You Don't Look At Their Faces, And You Don't Ask Their Name

Yesterday, G and I went over to a married couple's house to hang out and grill (ok, the wife and I have a fascination with Twilight and the dvd came out yesterday so we wanted to watch all the special features). At some point in the evening, the wife mentioned that they had both heard Tina Turner's Private Dancer Friday night while out celebrating her birthday. One day later on Sunday morning they both couldn't get the song out of their heads. So, the husband started doing his best Tina impersonation which then prompted me to do my best drag queen Tina, which then got him to do HIS best drag Tina. From there it just snowballed. What cracked me up was that the husband focused on making his voice all scratchy with a rapid vibrato...my strength was focusing on the facial expression. It was like we had developed weapons based on Tina Turner characteristics. This continued as we walked out to the car to go home, mind you, haha. -K

Sold Out!

These posters can be seen throughout London. I was at the O2 Arena today and there were no advertisements at the Arena, just a sign to say that all 50 shows were completely sold out. Why Michael Jackson is doing these concerts is on everyone's mind. Here's an interesting article. --J

Morrissey - Years of Refusal

Morrissey has a strange pull on people. His fans seem to either want to worship him or rub up against him or maybe both. K and I witnessed the man in person a few years back documented here and here and I found him incredibly charming. Morrissey in many ways represents England to me and that night, unbeknown to those I was there with, I had been offered a position in the UK and I was struggling with the decision. While I stood there watching him moved by the music, I was also grappling with a personal issue.

Here I am two years later, walking in the countryside in England listening to the man's new record on my iPod. I am certainly coming at this record from a different place. I can't say I adore the record from front to back but there are some wonderful Morrissey moments here. My favorite is "All You Need is Me". It's got a driving beat and the classic sardonic lyrics. My favorite Morrissey song is "The More You Ignore Me The Closer I Get" off Vauxhall and I. That lyric "Beware I bear more grudges than lonely high court judges" sung in such a gentle voice makes me laugh every time. There are moments like that on this record. If you are a fan in the least, you won't be disappointed. And P.S. great album cover! --J

Umbrella Academy Gets Ready to Hit Big Screen

Thank you J for sending this link to me from NME online. Apprently, Gerard Way's comic Umbrella Academy is getting prepped for a screen adaptation! -K

Astro Zombies

I've been on a musical sabbatical lately and I'm sorry for letting J down to carry this blog on her own. Sometimes I go through this dark age with my music where I get sick of everything and have to cleanse myself of all the noise. I've also been out of pocket for another reason, but I'll reveal that soon enough... ANYWAY, today I've been thinking about My Chemical Romance a lot and reminiscing of the times when I braved the heat of St. Louis just to see these newly famous kids from Jersey play to thousands at Warped. I've also been thinking back to when I would feel less than stellar I could put in Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and feel incredibly empowered. That's what I'm needing now and that's why I'm thinking about MCR. HIM may be home, but MCR makes me feel alive again.

Back in 2005 I got a copy of MCR's cover of the Misfits' Astro Zombies and loved it. I'm not sure how I lost it on my iPod, but I think it had something to do with a crashed laptop and a lost iTunes library that had to be rebuilt. There was a also a wonderful version of All I Want for Christmas is You from MCR, but that was lost as well. Anyway, I just found it again on iTunes and I'm so happy! Here's a youtube clip of this short but sweet, punk rock song recorded back when MCR were still a hungry band wanting to change the world. -K

"What would K be doing in 2010" courtesy of 1993

So, thanks to Facebook I've been able to connect to all of my high school friends in Germany and beyond. One of my old classmates from Mannheim, R, posted a scan of an article that our school newspaper published in which satirical futures were created for the senior class. Here's what mine read:

Quit her job for the National Enquirer, moved to London, and became the agent for the band "Queen Junior." Although successful, she still sells Indian jewelry on Piccadilly Circus.

I don't know who Queen Junior is, but I imagine it was the spin-off of Queen, a band I had had a lifelong obsession with. During the horrible grunge phase, I completely rebelled by being into glam artists like Suede, classic Queen, and Bowie. And, just like today, I still have a fascination with celebrity gossip. I can't help but read that blurb and think "gosh, I haven't really changed at all". Actually, I'm kind of proud of that little blurb...satire or no. -K

Entitlement Indeed!

I thought this was a funny news item. Miley Cyrus went on a radio show after the Grammys to share with the listening audience that Radiohead wouldn't meet her at the Grammys. Here's a link to the actual radio interview. NME posted this side of the story on their website. --J

The Honey and the Vinegar

Here’s my take on some of the top records of 2008, a bit late I know!

TV on the Radio’s new record, Dear Science topped many a critic’s list at the end of last year and I have to agree. My favorite track after many a listen remains the first on the record, Halfway Home.

On the other hand, I borrowed a copy of Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut to see what all the fuss was about. I hate this record. I couldn’t even give it a few listens through. I never thought harmonies would be so grating, but this is just not my thing.

