September 2005 Archives
Earlier this evening, I was treated to a rare pleasure, the very enjoyable mainstream pop concert. Ashlee Simpson started her I Am Me tour tonight in Portland at the Roseland. This is one of "way too long before the album comes out mildly a secret but not really a secret pump up tours." The lack of promotion combined with the 35 dollar ticket price (thank you zac pennington and your sweetest hook up) made the show awkwardly unattended. The Roseland was only about half full, so we were able to get pretty close without having to be the gross older dudes pushing preteens out of the way. The crowd that was there was amped (very) young ladies (by amped I mean screaming), some parents off to the side, a few curious older folks (and by older i mean mid 20s), and that awesome punk couple in front of us who seemed to hate Ashlee (comp tickets, i assume).
Ashlee and her band played a short (and by short I mean short and sweet) set of tunes from her first album and maybe 3 new jams. I loved the very pumped bass player (it was possibly his first show with the band) who wanted very much to do that thing where a drummer and bassist totally get deep eye contact and jam so hard with each other, but was impeded by the awkward plexiglass cage that surrounded the drummer. Speaking of Mr. Drums, he was also very rad, singing along to every song even though he had no mic (who knew anyone in the band loved those songs so much?). Also, the band did these instrumental passages between most of the songs while Ashlee was offstage for about a minute, that were surprisingly ambitious and somehow entertaining.
Historically, I have been a big Ashlee fan, finding her sincere faux popstar punk to be quite charming, and really enjoying her radical naivity on her reality show. Eight months ago or so she started bumming me out pretty hard with her reactions to her scandals (blaming the nice drummer), by dating that lame-o Ryan Cabrera,, and just sorta by getting less faux punk. This show made me like her more, not really due to her being an amazing performer, or too nice for words or anything (she was at times charming and legit, but not overwhelmingly so), but more because the whole show seemed a bit sad (poor attendance) and like an excuse for Papa Joe, who is maybe the worst man on the planet, to use his daughter to pimp his new products. The opening band, Barefoot, is Papa Joe's first signing on his new label (Papa Joe Records) and we thankfully missed them. Ashlee's new keyboardist is also another signing of Dark Father's and he got to perform two songs in the middle of Ashlee's set. They were not good songs.
The show was fun. There is nothing better than hearing the hits, the great new single, a new song that didn't sound good, another new song that sounded great, and feeling bad for a pop star.
The video below has a snippet of "Pieces of Me" and then the entire new single "Boyfriend." (Click on image for video)
Two Buck Tuesday at the Oregon Zoo is a good deal. The animal friends bring so much excitement and also so much soft soothe. Polar Bear Butt is especially soothing. I encourage every one to figure out your spirit animal. The animal that you connect with and go deep with. It is an excercise that reveals a lot. I CLAIM SUN BEAR>
Adam Forkner aka White Rainbow just finished his 10 day sound and video installation at the TBA Festival. It was called The Full Spectrum Vibrational Healing Center. It was my favorite thing at the entire arts festival which featured a lot of crazy and great things. The room had a deep magnetism, as I found myself visiting it at least 6 of the 10 days, and spending many hours (3+) there at least 2 nights. It was a beautiful and peaceful place to be and was truly soothing in every way. Adam played different and gorgeous music every night. Some nights just computer, some nights with guitar, some with moog, some bells, whistles, flutes, wine glasses, human voice accompanied by amazing visuals by E*Rock, Alex Hubbard, and more. I hope Adam has more opportunities to do installations like this. If anyone can provide Adam with a space where this could happen, you should totally do it. Totally all the way beautiful deepness. This video takes a short look at Adam's ritual daily routing while preparing for an evening in the room, and some images and stills of the healings. Some of the still images were taken by Ms. Ice Cream Meadows.
This is a video of my awesome nephew Ethan getting totally bouncy at The Riot Zone. He is accompanied by some music from the world's raddest band, Extreme Animals. iMOVUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Click on image for video)
