My First Pet Shop Boys Autograph!

I thought I would talk briefly about my first autograph!  I'm not bragging but I still find it hard to believe I actually have an autograph of one of the most awesome bands in the world! I never thought it would happen to me! Especially at a probability of a competition like this! I got to tell you, I'm not a huge fan on pre-ordering items online, it's just feel odd for me but when there was mention of postcards....My goodness they know how the reel their fans in on a fish on a hook! I pre-ordered the CD immediately! Those days were treacherous because I thought my package wasn't going to come in! Plus I was already excited on hearing Electric but I did hear most of the songs via BBC specials and from the videos and what not. I was actually going to buy the CD at Amoeba but I felt I should wait another week and my God, it came in! When I was opening the pack I saw the postcards and the CD! I flipped through them and at first, I didn't see nothing but when I flip the x2 one that's where the autograph was!! I was like OMG!!! I really couldn't believe what I was staring at!! I'm 21 and only been a fan for a few years and obtain something that I never thought would be in my possession! I knew others gotten personalized ones and that's grand too but the fact, I won it at those competitions they have and I never win those! I just felt like something is up or a little connection! I'm totally grateful about it and just still shock every time I see it! I took this photo from my iphone via Instragram! I was one of those 500 lucky fans! And some of my fan friends won them too which made me even happier because they deserve it! Sometimes I really do wonder if the Boys can see what fans be doing!?!

Also forgot to mention about the concert, I really enjoyed seeing the Boys' reaction when the fans were excited to see them! I can tell they might have to do another concert tour next year! Even on the radio the love the fact the fans are giving them such high reactions! They deserve it though, they are probably the last few artists I can say that stayed mostly true to themselves!

My Discussion About the Electric Concert

Greetings everybody! I know this have been  long overdue for a blog post! Well as promised, I was going to slowly but surely start blogging again. SInce I am in college, I can also help myself how to write by blogging. I had a stressful week prior to the concert, but after seeing the Electric concert, I feel better than I was last week! I hate to say but I am rather jealous of other fans seeing it more than once, it was a very spectacular concert!

My mother and I took the train to get to the Shrine Auditorium and we came actually rather early, but it was good because the lines were filling up so quickly! While waiting, we met some really sweet cool fans! One happened to be African American like me and my mother! We started chatting it up about PSB info like regular fans and then another couple of fans chimed in the conversation. My mother told me that were very stunned that I knew a lot than they did, which is ironic because they are longer fans that I will ever be, yet I knew a lot of information and they probably also expect my mother to know more because they are in her era and not mine. They were also homosexual but I don't judge, they were sweet and respectful and that's fine by me! Discrimination isn't my interest so I'm open to anyone as long they respect me as a person too. Anyway, as we got in, we had to wait more time because there was a DJ by the name of Jason Bentley that was going to DJ for a few hours before the concert began. I was kind of nervous about a DJ being an opening act because I was quite nervous that the music wasn't going to flow or anything. I went to a fashion model show and this DJ was horrible and I had that upbringing ever since! But this DJ was really, really good! I mean he was so excellent it was like I was in a nightclub or a rave! A lot of the songs were familiar to me because the Boys had a BBC Special and they had their favorite songs that they hear around the country and would play them for other fans to know about what they listen too. I was so impressed by the artists they chose too! 

These are some of the songs the DJ mixed before the show! I totally recommend them some are mainstream and some are indie artists! But they have some gemstones in this treasure box of songs! I was looking for a particular song called Inspector Norse by Todd Terje, because that song is so addicting! I literally can't stop playing it! It had this disco feel to it that I love a lot about it. 

