Showing posts with label Green Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Green Day. Show all posts

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Green Day plays one helluva live show and is just enough angsty for this 30-year-old

Billie Joe is a whore for attention, I'm sure of it
photos from live105.radio.com by white menace


There's something pretty special about seeing a band play to its hometown/area while at the same time badmouth the area that you grew up in. Hearing Billie Joe tell San Diego and Los Angeles to "fuck off" right after playing there is pretty hysterical.

There's also something really special about being angry about a ticketing will-call snafu that almost sent me home, and then being able to work it out to some perfectly angsty pop punk. I love being 30 and still able to bounce around with the teenagers.

I love Green Day's interaction with the crowd. It's really physical, letting them pull and push them around, from both the pit and the stage. It was also fun to see Green Day show off their chops, both with their own music and covering other music. (See the setlist here, you'll see they covered quite a few rock tunes from Journey to Zeppelin.) Billie Joe proved that that nasaled vlocal thing is just for aesthetic value, because his vocal chops on those hard rock covers were pretty spot on.

Read my review of the Saturday, September 4th show at Shoreline Amphitheatre on examiner.com HERE

Billie Joe encourages fan to stage dive

Monday, August 30, 2010

The Emmys - It looks like I might be enjoying TV again

Jimmie Falon sings goodbye to Lost, Law & Order and 24.

Just in case you missed the Emmy's last night, it was actually pretty fun.

I used to watch entirely too much TV. Ask my parents and my brother. And then sometime in my 20s, I stopped watching. But now (mostly likely because I've been through phases of free cable, roommates that like TV, netflix and hulu) I find myself knowing more about TV that I have in a long time.

I've recently been turned onto the Lefsetz Letter, a (now) blog by Bob Lefsetz, a former entertainment business attorney. This "letter" has been in existence for over 25 years. This is some what he had to say about the Emmys. (read more here)

This entry seems to sum up why TV seems to be more and more "movie-star" studded every year, why even I think there's good stuff to watch on TV and why I don't seem to end up at the movies very often anymore.
I no longer go to the movies. There’s nothing there for me.

If you want truth, you turn on TV. All the big stars are working on the small screen. And the small screen tackles subjects deemed too tiny for the big screen. If it involves human emotions, if it’s complicated drama, it’s on the small screen. The big screen is reserved for special effects. Oh, of course they trot out drama in the theatres, but the focus is on production values, the story is secondary to the presentation. That’s like thinking a record’s production is more important than the songs, than the playing. Just like recording stars of yore spend a fortune to buff their product to a sheen that is impenetrable, using auto-tune and effects to achieve perfection, which no one can relate to. We’re attracted to humanity. And that’s gone from the big screen and major label music. In search of all the profits, with the goal of making a ton of money, the core audience has been turned off.
Please enjoy the musical stylings of Jimmie Fallon, the cast of Glee, Tina Fey, Betty White, Jon Hamm and more as they mimic Bruce Springsteen. Jimmie ain't bad!



Jimmie Falon sings goodbye to Lost, Law & Order and 24 to the tune of Elton John, Boys II Bem and Green Day.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

"21 Guns" sung by the cast of American Idiot and Green Day

For those of you that are wondering about this Green Day musical I've been going on and on about, click here and listen to this track. I am so happy that the awesome vocals of Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous and Mary Faber are featured on this track. They have such amazing voices. American Idiot translates so well to the female voice, this is one of the things about this musical that I love so much.

I can't wait to hear the entire recording of this show. The arrangements are incredible. You'll see.

Here's a silly video someone made with the audio track edited over it.

Gorgeous.

See my article on examiner.com

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Green Day and "American Idiot" Berkeley Rep Cast to Record New Version Single "21 Guns"

This is only the beginning of the staged production of American Idiot's rise in popularity.

According to cast member and star John Gallager, Jr's twitter the cast of American Idiot at the Berkeley Rep went into the studio yesterday to record "21 Guns" with Green Day. It is rumored that the production will spread onto Broadway and the big screen.

Personally I'm looking forward to the cast recording of American Idiot. The arrangements are spectacular. I saw the show opening night just over two months ago. READ MY REVIEW HERE and can't quite remember who sings "21 Guns" (it might have been one of the female characters), but the cast was terrific and it's bound to be good.

Green Day's singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong is producing the track, which will hit the radio at the end of November and be made available for purchase through all digital retailers. With bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool the band will also shoot a video for “21 Guns” with the American Idiot cast. The digital version of the "21 Guns" has gone platinum, selling more than one million downloads, while the video won three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in September, including “Best Rock Video.”