sexyDEATHparty

GAGA the Copycat?

2011-12-24T14:08:00.000-05:00

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

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

GAGA ripped off Madonna, then she ripped off Marilyn Manson, then some virtually unknown up-and-coming artist. Musically, her influences are pretty clear - except in the case of Morgana. - I don't hear it! However, evidence of her fashionista thievery is everywhere: Madonna, Cher, Grace Jones... the list will never stop. Is this really a rip-off? Many types of artists would have to admit that they emulate in certain ways whatever it is that inspires or influences them. They can therefore call themselves artists because whatever they are creating is still distinctly original, yet at the same time a bigger, better, and improved v2. This is masterful thievery. (see my appeal to authority below). Can't this thievery be seen in a positive light? Can't it be a homage to the musical giants before her? What do you think?

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

Stop American Censorship!

2011-12-14T11:20:00.001-05:00

Marry the Night - Video Premiere

2011-12-02T16:34:00.001-05:00

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

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

What do you guys make of it?

Join the conversation on Twitter! #MarryTheNight

On Spotify

2011-11-24T14:28:00.001-05:00

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

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

One thing thought that caught my attention about Spotify Premium is access to exclusive content such as: info about albums before release, and ability to enter contests to win tickets to live shows and competitions. So, if anything, this would be the thing that wins me over the most about Spotify Premium. However, even though you can download the music and stream it wherever you are, you still don't really own it.

Is Spotify Premium really worth the 9$ a month?

Hecq Vs. Exillion

2011-11-01T22:09:00.000-04:00

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

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

Video from DragonCon 2011

2011-10-08T01:02:00.000-04:00

A more perfect video of the DraconCon convention in Atlanta, Georgia does not exist. These are the exact events of what transpires at the con, and the same dreamy feeling you get from the music is equivalent to the fantasy state you are in whilst walking around gazing at all the amazing costumes. There is also a 20-minute version of this, which is definitely worth watching. I have already spotted a couple of the people we have met, including a quasi-Yi, although our 5-group League of Legends costumes did not make the cut. It is perplexing that we never ran into the film-makers, there were only about 46000 attendants!
Are you in it?

Honda Civic Tour

2011-10-01T20:52:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

We overheard some kid say "Yeah let's leave, Blink 182 is my dad's music."
Kid, you were lucky you didn't get jumped!

Open Shimmy Night 2

2011-10-01T20:24:00.002-04:00

Bellydancer Neesa

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

2011-10-01T19:34:00.000-04:00

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

Dragonforce 2006

backstage with Bauhaus 2006

Manu Chao La Ventura

2011-09-09T21:18:00.000-04:00

Manu Chao is probably used to playing to coliseums and coliseums of people in South America whenever he holds a concert. His "La Aventura" tour is his first North American tour. The crowds here (depending on the cities) are perhaps smaller, but the spirit is the same. The Fillmore was at capacity with fans, the majority of which were Latino (and I use this term loosely to include Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, etc. so pardon my PC) Everyone, regardless of race and culture, were transported into the an cultural atmosphere of something distinctly multiculturally Latin psychedelic dub reggae punk alternative. (Those should be enough adjectives to convey the genre clearly, right?)

Can the American experience 'the spirit' of this kind of concert in the same way as the immigrant? Discuss.

Live Review by Jeff Hahne

View one more video after the cut!

Dragon*Con 2011

2011-09-05T16:25:00.000-04:00


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

This year's Con was just FANTASTIC! I think it being our second time, we were able to organize better, hit up more events, and spend less time aimlessly walking around. We hit up some steampunk trivia, a BSG panel, the Boondock Saints panel, DragonCon After Dark, the burlesque after dark show, Voltaire, Jonathan Coulton, viewed the parade from the hotel windows. We also stayed at one of the hotels, which made it infinitely easier to take alcohol and costume breaks, and not have worry about having a DD.

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

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

During Voltaire's concert, the lit-up helmet that Yi was wearing was like a beacon to all the League players in the room. I'm pretty sure we ran into everyone else that that was cosplying as League Of Legends characters. Everyone except for the Teemo, which made us very sad that we did not see. We heard that she was cute, probably off somewhere else laying mushrooms.

