Take me away baby: Celia wants to be taken away from her upcoming exams

Well, well, well

How are you? I am good. My exams are coming up in two weeks. The stress is starting to get to me, so when I panic I blog. Yup, the internet has taken over my life. But after my exams my plans are to go to Melbourne and Sydney which should be a lot of fun. Well my plans aren’t set in stone, but fingers crossed.

There are certain records I own that make me want travel to where they were recorded/inspired from. I love listening to a record and being able to hear the place the record comes from. Here are a few of my favourite records that make me want to travel to the places where they were recorded/inspired:

Paul Simon: Graceland

This is the record that was responsible for kick starting Paul Simon’s career back to overdrive. The record was mostly recorded in South Africa and features many South African groups and musicians. This record was largely responsible for launching the worldwide career of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. While the record was partly recorded in the USA as well, it is most well known for it’s mix of American influences, pop music and mbaqanga. And Graceland is probably the best damn song Paul Simon has ever written. Don’t agree? Paul seems to think so as well.

Sufjan Stevens: Illinois

Sufjan Steven once said he was going to write and record for every state in the United States. He probably won’t achieve this goal but he has already released a modern masterpiece for the noughties. The record is full of allusions and references to the state of Illinois whether from historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln or places in the state such as Chicago. This record is also about larger issues such as family, love and faith. A record for those who wish to learn more about the state of Illinois and to be deeply moved.

The Clash: London Calling

I listened to this record when I was on the plane to London. And I listened to this record the whole time I was there. One of the greatest records ever, a record that discusses the racial divide of England that still continues to this day. It is a record that urges people to fight the status quo. A record that is still relevant and important today as it was 29 years ago.

Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison

This is a live record by Johnny Cash recorded at Folsom prison in Folsom, California. I have never wanted to go to prison and I don’t ever plan to go, but after I heard this record for the first time I must admit I reconsidered my options in life.

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Hurra for 17. Mai! and you gotta fight for your right: Celia is feeling all Norway like inside

Well, well, well

How are you? I am OK. Actually, I am exhausted. Yesterday I went to the Genderfuck Ball held by all the Queer Clubs from all the tertiary institutions in WA to celebrate International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). It was a great night despite the drama from some of my friends. Plus, I got an excuse to dress up in a suit and tie, something I do not often do yet admittedly quite fun. After all, I am “genderfucking” so I can do whatever I want.

The 17th of May is the Norwegian Constitution Day. It is the day which celebrates the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in Eidsvoll in 1814. It is also IDAHO today as well. Hooray for equality and Norwegians everywhere! How did I celebrate these days? Well I celebrated IDAHO last night and for Norwegian Constitution Day… I am staying at home because I am looking after my little brother. But I will consider the Genderfuck Ball as my celebration for the day.

Have you ever had to fight for your right? I sometimes think I have to fight for my right… to wear whatever fucking t-shirt I want. I went to the record store to buy the new Death Cab For Cutie record (btw, it is grrrrreat) and I was in the shopping centre when a lady with child looked at me as if she was repulsed by the very sight of me and said to me “it is people like you that make me fear what is going to happen to the world” and glared at me as I looked at her confused at what just happened. I then realised she was upset because of the t-shirt I decided to wear which had this graphic on the front:

As some of you may know, I am huge fan of this band. This shirt is actually one of my favourite shirts I own. I think I’ll still wear it when I am in my 40s even if it looks completely ridiculous. People have glared at me when I have won this shirt before, but this was the first time someone actually approached me because of it. I am a believer of free speech, so if I like Bad Religion the band and if I think Christianity (and most religions in general) are bad to begin with, then I can express my opinion any fucking way I want. How come people can get away wearing just as offensive shirts saying “Australia: Love it or leave it” as a message towards immigrants to warn them not to complain about Australia because if they do, they should leave because they don’t belong. Love it or leave it, isn’t that a little black and white?

Everytime I see a shirt with a message like this, I get so angry inside. I am an immigrant, and if I don’t agree with Australia’s policies, views or whatever, then I will say that I don’t agree with them. If I do agree with Australia, I also say that I agree too. Everytime I see this shirt/slogan I always think that the person is a closet (or very open) racist and I want to punch them in the face. But I don’t punch them. In fact, I say nothing and I keep on walking.

