Maybe it's the bazillions of emails I've gotten notifying me of the Jonas Brothers' new blog entries about their 3D movie (3 a day? These are blogs, not dairy products. But like dairy products, they start to stink a bit if you don't chill.), but I'm feeling the need to do a lil Camp Rock Where-Are-They-Now? post because they may not be on bedding collections at Target any more, but they seem to be everywhere else.
State the obvious: the JoBros have a new 3D concert movie premiering tomorrow, word on the street is it's the biggest 3D concert experience since Hannah Montana. Hope U2 isn't trying to release any 3D movies anytime soon...
And Demi, of course, can be found on "Sonny With a Chance," Disney's latest attempt to clone Hannah Montana, but make her a brunette this time. No, the show's fairly decent, like the actors, hate the writers. What we really need is a Doug Tuber/Tim Maile where-are-they-now...
But you may be mildly surprised to learn Demi's re-releasing her album "Don't Forget" with a couple bonus tracks. Or you may look back on the Jonas Brothers, Hilary Duff, Hannah Montana, and Aly & AJ's re-released albums and wonder why in the world Demi's would surprise anyone.
You may not be surprised that it only has 2 bonus tracks, because everyone knows a re-release is just a last-ditch effort to get a Gold album to go Platinum. The two songs Demi whipped up are "Lo Que Soy," a cover of her Camp Rock anthem "This Is Me" performed in Spanish, and something called "Behind Enemy Lines." But the real surprise is that even though "Lo Que Soy" seems like it should be total filler, its sparse production actually sounds far better than the original's early-2000's pop sound ever did. Demi looks vaguely demented in the video, but it's worth watching just to hear the song.
It totally beats Demi's other recent release, a download of her old song "Moves Me," which she recorded when she was 10 years old, thought she could dance hip-hop, and had no idea what a meaningful lyric was. The video's not exactly must-see TV, but it's kind of cool to see how much she's improved.
Oh, and maybe I shouldn't judge an album a month before it's released (March 31st, yo), but my verdict on it is that I'll pick up a copy, but only because I've been meaning to get the original since like October. And did I mention the deluxe edition comes with a DVD jam-packed with pictures & videos I'll probably never get around to watching??
So that pretty much sums up where Demi is. As for the JoBros' location, no one can be quite sure since they're gonna be jetting around the U.S. popping up at random screenings of their 3D movie all day tomorrow, because who cares about the carbon footprint of a private jet when your past 2 albums have been released (and one re-released) on recycled material? Rock stars will be rock stars...
Although Entertainment Weekly described JB's new song "Love Is On Its Way" as a "clunker," the track's worth a listen. It follows "Lovebug"'s slow-then-soulful pattern, but it's less breezy and more... clunky. It's still pretty good. But I can totally forgive EW for dissing it, since I just love it when middle-aged men rave about teen pop stars. I sometimes wonder if EW's offices are wallpapered with those free JoBros posters you get in trashy tween magazines, since they have a serious thing for those boys...
Hmm, I think I've covered where everyone is... Oh, silly me, where are my manners, only mentioning the big names from Camp Rock. I'm no better than a Target dinnerware set! Um, let's see, Camp Rock's main songwriter, Kara Dioguardi, is probably having a girlfight with Paula Abdul as we speak, since everyone knows she's the new judge on American Idol. (Actually, she could be fighting with Simon or Randy for all I know; I haven't been able to watch for more than 3 minutes this season.)
Purty much everyone will be coming back for Camp Rock 2, which is getting some very negative buzz on IMDb (hey kids, get lives!) and is slated to premiere this June. I hear the plot's about a rivalry with another rock camp, and everyone's putting their money on a Joe-Demi kissing scene a la HSM 2.
Meaghan Jette Martin, singer of my fave Camp Rock song ever, "Too Cool," is bizarrely starring in a 10 Things I Hate About You remake on ABC Family. Probably the biggest news in this post. Sorry I didn't mention it sooner.
Y'know, I doubt anything I can say now will top that last fact, so I'll let you scamper off to IMDb to bitch about how it's a travesty to Heath Ledger's legacy, not to mention the greatest Shakespeare adaptation of all time. Have fun!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Stick to the Serenades.
With the Oscars, Chris Brown controversy, Jessica Simpson's weight problems/ugly double belt problems, and, you know, real economic/social/political issues in the world today, you probably have lots of questions and very few answers. So I am going to help by answering a question that I know you have been losing sleep over for weeks: What is Secondhand Serenade's favorite beer to drink while on the road?
Answer: Miller Lite.
I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn the answers to that and similar questions (what else do you drink? tequilas. other fave beers? too many to list.) when my friend won a contest with Hot 99.5 to come to their headquarters and "chill out" with Secondhand Serenade.
In case you did not know, Secondhand Serenade is the stage name of John Vesely, the oh-so-deep artistic genius behind "Fall for You" and many similarly well-orchestrated tunes. My friend and I did not know that when we found out she won, but we had heard the name, and we thought we'd probably try to go. At first, we thought it was just a concert, so we didn't bother checking out his music or anything until Hot 99.5 called her back to say we should come to their headquarters to "chill out." Upon hearing this, we totally freaked and made sure to check out his music, pictures, and life story posthaste.
We decided his music was absolutely, totally, flawlessly brilliant, and we would totally have like-liked him, but he was married with two kids, so we'd settle with just liking him. We also decided that this was a ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY, so our parents had to let us skip 8th period to go. And had to drive us there. And had to take us to Borders to buy his CDs. (Love you, Mom & Dad)...
