Is Harry Potter an Emo Poser?
The Scholastic store in New York shut down all of Mercer Street between Prince and Spring and created “Harry Potter Place” in honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They had a “Muggle Board” where you could leave a Harry Potter message. Here is an amusing note someone left:
Don’t Forget Me While I’m Gone
Sorry I’ve been so lame with the updating kids. I’ve been busy doing spring/summer type things, like going on vacation and being in my friend’s wedding. As a result of these events, I haven’t been going to many concerts or spending a lot of time online.
Once such event that I had to skip because of my obligations, was the sealing of Cartel in the MTV “Band in a Bubble” thing here in NYC. My friend Jenny actually writing for the show. (Yup, reality TV shows have writers) You can read the behind the scenes dish over at the official Band in a Bubble Blog she is writing. Uh…sponsored by Dr. Pepper.
In case you don’t know the premise of Band in a Bubble, one band (Cartel) has been locked in this bubble on Pier 54 on the west side of NYC for 20 days, and they are required to finish writing and recording their new album at the end of the time period.
Fall Out Boy on the Cover of SPIN
Saw this walking down the street yesterday.
Fall Out Boy on the cover of SPIN.
Happy Birthday, Jesse
May every day be a birthday turd cake day!
Oh and in totally unrealted news, a pretty cool photoshoot that Panic! at the Disco did where they were given a shutter release cord for the camera and allowed to take their own photos for a German magazine pictorial.
Panic! Get Larger Than Life at MSG
Wowza! Panic! at the Disco pulled out all the stops on this leg of their North American tour. Tonight they stopped at Madison Square Garden Theater here in New York City.
Who would have thunk it possible, but as you can tell by the photos, the boys have gotten even MORE ostentatious and elaborate in their costumes and set design for this tour. Whereas the last time I saw them in full concert at the Nokia Theater, the overall theme was Moulin Rouge meets harlequin dolls, this time it was all Revolutionary War hero meets Victorian circus, with tasseled coats, elaborate waistcoats, buttons, and (of course) ruffles. That’s right, NO WINDMILLS! Instead, large circus props, like a lion’s cage, and an elephant platform.
The makeup was decidedly more on the “dark” side, with Brendon sporting hollowed-out eyes and dummy lines running down his jaw. Ryan had blood-red eye makeup with neat little black spider-leg lines sprouting out. He’s starting to look less baby-faced–with noticeable stubble and his longer hair giving him a more mature look. (But sadly, no ROSE VEST.)
The boys sounded in fine form–much better than when I saw them do two songs for the Boost Mobile Rock Corps event at Radio City in September. Songs like “Time to Dance” and “London Beckoned Songs About Money Written By Machines” had the crowd jumping SO much that I could feel the floor boards wobbling right under my feet–which I have to admit, was just a TAD bit scary. I’ve only been in a few situations like this before and every time it happens, I’m convinced the floor is just going to cave in right underneath me.
Bassist Jon Walker kept an eye on Brendon, in case the lead singer was planning a sneak attack.
I couldn’t resist posting this photo for your amusement.
I figured you guys could blow it up and practice kissing your future husband Brendon Urie from the comfort of your very own home. Pucker up! Hahahah!
“Emo Sux” on the Street
I was walking by the Vasmay Lounge on the Lower East Side after seeing Albert Hammond Jr. play Mercury Lounge when I noticed this chalkboard outside. Thought you guys would be amused:
Adam Get Your Gun…and More Fun from the Boost Mobile Rock Corps Show
On Saturday I got a chance to go to the Boost Mobile Rock Corps concert at New York City’s famed Radio City Music Hall. This awesome event was the “thank you” given to the thousands of kids who did at least 4 hours of community service at select locations throughout NYC. What a great idea!
I was blown away by the sheer star power of the lineup. I mean it’s not every day that you get to see Nelly, Taking Back Sunday, Panic! at the Disco, and T.I. for FREE in one of the most beautiful music venues in the country. What a classy show.
