Archive for January, 2010
Rammstein vs. Cookie Monster
Published on January 29th, 2010.
Thanks to the Mad Decent blog for posting this one a couple days ago:
-A
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ABBAWorld Vs. Dollywood.
Published on January 29th, 2010.
Big news this week in the announcement of the opening of the new Swedish pop group-themed experience in London called ABBAWorld. For sure there are women and men clapping their hands in rapid succession with their elbows tucked into their sides (go ahead, try it…you’ll know what I mean) over the breaking of this news; but as for me, all I could think about was the one other pop musician inspired community that I’ve actually been to: Dollywood.
In fact, I’m quite certain that these are the only two places like this in the world now, right? I mean Graceland as a destination for the Elvis fan kind of fits, but that was his house and the operators do a fine job of maintaining the original look and feel with several add-ons that can turn your exploit into a wallet-destroyer. And in the same town there’s Sun Studios and the Stax Museum, both which pay homage to many a great musician in the most genuine of ways. But ABBAWorld and Dollywood are in a class of their own: tributes that were built from nothing but the shell that contains them.
So, let’s take a look at the goods. I do want to preface this by saying that Dollywood has a massive head start having opened in 1986 and having been built within a failed but pre-existing theme park, but it’s the best total experience that is under analysis.
Dollywood has 10 theme areas, including The Dreamland Forest and Adventures in Imagination, which apparently specifically reference Dolly’s life and weird thought process (we’ve all seen the plastic surgery). ABBAWorld has 25, which are all dedicated to their heritage and rise to stardom.
While at Dollywood, you can definitely hear the din of Parton’s music throughout the park and at a reasonable, non-intrusive volume. ABBAWorld has the music as well, but it takes it a step further, where you can karaoke ABBA songs with friends in booths and even gives you the opportunity to sing with their holographic likenesses in a performance that until then had only lived in your sparkliest of dreams.
And after the gift shop, that’s pretty much where the Dolly Parton music experience ends. I got the Dolly Parton note caddy as my parting memory, but you could have had anything you wanted with the Dollywood logo and the songstress’ face on it. At ABBAWorld, we still have a place where you can go into a faux mixing station and attempt to recreate their signature sound and test the level of your ABBA knowledge at a quiz kiosk that will probably find it’s way into gay bars once the exhibition is over. Oh and yeah, they apparently take all these interactive experiences and embed them into your ticket, which you can later access online.
OK. But what about the fact that Dollywood is situated at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains (they totally deserve that great) in a place called Pigeon Forge which is basically what Las Vegas would look like if gambling didn’t exist. ABBAWorld is in the Earl’s Court section of London, which is kind of just…London.
And while Dollywood doesn’t have an endless saturation of “how did they do it” memorabilia like ABBAWorld, it does have the only bald eagle sanctuary I’ve ever been to. That’s right, a netted area that bald eagles hang out in. America, f— yeah?
Mix in the old ride operator who says “there’s a fire in the hole” in a drawl so thick that it sounds like “thar’s a fire in tha ho” and the dense concentration of morbidly obese people and I feel that you truly have penetrated the Appalachian-influenced mind of Dolly Parton.
ABBAWorld to me seems more like the ultimate fan experience, but would you have to be a fan at the time of arrival to appreciate? After Dollywood, my dedication level went up. More of her music was in my collection, with each listen an attempt to relive or tell some unsuspecting victim the story of that glorious afternoon.
I’m enough of an ABBA fan to want to take a chance (take a chance, chance) on their World and unlike the ‘wood, I think I can hang out for a bit and it’ll come to me. Do what you will, as for me, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to Dollywood again this year.
-A
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Can’t wait for this to happen.
Published on January 28th, 2010.
Yes! President Obama and VP Biden went to Florida together today and announced an $8 billion budget approval on high-speed rail for the country, with an estimated $2.25 billion for California.