Our epic adventure began when we got out of our 8th period classes, my friend with a note about a fake doctor's appointment signed by her real mother, me by bargaining with my teacher to let me attend his 5th period class that day during lunch instead of 8th period, because my parents believe school is more important than celebrity encounters, and I believe celebrity encounters are more important than lunch.
Running from school to my dad's car in the church parking lot, my friend's ears nearly got ripped off because the crazy strong wind was blowing against her awesomely large earrings. She was lucky to make it to the car with her earlobes intact. My dad drove us to the headquarters in Rockville, and we were kind of freaking out because we were running late.
We got to the building & went to the 5th floor as directed. I was all prepared with 3 different ID's to show them, and since my friend won the contest, I wasn't even the one whose identity they'd need to verify. But the receptionist gave us NO TROUBLE. She was just like "You here for Secondhand Serenade? Go sit on the couch." So we waited on the couch, along with a twitchy girl who thought she knew someone from our school but couldn't remember who, 2 college students, and 2 college grads who were a bit bitter because they just got fired. All of them wore fashionable black tops and dark skinny jeans, typically with Uggs, and tons of eye make-up. My friend and I felt like we fit right in with our pink & blue tees and total lack of makeup...
Employed or not, everyone on the couches seemed slightly bitter because we were told to arrive at 2:30, and we had to sit on that couch until at least 3:05. I personally was not the least bit bitter because, well, I was at a real radio station lyke OMGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!111 And to add to the coolness, there were two big postal bins filled with CDs on the floor between the couches. I asked what they were for, and a magical light shone down from the heavens saying that all my wishes ever had been granted because they were filled with FREE CDS!!!! I used to dislike Top 40 because it played the same songs like ALL THE TIME, but I have been starting to appreciate the format more in recent months (particularly after realizing that oldies stations just play "I Shot the Sheriff" all the time, and I'll take "Womanizer" over that any day) The generosity of this station really confirmed my belief that Top 40 is not stupid commercial fluff; it is heaven.
I felt like the other girls might think I was rude and shamelessly materialistic if I greedily grabbed a bin and started rifling through it, bringing home half its contents, but I figured they already hated me for my bright blue Pac Sun tee & funky yellow belt, and life is too short to act dignified. I left with 10 CDs in my friend's bag because they couldn't fit in my purse.
After an eternity of boredom for the other girls and bliss for me, we were led up to a conference room on the 6th floor, where they had free Kit Kat bars and stickers. Though not as appealing as CDs played by a real record station, I also think free chocolate is a pretty sweet deal. I restrained myself and only took one. But I also grabbed one of every sticker in sight; the other girls didn't give them a second glance. But I mean, free CDs, candy, AND stickers?? I was really enjoying my experience so far!
While we were waiting in the Kit Kat-filled conference room, my dad was waiting for us in the building's reception area. He saw a bunch of guys go to the elevators, one of whom had a punk haircut and was making really awful noises. Guess who was warming up on his way to perform...
Back in the conference room, the Hot 99.5 peeps were scrambling around trying to find interns to fill the 20 empty chairs in the room, since I guess a few winners decided the prospect of being secondhandedly serenaded wasn't worth taking a long lunch break. Finally, sometime after 3:15, they filled the room and Secondhand Serenade arrived. [We later found out he was late because he just woke up.]
I think Toby (bigshot DJ, in case you're not a Hot 99.5 listener) wanted us to cheer or something, but I personally was too shy & nervous to speak. The other girls may have just been too annoyed at his tardiness to cheer him on...
John (Secondhand Serenade) sat down and promptly asked "Is there any water in this bitch?" I assumed he was acting like a spoiled rock star brat because he thought it was funny and ironic, but I think I'm too inclined to see the good in everyone. Anyways, after getting his water bottle, John asked the audience if we had any questions. We were all either scared or bored out of our minds, so we didn't really, no... So Toby decided to ask us questions. First: who would like to touch John. John said we could touch him. The twitchy girl , one of the unemployed chicks, and I all shyly approached him and touched one of his overly-tattooed arms, cuz why not? John looked seriously freaked out and said he was kidding. It was awkward.
Since offering to let fans touch your tattoos then telling them you didn't actually mean it is not a good conversation starter, Toby offered to let one of us fans sit in the empty chair next to John and "interview" him, because apparently his other back-up guitarist was supposed to sit there but didn't. So Unemployed Chick got to sit next to John.
Unemployed Chick asked John what his favorite song to record was. He said "Pretend" because he was drunk when he wrote and recorded it. Then he told us about how he recorded A Twist in My Story in a big house full of rocker guys who pretty much recorded music and drank beer all day.
I had been planning to ask him about the songwriting process, such as if he writes the music or the lyrics first. I decided that I now knew enough about his recording process and would not like to think about it more, thank you very much.
My back-up question was going to be about how he balances his musical career with spending time with his wife and children. I decided I didn't want to know the answer to this question either, but I was curious as to whether or not anyone else in the room wanted to call Social Services...
A Hot 99.5 employee asked a follow-up question about the whole recording-while-drunk thing: What's your favorite type of beer?
John visibly perked up and rattled off a huge list of beers while my friend and I tried to get our minds around the fact that this guy memorized the names of his top 50 favorite breweries and recited them in the presence of impressionable high school kids. We weren't able to focus on anything he was saying until he finished up by saying that when he's on the road, he's gotta have his Miller Lite.
While answering this question, he was the most excited he looked all day.
He also said he likes tequilas, so if any of us wanted to give him a present...
He didn't need to finish that statement, because we didn't.
Finally, everyone decided to give up on the Q&A charade, and John sang "Fall for You". His voice sounded quite good, and he looked pretty cool. I was almost able to regain the respect I'd held for him and his music until the past few minutes.
