Boy, for a couple of teetotaling vegetarians, CarrieNation and Dabysan throw one hell of a party. I mean, I knew it was going to be a good time, but yesterday went above and beyond my highest expectations. I'm so unbelievably happy for the both of them, and even though it's been said plenty, I'd like to offer them my public congratulations one last time. I am deeply honored that two people I care about so much asked me to be a part of their special day. I'm just thankful that I only flubbed my toast in small ways that nobody seemed to notice. I was so sure I was going to screw it up.
Werewolf vs Freddy ♥ Sheraton Hotel, Minneapolis (11/07/09)
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This year, the merchandise room was reduced to a size of a
large bedroom, so you walk in and out in about a minute. I did manage
to pick up some stuff, but they weren't cheap. Celebrities prints are
costs anywhere from $20-40, we weren't allowed to take pictures (if you
did purchase a print, then taking pictures would cost an extra $5).
Last year, most of the nicer stars let us take pictures for free.
As for merch, the usual bootlegs, toys, horror t-shirts were
there, but because of the smaller room - it feels like there weren't a
lot of choices. Some commonly seen t-shirts were Nightbreed and
Hellraiser, which I thought were cool, since I have always thought
Clive Barker is genius.
Also, this year they had music as part of the show. The person that was supposed to give me a pass to the music area was not at the ticketbooth and I didn't feel like paying extra to see music. Besides, all of the bands seems to be either punk or metal, not really my cup of tea, so I didn't bother to make much effort in getting the pass.
With the disappointing cancellation, incorrect/false information (is
updating a website too much to ask?), the smaller space, and
expensive admission ($30 at the door) - this will be the last year that
my group will attend. 
11/08/2009 02:54:28 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
Count Jason
I'm not going to lie, the reason why I went to the Genitorturers concert last night was thanks to one of the members of band Team Cybergeist. I was drawn to their cover of Rockwells' 80's classic Somebodies Watching Me and I was like, "who the f$#$k are these guys?" Turns out they are a collaboration band and were going on tour with the Genitorturers. Genitorturers were getting ready to kicking things off with a CD release of Blackheart Revolution. Shoot, this looks like fun and I dig the sound, I need to check this out!
I wasn't let down. VIP at show was kind of a mixed deal because it only really offered early admission to a rather empty crowd, at least at first. Perhaps I missed something so I'm not going to say that it WASN'T worth it because I essential got a copy of Genetorturers new CD and poster for $10 more even if the VIP access wasn't that thrilling. All the freaks and geeks were out in full force for this show and the photographers (and myself) were capturing it all or as much as I could. Many friends, fans, and new faces made the night incredible on top of the stellar music.
Team Cybergeist took the stage first and that band can be simply described as a mess of talent thrown into a blender, pureed, and poured onto an unsuspecting audience. As well as performing some of their songs from the CD: Future Scars, they did a kick ass cover of NIN's Head Like a Hole. As the guitarist said after the show, "7 songs in 30 minutes," they made their time shine.
Sex Slaves had a hard act to follow after Team Cybergeist. They were probably too punky with Metallica influence that was a huge turn off. I could literally hear the riff from Metallica's Enter Sandman in one of their songs. I'm not sure if they did it on purpose or not but the fact that it was there was....meh. The headliners, Genitorturers tore the roof down, swept up the remains, and set the f#$ker on fire! The stage antics and theatrics was painful to look at...it was awesome. Pierced suspensions, fetish influences, and a huge cast of characters only added to the entertainment. Live, songs like Devil in a Bottle and Cum Junkie are by far better than they sound on the CD. Gen's voice can not only sing when she wants to but growl much better live than from what I've heard on recordings.
I planned to get a good chunk of video but the concert was so brutal the audio quality was pretty bad. Tis okay my friends, I did capture many awesome pictures that can be found on our myspace and some here. To find out more about the bands, check out the links below. - Keep rockin' -- Count Jason ^_^
Genitorturers - itunes / hear on myspace / Last.fm
Team Cybergeist - itunes / hear on myspace / Last.fm
Sex Slave - itunes / hear on myspace / Last.fm
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11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND
11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE 11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO 11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK 11/30/09 Relentless Garage London 12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK 12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK 12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh 12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK 12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK 12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow 12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK 12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK 12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland 12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland 12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK 12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK * with Bang Bang Eche Read More |
Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.
Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.
The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.
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Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09) |
After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.
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Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"
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The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.
Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon
11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu ()
♥
harmarsuperstar.com
♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar
♥ twitter.com
I have other stuff I should be doing right now. But I made the mistake of turning on my computer when I got home. Then I re-read Dabysan's excellent post about getting married this weekend. Then I started thinking about my toast, which I thought I had completed last night. Then I started going back through some - okay, most - of our posts about Karaoke to the Death. Then I started listening to the audio from past years. Then I started thinking about how great all my friends are, and how much I'm looking forward to this fantastic celebration on Saturday - despite the fact that I have to give a toast, which I definitely don't want to do.
I have other stuff I should be doing right now, but you're going to have a hard time convincing me I wasted my evening.
Count Jason
The term Renaissance man suggests a person, either a man or a woman, of many accomplishments. A Renaissance man is neither an expert nor a specialist. He or she knows more than just a little about "everything" instead of knowing "everything" about a small part of the entire spectrum of modern knowledge. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the talented and modern day Renaissance (wo)man, Metal Gypsy, Sereena!
