Nothing but Song

Feeling :  accomplished  Listening :  All My Love - Led Zeppelin  Reading :  Rosie Little\\\\\\\'s Cautionary Tales for Girls

I had to drop one of my classes the other day. I just did not understand what it was all about: Origins and Development of the English Language. I was gonna take it for an English elective since I need quite a few, but just looking at the text and everything got me so confused. So I am behind a class, which sets me back, but not by much. If I plan to graduate next spring, I can cram in another English course during summer, in addition to the French class I need. I think dropping the class will also affect my insurance eligibility so I have to factor that in within the next few months for a situation that I cannot elaborate on in this blog.

However, I finally have a name for the illness I’ve been suffering from. “Prolonged upper respiratory infection.” Hoo. Load off my mind, yo. I thought it was gonna be something like super serious, like, “OMG GILL, UR GUNNA DIE,” but it’s not. I am on antibiotics, and I have to take cough syrup before I go to bed. So die bug, die! rofl.

I got my signed Gym Class Heroes poster in the mail today. I had to rearrange my fangirl wall to make it fit. So now on my fangirl wall (right above my bed, rofl) I’ve got: GCH, The Killers, The Academy Is…, Paramore, Metropolis, Sugababes, The Little Mermaid. I suppose I should count my closet as well, since that’s got Panic, M.I.A., Justin Timberlake, TAI, Cobra Starship, and Patrick Wolf on it. The wall opposite has my Asian art, my calendar, my family collage, my bulletin board. Although I should probably change my “Have You Seen This Wizard” poster to some obscure art thing so it fits with the other things on the wall. But it’s quite nice to have that little fangirl extra up there.

Corinne posted her review of our Richard Cheese concert, so I’m gonna gank it off her again. Italics iz mee. I edited it as well because, a lot of the edits were her personal reaction. But she pretty much nailed how I felt so that’s why I took it.

Gill and I went to see Richard Cheese and his band, Lounge Against the Machine, at The Joint at the Hard Rock on Saturday night. Needless to say, we had a fun time, it was an AWESOME show and we partied our asses off.

We got to the venue a little bit after 9. We got lost on the way over to the Hard Rock. (I was driving and I’m a bit of a dolt about getting lost, because I’m the kind of person who just keeps driving. I knew where the venue was, sorta. I’d only been to the Hard Rock one other time in my life.) I was worried that they may have started the show already, but Gill assured me that Richard was drunk and he wasn’t going to start on time. She said, “If not, we’ll send up a tray.” Next time there’s a gig, we are DEFINITELY buying that fine ass man a drink.

We ordered a couple of martinis at the bar, which cost Gill a whopping $18 not including tip! What a ripoff! First Ticketmaster raped me of $68 for two tickets in the back near the bar, standing room only, and now my poor BFF got raped by the Hard Rock schmucks. No matter. We were there to see Mr. Cheese and it was worth it in the long run. (Btw, the olives they put in their martinis were terrible!) (I’ve had some martinis in my life, but the ones we had that night were awful. And Ketel One normally tastes pretty good. Boo.)

Then the show started. The band started playing and after about 5-10 minutes, Richard came onstage. He came out with a huge ass martini glass and told the audience he was pretty drunk. Gill and I laughed about this because she was right. This particular gig was being filmed for his concert movie. Here are the songs that I can remember him performing despite being in my drunken stupor:

“Rio”

“Brass Monkey”

“Down With the Sickness”

“WKRP in Cincinnati”

“On the Wings of Love”

“Baby Got Back”

“Closer”

“Aqua Teen Hunger Force Theme”

“Three’s Company Theme”

“People Equals Shit”

“Another Brick in the Wall” (although one of the stagehands sang it karaoke style instead of Richard)

“Shake Ya Ass”

“Toxic”

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

“Don’t Cha”

“Me So Horny”

“Smack My Bitch Up”

It was a very interactive show. I wish we were up closer because he threw some cool swag at the crowd like t-shirts, CDs, magnets, and he went into the crowd and joked around with some of the members of the audience. At one point he started to walk toward the back and Gill pushed me toward his direction. “GO! GO OVER THERE!”, she yelled at me. In my drunkenness, I got nervous and chickened out. But I had a chance to redeem myself later on.

