Liz From St. Louis

May I present you with Dorrough’s “Ice Cream Paint Job”

I cannot get enough of listening to this song. The moment I start my car and the radio turns on, I say a little prayer that this song will come on the radio.

Yes, I realize I’m an odd duck. I like it that way.

Last nite I had the pleasure of attending the ‘St. Louis’ (technically Sauget, IL) stop of the 2009 AP Tour. And let me tell you what, those good dudes and dudettes at AP Magazine sure knew what they were doing when they put together the lineup of bands, it was a phenom. The kids didn’t stop rocking out all nite and everyone left sweaty and tired but with huge smiles on their faces.

Check out the rest of my photos from the nite…

I was able to catch 3OH!3, The Maine and Family Force 5 – I missed Hit The Lights and A Rocket to The Moon due to the fact that I had work obligations. All three of the bands that I saw were really great live and had the crowd going; seriously I haven’t seen such an enthusiastic crowd that was ready to P-A-R-T-Y in such a long time, it was awesome. 

Being the ‘old fart’ I am, I had only ever heard the names of The Maine and Family Force 5, never having listened to their music before. I was completely blown away by Family Force 5 – from their comical coordinating outfits, their sheer energy, ability to work the crowd, sweet dance moves and OMG can we talk about some awesome beats and sampling? It literally was just this frenetic dance party that didn’t stop for a second, that band made my nite.

Be sure to check out Family Force 5. You can thank me later

The Killers’ “Spaceman” from the MTV Australia Awards.

—

I’m still quite disappointed in myself for not having gotten tickets for The Killers show here in May at The Fox Theatre. They’re #1 on my list of ‘bands to see that I haven’t seen before’ and the show is SOLD OUT; bummer.

As far as The Killers are concerned, my favorite album of theirs is Sam’s Town, yet their rarities & b-sides disc Sawdust is a must listen. From the cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay” to the Lou Reed feature “Tranquilize” to the stripped down Abbey Road recording of “Sam’s Town” it’s a little treat for the ears.

Enjoy this performance of “Spaceman” which happens to be one of my favorite tracks off Day & Age.

Happy Friday!

From Mike Shea’s blog:

I did get my inspiration to be a music journalist after watching Almost Famous for the first time. Hiding behind a camera lens just so happened to be the natural progression of things for me. It’s funny just how truthful, and applicable to my own experience, that snippet from Mike’s blog is.

Sometimes I think about resurrecting my dream of becoming ‘the enemy’ – the 17-year-old Liz would be highly disappointed with how uneventful my post-collegiate life is, but those are the breaks, kid. I still watch Almost Famous whenever I lose perspective on things; I still relate all too-well with William Miller sitting in the bathtub surrounded by disregarded, balled-up, half-written ideas while trying to pull through in the eleventh hour.

“Listen, you’re doing great. The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool. Listen, this is my advice to you… be honest and unmerciful. You have to make your reputation on being honest and unmerciful. And if you get into a jam, call me. I stay up late.” – Lester Bangs in Almost Famous

I don’t think there could be any truer words than those. We all have to settle into our own uncool and base our reputations on being honest and unmerciful.

& Elizabethtown is quite an inspirational film as well…

Ah, Morrissey, you never fail to deliver.

Yesterday I visited Vintage Vinyl to pick up my copy of Years of Refusal which, much to my delight, came with the 7″ single of “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” that contains this very image on the inner sleeve:

The deluxe edition of the album is packaged nicely as a digipak with a silken linen finish to the paper stock it’s made from. The CD and DVD are incased in inner-sleeves much like a vinyl album is, the same silk linen paper is used. The type treatment throughout is very Art Nouveau and the cool color scheme of grays and soft blues takes cues from the dark black and blue look of the Ringleader of the Tormentors cover and progresses to this. I like seeing a theme taken and expanded upon in a new direction, which is the case of the album design from the previous album to this one. Packaging: A+

Still exploring the sounds of the album but, upon the few listening I’ve given it, there’s something in here that was merely toyed with in Ringleaders which is a bounce – an up-and-down movement of beat that takes hold of even the slowest songs (”Black Cloud” and “You Were Good In Your Time”).

