selene marya is 18, a high school senior, an insomniac, an amateur music photographer, and fond of overstepping her bounds.
somewhat bitter taste
it would be difficult for me to be able to describe the past few weeks as anything other than a whirlwind and a blur, and though this is typically the case for me, i feel lately it has been taken to an entirely new level. i kicked things off by shooting taste of chaos at the fillmore in denver. let me say that it continues to astound me the way press is handled at these venues. being handed a wristband at will call and being told it will get me into the show, then being ridiculed by security and being told i CANNOT get into the show without a ticket, and finally having to weasel my way in through the back door by talking to no less than five venue employees is not at all my idea of a great time. add this to the incredible hassle of trying to find parking off colfax on a friday night with TWO sold-out shows within two blocks (the other one, perhaps somewhat ironically, was bone thugs), and there you have it. i think i experienced more chaos in my attempt to get into the show than i ever ended up seeing onstage. but that, my friends, is a different story.
i hate myself for even making this statement, but this tour was kind of a throwback for me. i remember being 14 and seeing avenged sevenfold play the bluebird and the aggie, and caring about as much then as i do now, which is to say very little. it's not that they don't put on an interesting live show (between the pyrotechnics and the confetti cannons, it is actually visually spectacular), but i cannot quite get my head around seeing them play to a sold-out crowd of 3500 kids who, for the most part, are completely in awe of what is taking place in front of them. these tours are so full of idolization, so based upon it, that the actual music feels buried underneath everything, like just a footnote of what you are seeing. the real message is the image: the stage costumes, the makeup, the carefully designed instruments, the corporate sponsors. as i stood in front of the barricade and looked out over the audience, i did see die-hard fans, the ones who had been around back in 2004 just like i was, and continued to be there for a genuine love and support of the bands. but at the same time, i also saw a subculture i cannot stand. i saw kids who were there just for the status, so they could go home and upload their shots onto their overloaded myspaces saying "look what i did this weekend! look how important i am! look at how cute my hair looks in this one!" i saw kids who looked back at me with contempt and sneers on their faces as if suggesting the superiority they had, due simply to their presence. they exist, and therefore they must be bowed down to. so i wonder which came first, the image, or the attitude? i wouldn't say i blame this behavior on the bands on this tour; it seems to me to be simply a byproduct, but one that has consumed the entire experience, and only continues to get worse.
however - despite how negative this whole little review sounds, i surprisingly enjoyed the show. catchy pseudo-metal and a huge spectacle may not be the best combination for, y'know, a moving musical experience, but still has a certain place in my heart... not to mention the fact that 3/5 of the avenged sevenfold dudes wore sunglasses for not part of, but their entire set. and as a photographer, i've gotta say, there is not much else i could ask for.
[by the way: these photos are not to be used or reproduced for ANY purpose without permission. just for the record.]
notes to our youth
this feels so good.
i don't even remember how long it's been since i've edited a photo, but i took these at a show back at the beginning of august and they've all just been sitting on my hard drive ever since. i was afraid to do anything with them because, along with the rest of the old piece of junk computer, the monitor was shot to shit as well. they probably would have come out looking like someone had vomited all over my screen. anyway - editing photos is one of my least favorite and most tedious procedures in the whole entire world, but as i write this i am truly excited to be doing it. i even intended to go to bed at a reasonable hour until i fired up the old software. well, so much for that. i don't know what the deal is, but i feel like i've just discovered a long-lost child or something. oh photography, how i have missed you. it's good to be back.
p.s. full versions and more on my flickr! just in case you're interested in clicking my sketchy shameless links.
technology is my lover
well, its been a while again.
my old hp desktop piece of junk basically decided to self-destruct last week and is running so slow i can barely even open firefox. i've been using that same computer since like 6th grade so i should hardly be surprised, but it's thrown a huge wrench in my ability to do ANYTHING (because obviously there is nothing to do outside the computer, duh). it's been rough. but there is a huge, huge upside to all this: i am currently typing from a brand new 15-inch macbook pro. let me just say, THIS COMPUTER IS LIKE HEAVEN. i've been lusting after one of these basically since the first time i ever used one, but i finally encountered some lucky circumstances and was able to get my hands on one. i think the fact that i've been using the same crappy pc for like 6 years just makes everything that much better. so, now that i can finally USE my computer without a slew of issues, i may or may not have some sweet stuff up in the next few days.
i'm going through a bit of withdrawal here though - i haven't transferred most of my files over from the old computer yet and i'm afraid of how much time and effort it might take to do so on a computer that can't open firefox, so i literally have like 100 songs on my itunes. like .02% of my previous library is just not cutting it right now. so along those lines, if any of you have any suggestions of stuff for me to check out, i'm all for it. new computer, new music, y'know.
another unimportant observation
this was not intended to be my first post of 2008, but due to some technical difficulties and/or pure laziness (probably more of the latter) it will have to suffice for the moment. just a brief side note, really, but there is something truly creepy about picture comments on myspace. i'm not talking about seeing a photo of you and one of your friends and being like, "oh gee, i look like an ass, and you look so cute," i mean when random strangers from halfway across the country hit up your shit and tell you how gorgeous you are. and even if they are random ATTRACTIVE strangers from halfway across the country, it still seems to me to be somewhat like walking up to some dude/chick (check one) on the street and slapping their ass. in any other situation this is typically considered unacceptable behavior, but myspace? no way. WEIRD.
an ode to mono.
in the past week i have spent, i am certain, a record amount of time doing the following:
a) myspacing.
b) downloading every other track i find featured on hypemachine.
c) browsing posts in the group "awkward moments define my life" on facebook.
and d) watching episodes of "to catch a predator" on youtube. bizarre, but hilarious in some sick way. ("not one, but EIGHT!")