You should definitely check out the high-speed rail website and check out all the cool video mock ups they have. I particularly like the part that talks about how a trip to SF from LA will cost $55.
Hopefully this is for real. Now that Conan is off the air, I really can’t handle another letdown this week.
-A
New Music: Phoenix “1901″ – Memory Tapes Remix
Published on January 28th, 2010.
Dusting off this contemporary classic, New Jersey-based Memory Tapes give new sheen to this song’s just about worn out welcome, thanks to the advertising geniuses at Cadillac. By the way, do you know any cool people that own one of those cars yet? Me neither. You can grab from his blog right now or hit the link below:
Phoenix 1901 – Memory Tapes Remix
It is such a departure from the original, that it reminds me of when Midnight Juggernauts did that remix if Cut Copy’s Hearts On Fire. Just owned it. And yes, for those who care, please enjoy:
Cut Copy Hearts On Fire – Midnight Juggernauts Remix
-A
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Go organic or piss on the stage.
Published on January 27th, 2010.
Remember that funny slash creepy scene from Super Size Me when the fat kids in Colorado were singing “McDonald’s, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut” while their little corn-fed rolls were jiggling about the black top? I’ve always wondered where that song came from; had the marketing departments of McDonald’s or Yum Brands (KFC and Pizza Hut’s mothership) planted the song in an episode of Barney or the Wiggles? Naw man, some crazy group from the UK called Fast Food Rockers made the song after meeting at, surprise surprise, a fast food convention. These exist? Don’t tell my girlfriend. Anyway, the video for the song seems pretty popular having over 700,000 views which could be from the song’s repetitive hook or that the singer shoots a rocket-fast stream of pee out from between her legs at about 2:10.
Makes you wonder just what this food is doing to us. I will continue to eat organic.
-A
WHO wants cookies?
Published on January 26th, 2010.
Not sure if these are available chain-wide as i wasn’t able to find it on their website, but the Anthropologie at the Americana in Glendale was carrying these amazing owl cookie jars. I’d probably bake more if I had these guys around:
Tall orange owl cookie jar, $128
Short green owl cookie jar, $98
-A
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Sweet charity: the best supergroups.
Published on January 25th, 2010.
It’s been quite inspiring to see so many musical talents making their way to the stage in support of earthquake relief for Haiti: big names like Beyonce and Justin Timberlake to indie heroes like Fucked Up and Surfer Blood. Last Tuesday, Jay-Z and Bono basically got on a three-way with s-dropping hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz where in a matter of minutes the U2 singer dropped a hook, Jay busted out some humanitarian rhymes and they were off to the studio to record the next We Are The World.
Well, it has been SO inspiring to me, that I felt it necessary to share with you some of my favorite moments in charity supergroup history.
Northern Lights – Tears Are Not Enough
Unless you lived in Canada in 1985 or were generous enough to buy the entire USA For Africa record when the world was trying to feed Ethiopia, your ears would never have been blessed with this little philanthropic diddy. They cry, “let’s show them Canada still cares,” from the unplayed b-side of that album, mixing in uplifting solo moments from Geddy Lee, Bryan Adams and that dude from Loverboy. Who else was at the party? Paul Shaffer, Joni Mitchell, Corey Hart and oh snap, John Candy was there?? Yeah:
Artists United Against Apartheid – Sun City
Two words: Little Steven. Yes, E Street Band-member and Sopranos star Steven Van Zandt was the ring leader for this anti-Apartheid sideshow in 1985, composed of artists ranging from huh? to holy crap! Their message: they “ain’t gonna play” Sun City, a reservation-style luxury casino slash resort in South Africa that attracted a high-end clientele and mega-star performers. Van Zandt and friends, including Hall & Oates, Bruce Springsteen, Run DMC and Joey Ramone, basically determined that a show at Sun City was a show in support of Apartheid and mass-boycotted it. That memo apparently didn’t reach the likes of Queen, Elton John and Dionne Warwick, who all performed there, but the movement did leave us with a very forgettable track and this amazing video:
Hear N’ Aid – Stars
Back to starving Ethiopians: when Ronnie James Dio got the message from his bandmates who were on site at a KLOS telethon that there was almost zero representation from the metal world in the fight against hunger in Ethiopia, it was loud and clear my friends and Hear N’ Aid was born. Longer than the other relief-rock jams we’ve covered, due in part to several minutes of trading guitar solos, this generous gem features performances by top artists like Rob Halford, Queensryche and even Spinal Tap. Legal issues kept the song from being released until 1986, causing it to miss the the gigantic “be cool, save Africa” party by one year. Well. metalheads aren’t known being current, that’s for sure:
-A
Flora & Fawna: Clutch too much.