The roster was pretty hip-hop heavy, with the aforementioned Nelly and T.I. opening and closing the show respectively, in addition to other big names like Kelis and Nas, Fabolous, Don Omar, Young Jeezy, Papoose, with MTV’s Wild ‘n’ Out star (who I’m pretty sure I have a raging crush on) Nick Cannon serving as emcee. I had a sneaking suspicion that most of the kids there were not super into emo-ish rock bands like TBS and Panic!, but boy was I wrong–
TBS had a pretty good crowd response. Sure it wasn’t as crazy as the first time I saw them, but it wasn’t as chilly of a reception as I first thought it would be. They went on during the middle of the show, with their flashing “TAKING BACK SUNDAY” sign lowering down from the ceiling as they came on stage.
By the time they played “MakeDamnSure”, lead singer Adam Lazzara had removed the jacket he was wearing to reveal that he was wearing an empty tan gun holster over his black button down shirt (!!!!). Later when talking to Gurj (who got mixed up in the “white people’s row”), she jokingly asked, “Who does he think he is? Carlos D.?!?!” Eggggzzactly.
Panic! was on second to last and had a ridiculously GREAT response. They opened up with “Lying Is the Most Fun that a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” and during their big hit, “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies”, so many people were up on their feet! During the line where Brendon sings “what a shame the poor groom’s bride is a whore” he added the word “slut” after the phrase. There was some kid decked out in head-to-toe colorful BAPE-type clothing that was singing EVERY WORD of all the Panic! songs. Incredible! They rounded off their set with “Build God, Then We’ll Talk”.
WATCH: “Build God, Then We’ll Talk” by Panic! @ the Disco at BMRC
Lead singer Brendon Urie was doing the same over-the-top acting/singing that kinda disturbed me during the MTV VMA’s. (Thankfully there wasn’t a reapperance of that RIDIC black and red Mad Hatter’s hat.) I don’t remember his singing being so dramatic when I saw Panic! earlier this year at Nokia Theater, so methinks maybe all that singing on the road may have taken a toll on his voice.
Oh and I just have to say, little Ryan Ross looked adorable in a tastefull all-black suit.
The Cartel Contest: You Wrote In, You Won
I want to thank everyone for the great response I got to the contest to win the autographed copy of Cartel’s album, Chroma. You guys sure do love Cartel! The answer to the question of the name of the 31 Corn Lane bag the girl with the glasses wears in the “Honestly” video is…the Holly bag!
You guys are good. So good that almost all of you got the answer right, but I only had 5 signed copies to give away. But as a special bonus, I managed to weasel out one more copy, so there were actually 6 winners! The winners have already been notified and their prizes mailed out.
Look out for other contests the future. They’ll be equally as hot.
Pete Wentz’s Clandestine Industries Does Up NY Fashion Week
Hi guys. Just got back from the joint Clandestine Industries/ Yellow Fever fashion show at Capital here in NYC for Fashion Week. I’d never been to a fashion show before, so it was kinda exciting.
[WATCH THE VIDEO: Clandestine Industries fashion show highlights]
Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz showed wears from his Clandestine fashion label…
What I didn’t realize about fashion shows is that they are worse than concerts. They start NO WHERE on time. They started letting people in around 8pm, but they didn’t start the show until 10:30 or so. It might have had something to do with the fact that none of the models were there around 8:30. I wanted to kill myself a little. Things got so desperate that I even found myself drinking free Red Bull and vodka, which is the world’s most disgusting tasting drink.
The show was being held at Capital, which is this fancy former bank on the Bowery in NYC. There was a runway set up and about 4 rows of chairs on either side. When people were getting seated, I saw this blonde girl looked like she got Mary-Kate’s hand-me-downs by wearing an oversized white shirt that was belted (a look I rocked when I was 10 years old) and I asked Jeff “Who the hell is that?” He didn’t know at first and then he was like, “OH! That’s Heidi!” I was like, “Who’s Heidi?” Then Jeff proceeded to point out that “Laguna Beach” alumn LC (Lauren Conrad) was there and that blonde girl was Heidi, the sorta annoying roomate of LC from MTV’s “The Hills”.
