donielle’s Neighbors

Leeone at Acadia Cafe, Minneapolis (09/04/08)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:37:23 -0400

09/05/2008 08:29:50 ♥ written by vu ()

Tour Dates

09/10/08 Boston Music Festival - Ned Devine’s Boston, Massachusetts
09/20/08 Atlantis Music Festival @ Smith’s Olde Bar (Atlanta Room) Atlanta, Georgia
10/02/08 Spike Hill Brooklyn, New York
10/05/08 Rockwood Music Hall NYC

Discography

[2003] in this life, on this road.	[2004] Hail to the Queen	[2007] Imaginary Biographies, B-Sides (Digital Only)
[2007] Imaginary Biographies

Set List ♥ Arcadia, Minneapolis (09/04/08)

Leerone - To Fill the Void

Leerone

The Acadia sits across the 400 Bar, but you wouldn't know it was called the Acadia as the signage reads "RIVERSIDE". I've seen this place from the outside through its numerous large windows and looking in at the band on stage.

I don't know how often these "Diverse Emerging Music Organization" (DEMO) shows goes on, but they seem to operate on donations and benefits local artists. I caught the last few songs of Backstories, a full band and all nicely dressed. I don't really know the band's back stories (haha), I'll bet they get that a lot. They have some songs available for download on their myspace.

Eli Ratner said it was his first time playing (I thought he meant his first gig ever), but I guess he meant at the Acadia. He seems really comfortable on stage with his acoustic guitar. It would seem, according to his myspace, that he's normally a duo with Peter VonDeLinde.

It's clear that the real star is Leerone, who earlier in the day appeared in St Paul's Station 4. The report I got was that her keyboard "got messed up" and she ended up renting a full Yamaha keyboard.

Her set was understandably short, lasting no more than 45 minutes, and included a "made up" a cappella song that's not written on the set list.

Highlight of the show seems to be the announcer calling her "Leeroni" and "Leerona".

PS, more details later, including pictures and art.

Links: www.leerone.com myspace.com/mynameisleerone

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Vox Hunt: Ticket Stub

nobody@vox.com(Vox Hunt) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:00:36 -0400

Show us your last ticket stub.

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Come and say hello at dConstruct

nobody@vox.com(Moocards) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:21:06 -0400

Some of the MOO Crew are heading down to Brighton tomorrow, for dConstruct. It's a one day conference - with a great line up - which we're all looking forward to.

Speakers aside, it's a very sociable conference - and we're looking forward to meeting new people there too. If you spot any of us, do come and say hello - and give us a card, if you have one!

We've seen a few orders whizzing through in the last few weeks, which we'd like to see in real life.

Like these MiniCards, by cole h, for the new app he's working on

And these Business Cards, by builtbydave

We've also spotted these great shots by people a little further afield. Sadly, I'm not sure we'll get to see these in person, but they definitely worth a look here:

Great photography and products make for great cards, by raisinsawdust

These cards are super-happy-cute, by Chisa

And more great cards via Wordle, this time by echo4ngel

And last but not least - I love these kind of shots. This one is by El Buen Matador

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W♥M Updates (September 2008)

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:36:12 -0400

09/03/2008 21:26:18 ♥ written by vu ()

Love Psychedelico - Standing Bird

Love Psychedelico

The Valley Girl's swanky new hair

I can't believe September is already here.

Appearing tomorrow at the Temple Bar is Love Psychedelico, who we've previously mentioned a few times on W♥M.

It's too insane, this band sold out the 14,201 seated Nippon Budokan in Japan - several times, I might add - and the lucky people in Los Angeles gets to see them in an intimate setting.

Find out more details about the gig on our news.w♥m and their official (US) and myspace.

Also, tomorrow I'm supposed to be around for a free show at the Acadia Cafe to see singer/songwriter Leerone. I believe earlier tomorrow she will also be at Station 4 in St Paul for the "Concert for Change Festival". The republican convention happening in St Paul is just coincidental.

You can find details of her other appearances on her website or the 'space.

One last announcement: many of you probably don't know that I am a closet comic book fan. I am the creator of the almost-ten years george-perez.com and I got the announcement that Perez was involved in an auction to help save and preserve "the Superman House". It's all over the news, but I thought I'd mention it here as I feel strongly about it. You can read all about it on ordinarypeoplechangetheworld.com

By the way, the most interesting item in the auction is a hand-written draft of Neil Gaiman's upcoming book. It's currently at $530, way above my budget.

