Random: Camel Toads

Review: Oh My God, Theres a Riot in Belgium

Riot in Belgium
Crush @ BackBooth
3/24/2008 - Orlando, FL

Miami’s annual Winter Music Conference brings the biggest and the best of electronic music to the south. But for those that don’t want to or can’t make to the drive/flight/train trip to the sweaty south, good news! Orlando got lucky this year and is blessed to serve as a pit stop for a few of the finest making their way down. The result: This week, Orlando is a party destination like it’s never been. No mouse, no theme park, no movie studio could make for a bigger load of fun.

A regular Monday night, for most regular people, usually involves television and rest to prepare oneself for the week, distress from returning to work. These are the kind people who wake up extra early to clean their house and coordinate their shoes and belts. These are the people who have big IRA’s, who don’t drink, who don’t raise their voices above a three, who don’t own dancing shoes. To spice things up, a glass of wine with dinner maybe. But Every Monday night, for the past two year, Backbooth opens its door for anyone who wants to break the mold of regularity and party like rock stars at the beginning of the week.

Monday night this very special week was no exception, and for a select hard headed, dedicated individuals, the perfect start to 6 days of total non stop action. Day one of spring training, the official name for the aggregation of a week’s worth of amazing parties, was a kick in the balls delivered by Beni Single, one half of Australian dance music sensation Riot in Belgium.

In 2006, the duo sprung onto the scene with the release of their album "The Acid Never Lies" on Relish Recordings (formerly known as Relish Records). If you’ve gone to an indie dance night anytime in the past year, you know Riot in Belgium. You’ve heard their song "The Acid Never Lies", or their powerhouse hit "La Musique". You've no doubt also been privy to their remix work for the likes of Yelle, Surkin, Sneaky Soundsytem, K.I.M. Headman, and Chromeo.

Riot in Belgium is Joel Dickson & Beni Single, but Beni performed alone on Monday night. Individually, Joel also puts out fantastic music with Tim from Cut Copy as Comets, and Bennie is one fifth of the banging (pun intended) Sydney based DJ collective the Bang Gang Deejays.

Beni’s set was amazing, he comes on all of a sudden, full throttle with a noticeable and very audible warning. “Oh my God, there’s a riot in Belgium” and the entire crowd wants to be a part of it. Beni makes his performance look easy. He is dancing, throwing his hands in the air, wooing the audience and passing out stickers while tweaking the knobs and buttons that make his characteristic funky electro noise. He even has time to put a bandana over his face to look extra cool for his photo ops. It is total non-stop action from this man, and the slew of drunk 20 something’s and underagers that want to fit in shaking and mixing to his music, your humble reviewer included, don’t care to focus on what individual songs he mixes, because the overall effect is too too strong. The entire set is electric and we all move with every single drop and pound of his bass heavy sound. People seem drawn to him, there are almost more people on the stage than there are on the dance floor, they all just want to get as close as possible to the source.

All in all, The Aussie delivered from start to finish and sent us home reeling, pumped and ready for the sleep deprived week ahead.

Random: “Hallelujah”

Written by Tanker Dane
Inspired by Jeff Buckley “Hallelujah” (Lyrics by Leonard Cohen)

