! Rap Music in Libya

by Administrator, posted in Music, Politics

It’s no real secret that I’m a fan of rap music. Not all rap music, and I’m certainly not an expert, but I do know what I like. You’ve seen it in “Public Enemy and the People Who Love Them” and “Nas – Big Damn Hero”. You may also recall an article I wrote about how important it was that music had returned to Afghanistan in “Music Matters”, and that it also gave mention to the struggle of heavy metal music in Iraq. But I’ve always had the most fun discussing rap music in my sporadic but ongoing series of “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad” articles. Several countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia have “Vice Squads” to police the morality of their citizens; be it showing a little denim pant leg or setting up turntables. Rap music in these environments was discussed back in 2007 in “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad! Part 2: The Rap Edition” which dealt with Iran and in 2010 with “Freeze! It’s the Vice Squad! Part 6: Rap Music Strikes Again!” which was also Iran-o-centric.

I’ve always talked about how rap music can be the voice of rebellion, a means of expressing a life that many can’t imagine, and essentially a catalyst to society as a whole. This is why I was not surprised to learn that there is a rap music movement in Libya that has been exploding since February 21, 2011. Twenty somethings in Libya had been making music in hiding, never sharing it for fear of repercussions that would include prison and possibly death. 23 year-old Mutaz el Obidy of the group Revolution Beat is quoted in a France 24 article as saying, “We weren’t allowed to talk about the system, we could not speak our thoughts. We were not allowed to perform in college or anywhere. I was afraid not about myself, but about my family. They would have been killed, I’d have to watch my sister being raped. I never got in trouble because I wasn’t stupid about it, we never published it.”

However now France 24 interviewed Revolution Beat because they started distributing copies of their song “Hadi Thawra” to anti-Gaddafi demonstrators in Benghazi’s central courthouse. I’d say it’s public now. Leela Jacinto reporting for France 24 says, “This is revolution the way the Libyan youth see it. If every history-mending youth movement were to have its own Bob Dylan vocalizing the dissent and dreams of a generation, ‘Hadi Thawra’ is the ‘Times They Are a-Changin’ of the anti-Gaddafi hipster set.”

An Associated Press article quotes Mutaz el Obidy of Revolution Beat as he explains that, “Rap is more popular than rock and country among the young people in Libya because it expresses anger and frustration.” If it helps Mutaz, that’s what Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were saying with “The Message”, what Public Enemy was doing with “Bring the Noise”, and certainly what N.W.A. were expressing in “F*#k the Police”.

Rap grew in America when a segment of the population felt marginalized and set up by a system that didn’t appear to care about them. It is the universality of that feeling of anger and frustration that causes rap music to ferment globally. When I reviewed the book “Sufi Rapper” I learned of the vibrant French rap community that comes from the “deprived Paris suburbs”, aka the projects. I’ve written about the rise of rap music in Iran. And now we’re looking at Libya. Perhaps large segments of the population will never see or feel the way I do about the power of rap music, but the genre has withstood the test of time and has inspired people around the world. And I dare say, these rap communities in Iran or Libya are probably more true to origins of the music than we’re seeing from many popular rap artists today. For these artists rap music is about the struggle. They realize how unlikely it is that they will ever have the lifestyles of their American counterparts, but they just don’t stop. Maybe it’s just another facet of their struggle. Maybe they’ll write a song about it.

Britney Spears is Dancing to the Apocalypse

by Administrator, posted in Music, Reviews

The world is going to come to an end, and Britney Spears intends to dance her way to the apocalypse. Spears’ latest album “Femme Fatale” is the pop music equivalent of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out”. It’s a game changer for the artist. While many critics are whining that the album never wavers from its dance floor sensibilities, or that the album is more a victory for the producers than for Spears, I see it differently.

Thankfully the pop music landscape has changed in recent history, and I think for the better. Thanks to the efforts from female artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Robyn, and as always Madonna, female driven pop music blends more styles and takes more risks than ever before. Sadly, these innovations made still relatively young Britney Spears something of a pop music dinosaur. Despite her releasing some songs that could compete, overall she hadn’t managed to break through to the new era.