When the concert began after Gui Boratto's Arquipelago finished playing and that's when we waited for a few minutes, I saw stage crew walking back and forth behind the curtains; and the lights started to dim and then Axis played, that's when I had to stand up for the concert because the people in front of me were tall and my mother and I had to switch seats. I was also talking to other fans about the manchester scene and everything and about Joy Division, my info is still a bit scarce but I knew enough to keep a conversation going. When I saw them behind the curtain/screen, it felt so surreal!! It's like wow, I'm here at this concert...seeing the Pet Shop Boys!!! My seat wasn't as bad as I thought because it could have been farther away! It was just so freaking awesome! They played 23 songs and it was brilliant! I had to keep waking my mother up when her favorite song was playing like "Domino Dancing" She loves changing the words so instead of "Watch them all fall down", she says "Watch their ass fall down" I couldn't stop laughing while I was singing with the crowd. Before that even happened, my mother kept telling me to go into the aisle, and I was hesitant at first, but something in my mind kept thinking, what if this is the only concert I ever go to?! So I walked quickly to the aisle and walked until I was behind the pit of fans and snapped photos like you see above this paragraph! On top of that, I didn't and couldn't afford the VIP tickets and I thought I might as well do this much! I know it probably was wrong of me, but other fans did it so why not me? I couldn't get good shots because the zooming was bad and then Neil kept moving so that was going to be impossible so this is one of my best probably my best shot of the band. Then I filmed some of it and started dancing too! I felt like part of me had an odd connection or something! I guess because when the dancers started dancing to the Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky was playing, I thought immediately was this the Battleship Potemkin soundtrack they did previously or was it from Fantasia the Disney movie that consist of randomization of visual animation while classical pieces replicated by the Philadelphia Orchestra (at that time) were playing. Even if they never heard of this particular movie or anything it felt like they are reading my mind or something. I did also mention on one of my blog posts that their experimental work they've done recently such as the soundtrack for the silent film Battleship Potemkin and The Most Incredible Thing really does remind me of Fantasia, all it was missing was some animation! 

Here's the setlist from the Shrine!  I copied from the setlist site. 

1. Axis 
2. One More Chance / A Face Like That 
3. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) 
4. Memory of the Future 
   ('New Single Mix' version)
5. Fugitive 
6. Integral 
7. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing 
8. Suburbia 
9. I'm Not Scared 
10. Fluorescent 
11. West End Girls 
12. Somewhere 
    (Leonard Bernstein cover)
13. Leaving 
14. Thursday 
15. Love Etc. 
16. I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too) 
17. Rent 
18. Miracles 
19. It's a Sin 
20. Encore:
20. Domino Dancing 
21. Always on My Mind 
    (Brenda Lee cover)
22. Go West 
    (Village People cover)
23. Vocal 
    (with "It's Alright" snippet)
    
    
    
    
    
    I love the fact that they played other songs that weren't too popular that they have done such as Fugitive, Somewhere, I Get Excited, You Get Excited Too, Integral, and I'm Not Scared. I don't like two of the songs but the fact they played those were really cool. I think I remember they didn't want to play all their popular songs, they also want to play other songs that had little to no success on the charts. It's like going to a concert of a really renown artist and all they play are their famous hits without playing their other songs. But for the most part the concert was absolutely fantastic! I love how "Domino Dancing" sounded! It had this catchy African American sound and of course the Latin sound. I also enjoyed the combination of the songs too like "One More Chance" with "A Face Like That" and "Vocal" and "It's Alright". I enjoyed the colors in the concert too, me as being the artist as I am, how could I not enjoy the colors and the costumes?! It had this vibrant party type feel like a remix of their Pandemonium tour. Only because they worked with Es Devlin again and thought that was a cool idea to do! I wished the concert would have lasted longer but after having a drink and then it was getting late, as soon it was over, we left. I personally wanted to stay and see the band but I understand it was almost midnight and then they had to be back in Mexico for the tour. My mother even said she was truly impressed and the Pet Shop Boys really know how to put on a show. She even now know the artists' names so I won't have to recapitulate it to her again. She also stated that Neil should do more of the sleeping than Chris because Neil does most of the moving, poor mother, she got a lot to learn about them! I told her about the sleeping part because that's what she loves to do is sleep! I think now my aunts want to go to the next one when they come back to Los Angeles and I hope they do! I also forgot to mention I love how Neil does the maestro thing especially when after "Domino Dancing" was playing the fans couldn't let it go, I know I wouldn't. The fans was right, the concert really did feel short! I didn't get any merchandise unfortunately because they were costly and I couldn't find the area where they were selling them. It's fine though, I think after winning an autograph of theirs during a pre-order competition, getting my own shirt online, and (which I need to do eventually) renew my fan club status soon, I really didn't need to spend money on merchandise, if I did I would have gotten the tour program because it was really artsy! Oh I'm not sure If I mentioned this but I did wanted to get an autograph for a friend of mine all the way from Malaysia so that was one of the reasons I wanted to do the Meet and Greet. 
    
    
    
    
    
    

Something original and hilarious!

