art is the new religion

That's what you get when you let your heart win

I started to write about Paramore a few months ago -- I'd just heard them and I could feel a mild yet surprising obsession starting to brew.  By now it's in full swing.  I love Paramore, yet another fine offering from Fueled By Ramen.

The tipping point for me was watching their half hour live performance on MTV.  Here's a low-quality clip that will probably soon be yanked from YouTube for copyright violation:

I was going to write about my excitement over a female-fronted emo band rising to the pinnacle of popularity (she writes, she sings live, she's fully dressed!), but right now I'm just happy to sing along to their record on Rhapsody.

Their music isn't going to change my life or yours, but I know young Hayley Williams' phenomenal vocals and songwriting talent (along with bandmate Josh Farro) will inspire many of her young female fans.  And as long as the pop machine in which they're currently percolating doesn't immolate them, I'm looking forward to what they have in store for their next record. 

What is it about a choir of human voices?

I found this on Reckon's blog, and he'd reposted it from Your Daily Awesome. 

It's the first song of the debut performance of the Blue Ribbon Glee Club, Chicago's finest punk rock choir.   In this video they're performing "Where Is My Mind?" by Pixies at Ronny's bar in Chicago, IL.

What is it about a choir of human voices?  They don't have to be particularly well-practiced or on key, they don't have to be singing music I particularly like, they don't even need to sing in a language I understand or have a message I agree with -- a choir of human voices makes my heart swell.  I get teary-eyed.  I instantly feel more human, more compassionate, and almost always inspired.

There's also something very egalitarian about a choir; if one person warbles out something sharp or flat, there are five or 25 others to round out the sound.  It's ancient too, the act of group singing.  There's something primal about it, the concept of it runs in our blood.  It's communal, by definition -- you can't have choir with just one person (although, sure, there is an "I" in choir).  And as punk rock or agnostic or atheist as you may be, there's still something vaguely prayerful about it  - "where two or more are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them".

Maybe that's why choirs get to me.  Two or more gathered in the name of music, for the sake of art.  Amen to that.

Tonight's Concert: Fair To Midland

I'm going to see Fair To Midland at Stubb's outdoor stage tonight (after dinner at East Side Cafe, yummm).

FTM, who I've written about several times before, play on my love for creative singers with a wide vocal range, interesting instrumentation, art-rawk and general over-the-top-ness.   (See: Tool, Mars Volta, Faith No More.)

Watch the video for "Dance of the Manatee"*:

System of a Down fans (Laurie, I'm looking at you) will be interested to know that FTM are signed to Serj's label, the creatively titled Serjical Strike via Universal Republic.

* That growly nonsense he does before the bridge?  He doesn't do much more of that on the rest of the record.

Plant vs. Krauss

If you would have told me yesterday that this album exists, I probably would have thought you were joking.  But I've seen it with my own eyes now:

An unlikely duo reimagines lesser-known classics with moody style, taking on everyone from Tom Waits to Townes van Zandt.

I just listened to it on Rhapsody and it's...pleasant.

Von Dutch: the man, the myth, the legend

That kerfuffle between Top Model winner Adrianne Curry and Perez Hilton hit a little close to home with one of my friends.

It's one thing for a celebrity to shoot off their mouth and take the flack for it themselves, but it turns out that any company for which that celeb might have posed, spoken, modeled or worked - either currently or in the past - ends up feeling the heat as well. 

Apparently Curry was a model for Von Dutch Watches several months ago, therefore my friend KenE who runs all the marketing for Von Dutch got a deluge of calls regarding her comments.  Never mind that Curry wasn't a current model for the brand, or that Von Dutch Watches is actually separate from the other Von Dutch companies.  It was such a loose connection, yet he still spent the better part of two days doing damage control.  I'm all for free speech, but people should be conscious of just how loud their voice is and how far-reaching the effects can be.

The upside of all this is that I learned a lot more about who Von Dutch (Kenny Howard) the person was:  an artist, mechanic, metalworker, painter and innovator of pinstriping and Kustom Kulture.

All reports indicate he was pretty eccentric and liked to stay close to the edge:

"I make a point of staying right at the edge of poverty. I don't have a pair of pants without a hole in them, and the only pair of boots I have are on my feet. I don't mess around with unnecessary stuff, so I don't need much money. I believe it's meant to be that way. There's a 'struggle' you have to go through, and if you make a lot of money it doesn't make the 'struggle' go away. It just makes it more complicated. If you keep poor, the struggle is simple. "

Keep poor, kids.  Metaphorically speaking.

Spoon on SNL

The boys in Spoon were on Saturday Night Live last night!  It warms my heart, even though I didn't yet have a television here in Austin to watch it.  Thanks YouTube:

I'm still recovering from a cross-country move and have no internet in my house yet, but I'll be posting more often starting later this week.  To my SFist readers, welcome and thanks for stopping by!