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

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

Here are just a few more of the other League cosplayers we met:

Ke$ha Get $leazy tour

2011-08-24T15:03:00.003-04:00

Pics from kiss951.radio.com

August 10, 2011. So.. the Ke$ha concert was SO RIDICULOUS! My love of this girlie brought me out to this concert along with friends and we had a fantastic time. Let me just start of by saying that I have never been around so many middle and high schoolers oozing glitter and colored hair spray out of their skin in one place at one time. Pretty sure the only older people there were the 15 other people drinking at the Fillmore bar. Oh, and the parents. If I have a dollar for every time a parent left during the show... I frequently heard things like "This is not age appropriate, we're leaving." - mother to glitter monster. Quotes of this sort were most frequently overheard about halfway through the show way after Ke$ha's suggestive dance moves, suggestive lyrics, suggestive tour title, suggestive dance beats, and suggestive crab walk. I mean really... if parents are going to a concert like this to be chaperones, you may as well let the kids enjoy all of it, or just turn on the radio to hear what these songs are saying and not buy tickets! If you're just then realizing that this is inappropriate, what were you doing the first half where she was singing about handjobs, blowjobs, and getting wasted? She was literally saying "handjob" over and over. And she wasn't the only one - LMFAO started the show off by asking the audience "Who's getting a blowjob tonight?!" The damage was done when these songs hit radio, even preteens know what these are about. Leaving mid-concert was just unnecessary.

Maroon 5 @ Verizon Wireless Ampitheater

2011-08-24T14:00:00.001-04:00

August 2, 2011. This show was SO packed that even on the lawn there was not much space to lay around. But who wants to lay around when THIS SEXYNESS, Adam Levine, is right in front of you moving like Jagger? I swear he has like at least 4 different spirit animals tattooed all about that steamy body. The Verizon Amphitheater that night was a great atmosphere for this show. Train was the opener, and that was pretty good too from what I saw of their ending set. Anyway, don't have much else to report other than this was a great concert from all aspects, and that Adam Levine is a sexy beast.

League Of Legends Costume Prep for DragonCon

2011-08-15T19:16:00.002-04:00

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

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

T- 17 days; LET'S GO!

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

Had to scrap these due to my inability to sow fur

Loredana Agurida

2011-08-13T20:18:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

Nero Remix

2011-07-23T11:29:00.001-04:00

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

Take a listen after the jump!

Scapegoat's new Music Video

2011-07-17T06:50:00.003-04:00

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

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

On Romanian MTV

2011-07-12T13:58:00.002-04:00

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

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

Check behind the cut.

Jamiroquai Orange Summer Party

2011-07-03T12:28:00.004-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

URSUS Evolution, Cluj Napoca

2011-06-30T10:52:00.006-04:00

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

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

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

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

Romanian radio & Clubs

2011-06-30T10:48:00.004-04:00

Buy me drank!

Observations from European radio and clubs: House music is the radio standard in Romania. During my large tour of the country, I was in a car for long periods of time and I got to hear exactly what are considered the hottest hits. And these hits are the same 4 house songs that get replayed to death. I can’t take it any more!

Thank you dear Ipod for keeping me sane, for being there for me when I needed to hear Rhapsody of Fire driving through Valea Balea in Transfagarasan in order to appropriately take in the epicness of the Carpathian Mountain scenery; taking out my frustrations along with Scapegoat’s rapid drum beats; and recharging emotionally along with Calvin Harris.

In the club, it was a similar story. All house from beginning to end. Club After 8, a very well-known and popular club in Cluj Napoca, was my first experience with a Romanian club, and it was drastically different from what I imagined. Apparently clubs and discos are distinctly different. In the club, you get a table and a couch, order drinks, sit on the couches or stand up around the couches until, as a crowd you begin to get looser and start dancing a little. People don’t really circulate around the club, you just kind of hang out around your table… What’s the point of that!? There weren’t even any go-go dancers to inspire people. So, my impression was kind of disappointing, from the music to the general etiquette of clubbing. But that said, it had very top notch sound and light systems. Maybe it just was not the best night to be there.

I prefer my pick of a larger variety of American clubs with songs I can sing along to, or not, or black out to, or have an 80’s experience to, or strip in, or throw glow sticks, or hang from the ceiling by ropes, or whatever, all on College St. – where dancing as close to the DJ’s is the center of attention, in the middle of a large crowd, where places to sit are only found next to the bar, doing as many Jagerbombs as I please, blacking out and stumbling with my friends back home, instead of dancing around a couch all night to... HOUSE. WTF!

Foxy Shazam, Fun, Panic at the Disco

2011-06-30T10:45:00.002-04:00

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

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

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

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

As a closing statement,

A Word to Adolescents: Don’t think I give a fuck about working my way through you and the crowd to get closer to the stage. Do I care that you’re with someone who is standing 5 people away from you and that I’m moving through you and in front of you? No. Like in marching band politics, people with seniority win out, especially if that person is me. I usually go to a concert with an agenda, so... nothing will get in the way of that. Except maybe being too drunk.

Orange Summer Party

2011-06-17T05:32:00.002-04:00

Where I'll be in a couple of weeks:

Scapegoat Pre-release // Snug Harbor

2011-06-02T14:49:00.004-04:00

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

09.03.11 - NEW RECORD

Photos by Lidz soon.

Everclear // Speed Street

2011-06-02T13:41:00.005-04:00

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

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