Sunday, February 27, 2011

Fergus and Geronimo - Live at Beauty Bar. Full set + Smith Westerns photos...

Fergus and Geronimo stopped by Beauty Bar on Chicago Avenue to play a strong, short and sweet set before heading to the Empty Bottle to open for the Smith Westerns. It was a fast, poppy, hook-laden 30 minutes. They commented on the good vibes of the small crowd that was lucky enough to catch it in such a beautiful space. Beauty Bar continues it's trend of having one band per night. Normally ending before midnight each time, it allows you to at least try to have a short night out, that is, if you want to. Super nice guys! Austin tried to get me on their Empty Bottle list, but it was full. Got in anyway...

But this was Saturday night, and they had to head over and play first in a three band bill including Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Smith Westerns, I was oddly unfamiliar with. It takes a bit to get me excited if i'm not familiar with your material, but they won me over. A tight, seemingly short set with no encore. The band seemed happy to be in Chicago, at the Empty Bottle, where they played "6 or 7 times" in the beginning. People around me loved it.

Fergus and Geronimo - Full set - Beauty Bar Chicago : 02/26/11 :




Photos :

Fergus and Geronimo :
















Smith Westerns @ Empty Bottle :




Friday, February 25, 2011

Mortville, Beauty Bar, Permanent Records host free shows this weekend...other line-up daunting and ridiculous...

...anyone get video of that Dirty Beaches Reckless in-store?

This weekend hosts some of the finest venues, bands, spaces, and concepts.

Not only is Mortville (and Treasure Town) having an art show in late March, they're insistent on bringing you an amazing time, and in beautiful, terrifying form on top.

Tonight they host Cave, Ga'an, Private Estate, and Bad Drugs open the whole goddamn thing!

Fergus and Geronimo for free at Beauty Bar Saturday at 7pm!

Permanent Records host The Beets Sunday afternoon!

Take your pic of two Empty Bottle shows...Smith Westerns or Rabble Rabble, Velcro Lewis...

The Arrivals play Lucky Gator...

Shit, you could even go see Dropkick Murphy's TWICE if you want too...

Amazing.

acid marshmallow is playing tonight as Sunglasses at GlOwSt1cks, and continues to give you great footage of stuff you've probably never heard, or seen.

he also updates his show listings of DIY amazingness often, which I copy and paste for your pleasure. :

TONIGHT :

EMPTY BOTTLE: Rabble Rabble, Velcro Lewis, Black Bear Combo, Ultimate Bicycle Quiz, DJ Scrabblor
ENEMY: Reptile Worship, Hate Basement/PTM, Foisy/Jendon, Winters in Osaka II
GLOWSTICKS: Sunglasses, Sky Limousine, Nexus 2.25.11, Pretend Boys
HIDEOUT: Anatomy of Habit, Running, Bottomless Pit
LUCKY GATOR LOFT: The Arrivals, Canadian Rifle, Vacation Bible School, Lipreader
MORTVILLE: Cave, Ga'an, Private Estate, Bad Drugs
Geoff Farina (ex-Karate)Elastic Arts at Elastic Arts...

TOMMOROW :

(free) BEAUTY BAR: Fergus & Geronimo, DJ Ryan Weinstein
CROWN LIQUORS: Heavy Times, Prisoners, Bad Party, Red Dark
EMPTY BOTTLE: Smith Westerns, Fergus & Geronimo, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

SUNDAY:

FEBRUARY 27th:
EMPTY BOTTLE: Truman Peyote, Birthdays, I Love You, Nude Sunrise
HIDEOUT: The Beets, Campfires, Distractions
PERMANENT RECORDS: The Beets

So...get to it!

Update :

Cave :












Bad Drugs :

























Thursday, February 24, 2011

BRUISE CRUISE SETS SAIL....CHARLIE SHEEN GOES OFF!!! (Remix)

Someone decided...screw it...let's take a ship...and pack it with The Black Lips, Surfer Blood, Vivian Girls, Strange Boys, Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Turbo Fruits, Jacuzzi Boys and DJ Mr. Jonathan Toubin...

...WITH other, normal, non music / fun starved guests.

How many small children are going to have their minds blown?

Let's sail over a few days from Miami, to the BAHAMAS.....

BRUISE CRUISE SHIPS OUT TODAY!!!

Jealous.

For those of us not going...well, join me in thinking about what this would be like on a boat...in an imaginary Bruise Cruise video tour...filmed by me over the years...