Salutations readers! I'm quarter to a halfway done with drafting posts! So you will see some posts real soon! Things gotten a lot better this week. Like the Linkin Park song "No More Sorrow"! I was on Facebook yesterday, like I'm always online anyway and came across something quite humorous! It's already been posted as a Pet Text on the PSB's official page, but I would like to make a few points out on the video. I thought the video was quite hilarious, only wished there was an extended version of that, it seems the Mexican petheads were having a blast! I like the fact the main guy was dancing and then few seconds later, everyone joined in using either photo head cut aways or album covers as heads and started dancing to the "Harlem Shake"(I think that's the name of the song and dance, I'm not too familiar to newer songs) I love creativity and originality, you don't have to or need to try and dress exactly like the artists, it's all about having fun and enjoying their music. I only wished some people would understand that but not everyone are mature and have to learn the hard way. Anyway since I can't post the video link where you can the video on the blog, I linked it on here so the link underneath this post. But I know you all probably have seen it already! Keep the creativity and original coming!!

The Pethead Harlem Shake

Hello Readers again!

It seems that every time I post it's always an updated post, it seems I've gotten more busier than I thought. I've been currently working on scriptwriting, book illustrating and also of course college. There's two things I want to focus on, one being that the last issue of Classic Pop Magazine, I will also discuss this on my collections blog, this particular issue I truly believe is a nice one because it focus on more brilliant artist and bands and furthermore, I don't think any pop magazine that I know of, have focused on a life of a deceased artist. There's a nice description on Eric Watson, I feel like I understand who this artist was and I always love when anyone show respect for an artist behind the scenes, it really shows how they care. I gotten this about two weeks ago but I've been having writer's block and again been busy with other things. I have more items for my collection but since I've not finished observing them, I can't really discuss them yet. Sorry for the quality of this photo, it's my instragram photo I took from my iPhone. I know that's very unprofessional but I'm okay with it.

Also breaking news is that Pet Shop Boys have left Parlophone after 28 years!!! I SERIOUSLY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!!! But I was glad for them, honestly I wished they would do their own label  Spaghetti Records, but I guess this is still as good! Now as I see this happening, the single choice for Elysium made sense! And in the following sentences I will explain what I thought about that!

Well "Invisible" wasn't the single but it was the leaked song that a lot of people were wondering was it a demo or what. But I think the symbolism for it was that to Pet Shop Boys, they were "invisible"  to Parlophone, meaning that whatever they wanted to do, the company didn't care or whatever the reason. That was like a prequel to strike 1 on this "leaving"

"Winner" I think they felt victorious rather they released the album or not, with the chosen singles or what have you. They I guess knew that they was going to get the upper hand soon enough. The selling out part, I didn't understand, and I still believe it was the company's fault for that but who knows maybe PSB wanted the exposure, but I honestly think that's going against their own ethos if that makes any sense.

"Leaving" a lovely single, I guess it does have to deal with death and "memory" but I think it also was subliminal on their official leave and break away from Parlophone, they are artist for crying out loud! They have to be liberated and not control, well in today's society, you really can't make a choice can you? And the tempo itself it seems like it was in a positive tone so it might have been a good sign they were really well on their way!

"Memory of the Future" or should I say "Memory of the Past" since personally it's a good track but not really a single track in my opinion, I think this was another subliminal message that all of what they done in the past with Parlophone will be nothing more than a mere memory and they are starting off fresh, I heard that Kylie Minogue left Parlophone too, so who knows what they have done to wonderful artists!! And have anyone noticed that the Boys didn't really stay too long with the Elysium era? it was so rushed off, it's barely an era! I mean no video for the third single?? I was actually kind of ticked off. A good friend of mine, told me previous they should but unfortunately didn't, but now I can understand the reason now. They had something better planned in mind! And the last couple of videos minus the "Invisible" one I actually like that one, "Leaving" video was so much better than "Winner" I still believe they could have done something better because, it's kind of insulting for someone in the LGBT community, it's not a strong message and honestly I can't really feel like a "winner" when I hear it. 

