Faces of Meth

My favorite Rufus Wainwright video is the fan video, Faces of Meth. Sometimes it makes me cry but most of the time I just laugh super hard. What other video/music thing can do that?

I’m so confused about what to think of Wainwright. When it comes to gay men, every single one seems to have a different opinion on the swollen cheeked Gap ad crooner.

I’ve heard that while at Badlands in the Castro, Wainwright once got so upset that he reminded all the bartenders that he was Rufus Wainwright by shouting out his own name. I’ve also heard that he used to hang out in the Mission before his career took off… whatever that means. I guess both of those things are cool. So whatever his behavior, he seems to be the kind of musician that is liked by gays who don’t really listen to music. I’m irritated by his overexposure, but I have to admit, I like some of his stuff. So, what do you think of him?

Posted in Badlands, Rufus Wainwright, gay gay gay, meth, overexposure | 1 Comment »

So I’ve been sick lately, half consicous on the couch watching Nancy Grace. Bitch is crazy, going on and on about Drew Peterson.

In my delirium I thought she was talking about Scott Peterson.

Posted in family style, nancy grace, prison bitch | 1 Comment »

Whilst perusing other music blogs dedicated to the bay area scene I happened to notice that the Bay Bridged is sponsoring a day party at SXSW. They are calling it the Bay Area Takeover. I’m calling it the Bay Area Leftovers.

The only dim rays of light in an otherwise boring ass line-up are the aptly titled 60 Watt Kid and the Blacks. I went through and listened to the streams posted. Apart from the two bands I just mentioned, I thought I had found some long lost OC Soundtrack. Everything was so safe.

I know people love Two Gallants but I personally can’t get past the drum sound. It is like someone wanking on a kit in Guitar Center. Let’s hope the Texas Police toss ‘em in the clink for more than just a few days this time around.

To me, the majority of these bands fall into the “but they’re really nice” catagory.

Ahem…… Film School, Von Iva, Loquat. Yeah, their music is boring and I personally would not go see any of them or buy they’re records but…..

they’re really nice people! OK call me an asshole but a really good friend has enough substance to tell you when they do not like your band. Besides, it is just my opinion and I could completely wrong. Some of these people might not be so nice!

If these bands are going to take over anything, it’s the cut out bin at your local record store.

I’ve been to these Bay Area showcases at SXSW before, they’re attended by everyone from the bay area who happens to be in Austin. You might as well be at the Uptown in Oakland. Point me to the Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet and the Rainbow Cattle Company for ladies night.

Anyway, since a lot of people do like these bands, here’s the poop:

(I do give props to the Bay Bridged for doing such a nice job with the web site, posting streams (for me not to like) and doing a really excellent job of promoting these groups. Too bad their taste is not more in line with my own.)

The Bay Area Takeover
Thursday, March 13th
Beauty Bar
Austin
noon-6
www.thebayareatakeover.com

Posted in bay area leftovers, boring, safe music, the bay bridged | 1 Comment »

So the girls show was so good, and there’s photos and good times write ups coming, but… I’m just going to get this over with.

The best thing I can say about Yes Please is I really hated it. Sadly, though, it was a reaction to the performance and less to the music, which I heard best described as sounding ‘like the Juno soundtrack’. Who likes this stuff? And Feist! Cat Power has a lot to answer for.

Speaking of Cat Power, the performance. This was like some art piece based on Chan Marshal’s disastrous and irritating performances. The show starts and when I walk up to the stage I see four precious indie girls sitting at the edges of the stage. Posed on stage actually. If these girls weren’t posed, then good for Yes Please for having a set of Stepford Urban Knitters at her disposal, but my guess is they were posed. Anyway, they are rapt by what is center stage. Rapt!

Center stage is what I assume to be Yes Please — crouched under a blanket, rocking back and forth, and warbling over the Juno soundtrack which is magically coming out of the PA even though there isn’t an instrument in sight. Eventually this girl makes her way out from under the blanket, she’s so vulnerable! Meanwhile, a new set of kids take the blanket she’s crawled out from underneath, spread it out picnic style, and sit down on it and watch — no adore — adore her.

What the fuck alternate reality is this? Eventually she sits down Indian style and plucks out a few notes from a guitar she’s had hidden away. When I turned to walk out I noticed I was the only person not on stage or on a blanket.

On the plus side, her set was short!