...here's a bit of a Vivian Girls beginning their acoustic in-store at Permanent Records with "Lake House" and a Wipers cover! This was in August 2009. :



Thee Oh Sees at Lincoln Hall



Black Lips going crazy at Logan Square Auditorium where they play april 22nd!



Turbo Fruits at the good ol' Bloodline House (w/ Magic Milk!)



...and Surfer Blood playing Harmonix (and the beginning of a new song?) at a Lollapalooza 2010 aftershow at Lincoln Hall



Enjoy!

Bruise Cruisers launch tommorow at noon....DON'T DIE!!!


oh, and...here's a remix by Duke Whitey of CHARLIE SHEEN GOING OFF :

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

PIZZA PIZZA Wednesday's @ Beauty Bar Chicago w/ THE RUNNIES!!!

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but aside from dj duty, at least every other Wednesday of each month Beauty Bar in Chicago has bands play. For free. You know Beauty Bar, it's ran by your favorite dudes at Empty Bottle, and over the last year or so, has hosted such acts as Tyler Jon Tyler, Magic Milk, White Mystery, and THE motherfucking JAMES CHANCE!

Usually just one act per night, sometimes two, sometimes they have hosted drinks and beer! It started sort of every other Wednesday, but now...EVERY WEDNESDAY, they have FREE pizza from your favorite neighborhood spots, either Paul and Monica's, or Pie-Eyed Pizzeria!

Oh, and, entry is FREE!

I don't know what more you could ask for, really. There are some photos a ways below of how good of a time Tyler Jon Tyler, Magic Milk, and James Chance were.

So do yourself a favor. Stay hungry for a little while. Saunter on over to Chicago Avenue, pay nothing, get free music and pizza.

It'd be silly not to...

EDIT : ...and if you didn't...you were indeed...silly. To the few music-craving (or pizza craving) souls who showed up, the pizza, and the seating, was plentiful. Matt Holland and co. were behind the bar. Pretty sure I saw Maria Jenkins. The Runnies played solid, fast, catchy, screamy nuggets of pizza drenched gold! Should be a shoe-in for a Grammy next year. You can see the setlist, in my mouth, below. PIZZA PIZZA! :


















Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Dismemberment Plan hit Chicago : 5 minutes of Night 1 + 2, photos...



Night 1 setlist.


I never thought it'd happen again, after those Washington shows. The Dismemberment Plan came back... dedicated their set to Wisconsin, and layed waste to the Metro for the first of two shows. This camera had 7 beers spilled all over it at a Magic Milk and Close Hits show a few weeks back. It's been smashed on the ground face first probably 10 times. It's on it's last leg.

Metro's lights did not help this bashed lens. Every song eventually turned into a white out....or a red out... Still sounds nice though. It didn't matter. Once the lights flooded the cloudy, dead lens....In almost every song, I eventually just gave up to the spectacular shit going on in front of me and jumped around.

They played the usuals. Ice of Boston, with everyone in both shows rushing the stage, giggling, screaming, taking pictures. People got a little too rowdy on night two, telling Travis they "love him" and asking him questions, when they only had 6 minutes left to play (10 o' clock curfew). The second show ended with "Ok, Jokes Over"...except, this was not a joke. Far from it. It was a great return. "get's rich", "girl o' clock", "gyroscope" being some of the heaviest, spastic, crowd-control losing moments. There were powerful moments throughout. "You Are Invited" still chills me to this day, hearing everyone in the entire fucking place singing that goddamn song for the first time in ten years...it's magical. "Timebomb" is still as powerful as ever.

My neck hurts. I can't turn my head. I don't think they're supposed to turn that way. Too much herk-jerkery. Do yourself a favor and catch this if it's coming to your town.

Thanks, Dismemberment Plan. I think we all needed that.

Travis told me a story afterwards about the first tour. He had Bronchitis, tore the lining in his lungs, drank robitussen, jumped on a ladder in a warehouse, and bruised both of his heel-bones. He played every show of the tour, in which they had 3 1/2 weeks to go.

UPDATE : So here's a mash-up of each night. 5 minutes a piece. a blistering show, light white out, battered camera especial, and a "Girl O' Clock" in which I dance around for half the song.

I still can't really move my neck...ha!








JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound :












Update : a few photos from night 2. Similar set-lists....ended more rockin, but the first half took a while to kick in. Still...the best....zzzz








Friday, February 18, 2011

New Radiohead album available NOW...

