Half-Assed Album Reviews!
January 29th, 2008 by myles
Hard Place - Get Your Hopes Up (World Famous In San Francisco)
This album is awesome. And I don’t say that just because Elton Tom and Jeremy Smears are the ones releasing it on their label named after this blog. This is really strange, crunchy, bad-80s nostalgia music that you can’t get anywhere else. It’s very colorful and unique for something so ironic. All the songs are good - they actually seem to be about something - and they all sound like singles. My favorite song at the moment is Last Goodbye. I highly recommend buying the physical copy of this record.
Hey Willpower - P.D.A. (Tomlab)
This is a really cohesive collection of mid-tempo modern sounding r&b-dance songs. I think it’s a really pretty record. I like it.
Woman of Color - Are You a Woman of Color? (Man Dagger)
After listening to this album I realized I am not a woman of color. This album lives up to its name in a way: it doesn’t sound at all black, but it does sound dark. It has this Native American sounding pow-wow rock song at the end I like.
Fierce Perm - Fierce Perm (Man Dagger)
Cesar from Man Dagger gave me this CD a couple weeks ago at one of my shows in LA. I first played it in my middle aged Cuban ex-boyfriend’s Lincoln Aviator. He and his SUV totally hated it. If it doesn’t sound like Celia Cruz, a Broadway musical or a CD you can buy at Restoration Hardware or Crate and Barrel, he and his SUV totally hate it. So I guess that’s a good thing right? This band has plenty of great optimistic guitar riffs. But it is very easy to pinpoint who Nadia, their singer, is influenced by. I will keep my faith in this band as long as the next album sounds different and they do a reinvention tour.
Gossip
January 29th, 2008 by elton tom
Which bassist for a hot young band is rumored to have the largest penis in San Francisco? We had to hear about it in LA so it must be huge. Here’s a clue, he fronts a cover band side project. Rumor has it that he’s quite proud and has been known to whip it out at parties. Hmm, we haven’t had a party in awhile….(just kidding, we’re interested in his music more than his package.)
Which notoriously heterosexual half of a darling SF pop duo expressed his interest in same sex hanky panky during a cocaine fueled rampage? Well, it might have been just a harmless same sex crush but we have to marvel at the mind altering effects of the booger suger.
Which LA blogger blabbed about all of the above (and more!) while simultaneously telling us not to tell specific people things because they were known to have a big mouth! (This is why we love this person.)
get on the bus
January 25th, 2008 by Jeremy SmearsIts so easy to forget that ‘punk rock’ and ‘hippie’ are pretty much the same thing, but then John Benson rolls into town with the bus and its all clear again. For those of you not hip to the scene, the bus is pretty much a giant traveling stage, powered by biodiesel, and can turn any old corner into the most awesome show you didn’t mean to go to. This clip below is from the the too cool to be true circle show:
Pretty neat. Except, apparently, some people don’t think so; it was recently vandalized:
As many of you know the amazing traveling stage bio-diesel bus was vandalized…some
jerks broke the windows… big expensive windows. We are having a benefit to replace
them.Monday Jan 28
El Rio
$5 at the door gets you the sweet noise psychedelic sounds ofTank Attack
Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa
Wiggwaumplus cheap drinks…$1 PBR and $2 Wells…
Bands start at 9 sharp and end at midnight. Drinking fun and dj Jenny Hoyston start
earlier. aww yeah
I kinda think the benefit for the bus should be on the bus, but maybe its hard to drive something like that with the wind in your hair. Anyway, come check out the crazy sounds and get the bus back on the road.
http://www.myspace.com/tankattack
http://www.myspace.com/wiggwaum
http://www.myspace.com/kreamylectricsanta
Passionistas sell out again
January 25th, 2008 by myles
Did you see my article in this week’s San Francisco Bay Guardian? Didjah didjah? In it I talk about my YouTube videos, Chris Crocker, my mother, Chucky, Alien and a bunch of other cool stuff. Pick up a copy, or you can read the article online.
It’s cool to be stoned okay we get it
January 23rd, 2008 by myles
Patrik from Cobain In a Coma decides to throw a ‘monthly’ every eight months or so. From what I can remember, there was first 4EVER, and then Stoned Age . This one, Spaced, seems to be the same deal as the others. The bands are his friends and if you go you’ll probably not feel invited even though it’s in a public place. I’m gonna go. I’m kind of masochistic if you haven’t already noticed. Jealousy and Bridez are playing. There will be a custom photobooth by Daniel Minnick.
Oakland is a Ghost Town pt. II
January 23rd, 2008 by elton tom
Photo: Carletta Sue Kay spotted at the Hard Place show….Photo by Jeremy Smears
The Clarences, The Passionistas, Carletta Sue Kay, Gran Via.
January, 25 2008 at Ghost Town Gallery
2519 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland,
Cost : 5 bucks
18+ Do Not Leave Valuables in Your Car!
Nate Dogg paralyzed
January 21st, 2008 by myles
One side of Nate Dogg’s body is now paralyzed. I really hope he doesn’t stop making music. I love hearing Nate Dogg on a chorus. He has an incredibly strong sense of melody that is so unique and identifiable. I can’t imagine him singing any other song then his own.
213 - I’m Fly (live)
Bass player gets burned
January 21st, 2008 by mylesThe Passionistas give Shayde a Germs burn
Shayde plays bass for Giant Skyflower Band, Kelley Stoltz, Flying Canyon, The Skygreen Leopards and probably a lot of other bands too. I don’t know what else to say about this video.
photos: all the young children on crack & tea elles
January 19th, 2008 by Jeremy SmearsSome older photos. All The Young Children On Crack are a Television Personalities cover band featuring current and ex members of the Passionistas and they were super fun. Fake accents and all:
Tea Elles were next and they took a million years to set up. Its two guitars and drums, which I think were shared with the other bands, come on! Put the drink down, tell your friend you’ll talk to them after the show. If you think they won’t be there after, well…
Nah. Actually, I was sick and cranky so every little thing was annoying me. The band was ok — definitely better than their myspace. I had the tonsillitis though, so after a few songs I just couldn’t keep up with all the acrobatic guitar and had to go home and stare at my disfigured tonsils in the mirror.
I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack
January 19th, 2008 by mylesThe Passionistas - Fucking Cold
Thanks Jeremy Smears and Elton Tom for running the blog while I was away. I was in a creative coma for a couple weeks. Expect fun new stuff. I can’t tell you all the exciting news just yet - for now here is a new video I directed for my band, The Passionistas, starring Christopher Owens from Girls.