I am not saying the woman who was angry with my shirt was wrong in expressing her opinion to me, she should be allowed to express her opinion to me. But I should be allowed to express my opinion to the knob heads who wear those “love it or leave it” shirts. In fact, I might start doing that. If people think I am a satanist (I am not) then I am gonna go up to all these racist pigs and tell them that immigrants helped build Australia and we will express our opinion towards this country no matter how positive or negative it is.

I suppose this blog is about being proud of who you are. I am just proud to be myself. Now, if I see a t-shirt making fun of me for that, I would buy that shirt too.

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Facebook: Celia likes to stalk people

Well, well, well

How are you? I am good. I am busy these days with study, work and life in general. I am trying to balance everything and I suspect I could be doing a better job. Oh well, I can’t wait for this semester to be over so I can just do nothing…. and work! But I want to go to Melbourne and Sydney so perhaps a trip to the eastern states are in the cards. Also I want to buy the new Death Cab for Cutie album… right now.

I was on Facebook today, actually I was on Facebook numerous times today actually. In fact, I probably go on Facebook at least 7 times a day, probably a lot more depending on how much free time I have. It is actually quite sad when I think about it. Facebook has become basically an excuse not to study and it gives me the sick pleasure of stalking my old classmates and checking out their photos (have you seen how some people celebrate their 21st birthday? They could feed an entire village in India!) In general, I am addicted to Facebook. And I suspect a lot of my friends are addicted too. I love Myspace, but damn, I really love Facebook. I think what I love about Facebook is that I can talk to my friends overseas. It makes me feel sometimes that I am not so far away from my friends overseas (at least virtually).

What I hate about Facebook are all the fucking invites to all the fucking applications! I get it, you want to know what type of guy i will marry, or what is my “sex IQ”, or what type of stereotype I fit into. Also we must not forget the infamous “superwall” which is basically the Facebook excuse of people forwarding spam on your wall with as many lewd and obscene photos as possible.

But there are some Facebook applications I like. Here is a small selection of the few I like:

Horoscopes:

I like this one because the one in the newspaper is always the same for me. I am always either having a 2 star day or a 3 star day. I want good financial advice from my Facebook horoscope! Warren Buffett approves.

Which Captain Planeteer are you?

I study Environmental Science. I am a greenie despite the fact I drive to Uni everyday. Also I loved (actually I still love) this cartoon when I was a kid. Wheeler is my favourite character, it gives me great pleasure that I am like Wheeler in this very scientific quiz.

LOLcats:

I love cats. I love bad grammar. I love stupid humour. I love LOLcats.

Fresh Prince:

Admit it, no matter how many times you watched Men in Black or Bad Boys, you know the best work Will Smith ever did was in Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He taught me all the important life lessons such as how to wear baggy jeans, how to wear a hat sideways and how to make fun of people who are much more intelligent and hardworking than you will ever be.

Chuck Norris:

Chuck Norris doesn’t need Facebook to stalk you. He already knows all about you.

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Troy Buswell: Oh Troy, you can sniff my chair anytime!

Well, well, well

How are you? I am good. I got all my assignment results back. I did OK in my Mining Law assignment, although it was probably the fluffiest essay I ever wrote so getting a fairly decent grade is a good sign. I got my Property Law assignment and my Pollution and Control assignments back and I thought I did pretty damn good in those assignments. So I am feeling pretty good right now, except for the fact that I am sick.

In Perth, Western Australia, it has been an interesting couple of days in WA politics, specifically involving the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party of WA has been in a state of flux for the last few years. They keep choosing loser leaders despite the fact that the Labor Party of WA aren’t exactly clean-shaved themselves. The latest leader of the Liberal Party of WA is Troy Buswell. Oh Troy, he is the definition of the “perfect man”, if you define the perfect man as a man who snaps a woman’s bra off when he is drunk, back stabs his colleagues when he promises their support, makes inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to another woman, and likes to sniff womens chairs and be in “mock sexual ecstasy”. Yesterday, his leadership was on the chopping board and the Liberal Party of WA had to decide whether to fire him as the leader of the party, thereby taking a stand on sexual harassment in the workplace and disloyalty to those who lie, or keep him as the leader, essentially approving sexual harassment in the workplace and colleagues lying to each other to get to the top. As this is the Liberal Party, Troy Buswell kept his job as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition.

Why? Really, WHY? While I am not a Liberal Party supporter, my respect of the Liberal Party would have increased if they kicked out Troy with a leader with at least the capacity to act his age. But because they decided to keep this sexual harasser of women/backstabber of colleagues, my opinion of the Liberal Party has decreased so low, it unless Troy cures cancer I suspect I will not continue supporting the Liberal Party for a very long time. In a way, I kind of wanted Troy to keep his job, so the Liberal Party can lose miserably to the incompetent Labor Party kind off as a Nelson Muntz “ha-ha!” moment for the Liberals.