Maybe John & the folks at Hot 99.5 thought that we the crowd would be all warmed up & ready to ask some profound questions after his performance, but if so, they were wrong. We were even more dumbfounded than we were when he walked in.
John asked us if any of us were going to his show at the Birchmere that night. No response.
I don't think he truly disliked us until he realized that none of us were going to pay $20 to see him perform. He asked us if we all just won some random radio contest... I think he took our silence as a confirmation of the truth of what he just said.
Another Hot 99.5 employee asked John if he could sing "Like a Knife" for us. He said he'd only sing another song if we would go to his show that night. We still didn't respond, and he played "Your Call"... Not even the song she requested...
After the song, John asked all of us why we weren't going to see his show. Twitchy girl said she would, but she had school the next day. My friend and I agreed. He said he had to get on an airplane at 7:00 the next morning, so he had to get up at 5:00, AND he was going to stay up later partying than we were, so we had no excuse.
I wanted to pull out my phone and ask him to explain that to my dad, but he was pretty much ignoring me.
Unemployed Chick said she'd go if he gave her free tickets. She couldn't afford tickets because she got fired.
John: "What kind of jeans are those?"
Unemployed Chick: "New jeans."
John: "Yeah." (looks at new jeans, top, and blazer) "Yeah, you look like you're really hurting."
John told Unemployed Chick he'd talk to his tour manager about getting her tickets, and this pretty much ended the Q&A.
Even though John clearly did not want to be in the room with us disgusting freaks who were willing to "chill out" with him but not attend his show, he agreed to pose for pictures with everyone while Twitchy girl and Toby bonded by acting weird in front of the camera.
They gave out free posters, which John signed for everyone, and he signed two of the pictures my friend and I printed out to give to our friends. I decided not to keep my poster because I realized that I did not really want a picture of this guy on my wall.
Then John showed everyone the tattoo of a typewriter on his leg. It was actually the coolest tattoo I'd ever seen...
Then John told Unemployed Chick he wouldn't actually talk to his tour manager for her. We all thought he'd been serious... First saying we could touch him, then offering free tickets... Dude needs to be more clear about his sarcasm.
Then John posed for a picture with the Hot 99.5 staff and laughed his head off as Toby grabbed his boobs.
So if one of those burning questions you have was what are some of Secondhand Serenade's favorite things, he likes an assortment of beers, tequila, and men who grab his breasts... What a guy....
If you'd like to see a video of this marvelous day, I believe that if you click here then click on the Stripped videos, you can watch John in all his beer-loving glory. I took a few pictures, but I did not take any videos because we are not allowed to take videos and I am a good kid and I am not lying right now and the only reason I'm not posting the videos is not because I am too lazy to learn to use YouTube; it is because I have no videos... Phew. Gotta be careful what you post on the Internet, kiddos.
I wanted to get a picture of John and Toby together because it's not like you see them together every day...
Okay, he is still a cutie, no matter how much he drinks...
I think he is talking about beer right now. Nothing else would have made him look this animated.
He looked so cool when he sang. It was like he was a different person.
I think part of the reason he looked so cool when he sang was because he did not look at us. I think he was off in his own little world filled with fans who pay money to go to his shows... and beer, of course. Gotta have beer.
Oh, and did I mention he had a whole freakin' lot of tattoos?
We thought he was this nice little rock star who wouldn't be into the whole sex & drugs part of rock n roll, seeing as he has a wife and two kids, but we learned our lesson... My friend says she still loves him. I've gotten over this enough to be able to enjoy his music again, but I can't really respect it the way I used to...
To get out of class, I told my teacher this would be a unique educational opportunity where I would learn so much about the music industry, and I wish he'd asked me what I learned from it because I learned so much more than I bargained for...
Answer: Miller Lite.
I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn the answers to that and similar questions (what else do you drink? tequilas. other fave beers? too many to list.) when my friend won a contest with Hot 99.5 to come to their headquarters and "chill out" with Secondhand Serenade.
In case you did not know, Secondhand Serenade is the stage name of John Vesely, the oh-so-deep artistic genius behind "Fall for You" and many similarly well-orchestrated tunes. My friend and I did not know that when we found out she won, but we had heard the name, and we thought we'd probably try to go. At first, we thought it was just a concert, so we didn't bother checking out his music or anything until Hot 99.5 called her back to say we should come to their headquarters to "chill out." Upon hearing this, we totally freaked and made sure to check out his music, pictures, and life story posthaste.
We decided his music was absolutely, totally, flawlessly brilliant, and we would totally have like-liked him, but he was married with two kids, so we'd settle with just liking him. We also decided that this was a ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY, so our parents had to let us skip 8th period to go. And had to drive us there. And had to take us to Borders to buy his CDs. (Love you, Mom & Dad)...
Our epic adventure began when we got out of our 8th period classes, my friend with a note about a fake doctor's appointment signed by her real mother, me by bargaining with my teacher to let me attend his 5th period class that day during lunch instead of 8th period, because my parents believe school is more important than celebrity encounters, and I believe celebrity encounters are more important than lunch.
Running from school to my dad's car in the church parking lot, my friend's ears nearly got ripped off because the crazy strong wind was blowing against her awesomely large earrings. She was lucky to make it to the car with her earlobes intact. My dad drove us to the headquarters in Rockville, and we were kind of freaking out because we were running late.