He asked if there were any ladies in the audience whose birthday was in January to come on up. This time Gill was able to sober me up enough so I could run up there. I lied, though, my birthday is actually in August, not January, but it’s not like he was going to do an ID check! LOL. So we all got to grab a letter. Each of us lined up in order so our letters spelled out “Richard Cheese”. It was so funny. He called out, “Hey, we got some pussy on the stage!” It was one of the best moments in my life and it will be immortalized forever on the DVD, so if you happen to see it, if you see a girl in a red coat and black dress holding the letter “H”, and trying to dance in my most seductive yet endearingly dorky way, that’s me!!!

The only thing that really bothered me about the show was because it was being filmed for a concert movie, it was not continuous. Richard and the band had to stop several times so that their stage manager could give them their directions. Plus, people were coming and going in and out of the venue which annoyed me. At one point it seemed like half the audience was gone. They played “Rio” twice, but I didn’t mind because I love Duran Duran. “Rio” was probably the best song they did that night, IMO. Gill was disappointed that they didn’t play “Somebody Told Me” by The Killers because that’s her favorite band of all time. At one point they asked for us to submit song requests. She handed me a piece of paper and I wrote down “Nasty Girl” by Vanity 6. That would have been the perfect song for him to cover!

After the gig Richard came out to sign autographs. He is a SUPER NICE guy and so sweet. He said, “Come over here, sugar.” It was so nice of him to come out and do that for all of us because after all, we are Cheese fans! I got my picture taken with him and had my “H” signed. I kissed him and left some of my lipstick on his cheek. It felt really good to hug him. You know what it felt like, authentic and genuine. I didn’t feel like he hugged me because he had to, it’s because he wanted to. I didn’t want to let go of him, but I knew I had to. Then he told me, “I want you to send your picture to me, okay?” and I said, “I will.”

Then Gill posed with Richard for her picture and I took it with her iPhone. She had him sign her ticket stub since she had nothing else for him to sign. He traded Sharpies with her, I think, because his Sharpie wasn’t working right. She gave me the Sharpie to keep because he touched it. I know, it’s over the top, but when you meet your favorite male singer, you feel like that. He also told her she should change her name to “Slim” because Gill’s full name is … and she had to spell it out for him. Hey, Slim sounds pretty good, it fits her personality. I would have bought some of his merchandise had some douchebag not stolen my purse last Wednesday night, but you all know about that drama. We also scored free copies of his Tuxicity CD. (In the picture we took together, I think I look fat (is my default on MySpace), but he’s quite photogenic. Dick was a sweetheart and really accessible. Too bad he won’t be performing or touring anymore.)

Afterwards Gill and I chowed down on some really good grub at Blueberry Hill, which is kind of like IHOP. She came up with a great idea to have Dick play at my 28th birthday party in August. But he is frickin’ EXPENSIVE as hell. It’s $5,000-$10,000 for him and the band to play a private party. If I had the money, I would DEFINITELY hire him. Damn it, I wish I was rich! Even if I can’t come up with that much money between now and August, which I probably won’t, I will still throw a birthday party and play Cheese songs. He’ll be with us in spirit, at least!

Gill and I have an inside bet for the next time we go to one of his shows. Hopefully I’ll be brave and ballsy enough to do what it is she bet me $50 to do. I won’t reveal what it is, but I think I will go through with it. Don’t quote me, though! But it will be funny and hilarious as hell. (OH GOD, if she goes through with it, I swear to GOD…)

Corinne and I have been spending a lot of time together. It’s nice to do things without my family. Most of the other friends I’ve made here in Vegas are on the North side, and it’s always me that has to go up there (I live in the Southwest). Not one of them has made an effort past Erin and Jason on my 23rd birthday to spend time with me. They’re all kinda lazy too. My idea of a good time is a gig, or movie after work and dinner after to shoot the shit. Nothing terribly taxing or expensive. They get all, “I dunno…” on me. It’s like, “Look, I don’t see you guys that often. Can’t you make the effort?” The only friends I’ve got on this side of town that I want to spend time with is Corinne and M.

