Partyline, Call Me Call Me Any Day Or Night
Panther/Shellshag/Cortina/Partyline/Direct From Hollywood Cemetary
@ Cakeshop 3/25/06
Of course Partyline's only NYC date was the 25th and I had it on my calendar for the longest--what was that about things working out for me? Of course Neck played the Shite & Onions gig @ Sin-e that same nite. Oh yeah, and The Ruffians. But I don't have $12 for such stuff anymore. I think I passed one of the guys from Neck on the way over. He definitely looked the part and he was standing outside of Katz's and when I walked past he said, "Hey, how are you?" I looked around quickly and there wasn't anybody else on the street. Maybe he had me confused with someone else. Or maybe I did. So I said hey, howz it goin, getting to Cakeshop and feeling busted. But the listing @ Cakeshop had Partyline as 3rd, so maybe I could make it after all. But Direct From Hollywood Cemetary!
Upstairs at Cakeshop is not a good place to loiter b4 a show. I was drooling over all the cakes (not literally) when the woman behind the counter caught me asked what she could get me. I compromised with a Rocky Road brownie (only $3). I was eating it downstairs when someone told me that I had to pay upstairs and they weren't open yet. But upstairs is where all the cake is. I have a feeling that the gigs that are listed (when they are listed, their typo-strewn show listing says to check out their MySp page for the complete listing but fails to give the link; maybe they think this is cute or they're trying to keep a select clientele or a secret show vibe, I think it's annoying and unprofessional) with bands listed 1st, 2nd, etc, the bands start when they feel like it and the shows that have actual times given, they adhere to that. But I was downstairs climbing the walls listening to whatever CD they had on; it was some guy doing spoken word with a drummer and it sounded very collegiate, like students trying to be Beat, and it made me all agitated sitting there in a dark basement, waiting impatiently for something to happen.
Finally Panther started @ 9:30 or so. Panther is Atom & His Package but with an iPod, no guitar, and no songs, per se. He cued up his 'Pod, which played synth beats and 80s whiteboy rap loops. He sang and danced, dropped to his knees and cowered, and showed off his buttcrack. People grinned moronically. I clapped politely. What can I say, I just wasn't feeling it. What the hell do I know, this guy is probably going to be the next Arctic Donkeys and I'm just old. If anything, I can see him doing this late at nite at some loft party after everyone's had enough to drink and smoke and someone tells him, "Hey, do that thing where you're Panther!" "You should totally do that!" Brownie=1; Bands=0.
At least Cakeshop managed to do something right since I was last there in August. They built a stage. See, that's one of the worst places to see a show and pretty much no band is worth putting up with that place. It's not enough to be in the almighty Cakeshop, on Ludlow. Aside from the hipster vibe and the we'll start playing when we damn well feel like it, the only thing that used to separate the crowd from the band were the microphone stands. Now when you stood on the incline of the sloped floor, it's like you're in a venue as opposed to the basement of a bakery/record store that just happens to have a bar and live music. It's still narrow, so there wasn't much room for Jen to bring her cymbals into the audience but a real-enough venue so that Shellshag was still enjoyable. (There's a full writeup in the archives--wow, that makes me sound like a real blogger or something--for CMJ.) Ev had a pin on his jacket that said Don't Postpone Joy. The perfect motto for this band.
Cortina did go on 3rd, but then again even if Partyline went next I still don't have another $12 to spend for Neck and The Ruffians. Cortina is from New Zealand and I guess they didn't have much of a chance to wash their clothes along the way because they were quite funky, and I'm not referring to the music. There was a guy videotaping, and he also smelled quite ripe as he stood right in front of me thru the whole set. I also didn't get what they were going for, lookwise, because Ace was in a leopard-print plelvet animal suit, Bek in a bathing suit with leopard-print tights under it, which did not go with the bathing suit, and Dreamboy dressed normally. The music wasn't that bad, dance rock with keybs and all. I just didn't get the fashion statements.
A substantial crowd has gathered by that point; the girl behind me had a pirate Krusty The Clown tattoo on one shoulder, little Jay Shermans floating around, a cupcake, and a big Howard The Duck on the other. I don't know what statement she was trying to make with both The Critic and Howard The Duck on the same shoulder--I'm a study in contradictions, perhaps? Though I've never seen a Howard The Duck tattoo before. "My mom cried," she told me. "I saw Howard The Duck" I said by way of consolation. Though I actually meant I saw it in the theatre when it 1st came out. "It's a good movie," she said. Another girl had a cupcake tattooed behind her ear.
Alison came onstage and went to the edge--"So I can see where I'm going to fall." Partyline is more of a straight-up rock band as opposed to Bratmobile's primitive riot-grrrl punk beats. Angela and Crystal are good musicians, holding down guitar and drums respectively, allowing Alison to go off on her tangential banter. By the 2nd song she was asking where the afterparty was. Every so often she asked how late they were and skipped songs. She's still doing the kicks and splits, but thankfully didn't kick me in the face.
You gotta hand it to Direct From Hollywood Cemetary, performing in their full costumes and capes in that sweaty, humid place. My nasal passages were burning. Like Horrorpops w/o upright bass, they'd be good with the Ghoulies and the H-pops, and not just because they also have a song where they spell things out.
It wasn't until I was waiting for the subway did I realize that someone hocked a giant lugie onto my coat. Jeez. Spit on the floor, not my coat. I was planning on bringing it to the cleaners at some point, I was just waiting for it to be springtime officially. But I could go sooner. Thanx for the suggestion.