We got to the building & went to the 5th floor as directed. I was all prepared with 3 different ID's to show them, and since my friend won the contest, I wasn't even the one whose identity they'd need to verify. But the receptionist gave us NO TROUBLE. She was just like "You here for Secondhand Serenade? Go sit on the couch." So we waited on the couch, along with a twitchy girl who thought she knew someone from our school but couldn't remember who, 2 college students, and 2 college grads who were a bit bitter because they just got fired. All of them wore fashionable black tops and dark skinny jeans, typically with Uggs, and tons of eye make-up. My friend and I felt like we fit right in with our pink & blue tees and total lack of makeup...
Employed or not, everyone on the couches seemed slightly bitter because we were told to arrive at 2:30, and we had to sit on that couch until at least 3:05. I personally was not the least bit bitter because, well, I was at a real radio station lyke OMGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!111 And to add to the coolness, there were two big postal bins filled with CDs on the floor between the couches. I asked what they were for, and a magical light shone down from the heavens saying that all my wishes ever had been granted because they were filled with FREE CDS!!!! I used to dislike Top 40 because it played the same songs like ALL THE TIME, but I have been starting to appreciate the format more in recent months (particularly after realizing that oldies stations just play "I Shot the Sheriff" all the time, and I'll take "Womanizer" over that any day) The generosity of this station really confirmed my belief that Top 40 is not stupid commercial fluff; it is heaven.
I felt like the other girls might think I was rude and shamelessly materialistic if I greedily grabbed a bin and started rifling through it, bringing home half its contents, but I figured they already hated me for my bright blue Pac Sun tee & funky yellow belt, and life is too short to act dignified. I left with 10 CDs in my friend's bag because they couldn't fit in my purse.
After an eternity of boredom for the other girls and bliss for me, we were led up to a conference room on the 6th floor, where they had free Kit Kat bars and stickers. Though not as appealing as CDs played by a real record station, I also think free chocolate is a pretty sweet deal. I restrained myself and only took one. But I also grabbed one of every sticker in sight; the other girls didn't give them a second glance. But I mean, free CDs, candy, AND stickers?? I was really enjoying my experience so far!
While we were waiting in the Kit Kat-filled conference room, my dad was waiting for us in the building's reception area. He saw a bunch of guys go to the elevators, one of whom had a punk haircut and was making really awful noises. Guess who was warming up on his way to perform...
Back in the conference room, the Hot 99.5 peeps were scrambling around trying to find interns to fill the 20 empty chairs in the room, since I guess a few winners decided the prospect of being secondhandedly serenaded wasn't worth taking a long lunch break. Finally, sometime after 3:15, they filled the room and Secondhand Serenade arrived. [We later found out he was late because he just woke up.]
I think Toby (bigshot DJ, in case you're not a Hot 99.5 listener) wanted us to cheer or something, but I personally was too shy & nervous to speak. The other girls may have just been too annoyed at his tardiness to cheer him on...
John (Secondhand Serenade) sat down and promptly asked "Is there any water in this bitch?" I assumed he was acting like a spoiled rock star brat because he thought it was funny and ironic, but I think I'm too inclined to see the good in everyone. Anyways, after getting his water bottle, John asked the audience if we had any questions. We were all either scared or bored out of our minds, so we didn't really, no... So Toby decided to ask us questions. First: who would like to touch John. John said we could touch him. The twitchy girl , one of the unemployed chicks, and I all shyly approached him and touched one of his overly-tattooed arms, cuz why not? John looked seriously freaked out and said he was kidding. It was awkward.
Since offering to let fans touch your tattoos then telling them you didn't actually mean it is not a good conversation starter, Toby offered to let one of us fans sit in the empty chair next to John and "interview" him, because apparently his other back-up guitarist was supposed to sit there but didn't. So Unemployed Chick got to sit next to John.
Unemployed Chick asked John what his favorite song to record was. He said "Pretend" because he was drunk when he wrote and recorded it. Then he told us about how he recorded A Twist in My Story in a big house full of rocker guys who pretty much recorded music and drank beer all day.
I had been planning to ask him about the songwriting process, such as if he writes the music or the lyrics first. I decided that I now knew enough about his recording process and would not like to think about it more, thank you very much.
My back-up question was going to be about how he balances his musical career with spending time with his wife and children. I decided I didn't want to know the answer to this question either, but I was curious as to whether or not anyone else in the room wanted to call Social Services...
A Hot 99.5 employee asked a follow-up question about the whole recording-while-drunk thing: What's your favorite type of beer?
John visibly perked up and rattled off a huge list of beers while my friend and I tried to get our minds around the fact that this guy memorized the names of his top 50 favorite breweries and recited them in the presence of impressionable high school kids. We weren't able to focus on anything he was saying until he finished up by saying that when he's on the road, he's gotta have his Miller Lite.
While answering this question, he was the most excited he looked all day.
He also said he likes tequilas, so if any of us wanted to give him a present...
He didn't need to finish that statement, because we didn't.
Finally, everyone decided to give up on the Q&A charade, and John sang "Fall for You". His voice sounded quite good, and he looked pretty cool. I was almost able to regain the respect I'd held for him and his music until the past few minutes.
Maybe John & the folks at Hot 99.5 thought that we the crowd would be all warmed up & ready to ask some profound questions after his performance, but if so, they were wrong. We were even more dumbfounded than we were when he walked in.
John asked us if any of us were going to his show at the Birchmere that night. No response.
I don't think he truly disliked us until he realized that none of us were going to pay $20 to see him perform. He asked us if we all just won some random radio contest... I think he took our silence as a confirmation of the truth of what he just said.
Another Hot 99.5 employee asked John if he could sing "Like a Knife" for us. He said he'd only sing another song if we would go to his show that night. We still didn't respond, and he played "Your Call"... Not even the song she requested...