Then I noticed that LC and Heidi had cute matching blue and white striped bags that looked like they were designed by 31 Corn Lane. (As you may remember, 31 Corn Lane did a colaboration with Clandestine for a cute bag that will be sold later this year.) Then I noticed that some dude wearing a black hat was sitting next to them. Then I realized that dude was former Ashlee Simpson boy toy, Ryan Cabrera.
Jeff was using my little point-and-shoot cam, and I just went through the photos now and found this gem: a hysterical picture of Ryan Cabrera glaring right into the camera making a big frowny face. He’s got red eye so he looks really evil. Hahah.
Other noteable folks in the audience included Russell Simmons, Petra Nemcova, Lydia Hearst, the fake Paris Hilton, Natalie Reed, and Tyson Ritter of All-American Rejects–who looked ridiculously HOT in the John Bartlett show the day before. Yowzah!
The Clandestine fashion show didn’t really show off any new designs. Most of the stuff I’d seen before, some of it is not even available anymore, like the infamous gray and purple hoodie. Some of the highlights of the show was when Gabe Saporta of Midtown/ Cobra Starship walked out during “Staying Alive” by the Bee-Gees wearing the “Stay Gold” hoodie, and then when Liam McMullan started busting out flips:
Um…why was this boy so ridiculously pretty? Like lady-pretty. Geez.
Taking a bow to a Cobra Starship song…
After the final walk of the Clandestine show, we ended up backstage and I took the above shot of Pete and this photo of Gabe still sportin’ the Clandestine gear:
During the Yellow Fever fashion show, the song “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers was playing. I started singing along to it, and looked to my right and low-and-behold, I spied Pete Wentz ALSO singing along to the song. Apparently the Killers vs. Fall Out Boy hatefest seems to really be over …for now.
The Yellow Fever show litterally ended with a bang–as yellow and pink confetti were shot out of cannons from all corners of the stage, models brandishing silver automatic weapons came out with Yellow Fever designer Jamison Ernest with a bag over his head and they proceeded pretended to shoot him down. It certainly got my attention, and it was kinda awesome. Bang bang!
More photos…
Tyson Ritter of the All-American Rejects sat in the front row and listened to “Move Along” being played during the show…
Uber-model (and possible James Blunt main squeeze) Petra Nemcova buddied up with Russell Simmons…
and Ryan Cabrera kicked back and enjoyed the show sitting next to Heidi and LC from MTV’s “The Hills”.
I also ran into Trent from Pink Is the New Blog…who mentioned that I should check out MisShapes because Kelis was making an apperance…which she did, but I got there a little too late to witness it. That’s what happens when you eat dinner at 1am. I did get to see her, after her two gigantic bodyguards allowed for some photos to be taken.
More peeps…
Josh Ingber from The Upwelling mentioned to me that the last time he was on one of my sites he was wearing a backpack. I would like us all to take a moment to remember that JOSH WORE A BACKPACK out to a nightclub. Thank you. Next time, fannypack.
Um, have you guys read the hilarious camp note that Midtown’s Rob Hitt wrote to his mom in 1993? If you haven’t, you must read it now.
My Chemical Romance Play NYC’s Knitting Factory
My Chemical Romance just finished playing an intimate gig post-VMA appearance right here in downtown Manhattan at the Knitting Factory. The venue was only about 2/3 full, so it felt more like a house party performance than a full-scale concert, but it was awesome. Maybe around 350-400 people were there? (???) Strictly fans and friends and family.
Gerard was giving shout outs left and right and also joked around by asking us not to throw bottles at them, obviously referring to the pelting they got at Reading.
They played some new songs off of The Black Parade including “Cancer” and “I Don’t Love You”, but capped off the evening with their biggest hit, “Helena”. Fun fun fun!
WATCH: “Ghost of You” by My Chemical Romance (live at Knitting Factory–Partial)
More photos over at Central Village Flickr.