God damn. Ready? I am. Good start to the weekend...who wants to start a "kickstarter" to have them play Mortville when they come around?

Via Pitchfork :

GO GET IT

"Radiohead have pushed forward the digital release of their eight album, The King of Limbs. Those who pre-ordered the record should look for their download codes. New orders are, of course, still being taken as well.

The King of Limbs will be released by TBD Records in North America, XL in the UK, and Hostess Entertainment in Asia. The album will be out March 29 in North America and March 28 everywhere else. It'll be available on CD, 12" vinyl, and digital download."

"Radiohead's new record, The King of Limbs, is presented here as the world's first* Newspaper Album, comprising:

Two clear 10" vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
A compact disc.
Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
The Newspaper Album comes with a digital download that is compatible with all good digital media players.
The Newspaper Album will be shipped on Monday 9th May 2011 you can, however, enjoy the download on Saturday 19th February 2011.
Shipping is included in the prices shown.
One lucky owner of the digital version of The King of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12" vinyl.
*"perhaps"
In the U.S., the mp3 version of the newspaper album is $48 and the WAV version is $53. In the UK, the two sets are £30 and £33; in Europe, €36 and €39; and in the rest of the world.

A digital-only presale version is also available:

"Radiohead's new record, The King of Limbs, is presented here with a choice of two digital formats:

MP3 version is a 320K constant bit rate file.
WAV version is a full CD quality uncompressed digital audio file.
One lucky owner of the digital version of The King of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2 track 12" vinyl.
The King of Limbs can be pre-ordered now and downloaded on Saturday 19th February 2011."

In the U.S., this version is $9 for mp3s and $14 for a WAV version. In the UK, £6 and £9; in Europe, €7 and €11

Video :

Thursday, February 17, 2011

FREE TONIGHT : Betta @ the Bottle, Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison @ Hard Rock Hotel...

UPDATE : whoa. aside from overly drunk dude.....magical. mostly "midnight" songs. i think i heard the girl who was yelling shit (in a funny way) during poke at the empty bottle in 2008.

best.

videos will go up this weekend.

The good people at BETTA Promotions are working hard to give you a good time, for FREE!

Today at 9:30pm
EMPTY BOTTLE

Sponsored by CHIRP RADIO!
CHIRPCHIRPCHIRP!

*Secret Colours
GOGOGO

*Young Circles
THESECIRCLESAREYOUNG

*Panda Riot
RIOTINGFUCKINGPANDAS

*Calm Palm Vapor
CALMPALMVAPORIZER

Free if you RSVP'd like a good boy. You know, when you have weeks to just E-MAIL rsvp@emptybottle.com?! Yeah, you blew it. $8 at the door!

I'm pretty sure if you batted your eyelashes at the door-man he'd let you in for free. Unless you're a dude. Twenty bucks if you do that.

ALSO :

Frightened Rabbit's Scott Hutchison is playing a free solo set Angel's and King's, which is now in the fucking HARD ROCK HOTEL downtown. Ten PM. I predict mass girl swooning.

IT'S FIFTY DEGREES AND BLACK HEART PROCESSION SHOULD BE PLAYING ON A LOOP OUTSIDE. GO FORTH, CHICAGO.

UPDATE :

..you know....these drunken moments....interruptions...off-time singing....it just adds to the magic.

Ok, maybe one dude was a bit much...but hey...it happens to the best of us.

Magnets, how do they work?

MAGIC. THAT'S HOW.

I had a real long, nice thing edited together, but my shitty computer keeps crashing when I try and convert it.

So for now....Enjoy.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Handsome Furs - Live at Lincoln Hall (short version)

Happy Valentine's Day.

I figured it would either be a complete success, or a total disaster. I wanted to make something special. Get out of my comfort zone. People thought I was crazy. "Have you ever set up a 3 camera shoot?". The immediate thought was "Who cares? I can learn. Gonzo Chicago, right?" I put out the call. Lincoln Hall was overly gracious, willing to let me film it, and help with sound. Robin Taylor passed my e-mails to Alexei Perry, who immediately agreed, saying "it'll be fun", and agreed to an interview.

I, not having delved into the interview world as of yet, figured if I was throwing myself to the wind this much, what could it hurt? It ended up better than I expected. You can read that HERE.

