siouxsie. a review.

if only ’cause i knew you were all waiting with baited breath for my thoughts on the siouxsie show, here you go.

3 words: shiny. happy. siouxsie.

i have never seen siouxsie so flipping happy at a show. where’s my tortured diva? apparently, gone the way her marriage to
budgie has gone. and i for one, loved every moment.

siouxsie was fun, playful and flirtatious. it was freaking awesome. at one point she said “tomorrow i’m flying to san francisco, i can’t wait to tell them that i left my heart in new york.” how weird is that? awesome!!!

the set list was heavy on material from her new mantaray album, but there were some awesome old banshee tunes thrown in like “hong kong garden”, “night shift” and “dear prudence”. conspicuously absent were anything from her creatures days with budgie or the hits such as “peek-a-boo” or “christine”. given the strength of the show, they were not missed. oh, and when she sang “hong kong garden” she introduced it by saying it was the song’s 30th birthday. 30! wow. time flies with brilliant songs.

the absolute highlight for me was her hard as nails version of mantaray’s “into a swan” – it rocked harder and heavier than the album version – let me just state for the record this needs to be released on cd – pronto!

she was stunning in a silver catsuit with funky/punky 70’s shag (radar called it: “emma peel-meets-wonder woman spacey silver catsuit”). she danced and twirled and interacted with the audience – and her voice was in spectacular form. i’ve never heard her sound this strong.

the venue was incredible as well. the fillmore at irving plaza only holds 1000 people – landry and i got a primo spot right on the balcony with an unobstructed view of the stage. doesn’t get much better than that. oh, and i’m 98.53% positive that johnny rotten from the sex pistol’s walked by me on his way into the vip area – there’s nobody that quite looks like that man. (i’m choosing to forget the moment when i was too busy texting ray to notice siouxsie herself walk right by me. grrrr)

i did sneak my camera into the joint – the above pic is from me as is the lil’ you tube video down below. i’m pleased that it’s a fairly stable shot – it’s short (i thought that was best), if you want some longer vid’s – just search you tube…they’re out there. but i like mine best. it’s part of her tune “if it doesn’t kill you”. check it out:

i promise i’m done with siouxsie for a bit…(do i hear sigh’s of relief?)….. but i do have the upcoming gutter twins show to get psyched for…

super quick update

3 things you need to know:

1) i’m coming home tonight

2) on friday i got the worst case of the viral gastroenteritis ever.  the nasty fucker is weaving it’s way around new york (landry and her gf had it before me as well) – as such, all of friday, i was very close with landry’s bathroom floor.  ugg.  fucking bug.

3) i was well enough to attend siouxsie last night.  fucking brilliant.  one of the best shows i’ve seen her give (truly!).  more on her later (including illegal pics), but for now, i’m off to brunch (i finally have an appetite) and then i make my way to laguardia for my plane home.

important update

note, there will be a photo essay documenting the forthcoming points following said points.

a) i’m on a plane to new york tomorrow morning at 7am minneapolis time.  this will be my first proper vacation in over two years (oh, if your wondering, i don’t consider vacations tagged onto the end of shows or aids rides as “proper” – so therefore, this is my first proper vacation in over two years).  i really really really am ready for this vacation.  and i am not bringing my computer with so unless i use landry’s computer, you won’t get any updates from me until next monday <gasp!>.

b) i voted.  i’m part of the machine.  dammit people, it’s time for change!

c) it’s finally for real (i.e., plane tickets are booked) i’m off to berlin (work) & prague (vacation) in april.  very happy/excited.

d) fucktards who drive escalades with eco-plates need to be anally abused until they realize that spending the extra $30 a year for “natural habitat” license plates does not negate the detrimental effects their vehicles are doing to the planet.  oh, and to anyone driving any varient of an suv – when was the last time you actually took it off road?  oh, and the safety thing?  it’s a myth.  least you can do if you own one of these monstrosities is to offset your carbon footprint.

e) oh, did i mention that landry and i are seeing siouxsie sioux on saturday night in ny?  mabye i forgot to tell ya’ll that.