What most surprised me is that fact that Troy does have support from the public (well at least from those who write to the West Australian). Writers to the editor have said that he was just trying to be “funny”, that the sexist comments/actions were just a “joke interpreted in the wrong light” and that he is just a “larrikin”. Um yeah, tell that to the woman who got her bra snapped off in front of a large crowd by him, because I am sure she thought it was a hilarious joke. Also, these writers of the editor seem to be kind of glad that people like Troy exist in WA politics because who wants “grey humourless politicians”? It also seems to be a strange coincidence that all these writers to the editor supporting Troy and his drunken sexual harassment tend to be men? I don’t want to sound like a bitter feminist, but if these men asked their wives/girlfriends if they would liked to have their bras snapped off, men sniffing their chairs and being the subject of lewd, sexual comments from a man that is not their husband/boyfriend, i think these men would be thinking differently.

Perhaps what is annoyed me mostly is what Kim Hames, deputy leader of the Opposition Party, said about why he supports Troy. He said that “To me Troy’s a rough diamond and you don’t fix a rough diamond by smashing it to pieces,” he said. “You take those rough edges off and you’ve got something that is of quality, …”. Um, I think Kim is going to be polishing Troy for a very long time before you get anything decent out of that man. Admit it Liberal Supporters, you know it is getting tough to support them in WA these days.

Troy is so sexy, I don’t understand why all these women scream “sexual harassment” when he sniffs their chairs.

On a lighter note (nothing to do with Troy Buswell), Carrie Brownstein (my favourite member of Sleater-Kinney) mentioned me on her blog! Well, kind of. I actually submitted a picture to her blog Monitor Mix of what I listened to music mostly. I mostly listen on my stereo, in my car and on my laptop at times. You can see the picture on Monitor Mix, but here is the picture I sent:

Also, to celebrate all things Carrie, here is a video of her with Fred Armisen from Saturday Night Live, as part of their comedy duo “Thunderant“:

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Against Me! and bruises: Celia had fantastic night despite the bruises on her boobs

Against Me! are one of my favourite bands. I have been a fan since I was 15 years old. I read any AM! related news I can, I buy every record they release, I in general love AM!. I think Tom Gabel is one of the best songwriters punk rock have ever produced. He is one of punk rocks most conflicted products, people accuse him of selling out on his past values while others still strongly support the band. I am of the latter. People of the punk rock scene hate their newest record New Wave, but after listening to the record I can say that there is nothing wrong with the band but with the scene itself. I personally think Tom Gabel hasn’t written his best work and he and his band are going to change the world. But before they do I went to see them play live yesterday night at the Amplifier Bar.

I’ve seen AM! before live and I’ve met the band before but I had a purpose tonight, get my tour poster signed and a photo with all the members of the band. When I got into the venue, I did my usual pit stops; merch, stealing tour poster from the wall, beer, toilet and getting a good spot to see the stage. The first band up were Break Even, a local band who I enjoyed. I didn’t know any of their songs but I had a good time. And the guys were nice when I talked to them after the show.

The next band were Crime in Stereo, a band from Long Island New York. Again, I didn’t know much about the band but I liked what I heard. They played tight, the singer was charismatic enough to get most of the girls in the audience drooling and the songs they played were good. Another positive, the lead singer is a funny dancer.

After Crime in Stereo was the long and patient wait for AM!. The band finally arrived on the stage 20 minutes late but once they started playing I forgave them immediately for the long wait. Their set consisted mostly of songs from their newest record (actually checking the set list I think they played the entire record). Other highlights from the night included “Pints of Guinness Make You Strong” from the Reinventing Axl Rose record and “Don’t Lose Touch” from the Searching for a Former Clarity record. The crowd was rough and brutal at times. At times it is painful to be an AM! fan. I was right at the front, and I kept getting kicked in the face by stage divers. I got terrible bruises on my breasts and legs and I kept getting felt up by some loser who was behind me. Warren the drummer from AM! noticed and offered sympathetic looks all night and threw a drumstick at me as a gift. After the show, I waited patiently outside the venue for the band. After about half an hour I met with James (the guitarist) and Andrew (the bass player) who kindly signed my poster and took a photo with me. We talked about Florida, Perth and where in Australia they should tour next (I said Darwin). I also sung Madonna songs with Andrew. After waiting for another half an hour Tom and Warren finally came outside. Warren recognised me and gave me a big hug. I got Tom and Warren to sign my poster and we got photo taken together (Tom and I were going for “blue steel” while Warren was going for “super happy”). We talked about their tour, the future and their previous show in Perth with the infamous “hitler dude” (Tom in retrospect believes that the guy didn’t know what the guy was doing and regrets kicking the guy out of the show). Overall I thought all the guys of the band were nice fellows (well I met them all before so I knew they were nice) and took the time to talk and hang with us. I love AM!, and last night just made me an even bigger fan, I am now officially an AM! uberfan!

