by Jed
Since Halloween is approaching, I offer you the following: werewolves, candy apples and razor blades, the haunting of Milwaukee by Black Star, and a classic Carpenters song. Scary, right? I'm scared.
1) I can't believe that Japanese girl band Shonen Knife is still alive and kicking. When I was but a high school student, a friend of mine (perhaps as a result of listening too regularly to Rodney on the Roq) used to idolize them. I never got it. I didn't think it was funny. I didn't find it cute. I might have been wrong. I did like their cover of the Carpenter's "Top of the World". They're playing on November 2 at the Echo. If it weren't so early in the week, I might have even been inclined to check it out, just to see who might come out of the wood work for this:
2) The Antlers 2009 release Hospice is supposedly one of the best of the year. From what I've heard, I'm in no position to disagree. They'll be playing at two small venues this week: on the 28th at Origami Vinyl and on the 29th at the Bootleg Theatre. If you aren't yet sold, check out this acoustic version of "Two", performed on the AON Sessions. It's a pretty melody, painful lyrics.
AON Sessions: The Antlers, "Two" from All Our Noise on Vimeo.
3) Local girl group Warpaint is playing on November 3 at Spaceland, and have also released a new video for the song "Stars" from the Exquisite Corpses EP. If you live in L.A., you may have spent some time in the precious natural resource that is the Angeles National Forest -- an area of wilderness north of the city of Los Angeles, with approximately the same square mileage. You may also know that the Angeles National Forest only recently suffered a catastrophic wildfire, lasting for weeks. Here, Warpaint has combined dark ethereal (did I really just use that word?) vocals with the backdrop of some of the burned out sections of the forest. Well done, ladies:
4) Alice Cooper is playing at Nokia Theatre on October 28th. Thanks to RFSL head honcho Joe Fielder, I was exposed a few years ago to the cinematic masterpiece that is Leviatán (Monster Dog). In the film, Mr. Cooper stretches credulity by playing a rock star, who takes his (band? friends?) to a mansion out in the countryside (separated from civilization by...a tremendous amount of fog!). If I recall, everyone ends up getting killed by a werewolf, who I think turns out to be Alice. Shucks. In the not "so bad it's good" department from that film was this song, "Identity Crisises", which is pretty awesome. If I recall correctly, there's an early scene where Cooper's character Vince is either recording the song, or filming the video:
Here's a scene from the movie where Vince gets caught reading a book about werewolves called "Werewolves: Myths, Legend and Scientific Realities". Watch this whole thing, as almost every line in this scene is gold:
And of course this classic scene from Wayne's World, which comes first to my mind whenever the city Milwaukee is mentioned:
5) Not to get on too much of a tangent, but speaking of Milwaukee, I don't think this bizarre video got enough internet airplay when it came out. Very similar feel to the brilliant "Look Around You" videos, but there's something much more unnerving about "This is My Milwaukee."
6) Unfortunately, the best quality video I could find on the internet of the Misfits' classic ode to dead cats hanging from poles -- "Halloween" -- is of LOW quality. Take it away, Mr. Danzig:
Any last minute Halloween suggestions? Email me at rfsljed@gmail.com.
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