f) j made me very happy last night.  dopey grin on my face all day (no photo essay for this one).

gratuitous siouxsie

25 days till i’m at the fillmore in new york city for siouxsie sioux.  can’t f’ing wait!

mojo:

…displays a passion and conviction that shows an artist unhappy to rest on her numerous laurels…

stylus:

…it not only leaves us wanting more, but once again guessing fruitlessly at what the next step might be…

observer music monthly:

…no one does sex and mayhem like siouxsie…

random musings…russell, britney, siouxsie & blake*

home from miami – so.very.nice.to.be.home for a while.. i’m anxious to get back to day-to-day life. 

i was thrilled when i got home when i opened my mailbox and this greeted me:

now, firstly – ew is my bible.  i read it cover to cover.  i love it.  but to be greated with the perfection that is mr. crowe – well hmmm if that didn’t just make my day, not much else will.  i loves me some russell.  god he’s dead.fucking.sexy.

— 

for some cool as shit graphics check this out:

it’s an alternative version of the video for siouxsie’s ‘into a swan’.  i’ve loved that mirror effect since prince and the revolution did it for the ‘when doves cry’ video… i think it’s used well here.

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copies of a couple blake lewis tracks (the 6th cut off of last season’s american idol) circulating around the net… i gave a quick listen to ‘break another’ and ‘know my name’.  of the two, ‘break another’ has a bit of potential. it’s typical pop-fluff mixed with a bit of disco and of course, that scat singing that blake’s known for.  ‘know my name’ however is complete dreck.

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speaking of dreck, the new britney came out today. 

now – i’ve given the album a listen (no i didn’t pay for it – it’s everywhere on the net)… and i gotta say, it’s not quite the disaster i thought it might be (color me surprised).   that said however – that album cover is terrible [the girl/record company machine has never done great cover art].  the album itself is full of beats (toxic was certainly a precurser to this highly electronic album) and there are some pretty slammin tunes… let’s face it however, this is less to do with britney as much as it’s about her producers (bloodshy & avant (from ‘toxic’), the clutch & the neptunes).

there’s an urgency to these hook heavy/slamming dance-floor tracks… killer loops – hot production, and utterly disposable – all at the same time (but really isn’t that fairly normal in today’s next-best-thing world)… time will tell if the album holds up well – but for now, it’s the perfect summertime record (wait – time to check the calender… last time i checked these kind of jam’s fair better in summertime)… the nice thing here is that for a couple of tracks you forget that she’s a trainwreck… and you remember this is a girl that is capable of a funtime dance jam… it’s nice to get lost in pop-fluff every now and then…

…at least until i need some substance…. speaking of where did i put that me’shell ndegeocello record…?

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*don’t you think that’s probably the first time siouxsie & britney have been mentioned in the same breath?  lol

12″‘s of love – vinyl love + Johnette, Doris Day & Male Brazillian Waxing!

greetings & salutations – sorry for the lack of posts lately; was on the road and had literally no access to the internet (gasp!) –

lots  of things happening lately and soon i might share something big, but in the meantime, can i just say how fucking much i love having a musical twin in london?  my colleague ian is from the united kingdom and whenever he comes over for a show he tends to bring me prezzies… and this last weekend in dc was no different.

ian and i share a love for all things siouxsie and he brought me the 12″ vinyl of la sioux’s recent into a swan – with two mixes unreleased on cd.  can you say i geeked out at the prospect of new siouxsie?

there was just one challenge tho’ – i haven’t had a turn table for a while (having got rid of much of my vinyl collection years ago). 

::sigh – what the fuck to do?::

well, the obvious answer is to go and be a good american (i was in dc at the time, afterall) and spend valuable money on a vinyl-to-mp3 converter turntable.

(uploading prince & the revolutions ‘love or money – extended version’)

yes, my friends, i’m completely enraptured by old 12″ extended versions by prince, kate bush, siouxsie and more (for example, the divine jill jones rarity – ‘bald man’; my theme song).

so i’m completely giddy happy listening to rare tracks that i haven’t heard in years. 

