Faith without deeds is dead

-- Albertine, by Brooke Fraser

Firstly, apologies to Sam and Kami for making them wait so long for an update. ;)

So way back in the beginning of September, Sam and Mush and I went to see this little-known (in the US) singer by the name of Brooke Fraser. She’s from New Zealand, and she’s pretty popular in her home country. Over here, not so much. Yet.

I prefaced the concert with fair warning to both of my fellow concert-goers: Brooke Fraser is a religious songstress. She writes lyrics that, if you’re listening closely enough, can seem to be about such religious Hot Topics as abstinence, following in the path of the Righteous Light, etc. I bought the tickets because she could have been singing about garbage cans and I still would have listened. She has an AMAZING voice, and YouTube led me to believe that it would be just as awesome live. So as we fought the throngs of Jesus Is My Homeboy teens, I secretly hoped that Sam and Mush wouldn’t regret coming along for the wave-your-hands-in-the-air (No, not like you just don’t care. Like you’re at church on a particularly holy Sunday) ride.

After being trampled by people who thought my shoes looked like a comfy place to rest their asses before the opening act, the curtains went up to much applause … and You Are My Sunshine. Now, this song holds a special place in my heart, and it always will. But putting your whiny falsetto boy voice and an acoustic guitar behind it doesn’t really make it audience-worthy. It was cute, but the poor nameless boy-man who sang it is going to have to give me a little leeway. I didn’t pay to see him sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, I paid to hear Brooke Fraser sing about “waiting ‘til we’re ready,” dammit. So I waited patiently through his set, and clapped like the crazy NOTW adolescents when Brooke Fraser took the stage.



Holy Scheisse, that woman can sing. I have to honestly say, she sounds amazing on the record but she’s damn near flawless live. I always judge by how closely the singer sticks to the harder notes they hit on their records versus when they’re live. Take Meiko, for instance. She cut most of her longer notes in half, and was considerably lower on some of the high notes. She wasn’t bad, but she also wasn’t the same. Not so with this one. Ms. Fraser held the long notes longer, and added some nice vocal freestyling that showcased the fact that those pipes are the real deal.

After her first song or two, she had a nice conversation with the audience wherein she asked someone to let her in on the secret to opening her bottle of Arrowhead water. She couldn’t get the bloody Sport Top to flip open, so she ended up just twisting the whole damn thing off (per audience instruction). The whole thing was terribly endearing, and was marked as such when Sam turns to Mush and me and states with a little bit of awe, “she seems so nice, I wanna be her friend!” Coming from Sam, that is one solid Stamp of Approval!

The rest of the night proceeded with more adorable stories, including the ever-important story of the title track off her newest album, Albertine. Turns out she went to Rwanda in 2005 and, like anybody would be, was struck by the war and poverty and all-around anguish she saw there. Flash forward three years, and she’s made it her life’s mission to help these children and give them the opportunity to enjoy simplicities that people who haven’t had to live through that kind of home-grown horror tend to take for granted. After making everyone in the audience feel like graduates of the A is for Asshole! University (in the most non-threatening and adorable way), she gave us the chance to redeem ourselves and sponsor some children or buy merchandise to donate proceeds. People raised their hands to sponsor the kids, and the night was back off on its merry little way. A few songs and a wacky but enjoyable attempt at a sing-a-long to Kings of Leon’s Day Old Blues later, and it was go-home time.

While waiting for the valet to bring my Shirley back to me, some lovely young chanteuses decided to cap the night off with a warbly rendition of Ingrid Michaelson’s The Way I Am. Word to the wise: love the song, let’s let the professional handle it, shall we? Kthxbai.

Come with me (again) if you want to live.

-- The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Terminator 2: Judgement Day

More good music for you to join in on. Faryl's coming, anyone else on board?

Uh Huh Her
Avalon, Hollywood, CA
Friday, November 14th
8:00p
$20

Also, Missy Higgins, my very favoritest (for right now) artist is playing on Sunday, November 9th. The only problem is that it's all the way down in Anaheim. As a result, I'll only get tickets if I can get someone to go with me. I'll need someone to help me stay awake on the drive back. I don't have ticket prices or a time yet, but I'm going to guess about $30 and 8:00p, respectively.

I am so hoping someone wants to go so that I can rationalize the drive to the part of my brain that says Monday will suuuuck. But the show would absolutely be worth it! Any takers? Pretty please?!

I know better not to be friends with boys with girlfriends

Oh, I know better than that
I know better
You'll play the victim and I'll be the bad guy
-- Boys with Girlfriends, by Meiko

Firstly: AMEN, Meiko. Most of you know what I mean. So there's that.

Now, I owe you pictures from the Meiko concert that Mush and I attended last week.

