December 04, 2007

Hives Nearly Made Me Pee Myself

The Hives have one of the most exciting live shows. I remember seeing them in Irving Plaza years ago and the audience was dancing and jumping around so furiously that I thought the 2nd floor balcony was going to collapse with the force of the stomping. Madness!




This video nearly made me lose control of my bladder. Must see them in concert once more.

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July 24, 2007

Glasto Wrap-Up

I haven't posted in ages mostly because I've been busybusybusy offline. After spending your work day working and writing, you're tired and sometimes any energy you have to write at home is drained away. Lame excuse, I know. I'm trying to get back in the rhythm of posting since returning from vacation.

Anyways I was ankle deep in mud on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean a month ago. Yes, I was rocking out at the Glastonbury Festival. Oh, Glastonbury, you provided such a moist and muddy welcome for this American. You rained on us for 5 days. You threatened to flood our tent. You gave me the softest, moisturized knees as my wellies got stuck and I fell into your gooeyness time and time again. On top of that, you introduced me to some interesting folks and some kick-ass music.

We wandered between stages and saw so many bands that they all start to blur together....The Fratellis Amy Winehouse Bloc Party Bjork Dirty Pretty Things Lily Allen Babyshambles The Marley Brothers The Who and manymany more. Highlights:
dancing around during Mika's set in the dance tent (no mud! no rain! happy music!).
Naked elderly gentleman casually strolling across the Sacred Space one morning.
Escaping the rain by ducking into Left Fields and hearing the legendary Tony Benn speak.
Seeing the looks of horror on burly men's faces as a muddy moshpit opened up behind them and "the mudpeople" sloshed closer and closer.

I definitely didn't have time and energy to see everyone I wanted to see, but there's always next year! Glasto-virgin readers: here are some tips which I learned the hard way for a great 2008 festival experience:
Despite the crap weather, I'm definitely hooked on the camp-out at a festival experience.

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April 16, 2007

Morning/Evening Listening - Travelust Edition

Continuing this thread, I've been listening to a lot of Orient Expressions in the mornings.

Orient Expressions with Imer Demirer at Babylon.

I'm not sure how to classify their sound -- a blend of electronica Turkish folk jazz dance music? When I was in Istanbul last October, I was fortunate to see them perform with trumpet player Imer Demirer during the Akbank Jazz Festival. Standing room only crowd ate up every note. Hahaha--my travel journal contains this sentence, "I'll definitely be pimping OE on the blog" for that night's entry!

So it took me six months, but if you're in Turkey do check out a gig. It will definitely be worth the money and time it takes to find the club (My friend and I cabbed it that night. There's no way we would have found Babylon in the maze of twisty Beyoglu streets on our own).

Listening to this only means one thing -- my feet are getting itchy. I need to get of New York. Perhaps not Istanbul, but somewhere without grimy subway stations packed with pissed-off commuters, the sound of bass pumping from someone's car stereo through closed windows at 3am, mountain of deadlines, sitting on my butt for 9+ hours a day in meetings, in front of a computer. After this weekend, my summer-fall travel plans will finally become a little more clear and hopefully my feet will find some relief.

Currently on my playlist:

AM: Orient Expressions - every track from the album Külliyat
PM: Elvis Costello - "Peace Love and Understanding"

The Costello-version has been stuck in my head since Saturday, when my upstairs neighbor was blasting this song.

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February 27, 2007

Morning/Evening Listening

In the morning I like to listen to heartbeat-accelerating music. In the evenings I switch over to tunes which a lot more chill. Currently on my playlist:

AM: CSS - "Alala" (from Cansei De Ser Sexy)
PM: Charlotte Gainsbourg - "Operation" (from 5:55)

The lyrics for the latter song are a bit, um, intense:

Deep within the abbatoir
Of your entrails your insides
Lost in you forever far from home

Our love goes under the knife
Someone got too close

Our love goes under the knife
The heart was rejected by the host

A good song to decompress from a busy workday, no? Whatever works.

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