After the song, John asked all of us why we weren't going to see his show. Twitchy girl said she would, but she had school the next day. My friend and I agreed. He said he had to get on an airplane at 7:00 the next morning, so he had to get up at 5:00, AND he was going to stay up later partying than we were, so we had no excuse.
I wanted to pull out my phone and ask him to explain that to my dad, but he was pretty much ignoring me.
Unemployed Chick said she'd go if he gave her free tickets. She couldn't afford tickets because she got fired.
John: "What kind of jeans are those?"
Unemployed Chick: "New jeans."
John: "Yeah." (looks at new jeans, top, and blazer) "Yeah, you look like you're really hurting."
John told Unemployed Chick he'd talk to his tour manager about getting her tickets, and this pretty much ended the Q&A.
Even though John clearly did not want to be in the room with us disgusting freaks who were willing to "chill out" with him but not attend his show, he agreed to pose for pictures with everyone while Twitchy girl and Toby bonded by acting weird in front of the camera.
They gave out free posters, which John signed for everyone, and he signed two of the pictures my friend and I printed out to give to our friends. I decided not to keep my poster because I realized that I did not really want a picture of this guy on my wall.
Then John showed everyone the tattoo of a typewriter on his leg. It was actually the coolest tattoo I'd ever seen...
Then John told Unemployed Chick he wouldn't actually talk to his tour manager for her. We all thought he'd been serious... First saying we could touch him, then offering free tickets... Dude needs to be more clear about his sarcasm.
Then John posed for a picture with the Hot 99.5 staff and laughed his head off as Toby grabbed his boobs.
So if one of those burning questions you have was what are some of Secondhand Serenade's favorite things, he likes an assortment of beers, tequila, and men who grab his breasts... What a guy....
If you'd like to see a video of this marvelous day, I believe that if you click here then click on the Stripped videos, you can watch John in all his beer-loving glory. I took a few pictures, but I did not take any videos because we are not allowed to take videos and I am a good kid and I am not lying right now and the only reason I'm not posting the videos is not because I am too lazy to learn to use YouTube; it is because I have no videos... Phew. Gotta be careful what you post on the Internet, kiddos.
I wanted to get a picture of John and Toby together because it's not like you see them together every day...
Okay, he is still a cutie, no matter how much he drinks...
I think he is talking about beer right now. Nothing else would have made him look this animated.
He looked so cool when he sang. It was like he was a different person.
I think part of the reason he looked so cool when he sang was because he did not look at us. I think he was off in his own little world filled with fans who pay money to go to his shows... and beer, of course. Gotta have beer.
Oh, and did I mention he had a whole freakin' lot of tattoos?
We thought he was this nice little rock star who wouldn't be into the whole sex & drugs part of rock n roll, seeing as he has a wife and two kids, but we learned our lesson... My friend says she still loves him. I've gotten over this enough to be able to enjoy his music again, but I can't really respect it the way I used to...
To get out of class, I told my teacher this would be a unique educational opportunity where I would learn so much about the music industry, and I wish he'd asked me what I learned from it because I learned so much more than I bargained for...
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Concert Update! or, Want some PB&J?
I thought that huuuge list of upcoming concerts I posted a few weeks ago pretty much covered the entire spring season, but you learn something new every day, and the new thing I learned today was that Peter Bjorn & John are coming to the 9:30 club on May 2nd! (Oh, I also learned some stuff about drawing genetic family trees and the shell method of antidifferentiation, but Peter Bjorn & John are cooler.)
And if you did not rush to your calendar the minute you read May 2nd, I am here to tell you kids with curfews to rejoice because May 2nd is NOT A SCHOOL NIGHT!!! Yes, it is a Saturday. Hallelujah & all that jazz.
Chairlift will be opening for PB&J, and I actually stumbled across the concert on their MySpace, since it's not listed on 9:30 Club's website yet. (No ticket info yet either :/ )
[Note: When checkign out Chairlift's MySpace, skip rtight to the fifth song, "Bruises" cuz it's amazing.]
The 9:30 Club show appears to be the last show on PB&J's U.S. tour, making it either an extra-special treat or a subpar performance since their voices will be all worn out, depending on your perspective. I tend to agree with the latter, but there may be some special closing-night vibes I've never experienced, having never been to a show that was actually the last on the tour.
Then again, Secondhand Serenade didn't exactly seem pumped about the last show on his recent tour... Again, I swear I'll give you all the deets on our encounter later. This weekend. Promise.
Other concerts I wish I'd mentioned in the last concert post:
Cute is What We Aim For at Rams Head Live! tomorrow (um,yeah,hurry.)
Lights at Sonar on 2/24
Tapes n Tapes at Rock N Roll Hotel on 2/27 (NON-SCHOOL NIGHT ALERT!!!!)
The Click Five at World Cafe Live like once a week every week in March (yeah, that's actually in Philly, but they have like 4 shows there, so I think you could work something out)
Butch Walker at 9:30 Club on 3/21 (awesome producer who's worked with Bowling for Soup, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Simple Plan back when I actually liked them, The Academy Is... & a bunch of other great bands)
Then PB&J at 9:30 Club on 5/2. So, actually, not as many concerts as I thought... Maybe I should go back to thinking about that biology & calculus stuff I learned today...
And if you did not rush to your calendar the minute you read May 2nd, I am here to tell you kids with curfews to rejoice because May 2nd is NOT A SCHOOL NIGHT!!! Yes, it is a Saturday. Hallelujah & all that jazz.
Chairlift will be opening for PB&J, and I actually stumbled across the concert on their MySpace, since it's not listed on 9:30 Club's website yet. (No ticket info yet either :/ )
[Note: When checkign out Chairlift's MySpace, skip rtight to the fifth song, "Bruises" cuz it's amazing.]
