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Phoenix Rising
Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009 8:50AM / Members only
With our time in Phoenix coming to an end, we brace ourselves for the whirlwind of tour dates that await us on the East Coast. What do we have to say about Phoenix? A country unto itself with clear blue skies, the blistering sun, firearms galore & the Diamondbacks... The Red Rocks were majestic and The Ruby Room rocked! We'll be in touch soon with more news from the road...stay tuned in.
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WELCOME TO AMERICA
Sunday, Oct 4, 2009 3:07AM / Members only
TOUR RANT #101 - Sept.20
After almost 18 hours of traveling we finally arrived on US soil. First stop – Denny’s! For a much needed breakfast at twilight. Sue & I were amazed by the sizes of the dishes and the choices on the menu. Everything by supersize… After a night of rest in Chicago, we were headed to St. Louis to take part in the PLAY: stl Music Festival & Conference. We got on the Amtrak & headed west. Upon arriving in St. Louis we were able to find a cabby to take us to our host housing. He didn’t seem particularly helpful as Sue & I struggled with our mammoth luggage to get it into the car. After calling me ‘lady’ and a little jaunt around the neighborhood, he finally found the right house. But then the next thing you knew, he jumped out of the cab, grabbed the luggage then proceeded to double over in pain grabbing his crotch. After we asked him if he was alright, he told us something was wrong with his prostate, then took out fluid pack he had attached to his leg(!) We told him to take it easy and gave him a $2 tip. He seemed disappointed. I realized that Beijing was not going to be my #1 place for experiencing confusing taxi rides anymore.
We were able to get some decent rest in a spacious decked-out pad. The people we met in St. Louis were incredibly endearing & kind, including our host, Mike. We got rested up in preparation for the show. Unbeknownst to us, the festival had had some venue & sponsorship issues and as a result, festival performers had to be shuffled around & re-scheduled to different venues. After originally being slotted in at one of the loop’s hottest venues, we found ourselves now playing at Chipotle’s, a burrito fast food restaurant. Wow. What else can you say when you fly all the way from the other side of the world expecting to see the bright lights & the big city? I picked up my disappointment & shoved it in my suitcase. There was still a show to do. With that said, it actually ended up being a really good gig. The staff were awesome & totally supportive. The audience was fantastic & rocked out through the show. And I met some amazing people that I won’t soon forget, including a young music mogel in-the-making named Breena and her wonderful mom, Donna. It also gave us a chance to break in the set in the US and get some initial nerves out of the way. Of course, the other thrill was sharing the stage-slash-burrito grill with some very talented musicians like Brett Daniels and Arliss Moon. We also got to see One Lone Car’s last show with their lead singer. Thank you’s are also due to Laura, Nick & Wayne for helping to make our STL experience even more memorable.
St. Louis – we won’t soon forget you. But next time we come back, we’re playing The freakin’ Pageant.
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KEYS TO THE ASYLUM
Friday, Aug 28, 2009 10:17AM / Members only
Things that make you go hmmm…
The Times – Editorial - 1853
“Nothing can be more slightly defined than the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity…Make the definition too narrow, it becomes meaningless; make it too wide, and the whole human race becomes involved in the dragnet. In strictness we are all mad when we give way to passion, to prejudice, to vice, to vanity; but if all the passionate, prejudiced and vain people were to be locked up as lunatics, who is to keep the key to the asylum?”
As reprinted in the book “The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher” by Kate Summerscale
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THE GREAT MJ IN THE SKY
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 8:50PM / Members only
The first album I ever owned was a whopper. It was called ‘Thriller.’ I’m not talking about a CD either, I mean it was…vinyl. I listened to this album constantly. From the creaking doors of the title track to the insinuating bass line of ‘Billie Jean’ - I was obsessed with Michael Jackson. I wanted to be like him, dance like him, sing like him, even look like him(!) I even had the glove…What can I say - he was my childhood hero. My personal pied piper. There was something otherworldly about him and it was captivating. I grew out of this phase by the time I was 8 or 9. And the older I got, the further away MJ became…just a distant memory in my music consciousness. As my tastes developed to other kinds of music, I felt as though I’d put away childish things. But one day, about 5 years ago, I was moving some boxes in my house and had the TV on in the background. It was tuned to MTV. I was in the other room and heard a familiar song. I couldn’t place it as first. Then the voice surfaced. I recognized right away that it was Michael Jackson, but had forgotten how good he was. I went to the TV to watch the rest of the video. It was mesmerizing & it blew my mind. I went out that day and bought all the old Jackson records that I used to have on vinyl. I started incorporating them into my playlist again. I couldn’t believe so much time had passed since I’d heard these songs. I felt like a kid who had grown up and rediscovered the missing link between pop and soul. I don’t mean soul music. I mean the place where you feel everything that’s right and wrong in the world – soul. I couldn’t help being astounded by it all. Unfortunately, at some point, the music stopped being the main event and started becoming the opening act as his private life took center stage. Maybe the beauty and the sadness of it is that everything must come to pass. What a tragedy for us that somehow the magic would be lost in so much madness.
To MJ – I hope you found whatever peace you spent your whole life looking for.
The best MJ songs ever in no particular order:
Billie Jean
Rock With You
PYT
Beat It
Dirty Diana
Smooth Criminal
In the Closet
Give in to Me
Leave me alone
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The Power of Teen Spirit
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009 6:59PM / Members only
