ultragrrrl

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Joe from the Horrors. I love him. He looks like me and that's weird.

I know i've been in hiding when it comes to blogging, and i'm really sorry about that. I have no excuse. But something that got me out of hiding is this amazing video of Jada Pinkett Smith's band, Wicked Wisdom, taken from their performance on David Letterman. Gurj showed it to me yesterday and sent me and Brandon into a crying fit of laughter. i just played it for Rob and we were doubled over, crying. I have eyeliner running down my face. Now, I applaud JPS for trying... BUT OH MY FUCKING GOD!

Watch it Here

So I was delighted to find this in my bulletins just now:
Subject EVERYONE ADD THIS PERSON!
Body: soooo after months of talking about it...friends have actually started recording songs for leroy! add his page so you can hear! his name is 'songs for leroy'. there's a lot more to come! i am very excited! by the end of next week we'll have a few more songs up! if you love leroy and/o songs about him...you must add him! the song is by joe. he is great. dan, mykee and i will all follow suit! yay! have fun with it!

here is leroy and brooke and really just a reason for me to post a photos fo BS since i fucking love her:

http://www.youtube.com/v/vMjDumioklI

So i know it's been forever since i've posted and i've been promising a super large mega post... I've been so fucking busy with work. I don't have time to post that much, and i hardly have time to stay awake. It blows! I even decided not to have a birhtday party this year because I didnt feel like going anywhere after work and commiting to more than an hour and a half of being out of the house (I asked ppl to donate $6 to this animal rescue site, instead).

But you know, the thing is that last week had two of the best days in my life. The bands on Stolen Transmission all got flown into NYC for some workshop -- which meant that it wasn't our dime! Which was awesome!!!! This was the first time that they were all together, in one city, and so ST decided to organize that Animal Rescue benefit that all ST bands could play. Nick Snow MC'ed... which was fucking hilarious, and we filmed it for our Stolen TransVision channel we're starting up on YouTube. The Misshapes DJed. I love them all.

It worked out amazing! First off of the night were The Oohlas performing acoustic. Their drummer couldn't make it to NYC on the 22nd of January, so they went on performing with out him.



I love whenever the Oohlas perform acoustic because they have a version of "Gone" that they perform that's absolutely breathtaking. Everytime I hear it I start to transcend.

Bright Light Fever. I FUCKING LOVE BLF. They make me feel like I've crawled into the south in the 50s and took the blues guitar rock from that time, and went to the future and played it for a bunch of dudes in Sacramento and they came up with those songs. It was their first ever ever



Bright Light Fever rule my life. I feel like i have soul when i listen to them.

Next up: Monty Are I. Watching them, I think back to when I was head over heels enamoured with the Darkness (RIP). They're completely over the top and incredible to watch on stage. They make music like there are 30 people on the stage, and Steve Aiello rips on guitar! They're absolutely a band to see live.



People were freaking out over The Photo Atlas... The Denver dancepunk band which blow minds whenver they play live (and had their songs featured on the best damn sports show period on foxsports... weird, right?! Permanent Me and the Oohlas were on there as well... mindblowing). Something about them reminds me of Nine Inch Nails. Stoked head = me.



And then of course, Permanent ME played... but not til about 12 ish... and they were sauced up beyond belief. They had something to celebrate since at midnight was their release date. Hollur! Secondly, they were finally done with a 3 week long tour with Fall Out Boy and got to see a bunch of their friends.

Raizza won a raffle prize and will be appearing in the new Cartel video!!!!



The photo in the post below was taken on Jan 23, at the Time Hotel when all the bands got together to bullshit and smoke weed with the RZA! Yes! AMAZING!

Anyway, I wrote this long thing about American Idol from a couple episodes ago, and i wanna share... when i say "Yesterday" i mean, like on jan 24.

Lastnight when I got home from work at 10pm, I sat down on my ridiculously comfy couch with orange seitan from wild ginger (holy shit, that stuff is unreal), and re-watched American Idol from the night before on my dvr. I had actually watched it on wednesday night but completely forgot it after injesting enough bacardi mixed drinks at a defjam function that I lost all inhibition and started booty dancing with an artist they were showcasing named Sterling. This was imediately followed by me getting high fived by all the women who work at defjam that couldn't believe how lucky I was to swivel my hips with a very hot singer who insisted on lifting his t-shirt to reveal a very lovely six pack. Yum. Sterling Sims, will you be my baby daddy?