The 9:30 Club show appears to be the last show on PB&J's U.S. tour, making it either an extra-special treat or a subpar performance since their voices will be all worn out, depending on your perspective. I tend to agree with the latter, but there may be some special closing-night vibes I've never experienced, having never been to a show that was actually the last on the tour.
Then again, Secondhand Serenade didn't exactly seem pumped about the last show on his recent tour... Again, I swear I'll give you all the deets on our encounter later. This weekend. Promise.
Other concerts I wish I'd mentioned in the last concert post:
Cute is What We Aim For at Rams Head Live! tomorrow (um,yeah,hurry.)
Lights at Sonar on 2/24
Tapes n Tapes at Rock N Roll Hotel on 2/27 (NON-SCHOOL NIGHT ALERT!!!!)
The Click Five at World Cafe Live like once a week every week in March (yeah, that's actually in Philly, but they have like 4 shows there, so I think you could work something out)
Butch Walker at 9:30 Club on 3/21 (awesome producer who's worked with Bowling for Soup, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Simple Plan back when I actually liked them, The Academy Is... & a bunch of other great bands)
Then PB&J at 9:30 Club on 5/2. So, actually, not as many concerts as I thought... Maybe I should go back to thinking about that biology & calculus stuff I learned today...
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
What Could Be Better than a Magical Bin of Free CDs?
Last Thursday, my friend and I ditched school for the afternoon to partake in a unique, exclusive educational opportunity to learn inside info about radio production and the music industry ( and yes, using this line will make Shindel let you out of class). We won tickets to "chill out" with Secondhand Serenade, and while this experience was more interesting (and educational!) than we ever expected, I would like to take this opportunity to tell you the story of my experience listening to the free CDs I picked up at the radio station.
LAME! you say. I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SECONDHAND SERENADE! To which I say, no, you really don't. But also, this story is not that lame. It is filled with fear, love, disappointment, and betrayal. Yeah, I could like make an action movie about me listening to CDs.
When my friend and I first arrived at the radio station (Hot 99.5), the receptionist waved us over to a group of couches where I learned why I am in love with radio stations: their reception areas have magical postal bins filled to the brims with FREE CDs!!!! *o*
Upon discovering that the CDs in the bins were free for the taking, I let out an exalted exclamation of "Sweet!" and dug through them like a pirate with a treasure chest.
It soon became clear that most of the discs weren't as gold as the signed singles decorating the walls of the reception area, but I soon found about 10 pieces of musical treasure buried in the chest.
The disc that stood out the most to me was one of the only ones not in a plastic jewel case. It was just an inauspicious 700 MB CD-RW from Staples with End State Let's Get Living! written on it in Sharpie, but what warmed my heart about it was an adorable picture of a castle and three clouds drawn on the disc. I absolutely loved the disc because it was hand-decorated. I mean, what if these End State guys hit it big soon and I'm one of the few people with a first edition, homemade, hand-decorated version of their first single??!
Sadly, I think End State (local band from Stafford, Virginia, fyi) has a long way to go before hitting it big... Their pop-punk instrumentals were great, but their lead singer left a bit to be desired. I'm totally cool with bands with poor vocalists (see Hellogoodbye and Millionaires), so I was okay with the vocals until he started screaming. I am not a huge screamo fan (except for the screams on "Admit It!!!" by Say Anything - gotta love it), so this was a bit of a turn-off. When he started creepily rasping something that sounded like "Lindsay, what are you doing?", I started wondering if there were any axe murderers in the area... Okay, it probably wasn't scary enough to freak a normal person out, but I just picked up this CD for free from a radio station; who knows what could be on it...
All in all, I can see why Hot 99.5 was giving it away for free. I would love to give it away for free. If I ever go back to Hot 99.5 headquarters, I may return it to its rightful place in the Magical Free Bin. Or maybe its rightful place is the trash...
So, after End State was a dead end, I decided to save my other spur-of-the-moment picks for sometime when the sun was shining and listen to something more on the safe side. And who's safer than acclaimed indie band Tokyo Police Club? "Tessellate" and "Your English is Good" aren't exactly anything you haven't heard before, but it was cool knowing that the CDs I got them from might actually have been popular enough to played on Hot 99.5... And I've never been a big enough fan of Tokyo Police Club to buy any of their music, but their nasaly Canadian voices sounded like heaven after creepy-raspy-screaming-off-key-NoVa guy. I actually listened to their songs three times in a row I was so glad they weren't some punk/screamo band. Then I realized that "Your English is Good" is not just good; it is amazing, and I totally should have bought it before this. But, I have it for free now, so it's all good ^^
Next two singles I checked out were "Graduation Day" and "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica. Though repetitive, "Graduation Day" was pretty fun to listen to. "Beating Heart Baby" wasn't so fun, but my patience was wearing pretty thin by this point. I barely registered the next single I picked up, "Strange Times" by The Black Keys, except to note that their sound is a lot more hard rock and less cutesy indie than I previously thought.
After listening to "Your English is Good" again for the fifth time, I decided to call it a night and check out the rest of the CDs later, preferably when the sun was out so I would be sure no crappy NoVa punk bands would lead the axe murderers to me. The next day brought no sunlight (just a few weak snow flurries), but I felt safe enough to check out the CD with the best cover art, one whose title was simply "LIGHTS" but whose covers were decorated with colorful pictures of a girl and a gun... Yeah, the gun freaked me out a bit, but she was a really cool-looking girl...
When I opened the case, I realized there was no disc inside! Great cover art, some contact info, and a list of who wrote each song, but no disc! Feeling a bit dumb, I decided to go to the MySpace listed inside the cover to see what I was missing.
