World Famous In San Francisco

PLEASE TO COEM! Hard place will have their new record (Get Your Hopes Up) for sale on CD and LP. There might be tshirts too. Everything for sale will have been pre-loved by the band in one way or another.

Bridez features Liza from So So Many White White Tigers and has a CDR out soon and people keep telling me that Easy Street can get any party started. EPIC WIN!!!



Hard Place
Easy Street
Bridez

4/18/2008
9PM
Smile @ The Knockout
3223 Mission St. (where misson and valencia meet)
$5

There's a lot going on this week. On Wednesday Snacks and Bran(...)Posplay 21 grand. Snacks are a Baltimore duo who tape electronics to themselves and make squiggles and unholy snacks. Not electronic snacks either, food ones. Maybe its entertaining, maybe its stupid. The I'm going to find out!

On Thursday, at the The Terminal will be LA noise devastation dudes (with John Wiese) Sissy Spacek, Death Sentence: Panda! will do their tribal woodwind punk thing, Gerritt, Jason Crumer, and Chen Santa Maria (whom I always miss, but it sounds like they're still mining that post rock thing for new sounds. Be careful guys, a lot of miners are getting trapped these days!) . Also, there's the San Francisco debut of Mayyors (featuring Chris Woodhouse of FM Knives) at The Eagle, along with The Oh Sees and Master/Slave. Word on the street is that the first Mayyors seven inch is already sold out despite the fact that they don't have a website and neither does their label. Is the band that awesome or are they the kings of the 'buy now ebay later' scene (read: did they do a small run of seven inches and sell them to a large group of friends)? I guess you'll have to go and find out (I am).

Friday is a total unwieldy cluster fuck of a night. There's The Mantles and The Botticellis(record release) and The Papercuts at Cafe du Nord; Jucifer at the Uptown in Oakland; Buzzer and The Aerosols at the Hemlock; Club Sandwich at the ATA; Awesomefest featuring Girls, The Oh Sees and Port O'brien.

Its kind of overwhelming. The Mantles are solid, Buzzer features Andy from The Cuts and its fun enough, Club Sandwich has some interestingly sensual moshing that you simply have to witness, and if you read this blog at all you know how we feel about Girls. You should definitely check all of these bands out SOME OTHER TIME because Friday is the Hard Place record release party for Get Your Hopes Up



Hard Place
Easy Street
The Sarrees

4/18/2008
9PM
Smile @ The Knockout
3223 Mission St. (where misson and valencia meet)
$5

And if you just can't wait, or want to be able to sing along with every song, or you're obligated to be at one of these other shows but feel like you could be missing out on a piece of rock 'n roll history, you're in luck. The record is totally for sale on iTunes right now. Come on out on Friday and say hi!

Today we are (kinda) hip to the internet trends. A muxtape for you with some bands we've talked about over the past year. Except for the Hard Place and Mon Cousin Belge songs, both of which come from albums out on our label World Famous in San Francisco, these songs were all totally available for free on the WWW so don't get mad at me for stealing, ok?

1. Girls - Lust For Life
   
2. The Passionistas - Don't Hit Snooze (Live)
   
3. Hard Place - Mondays Are For Working
   
4. Mon Cousin Belge - Tweaker Bitch
   
5. Factrix - Splice Of Life
   
6. Bridez - Steal Drums
   
7. Sic Alps - Semi Streets
   
8. Fuckwolf - Mardi Gras
   
9. Jealousy - I Would Do That For Him
   
10. The Passionistas - Little Dark Room (Live)
    
11. Nothing People - Falling
    
12. Connie Fucking Francis - Where The Boys Are (Live)
    

You can read a little bit more about the video (and buy the album of course) over at our label website.

I dunno if you caught that in the last post, but World Famous in SF is now not only a trail blazing blog but (probably) your new favorite label. Actually, I think we've slyly referenced it a few times in the past. Those of you that have caught on already know that we have an awesome logo which was designed by Hazel Hill:



But we also have:

• An awesome website (http://www.worldfamousisnf.com)


• A spiffy new myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/worldfamousinsanfrancisco)
Sorry, yes we have to become friends all over again for a second time. Its going to be so fun rediscovering each other though!

• An awesome first release, Get Your Hopes Up by Hard Place which is out now and on sale over at the website
  


• More releases on the way from Mon Cousin Belge and The Passionistas

Ok, last post about this show, for real. Seriously though, it was super fun and its too bad we couldn't have all been there together. The Hard Place set was maybe up in the air as they didn't have, you know, like amps and stuff. But Devon Williams was a total super hero and lent the band, like, everything. Their live show is totally evolving -- moving from the territory of birthday party glitter and fake blood theatrics into a full on adult super show. At one point I found Actually Huizenga humping my leg! Being Hard Place's label I might be biased, but I thought they were super great. If that doesn't sound objective, just look at the photos!