Lately the iPod has been wandering back to the old favorites. --J

Lux Interior

My friend D, who writes for Black&White in Birmingham, AL, just sent me his article on the passing of The Cramps' Lux Interior. I was not a fan of The Cramps, but D can make me interested in just about any artist he writes about. Enjoy -K

Humility a No-Show at the Brit Awards 2009

Due to a busy week I just got around to watching the Brit Awards last night. More than one artist started their acceptance speech with “Finally!” Hahahaha

With the Grammys fresh on my mind, U2 starting the show singing Get on Your Boots was a bit anti-climatic as was Coldplay’s performance. Is anyone else scared of Bono’s Herman Munster shoes? --J

Living Things Release New Album

Are they listening to judakris??? Regular readers may remember our shambolic trip to the Creepy Crawl for their gig a few summers ago, which in the end remains one of my fave judakris nights out despite their strange behavior. You can read our reviews here and here. The new song isn't bad. The look and sound are very retro. I noticed even though St. Louis is mentioned a number of times in their on-line bio, they don't have a St. Louis gig date scheduled. Probably a good thing. --J

The Killers - Video for Spaceman

Spaceman is my favorite track of the new record and I was hoping for a perfomance video. I just saw the new video and my first impression is that it is one part Velvet Goldmine, one part Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, and one part American football. --J

The Only Choice for Half-Time Show

As we ride the high from the Inauguration I was pleased to see that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band had been selected as the Half-Time Show performer for the Super Bowl. No so-called "amazing" collaborations were on the schedule. They brought an authentic American stadium rock show to an All-American evening.

We watched it live at 1:00am this morning. That and the amazing Steelers touchdown was worth how tired I feel today. --J

Lily Allen - New Track

The clever girl and UK tabloid favorite has released her first single from her new record. I must admit, I love it. You can check it out on her website. It's called The Fear. --J

P.S. I'm also attaching her version of Britney's Womanizer.

Helldone 2008

Well, it’s the beginning of January 2009 which means that New Year’s Eve was celebrated all around the world. This Eve I found myself once again in beautiful Helsinki, Finland to attend Helldone, the annual three-night music festival that ends with HIM performing to their hometown at Tavastia at midnight on December 31. I went last year for my first time and for some reason just had to experience the Finnish winter one more time. I’m so glad I did and that I hadn’t burned any contacts with HIM’s people over the year because they provided me with photo access once again and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to try out a new camera. What follows is not exactly the type of book that I wrote last year. To be honest, I spent most nights drunk and happy, meeting locals and even getting caught up on world events while sharing a light with someone in the smoking area. My tripmate Jess and I spent most days sleeping, recovering, and then foraging for food before cleaning up to start another night out. It seemed appropriately “Finnish” in a way and for the first time I felt my age. Sigh. Anyway, let’s get down to why I was there in the first place...
Helldone 2008 marked the tenth anniversary of HIM’s New Year’s Eve show at Tavastia club, the tradition that began the Helldone Festival. This year was the fourth official year of the festival and unlike last year, per the fans’ request, it featured only Finnish bands. It also included 3 additional performances at Nosturi in Helsinki and then in the towns of Oulu and Tampere. The neighboring “chill-out” club next door to Tavastia, Semifinal, featured drummer Jussi69 from The 69 Eyes spinning records.
The lineup included:
HIM
KYPCK
45 Degree Woman
Stam1na
Diablo
Godsplague
The 69 Eyes
Negative
Sara
At Tavastia, I was very interested in seeing Negative, lead by striking blonde lead singer Jonne Aaron, who performed to an adoring crowd, because they are a total throwback to the Sunset Strip glam rock scene from 1986. I wish I knew more about these guys, but I can name one song that I recognized from the setlist: “Won’t Let Go”, off the 4th and latest album “Karma Killer”.
Introduced by Bam Margera and wife Missy, along with a spacy Andy McCoy from Hanoi Rocks, The 69 Eyes did not disappoint. This quintet formed back in the early ‘90s in the clubs of Helsinki and while gothic, are anything but gloomy. Their influences include Guns ‘N Roses, The Misfits, and Sisters of Mercy which made me very excited to get to see them. There’s a whole lotta look going on with this band and they always seem on the precipice of taking themselves a bit seriously, but they were a blast live. In terms of Finnish rock, these guys could be considered titans.
On New Year’s Eve, HIM sounded perfect onstage and changed up their setlist a little bit to include some old favorites like "When Love and Death Embrace" and their cover of "Rebel Yell". There were a lot of classic setlist songs like "Your Sweet 666", "The Sacrament", and "Funeral of Hearts". They didn’t play "Vampire Heart", much to my disappointment. However, Ville looked like he’d had some good rest and even more so than last year seemed to enjoy the performance. The crowd loved every minute of the New Year’s celebration, though Ville did have to dodge being hit by a banana thrown by an audience member at some point. In reaction, Ville simply shook his head and scolded the person in his strangely sedate way. He seemed to speak more Finnish than I remember from last year, though he did take a few minutes to promote his father’s sex shop in the Kallio district in English.
At the Nosturi show, a Finnish woman said to me in a vitriolic tone after I asked what Finland thinks of HIM “I think HIM is an ok band and Ville is sexy, but I don’t understand the fuss. I don’t get how “this band” has suddenly become responsible for putting Finland on the map.” I was extremely entertained by this because her boyfriend held nothing but pride for HIM and what they’ve done for Finland. In fact, he loved them so much that at one point he fell to his knees and sang HIM lyrics to her while she responded with indifference and walked away. In a purely platonic, friendship sort of way I think J and I have had a very similar type of exchange! Happy New Year everybody! UNBELIEVABLE-K