M and I saw Mystere, and that was fun. But I was hungry and tired so I didn’t stay out longer than the show.

And honestly, I think Corinne just puts up with me. I can’t believe how bitchy I sound sometimes, rofl. But we make it work. We’re incredibly different in terms of how we see the world. Her other friend N’s idea of being a friend is texting her at 3 o’clock in the morning about weird shit. I make an effort to spend time with Corinne, even if it’s just dinner and a movie.

I dunno. I guess from an outsider’s POV, I lead a very lonely life, and I suppose I do. But I’m not gonna cry about it and slit my wrists in the corner, y’know? I’ve got better things to do. If I let my loneliness eat me alive, I couldn’t survive. And I need to survive.

?: “How do you and your friends spend your time together?“

Feeling :  accomplished  Listening :  The TV reports on Monte Carlo\\\'s fire  Reading :  Atonement

Since this domain is called nothingbutsong, I felt it appropriate to start writing things on music in the new year. From time to time, I will post articles for a column I will call “All the Pretty Faces” about musicians I like, along with a few YouTube videos and download links so you can get to know them as well. They won’t be typical profiles about musicians. Stuff like full name, bio, how long they’ve been in the business (unless it’s relevant to whatever I’m writing).

I will also be starting another column called “Time and Place, Suspended in Space.” It will be based on Songbook/31 Songs by Nick Hornby. Basically it will just be me fangirling about music in an essay type format. Sorta like Ruined Music, only the music isn’t ruined.

Also, I will be profiling unsigned bands in my “Ya Heard” column. If you are an unsigned band, know someone in the band, or simply are a fan who wants to get your band some exposure, please forward me some links, MP3s, videos, whatever you’ve got. I will be more than happy to get the word out if they’re worth it. I know I’m nobody, but you know what? Any press is good press.

This is me taking my career into my own hands. I am a writer, and I really have no excuse not to start writing. Mind you, Nothing but Song will remain a personal blog. I’ll still be posting about my life. I’ll still be posting stuff about my stories. But there will be entries that will take on professional tones. You heard it here first.

Mutya Buena’s Untapped Potential

I am a big fan of Sugababes, from the “One Touch” era to their current “Change” era. It’s edgy pop music. It’s not straight pop, like most pop music is, because the girls write their own lyrics. The songs they write deal with things all girls everywhere can relate to. Girl groups don’t last very long in the States, so I’m glad that Humaira introduced them to me during their “Angels with Dirty Faces” era.

After I got “Angels with Dirty Faces” from the US iTunes store, I went and got “One Touch” as well. I LOVED “Overload.” The trauma of seeing their lineup change so often didn’t affect me so much. I think that this is maybe because I’m based in the States and the girls haven’t found the right time to bring their music over. After I realized that Siobhan Donaghy sang lead on “Overload,” I went and bought her record on iTunes as well. “Revolution in Me” plays well today as it did when it was released in 2003. It’s not a secret, but my domain name is named after her song, “Nothing but Song.” So debating how cool I think Siobhan is is moot.

So I will debate the trajectory of Mutya Buena’s career. I love that she is half-Filipino, because that’s what I am too. The music she makes would definitely transfer well here in America. We love our R&B starlets over here! Anyways, I’m two years older than her, so I’m considered her “ate.” As such, I am worried about her. I had high hopes for “Real Girl” after hearing the demos on her MySpace. I didn’t realize it until the other day, but every single she is known for, she has been trading on someone else’s name. That sounds mean, but it’s true.

On This is Not Real Love, she was the guest vocalist on George Michael’s track from his “Twenty Five” greatest hits album. A solid pop track, Mutya’s vocals add that right kind of “ooh” to it.

On Real Girl, she samples “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz.

On Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control), she was the guest vocalist. It’s technically a Groove Armada song.

Although Just a Little Bit is my absolute favourite Mutya song I have ever heard, it didn’t do well on the charts at all. I was so excited when the video was released. But when I actually saw the video, I felt it did not fit the song at all.