The Spanish-sounding guitar at the very beginning of “When I Last Spoke to Carol” harkens back to The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again” for me. And the guitar intro of “Sorry Doesn’t Help” sounds a bit like Queen to me, then the drums come beating in big time only to have Moz’s voice echo the warmth of that guitar over the crisp cymbals and pulsing kick drum. This layering of sound is found on every song, the production is spectacular, producing a warmth that makes me want to listen over and over.

Standout songs are:

• - “All You Need Is Me” for the sheer bravado only Morrissey can deliver.
• - “Something Is Squeezing My Skull” simply for the line ‘There is no hope in modern life.’
• - “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” in the delicacy, richness and reach of the vocal delivery. This song illustrates everything about Moz’s voice that makes him unique.
• “That’s How People Grow Up” stands out for the fact that it’s a great song greatly ruined by the shrill trill of Kristeen Young. I would have bypassed Ms. Young and simply used a Theremin for the same effect.

Album: A-

I’m now looking forward to the April 8th Morrissey concert at The Pageant more than I was before, knowing he’s got a great source of material in the new album to pull from. As long as I don’t have to sit through another drawn-out performance of “Life Is A Pigsty” again, I’ll be happy. Also, he’s bringing fellow Brits, The Courteeners, along as the opening act – replacing former long-time openers Kristeen Young (who I am none to keen on).

Bottom line: If you want a good solid record, go pick up Morrissey’s Years of Refusal. Even if you think you don’t like him, I’m betting you’ll find at least one track you’ll like on this album.

I guess I have to admit to being a Fall Out Boy fan.

I download their albums, sing along when a song’s on the radio and okay… some of my favorite songs happen to be by Fall Out Boy. I can’t deny the clever and poignant lyrics and the catchiness of it all. And let’s face the facts, all of the ‘fame’ and hubbub surrounding the band ridiculously adds to the package. I think Cobra Starship has a little song that sums up my relationship with the Eff-Oh-Bee’s… guilty pleasure.

Tonite I stood in the freezing rain/snow for an hour and actually got into the ’secret’ Fall Out Boy show at the Creepy Crawl. It really didn’t feel real to me because the other times I’ve seen them have been at Warped Tour or big arena shows, there’s something about the atmosphere of places as small as the Creepy that lend to a magical sort of feeling around any concert. (Plus, I find it odd to read about Pete Wentz on PerezHilton and in People Magazine and then see him 10 feet in front of me. – Surprisingly, I’ve never met the dude before)

The back of the line around the back of the Creepy Crawl

Crowd

PW

Patrick

And can someone please explain to me how, after all these years, that Patrick still sounds like he’s in the middle of running a marathon when he’s singing? He sounds out of breath and horribly off… something I just assumed he would have worked on in the few years it’s been since I’ve seen them live. I don’t know if there was something up with the sound system or if he wasn’t feeling well, but the vocals sounded rushed and strained. Dude just sounded bad.

The best part of the whole nite, the thing that was worth my $20 and battling shitty kids and a tall shitty dude with shitty tattoos that was shoving to get in front of me, was the fact that they played “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out.” I was on the verge of actually screaming with delight (something I NEVER do, unlike the high school set that were standing beside me) – the big surprise is that, while I was practically yell-singing along, it was almost dead silent… hardly anyone else knew the song! “YSYEO” is easily my favorite Fall Out Boy song… soooo goooood!

Second in my excitement to hearing “Yule Shoot Your Eye Out” was that they played “Nobody Puts Baby In the Corner” – that song brought back soooo many good memories of college. There was at least one nite of partying at the infamous duplex of 2615 Old Hwy 63 in Columbia, where “Nobody Puts Baby In the Corner” popped up on someone’s iPod that was plugged into the stereo and one time someone got out an acoustic guitar and played it, with a few guys and all of girls singing along. It was like… something I’ll never forget, just one of those moments that in my mind, could totally be a scene in a movie.

“America’s Suitehearts” is easily one of the best tracks off the new album and was really energetic played live. The small bit of “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet” that was played sounded good as well, Pete proclaimed it was his favorite song they’ve ever written and I can see why, it’s a great song.