Photos of the concert can be seen here.

James, me and Andrew.

Tom, me and Warren.

Cobra Celia d-_-b

So long ago: Celia realises it has been a while…

Well, well, well

How are you? I am good. I just had a study week. I admittedly didn’t use my week very productively, but I am trying to study up. I just got my exams now. I want to get really good grades (not that my grades are bad, but I am aiming for something higher).

So what has been up? Against Me! are playing on Wednesday. I can’t wait. YAY! I want to get a picture of me and Tom the lead singer. I got him to sign my As The Eternal Cowboy record, and I want a photo of Tom to hang on my wall.

Tom Gabel + Celia = True love because you know he digs MJ

The Breeders are coming to Perth on the 30th of July. I CAN’T FUCKING WAIT. I LOVE THE BREEDERS. Someone out there (perhaps Hanna) is probably asking “who are the Breeders?”. Who are the Breeders? Only one of the best bands to ever grace the Earth! For all those people who aren’t aware of the Breeders, the Breeders features Kim Deal (yeah, from the Pixies, also one of the greatest bands ever. It still shocks me how often you hear young bands ripping off from the Pixies when you turn on the radio). The Breeders also contains Kelley Deal, her twin sister. The band also contains two other members, but the line-up changes a lot. The band just released a new record called Mountain Battles which is AWESOME. I don’t care if I sound like Hannah Montana, it is an awesome record. It is so mellow and quiet, yet it packs quite a punch. Every record the Breeders release is different from the last. Last Splash is probably my favourite record they have released. Unfortunately, the Breeders release records only once every few years/decades because of Kim’s involvement with the Pixies (WRITE SOME NEW MATERIAL NOW) and Kim and Kelley’s drug problems. But Mountain Battles is worth the wait, so needless to say, I can’t wait to see them live.

A video of “Cannonball”, one of the best songs from the 90s

What have I been listening to lately? An unbelievable amount of REM. I am just going through their past records, specifically Green and Document. I think I am in an REM mood because they just released a new record called Accelerate and all the reviews say it is one of the best records REM have ever released, and REM have released a lot of good records (just ignore all the records after Automatic for the People).

REM are always open for new things, like making great records again!

I have also been in the mood for the Damned, specifically their record Damned Damned Damned. I think my renewed interest in the Damned is due to Henry Rollin’s love for the band. Yeah, he talked about them during the Spoken Word tour that recently came to WA. I love you Henry, my surrogate Punk Rock Dad.

The cover picture from Damned Damned Damned

I am looking forward to the new Death Cab For Cutie record, Narrow Stairs. In fact, I have been dreaming about the record. Nothing creepy, just dreaming about how the record would sound like. I have heard the song from the record “I Will Possess Your Heart” and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am gonna buy the record as soon as it arrives in the record store. They better come back to WA too.

The cover of the new Death Cab For Cutie’s record Narrow Stairs

I have also been listening to My Morning Jacket, also in anticipation of their new record coming out called Evil Urges. I really loved their record Z. A band I have also been enjoying despite my reluctance is Vampire Weekend. Yeah, I know they are a Paul Simon rip off circa Graceland period, but fuck, I love that record. I suspect I am a sucker for bands that even write pale imitations of my favourite songs. Not that Vampire Weekend write “pale imitations” of other peoples’ songs, but I suspect if Graceland was never recorded, Vampire Weekend would sound closer to their band name than to anything off the Graceland record.

Vampires have more fun on the weekend

Last but not least, I have been loving Feist despite my urges not to. I don’t know why I didn’t want to enjoy Feist. I resisted so long to buy her record The Reminder. But I gave in. I can’t help it, the Broken Social Scene always win no matter how bad or how good the band members’ side projects are. Although if I may say so, I actually enjoy her record Let It Die a smidgen more than The Reminder. I suspect it is because it is because of the song “One Evening” from Let It Die. Fuck, that is a good song. DAMN YOU FEIST!!!!