In actual W♥M news: the podcast is going strong!! Stronger than ever.

I'm pleased to announce the re-appearance of former W♥M writer Valley Girl on this Sunday's podcast. Now that I've embarrassed her, I can guarantee another awesome dudecast.

Also, I have just added radioexile.com to news.weheartmusic.com. If you have a blog and/or website and would like to be on our link roll, just send me an email.

W♥M #11

OH! Also, as a favor, I 'investigated' wordpress using a free version via weheartmusic.blogsome.com. I spent a lot of time looking its codes and I can tell you that if you ever want to customize your WP blog, you will need to really understand how CSS works. CSS have really replaced the original html, in my opinion. It's very flexible and it's also easier to understand.

My first impression is that it's half-manual and half-automatic. WYSIWYG doesn't always work, even with some of the best plugins... and if you really want to do make splashy posts, you still need to hand-code things (much like how I compose all my posts prior to putting it on vox).

I also like the ability to create users and "comment approvals". There's a lot of cool stuff, but you know, for new users, I would have to recommend them to check out vox and sites.google.com. I'm not afraid to admit that WP is too complicated.

OH2! Watch my crappy video! The music at the end is by Dylan Champagne, which I will be reviewing soon-ish.

Search Box!

UPDATE 9/4/08 8:40pm: People have complained about the vox search - I will admit it's not the best (I think it doesn't index anything older than 6 months). So starting today, you will see a box on the very low/right of the sidebar. The search also search W♥M News and Press Release, as well as any future websites in the WHM family. I have tested out IE and Firefox and even Chrome, but if you are having issues, please let me know.

Also, as a special bonus, is a drop-down menu of current writers. Clicking on a name will take you to their articles. If you're still active, send me a note and I will add your name to the list.

Links: weheartmusic.com news.weheartmusic.com

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Vox Hunt: Stunner Shades

nobody@vox.com(Vox Hunt) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:00:13 -0400

Show us your favorite pair of sunglasses.

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Meet Waylon

nobody@vox.com(Anne) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:30:52 -0400

IMG_3827, originally uploaded by neilcar.

Ugh, back to the grind today after a nice, lazy four-day weekend. I did get the house somewhat cleaned up this weekend (because I had dinner guests on Monday)...but other than that it was all about lounging about and playing with dogs and cats and donkeys.

Donkeys? Yes! Donkeys! Last night Neil and I went to some friends' for dinner. While we were there we got to meet Waylon - their one week old baby donkey. He is the cutest, fluffiest thing I have ever seen!

When we pulled up he came bounding over to the fence to greet us. Apparently he had just learned to run the day before...he also made his first hee-haw then. He didn't share the vocal skills with us last night, though. In the photo (taken by Neil) he is imitating Mom and pretending to eat the hay, but he doesn't have his teeth yet. He also noses at her food in the bowl and licks the salt block like she does. It is insanely adorable.

They also have a couple horses (one I believe is a rescue horse) - Georgia and Lakota. Two dogs - Scrappy and Jesse (or maybe it is Jessie?). And several rescue cats... unfortunately the only names I remember are Woody and Banjo. Banjo was a kitten only a few months old that was still in his crazed kitty stage. I had a blast playing with him.

The more I am around places and people like this, the more I envy their living style. I want to move farther out into the country where I can have some more land, fewer neighbors, and maybe even a donkey of my own. Someday...

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Vox Hunt: Making the Band

nobody@vox.com(Vox Hunt) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:00:09 -0400

Show us an instrument you know how to play.

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Regurgitator - Love and Paranoia

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:04:06 -0400

09/02/2008 00:59:20 ♥ written by vu ()

Regurgitator - Blood and Spunk

Regurgitator

Tour Dates

09/07/08 KING TUTS, Glasgow, Scotland
09/08/08 ACADEMY 3, Manchester
09/09/08 ULU, London
09/11/08 Warehouse party, Hong Kong, Kowloon City

Discography

[May 1996] tu-plang	[Nov 1997] Unit	[Oct 1998] Unit Re-Booted
[Aug 1999] ...art	[Jul 2001] Eduardo and Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks	[Nov 2002] Jingles: The Best Of
[Nov 2004] Mish Mash!	[Sep 2007] Love and Paranoia

See Also

Regurgitator

http://weheartmus...

Regurgitator's secret origin is that the original three band members (Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, and ...

I was going to have Australian Sally take up writing Regurgitator's triumph return to music with their sixth album, Love and Paranoia - but I just found out that it's released today, September 2^nd (out in the UK yesterday), because they are doing a mini-tour of the UK. I am assuming if things are successful, they will eventually tour the US to promote the album.

