The ADHD Mega-MashUp-Mix it Up-Mix

In the past 3 months I've had to drag my 33 yr old body into annoying, crowded, loud and annoying 20-something-filled clubs in Scottsdale, AZ and Las Vegas (my least favorite part of most bachelor parties). On both occasions it became quite apparent that the generations that have followed mine (X? I don't even remember my label)...the generations where every kid was allegedly afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder...are now DJing in the clubs of America. I have nothing against the sonic collage that is the Mashup but come on! Don't people like to dance to a full song or atleast half a song anymore? The club mix was literaly 10-15 seconds of a popular chorus or intro or lyric and then on to the next clip. It was like the DJ went into the iTunes store and made a 5 hr long mix out of the 30 sec samples. My friends would get excited to hear the start of some classic early 90's hip hop only to have their joy crushed as it was immediately spliced into Beyonce or Queen or some other random genre. But the old guys were alone as the kids continued to dance around us.

Having said that, I will now recommend the "free" CD of mashups, Torn Up by E603 for 2 reasons. First, the mashups are quite inventive, spanning some great songs with some pop songs with some old songs with some stuff I don't even know if I heard correctly. Please don't go playing it in your club...just listen to it and play name that tune like the old radio contests. Second, the guy is taking the "free or pay what you want" model to the next, creative level. You have varying options from $0 to $1000 with more swag and what not thrown in the more you pay. What does $1000 get you?

live at my house for a weekend, and compete in a badminton competition with me.

Awesomeness. If only I was that rich...and he was a girl...and hot...and I was single. Cuz lord knows I do love the badminton. Check this blog for a more detailed review "I feel like a kid in a crystal meth shop"

E-603 - Lights Out (.mp3)

Glasvegas @ The Hollywood Forever Cemetery Masonic Lodge

Glasvegas - Daddy's Gone @ The Masonic Lodge (courtesy of mysugarspun)

Never been to a show at a cemetery before...guess I can check that one off the list. Friday's Glasvegas show at the Masonic Lodge inside the Hollywood Forever Cemetery was a good time for many reasons. I'm not goth enought to be THAT excited about just being in a cemetery but I have to admit it was quite peaceful and beautiful and not spooky at all. The sun had already set but there was still some light over the trees while we ate our takeout food (Mario's Peruvian!) and drank a large pale ale wrapped in its brown paper bag (classy!) in my phonebooth of a car before the show. After debating pouring out some of the brew for our new dead homies (RIP Katz! You must be loved to have a full picture of yourself carved on your tombstone) we wandered up to the Masonic Lodge. The caretaker must have been busy diggin ditches as about 7 of us walked right in without anyone taking our tickets. Score! (even though we already had paid $25 each, it still felt like a surprise freebie)

The Lodge itself was really quite cool. Don't think of a lodge...think more like a 1920's movie stars Hollywood hills home with its garden courtyard surrounded by long, lighted palm tree trunks and a stairway that leads up to the "antechamber". We grabbed a Newcastle (or wine...both $5) and walked up to said antechamber where we found the small soldout crowd waiting to be let in to the main performance hall. The large, old room with its woodfloors held a fireplace on one side, groups of chairs strewn about for people to relax and a table of merch apparently being sold by Geraldine herself (the star of Glasvegas' most popular song). Not sure why she gave up the social worker gig. I should've asked. After not too long we were welcomed into the darkly lit main hall where we took a comfortable seat along the side of the room and waited for the Glasvegans to start.

As we waited, it dawned on me how excited I was to be seeing a band I liked in a new venue in Los Angeles. Not that I've been to every theater and hall in Southern Cal, but I've been to enough to make this one feel special...almost to the point that I thought I was in a new city. Definitely reminded me of when I moved to NYC and I got to try out all the venues I had heard about from afar. Plus, I'm a sucker for concerts taking place in unique venues and/or old (semi-) historic buildings...just adds to the ambience. I believe this was the 3rd concert they've had at the Masonic Lodge (Lykke Li and Iron + Wine played in the past few months).

Glasvegas turned out to be just the Glas- part of the band as only half the quartet (James and Rab) played a very mellow set for us. I was perfectly in the mood for the quieter Glasvegas but there were a few angry fans who eventually left when the guys started playing the normally upbeat favorites (Geraldine, Daddy's Gone, etc) in the same somber tone. Good riddance...I can understand disappointment but you're still there to see the band perform THEIR songs the way THEY choose. Maybe they didn't want to wake the Ramones or George Harrison...or melt the ice sculpture. Don't worry though...they'll be back with the full band sooner or later. And when that day comes and you are watching them from the last row of the Nokia Theater you'll wish you were back in the cemetery.

Setlist:

'S.A.D Light'
'A Little Thing Called Fear'
'It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry'
'Flowers & Football Tops'
'Stabbed'
'Geraldine'
'Cruel Moon'
'A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)'
'Daddy's Gone'

Fee Free Wedensdays via Live Nation

"No Service Fee Wednesdays," kick off June 3 at 12:01 a.m., offering fans some of the lowest prices of the summer with no ticket service fees on any LiveNation.com-ticketed amphitheater show, and only at www.LiveNation.com.

Awesome...if you happen to want Lawn Tickets...and your show is at a Live Nation venue...and it just happens to be a Wednesday when you are shopping...you TOO can save yourself from those bullsh*t fees. Well anything helps and ditching those fee's in principle alone is nice.

Live Nation dropping fees on lawn tickets Wednesday [BV]