“bura bura” - wandering (Japanese)
I came home early from work today (Lucy and I are doing some shopping before going away for the weekend), happened to turn on the Music Max channel, which was having a "Lunch with… Jamiroquai." Woo!
So far they've shown "Blow Your Mind" (hadn't seen before), "Space Cowboy", "Emergency On Planet Earth" (hadn't seen that, either), and "Virtual Insanity" is currently playing.
It's weird to see how much Jay Kay (and the rest of the group) have changed over the years…
On Friday night, Lucy and I (and a couple of her friends) had the pleasure of seeing The Avalanches at the Civic Theatre. Their 'live act' is called the "BRAINS Nightclub on Tour", and basically consisted of a couple of guys from the Avalanches DJing and playing funky/latin music and a bunch of African percussionists doing their thing on stage.
It was certainly a bit weird… but it worked really well. The atmosphere was great - everyone was there to dance and enjoy the music, and people even got up on stage to dance and play the instruments! Some of the percussionists returned the favour, by coming down from the stage and playing the drums among the crowd… Crazy.
The best part(s) of the night? Dancing to Basement Jaxx's "Jump 'N Shout" and Underworld's "Two Months Off" with the drums layered on top… Simply amazing..
The Cat Alley has information on the upcoming tour by the Cat Empire to launch their second album.
My friend from Uni, Rob, recently talked about the pirating of music that seems to be prevalent among people in our age group. Will (another friend from Uni) and I have been debating about this for a while (instead of studying), so this post is for him, as well. 
Continue reading 'Rob: My friend the pirate'
Ashlee Simpson caught lip-syncing on Saturday Night Live - "My band started playing the wrong song." Riiight.
Lucy and I went to see "We Will Rock You" at the Lyric Theatre last night, thanks to Mum and Dad. I thought that the musical/show would tell the story of Queen, or something along those lines, but was very wrong!
The show has a very… interesting story line, which manages to incorporate a wide range of Queen songs into the score. I enjoyed it, because I like Queen (as a result of seeing the show, I went out an bought the 3 CD Platinum Collection of Queen's Greatest Hits).
The one thing I thought was a let-down was the lead actor, who had a very pronounced American accent that became a bit annoying. Lucy and I agreed that he was also one of those people that old women lust after. (We even heard some wolf-whistles in one of the last acts) Ew.
If you're a Queen fan, go see it. 
You'll enjoy the songs, the lighting and sets, and the innuendo too, I suspect. (Funniest comment of the night: One of the actors says "You're a great root". A child in the row behind us says "Mummy, what's a root?")
The 2004 ARIA (Australia Record Industry Association) Awards were held last night… Jet took out 6 awards, which is no surprise. They also performed "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" live, which sounded exactly like the CD. I think they sound great on CD, but I still stand by the fact that they have a lackluster live show. I hope they can improve their stage presence in the future.
Missy Higgins also won an ARIA for best pop release (I think), which was pretty cool. John Butler (and the John Butler Trio) won a couple of awards, too. I will have to get their latest CD. Unfortunely, The Cat Empire didn't win anything, but I wasn't expecting them to really win anything.
Best quote of the night? The presenter for one of the awards (I think it was Tina Arena) held the ARIA out to John Butler and said something along the lines of "It's a weapon of mass destruction!" John Butler grabbed it and said into the microphone "Well I guess this doesn't exist, then?" Ouch. Take that, Dubya!
I went to another Cat Empire concert last night, at the Coogee Bay Hotel. This time, there was a group of 19 people, which proved to be an interesting exercise in logistics. Nevertheless, we managed to get in there on time and get good positions. (That may have something to do with the fact that I thought doors opened at 6pm, when in fact it was 7.30pm)
It was a great concert, with a number of new songs, which sounded pretty cool! I liked one of the songs especially… I think it was called "The Sly". They played the usual favourites - Hello, Days Like These, The Chariot, as well as Wandering and Two Shoes.
I took my camera, but couldn't get the photos to turn out well enough with a low shutter speed and lack of light, so I gave up and just enjoyed the concert.
I'm hoping a new album will be out soon. Felix also mentioned that they will be touring again early next year.
Courtesy of Tim Bray and Jonathan Lukenbill: Sarah McLachlan has a new single and video out, called "World On Fire". The amazing this about it is the music video cost US$150,000, but only $15 to make. Why? Instead of spending the money on editors, producers, caterers, etc, it was given to the people that really need it in the "less fortunate" countries in the world. The money went to fund hospitals, feed and put children through school, provide emergency care and ambulances, as well as other things.
I think it's really admirable that Sarah McLachlan did that, and it puts life into perspective, when you're spending millions or billions of dollars fighting wars, building weapons, fighter jets, ships, when a vast majority of the Earth's population is living in poverty.
I think it's only available on the iTMS right now (you don't need an account). Link. If that link doesn't work (it didn't for me), the video is displayed on the homepage for the iTMS.
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