DAMN YOU FEIST!

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Henry Rollins Keeps it Real

Any one who is a reader of this blog would know that I am a huge Henry Rollins fan. I have always respected the man whether it came to his music, books, television and spoken word tours. I have considered Henry to my “Punk Rock Dad” in many ways. He has always inspired me so to put it lightly, I couldn’t fucking wait to see Henry Rollins live on stage! He was in Perth as a part of his new spoken word tour Provoked, about his travels, music and his take on life. As I have never seen Henry in the flesh, I was very excited to see Henry. I was so excited to see Henry that I bought tickets for both of his sold out shows.

The first show was at the Regal Theatre in Subiaco. I got there early to do one of the most important things, I bought merchandise. I got the signed poster, the shirt and the CD/DVD of his tour. Afterwards I got to my seat and waited patiently. Have you ever had the nervous feeling in your stomach, the kind that jumps out of you and it makes you a little twitchy? I had those bad. When Henry finally came on to the stage I nearly jumped out of my seat in excitement. His show consisted mostly of stories of his travels to countries such as Syria, Iran and Lebanon, his dislike over the sexualisation of death, rock and roll stories about him playing at the Ruts finally show and obsessing over Iggy Pop and UK Subs. Needless to say, it was a good show. The show was funny and enlightening, he doesn’t appear to try to hard to be funny, he just is funny. Even if his stories weren’t funny, he is a charismatic enough speaker to get the audience’s attention. And he spoke for nearly four hours straight, and the audience was still asking for more. After the show I waited patiently for Henry, but alas due to incorrect information I was unable to get to meet Henry and I was waiting at the WRONG door! It was heart breaking to say the least. But I learned a couple of things:

1) I am not the biggest Henry Rollins fan (until I get a tattoo of his face on my arm and I then buy tickets for every show in Australia, then I can finally call myself a true fan).

2) The average age of a typical Henry Rollins fan is about 40+.

3) Watching Henry Rollins fans discuss about Henry Rollins is hella funny even if you don’t even know who the fuck Henry is.

After my initial disappoint of not seeing Henry, I decided that the next night I would not miss Henry. It is a good thing I made friends with some of the other Henry-holics because they saved me a seat at the front of the stage for the second show at the Fly By Musician’s Club. I actually preferred the second night in some ways, despite the fact there was a heckler in the background. I think I enjoyed it more because it was more “intimate” and the fact that I could see Henry up close and personal. It was awesome. The 15 year old inside of me was going nuts. The second night consisted of mostly the same stories as the previous night, although it did contain a great story about Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne not talked about the previous night. After the show, I waited patiently for Henry. I made friends with another Henry Rollins’s fan and we exchanged cell phone numbers so we could wait at the different exits so we could meet Henry. After about 20 minutes of waiting, I got a call to get my ass on the left hand side of the building. I ran faster than Forrest Gump, and he ran fast. When I finally saw Henry I was struck how short he actually is. He is taller than be, but in my imagination I assumed he was at least 6 feet tall. I suspect my imagination has a habit to make things up. I got Henry to sign my ticket and my album cover of Damaged. I also got a picture with Henry:

Yes, I did kindly ask Henry to scowl, because he has the best scowl EVER. Afterwards we talked about Van Halen on their reunion tour (did you know that each member of Van Halen is getting 12 Million dollars each? Also Henry thinks Eddie is just doing the reunion it for the money while David is doing it for pride). We also talked about his travels more in detail and politics in general. I shook his hand and I walked off while he was driven back to the hotel. This is definitely a highlight in year full of highlights. Out of all the famous people I have had the opportunity to meet, Henry Rollins definitely had the biggest impact on my life. Dreams do come true! Kids, start stalking your heroes at a young age and you could end up like me!

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Random thoughts from a random individual: Celia likes to be random, like entropy!

Well, well, well

How are you? Yeah I am OK, I am OK. If it sounds like I am very tired, I am. I don’t sleep a lot these days. I have one more assignment to write, and a mid-semester to study for. But by Monday the 14th of April, all my misery will be over (until the exams). Plus on that day, I will be seeing Henry Rollins’s Spoken Word performance. Readers of my blog will know that I am a huge fan of Henry Rollins. I even argued (pretty damn convincing if I may say so myself) against Josh Homme on why Henry was the best Black Flag singer. But Josh was cool, he liked Henry in Black Flag. There are people who say Henry ruined Black Flag, but they are just idiots who deserve to get hit in the face. Henry Rollins is the renaissance man of punk. If I could end up half as intelligent as he is, I think I would be a very happy person.