Anyway, before I went on a tangent, I was talking about American Idol...

This year is gonna be the best year ever, mark my words. First off, there were two guys who made it to hollywood that are possibly two of the hottest dudes I've seen on tv (excluding my bf's face that I see on fuse every other hour). One of them was a perfect mixture of Justin Timberlake and 3/4 of Thrice. Equal parts pretty and dude-like and possibly sensitive. He'd possibly buy you tampons when your back hurts too much to leave the house, and he'd probably punch a dude for looking at you weird and he'd show off his singing every once in a while as he plays lacross or soccer with his buddies, but you love him for all that.

You even love him when he is the lead in Guys and Dolls.

The other guy was hands down the most gorgeous person to walk the planet. I could not believe my eyes when I saw him. A 16 year old 6'4 (or more) black man (he surely was no boy) that had been adopted by Bolivian parents that undoubtedly look at him everyday and think they won the adoption lottery.... Whose very existence will probably prompt people to adopt more. This man is perfect. Picture Tyson Beckford mixed with Bratt Pitt and mutiply the hotness by a 1000 and you're close. Plus he could sing! Oh could he sing! If he doesn't win AI, he will have a future in front of the camera because his face and his soul belongs there to make us happy as a society. I'm sorry Jackson Pollis, but I have a new teen dream.

Now, I'm not gonna just give love to the boys because the girls were equally as impressive. I'd like to start off with my diappointment with the judges not picking that adorably hyper and energetic gapped tooth girl who pleaded that a lot of people were counting on her to go to Hollywood. She was obviously talented and actually quite adorable and sweet. It was obvious to the home viewer why she didn't get picked and frankly, I'm disgusted by the judges and their shallowness. Yes, there's an irony to me saying that after I've just dedicated so much time celebrating the beauty of two male contestants, but I'm a fan of the underdog, being one myself.

That said...

Among the women who made it to Hollywood were a pair of best friends from NJ that were pretty much the female equivelent to the two men I mentioned above. One was a gorgeous Barbara Streisand-mini, while the other was a more exotic version of Jessica Beil. They both boasted how amazing they were before appearing in front of the judges in a way that American Idol likes to set up people before knocking them down after they perform a horrendous audition. However these girls actually had the chops to back up their immodesty. And yes, AI will be super sexy this year.

My favorite of the night, however, was the little bracefaced opera singer with her joseph and the technicolor hair. She wore a dream catcher in her long mane and more colors than Ollie Stone. This girl was everything you'd picture a new yorker to be: confident, weird, jewish (I think), clever, and tough. Her audition song was by Jeff Buckley and she belted out his words like a polished up joplin. When the jusdges couldn't really guage her based on that, she sang one of the songs that the contestants have to sing all the time in hollywood that I've forgotten the name of. When that wasn't enough, she belted out some opera gorgeously and with such a natural ease that it was almost shocking. Needless to say, she made it to Hollywood and might unfortunately be kicked out of her school for auditioning. Hopefully it will be worth it.

But the real reason I liked this girl so much is because she was a character straight out of a Woody Allen movie. She was basically every young female role evr scripted by allen rolled into one. When the judges questioned her diversity, she shot back with such an obvious response that was either genius or crazy (much like allen), but also right on the mark and very deadpan: "you change the theme every week and I can do it all." Or something like that. THEN after her audition, while standing outside on some sort of deck, she looked right into the camera with determination and declared "the south has had a lockdown on american idol and I'm going to end that!" how many teenaged girls would ever say that? Ugh! I'm in love!

Thanks to Candy the Pom's suggestion, I set up a benefit show for Waggytail Rescue and Here Kitty Kitty. Both organizations put abused and abandoned dogs and cats into foster families.

It just so happens that all the bands on ST (except the horrors who are in the UK) will be in town on the 22nd and the 23rd! So it's been set up!
 