On B Boy Baby, which samples The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” (which you might remember from “Dirty Dancing”), Amy Winehouse sings backup on the song, but again, Mutya uses someone else’s beat. And, she is not alone on this track either.

Notice how the videos for “Just a Little Bit” and “B Boy Baby” look practically the same. Mutya walking around singing with hot boys in the background. Is her label too cheap to splurge on cooler videos? Who knows? I don’t. “Real Girl” was a good transitional video though. You saw her being a “real girl.” Much like “Freak Like Me” was a good transitional video for Sugababes. But her subsequent videos weren’t all that impressive.

It’s hard to keep up with press seeing as how she’s so far away. In retrospect, tracking down press isn’t hard since everything’s on the Internet these days, but I have a Google News alert set up and none of the things coming down the wires are particularly interesting.

She covered Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car and The Kooks’ Naive for Radio 1. I don’t count these as trading on someone else’s name, as covering songs for Radio 1 is expected.

A few demos she posted on MySpace before Real Girl was finalized were 2 The Limit, Addiction, Darkside, Love Story, and Sunshine. “Wonderful” and “Suffer for Love” began as demos on her MySpace but showed up on Real Girl. I think “2 the Limit” was probably too poppy to be on the record, but I think it’s a fun song. It should’ve been cleaned up and made a B-side.

I know that Mutya is busy being a mum, so maybe she’s only doing what she has to do. I know that originally she didn’t even want to go solo. She wanted to focus on her family, being a “real girl,” and songwriting (which I think she’s brilliant at, she’s pretty much co-written every single Sugababes have released), but they offered her a production deal she couldn’t refuse. I honestly think she has a lot of potential to be a massive star. She just has to work a little harder. She gave Sugababes a sort of “street” edge, and now that she’s gone, they’ve gone the generic pop route. None of the tracks from “Change” really stood out to me. I can predict singles from an album after hearing it a few times, and I didn’t hear “Change” or “Denial” as singles. I love “Surprise” though, but that’s for another article.

So to end this, check out Mutya’s record. I think it’s brilliant.

Feeling :  creative  Listening :  Bombastic Love - Britney Spears  Reading :  Atonement & Secret Smile

Another one of my patented stream of consciousness blogs….

On my two days off from work last week I laid up in bed, trying to fight my illness. But I’m too young to fight it (if you know what that means, cookie for you). I’ve got a sore throat, in all its phlemgh-y goodness. Last week it was my nose, this week, it’s my throat. Eeuuuwww.

I haven’t been this sick in ages. I avoided picking up my phone and leaving my house unless I absolutely had to, because basically I couldn’t talk. Luckily my mom’s the only one who was blowing up my phone but I couldn’t ignore her any longer. I think my dad snuck on his phone and told her to call me when he saw me sprawled out on the couch the other day. For a few days there, I sounded like my dad, who is also sick. All flat and deep. Guh.

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and get a Flickr account. I’ve called it “Her Greatest Hits Collection.” I’ve gone through and selected all of my favourite photos that I’ve taken over the years. Even if it means digging up shiznit from YEARS ago. Just pictures I’ve taken that visually look good, remind me of good times, and all that.

I’ve installed the Flickr widget for WordPress, and the LibraryThing widget too, if you didn’t already guess. *points to sidebar*

I’ve decided to take stock of all the shows I’ve seen here on the Strip so far.

Thunder from Down Under - twice
Spamalot at the Wynn
Carrot Top at the Luxor
Mamma Mia at the Bay
Mystere at TI

Carrot Top was good too. His use of props during the show was seamless. Loved his rock and roll bit at the end. He parodied everybody in costume. A lot of his jokes catered to the tourist crowd, but I know that most of the people in the crowd that night were employees. So they weren’t laughing, rofl.

I wasn’t sure how they were gonna fit all the Abba songs into Mamma Mia with the information that I knew about the show beforehand, but they did it! And it was really good! It’s definitely for adults. There was adult language (when Donna says “holy shit” during the show, I heard this little kid sitting behind us say, “She said shit!”), references to drugs and sex that I don’t think a child would understand, but it was fun nonetheless. Seeing those Abba costumes was a trip. I really had a good time, save for the fact that my sister - FOR SOME REASON - drove in a big circle to get to the Bay. She knows where it is. Before I worked there, we had been there a couple of times. I’m like, “The fuck?” I swear, I can’t take her anywhere, rofl.