Ever since V-Festival on Sunday, I have been in a Smashing Pumpkins mood. Yeah, I know Billy Corgan is an jerk and needs to be run over by a truck (not to kill him, just to break his legs) but I can’t help it, damn the Smashing Pumpkins had some fucking good songs.

You know what else I am digging? My crappy 3D glasses that I got from the festival. I LOVE 3D glasses! I have always wanted to own a pair, but every time I tried to get a pair, the people at the cinema would prevent me from stealing the glasses. But I now have a pair of my very own. Life is so much better with rose-tinted glasses (or in my case, blue and red tinted glasses). I quite like to type on my laptop with my glasses, alas I can’t wear the glasses too long because I get a bad headache. But if anything positive comes from these frequent headaches I get from wearing my 3D glasses, I am getting used to the pain so it doesn’t bug me as much.

You know what I did today? I went to a recycling centre. OK to be specific, I went to the Regional Resource Recovery Centre at Canning Vale. I was there for field trip for school. I learnt how they sorted through waste, how they made green waste into compost and mulch, and watched them crush plastic bottles. It was surprisingly entertaining. I suspect I get a kick out of learning. Did I just sound like a major nerd then? Actually, I get a kick out of learning, I just don’t like to hand in assignments or do exams. That is a much more accurate description of me.

What else have I been listening to? I love the latest record by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks called Real Emotional Trash. I have mentioned it earlier, but it is a brilliant record. It is my favourite record by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. It is very trippy and it sometimes very psychedelic. I would rank it as one of the best records released in 2008. Other records I have enjoyed listening to so far this year:

• Anything by the Weakerthans, especially their record Fallow.
• Jim Ward’s Quiet EP, but if you read my blog you would have known that.
• The Matches’ A Band in Hope and Decomposer.
• City and Colour’s Bring Me Your Love.
• Feist’s The Reminder.
• Revisiting my love for Buddy Holly.
• Ditto for Dinosaur Jr.
• Ditto for Roy Orbison.
• Ditto for Broken Social Scene.
• Ditto for Neutral Milk Hotel.
• Becoming a fan of The Replacements. I owe it all to Carrie Brownstein!

As readers of my blog would know, I am big fan of Carrie Brownstein. Someone suggested it was an unhealthy infatuation. I am not stalking the woman! I just think she was a brilliant guitarist, a great singer and is a fantastic writer. And she is a snappy dresser. It was actually the first thing I noticed about Carrie. I probably thought the first time I saw on TV or something, “yeah she is a good guitarist, but I love her jacket!”. Plus, I have noticed people that I admire or look up to are generally male. So isn’t this a good thing that I have found a female role model?

I have nothing interesting to add. But my cat is very cute. Here is photographic evidence:

Cobra Celia d-_-b

V-Fest is Best!

Perth’s V-Festival is probably the last major music festival until next year, and the Perth people were determined to make the most of it. V-Festival is another of Richard Branson’s creations, and it appears to be attempting to become another Big Day Out, except all the advertisements are by Virgin Mobile. So it should come as no surprise that V-Festival did not sell out. I can give a couple of reasons why V-Festival did not sell out.

1) It is held too late in the year. It is in April, in the autumn months where people are working and trying to save up for the next year’s batch of music festivals.

2) V-Festival is ridiculously expensive. It is the same price as the Big Day Out, but with about only the third of the number of bands playing.

3) Because it is held late in the year for music festivals, it is also after all the major music festivals have played, so everyone is broke.

Despite all these shortcomings, V-Festival does have the potential to become a staple in the Australian music scene.

At Perth’s first V-Festival there was an eclectic line-up of reformed bands from the 80s and the 90s including the Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran (who I hate with a passion) and The Jesus and the Mary Chain (I love this band so much, I would have gone to V-Festival just to see them. The Smashing Pumpkins were the just the icing on the cake). Other bands that played included Queens of the Stone Age, Modest Mouse, CSS, The Presets and Cut Copy.

I got to festival around two o’clock, just in time to see Hot Hot Heat play. I have never heard much of their music, but they kind of bored me. There were a few songs they played that were OK, perhaps I just wasn’t in the mood to see them.