 
SET TIMES:

8:30 - The Oohlas (acoustic)
9pm - Bright Light Fever (FIRST EVER NYC SHOW!!!!)
10pm - Monty Are I
11pm - The Photo Atlas
12pm - Permanent ME

Check out this Photo Atlas video: windows media

All of it is being streamed on
PUREVOLUME.COM/PERAMENENTME

give it a listen. lemme know what you think.

all the bands on stolen transmission (my label) have made christmas songs.
please give them a listen. you can download them and play them tonight at your xmas party!



ALSO...
this is your chance to win tickets to the fall out boy/ new found glory / early november / permanent me / lifetime tour:

As many of you know, i'm a huge killers fan. Kind of a geek about it.

anyway, they recorded this song for Bono's benefit and it's a pretty amazing song, if i may say so. it features the singer of curve in it too! i know that this song doing well is really important to the band (100% of the sales go to charity, i believe) because brandon texted me the other day to make sure i was blabbing about it to everyone i knew. so here i go.

click the image below to buy it and support RED.



if you happen to see the video on vh1 or mtv, it was directed by Steve Penta -- he is the genius behind the "casa de ultragrrrl" videos. i think it's one of my favorite killers videos because it really captures their personalities in a very disarming kind of way. sort of exactly how those close to them know them.

Brandon and I were watching the Beatles Anthology when Ellen and Gideon hit me up to see if we wanted to hang. I invited them over and a few hours later they showed up with a bottle of absinthe. Gideon made us each a shot.







Monkey and Piper wanted to join in:


Ellen was delighted:

Here's a video my brother shot from my apartment on sunday... it's of everyone singing along to the oohlas' "small parts".... it was one of the happiest moments in my life.

 

So the last time I checked in i was about to run off to a night with the Oohlas which included Shindig and Misshapes... and some djing. I finally recovered, if that's any indication of my state.

Alright, so i go to Videoland to meet up with the Oohlas for Shindig, and got there before them so I could scope out the place. I dont know how those shindig kids do it, but they always manage to find the most random of places and make them into a twin peakish canadian speak easy where, if you had some more drinks, people would start talking to you backwards.

The band played in this tiny room that was about 10x10 with a stage in it that was approx 4x6 and could hold like, two people. The room was crammed with people and a camera projected the band into the main room and music was blasted into this room as well. so basically, you could definitely have a good view... and there was even a window into the performance room so you could watch the band from the bar. It was very weird and i'll be able to post photos tonight when i get home so you can get a better idea. Oh, and the lighting at this place was spot on -- well done to whomever did it.

The band thought it was their most punkrock show.

We then hopped into cabs and went across town to misshapes to play the second show of the night. I was with Luke and Greg of the Oohlas -- neither had ever been to misshapes or really knew too much about it other than it was a fairly famous party. When we got there, we were greeted by Janelle who wisked us downstairs to the greenroom/vip area and several bottle of booze and beer, which we shared with Brad Walsh's crew and the Ravonettes.

It was so nice to see the Ravonettes again. It'd been about a year, and my Sune immitation had grown terrible. I got to quickly shape it up when i saw him.

Everyone was buzzing around and having a laugh, drinking up and drinking down. I got a shot from my favorite lesbo, Sandra, and a few more of the complimentary drinks tossed my way. Weak on the tongue but hard on the head, as i hadnt had dinner... i dont think.

Brad Walsh was opening, and I love that guy. He's been an incredible photographer for the stolen transmission party and one of the funnier fuckers I know. His deal was like a gay electropop justin timberlake that would've make him a larry t protoge if he came to nyc circa berlinsberg. He's uniquely delightful and a sexy performer that made me squeal til i couldnt get a voice out. He, on the other hand, had a spot on voice.

Following him were the Oohlas, who set up themselves as the Ravonettes DJed their fantastic set. Ollie was cheering them on while strapping in her guitar. it was adorable.

The Oohlas probably played one of their best shows at Misshapes. I danced around with my girlfriends and got that feeling i did when i first saw the Killers at Don Hills (which is where misshapes takes place). Only with this band, their album is out so most of the people watching them were singing along with me. With each song they played, the cheers got louder and louder. They were only supposed to play for 20 minutes, but everyone was so unbelievably stoked that they played for 35 minutes, if not more.