“Femme Fatale” rips open with “Till the World Ends”, a pounding booty shaker and it never lets go. The album draws heavily on the ever encroaching electronic/techo sound (Yay!) with a heavy helping of thumping beats. Don’t call it a comeback, Spears could always make you dance, and thanks to her long time producers, everyone is being reminded. Oh boo hoo, it’s a whole album of music that makes you want to dance. What a waste of time that is! You know what, sometimes I don’t want a ballad, sometimes I don’t want to dissect songs for deeper meaning, in short, sometimes this middle aged white girl just wants to feel good, and “Femme Fatale” delivers.

I can’t consider this review complete with directing your attention to some videos. (Note that both videos have a 15 second advertisement in front of them.)

This first one is for the opening song “Till the World Ends”. As an occult fangirl I was tickled at the use of the ever popular December 21st 2012, even if it’s already getting a little played out. Also, there’s some pretty shots of a city getting wrecked. I don’t know who actually choreographed the video, but it’s got the fingerprints of Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted Snake” all over it. (Remember the part where they pull the blinds down? Yeah, that part.)

The other video I’m going share is for the song “Hold it Against Me”. Let me start by saying, I don’t really care for the video. If you’re looking for an awesome dissection of the video for hidden meaning I have got to send you over to Vigilant Citizen. He explores the ideas of mind control present in the video supported by his thoughts on Disney and Spears’ career. It’s always a good time over there! With all of that out of the way, here are the two things about this video that I want to share.

One, watching the video on YouTube was the first time I heard “Hold it Against Me”. While listening to it from the beginning I thought, this is a great dance song, I can’t wait to hear a techno remixer chop it up because that would be awesome. And then at 02:46 it segued into the exact sound I had been hoping for! So a tip of my hat to you noble producers. Second, at that mark starts a sequence that features the generally hokey person fighting themselves scenario. Now I’m not going to proclaim Spears the next female action hero (which was my response to Madonna’s “Die Another Day” video) but thanks to some decent camera work and choreography it looks pretty decent. Also, the close up of her little feet in stiletto heels shuffling for position makes me giggle.

If you’re bummed and looking for a party in an album, look no further than “Femme Fatale”. As they say in the movie “Protocol”, it’s a “guaranteed good time.” (Okay kids, it’s a movie. Starring Goldie Hawn. You do know who Goldie Hawn is, right? Fine, I get it. I’m old and you’re not. Damn kids.)

Catching Up with HipGnosis

by Administrator, posted in Music

It was a year ago that through my bizarre little Twitter inspired idea/experiment that I met Eric Young, aka DJ HipGnosis. It was a wonderful bit of luck that he thought so highly of The Magical Buffet that him featuring it on his assorted Twitter lists inspired me to reach out to him. And what timing, since this was at the same time that he was realizing the true emotional bonds that can be forged online. If we had connected at any other moment it’s hard to say if it would have resonated so much for us and our readers. You can read our first meeting in the article “What I Learned from Twitter (or How Talking to Strangers Can be Good)”. Even after all this time I still smile when I read HipGnosis describing himself, “To my own introduction, I am known as HipGnosis: I am a musician. A performer of music. A producer of music. A purveyor of music. You bring the booze, I’ll bring the beats, I guess is the general theme of this part of the presentation.”

Since our meeting I’ve been a big supporter of all things HipGnosis. Although I don’t get to listen as much as I’d like, I follow a lot of his work on his SoundCloud artist page, on Facebook, and of course on Twitter. People who follow him or The Magical Buffet on Twitter will see fairly regular exchanges between us doing the Twitter equivalent of the drunken “I love you man” that is better known among Twitterers as “Follow Friday”.

All of this is leading up to something, and here it is. I am so proud/excited that HipGnosis’s work on Adrian Molina’s “Build 2020 Manifesto” has gotten him some attention from The Denver Post’s Reverb! Part one of the two part profile on “Build 2020 Manifesto” says:

Inspired by futurists like Ray Kurzweil — who famously theorized that the 21st century would bring the equivalent of 20,000 years of technological progress — Molina created “Build 2020 Manifesto” in the hopes of creating a new movement of social progressives who will seize the power of technology to create a better world for everyone. His concern is that, left unchecked and unguided by conscientious humans, the rapid pace of change will have dire social, political, economic and environmental ramifications.