In contrast to End State's adorable album art and creepadelic songs, Lights had slightly creepy art and beautiful pop music. Her MySpace's tagline "To err is human; to forgive is interplanetary" clued me in to the fact that the guns were meant more for shooting fictitious aliens than like, actual people... Oh.
Turns out, Lights is the work of a Canadian chick (full bio in comic form here) who strongly reminds me of Skye Sweetnam (like, freakishly, like, wow) and will be performing at my fave sketchy Baltimore club Sonar next Tuesday (another unfortunately scheduled concert, but I recommend you go & tell her your supercool blogger friend adores her! ;) ) Her pleasant pop music isn't as bold as her album art, but its production is certainly as pretty as the EP's pink & purple cover. So now I am quite bummed because I will actually have to pay money for these songs. But I have no reason to be bummed; I discovered a supercool new Canadian chick & have a pretty decent story to tell about it!
Also, I may buy the album on pink vinyl, which will make it soooo much cooler...
Another single I picked up was +44's "155". The pleasant pop-punk song with its chorus of "Let's go down to the water" totally blows End State out of the water but is not quite good enough to keep the song afloat when compared to blink-182's stuff. Mark Hoppus, I expect better.
Having gone through all the CDs by bands I've actually heard of, I had to check out another pick based solely on cover art: The Becoming by After Midnight Project. Their album looked almost as dark as their name, but their first track, "Take Me Home," was still ten times more fun than any song by End State. Gee, I love having my standards lowered. These bands all sound so professional compared to End State... Sorry for the constant End State abuse. I still think the picture of the castle they drew was adorable... and... okay, that's the nicest thing I have to say about them...
AMP (love the abbrev) got a bit screamy on "The Real Thing." More metalheads should visit Hot 99.5; they'd get some great deals.
Third track "Digital Crush" reminded me of "Party in Your Bedroom" by Cash Cash in that both seem to be about guys who are enamored with girls who do dirty things to their webcams without explicitly saying that the girls do dirty things to their webcams. Sonically, of course, the songs are totally different - AMP is not exactly an electro-pop-punk boy band in highlighter yellow skinny jeans. But I wonder if their songs about love online are just a coincidence (especially since neither of them are exactly a big deal) or if they're an indication that we'll be hearing about more musicians' crushes on girls who make their own softcore porn... Then again, "I.M. Me" by Nikki/Brittney Cleary didn't exactly spawn a bunch of hits about AOL...
I think I'm going to listen to that song now. It was kind of hilarious when it was released; I can't wait to hear what it sounds like now that AIM has ttly been replaced by G-chat... Besides, "Words" and "The Becoming" are nothing special either.
TTYL
No time to spell
Oops, there goes that little bell
Bye, bye for now
BBFN
Ahahaha, that song was even more unbelievable than a magical bin of free CDs...
[In case you are not familiar with this glorious example of early-2000's pop songwriting, read these free scrolling lyrics:]
[Note: OMG I was lyk so ttly sad I could not find "I.M. Me" on Rhapsody or YouTube or ANYTHING, but after 3 pages of Google results, I found this crappy lil mp3 of it. Maybe it's just my computer, but I've only been able to hear about 30 seconds of music form it. Either way, I wanted you to have the link and the knowledge that it was not worth 10 minutes of searching for this obsolete little pop song. Crappy early-2000's pop is crappy early-2000's pop, no matter how innovatively tacky it seemed at the time.]
[Edit: JK! I managed to get about 2 more minutes of audio out of that crappy lil mp3, and "I.M. Me" is so horrible, it's fabulous. I recommend you listen to it for as long as your ears can stand. It is more hilarious than half the skits on SNL these days...]
LAME! you say. I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT SECONDHAND SERENADE! To which I say, no, you really don't. But also, this story is not that lame. It is filled with fear, love, disappointment, and betrayal. Yeah, I could like make an action movie about me listening to CDs.
When my friend and I first arrived at the radio station (Hot 99.5), the receptionist waved us over to a group of couches where I learned why I am in love with radio stations: their reception areas have magical postal bins filled to the brims with FREE CDs!!!! *o*
Upon discovering that the CDs in the bins were free for the taking, I let out an exalted exclamation of "Sweet!" and dug through them like a pirate with a treasure chest.
It soon became clear that most of the discs weren't as gold as the signed singles decorating the walls of the reception area, but I soon found about 10 pieces of musical treasure buried in the chest.
The disc that stood out the most to me was one of the only ones not in a plastic jewel case. It was just an inauspicious 700 MB CD-RW from Staples with End State Let's Get Living! written on it in Sharpie, but what warmed my heart about it was an adorable picture of a castle and three clouds drawn on the disc. I absolutely loved the disc because it was hand-decorated. I mean, what if these End State guys hit it big soon and I'm one of the few people with a first edition, homemade, hand-decorated version of their first single??!
Sadly, I think End State (local band from Stafford, Virginia, fyi) has a long way to go before hitting it big... Their pop-punk instrumentals were great, but their lead singer left a bit to be desired. I'm totally cool with bands with poor vocalists (see Hellogoodbye and Millionaires), so I was okay with the vocals until he started screaming. I am not a huge screamo fan (except for the screams on "Admit It!!!" by Say Anything - gotta love it), so this was a bit of a turn-off. When he started creepily rasping something that sounded like "Lindsay, what are you doing?", I started wondering if there were any axe murderers in the area... Okay, it probably wasn't scary enough to freak a normal person out, but I just picked up this CD for free from a radio station; who knows what could be on it...
