Tag: Local music

Goth Brooks

Perhaps some of you are aware the Florida Georgia Line (the country band) did a song with Nelly (the rapper.) It was an unlikely mix, but it worked. Really.

In fact, here is the video. Give it a listen:

Well, a friend of mine who has always been involved in awesome projects (see Ikonoklast and Hardwire) is now in a band called Goth Brooks, which is a fusion of country music and heavy metal.

I know you might be thinking that such a mix could never work, but I would argue that it not only works, but it’s hilarious! Songs like “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” will remind you of some of your favorite country hits, but with a delightfully creepy twist.

Don’t take my word for it! Check them out for yourselves and tell me how great they are:

All of you must know at least one person who would enjoy it, so please make sure to share with your friends!

Club Spot in Hongdae, Seoul

If you’re looking for counter-culture in Korea, check out Club Spot!





There are a lot of amazing places to go in Seoul, South Korea. There’s the art district in Insadong. There’s the foreigner district called Itaewon. But my favorite place of all is Hongdae, and my favorite place in Hingdae is The Spot.







The Spot is right across the street from Hongik University. If you walk out of exit 12 from the Hongdae subway station, you pass the KFC was hang a left at the first street. It’s on the right, just before you reach the university. Across the street is a really cool park where they often have musicians, street performers, and tents set of with all kinds of cool vendors.







Club Spot is a venue, but their alcohol supply seems to increase every time I go in there, so I think it would be fair to call it a bar too. Some of the coolest bands I’ve seen in Korea, I have seen there.







A recent show I went to that was really fantastic had Loyal to the Grave and Day of Mourning; two really spectacular hardcore bands.







I’ve had some good times at The Spot. I’ve seen a lot of the counter-culture in Korea, which is hard to see. When you first arrive in Korea, it’s easy to see nothing but trendy stores and K-pop. However, when you take some time to delve into the various sub-cultures, you’ll find a lot more cool stuff than the surface club scene might lead you to expect.







I sincerely recommend Club Spot as a killer party place when you’re staying up late in Seoul.



Fetish Prom

Rob and myself at the Prom
Rob and myself at the Prom

 

 

 

If you’re ready for Halloween and all the creepy stuff Arizona has to offer, you have to check out the Arizona Fetish Prom at The Venue of Scottsdale on October 11th. What is a fetish prom? Well, for starters, it’s retailers of things you’ll have a hard time finding anywhere else. Sure, you could try to buy a corset online, but then how would you try it on? The Fetish Prom is the answer. Often, there are people selling jewelry all decked out with spiders and snakes, corsets and velvet capes, as well as swords, and whips and chains.

 

Everyone is friendly, and no one pressures you. If you’re just there shopping for a corset and you don’t want to get near the bondage gear, that’s okay. But then again, if you’ve ever been curious, it can’t hurt to look.

 

I went to the last prom because Horns and Halos, who put the proms on, brought a band I love called VNV Nation. I have always wanted to see them, but they never play Phoenix. This trip to the United States they did play Phoenix, but only at the prom. So, I went to the prom and had a great time. The local band that opened, called Hardwire, was great.

 

Every prom has different entertainment. This event features a local band called Mankind is Obsolete, among other attraction such as the shopping.

Ear Candy

This is just a quick mention of a charity called Ear Candy.

The charity exsists to pay for music programs in schools, and to buy musical instruments and music lessons for kids. The founders of Ear Candy believe that budget cuts are wipping out all the music programs in Arizona schools, and they are worried that this will wipe out a whole generation of little Arizona musicians. Since it would be tragic to imagine a future without music, Ear Candy has ben created a a way to help make up the diffrence.

Here is a link to their Web site if you want to learn more, volunteer, or donate.

I am mentionning Ear Candy because I think wonderful charities like this are an important part of Arizona culture. I found out about them when Leslie announced that profits from The Bigger Picture would go to this charity this year.

The Bigger Pictre

If you remember nothing else; remember this:

Be at Tempe Town Lake on Sunday November 16th at 3:30pm.

Okay, now I am going to tell you why. Let me start by saying that Phoenix has a wide variety of awesome local bands. I could never list them all, but to name a few: I love Selfless, Ikonoklast, Isle of Essence, and Hardwire. There are a zillion more but this is not about listing them; I want people to see them, and that is what The Bigger Picture is all about.

The event has a MySpace page managed by Leslie Crieger, who is one of the most influential people in Phoenix culture, and who is one of the founders of the original Big Picture. You can see her page here.

The short version is: The Bigger Picture is all about taking a picture of Phoenix’s soul. It has often been said that there is no local scene here and no culture, but that’s not true at all. The Big Picture has been a way to prove it. The idea has been to get together as many local musicians as possible, and take a picture of them holding up their instruments. That way, when someone says Phoenix has no culture, we have a picture to prove them wrong.

I helped with the first two Big Picture events, and they were fantastic. Venue owners came and talked to local bands. Fans came and bought local music CD’s. There was networking going on between promoters from all over the valley, and The Blaze 1260 AM was even there (that’s ASU’s radio station, in case you didn’t know.)

This year will be the third Big Picture event. We are hoping that this year’s picture will be even bigger than the picture in 2004 and the picture in 2006. Every single Phoenician can help with this, so tell anyone and everyone you know! Does your brother play harmonic in the basement? Send him out! Does your friend play guitar at an open mic night? Bring them along. Do you know a band? Cool, we want them too!

The more people we get out, the better the picture.

Once the picture is taken, we will try to get it everywhere. We hope to put it on post cards, which will be available at local hotels. That way when people come to town, they can look at the venue list and the picture, and tell their friends back home about the great culture they experienced in Phoenix. There is always a show to go to and there is always an art gallery open, so no matter when someone visits, they can find something to do that they can write abut on the post card.

But it’s not just visitors we want to get the word out to. We need to tell the people living here about our culture. Every Phoenician should be helping to shape our arts and culture, and they can’t help if they don’t know it exists. So of course, we will be promoting the picture all over the valley, in hopes of attracting more locals to our shows and art walks and other great experiences.