All-in-all, it was pretty cool seeing such a huge band at such a shitty little venue. (The old Creepy Crawl location holds many memories for me, the new locale is still growing on me) Kids stormed the stage during the last song “Saturday” and I got freaked so I left… getting a good glimpse of the band fleeing out the back door and into a black Escalade. Pete said they wouldn’t be sticking around because they had a 7am flight and he had to go iChat with his 9-day-old… ykes… that’s totally that dude I suppose.

So, I was at Warped Tour for 8 hours today.
& while I got a lot of good photos (hello walking around with The Academy Is, bumping into Andrew McMahon and talking to Kevin Lyman) I think the following are pretty much priceless.

Gym Class Heroes were the last band to play of the day, 8pm set time. And at the end of the second song, a kid in the crowd starting calling out to Travis that he was an “ignorant nigger.” Travis asked him to repeat what he had said and the kid did. Travis then asked him to come forward, I took a photo of the kid and then he hopped up over the barricade where Travis held a hand out to pull him onstage. I didn’t know what was coming, figuring he’d just pull the kid onstage and tell him the N-word wasn’t a cool thing to say, but no…

Right as Travis reached out for the kid, they both started with the fists. Travis was using his microphone as well, which busted into pieces (another photog grabbed the pieces and kept them) and security swarmed trying to break up the fight. I was standing there completely stunned and taking photos. I still can’t believe that went down, but you know what? That kid shouldn’t go around saying things like that.

After the next song, the 3rd of the set, I left the photo area and saw a few of the security guys standing around talking to the police while medics were going back towards first aid, which was near the stage GCH was performing on. Rumor has it that Travis was arrested.

Several places have used my photos with this story, peep them:

1. AP Magazine
2. Buzznet

In other news, Katy Perry is fantastic live and I wish I could have her fashion sense and the body to be able to dress that way.

A triple whammy of awesome songs were played in a row of Sirius Satellite Radio’s Ch. 29, The Punk Channel, this morning on my drive in to work at 6:15am. These songs were:

“God Save the Queen” Sex Pistols
“Seneca Falls” The Distillers
“Teenagers From Mars” The Misfits.

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning due to the terrible week I’ve had, especially a stressful day yesterday and the very loud thunderstorm here in the Ozarks last nite. Driving to work in nasty weather and hearing these songs this morning was the therapy I needed.

On a Sirius programming note, can Ch. 21, AltNation, please quit with the Coldplay already? I don’t know how much money their record company has given you to whore out their new album, but I swear. If I hear one more fucking Coldplay song, I’m going to go Elvis-style and bust a cap in my radio or something. I’m not exaggerting when I say that they’ve played a Coldplay song every 20minutes and some times back-to-back songs at that!

TGIF, yo. That’s pretty much all I have to say.

Also, I’ve been a bit frustrated with the current state of my hair. It’s the longest it’s been in years and is in need of a summer revamp, problem is that I don’t have the bank to finance a trip to my favorite salon any time soon. A visit to Sally’s might be on the horizon, but I’ve steered clear because I know that I’ll walk out of there with some 40 developer, Wellalite and a jar of Manic Panic (I’ve never done purple before…) Ugh. We’ll see. Of course, I’m trying to primp in prep. for Warped which is in 11 days. That little punk rock kid inside you never leaves, ever, and for that I’m grateful.

AP Magazine, June 2008 issue (Cobra Starship on the cover)

Cassadaga.
Bright Eyes.
All I’ve been listening to.

Okay, so that’s a bit of a lie. I’ve been listening to some other things, but right now my musical love lies with Bright Eyes’ most recent album. It’s mellow, honest, poetic… and really if there was a Dylan for the new millennium, I’m going to go out on a limb here but I think Conor Oberst would be that person.

Maybe it’s just because I’m from the Midwest, but every song on the album just pours from somewhere true and close to me. I don’t really know why I connect with Oberst so well, other than that explanation. I’m not really a fan of alt-country or folk-indie stuff or gosh, what do you classify Bright Eyes as? (I’m bad at categorizing music). Anyway – I’m more of a ‘louder and faster is better’ kind of music fan, but Cassadaga just soothes me, awakens me, makes me feel in touch with something. I love it.