Mystere was amazing. It was a dress rehearsal, but there weren’t any accidents or anything during the show. There was so much going on that I didn’t know what to focus on. The comic relief was seamless, and clearly there to help fill the time in changing sets.

There was one performer that I called la Bebe, which means “the baby” in French, but her actual character name is Bebe Francois. So I was pretty close. She had the baby thing down pat, down to the little laugh and movements. Then there was sort of a caricature of a clown without makeup, wearing a messy suit and wearing black Converse. If the website is correct (and they say information changes constantly), his character’s name is Brian le Petit. He warmed up the audience and had his own act during the show. Very funny!!

The music was live too. They were set up on either side of the stage. Mostly new age, but it definitely helped the story along. I miss that in live theatre! Spamalot had a fake band in their pit. I felt cheated, haha. And we were too far up at Mamma Mia to see if there was a live band or not.

Loads of audience participation too. Baby Francois chose a woman in the audience early in the show to play with her big ball and called her Mama. Then there was a part where la bebe stole a golf cart thing and whisked her “mama” away. La bebe and her “mama” appeared during one of the scenes later on, riding in the golf cart, and her “mama” was dressed like a clownish version of la bebe!

I went with my friend M, and there was a scene where two guys in green pants did a scene called “Hand to Hand.” They were really bendy and the shapes they created with their two bodies was mind-bottling. I turned to M and said, “If only men like that existed in real life.” I was joking of course. I couldn’t date a guy hotter than me. And M said derisively, “They’re all gay.” haha.

There’s just so much to say that I would probably take the rest of this entry to gush, but if you ever come to Vegas, I would highly recommend taking in a Cirque show. I’m re-reading what I wrote, and of all the cool stuff we saw: the guy with the cube at the beginning, the trampolines, the Taiko drumming, the double faces, and the Chinese poles, all I can talk about is la bebe. Freudian slip, maybe? haha!

The only show I wish I had seen was Siegfried and Roy. I’d told my parents for years that we should go. We had been coming to Vegas for close to a decade before we finally moved here. Seeing Siegfried and Roy’s billboard gracing the Mirage was one of those things that you saw as you drove past the Strip from the 15. But they always said, “Next time.” Next time became never, because then there was the accident. *le sigh* There is rumours that they want to make a comeback, but I think their time has passed, considering.

There’s something to be said
about self-control as
you starve yourself
to the pain
Wasting away like the breeze
Stones in a river
Captured
All she can think about is
how empty her life is
in relation to
her empty stomach

I write my best poetry when I’m feeling emo.

I ganked this from my friend Corinne’s MySpace blog. We went and saw Cloverfield last night, and it was a really excellent movie. But instead of writing out what I thought, I pretty much agreed with her, so here’s our combined review. I put my additional commentary into it with parentheses…

I don’t want to give too much away. In fact, I will give this piece of advice to anyone who wants to see it: The less you know about the movie, the better. Another word of important advice: STAY IN THE THEATER TO WATCH THE MOVIE UNTIL THE CREDITS END ALL THE WAY THROUGH. (I made it a point to stay until the end of the credits. I was like, “The lights haven’t gone up yet. Maybe we’ll find out more!!”) This is very important and crucial to the whole mystery that is Cloverfield. Yes, you will be anxious as hell for the damn marathon list of credits to roll up and it will feel like it will take forever, but trust me, IT WILL BE WORTH IT, especially if you love a good mystery. On the surface, it’s a monster movie, something that has been done many times before, but it’s a mystery at it’s core. Something different. Trust me.