It is no longer, this instrument they played. Though not in its final resting place, for it will be found again, just not by the well-intentioned or inspired, nor by the suitable, even the capable. But it matters not. Anyone is invited to find it this time, provided they can: corroded and covered in algae, the neck warped, frets rusted and the double truss rod buried in sediment. The ivory bindings around the soundboard split from the time spent submerged, the acoustic body once hollow, now flooded and the adopted dwelling of a flathead catfish.
A guitar having wept, bled, screamed and soared lies on its side. All at once splashed down, adrift, sunken, and silent since the incident. Infamous and extraordinary, never anything less than sublime. To be strummed once more near impossible die to its wretched condition, yet this guitar, having been responsible for one musical miracle after another, just may and must be the subject of its own divine rescue. The age unknown. Its initial purpose unclear, but assuredly simple as compared to its eventual calling and final catastrophe.
This unassuming lute first handed down, then inherited, bartered, bought and sold, gifted, won and lost, then finally found. The most innocent way its most glorious. Nicked and scratched, smashed and cracked, the instrument wrecked and repaired as often as it changed hands. And changed shape. The lute was the shape of a pear, then a circle, then a square, before it got into the hands of the man who split it in half and played it in two. Went unrecognized doe an extended time as a table, then a toy. Picked out of the trash and given away by a man to a boy, who gave it a name. Then stolen twice: first by a thief, then by the boy who stole it back from the thief, who renamed it the same.
The name never stuck, as no name would after several hundred years. A gitarer, a quintern, a guitarra…with each owner it became anew, in name, in shape, in sound, in song, but never in string.
The strings never changed, never shaped nor allowed the instrument out of tune. The string gut wrapped tight on the original lute remained, even now, underwater. Each string shimmering in the stabs of sunlight cutting through the kelp layered above, tempting and taunting the schools of sunnies and the stubborn rainbow trout who pass every half moon. The strings are neither prey, nor predictably attached to a rod and reel, but bare prints. Fingerprints. Multiple fingerprints, tens of thousands on each of the five strings, perhaps more. The G almost double the D, the E less than a quarter more than the A, all of them unable to compete with the C. Whether solo or strummed in a chord, all of the intact, unable to be wiped or swept away with the changing times or tides. Equally apparent, but hardly in importance. In fact, only a minute fraction stand above the rest. The most recent fingerprints, played just minutes before the instrument was befallen, would remain the most recent. Played by the hand stripped of flesh and flopped on its side in bone beside the instrument, responsible for fingerprints. Prints producing the finest notes. The most natural notes, notable notes, notorious notes. The notes responsible for the refrain.
“The final refrain!” and the accompaniment. “The accompaniment at last!” and the tempo. “The exact tempo!” and the melody. “The perfect melody!” this guitar, crafted by the hand of a carpenter, crafter for the composition, the perfect composition, the only composition. The possibility the right notes would be played, the proper chords struck? A near impossibility, no doubt. But not for one, the destined one, the defiant one.
Never a note or notes ever played to compare to these. For all of its time, all of its music, all of its solos, improvs, freestyles, riffs…this guitar never sounded so grand yet ghostly, so harrowing and haunting, so hallelujah. The hand of the man to play the part, to fulfill its intent of truth, is to be saved as soon as it ceases, sacrificed as soon as his gift is given, with one final breath – his song to the world…to save the world.

Review: JUSTICE / Dj Medhi - MySpace Music Tour - Club Firestone - Orlando, FL - 03.06.08

JUSTICE / DJ Mehdi - MySpace Music Tour 08
Club Firestone & Saturday/Thursday - 03.06.08
by Melanie Gapany & Kevin Collier

If it weren’t for high tech cell phones and digital cameras, a typical Thursday night at Club Firestone would have most people running to check their calendars to make sure that they haven’t somehow traveled into the eighties. Surrounded by latex, sequins, and hairspray, it’s easy to get confused. Filled to capacity (around 1500-1600 people), however, this Thursday was different. The day-glo was still present and the pants were just as tight, but it was the only Florida stop on the Myspace Music Tour, and the club felt distinctively different.

On a regular basis, there are plenty of musical acts to get the crowd going (Residents Pauly Crush, Miss Fit, Justin Scott, Ge30n, and Y-Not along with international acts and DJs such as Flosstradamus, Kid Sister, Girl Talk, Tommie Sunshine, Felix Cartal, and Boys Noize just to name a few), but with a lineup that includes international sensation DJ Mehdi and electro-superstars Justice, there seemed to be a particularly intense amount of energy inside Firestone.

Two of Saturday/Thursdays residents, Justin Scott and Miss Fit (formerly Bodywerx) started the night, soon followed by Mehdi, who took the floor by surprise, quickly fueling the floor with energy, spinning tracks that are both recognizable to the usual S/T crowd and some previously unheard. With the dance
floor completely covered, there were still a few brave souls who did their best to dance where they could. While everyone appeared to be enjoying Mehdi's selection and mixing for the evening, it was obvious; the crowd was there for Justice and were aching to turn their feet and ears to the main stage behind them...waiting for that big black curtain that hid Justice's impressive stage display to open up.

The curtain opens; a giant cross adorns the middle of a huge sound board with stacks of giant amplifiers on both sides. The main act rightly deserved that attention. Looking at the stage, anyone could easily assume they were about to witness a great rock band blow their minds. The DJs, Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, collectively known as Justice, walk out and immediately whip the room into frenzy. There is barely standing room, but everyone is dancing. As they play the songs that have made them popular, including "Waters of Nazareth", "We Are Your Friends", and Grammy nominee for electronic song of the year "D.A.N.C.E.", you can barely hear yourself think, but the entire room is singing along. The room is electric, the people are ignited.