After wondering around the festival and picking up a free pair of 3D glasses, I went to the main stage to check out Jesus and the Mary Chain. I have been a huge fan of this band for the last few years, ever since I grabbed a copy of their debut record Psychocandy. They broke up in 1998, but recently reformed in 2007, infamously making their stage return with Scarlett Johansson singing back-up vocals for Honey (fun fact: Honey is played in the last scene between Scarlett and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation). Their set consisted of their classic songs. Highlights included Roisin Murphy singing Honey with the band and the band closing with Reverence, easily one of the best songs ever written in the 90s.

After JATMC, Modest Mouse hit the stage. I am a pretty big Modest Mouse fan, and have been listening to their music ever since I discovered them by accident when I was 16. This was my first time seeing the band live (I was either too young to go or I was in another country when they came to Perth) so I was planning to have a good time. It seemed like the crowd wanted to have a good time as the strong smell of weed was in the air and everyone was carrying a beer (except for me, I was driving). It must be said that there seemed to be a lot more people smoking weed at V-Festival than at other concerts, probably because of the slack security. Modest Mouse mostly played from their newest record We Were Dead Before the Ship Sank, while Johnny Marr from the Smiths (oh my god! I saw Johnny Marr play!!!) played some of the best guitar I’ve heard in a long time. Johnny Marr fits perfectly in the band, I am glad he is not just relying on the royalty checks he gets from past Smiths records. Modest Mouse were fun and energetic and a good time was had by all. Although, some lady who looked like Danny Devito kept feeling me up no matter how many times I told her to stop. Her explanation for feeling me up? “I just want you bad”. It was really annoying, trying to sing along to the words of Dashboard and some ugly fat chick is grabbing my ass.

After Modest Mouse, Queens of the Stone Age hit the stage. I am a giant fan of this band. I love everything these guys have released. I am a dedicated QOTSA fan. I think Josh Homme is a brilliant songwriter and while Nick Oliveri is sorely missed, I still like the current line-up. It must be said that Josh is an amazing front man. He has the ability to control the crowd and make them do anything he wishes. The band played a set list consisting of songs from their latest record, peppered with past songs from their classic records. The crowd went nuts for No One Knows, Little Sister and Feel Good Hit of the Summer. The bass player is unreal too, he just went nuts on the stage, jumping up and down despite coming close to falling off the stage once or twice.

After QOTSA finished, I ran away from the stage as fast as possible as Duran Duran were going to hit the stage. I hate the band with a passion. All their songs suck. Hungry like a Wolf? Go eat a fucking burger! I decided to check out CSS, a band I didn’t know much of but I wanted to check out. It must be said, whoever did the sound for the show is deaf because it was way too loud. But despite the noise level, it was a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, dancing to their songs singing that “music is my boyfriend”. Highlight, the lead singer taking off her clothes to reveal she is wearing spandex. It was awesome. Another highlight, their guitarist who plays the keyboard as well is cool. She is the definition of cool.

After CSS, I ran to see the Smashing Pumpkins and I was lucky enough to make it all the way to the front despite all the middle aged women going crazy for Simon Le Bon. I have a love/hate relationship with Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. When I was younger I loved the Smashing Pumpkins, they were even cooler than most bands because they were on the Simpsons. You know you had an effect on music when you are asked to play on the Simpsons. For fuck’s sake, the Ramones and 3/4’s of the Beatles have appeared on the Simpsons! But at the same time, Billy is a jerk. A talented jerk, but he is still a jerk. So it was a surprise to see Billy laughing and smiling when he came onstage and saw fireworks going off. The Smashing Pumpkins (with only two original members) were tight and were great on stage. The band played new songs from the newest record (which I don’t own, but I was impressed by some of the songs) as well as their classic songs. Highlight of the night for me was 1979 being played by Billy solo acoustically. It was a magic moment worth all $130 of my ticket. The lowlight of the Smashing Pumpkins though was their crazy fans. Ok, I sang the words to one of their songs wrong, don’t call me a cunt because I forgot the lyrics!

After the amazing night, we snuck into the afterparty where I met Josh Homme from QOTSA and we talked about:

• his norwegian roots and we talked a little in norwegian
• his love for bitch beer (i mean chick drinks)
• that he is in touch with his feminine side
• how the sale of packet noodles is directly related to the Singaporean economy
• we argued who was the best Black Flag singer (I say Henry Rollins, he says Dez Cadena)
• Turbonegro
• the geography of Melbourne
• his hate for the band Muse, which made my friend Courtney nearly cry
• his love of smoking
• (throws a glass onto the road around this time)
• making fun of the lady who said he shouldn’t have thrown the glass on the road because she threw the cigarette on the ground
• his love of Nick Cave
• he knows what the pussy blues are
• he likes to fingerbang his wife
• how much better his wife’s new band is than her old band (old band the Distillers, new one Spinnerettes)
• him telling me to buy the new album when it comes out
• his love for his wife and daughter
• his fear of sharks

To see photos from the night click here. And proof that I met Josh…..