@ Cakeshop 3/25/06
Of course Partyline's only NYC date was the 25th and I had it on my calendar for the longest--what was that about things working out for me? Of course Neck played the Shite & Onions gig @ Sin-e that same nite. Oh yeah, and The Ruffians. But I don't have $12 for such stuff anymore. I think I passed one of the guys from Neck on the way over. He definitely looked the part and he was standing outside of Katz's and when I walked past he said, "Hey, how are you?" I looked around quickly and there wasn't anybody else on the street. Maybe he had me confused with someone else. Or maybe I did. So I said hey, howz it goin, getting to Cakeshop and feeling busted. But the listing @ Cakeshop had Partyline as 3rd, so maybe I could make it after all. But Direct From Hollywood Cemetary!
Upstairs at Cakeshop is not a good place to loiter b4 a show. I was drooling over all the cakes (not literally) when the woman behind the counter caught me asked what she could get me. I compromised with a Rocky Road brownie (only $3). I was eating it downstairs when someone told me that I had to pay upstairs and they weren't open yet. But upstairs is where all the cake is. I have a feeling that the gigs that are listed (when they are listed, their typo-strewn show listing says to check out their MySp page for the complete listing but fails to give the link; maybe they think this is cute or they're trying to keep a select clientele or a secret show vibe, I think it's annoying and unprofessional) with bands listed 1st, 2nd, etc, the bands start when they feel like it and the shows that have actual times given, they adhere to that. But I was downstairs climbing the walls listening to whatever CD they had on; it was some guy doing spoken word with a drummer and it sounded very collegiate, like students trying to be Beat, and it made me all agitated sitting there in a dark basement, waiting impatiently for something to happen.
Finally Panther started @ 9:30 or so. Panther is Atom & His Package but with an iPod, no guitar, and no songs, per se. He cued up his 'Pod, which played synth beats and 80s whiteboy rap loops. He sang and danced, dropped to his knees and cowered, and showed off his buttcrack. People grinned moronically. I clapped politely. What can I say, I just wasn't feeling it. What the hell do I know, this guy is probably going to be the next Arctic Donkeys and I'm just old. If anything, I can see him doing this late at nite at some loft party after everyone's had enough to drink and smoke and someone tells him, "Hey, do that thing where you're Panther!" "You should totally do that!" Brownie=1; Bands=0.
At least Cakeshop managed to do something right since I was last there in August. They built a stage. See, that's one of the worst places to see a show and pretty much no band is worth putting up with that place. It's not enough to be in the almighty Cakeshop, on Ludlow. Aside from the hipster vibe and the we'll start playing when we damn well feel like it, the only thing that used to separate the crowd from the band were the microphone stands. Now when you stood on the incline of the sloped floor, it's like you're in a venue as opposed to the basement of a bakery/record store that just happens to have a bar and live music. It's still narrow, so there wasn't much room for Jen to bring her cymbals into the audience but a real-enough venue so that Shellshag was still enjoyable. (There's a full writeup in the archives--wow, that makes me sound like a real blogger or something--for CMJ.) Ev had a pin on his jacket that said Don't Postpone Joy. The perfect motto for this band.
Cortina did go on 3rd, but then again even if Partyline went next I still don't have another $12 to spend for Neck and The Ruffians. Cortina is from New Zealand and I guess they didn't have much of a chance to wash their clothes along the way because they were quite funky, and I'm not referring to the music. There was a guy videotaping, and he also smelled quite ripe as he stood right in front of me thru the whole set. I also didn't get what they were going for, lookwise, because Ace was in a leopard-print plelvet animal suit, Bek in a bathing suit with leopard-print tights under it, which did not go with the bathing suit, and Dreamboy dressed normally. The music wasn't that bad, dance rock with keybs and all. I just didn't get the fashion statements.
A substantial crowd has gathered by that point; the girl behind me had a pirate Krusty The Clown tattoo on one shoulder, little Jay Shermans floating around, a cupcake, and a big Howard The Duck on the other. I don't know what statement she was trying to make with both The Critic and Howard The Duck on the same shoulder--I'm a study in contradictions, perhaps? Though I've never seen a Howard The Duck tattoo before. "My mom cried," she told me. "I saw Howard The Duck" I said by way of consolation. Though I actually meant I saw it in the theatre when it 1st came out. "It's a good movie," she said. Another girl had a cupcake tattooed behind her ear.
Alison came onstage and went to the edge--"So I can see where I'm going to fall." Partyline is more of a straight-up rock band as opposed to Bratmobile's primitive riot-grrrl punk beats. Angela and Crystal are good musicians, holding down guitar and drums respectively, allowing Alison to go off on her tangential banter. By the 2nd song she was asking where the afterparty was. Every so often she asked how late they were and skipped songs. She's still doing the kicks and splits, but thankfully didn't kick me in the face.
You gotta hand it to Direct From Hollywood Cemetary, performing in their full costumes and capes in that sweaty, humid place. My nasal passages were burning. Like Horrorpops w/o upright bass, they'd be good with the Ghoulies and the H-pops, and not just because they also have a song where they spell things out.
It wasn't until I was waiting for the subway did I realize that someone hocked a giant lugie onto my coat. Jeez. Spit on the floor, not my coat. I was planning on bringing it to the cleaners at some point, I was just waiting for it to be springtime officially. But I could go sooner. Thanx for the suggestion.
posted by heather @ 2:10 PM
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