Tag Archive for 'crowd'

Music Byte: Kings of Leon

Published on January 8, 2009 in Music Bytes. 0 Comments Tags: album, Byte, caleb followill, chad kroeger, couple songs, crap, crowd, decent sound quality, favorite songs, first cousin, full length, good music, jared, kick ass, kids these days, kings of leon, lead singer, lyrics, mop, music, music byte, nashville, new music, nickelback, place and time, pleasure, review, rock, rock bands, rock star, sex on fire, sex on stage, tour dates, traveling preacher, use somebody, vicinity, video, z100.

So the other morning on the news I overheard that Nickelback had the #2 album of 2008, and I thought “FUCKING NICKELBACK?!?!?” Who even listens to Nickelback? I can’t even stand to look at Nickelback, with Chad Kroeger’s greasy mop and awful looking face. I mean, come on, THIS GUY IS NO ROCK STAR:

I should note that I could not find any chart or report anywhere proving this newscaster correct, so I probably didn’t hear right in the first place. I did find this, which is almost as bad, but it doesn’t matter. I was disgusted just at the thought of this actually being true. Once the shock went away I wondered if this is what “rock” is supposed to be these days? Nickelback isn’t fucking rock! They’re not even worthy of being anywhere in the vicinity of the label of “rock.” I shudder to think that this is what the kids these days are listening to.

Hence this Music Byte. I thought I’d try to remind you all that there are still good rock bands out there, even if they don’t play them on Z100. Although they might play Kings of Leon on Z100 – I wouldn’t know because I don’t listen to that crap. My point is that Kings of Leon could TOTALLY kick Nickelback’s ass. Any day.

If you can’t tell yet, I love these guys. I could listen to their newest album, Only By The Night, over and over and over again and never get sick of it. Seriously. And I do. Often. You can’t help but become mesmerized by lead singer Caleb Followill’s voice, and the songs just transform you to another place and time and, well, that’s what I look for in my music. To be swept away. The band is made up of four relatives, three brothers and a first cousin, and Only By The Night is their fourth full-length release. While they come from Nashville, the three brothers (Caleb, Nathan, and Jared) are the sons of a traveling preacher and were home-schooled by their mother. Because of the way they grew up, they’ve reported that they were very much sheltered from music, and therefore are only finding their true musical influences in recent years. That fun fact just makes them all the more talented in my opinion. I bet fucking Chad Kroeger grew up listening to the classics, and he still sucks. So there. Another fun fact? Each band member goes by his middle name and they all share the same surname (Followill).

You may or may not have heard of them, as they’ve been more successful over in the UK, but they seem to be doing quite well here also. They’re headlining Madison Square Garden on January 29th, and when I searched for two tickets “No tickets could be found.” Bummer.

Anyway, I like these guys so much I’ve decided to do something CRAZY and give you two introductions. The first, one of my favorite songs on the album:

Kings of Leon – Use Somebody

And the second is a bonus. But really more for my benefit than yours since I think the singer is so fucking delicious looking I really really just want to BITE his ribs. This song is just too sexy, I’m sorry. I mean, read the lyrics yourself if you don’t believe me:

Sex On Fire

Yummy.

If you’d like to become friends with Kings of Leon, you can go here. If you’d rather become a fan, go here. If you want to read their Wiki page, go here. Here’s their bio. And if anyone has an extra ticket or two to the show at the Garden, ummm yea email me. STAT.

Runnin’ Against The Wind

Published on November 2, 2008 in Mamba Moments. 1 Comment Tags: agony, anybody, anyone, apartment, applause, back, bedroom, bedroom window, beer, blur, cheers, coffee, course, crew, crowd, dash, downstairs, drink, excitement, football, front, frontrunner, gloves, group, guy, half, hangover, house, jersey, Love, machine, marathon, mile, mile marker, mom, Moment, moment in time, Mrs. Radcliffe, November, nurse, NYC, nyc marathon, onlookers, order, pack, paparazzi, paula radcliffe, picture, Pretty, race, rest, right, runners, Ryan Reynolds, shot, sidelines, snap, sport, Sunday, televeision, television, threat, time, U S, victory, witness, year.

Each year, the NYC marathon runs right past my apartment. It’s very exciting, not only because the streets are filled with a more diverse crowd of onlookers, but also because it’s Sunday and it’s November and that means there is another sport to get excited about besides football. I’ll get up early, get some coffee, and stand on the sidelines watching people run 26.2 miles while I nurse my hangover and take pictures of their agony accomplishments. My apartment is around the 12 mile marker, so it was pretty early when the frontrunners came by. I watch them on televeision until I see them about 5 blocks away, then I dash downstairs hoping I’m faster than them in order to snap a picture.