She was a real royal lady, true patron of the arts
She said the best country singers die in the back of classic cars
So if I ever got too hungry for a suitcase or guitar
To think of them all alone in the dark.
- “Classic Cars”

Really, my love of Bright Eyes goes back a few years when I started working at the college radio station, KCOU. Their music was my guilty pleasure that I didn’t talk about but then in Nov. of 2006 Oberst and gang came here to MU for a performance at Jesse Auditorium and with front row center tickets in hand, I let it be public that I loved Bright Eyes like all of the dirty indie kids and hipsters that were packed in the same auditorium alongside me. My BE albums and I have been inseparable ever since.

My obsessive Cassadaga listening is partly cure for the fact that I’m impatiently waiting for the July 24th release of Tegan and Sara’s new album The Con. Their first two singles off iTunes, “The Con” and “Back In Your Head” have quenched my thirst for those Canadian twins just enough. The cute lyrics, the high-pitched girly vocals; the Quin sisters’ voices make me see little curly-ques and sketchy scribblings. Cute cute cute. Is really all I can say. (I think my brain deteriorates more and more everyday, I just can’t adequately describe music that I love because I’m too into it :X ) Their songs sound like diary entries I would’ve written if I would’ve continued keeping a diary and not begun keeping a LiveJournal instead.

“Parenthesis” by The Blow is something my sister Caitlin got me into. I think she found it on MySpace… anyway. It’s the cutest and catchiest song I’ve heard as of late. Again, I use the word ‘cute’ because I can’t really think of any other way to describe a female-sung song that includes the line “And when you’re holding me/we make a pair of parenthesis/There’s plenty space to encase/What ever weird way my mind goes” in the chorus. And hey, you can totally clap along to the slapping drum beat – LOVE IT!

Then there’s the Jeffree Star EP Plastic Surgery Slumber Party. I really wanted to write him off as another MySpace celebrity upon first glance. But that was over a year ago, and I have to admit that #1 He’s gorgeous #2 PINK EVERYWHERE! #3 Attitude to the f’ing max #4 His EP is catchy as hell. “Ice Cream” is my favorite song because it’s a little naughty but the beat is what really gets me, it’s very Berlin-esque and who doesn’t love a little Berlin? I was disappointed that my favorite J* song, “Louis Vuitton” wasn’t included on the EP. It was only on MySpace and now it’s been taken off :’( I’d like to get a hold of it, because who doesn’t like a song about a pink-haired guy paying tribute to his ‘Louie?’

I work out to Plastic Surgery Slumber Party because it give me perfect attitude to ignore all of the stupid blonde tan girls around me in the rec. I’m hotter than those bitches.

I bought the latest issue of Spin, with Amy Winehouse on the cover, delighted to find that it included the Smashing Pumpkins tribute thing that MySpace put together. While The Academy Is…’ version of “Mayonnaise” isn’t my favorite, but that Beckett kid has a whiney little voice that I can’t resist. My real love is Panic! At The Disco’s “Tonight Tonight” because, when I saw them in concert a year ago in Cleveland during their first headlining tour, they did it as a cover. Yes, Panic! appeals to the screaming braces set, but there’s something about Urie’s young warbling whine makes me turn to goo, especially with this cover. While “Today” off Siamese Dream was the song that got me into the Pumpkins as a young young kid (we’re talking 8, here), it was “Tonight Tonight” and its video that sucked me in to having this fantastical love and appreciation of Corgan & company. Panic!’s rendition and performance amidst a Moulin Rouge/”Tonight Tonight” set on a hot summer night, well it was enough to let me fall in love with the idea of some snot-nosed kids redoing one of my very beloved songs. I could do without the +44, The Bravery and Young Love renditions. Ben Kweller was the only other decent artist, offering his take on “Today.” Gosh, maybe I’m just biased to my favorite Pumpkins songs?

I need to be a little more intelligent with my music writing. But hey, this is a start, right? Just thought I’d let you know what I’m listening to.

Oh, and there’s plenty of Morrissey and My Chemical Romance filling in the gaps, because I can’t let those two go no matter how I try.