I don't know if this make any sense at all to you guys but that's what I'm getting from all of this! By Pet Shop Boys choice, I think they are liberated from this and are releasing a brand new album also with the tour name called "Electric" I heard the teaser and I heard a clash of Kraftwerk and bit of their older demos and previous Disco compilations in other words, vintage and modern are into this chemical bond and will create a special work of art. I know they are working with Es Devlin that also did their previous concerts Pandemonium and the Fundamental tour and the album is produced by Stuart Price ( which also worked on other artists similar to PSB and and associate acts of them) that also did producing work for them and if I'm not mistaken did the new single mix and/or produced it. Sorry if my facts are rusty, it's been awhile. But now as this came out, I really can't wait for the new tour, hopefully they will release the US tour dates soon, I still want to take my mother to see them. I don't know but some reason this new tour sounds like it's going to symbolize one of their previous tours and add a new zip to it! Can't wait! 

Happy 66th Birthday to Mr. David Bowie!!!

I’ve listened to David Bowie’s “Where Are We

Now?” from his new album The Next Day on the computer today, what a way begin after ten years! A friend of mine on twitter told me something quite interesting how this song and another song from the movie The Ice Storm called “I Can’t Read” have a similar if not the same mellow tone as “Where Are We Now?”  There are some intriguing references and similarities that I also noticed. One being that the cover art of The Next Day was a subvert of Heroes which was back in 1977, not only that it looks similar to Pet Shop Boys Elysium cover art, the square in the middle of the portrait.  “I Can’t Read” the video was directed by Tim Pope and Soft Cell was one of the bands he directed and if I’m not mistaken Marc Almond liked the new single as well, but was sad he didn’t see it sooner or something.  Two is that “I Can’t Read” and “Where Are We Now?”, have Bowie’s face in an oval shaped facial expression like a mask. Another thing is that both videos have to do with surrealism and expressionism art and a vintage or desolate and abandon them. Which will bring to my next similarity I’ve noticed Bowie mentioned about “walking the dead” and how Pet Shop Boys “Leaving” is a theme about a subject about being “dead and fading away” and I’ve read Clare McCreesh’s blog about the similarities between Bowie’s new single and Pet Shop Boys’ Elysium about how the two videos had a black and white footage of Berlin. And it could be a high possibility that Bowie referenced The Pet Shop Boys, in fact if that’s the case, that would be really cool and astounding because they did collaborated with them for “Hallo Spaceboy” and he is one of their inspirations. Not only that but if it was like "Leaving" and the "Where Are We Now?" on the same album, then it would be like a continuation on a journey of some sort. There’s also a photo of David Bowie on the official Pet Shop Boys site, it reminded me of the Pandemonium where Neil and Chris with the cubes for heads. I find this quite amazing!  I’m glad David Bowie is back with music, also really cool to start the New Year and his birthday! I think there's a tiny reference of "I'm With Stupid" on "Where Are We Now?" because of the heads being on some dummies body. 

Pet Shop Boys - Paninaro (original video)

Yes, I’m back gotten busier with the new small jobs at college I have and my art projects I’m doing. I got back into doing the video critiques. I will discuss the newer videos later on in the blog.

“Paninaro” is a video that the Pet Shop Boys themselves created while they were in Milan. It is the derivative of the word “Paninari” which means sandwich. There were some Italian youth culture that was described or depict from this segment but really were teens wearing random clothes like rolled up jeans, white trousers, Timberland shoes, etc. Almost how Chris was dressed in the video. Chris wore the same iconic Issey Miyake “Suburbia” sunglasses. I like how it was symbolic within itself because it was a like a follow up from the “Suburbia” video and Neil with the cowboy hat and shades. I think that the Boys used Super 8 films only because of the style and how it looked. Soft Cell used something quite similar for the “Memorabilia” video.  I actually really liked how they did their own video; it shows their creative side other than getting another artist’s interpretation, which isn’t bad either. Some photo shots of Chris and Neil from the video later because the cover of the Disco which oddly enough, was inspired by Soft Cell’s Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing because of a remix album. They also used two of the photos for their VHS and LaserDisc of Television .They elements of using other people in their videos, Chris dancing, stop motion with the Miyake shades and a lot of editing, and having some symbolism with the words like “Passion”, “Love” and “Art”. The 80’s were very opened for new style and trends and the Boys were taking one step at a time. There’s another key part in the song while the song plays, you hear Chris’ voice from an interview where he talks about what he didn’t like and what he like. Which is cool and rare that he does more talking than Neil, since he doesn’t like the do a lot of chit chat. If I had to choose between Pop or Art, I’d say art.