After playing two small acoustic sets and a taping a performance at Letterman, Florence had her first proper official gig at New York City's classic Bowery Ballroom (we adore the venue's wood floors!). Florence acoustic is nothing compared to Florence when she has The Machine with her and the freedom to play a full set.
Despite this being her first official New York appearance, the devotion of her fans is already so great that not even puking into their own coats before the set would induce them to leave the front. That's a fact. Blake Lively and Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl were even spotted at the show. Once Florence appeared in a floor-length see-through gown and began serenading us with "Between Two Lungs" accompanied by a harp -- and how often have you seen a harp at a rock club? Never, we bet, which is what makes it so f-in' rock n' roll -- you could see the reason behind the crowd's fervor. Whipping her long red hair around her and putting her all into each song, Florence had the pipes and the onstage persona to keep us positively riveted.
Bending almost double with the force of emotion, Florence raced through singles "Dog Days Are Over" and "Drumming Song," posing dramatically behind her mic stand, which was decorated with plastic flowers. Conspicuously missing was the lesbian-themed "Girl With One Eye," but Florence made up for it with the uplifting "You've Got The Love." There was a lot of love to go around and once the encore wrapped with "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)," Florence was bowing and throwing air kisses at the cheering crowd. She promised to return, and after a performance like this one, it would be downright criminal if she didn't.
Having canceled several US tour dates because of lung trouble, La Roux's Elly Jackson kept her appointment with New York City's Highline Ballroom early this week. Looking androgynous in a slim-cut, shiny, striped suit, and with her red hair defying gravity, Ms. Jackson strode out on stage to tremendous cheers from the sold out crowd and kicked off the show with "Tigerlily" from the UK duo's (Elly's partner in crime is synth player, co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid) self-titled debut album.
Due to the aforementioned health problems, Elly apologized profusely for the short set, which clocked in at around half an hour, but they did not leave out a single hit. The break-out track "In For The Kill" drew the loudest screams of approval. "Colourless Colour" allowed Elly to amp up the energy, teasing the excitable mass in front of her by stepping in close and basking in the palpable adoration. And when she thrust her microphone out during set-closer "Bulletproof," she summoned an instant sing along with the crowd chiming in for the chorus.
The show sounded slick and polished, with two keyboards, a computer and even an electronic drumset creating a steady wall of sound. Elly was cheerful as she paused between songs to catch her breath, happy with the band's reception. There was not much banter and that was probably for the best as the songs certainly spoke for themselves.
When it comes to the paranormal, I've always really, really wanted to believe -- I just haven't been given any reason to thus far. Growing up my grandmother's family was incredibly superstitious: No seating 13 people at a single dinner table, no traveling on Friday the 13th, and her grandmother supposedly lived next door to a werewolf somewhere in Germany. As the story goes, he was a really nice guy -- you just had to lock up your chickens whenever there was a full moon or the next morning he'd have eaten them all. Beyond that, my little brother may or may not have been abducted by aliens (he spent most nights sleeping on a mattress on my bedroom floor because he was too scared to be in his room alone in case they came back for him), but I've never had an actual close encounter of the supernatural kind.
Until last week. I met psychic, medium, and wine merchant Craig McManus at the Cornelia Street Cafe to shoot the above Face to Face video. McManus had mentioned to me that while dining there a few weeks earlier all of the lights in the dining room had gone off and no one seemed to know why. When he asked about the incident -- and whether or not there might be a ghost to blame -- the host admitted that there might be a male entity inhabiting the back room of the restaurant.
Experiences like that one are nothing new for McManus. Being a psychic and medium runs in his family and when he's not busy selling wine at his shop, Wine Ventures in Tenafly, NJ, he's writing his incredibly popular books about the ghosts of Cape May, New Jersey. After we did our interview I chatted with him (and his lovely partner Willy) over drinks and McManus did a reading for me. While I have to confess a good 80 percent of what McManus said meant nothing to me, the 20 percent that did register made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
McManus knew things that no one else would know -- even going so far as to tell me that my father, who died two years ago, said, "Send my love to Ruth." Ruth is my mother's middle name, and while no one else calls her by that name, my father used it almost exclusively to refer to her. I don't know exactly what was going on last Tuesday afternoon and I can't say for sure that my dead father was sitting next to me in the corner of the Cornelia Street Cafe, but I'd be willing to say that something out of the ordinary did occur. It was chilling, it was exciting, it was bittersweet and until the aliens land or someone can finally prove that the afterlife exists, it's all I have to go on in my recreational quest for contact with the paranormal.