(Click here for larger images)

It was a fairly awesome night, and there were a few firsts for me:

- First time I ever stood for a concert. I don't think my lower back has forgiven me yet.
- First time I've ever been thisclose to the stage. We were literally at the front; I could only have gotten closer if I were the camera guy who showed up in the middle of the set, stepped all over us and spilled alcohol everywhere.
- First time I ever heard Mush say anything so sentimental as, "I felt him in my heart." That will make me laugh for the rest of my life.
- First time I ever heard of someone being schocked by a Shirley Temple. Mush was at the bar ordering us out Temples, and the guy next to her looks over and says, astounded, "What's that?!" Such a concoction, that deliciously red substance! What ever could that be, and how quickly will it make me intoxicated beyond legal and logical limits?
- NOT the first time I've wanted to punch someone in the nose for getting their enthusiasm all over me. To the chick who felt it was acceptable to touch me for an extended period of time: I understand being "moved" by the music. Just ... be moved in your own personal space and leave mine alone. Kthxbye.

And just think, Mush and I get to do it all over again next week. Rock on!

Come with me if you want to live.

-- The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Or, you know, listen to pretty great music for a decent price.

Some of my favorite new artists are playing locally over the next several weeks, and I have one question for you: Do you want to live hear good music?

Jay Nash / Joe Purdy / Meiko
Roxy Theatre, Hollywood, CA
Fri, Aug 29, 2008
8:00p
$20

Brooke Fraser
El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Fri, Sep 12, 2008
8:00p
$22

Mandi Perkins
Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA
Thu, Sep 18, 2008
7:30p
$17

I wanna explode Watch me, I'm a lucky girl

-- Explode, by Uh Huh Her

I love Uh Huh Her. They make some darn good music, and they’re “underground” enough that tickets aren’t ridiculously priced. So I felt it was justifiable to spend $10 on their (first) full-length album, Common Reaction. I ordered it through their website, as it came with an advance download of the single, Not a Love Song. What I conveniently forgot, however, was that is also came with a signed album insert! Imagine my surprise when I open a letter-sized envelope and this tumbles out along with the CD:


Now, maybe it’s not a really big deal to those of you who don’t know of them (or who are less prone to random bouts of fangirl than myself), but I was inexplicably excited to see those Sharpie marks! So imagine my further surprise when I pulled this out of the envelope next:


I sort of gushed about it for a few minutes, in that oh-so-predictable vein of “OMG, that’s Camila Grey and Leisha Hailey! And they wrote my name!” Embarrassing though that may have been, I blame it mostly on the fact that I completely forgot that the album would be signed, and then the personalized photo came out of left field! No matter, I wear my UHH Fangirl badge with pride, yo.

Come to think of it, so should you. Srsly, go listen to them now. Dreamer, Covered and Common Reaction are good places to start. I would caution against the music video for Common Reaction, however, since the band seems to have been struck simultaneously by an ill-advised bout of 80’s nostalgia and retro-modernism. And unicorns.

But their music more than makes up for the occasional video mishap, and the fact that Leisha is part of the tiny contingent of actors-turned-musicians-that-don’t-suck just adds to the awesome. If you like ethereal-ish, sometimes semi-techno à la dance -- or even just plain ol’ good music -- put Uh Huh Her in your playlist. And then when you realize how great they really are, you can be jealous of my signed memorabilia.
____________________________________________________________________________

In other, oddly less exciting Signed Paper news, I got my diploma. It arrived in a nondescript cardboard envelope, and the whole affair lacked a certain ... excitement ... I think I was expecting. Something about waiting so long after the ceremony makes the diploma little more than beige cardstock with screen-printed calligraphy. I got all my official You Graduated paperwork ages ago, so this was a mere formality; I’m more proud of my final transcript than I am of this thing. Is that weird? Regardless, I can’t help the internal, “I graduated, and there’s not a thing you can do to take it back now!” every time I see the darn thing. Now that? I know is not unusual.

I'm from a land called Secret Estonia

Nobody knows where it's at, no
Nobody knows where it's at
-- Creepshow, by Kerli

(It's here, between Russia and Sweden, btw.)

Obviously, I’m not from Estonia. Secret or otherwise. My latest musical obsession, however, is.

Meet Kerli.

Kerli - Walking On Air (Official Video)

Her latest (first?) album is called Love is Dead, and it is pretty much made of solid awesome. Although Kerli has been somewhat accurately compared to Björk, the likeliness exists in vocal styling alone. There’s a gravelly-but-not-too-deep quality about their voices that is unique enough to catch your attention and plant you firmly in “love it” or “hate it.” But unlike Björk, Kerli’s music is a bit less edgy in its composition. It’s definitely got that same air of techno to it, but she fits nicely into the pop/rock genre, with a healthy dose of Goth that bands like Evanescence only wish they could achieve. And I love me some Amy Lee, don’t get me wrong, but this stuff is just so much more ... creepy.

In interviews, Kerli has mentioned growing up in a culture where you showed your love for your children by beating them every night after school, and twice on Sundays. She writes songs about being positive in the face of too-tough-love and Communism, and being who you are no matter what people say. Even if you happen to be a little creepy. Perhaps especially then.

Trust me when I tell you to go forth and has. Srsly.

Artist: Kerli
Album: Love is Dead
Start Here: Walking On Air, Bulletproof, Up Up Up