no big deal

First off, i'm a day late (but for once i have good reason, errm, a case of vomit all over the workplace)... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS JAY DIVESTAR!
Hope you had a good one, and sorry we missed the festivities, because, well i just said why...

Thursday show at the bowery was fun. The Washdown, a band from Tampa, Florida i'd never heard about was a good example of how to make garage-rock fun, energetic and fresh. We like the lead singer's charisma and dance moves.
Second band to appear, and the one i was most excited to finally see live, Ikara Colt... their album Chat and Business rocks so bad, and live it rocks double! From City of Glass to At the lodge (minus the keyboard), every song was explosive. It's always nice to see a band where each member (and not only the lead singer) has an incredible stage presence, and that's very much the case with Ikara Colt.
Last but not least, the girls of Sahara Hotnights took the stage... i've seen them quite a few times by now, and every time, they put on a good show. The set was short but they played most songs from Jennie Bomb... some people in the audience were so into it, that they started moshing...hm, oookay. I enjoy seeing the Sahara girls play live, i think their music translates better on stage, and their musicianship really shows.
Now, a word on the "take off your pants" comment, as mentioned by miss Jo Divestar... yes, it originated from the mouth of miss modernage... it doesn't really mean we want you *the band* to literally take off your pants, it just means that we like you and your music, and well, we're just being nice and loving!

california

By now, you may have heard about the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival... it's even very possible that you have seen the not-yet-finalized line-up. Looks pretty good, huh? I mean look at this one for example, remove The Donnas - and you have a nearly perfect day under the sun (i'm not familiar with Particle):

Saturday April 26 - Side Stage
9:30pm Blur
8:30pm The Donnas
7:30pm Badly Drawn Boy
6:30pm The Libertines
5:30pm The Rapture
4:30pm Hot Hot Heat
3:30pm Idlewild
2:30pm Particle
1:30pm Division of Laure Lee
12:30pm South

And this is just a part of it, don't forget The White Stripes, Primal Scream, Ben Kweller, QOTSA and more. To top things off, Interpol's been added to the sunday line-up... how the fuck they will go from Bourges, France to Indio, California in less than 24 hours goes beyond my head... but hey, good for the frenchies and the californians!

Now, i went to Coachella last year, and it is a great festival all around... nice organization, good weather, beautiful location, and most importantly amazing line-ups. I didn't plan on going this year, but now i'm really wondering... should i stay or should i go?

naked in the city again

ok, forget what i said yesterday... last night was a disaster, thanks to the very lame No Doubt fans.

The place was too packed and too big. They made us wait outside and we missed the first Hot Hot Heat song, which made me very angry. We tried to rush towards the front of the stage, only to be fighting with a bunch of idiots. We must have pissed about 1,000 people off screaming and jumping during Hot Hot Heat's set, but we were just trying to have some fun, what's wrong with that? What really upsetted me was that the sound during Hot Hot Heat was way too low. I can tell they were good, but this whole experience, what a let down... the birthday boy did have a great time during No Doubt, which really was the important thing... we found out later on that the boys of Hot Hot Heat didn't have fun either (don't know if that made me feel better or worse). Thankfully, their new york pal Hamilton was there to cheer'em up. Apparently, we should expect them back in the city soon... and even though i wish them all the success in the world, i begged them to play a little tiny venue next time around... let's hope they listened.

Oh, goddamnit!

I was so freakin' right with my grammys' predictions! The awards show was just as boring as usual, perhaps with the exception of The Clash tribute. Chris Martin needs to hold back a little, seriously we love you man, you don't need to have a panic attack onstage. Johnny and Fiona didn't win, but that's no surprise i guess.

It's my friend's Greg's birthday today!
Guess what he really wants to do tonight for his big day? That's right, we're going see No Doubt (one of his favorites) play at Hammerstein Ballroom. This isn't the first time he's tricked me into seeing them, and each time, he found a very good reason for me to accompany him. It's not that i hate them, but i don't need to go see them play every 6 months. Now, i can't really complain too much about tonight's show, because Hot Hot Heat is opening... very exciting indeed! i've been waiting to see them play for months and even though it's at a medium-big sized venue, i'm expecting them to be incredibly energetic and fun. Do i really have to stay for No Doubt?

the truth is no words

A quick word on The Music... they were good, for some reason, i didn't expect much, but the show was enjoyable. The crowd was jumping up and down to what i think sound like classic rock on acid. The lead singer has quite the groovy moods, i just don't get the whole raver kid look... Lots of Music fans were at the show, amongst them Mike Skinner and local scenester James Iha.
New york city's most famous unsigned band The Stills opened, and we still like them a lot. i've decided that they are reviving shoegazing... literally.