All in all, I can see why Hot 99.5 was giving it away for free. I would love to give it away for free. If I ever go back to Hot 99.5 headquarters, I may return it to its rightful place in the Magical Free Bin. Or maybe its rightful place is the trash...
So, after End State was a dead end, I decided to save my other spur-of-the-moment picks for sometime when the sun was shining and listen to something more on the safe side. And who's safer than acclaimed indie band Tokyo Police Club? "Tessellate" and "Your English is Good" aren't exactly anything you haven't heard before, but it was cool knowing that the CDs I got them from might actually have been popular enough to played on Hot 99.5... And I've never been a big enough fan of Tokyo Police Club to buy any of their music, but their nasaly Canadian voices sounded like heaven after creepy-raspy-screaming-off-key-NoVa guy. I actually listened to their songs three times in a row I was so glad they weren't some punk/screamo band. Then I realized that "Your English is Good" is not just good; it is amazing, and I totally should have bought it before this. But, I have it for free now, so it's all good ^^
Next two singles I checked out were "Graduation Day" and "Beating Heart Baby" by Head Automatica. Though repetitive, "Graduation Day" was pretty fun to listen to. "Beating Heart Baby" wasn't so fun, but my patience was wearing pretty thin by this point. I barely registered the next single I picked up, "Strange Times" by The Black Keys, except to note that their sound is a lot more hard rock and less cutesy indie than I previously thought.
After listening to "Your English is Good" again for the fifth time, I decided to call it a night and check out the rest of the CDs later, preferably when the sun was out so I would be sure no crappy NoVa punk bands would lead the axe murderers to me. The next day brought no sunlight (just a few weak snow flurries), but I felt safe enough to check out the CD with the best cover art, one whose title was simply "LIGHTS" but whose covers were decorated with colorful pictures of a girl and a gun... Yeah, the gun freaked me out a bit, but she was a really cool-looking girl...
When I opened the case, I realized there was no disc inside! Great cover art, some contact info, and a list of who wrote each song, but no disc! Feeling a bit dumb, I decided to go to the MySpace listed inside the cover to see what I was missing.
In contrast to End State's adorable album art and creepadelic songs, Lights had slightly creepy art and beautiful pop music. Her MySpace's tagline "To err is human; to forgive is interplanetary" clued me in to the fact that the guns were meant more for shooting fictitious aliens than like, actual people... Oh.
Turns out, Lights is the work of a Canadian chick (full bio in comic form here) who strongly reminds me of Skye Sweetnam (like, freakishly, like, wow) and will be performing at my fave sketchy Baltimore club Sonar next Tuesday (another unfortunately scheduled concert, but I recommend you go & tell her your supercool blogger friend adores her! ;) ) Her pleasant pop music isn't as bold as her album art, but its production is certainly as pretty as the EP's pink & purple cover. So now I am quite bummed because I will actually have to pay money for these songs. But I have no reason to be bummed; I discovered a supercool new Canadian chick & have a pretty decent story to tell about it!
Also, I may buy the album on pink vinyl, which will make it soooo much cooler...
Another single I picked up was +44's "155". The pleasant pop-punk song with its chorus of "Let's go down to the water" totally blows End State out of the water but is not quite good enough to keep the song afloat when compared to blink-182's stuff. Mark Hoppus, I expect better.
Having gone through all the CDs by bands I've actually heard of, I had to check out another pick based solely on cover art: The Becoming by After Midnight Project. Their album looked almost as dark as their name, but their first track, "Take Me Home," was still ten times more fun than any song by End State. Gee, I love having my standards lowered. These bands all sound so professional compared to End State... Sorry for the constant End State abuse. I still think the picture of the castle they drew was adorable... and... okay, that's the nicest thing I have to say about them...
AMP (love the abbrev) got a bit screamy on "The Real Thing." More metalheads should visit Hot 99.5; they'd get some great deals.
Third track "Digital Crush" reminded me of "Party in Your Bedroom" by Cash Cash in that both seem to be about guys who are enamored with girls who do dirty things to their webcams without explicitly saying that the girls do dirty things to their webcams. Sonically, of course, the songs are totally different - AMP is not exactly an electro-pop-punk boy band in highlighter yellow skinny jeans. But I wonder if their songs about love online are just a coincidence (especially since neither of them are exactly a big deal) or if they're an indication that we'll be hearing about more musicians' crushes on girls who make their own softcore porn... Then again, "I.M. Me" by Nikki/Brittney Cleary didn't exactly spawn a bunch of hits about AOL...
I think I'm going to listen to that song now. It was kind of hilarious when it was released; I can't wait to hear what it sounds like now that AIM has ttly been replaced by G-chat... Besides, "Words" and "The Becoming" are nothing special either.
TTYL
No time to spell
Oops, there goes that little bell
Bye, bye for now
BBFN
Ahahaha, that song was even more unbelievable than a magical bin of free CDs...
[In case you are not familiar with this glorious example of early-2000's pop songwriting, read these free scrolling lyrics:]
[Note: OMG I was lyk so ttly sad I could not find "I.M. Me" on Rhapsody or YouTube or ANYTHING, but after 3 pages of Google results, I found this crappy lil mp3 of it. Maybe it's just my computer, but I've only been able to hear about 30 seconds of music form it. Either way, I wanted you to have the link and the knowledge that it was not worth 10 minutes of searching for this obsolete little pop song. Crappy early-2000's pop is crappy early-2000's pop, no matter how innovatively tacky it seemed at the time.]
[Edit: JK! I managed to get about 2 more minutes of audio out of that crappy lil mp3, and "I.M. Me" is so horrible, it's fabulous. I recommend you listen to it for as long as your ears can stand. It is more hilarious than half the skits on SNL these days...]
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