I had the pleasure of first meeting her at Pre-Scream earlier this year. Well, meet is a bit of a stretch, I was preoccupied at the time bring you the coverage and we never really did talk. The most I did was record her belly dancing to Voltaire (which drew me like a moth to light). Much like many talented people I've meet along the journey with Traveling Freaks, she was kind enough to friend us on myspace and I found out she had much more going on than just belly dancing. A dancer, actor, entrepreneur, photographer, and probably more going on than I'm even fully aware of. To a weird extent - very much like myself - only the female version.
Pfft - so what right? Like the world needs another me...but wait, turns out she actual, in the vain of some of what we try to accomplish through Traveling Freaks - which is bring you underground events and happenings around greater Tampa; we also bring you online shops and places to indulge in the underground lifestyle even outside of Tampa. Well with the greatest holiday over, we must (regardless of wither we want to or not) look toward Christmas. So what better way gift to give your fellow freak than the products from Dead Doll Society!
Not only does this website cater to the freaks and geeks everywhere, but it also follows the talents of Sereena. Need a haunting picture as a gift for your loved one? She's got you covered with her Dead Doll Photography. Local in the Greater Tampa area and need a dancer to woo you with death defining feats with sword play (you're a fool if you don't click link)? She's got you covered there too. Need a gift for your twisted special someone? Ladies and gentlemen...This is your one stop shop - truly a modern Renaissance woman and store!
Perhaps you're skeptical...all right, understandable. Need proof of some of her talents? Very well, then we got you covered there to. Recently MetalGypsyProductions in association with Traveling Freaks Productions teamed up for a collaboration of epic proportions. I present to you some of Sereena's efforts with Kuro Yuki and myself, Count Jason!
for all the information (link in link section also). Thanks again to Sereena for her kindness to the Traveling Freaks and congratulations in being part of the Honorary Traveling Freaks family!
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What's next? Stay tuned as I, Count Jason go to The Ritz in Ybor City November 6th for the Genetortures and Team Cybergeist concert as VIP! You don't want to miss it. Tickets for this show are available through ticketmaster, or through direct website at www.genitorturers.com. Tickets are $15 and only through their website can you gain access to VIP admission for a low low price of $25!! VIP admission gets you a special advanced copy of their new CD: Blackheart Revolution. Also rocking the stage the guys of Team Cybergeist which caught me immediately with their cover of "Somebody Watching Me." See you there!!
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band S/T (Dead Oceans / Differ-Ant) Mars 2009
Il est difficile de se faire une place dans la scène indé américaine surtout lorsque l’on vit à Seattle, ville qui a vu naître Jimi Hendrix et le mouvement grunge. Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band nait sur les cendres du premier groupe de Benjamin Verdoes. Lors d’une jam session, avec Marshall Verdoes, son frère cadet de 14 ans, ils décident de monter un groupe ensemble. Traci Eggleston-Verdoes, la femme de Benjamin, est responsable “noisemaker”, Jared Price (basse) et Matthew Dammer (multi-instruments) terminent le line-up. Il n’a fallu que quelques mois et de bonnes vidéos postées sur leur page myspace pour qu’ils attirent l’attention du label Dead Oceans. Rien de bien nouveau dans leur musique. Mais il y a quelque chose difficile à décrire qui les rends attachant. Leur musique fait penser à un mélange entre Modest Mouse et les Pixies. Une recette faite de contrastes, alternant rythmes tendus et moments plus calmes à travers des arrangements judicieux qui étonnent l’auditeur. Les deux frères y sont pour beaucoup. Seuls les gimmick de guitare à la sauce glam égrainés par-ci par-là dérangent un peu. Co-produit par Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective), l’album recèle quelques bons morceaux comme Who’s Asking, Masquerade, Albatross, Albatross, Albatross…
11/07/09 Grog Shop Cleveland, OH
11/09/09 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto
11/10/09 IL Motore Montreal
11/11/09 TT Bears Cambridge, MA
11/12/09 Music Hall Brooklyn, NY
11/13/09 Kung Fu Necktie Phila, Pa
11/14/09 Rock Hotel Washington DC
11/16/09 Basement Nashville, Tn
11/17/09 Bottletree Birmingham, AL
11/18/09 Earl Atlanta, Ga
11/19/09 Social Orlando, FL
11/20/09 Cafe 11 St. Augustine, FL
11/22/09 One Eyed Jacks N Orleans, LA
Brazos (official / myspace)
warmed up the crowd around nine. What I liked about them is that they
have a lot of lyrics in their song. The highlight of their set is the
Adrienne Rich poem turned into song. I didn't recall the title, but I'm
sure it had "Africa" in the lyrics.
Brazos ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)
Personally, I thought the best song on their setlist is "Feeding Frenzy", featuring these lyrics "We're interlocking, we're interlocking. It's a bitter conflict, this staring contest."
In contrast to the lyrics-thing, White Denim
are more like crazy pyschedelic, garagey, experimental rock 'n roll -
with minimal lyrics. Whatever singer James Petralli spouted out, it
didn't matter because you were so in awe of his amazing guitar-playing
ability. You can just tell the guy is a rock god, the way his fingers
frantically moved up and down the neck of the guitar.
White Denim ♥ 400 Bar, Minneapolis (11/04/09)
I reckon these Austin lads don't care so much to slow down or
stop, so all their songs are medleys - one song flow into the next, and
pretty soon about six songs have passed before they have to take a
breather.
If you like your music loud, loud, and loud, White Denim is the band for you. Be sure to bring earplugs.
White Denim's latest album is called Fits and is available now at their record label, Downtown Music, or amazon.
11/05/2009 22:52:12 ♥ vu () ♥ whitedenimmusic.com ♥ myspace.com/bopenglis
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Suck it, Phillies.
PS. Jerry Hairston, Jr. got into the game last night. Is that why the Yanks won? I'm saying yes. Thanks, M-----l. Jerry is good luck.
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