So, somehow, I managed to set all of this up. Now I just had to figure out how to get the cameras. I was even thinking about the fact that I had no computer to edit this stuff on, limited knowledge on the gear I was using, or the logistics of setting this all up. Storage, lighting, memory cards...

So I researched, studied, played around. Spent hours reading.

I put out the call to the community of Chicago, and the city came through in spades. Michelle "Lee" Wallace brought two Canon 7D's with ridiculous lenses. I purchased a sound recorder I ended up not using. Victor Spatafora came onboard, and brought his HVX200.

I started writing interview questions.

Handsome Furs have a new record that will be out by summer. They just spent a big chunk of the last year touring China, Southeast Asia.

Little did I know, hot on the heels of a Mister Heavenly set the night before, they would play around 75% new material. "Oh, I can speak English, hello." Dan Boeckner reiterated. They played two songs they had written two days before the show. Starting the night off with "Damage", a blistering, skittering punch to the teeth that seemed the product of if Big Black had a kid who jumped ship from Bowie to Brainiac. Another, "Below", was a multi-layered bucket of fire that shifted tone and tempo like a frenetic crazy motherfucker, yet keeping a weird dance-club sort of feel. amazing. "Radio Kalinigrad", "Legal Tender", and "I'm Confused" were peppered throughout more strong new songs. The crowd seemed eager. Happy to the "Guinea Pigs" for a very large chunk of material nobody on earth had ever heard before.

...and then there was "Agony". Handsome Furs, they played this live staple since seemingly forever now, the chuggy, 5-minute epic boomed through the beautiful Lincoln Hall, re-affirming to fans, and naysayers, that they are indeed, to quote Spinner, "a force to be reckoned with." , even if Dan doesn't have a guitar strapped around his neck.

Originally, I was out to capture three songs off the soundboard. I ended up filming and recording the entire night. An hour of uncontrolled factors. Lighting, over-heating cameras, two different qualities for the back angle. Unfamiliar settings, equipment, and practices.

Not having nearly the tools to edit such high quality footage, I bought a Macbook Pro from Best Buy, to edit it together, and return it. They have no re-stocking fee. I layed my hands on Final Cut for the first time, and edited it by myself, referring to terrible Youtube tutorials every 5 minutes.

I can promise you that this new record is going to be amazing. Do not worry when you read in interviews that Dan Boeckner takes his guitar off his neck and jumps on keys. Those are some of the strongest, brutal, heart-wrenching songs of them all. They're recording right now, and if all goes as planned, will be out by summer. I can picture the summer dance parties now...

Expect a full-show version due...whenever Handsome Furs are ready to drop this napalm bomb of a new record.

So, thank you Chicago. Lincoln Hall. Michelle Wallace. Victor Spatafora. Robin Taylor. Alexei. Dan. Without your help, it wouldn't have happened.


Friday, February 11, 2011

An open letter to James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem...

Agreed. Holy shit....

All of those Terminal 5 shows are going to sell out.

As a sage once said, one time, in a movie about Hackers, "You are going to need more than just two media icons like us, You need an army. That's it! An electronic army! If I were us, I'd get on the internet, send out a major distress signal." (You already did)

How are you going to take care of the fuck-head scalpers?

Internet nerds of the World, Unite! They use their powers for evil. Let's use ours for good. Terminal Five is what, 3000 capacity? Let's set up a network of 150 people, checking 20 people a piece. Each show. Shit, i'll take 60. You could have 150 good, qualified volunteers in a day or two... First 3,000 to get a ticket for each show, we legitimize each ticket sale. Us 150. We'll do background checks. Everyone that wants a ticket has to write a few creative paragraphs. 100 word minimum. Do they like Brainaic? We'll do Facebook checks. Add them on Twitter....we have a little while to hammer this out...

Scalpers have no soul. We'll see right through them.

I missed MSG tickets. I didn't even try. Shit, I've still never got to see LCD Soundsystem live. I share pain with you on this. I've missed many of your shows, Radiohead...you name it.

Don't worry so much.

We all love you. You had me at "New York, I love you.", even though i've NEVER been there. The people that love your music, your true audience, music lovers in general, we all know you're genuine. You just reiterated that quickly in front of my eyes with your open letter to the world.

Let's do it. Let's fuck them back. We're nerds. We can do anything.

Love,

John Yingling
Gonzo Chicago
Chicago, IL
920-858-1979
hotmetaldobermans@gmail.com