They finish their set and perform their encores, which included various remixes of their hits (everyone sang along to each and every one no matter how many times a remixed song was already played).

Justice (Xavier, at least) moved away from the giant stage to the turntables back on the other side of the room. Mehdi, once again enters the VIP-area-turned-DJ-booth, to tag team with Xavier until almost the end of the night with Pauly Crush hopping on to close the night out and send everyone home with memories of a pretty freaking amazing night!.

Thank you Firestone, Saturday/Thursday, Pauly Crush, Mike Feinberg, and all else involved for bringing in one of the biggest current electronic acts right now for their only FL tour stop and for putting on a perfect production and awesome show!

Click for Photos

Music: Sterophonic

Christophe Hoeffel began to work as a producer in the mid 1990s for different projects and started using the pseudonym "Kris Menace" in 2005. Menace is the owner of the house label "Work It Baby" where he nurtured artists such as Patrick Alavi, Lifelike, Fred Falke, Serge Santiago and others.

Partially to be blunt and impartial, partially because im lazy, i will admit to stealing that entire thing from Wikipedia not that its such an amazing piece of writing that I would want to claim it anyways.

This song is just great. Its got that airyness that you can find in Fred Falke, but seems to carry more weight. A Definate addition to the soundtrack.

Kris Menace Ft. Spooky - Stereophonic

Random: When Grandma Goes To Court

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know me?' She responded, 'Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.'

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, 'Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?'

She again replied, 'Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him.'

The defense attorney nearly died.
The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, 'If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair.'

Random: An Open Letter From Mario To Nintendo

Written by Greg Lockwood
March 13th, 2008

Dear Nintendo,

We’ve been in a business relationship for quite a while now, and to be honest, I never used to have any complaints about my job. I mean sure, my line of work has never really been considered “easy” by any means, but in the early days it just felt so much more… rewarding.

Do you get what I’m saying guys? I wasn’t too fond of chasing a huge ape up a series of ladders, but with that fine-ass Pauline waiting for me, I didn’t mind. Same thing with running around Mushroom Kingdom, I don’t mind taking out a few Koopas since I know Peach is going to be waiting for me. (”At another castle”…God that joke gets so old)

But recently, you have been forcing me to do shit that just isn’t in my job description. I remember the first time Shigeru called me up. “Yo Mario, wanna go to a party? How about 8 of them?” And of course I said yes. That’s because my idea of a party is knockin back a few cold ones with some buds, some drinking games with the ladies, and maybe Superbad. But no, you twisted fucks’ idea of a party is to have me and all the assholes I hate run around in circles for twenty minutes. That’s not a party, that’s a track and field meet. Which brings me to my next point.

Have you seen my waistline in the last few years? I would assume not, because you’ve got me playing more sports than Michael Jordan. What on God’s green Earth gives you the slightest thought that I would make a good soccer player? Have you seen how long a fucking soccer field is? It’s ridiculous. While we’re talking about ridiculous things, whose bright idea was it for me to compete in Olympic events against Sonic of all people? He was about to retire anyways, but no Nintendo, you just had to bring him back and have him compete against me in track events. What were you thinking? He runs so fast you can’t see his fucking feet.

Finally, as I’m sure you’re all well aware, for most of my life, the enemies I have faced have all been relatively tame, being dispatched with a simple jump or three at the most. Now you want to take me and make me battle to the death against a man with a gun? I can punch him, he can shoot fucking bullets at me! You’re all assholes, I hate you.

Die in a Fire,

Mario

Video: Will Arnett Human Giant Sex Tape

Writting: A Day At the Beach

It is saturday, in Florida. It is hot and the sky is clear. There is little to no chance of rain in the forecast. Three friends are driving west in a Hyundai, headed for the coast, Cocoa Beach.

Cindy: We should stop at Flirt, its really cute.
Liza: What is it?
Cindy: Oh, like trashy underwear
Liza: Oh! That does sound cute.

Sitting the sun, the girls continue

Cindy: I have Cosmo. "What spot does you guy secretly really want you to linger on?"
Melanie: Oooh!
Liza: Um, bob, Ill take balls for 300.
Cindy: Balls?
Melanie: Yeah Alex, Ill take 'that place you guy secretly really want you to linger on for 600"
Liza: What is the inside of the asshole?
Melanie: Oh, I'm sorry. The answer we were looking for was taint. We would also have accepted 'that spot between the penis and the asshole'
Cindy: Oh! here, I found the page. Its Nipples. Nipples?!?! NIPPLES!!
Liza: What a freaking let down
Melanie: I already knew that. come on, cosmo, gimme something new.
Cindy: Fuckin cosmo doesnt know shit.

