Posts Tagged: morrissey

live / music — 2 Comments
11
Dec 09

And the wind-down

The Minor Leagues live, 11/14/2009

The Minor Leagues live, 11/14/2009

Ben over at Almost Four Stars was kind enough to post my ten song end of year roundup on Wednesday. Since that’s taken care of, here are my top six favorite live shows of 2009, listed in chronological order:

  • February 9th: The Pretenders at the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
    Holy shit, Chrissie Hynde can still rock the fuck out.
  • March 31st: Morrissey at the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, MI
    He came out wearing a tuxedo and I almost fainted on the spot. I felt an electrical charge just from being in the same room as Morrissey. I don’t even know if I can describe what it was like to be sitting in the front row/center of the balcony, in the same theater where I’ve seen The Maltese Falcon and Sunset Boulevard, and see someone that I’ve spent countless hours staring at (photos, videos, youtube, books, dreams) standing in front of me, breathing the same air as me, whipping a microphone cord around. I feel so, so, so lucky that I could see him live in my lifetime.
    • Moz live in Columbus

    Moz live in Columbus

  • April 1st: Morrissey at the Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH
    This time I went with Hilly and Ben (met them halfway), and Shiv and Stacey were also there. Supremely magical. I won’t tell you which one of us cried, because you wouldn’t believe it. I wish I could carry this night forever in one of my cheek pouches, like a squirrel.
    • Exene Cervenka

    Exene Cervenka

  • June 17th: X at the Magic Stick, Detroit, MI
    Went with Jen and Gabe, two of the greatest friends a girl could have. It was supposed to be in the Majestic, which is huge, but there were few enough tickets sold that it was bumped to the Magic Stick, which is tiny. The stage is basically six inches off the floor. I was standing eighteen inches from Exene, and if I hadn’t been busy being jostled by every asshole punk boy in a 60 miles radius, I might have tried to kiss the hem of her garment. In love forever.
  • July 20th: Future of the Left at the Southgate House, Cincinnati, KY
    Probably my least favorite of these shows, but I’m super glad I got to see FOLT live. LIVING LEGENDS.
  • November 14th: The Minor Leagues at Mayday, Cincinnati, OH
    Smooshed right up against the stage with a handful of my favorite humans. Danced my ass off (I was sticky to the touch after, and my clothes were soaked through with sweat), screamed along to every word, and basically felt like my soul was aflame with refulgent splendor. You should consider seeing them live, if you get a chance.

And finally, a roundup of what I was listening to in 2009 that wasn’t new in 2009, but was new to me (or at least, in newly-heavy rotation): Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, The Wizard of Oz soundtrack, the Let the Right One In soundtrack, a lot of early Elvis, the Cocteau Twins (especially “Lorelei”), Margaret Leng Tan, Moondog, Sia, Young Marble Giants, Jo Stafford, Au Pairs, the 2008 Brideshead Revisited soundtrack, X, Emitt Rhodes, and Kronos Quarter Performs Philip Glass, to name the most prevalent. Phew. On to 2010!

music / what are these young homosexuals doing — 1 Comment
9
Dec 09

Norah Jones, look out

(Pre-Script: Check out today’s guest post (by yours truly) at the always excellent Almost Four Stars!)

I recently got into a small tiff on another blog with someone about Lady Gaga. I didn’t realize it at the time, but evidently we were arguing about whether or not said Lady is a “musical genius.” And the argument evidently also eventually resolved itself in her favor, after the other party located this video:

I don’t know if I’m qualified to proclaim someone a “musical genius,” and even if I were, few people whose musical output lies entirely in the twenty-first century would receive that title from me. Lady Gaga may or may not be a musical genius– she’s definitely a respectable songwriter thus far– but the only thing the above video proves is that she used to be a catastrophically bad (or at least, very immature, as she was 19 when this video was taken) lyricist. My favorite is at the end (around 6:57), where the judge proclaims, “Norah Jones, look out!”

I would like to submit, for your approval, a photograph of another budding artist at the age of 21: Continue reading →

metainternet / music / what are these young homosexuals doing — No Comments
30
Sep 09

Teenage Russian Lesbians

I can’t resist quoting from an interview Morrissey did where he was asked what he thought of TATU’s cover of How Soon Is Now?. Morrissey said that he thought that it was magnificent but admitted that he did not know too much about TATU. The interviewer explained, “They’re teenage Russian Lesbians.” To which Morrissey replied, “Well, aren’t we all?”

– from here

film / music — 5 Comments
11
Sep 09

Let the old dreams die

Let the Right One In
Remember back in February, when I told you about Let the Right One In? I think I’ve watched it a dozen times since then, and I still love it every bit as much. I watched it again a few nights ago, in fact, and was struck by how right the tone felt with the sense of coming autumn that’s in the air.

In particular, there’s a scene where young Oskar drops the needle on a 60s sounding 45, trying to look cool in front of Eli, and it really conveys so much of the raw feeling of adolescence– the gawky need to appear cool without being sure what that really is; the way the feeling of rock music resonates with your rushing hormones though the content of the lyrics is still distant and indecipherable; and for me at least, the way that the bite of chilled air and dark winter nights hook into the melancholy and maladjustment of puberty. Continue reading →

music / what are these young homosexuals doing — 3 Comments
2
Sep 09

Big Girls vs. Fatties vs. Ambiguously Gay Male Pop Stars

One of my favorite figures of speech is describing something as being like “the love child of ___ and ___.” As in, “Have you seen Pan’s Labyrinth? It’s like the love child of The Pianist and the actual Labyrinth!” Or “Hey! Look at that guy over there! He looks like the love child of David Bowie and Bob Barker!” (How terrifying would that be? Actually, how terrifying was Pan’s Labyrinth?)

What would happen if two songs had a baby?

Freddie Mercury & Morrissey

Freddie Mercury & Morrissey

If songs look anything like their singers, it would look like this: Continue reading →

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