“One of the premises of this manifesto is that governments, think tanks, bankers, corporations, technological developers have a plan for 2020,” he explains. “They know what they’re building. They think in terms of paradigms, agenda setting and we don’t, and we need to because shit’s getting critical.”

“What are you creating? What reality are you pushing?” Molina asks. “It’s a frightening thing to meditate on, but also a very powerful thing to realize that you manifest reality. Every conversation you have, you are creating reality. You are creating the future. Every time a kid on his or her cell phone tweets or updates their Facebook status, they’re publishing content in a way that enlightened thinkers never could’ve imagined. A 13-year-old girl with a cell phone in her hand has a lot of power, and we have to take control of that to create a healthier world for the next generation of babies.”

Part two describes HipGnosis’s work and contribution as:

HipGnosis comes from the world of experimental electronic music. His interest in psychoacoustics (the effects that certain sounds have on the brain) and technology, coupled with his passion for social justice and grassroots movements, made him an ideal collaborator. His contributions to “Build 2020 Manifesto” create an ominous, glitchy and futuristic mood that are an apt complement to Molina’s words.

If you have the time, I highly recommend reading part one and two discussing the album. It’s an interesting profile and some thought provoking work on the part of Adrian Molina, which as expected HipGnosis is right in step with. If you go to http://build2020manifesto.bandcamp.com/ and opt to name your price on a download of the album you will “support a physical printing of this project. Physical copies of the album will be made available free to youth advocates, scholars, college student organizations, and youth activists.”

FYI, the cover art for “Build 2020 Manifesto” is by Dustin Neal and I totally snatched the image from the Reverb site.

Flogging Molly Live!

by Administrator, posted in Events, Music

On February 20, 2011 I was one of the lucky folks who got to see Flogging Molly live when they came to Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY. This was my first time attending a sold out show at the venue, and holy crap can they pack a lot of people into that place!

My normal strategy when going to a show at Northern Lights is to show up when the doors open and plant my butt on a bar stool and claim it as my own for the night. However, I was going by myself this time and the idea of sitting alone at the bar for the hour or two before the show actually started seemed unappealing. Since these shows always seem to start late, I decided to show up at 7:30pm, when in theory the first opening act would be taking the stage.

Imagine my surprise when I walked up to the doors and heard a band already playing! I can’t remember a single time prior when the show actually started on time! My shock was even greater when I realized that Northern Lights was packed. After some careful weaving I was able to carve out a spot to stand near the sound guys, which is when I realized, damn, the band playing is good, really good.

Again, I’ve been to a fair number of shows at Northern Lights and generally, and I say this with the utmost respect to those artists brave and bold enough to put themselves out there, the opening acts stink. At most I’ve been able to say, that opening band was okay. One exception was Public Enemy, but they had so damn many acts in front of them that odds were a couple of them had to be decent. Also, the Reel Big Fish show, because technically English Beat was an opener and they kicked so much ass as to not be believed.

But back to the subject at hand, the band on stage did not suck, and in fact, I would call them good. Very good. They were The Drowning Men from San Diego, CA. They were like an awesome version of the Killers. I couldn’t help but dance around a bit while they were on stage. You can visit their page on My Space to check them out, which I recommend you do. If I had thought I could have made my way through the throngs of humanity I would have tried to see if I could buy their album at the show, but alas, that was not meant to be. Hello iTunes!

After The Drowning Men were Moneybrother, who are from Sweden. And by the way, promptly took the stage after The Drowning Men were done with their set. I cannot stress enough how rare this is based on past experiences. Moneybrother were a bit more on the pop side of rock and also good. I preferred The Drowning Men, who came down more on the 80’s new wave side of rock, but Moneybrother had a great sound and a lot of energy. And then…..it was Flogging Molly time!