Liza: Hey, listen, i think those guys are getting ready to come talk to us
Melanie: Who, the nerds behind us?
Liza: yeah, so dont be bitches okay? cuz they have beer and I want beer. So no bitchiness. okay? Melanie?
Silence
Liza: And dont be like 'oh, she's single' either.
Cindy: I'm hot
Melanie: Lets go in the water

Liza: Hey guys, jump the waves with me, its fun
Melanie: (wait, what the fuck is that shes doing with her leg)
Liza: Im like, kicking through the waves instead of jumping them
Melanie OH!! you meant like hurdle jumping
Liza: Well, what else would i think?

Cindy: Are those Dolphins
Liza: Do we even have dolphins in florida?
Cindy: you guys, hold up, im not a mermaid like you.
Liza: well youre the most mermaid looking out of all us.

Cindy: Holy shit its still so cold
Liza: Yeah, but its refreshing. Wait. Cindy. Are you crying?!?!?

Back on the beach

Cindy: I wrath of fury in my eyes. Im doomed. I can't see
Melanie: whats wrong with you?
Cindy: The wrath of Fury!!
Liza: splash some regular water on your face
Cindy: I cant see my face
Melanie: Gimme the water bottle. Stand up Cindy.
Cindy: I cant even see the floor. Its the wrat.....
Cindy couldnt finish her statement. I almost drowned her with a water bottle stream of water to the face.

In the Car

Cindy: Damnit, i have nerds all in the bottom of my purse
Melanie: What those guys behind us left you a gift?
Cindy: You guys wants some nerds?
Melanie: Liza, nerds? its got malic acid, can you do malic acid?
Liza: Yeah, ill be with you in a minute.

Random: Girls Night Out

The other night I was invited out for a night with the 'girls.' I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, 'I promise!'

Well, the hours passed and the margarita's went down way too easily. Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home.

Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution in order to escape a possible conflict with him.

(Even when totally smashed... 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos = MIDNIGHT!)

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him 'MIDNIGHT'... he didn't seem pissed off in the least. Whew, I got away with that one!

Then he said 'We need a new cuckoo clock.'

When I asked him why, he said, 'Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said 'oh shit.' Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.

Music: Mmmm...

neon coyote - mocias weekly mix

Video: Phil McCombs - Daily Photos

Phil spent four years taking pictures of himself. One picture per day, every day. Three hundred and sixty five times four. Thats how many pictures he took. You do the math, im an English major.



Daily Photos at 15 fps from Philihp on Vimeo.

Have I ever been lucky. I have some really talented people that come and go into my life. There is the ever amazing Tati, who paints likes its nobody business, Matt, a great writer and occasional artist, Mark, who just spews creativity and insanity from his pores, Ben who plays music like the gypsy that he is. Then there's Phil. Philip McCombs, rightly enough, was introduced to me through Mark.

Writing: When an english major and speech therapist collide

Mayochup: i LOVE her dress

LaceLeyes: ya im not a fan of sequence like u

LaceLeyes: its just so intense

Mayochup: you mean of sequins?

LaceLeyes: ohhhhhhh

Mayochup: because sequence is like the order that things go in

Mayochup: sequins are sparkly things

LaceLeyes: learning something new everyday its true!

Mayochup: lol

LaceLeyes: well it sonly differs by like one sound!

Mayochup: they are homonyms

LaceLeyes: i used to wear sequins all the times

LaceLeyes: no i dont think they are

LaceLeyes: because those are like see and sea right?

Mayochup: no, but youre ight

Mayochup: theyre not

Mayochup: homonyms share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings.

Mayochup: they dont have to sound the same

LaceLeyes: oh and then homophones are something else too

LaceLeyes: oh my god too much 2nd grade spelling class coming back at me!