McManus will be giving a talking on his two careers -- mediumship and wine -- Halloween night from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at the Astor Center at 399 Lafayette St. (at East 4th St.) in New York City. The old building, once the home of a large book printing company in the
1800s, is allegedly haunted and should provide the perfect setting for McManus to lead a tasting of some of his favorite wines while educating the audience about
the dark and mysterious regions of the Spirit world, including an
exploration of the ghosts of Astor Center and other haunted New York
City hot spots. McManus will also demonstrate his
channeling ability on a few lucky participants. For tickets, head here.
For more on Craig McManus and to purchase his books on the ghosts of Cape May, head to his website.
These days it seems you can't turn on the television without slamming headlong into an award show of one kind or another. Lately everyone is in the running for something and usually it's less than noteworthy. But, while we can live without tuning into the teen equestrian geriatric skeet shooting stand up comedic competitive monologue reading homemaker awards, we've recently learned of an event that is definitely worthwhile: The Annual Emery Awards.
Kimora Lee Simmons will host the gala evening to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School, as well as its founders and Harvey Milk. The Annual Emery Awards honor those individuals and corporations that exemplify Hetrick-Martin's mission of providing a safe and supportive environment for all young people -- regardless of their sexual orientation or identity -- along with those who have demonstrated outstanding leadership within the community. This year Hetrick-Martin Institute will be honoring its founders, Drs. Damien Hetrick and Emery Martin, and activist Harvey Milk, as well as recognizing such leaders as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Dr. Joyce Hunter. Special guests include Mary Louise Parker, Rosie O'Donnell, B.D. Wong, and Cheyenne Jackson.
The Annual Emery Awards take place on November 10, 2009. The night kicks off at Cipriani Wall Street with a cocktail hour at 6:30, followed by the awards dinner and an after party. If you'd like to attend the awards or donate to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, please call Darra Gordon at 212-674-2600, ext. 277 or email dgordon@hmi.org. For more information visit www.hmi.org.
Has it occurred to you that, in many ways, our current economic downturn -- with its foreclosed homes, spiking jobless rates and come-uppance of the very rich -- is, in some ways at least, like The Great Depression? That's the link made by The Citizens Band, that motley crew of downtown-type New York actors, dancers and singers who formed around 2004 to do anti-Bush-type vaudeville acts. They're still around, and in their latest gig, "The Debt Rattle", which they performed over the weekend at the Lower East Side's Abrons Arts Center, they channeled the Depression-era, dance-marathon desperation of the classic 1969 flick They Shoot Horses, Don't They? to make a point about how we're all dancing for our lives in post-boom, post-bailout America, with many of us dropping one by one...just like exhausted dancers!
It may sound gloomy, but it wasn't, because Citizens Band's beautiful women wore scanty, flapper-type showgirl outfits, the old-time jazz band was amazing, the aerialist was thriling, and the star power on stage -- supermodel and singer Karen Elson (Jack White's wife), the Cardigans' Nina Persson, Lenny Kravitz's daughter Zoe, and Michael Cavadias (a k a downtown draggy DJ Lily of the Valley), to name just a few -- gave the night a warm glow. Bravo, Citizens Band, hurry up with your next show!
What makes Pretty Lights so pretty? It’s their vintage style matched with their technological experimentation. It’s their unbridled enthusiasm and their dance floor sensibility. It’s their capacity to attract candy ravers and Haight Ashbury hippies alike. It’s their humility offstage and their dominance onstage.
Producer Derek Vincent Smith is a Colorado native and one-half of the Pretty Lights crew. We chatted with him last week on his pristine tour bus (aptly named “Big Red”) as he prepared for his sold-out show at The Independent in San Francisco.