Published on January 22nd, 2010.
Mega points if you caught that as a reference to an AC/DC song…
Anyway, my friend Julianna Lacoste, a.k.a. Robot Jules, makes a bunch of wonderfully smart accessories for ze ladies including our owl find #2 for the week, the Owly Clutch.
Her line, called Flora & Fawna, has a whole store up on Etsy right now that you can buy this ($65) and her other woodland-inspired creations at. Love it? Fan her on Facebook.
-A
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My mom rules: Her first concert was The Animals.
Published on January 22nd, 2010.
This may be the single most cool thing that anyone in my family has ever done. Even my first concert was Metallica on the …And Justice For All tour at Irvine Meadows, CA where openers Faith No More couldn’t hang onstage for more than 3 songs from all collective booing from Orange County’s heaviest of metal fans (OC would be shaving their sides and growing the top long and moshing to “Epic” about a year later, but that’s all hearsay. Congrats to FNM for making it to the top of the Coachella bill this year). No, that doesn’t come close to this.
My teenage mother was just about front and center for The Animals‘ attack on her hometown of Rochester, NY in 1963. That’s her below, probably covering her mouth in absolute awe of these bawdy Brits. And in a story that brings her in less than six degrees of separation from then bass player Chas Chandler, her mother (my grandmother, duh) and Chandler’s dad were both employed by GM at the time and remembered seeing a company newsletter mentioning that a UK exec’s son was doing “quite well” in a “rock and roll band.”
Go mom.
-A
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Rock Stars be tired (and sh–).
Published on January 21st, 2010.
Me & Gaga: You can't see her eyes, but she's sleeping right now. I hope.
By the time this post goes up, the news about Lady Gaga canceling a recent string of dates will be old news. She will most likely have taken a nap and hopped back on her luxury Prevost to finish out her exhausting U.S. tour and head over to the UK for more back-breaking work.
Even though the unemployment rate soared to 10% in December, most of us still have to go to work every day. And it’s probably safe to say that if Lady Gaga were working anyplace else in the U.S., she would have maxed out on sick days and now would be dipping into her vacation balance to stay home and recover.
After doing a little research however, I’m finding out that being a touring musician is in fact, incredibly exhausting. News doesn’t lie and here’s a list of canceled dates that I was able to pull off the web after Googling “cancel exhaustion”:
Jan 1, 2010 – the xx
Sep 1, 2005 – Queens of the Stone Age
June 9, 2004 – The Vines
August 17, 2005 – Transplants
April 2, 1977 – Elvis Presley
August 17, 2006 – Keane
Aug 18, 2005 – Eminem
Oct 25, 1975 – The Carpenters
Sep 18, 1996 – The Cranberries
Oct 16, 2009 – Sugababes
Nov 3, 1976 – Dolly Parton
Jun 26, 1991 – Black Crowes
Jun 5, 1995 – Travis Tritt
Jul 9, 2007 – Amy Winehouse
Sep 2, 2005 – The Rakes
…the list goes on and on.
So when the Byrds sung “if you wanna be a rock n roll star” they should have really added things like “drink coffee” and “get eight hours of sleep a night” to that list of to-dos.
-A
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