I’m pretty sure it was the comedian Elayne Boosler who did a bit about going to see Diana Ross in concert. Diana Ross kept saying, “You sing!” to the crowd. Boosler’s response was something to the effect of, “No Diana, you sing. I paid a lot of money for these tickets and it wasn’t to listen to the guy next to me sing.” (By the way stand up comedy fans, if you know for sure if it was Elayne Boosler, and better still, can find me a video of it, please share it in the comments!) And generally, I feel that way too. It’s like, I get it, you’re a fan, you know all the words, now shut up so I can enjoy the actual musical artist. Yet this show was different.

Flogging Molly does high energy music that has choruses meant to be sung by a crowd. Not once did lead singer Dave King need to instruct the audience as to when or how to sing, everyone knew. To see, and hear, the crammed together, diverse crowd of attendees, all hold up their beers and shout out the choruses was a unique and pleasurable experience. It was obvious that the folks handling the sound for the show were used to this phenomenon because no matter how loud the crowd sang, you could still always hear King’s voice cutting through the fray.

The band sounded great, the crowd was rowdy up in front (complete with crowd surfing) and as respectful to space as they could be towards the back. King talked a little between songs, but never enough to slow down the pace of the show, and of course, everything sounds funnier and more interesting coming from a person with an Irish accent. I’m pretty certain that’s a scientific fact. Also, the band took time to talk a little bit about the two opening acts. During this King told the audience that Moneybrother were from Sweden, “There’s a health care system that really works,” he stated. And in the crowd there could be heard one lone woman letting out a cheer, oh crap, that was me.

To sum up, this was a fantastic show. If you have the opportunity to catch the current Green 17 Tour I’d highly recommend it. You can see upcoming dates here.

Here’s a taste of Flogging Molly from 2010

(Which by the way, you notice how he makes a liar out of me by telling the crowd, “Everybody!” at the choruses? Thanks Dave.)

My Trip to Darkside

by Administrator, posted in Art, Events, Music

On Saturday January 15, 2011 I went to the grand opening of Darkside Records and Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. A couple of my former retail cohorts are involved with the business and I couldn’t resist coming out to show my support, and it was really worth the trip.

I was blown away by the store. They have tons of albums, actual honest to goodness vinyl records! I know vinyl still has a following (or has a following again, depending on your perspective) but I was unprepared to see the sheer volume of people that came in just to shop for vinyl records. People were leaving with two or three shopping bags worth! The store is also selling record players and I was sorely tempted to buy one and go to town shopping for vinyl, but I managed to show some self control, the last thing I need is yet more stuff to collect and store.

Another great surprise was that the gallery part of Darkside is actually a gallery. I had kind of imagined the “gallery” would be like what you see at coffee shops, where the art is hung up with big price stickers and just generally not very exciting or overly professional. Well, Darkside’s Gallery is a gallery. I got to meet the gallery’s curator Vanessa, and the staff told me about the exacting work it was to make certain each artist’s work was handled correctly and displayed to the artist’s specifications. Instead of big ol’ price stickers there are discreet numbers near the work that allow the staff or customers to look up the price.

The artists who were being shown at this first exhibit were Chris Machin, NUB, and Jessica Schrufer. I fell in love with a piece Jessica Schrufer did and fortunately they were selling prints of it. I have it framed and hanging above the sink in our kitchen and it never ceases to bring a smile to my face when I look at it. Jessica told me one day she’d love to have a kitchen designed around the piece, and I’ve got to say, I would too.

Not only did I buy some great art, but my husband and I bought the greatest magnets ever. When Jim caught up with me at Darkside I explained to him that the store was selling these 100% pure awesome magnets and I was having a really tough time resisting buying some. He told me I could certainly buy one if I wanted, but I told him that was the problem, I couldn’t just choose one, there were too many fantastic magnets. When I finally took him over to the box with the magnets, Jim quickly conceded that I was not exaggerating in the least, that these magnets were too awesome for words. In the end I picked the “La Muerte” magnet, Jim picked the “I Spit on Your Grave” magnet, and then together we decided to add in the “Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!” magnet. I bet you wish your office filing cabinet looked as bad ass as mine does now.

File Under B for Bad Ass

If you’re anywhere near Poughkeepsie, NY you’ve got to stop in, it’s a real treat. I’m hoping once we’re clear of the unpredictable New York winter season I’ll be able to visit each month for the reception for the new art exhibits.

To learn more about Darkside, visit their website.