Magic Johnson taught me something. They taught me that you can be avant punk rock and do an a cappella version of a dolly parton (ironic) classic. When in more punk rock mode, this guy would sing into his guitar pickups, which I found endearing. Sadly, no photos of that but here's one in more standard mode:



The last band I caught was KIT (sadly, I had to take off before Anavan). This band is a little on the aggro, screamo, nineties post hard core side of things which I'm not as into these days. But these guys were really great. I like bands that mingle with the audience while they're playing. I was particularly impressed by the guitar which was way catchier and more immediate than I remember it being on record. I wrote to a friend "You know what, I was wrong. They aren't too nineties sxe underground post hard core."

photo of Hard Place at The Smell

The Smell/olFactory Records/Deathbomb Arc present:

12:00 p.m. Douglas Ferguson
12:30 p.m. Lisa Cameron
1:00 p.m. The Mae Shi
1:30 p.m. Ima Gymnist
2:00 p.m. No Age
2:30 p.m. Mika Miko
3:00 p.m. Foot Village
3:30 p.m. Kevin Shields
4:00 p.m. Devon Williams
4:30 p.m. Hard Place
5:00 p.m. Magic Johnson
5:30 p.m. Friends Forever
6:00 p.m. KIT
6:30 p.m. Mistress
7:00 p.m. Nero's Day At Disneyland
7:30 p.m. Anavan

Friday March 14th

Noon to 8:00 p.m.

FREE (donations accepted)

The Opera House
2209 South 1st Street
Austin, TX 78704

Hard Place - Get Your Hopes Up (World Famous In San Francisco)
This album is awesome. And I don't say that just because Elton Tom and Jeremy Smears are the ones releasing it on their label named after this blog. This is really strange, crunchy, bad-80s nostalgia music that you can't get anywhere else. It's very colorful and unique for something so ironic. All the songs are good - they actually seem to be about something - and they all sound like singles. My favorite song at the moment is Last Goodbye. I highly recommend buying the physical copy of this record.


Hey Willpower - P.D.A. (Tomlab)
This is a really cohesive collection of mid-tempo modern sounding r&b-dance songs. I think it's a really pretty record. I like it.


Woman of Color - Are You a Woman of Color? (Man Dagger)
After listening to this album I realized I am not a woman of color. This album lives up to its name in a way: it doesn't sound at all black, but it does sound dark. It has this Native American sounding pow-wow rock song at the end I like.


Fierce Perm - Fierce Perm (Man Dagger)
Cesar from Man Dagger gave me this CD a couple weeks ago at one of my shows in LA. I first played it in my middle aged Cuban ex-boyfriend's Lincoln Aviator. He and his SUV totally hated it. If it doesn't sound like Celia Cruz, a Broadway musical or a CD you can buy at Restoration Hardware or Crate and Barrel, he and his SUV totally hate it. So I guess that's a good thing right? This band has plenty of great optimistic guitar riffs. But it is very easy to pinpoint who Nadia, their singer, is influenced by. I will keep my faith in this band as long as the next album sounds different and they do a reinvention tour.

TransAM was super fun! Lots of people came out in the crappy weather, the beard party was in full swing, and there were even some cute guys. The downstairs DJ, DJ Jef Leopard, played some seriously choice records -- that is, if you like that British DIY kind of thing, trashy seventies rock, tropicalia, and 'good' punk like the Dead Boys, and Iggy.

If you couldn't make it, here's a bunch of videos Myles took (continuing his reign of awesomeness with that camera):

Miss Nix:


Hard Place:




Rentecca:


As usual, I took too many photos:


see the rest here

Did we mention this:



One of the neat things about San Francisco is we end up with club nights that try to mix and match scenes. TransAm tries to brings the gays out of their Castro shell by luring them to SOMA with drag queens, cheap drinks, and guys looking to get laid but they mix it up by having a local band headline the evening and the DJs spin the rock musics. Actually, I don't know if they're luring anybody who wouldn't already be heading to SOMA, but its a nice change of pace from the Donuts crowd. And the guys seem to like it because TransAm is usually pretty busy.

Tomorrow should be fun, Hard Place will have their trail of costumes, confetti, and whipped cream behind them and the drag queens look good too! I don't know anyhting about Miss Nix but Rentecca put on one of the filthiest performances I've seen, like, ever. I'm kind of surprised its not on youtube as it was a film piece done for Midnight Mass a few years ago. I won't go into details, but it involved an unorthodox enema and ice cream. This was followed up by a routine to "Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue" by Crystal Gale. This is also not on youtube, but you can watch Crystal's version here if you're like that. It seems Drag Queens didn't start putting their shit (literally) up on youtube until last year. However, I guess Rentecca did a cover of "Brown Eyed Girl" which is basically the same thing:



I liked "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" better, it was more restrained. But let me tell you, I've never seen people scatter like that when something was tossed into the audience. And we were in theater seating, so people were climbing over each other to get out of the way. Priceless!