Mayochup: no, homophones is right

Mayochup: different spelling

Mayochup: same pronunciation

Mayochup: (btw i cant believe were having this conversation right now)

Mayochup: i wanna marry you

LaceLeyes: hahahha

LaceLeyes: homophones only differ in meaning

Mayochup: yes

Mayochup: youre right

LaceLeyes: right

LaceLeyes: HAHA

LaceLeyes: im like putting it all together

Mayochup: homophones can also differ in spelling though

Mayochup: they are homonyms

LaceLeyes: right

Mayochup: no

Mayochup: im confusing myself

LaceLeyes: sew and so

Mayochup: they are homophones

Mayochup: homonyms are spelled the same and sound the same

Mayochup: homophones are spelled the same or different but sound the same

Mayochup: and have different meaning

LaceLeyes: right

Mayochup: Homographs are words that are written the same way but have different meanings and often different pronunciations

Mayochup: so they are homophones

Mayochup: jesus this is too intense for me

LaceLeyes: right because graphemes are letters

LaceLeyes: hahaha

Mayochup: lol

Mayochup: so um, marry me?

Mayochup: like now?

LaceLeyes: english major right?

Mayochup: ill tell kevin he doesnt have to come over

Mayochup: right

LaceLeyes: when an english major and speech therapist collide!

Mayochup: lol!!

LaceLeyes: THAT should be our slogan

Mayochup: we start haing conversations about glottal stops and graphemes

LaceLeyes: HAHAHHAH

Mayochup: jesus were bad

Mayochup: acutally its glottal stops and homophones

LaceLeyes: i can start writing you letters written in phonemes (sounds)

LaceLeyes: instead of alphabetically

Mayochup: i know what phonemes are, thatts an english term too

LaceLeyes: i love doing that actually

Mayochup: do it!! leave me (hope youre ready for this) phonemenal comments!

LaceLeyes: well i can try but i dont have a phonemic alphabet on my computer.

Mayochup: damn it

LaceLeyes: i kinda want david to go home, he’s boring even tho he can sing

Mayochup: cook?

LaceLeyes: oh no i mean not david....that guy in the bottom 3 right now.

Mayochup: oh yea

Mayochup: me too

Mayochup: i didnt like him from the first day

Mayochup: he reminds me of enrique iglesias

Mayochup: and coming from miami that means gay

LaceLeyes: hahah

Mayochup: they are synonyms

LaceLeyes: HAHAHHA

Random: sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night

A town in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night, The Sun reports.

From: The Sun

Video captures little person dressed as a 'creepy gnome' in Argentina.

The little person — who wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk — was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.

Teenager Jose Alvarez — who filmed the gnome — yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.

He said: “We were chatting about our last fishing trip. It was one in the morning. I began to film a bit with my mobile phone while the others were chatting and joking. Suddenly we heard something — a weird noise as if someone was throwing stones."

"We looked to one side and saw that the grass was moving. To begin with we thought it was a dog but when we saw this gnome-like figure begin to emerge we were really afraid."

Alvarez added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.

He said: “This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out — just like everyone else in the neighborhood now."

"One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital,” Alvarez said.

Click For Video

.......

Meanwhile, people tought locals from Miami were crazy when they thought they saw the chupacabra.
I cant help but be reminded of the Leprechaun movies.

Music: All the Boys

Calvin Harris is either 17 or 22. I have no idea, let me know if you do.

I get all the boys (mp3) cuz I'm so damn sexy and he made a remix about it. ha. Original song by Dragonette.

Music: Danger Mouse and Beck

According to HARP Magazine. Harp is reporting that Danger Mouse's management has confirmed that he will be producing the next Beck album.

neat.

Writing: What you shall do...

This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants...have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year or your life, re examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in words but in the silent lines of its lips and face between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

-Walt Whitman

A little Dose of Badass: Its been...

A bit of time since I've gotten the energy to get on this thing. And sticking mostly to the blog on my dearly loved Myspace, Ive neglected to update and renew information on my other babies. It seems that there really is an abundance of social networking sites out there, and each country, each city, each group of people has their own preference of which to use.

Frankly I'm a little bored and sick of it and pretty much just want a conglomerate site that checks everything and leave no-one unconnected, since that seems to be the intended purpose anyways.
Get to it fox.

My google reader has been very busy lately, and it makes life amazing. It seems that summer is the time for downtempo, and what i guess can be qualified as 'chill' music, or lounge, which I find relatively ironic considering Summer (which, being in florida, i consider everything from Feb to Nov to be summer) is also the time for the most pumped up parties and crazy events that surround being in the 'scene'. WMC, the Justice myspace music show, WMC events, all that march wonderfulness.

I will be doing a couple reviews, and im overall very excited about it.

Im also excited about midget wrestling.
more in a bit, i should probably start working or something...