Last year, I was not. I didn’t make it in time so I snapped a shot from the bedroom window:

That’s Paula Radcliffe in the front, with the white gloves. She ended up winning the marathon last year.

I almost missed them again this year, but was happy to snap Mrs. Radcliffe at the same moment a year later:

(That’s her in front, again, with the white gloves.)

She ran the last half of the marathon like a machine, pulling far enough ahead of this group to have no threat whatsoever to the victory. I felt excited to have shared such a miniscule moment in time with her, and felt proud to be able to witness it live.

The guys came a little while after the ladies, so I was able to get a more decent shot of them:

The frontrunner here is from the U S and A, but if you look at the guy in the back of the pack in the yellow jersey? He wins. Pretty awesome, right?

They are running so much faster than you could ever imagine if you are watching the race on television. It’s almost like there is a blur behind them they are gone so quickly.

As exciting as it is to watch the fastest runners pass by, it really gets exciting when the rest of the crew catches up. 39,000 runners pass my house during the course of about 3 hours, and the cheers and applause and excitement is enough to make anybody crazy inspire anyone. Seriously.

Congratulations to all of you that may have run in this race, or knew anyone who ran in this race. It is truly a feat and the ultimate test of endurance, and I applaud anyone who can achieve a goal that large.

I feel disappointed in myself. Not because I feel like I need to get in shape and train for a marathon, but because I didn’t have the patience to play paparazzi and sit outside scoping out Ryan Reynolds.

To celebrate them, I’m going to drink a lot of beer, eat until I burst, and watch some football. After all, that’s what Sundays are made for, right?

Music Byte: Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head

Published on October 14, 2008 in Music Bytes. 1 Comment Tags: album, apartment, bedford ave, beer, Blog, Blogging, chick, comic relief, crazy person, crowd, debut, drink, drinking beers, embarrasment, emergence, favorite songs, fear, full length, gay blades, good music, lead singer, lounge, mercury, Moment, music, music byte, natalie portman, neon clothing, pleasure, record release party, release parties, review, rooney, seattle, sikamor, sikamor rooney, synth bass, tour dates, village voice, williamsburg, youtube video.

Yep, you read that right, folks. That is the actual name of an actual group. Not only do they have a quirky name but they also have a really cool, quirky sound. You may remember way back when I told you I had the pleasure of seeing these guys perform at Sikamor Rooney’s record release party. And while it may have been a night intended for Sikamor Rooney, it was clear that these guys stole the show.

I have to admit that when the five of them took the stage I was a bit skeptical, but it could have been because I was practically blinded by the amount of neon clothing I saw them all wearing. They hail from Seattle, and even though they claimed it was their first time ever in NYC, I could’ve sworn that they walked right off Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg. As soon as they started playing, the crowd went wild and it was nearly impossible for me to stand still. I was overwhelmed with the need to dance my ass off, and jump up and down screaming for a band I’d heard about forty seconds of. As I looked around me I noticed that I wasn’t the only one; everyone was into it. I remember feeling relieved that there were a lot of other people making total fools of themselves. It was FUN.

Here’s one of my favorite songs of the night, “Sophisticated Side Ponytail.” I feel the need to point out that the girl, Clare England, is not the lead singer of the group. But her emergence from behind the synth bass was super refreshing and a healthy dose of comic relief:

I agree with the Village Voice that there really is only so much of these guys you can take, as I learned the hard way by listening to the entire album on repeat for three days after seeing them. However, I think they’d be good to have in your pocket in case you ever need to liven up a boring party or you want to dance around your apartment should you be so inspired. Of course, if you have the opportunity to see them perform live you will not be disappointed.

Their debut full-length is titled “Glistening Pleasure“. They say it’s “because it glistens and is very pleasurable,” but I like it because it reminds me of an old friend of mine who always pronounced words that started with “l” like “gl.” It makes the play on words that much funnier to me.

To become friends with Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head you can go to Facebook or MySpace. To read their blog, go here. If you want a little background on them you can go here. Unfortunately they don’t divulge how they came up with that awesome name, so if anyone has any theories or insight, please post them in the comments.

Tag Archive for 'crowd'

Music Byte: Kings of Leon

Music Byte: Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head

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