So come out tomorrow night! Who knows what you'll get on you!

New Actually Huizenga of Hard Place Christmas video!



Hard Place play club TransAm Saturday January 5th.

Actually Huizenga and Hazel Hill team up to give you sexy golden girl vampire bowie nightmares this Halloween! Don't question, just watch!



I was looking for an appropriate Golden Girls quote for this post, but I couldn't really find one. This one made me laugh:
Blanche: You know what the worst part about getting older is?
Dorothy: Your face, Rose's hands?

How can you not??? Elton and Myles are too modest to post here about their own shows so once again I'm here to tell you all about their awesome shows. Hard Place and The Passionistas under the same roof at Smile! After having gone to all these theme parties down in LA (like this or this), I'm thinking about how we really need one up here. So, I haven't discussed this with the club or the bands and I'm totally making this up, but this show is totally the "Wet Dream Before Halloween" party, so dress like that! Oh, OK. I'll stop.

Friday, October 19Th
Smile @ The Knock Out
3318 Mission St

So if you're singing to a stuffed raccoon in your video, you've kinda already won. People wonder why I don't like "inde bands." It's because they're never able to make a video as awesome as Hard Place. They're also not smart enough to make web 2.0 jokes with their video descriptions and tags. God inde rock. Grow an iPhone for a brain already. hel~lo. Long live Hard Place and all their painfully nostalgic flashbacks and dream sequences.

It was the my fair lady beyond thunderdome party. Come on San Francisco, you're not carrying your weight in the theme party department!





see more here!

But it was a totally fun toga party. Pictures!





See more on flickr

Fan videos are the best. Fans are so scary. Don't EVER tell them that.

Actually Huizenga - 5 Guys chopped & screwed by the Passionistas

Actually Huizenga makes me upset. She is extremely productive, good at everything, younger than me... and makes out with more guys. I stumbled upon her song "5 Guys" via MySpace about a week ago. And. I have to be honest, I am usually not touched by any music via MySpace -BUT- "5 Guys" got to me 4 real. Still- it wasn't good enough. So I changed it.

Presenting Actually Huizenga's "5 Guys" chopped & screwed by the Passionistas. It's WAY better than the original. And it's a WFISF exclusive.

If you're wondering who I am, my name is Myles. I'm new here. I ran into the blogboys at Lady last night and they asked me to contribute. I'm gonna be posting remixes, reviews, LOLZ, full body shots, and like whatevers. So leave me alone and download this song blogasaurus.

A few weeks ago we went down to the OC & LA for some shows with Hard Place, remember? You didn't think we weren't going to share our California adventure did you? Its totally cool for me to write about Hard Place since I'm not in the band. Seriously!

Actually, there isn't much to write about for the first portion of our trip. Elton is sick and I get to drive us down to the OC for a half an hour show at The Clinic. Originally this was supposed to be a five band bill with Curls and The Bubonic Plague, but Curls broke up (total trauma 2007 I guess) and The Bubonic Plague miss a lot of shows. The plague will take it out of you. We get there and its almost hilarious how disorganized it is -- "Oh... Hard Place... um, I guess there'll be three bands playing tonight then". Except not really since one of the other bands was Actually Huizenga, otherwise known as Ashley from Hard Place because the club got the band's name wrong.

FYI, traffic was terrible. It took us three hours to get from just north of LA down to Huntington Beach. The rest of Hard Place leave around six and we're worried if there's really only one band playing tonight. But they showed up around the same time as us because, as it was explained to me, of the influx of the wave. They also bring news that Logo Moi is playing so we're up to three bands! Then we wait for a long time in the car and watch a weird Chinese man.

First up is Ploon whose myspace page I had a hard time finding -- "Its easy, its spelled like it sounds!", except I thought Ploon would be spelled Plune. What do I know? Anyway, these guys do a noise thing and had the privilege of performing it for hard place and me and the nice people working at The Clinic and nobody else. I have a love/hate relationship with the noise but these guys bring a much needed sense of humor to the affair. Its almost performance art. Check this clip, it'll explain it better than I can and its hilarious:

Apparently, and sadly, this was their last show since one of them is moving back east. Just remember that the next time you think you should sit at home instead of go out to a show. But, word on the street is that Ploon will continue as Ploon-D and Ploon-B, with each member taking on their respective coast.

Logo Moi hasn't shown up so next is Hard Place and now they have the privilege of playing for me and Ploon. And they were super good. Does that happen to you, the things you do are always super awesome when nobody's looking? Anyway, Logo Moi appear right at the end of the set and are excited to see Hard Place and that they made it and decide to play even though nobody is there to watch them because those kids are super fun. Except we left because we had to get the sick one to bed. Sad. But its cool because there's another show with hard place and Logo Moi in LA and there'll be more on that soon!