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unrelated:

rushed home from dc just in time to see the sublime johnette napolitano play the entry in minneapolis.  makes me happy.

(sorry johnette, i know you hate it when people take your pic, and you want us all “in the moment”, but it was such a great moment, i couldn’t resist taking a souvenir)

unrelated pt 2:

last night cb came over to watch heroes and i entertained him a bit by showing him an instructional dvd on how to give a guy a brazillian wax.  go here to read the salicious details (he sum’s it up better than i could).

unrelated pt 3:

(don’t try to understand – this is for one person, and one person only)

whew, thank god that’s over + siouxsie, lloyd & robbie (oh my!)

well it’s official; the 5 city sales meeting tour i’ve been producing is finally over.  thank god!  it went off more or less without a hitch – a couple of the hotels had an issue here or there, but for the most part it was a success.  now, just 3 more hair show’s this season (cincinatti next weekend, washington d.c. the following and then miami at the end of the month) and i can finally spend some quality time at home. 

took a friend around a bit of san francisco tonight – she’d never toured it.  jumped in a cab to get to the haight for my amoeba fix.  that store never fails to provide me with a treasure (or three):

first up, the uk version of siouxsie sioux’s new (and first ever proper) solo album ‘mantaray’.  now, yes, i could have waited a week for the u.s. version – but i prefer things the way there were meant to be and this import, limited edition copy is gorgeous.  have only listened to the music on the crappy in room dvd/cd player – must import into the iphone for my day tomorrow to give it a proper listen.  (fyi, it appears as if siouxsie and budgie have split after some 26 years together and that siouxsie may have come out of the closet… no shock there i suppose).

next up, my mental hard-on lloyd cole with ‘live at the bbc’ – i didn’t even know this existed.  lloyd in so many ways is the perfect man for me… soulful, british, talented with dead sexy eyes.  ‘course he’s also straight so fuck ‘him.  this is a collection of tunes recorded live in 1990 and 1995.  very excited with this one.

and then there’s my new robbie williams treasure.  a semi-are cd single for a tune called eternity that doesn’t appear anywhere else, as well as a non-lp track toxic.  as much as lloyd is the perfect british guy for me, robbie just get’s my rock-star- rock’s off.  + you know how i like the boys with ink.  again, sigh – he’s straight.  so fuck him too.  lol.

also picked up a couple of multi-disk set’s put out by the fine folk’s at bar de lune – can always find a treasure or two for use in future shows.

whilst in the haight, we passed a cool asian artifacts store where they had a number of fine balinese puppets – i’ve always wanted a one of these; i couldn’t resist.  here she is:

here’s a close up of her face:

(kinda siouxsie-esqu in’she?)

tomorrow is just a day off in san francisco – how perfect?  first up, sleeping until whenever the hell i feel like wakeing up, i wonder what i’ll do after that….

new music tue…wednesday?

hell ya!

ok, been up since 3am working on ride stuff, took a break and decided to troll you tube a bit. 

guess what i found?  the brand-spankin-new siouxsie video for the first single off her new record.  the tune is called ‘into a swan’ and it’s flipping incredible.  more aggressive than siouxsie’s been for a fair bit.  more organic too.  the drums are smokin’ hot (thank you budgie).  and could she look anymore incredible?  wow – she’s 50! 

what a way to start a day!

check it out:

in other music news, i picked up the new mark ronson yesterday – but haven’t listened yet as i also got this incredible new record from the iconic mavis staples called ‘we’ll never turn back’.  that has completely captivated me.

entertainment weekly says: “Staples’ voice outshines all: rich, weathered, and full of fire, sometimes resolving in a cracked tone or a dark, knowing chuckle, her eyes still on the prize.”

and the guardien says: “Staples is magnificent.” 

and indeed she is.

in other exciting news – scott and i are seeing a late showing of harry potter 5 tonight… late cause of course, i’m in rehearsals all day and into the evenin.  can’t wait for that either.