Cobra Celia d-_-b

Bands I missed: Celia reflects on the bands she missed out on

How are you? My assignments SUCK. But I have finished one, got two more to go. My brain hurts. Yesterday I bought Sleater-Kinney’s One Beat. I also bought New Found Glory’s Hit or Miss, their greatest hits, but I don’t care what people think of me. When I was 14 I didn’t have any problem playing the Misfits and New Found Glory next to each other. Although when I was 15-17 I completely dismissed pop-punk mainly because I was embarrassed because I had the audacity to play the Misfits and New Found Glory side by side. Now I don’t give a shit, and I continue to love New Found Glory despite the dirty looks punk rock fans will give me. When I was deep into my punk rock obsession (still going through it) me and some LAME punk rock friends I had made a rule that we would never make friends with Country music fans. “FUCK COUNTRY” I would scream at the top of my lungs. And then I became a Johnny Cash fan. And then I became a Carter Family fan. And then I discovered Alt Country and that was it, Country won me over.

But this is not about Country music. This is about bands I got into after they broke up or I never got to see them and they broke up. The rule is that I had to be at least 10 years old (because I imagine that is when kids start to choose their own music tastes) so Nirvana and many other bands are disqualified.

Pavement:

They broke up in 1999. I was 11 years old so technically they count, but admittedly a little early. I found out about Pavement in 2004 through their record Slanted and Enchanted. Ever since then I have considered Stephen Malkmus as some type of demigod. Yeah, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks are great, and their latest record that they released this year, Real Emotional Trash, is an early contender of record of the year, and yeah it is some of the best work he has ever released, but it just isn’t Pavement.

Sleater-Kinney:

I got into Sleater-Kinney in 2004. I bought their then just released record The Woods and I worked my way backwards with their discography. I love this band NEARLY as much as I love my cat, and that says a lot. Carrie, Corin and Janet, they were in the greatest all-female band ever. My favourite member is Carrie Brownstein, because she is a snappy dresser and she has a blog which is insightful and funny. I loved the way Carrie and Corin sang, sometimes it was like their voices were battling against each other. Well, they came to Australia for the 2006 Big Day Out. I was in Norway at the time, having the time of my life. But I assumed I could see them next time. And then the band decided to have an “indefinite hiatus” that broke my heart. It really broke my heart. I hope Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks come to Perth soon so I meet Stephen AND Janet Weiss who played drums in Sleater-Kinney and currently plays drums in the Jicks.

 

At The Drive-In:

The band broke up in 2001. I got into the band when I was about 15, when I was deep into my punk rock discovery. Relationship of Command is one of the most influential records ever made in the 21^st century. Listen to it, and then listen to every hardcore/emo/screamo band out there because every single one of those bands owe part of their success to ATDI. Yeah Mars Volta are cool and Sparta rocks, but still it isn’t ATDI. I had the pleasure of meeting Jim Ward from ATDI and Sparta when he played a solo acoustic show and I told him I loved his work from ATDI to the present, which made him smile. Note to reader, buy Jim Ward’s solo EP Quiet because it is some of the best work he has ever released. It is one of the best releases of the year.

Ray Charles:

I was this close to meeting Ray Charles. And I didn’t meet him because I didn’t know much of his music. And then after the festival I became a fan of him. And he fucking died the next year. A word of advice, if the artist is old, and you get a chance to meet them, take the opportunity because you may regret it.

A band I got to see because they reunited and they probably won’t play ever again: The Pixies

I can honestly say seeing the Pixies live is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I became a fan of the Pixies in 2003. A friend burnt me a CD of random Pixies songs. After playing the CD about 10000000000000x I decided I should buy a Pixies record and I bought Doolittle and Surfer Rosa (Doolittle is one of my favourite records ever). I thought that I would never get to see the band because they broke up so long ago. But then they reunited. And they were going to play in Perth. I can honestly say I felt complete and utter joy that day. I may be an atheist, but seeing the Pixies on stage even made me question whether there is a higher power.

Cobra Celia d-_-b