Posted in Olympia, so precious, thank god thats over, yes please | 1 Comment »

This is like the easiest potshot ever, but over here in Berkeley apparently they’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the peace symbol. Hey give the peace symbol a chance, Berkeley’s been doing it for 50 years. Come for the symbol, stay for the folksingers.

http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2008-02-19/article/29275

Posted in Berkeley, Insularity, irrelevance, peace symbol celebration | 2 Comments »

He is mean, drunk and completely predictable. It doesn’t matter how nice, genuine and willing-to-forgive you are - he’ll unleash his pain, frustration and confusion on you in any social situation (outside of the Marc by Marc Jacobs store) by attempting to humiliate you. His play-dough filled brain will keep interest in this activity for countless years, just like my late senile grandfather’s daily interest in Flintstones reruns. I’d call him a bitter queen but I don’t wanna disrespect any bitter queens who read this blog. I’d feel bad about this passive-aggressive post if I hadn’t given him plenty of hugs and chances to redeem himself. He’s a walking (probably biking) total-bummer and not in an ironic 90s kind of way, in a real-life-2008-wake-up-it’s-your-cell-phone-alarm-clock kind of way.

Posted in bullies, haterz, stop, total bummer | 5 Comments »

Hey Fierce Perm, I know you’re on hiatus or whatever but the internet is not. It is totally time to log into your myspace account and change the password, I am seriously sick of the dating spam.

Also, even though you’re on hiatus, don’t you have an album coming out on Mandagger?? You should really be logging into that and taking care of your business anyway. Fans hate annoying bulletins.

Posted in Fierce Perm, bands that go on haitus instead of break up, mandagger, myspace spam | No Comments »

Not too long ago I attended a pretty rad Oakland houseparty. I thought I was having a good time when all of a sudden a bunch of my friends left, and I noticed that the party was inundated with Burning Man ravers, most of whom seem to have stayed sartorially stuck in 1997. Predictably, I became annoyed. Hey burners, do you really have to wear your furry pants to a punk rock house party?
The “burners” self segregated themselves in the kitchen, totally missing out on the band action in the living room, which included San Francisco’s most charming punk rock combo as well as their glamorous LA counterparts.That’s what I love about “burners” though — they’re the most solipsistic group of individuals. They try and re-create BM wherever they go, and for all their professed open-mindedness, God forbid they should step outside of their cozy fake fur cocoon, drop the ketamine bumps and the spandex body suits, and actually expose themselves to something a little bit different.
On another note, I heard that a super-underground rock band called the Foo Fighters played a show down the road at the Oakland Coliseum that same night, and word on the street is that their drummer is pretty awesome.

Posted in burning Man, fake fur, ketamine, solipsism | No Comments »

First Person Magazine has finally gone and done what I’ve been asking for. Girls, the new and uncommonly great San Francisco band, are finally playing a show! They’re for real, its not a hoax, and word on the street is the band sounds awesome. I don’t know who these FP Magazine people are but somebody should thank them!

Also playing are Yes Please, Raccoons, and Soft Hug. I checked the word on the street and nobody knows who these bands are but Yes Please are on at 9 PM sharp, so get there on time if you’re curious. We’re curious! Actually, we probably need to run an errand over at Chrome so maybe we won’t see Yes Please. But we’re firm believers in doing everything so we’re going to try!

This is going to be super fun. You really should come.
Saturday Feb 16th
Cafe du Nord
2174 Market St
9 PM 10$

Posted in Chet JR White, Christopher Owens, Girls, cafe du nord | No Comments »

Tonight, The Clap is reborn as Vis á Vis at the Vortex Room. They may have said goodbye to Tuesdays and Aunt Charlies, but they haven’t said goodbye to good times, awesome music, and amazing performances.

This party is totally underground, so if you don’t know where the vortex room is you can: make friends with Vis á Vis on myspace, email them at v i s a v i s _ s f a t y a h o o d o t c o m or email us at w o r l d f a m o u s i n s f a t g m a i l d o t c o m.

Details:

The party starts at ten, and we send you on your way at 3am.Guest DJ Tom Marzella (He of magnificent bands such as Hard Place, Puce Moment, Master Moth, Mon Cousin Belge)
plus DJ’s Der Blaue and Gary Fembot spinning 60’s, Garage, 70’s, rare soul and disco, Voguing classix, herky jerky new wave and more.

Performance at 1am by -PRINCESS KENNEDY- with Johnny Cocksville.

2 enormous walls filled with Der Blaue Reiter’s classiest/trashiest visuals-you will definitely be tuning in and turning on…

This event is also an after party for the Friday Night at the De Young Series, which you should all go to (it’s free, and from 5-8:45) featuring Fauxnique, Penelope Houston of the Avengers, and Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)

In addition to performers and attendees from the De Young stopping by, we’re hoping that some of the Weimar NY people will pop in, making for a transatlantic artiste explosion….

Please add vis a vis as a friend if you haven’t already-myspace.com/viscodisco

Posted in Gary Fembot, The Clap, Vis á Vis, der blau reiter, elton tom, the vortex room | No Comments »