I was elated and celebrated. Went down to the greenroom to gush. I had a couple more drinks and had a laugh and a half with Karen, Gurj, and Jenny Penny. Shortly after, an exhuasted band decided to call it a night. Not long after I decided to hit up my buddy Brian (not battjer) who drives and in my delightfully drunken state, i texted him to inform him that he would be giving me, gurj, karen and jenny a ride home. I was some how very persuasive as he was at don hills about 20 minutes later with a car full of girls who thought they were cartoon characters... each of us giving our cartoon catchphrase. We then broke out into Aiden's "Silent Eyes" as he was pulling on to my street to drop off me and the brownie. I've never seen a man so relieved to get drunk girls OUT of his car.

I woke up the next day with a sligth hangover that La Palapa's brunch with gurj, brandon and joe mccafferey took care of. Gurj and I then went shopping for party supplies for our holiday gathering that was really mostly a casa de ultragrrrl for the oohlas again. I always get nervous at "casa de ultragrrrl"s and dont invite anyone to come cause i'm afraid of trashing my apt. So i'm sorry if i didnt tell you about the party. i literally told 5 people ... i think i even forgot to invite some of my best friends. or i did when they were drunk.

anyway, it was spring break '98 themed. so we got things like shot glasses, beads, 3 wise men decorations, hannukah table cloth, jello, xmas lights, mexican themed decorations... you know, whatever cancun during xmas must look like.

when we got home, brandon had managed to not only scub the place clean but also give the dog a bath and haircut. superboyfriend!

we hung up the decorations and i fucked up some jelloshots and people started showing up. the place got full, but not packed (thank god), and everyone was in high spirits. Joe brought his roommates brussels griffon, regis, with him and so you might just imagine that the apartment was cute overload. I pretty much spent the entire time in my bedroom watching the dogs play. well, at least until the oohlas were ready to perform.

FUCKING AMAZING. they got on my couch and played "THE RAPID!" my favorite song! it's track 12 on their album and is totally trippy and belongs in a movie so i can cry about it like that sia song at teh end of six feet under. Ugh, it was gorgeous. They also did their acoustic version of "gone" which changes the song completely. I literally can't listen to that version of the song without crying... it's going up on sonyconnect soon. the apartment was just stoked beyond belief by the time they played "small parts" ... ollie prefaced it with "you guys have to sing along," and i dont thing she expected a room full of hipsters BELTING IT OUT at the top of their drunken lungs. I couldnt believe it myself. I heard just about every person in the apartment singing "small parts!" !!!!!!!!!!!!! It was like one of those moments where you see it in a movie and wish it happened to you in real life but never does... but here it did!

I dont know... i heard their shows in LA are different than in NYC. That us new yorkers have more excitement at shows. I think that's because LA is a city of people waiting to be discovered while new york is a city of people waiting to discover something.

Anyway, it was incredible. I felt bad for anyone that came after it was over... which turned out to be Pete and Joe from FOB, who were across the street at Revolver where peter gaston was djing. Dan Keyes -- an old frind of ollies -- came late as well... but provided the funniest thing of the evening:
DOORBELL
Me: DAN! hi! come in!
Dan: Hey girl! Hey Brandon!
Me: Hi!
Dan: Oh, a keg, who's gonna hold my legs?
TEN DUDES ALL AT ONCE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12!!!!!!

this was captured on video. it will be amazing.

By 1:30 ish am, everyone was out and by 2, the apartment was spotless again.

GREAT SUCCESS!

BY THE WAY...

http://www.myspace.com/permanentme" target="_blank">Permanent ME and http://www.absolutepunk.net" target="_blank">Absolutepunk have 10 pairs of tickets and are giving fans a chance to win a pair to the SOLD OUT Friends or Enemies Tour this January with Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory and Early November.

HERE'S HOW:
1. Buy the Permanent ME album and tshirt for ONLY $15 by http://www.cinderblock.com/wc.dll?WebStore~RViewItem~TRN~TRN-PAK1~SID=12066454869064548690" target="_blank">CLICKING HERE

THAT'S ALL.

you're automatically entered into the contest when you do that.

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