so, what is the long-lasting lesson i have learned through all of this? well, truly the answer is absolutely nothing, but at least i have had a good soundtrack. the thing i love most about reading everyone's year-end lists is wondering where the fuck i have been for the entire year. finally, as december 31 rolls around, i am hearing all these stellar songs i seem to have repeatedly missed the boat on. (hell, maybe this whole mono thing is actually beneficial. besides the fact that it makes me use language like "stellar.") so as much as i don't believe in new year's resolutions, i am hoping that in 2008 i will make at least a vague attempt to pay attention to what is going on around me... as it happens, instead of 6 months later.
additionally, i think i have finally realized the true value of the the internet. yes, up until now it was still a debatable issue. but trapped with nothing to do and nowhere to go for days on end, i have changed my perspective. what better way is there to spend your time than carefully examining the myspace profiles of all your friends' friends? or reading about how so-and-so from northeastern university once said "orgasm" instead of "organism" in biology class in 10th grade? these are things you need to know, as a good american citizen. so thanks, internet. i owe you one.
1-2-3-... oh, come on...
having just been diagnosed with mono and having nothing better to do
(hopefully this will also help with the various posts i've been
building up in my "drafts" section...), tonight i was skimming through
a recent issue of alternative press. please note that i was only
reading it because it was there. it's not that i have built myself up
to have any sort of intellectual integrity that could be destroyed by
this, but really that magazine is somewhat like a plague upon the face
of music magazines. which is further proved by the article i found
inside on the plain white t's. ah, the good old plain white t's of "hey
there delilah" infamy. despite the fact that i listen to to the radio
maybe, oh, once a week, i think i still managed to hear this song
upwards of 50 times this year. i really prefer not to think of it.
so, carrying on:
in
the article, singer tom higgenson talks about their upcoming 2008
release. he says, "there's one song i was going to call '1234'... then
all of a sudden this damn feist song comes along. so it might have to
be called, 'easy, as 1234.' but it's way better than that damn feist song."
uh,
excuse me tom? let me get this straight, you wrote the most obnoxious
radio hit of 2007 and you still think you can go around claiming your
music is better than anything? my god, tom. my god.
so when this new album comes out, let me say i would love to be the first to listen to this 'easy as 1234' nonsense. and then perhaps we will see how exactly it is "way better than that damn feist song."
it's just not OKAY!
this thanksgiving i made a trip back to my old home on the east coast, almost literally. eating thankgiving dinner in a house you spent half your childhood in, a house you haven't stepped foot in for ten years, is really a strange experience. i might even say remarkable. but alas this is a blog about music, and so i will focus on the true issue at hand. i shoved my ipod in my bag with a bottle of water on the flight home from los angeles a month ago, the bottle leaked, and consequently the ipod hasn't even shown any signs of life since.
flash forward:
rental car.
drive from boston to syracuse.
drive from syracuse to norwalk, connecticut.
drive from norwalk back to boston.
recap:
busted ipod.
solution:
listen to the radio. for a series of drives totaling approximately 12.5 hours, plus a few due to traffic. through the back woods of upstate new york.
i think you're starting to get the picture.
and besides the black metal show ("nocturnal bleeding," it was called) i stumbled upon on some boston station (i think i should personally thank them), i will tell you right now:
yes, it really is THAT MISERABLE to listen to the radio for 13 hours. and if i never hear the name "timbaland" again, not once in my life, it will still be once too fucking many.
my mom likes... what?!
inspired by samantha!
for her 45th birthday recently (happy birthday mom), my mother requested that the only gift i give her was a mix cd. she'd choose the songs. i'd burn the disc. simple enough. "alright, just make me a list," i said. so she handed me the thing... okay, not entirely what i was expecting.
her requests included:
+ against me; turn those clapping hands into angry balled fists
+ killing the dream; picking up the pieces (she prefers to call this one "THE FUCK SONG." peep the intro.)
+ afi; but home is nowhere
+ mewithoutyou; four word letter (pt 2)
+ bright eyes; no one would riot for less
+ marilyn manson; lamb of god
+ the faint; agenda suicide
and, well, to really throw us all for a loop:
+ ricky martin; livin' la vida loca
looks like my mom has been creeping on my itunes just a little too much. all i have to say is, if anyone catches me with that ricky martin song on there... yes. it was just my mother.
selene locke; blogging failure
well, after an extended hiatus (which none of you noticed), i have finally returned (which none of you care about).
a good start, clearly.
anyway.
flew to los angeles to visit a friend last weekend, learned two vital concepts:
concept one; people really dress up to go to shows in LA.
??!?!
i showed up to see steel train in jeans and a sweater, i suppose as though one might attend a typical show in boulder, but smelling slightly fresher...
(i kid, i kid)
only to discover everyone parading around in dresses, heels, and club attire like i had stepped into a totally different DIMENSION (but i suppose "a completely different dimension" is not far from an accurate description of sunset strip).
either way, culture shock.
concept two; no one should ever bother to go see boys like girls,
and though i hope most of us knew this already, i will inform you that they will put on an utterly lackluster live show with very little personality or energy, martin johnson WILL sound like a woman, and you will be more inclined to sit in the house of blues restaurant than listen to his whining for twelve more seconds,
or maybe it's just me.
speaking of the house of blues (a blunt addendum to concept two):
FUCK their useless camera policies.
i admit i had a good time sneaking my canon digital rebel xt through their supposedly airtight security on the first night i attended, but i would rather not have to deal with it at all, thank you very much.
on a final note i tried to go see control while i was out there, no dice. total bumout, i blame LA public transportation for not being able to get me to the theater by 4pm. desperately need to see this movie.
