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.
"Chris Crocker’s Comeback"
January 7th, 2008 by mylesChris Crocker’s Comeback
Chris Crocker is back from his three month hiatus after the fame of “leave Britney alone” with a music video! It’s shot in some sad LA studio apartment that’s not even his. I can’t tell if I totally hate it, or totally love it. Totally.
Does the world need anymore hysterical Chris Crocker Fans?
December 11th, 2007 by mylesYes of course the world needs more hysterical Chris Crocker fans. This video pretty much speaks for itself. Thank Godoogle for YouTube!
Chris Crocker Sighting
November 6th, 2007 by myles
I thought Sylvia VS. Alisha were gonna blog about this, but given that neither of them could squeeze into this photo, I can see why they didn’t post it. Both of those girls lost this one! Rumor has it, Chris Crocker attended this LA Halloween party with James St. James.
That’s former Passionistas drummer Jessica Gaston on the right and Patrik Sandberg from Cobain In a Coma right in front looking like a greasy Ninja Turtle who stole his mom’s lipstick. That’s totally how a Ninja Turtle would apply make up too! I mean how could a Ninja Turtle grab a little lipstick tube with those bulky snappers. They’d totally rub it all around their mouth just like Patrik did. Good job Patrik!
I’m just kidding around Patrik. Your Oscar the Grouch costume is adorable!
"I don’t have talent. I only have fans."
October 28th, 2007 by mylesChris Crocker @ The Crib SF 10/25/07
As you can see in the video above, Chris Crocker proved his quote all too well on Thursday. The thing is, Chris IS talented. It’s just that his medium is so new that it has not been acknowledged or even noticed yet.
Part of Chris’ old shtick was pretending to be famous in videos posted on his MySpace. Most of his videos took place inside of his grandparent’s rural house when they weren’t around. His audience was the Internet; the wide, abstract and grossly impersonal Internet.
Not participating in human contact with your audience can provide a really interesting environment for an artist to develop. This kind of development has been romanticized in the art world forever. These personalities range from pretentious home-recordists like Jandek, to scared shut-ins like Henry Darger and countless other people probably including your mom. Outsider artists (for lack of a better term) are the one type of artist that goes unquestioned. Their motives seem true and their output feels authentic.
Chris’ videos, for me, felt very much like a outsider artists’ home-recorded album. His videos ranged the span of human emotion, they seemed sometimes… pointless. They felt lonely. They showed that same sort of sexy courage that we only posses when we are alone in our bedroom.
It was interesting to see Chris live at The Crib on Thursday. I realized Chris is now famous. I felt really lucky to see one of Chris’ first performances on stage in front of hundreds of people. I understood his craft wouldn’t translate to stage, but I was very curious to see how he was as an entertainer. His performance felt rehearsed but determined. It was fun and fanatical. It was new and nerdy. I loved it. This new generation is much different than my own. They didn’t have their mind blown by Kurt Cobain or The Chronic. Something else happened that we’re not aware of yet. It may have something to do with the Internet.
I thoroughly enjoyed spending the night locked in the club with my art/business partner Aaron. We didn’t buy any drinks for the nineteen year olds who asked. We leaned around and people-watched just as fathers do when they become overwhelmed by shopping malls. We felt old.
Chris Crocker’s San Francisco Debut Thursday!
October 23rd, 2007 by myles
For me, Chris Crocker represents a huge shift in ‘punk rock’ (for lack of a better term). I believe if I were an angry teenager growing up in the middle of nowhere in 2008, I would not start a punk band - instead I would be making provocative YouTube videos. Right now, Chris Crocker is my favorite band… even though he doesn’t make music.
Watching Chris’ contagious videos convinced me that making an ass of one’s self on the Internet is a good idea. He inspired me to make my own idiotic videos. Chris changed the way I think about the Internet. He taught me that the Internet is anything I want it to be. I can’t wait to see Chris Thursday on his first visit to San Francisco. I have no idea what he is going to do, but it will be fun. I’ll be hanging out amongst the lovely Monistat who is host for the evening. You shouldn’t miss this either.
I’m totally getting my hopes up. This flyer looks like the magazines I bought when I was sick. It’s amazing.
When bands just don’t get it
October 16th, 2007 by mylesBig Blue Whale need to chill
Six months ago my band was entered along with Big Blue Whale (pictured above) in The Deli Magazine SF’s band of the month competition.
My band, The Passionistas, decided to make a series of YouTube videos to promote the contest called “Haterz Beware.” We made the videos because that’s what our favorite band would have done if put in the similar situation. At the time I was obsessed with Chris Crocker of the recent “leave Britney alone” fame. I was astonished by his popularity and decided to mock his style of hater themed video monologues.
Pretty much everyone got the joke, except some of the bands we were competing against. My initial hope was that our videos would inspire these other normally pretentious and humorless bands into making fun videos too. Well, none of them did. What ended up happening is some took it as seriously as humanly possible. Here is a comment Ashley from Big Blue Whale left on The Deli today (six months after the fact):
I think it was your band, the Passionistas, who erroneously told the SF Chronicle that your band was victorious in the Deli’s monthly poll, when we actually bested you friendly folks by about 300 votes. I shouldn’t even mention all of the hate messages you sent the other bands throughout the contest.
Kanye West loves to storm award shows and claim victory even when he doesn’t win. To me, it was so obvious that we were copying Kanye West. I hate the idea that “inde” has all these manners that completely prevent staged drama or conflict. What people fail to realize is that this drama motivates people to listen, pay attention and buy records. Maybe I’d rather be in a soap opera than a jam band. Or maybe I’m more at home at the top of the pops than in this scene.
You can read some recent banter over at the Deli if you wish.