I will say that I believe that Cloverfield is a parable for modern times. It’s a monster movie for the internet generation. Nowadays the internet and websites like Youtube where anyone can upload whatever videos they want dominates our lives. It is the first movie of it’s type that I have seen that simulates the feeling of someone actually videotaping all the action that takes place throughout the whole movie, giving it a realistic feel. When you first start watching it, it is disconcerting because you don’t know what to expect. It almost feels like we are invading the characters’ personal space, which felt odd and voyeuristic, even uncomfortable. Like I said, this is a parable for the internet age, so in some weird way, it imitates reality because in all forms of media in our time period is saturated with various outlets of peeking into peoples’ private lives. (The whole theater started laughing when the Statue of Liberty’s head went flying down the street and landed near everyone ’cause the characters onscreen whipped out their camera phones. I think it was more of a “Dude, I totally do that!” kinda laugh, you know. The “mea culpa” laugh).

There are many mysteries in the movie that cannot easily be explained. I went through a few websites tonight trying to decipher some clues. I recommend you look for the clues on the internet AFTER you see the movie and already know what happens. This is a movie that will have you and your friends talking and debating about it for hours. It was suspenseful, funny, sad, violent, gross and disgusting at times, and frustrating because Gill and I found ourselves yelling at some of the stupidities of the main characters and the other people around them. I believe JJ Abrams wanted us to see the stupidity of human nature during a crisis, which makes sense. Gill and I screamed a lot during the movie because there are some truly frightening moments in it, and what I thought was interesting are the things that you don’t see that are the scariest because it leaves a lot to your imagination and leaves more of an impact. (Yeah, dumbasses around us kept giving us looks. I was gonna dump my soda on their heads!)

There are 9/11 allusions all over the place, which I expected because the movie is set in New York City. I actually got a headache watching Cloverfield, not because I didn’t enjoy the movie, because I did, but I was so much on edge and wondered what was going to happen next. (I drank too much before the movie so that’s the only physical discomfort I experienced during the film. I had to use the ladies room when they got stopped in the mall. That, and I got hungry even though I ate a small bag of popcorn before the movie, rofl).

It was a little annoying at times that the editing was uneven because it is supposed to simulate a handheld video camera so that could have been the other reason I had a headache. Maybe this is a new form of cinema verite, although I don’t know what other kind of movie would have a story that would require this type of editing. However, I read critics’ reviews that compare Cloverfield to The Blair Witch Project in terms of how it was filmed. Despite all that, I enjoyed the movie very much and I liked that it didn’t have a typical Hollywood ending, although in a strange way, I expected that it was going to end the way it did. Some people said, “That’s gay!” when it finally ended. I heard one guy say, “I felt kind of cheated.” I didn’t think so, although I had mixed feelings about the end. Part of me thought the ending was appropriate, part of me thought that maybe it should have ended differently. But like I said before, even if you think the movie has ended the way that you think it does, there is that very last clue at the end of the end credits that will make you think otherwise. You will leave the theater asking yourself many questions. I know I did. (OH GOD, Corinne and me were debating this in the car on the way to In ‘n’ Out. We didn’t know what to make of it, we were so confuzzled!)

NOW GO SEE IT ALREADY!!!!

So yeah, if you want a good mystery/horror/thriller, go see Cloverfield. I was really getting into it. There was a part where the military was raining hell on the creature, and the characters were all hiding in stairwells. I saw the creature, and yelped, “RUN BITCH!!” rofl. That got a few laughs/weird looks from the peanut gallery. I always get into a movie when I watch it. I’m yelling at the screen, I’m bouncing up and down, I’m laughing and clapping my hands. I dunno. There are some places I can contain my excitement; a movie theater is NOT one of them.

Ugh, ugh! I go back to school next Tuesday. There just isn’t enough time in the world to do nothing. I’ve spent half this vacation, feeling achy, sneezing, and coughing into tissues. That is not fair.

Plus I have no money for books. I’m serious. Nada. And I can’t do the library thing again because most of my classes are straight textbook classes, boo. I am living on whatever cash I have in my wallet, which isn’t much. Luckily payday is this week, so I should be okay until then. But still.

Well, it’s late, and I have to work, so I hope this entry made some sense. At least it got out all the stuff in my head.

?: “Have you ever written a stream of consciousness blog? Just wrote whatever came to you and didn’t stop until it was out of your head?”