With a little help of my friends...

Some random news, mostly plugging friends.

The Lolligags are playing a free(?) french-colored show at Go Bar on Saturday, Jan. 19th. Opening will be Andy from Denver, the new "band" of Andy G., of M(arshmallow) Coast fame. "Band", because Andy plays solo, guitar, keyboards and sequencer. The show will be another Budding Helping Buddies production, which already brought us the Lodger, Spring Tigers, Black Kids, and "Control".

Mike W. from Deadly Designs posted pictures of the last PCC/Casper show (cf previous post).

Hillary B., half of the famous Team Brown, posted some videos of yesterday's Yo La Tengo show (this one, that one, and that later one).

"Return to Horse Mountain", the new track of the Buddy System, kicks ass, as the audience of their Saturday Jan. 12th show at the Georgia Theater could witness. It starts western, it ends kung-fu, there are evil horses and their dark overlord, I'm a fan. Lauren, marry me.

Update 01/17/2008:
Well, turns out that the Buddy System just posted the clip of "Return to Horse Mountain" on Youtube. Check their myspace page as well to listen to their new song, "Watermarx". Thanks guys !




(Flyer artwork by Eric H.)

(Dang. Just started and late already...)
So, last Friday saw me attending a Casper and the Cookies show at Club TSI, in Jacksonville, FL. The Caspers were playing with initially local and now worldwide new stars Black Kids, and as it was on a week-end night close to the break, I offered to do merch' for them, which they gracefully accepted. Thanks again for welcoming me, guys.

I like doing merch'. It's the best to meet people, see some shows, have nice chats, push product you care for. The setup at TSI isn't the best however, as the merch' table is close to the entrance, and you can't really see the stage at the other side of the club. Ecco. They usually have penny PBRs at the beginning of the evening though, so after a few you don't really mind.

The show was great, the house was packed. Casper mixed some old favorites ("Sid from Central Park", "Barking in the Garden of Ill Repute", "Hey Mr Superstar", among others) with some of their new songs such as "Marcel Marsalis", "Little Lady Larva", the now standard "Kiss me beneath the Christmas Tree" (don't forget to check the X-rated version on Daytrotter), and a surprise. And what a surprise ! The very last song was a cover of Pixies' "Hey", with Jim on lead vocals. Very impressive cover, the guitars were maybe a bit too shy, but Kay and Joe really nailed the rhythmic session.
The Black Kids played a short show, barely eight songs, but their repertoire counts only 11 songs, so... They were tight, far tighter than I ever saw them so far, which is hardly a surprise with the intense several-hours-a-day practice regimen they've been following for their upcoming UK tour. OK, the transitions are not really up to it, but that's easy to fix.
I'm glad for the Black Kids. I was at their Athens Popfest show, this famous Saturday early afternoon at Little Kings, right during the heatwave, where they blew the audience's mind. Nobody was expecting them, and they delivered the most danceable, clap-your-hands-and-cheer pop songs. The rest is history: they got picked up by some reputable blogs, then the buzz got sent to the NME, and there they went. Let's touch wood that they keep the spirits high and the heads cold.

Links:
Casper and the Cookies
Black Kids