Out: Did you have a show last night? Derek Vincent Smith: Yeah, in Los Angeles.
That’s a long distance. Yeah, normally, but being on the bus and having a driver has been not too bad. I just go to bed in the back and wake up in the next city.
What’s been the longest travel you’ve made so far? Last night. To be honest, I’m getting more sleep on tour than I have ever before. Usually we fly in and rent a car.
This is your first time in a tour bus? Yeah.
That’s exciting! Derek. I know! I’m loving in!
That’s legit. It makes me feel fucking big time.
I wanted to first ask how you would classify your genre of music? I hear people literally give paragraphs to define their genre. Honestly, I’ve been trying to figure that out. I used to make my own flyers a lot and no one would know of the music so under the words "Pretty Lights" I would put all the genre names that I thought summed it up. It was something like: electro-organic-emo-tronic-2-step-hyphy-hip-hop-party-rock. I thought I had coined the term “party rock” at the time, but I’ve heard it a lot more. But still that is pretty vague. The more genres you try and put in it, it’s almost harder to get a definition from that. Really, as a producer and an electronic musician, my aim is to make hot beats…whether that’s an electro track or a hip-hop track or a dubstep track. What I have been saying lately is: electronic-hip-hop-soul. The whole soulful, makes you feel something vibe is the common thread throughout the music, whether that’s a hip-hop song or a house beat. That’s how I say it right now.
I saw you
Friday night at New York City's lovely, baroque United Palace way
uptown in Washington Heights, only the fourth or so stop on your North
American tour to promote your second album, The Boy Who Knew Too
Much.
First of all, I like the new album a lot, partly because it
doesn't deviate too far from the big, Queen-y, Elton-y, Beatles-y
pop-rock-opera sound of your first, Songs In Cartoon Motion.
Secondly, there were two primary demographics at your show, white gays
and white twelve-year-old girls, and I was proud to be among the
former, even though I envied the creamy skin and off-the-shoulder,
neo-Flashdance fashions of the latter, who gave the venue a
Nickolodeon-Noggin glow. Thirdly, Mika, I have long wanted to run my
hands through your loose, curly locks, partly because I'm
half-Lebanese myself and see much of my younger self in you (even
though I was an out gay by your age).
Fourthly, couldn't you have
taken your shirt off? I like your skinny body. I like to watch you
dance and make rock-star type gestures with your hands. I liked the
different white jackets you wore, I liked the glow-in-the-dark, Ziggy
Stardustian face make-up you and your cute band and back-up singers
wore. I liked when you did that slapstick bit with that Beauty and
the Beast-evoking teapot marionette, and it was mad creepy when a
big teapot came on manipulating a little marionette of you. I
love the new songs "We Are Golden" (it was awesome when all the
gays and the tweens were shouting out the chorus with you, like a big
gay-tween rock anthem) and especially "Blame it on the Girls," (see video above) which
you did so well
recently on Letterman.
Seeing Kylie Minogue in concert means subjecting yourself to disco ball headpieces, bondage-themed dancers, laser lights and confetti, and the drunk homo next to you whining that "the guy behind me who needs a nosejob is being an a--hole!" In other words, for some of us, it's church. And we have been waiting a long time for our goddess to visit the States in her popemobile....or a disco glitter skull on which she stands and descends from the ceiling when the show opens. The woman clearly knows her audience.
Here in "Red Blooded Woman", she updates fellow Aussie Olivia Newton John's "Physical" video.
And for those Kylie haters who like to keep bringing up "Locomotion," well guess what? She flipped that up for you.
But my favorite moment of the Chicago show was when the sound guy was having trouble with the bass, so Kylie remained on stage alone, bathed in red light, and led us all in an a cappella sing-along of "Your Disco Needs You." I'm pretty sure that was especially for me.
Oh, Kylie. We laughed, we cried, we danced. I secretly hoped you'd sing "I Should Be So Lucky." Toronto and New York, you'd better be good to her, she's coming your way!
Recent Comments