Regurgitator - !

Regurgitator - I Suck a Lot of Cock to Get Where I am

Regurgitator - Everyday Formula

I previously have mentioned the 'Gurge before, regarding their most famous album, Unit. The album won ARIA Award for Album of the Year that the record company (Warner Music Australia) went back and re-released it as Unit Reboot.

The band is fairly well known in Brisbane, Australia, down to their "secret origin" of the original three band members (Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely, and Martin Lee) meeting on a public bus in Brisbane, Australia.

The band was never popular in the US, despite their previous domestic efforts with Sub Pop's difficult title "I Suck a Lot of C*** to Get Where I Am" or on Reprise Records.

I obviously haven't kept up with Regurgitor, they had change so much from their beginning. With Love and Paranoia recorded in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in the Summer of 2007.

Starting off the album with "Blood and Spunk", which is very 80s-sounding (think Kraftwerk or Devo). I can see why this single got them a ton of airplay on Australia's Triple J, especially with its catchy "just let yourself go go go go go go" chorus. The song is a perfect three-minute pop dance song, that's all there is to it.

I can see Regurgitator's oh-so-ironic humor on songs like "Drinking Beer Is Awesome!", "Destroy This Town", and "Romance of the Damned". Speaking of "Romance of the Damned", this is the new single, and features new fourth keyboardist girl Seja Vogel on vocals. It's pretty catchy and humorous. I love the "google" reference in the song, too nerdy!

Regurgitator - Magnetic

Old fans might not like the addition of Vogel on vocals (she also sings on "Magnetic"), but I think she's actually pretty good! She has a very Humans League quality to her voice.

The last song on this album is a weird Yeomans vocals on "Armageddon Premonition". The vocals is obviously manipulated to sound like a robot with synth. I did enjoy this little experiment and the song left me wanting more.

If you love 80s synth and pop, you need to check out Love and Paranoia, it comes highly recommended by me. The album is available now (amazon is listing a ridiciously expensive price for a domestic version) and if you're lucky enough to be in the UK, be sure to check them out on a few tour dates.

Links: regurgitator.net myspace.com/regurgitators valverecords.com.au

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Vox Hunt: Go. Fight. Win.

nobody@vox.com(Vox Hunt) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:00:45 -0400

Show us what College Football team you're rooting for this season.

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Tim Russ

nobody@vox.com(W♥M) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:42:22 -0400

09/01/2008 21:33:16 ♥ written by vu ()

Tim Russ - Crossroads

Tim Russ

Where we last left off on my Star Trek music coverage, we heard from Brent Spiner (Data) , Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), and Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and William Shatner (Captain Kirk).

Today, I am happy to report that I have Tim Russ's self-titled 2000 album that I picked up used. Fans of Star Trek: Voyager will know Russ as Lt Commander Tuvok, but if you follow Star Trek closely, you'd recognize Russ in other Trek roles (like the movie Star Trek: Generations).

The album is largely jazz-style, but there is a blues song that really stood out for me: "Crossroads".

The most interesting thing about this song is that it's based on Robert Johnson's most popular song, "Cross Road Blues". Johnson had a short (less than two years), but very influencial career as a Delta blues musician... and many believe that he made a deal with the Devil to become a famous singer (and hence his untimely death at the age of 27).

I'm not sure if Russ was a fan before starring as Robert Johnson in Crossroads (1986), but it's evident that Russ loved Johnson's song that he recorded his version of it on this self-titled album.

What makes Russ' version more compelling is that it's actually based on an interpretation of Johnson's classic song from Eric Clapton when he was in Cream (from the album Wheels Of Fire). I love the Clapton's version as well, featuring some great guitar-playing and his blues-rock vocals.

Tim Russ will be making some rare appearance: September 20^th at the Rhythm and Ribs in Sacramento, California and on October 11^th at the Tri-State Convention in Washington.

Below are some more Star Trekkin' goodness.

The Firm - Star Trekkin	Dennis McCarthy - Star Trek the Next Generation-Main Title	Brent Spiner - Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone	Brent Spiner - Toot, Toot, Tootsie	Nichelle Nichols - Rock the World
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man	Tom Tuerff - Little Star Treks	William Shatner/Joe Jackson - Common People	Leonard Nimoy - Highly Illogical	Leonard Nimoy - Piece Of Hope

Links: timrusswebpage.net

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