Juiceboxxx @ The Church Of Crystal Light (09-18-08)

Originally I was gonna go to a different show the night of the 18th ( I was hoping to go down to Newport News and catch the David Byrne show that was happening at CNU). I was really looking forward to the David Byrne experience but a couple days before the show I had gotten a bucket load of school work and knew I didn't have the time to take off a day of school just to see David Byrne. So I had to cancel that adventure and instead follow my back-up plan which was to see Juiceboxxx bring his funky white boy rap to Richmond.

Now this whole show experience was really quite an interesting adventure. Got to the venue around 9 o clock and found out this venue is more or less an very blank looking room with some very interesting artwork on the walls I might add, but something about this place felt off to me (maybe this was due to the fact that only like 5 people were their) either way though I was quite amused about the whole thing. Later during the night though more people started showing up and this extravaganza started to look like it might be more promising

The first act that came on I can't recall the name of but he put on a very interesting noise performance. He had this wooden bed frame looking trinket with a few strings attached to it, and some sort of amp connected to it, Now I'm not sure how the trinket worked honestly but I was impressed by noisy the damn thing was (and did the artist I can't recall the name of literally break the instruament in half at the end of his set).

The next act to come on was this guy named Shams who I've heard a few things about due to him being somewhat of a regular name in the Richmond music community, but I had never actually listened to his music before. He punt on this funky lo-fi dance show that is sort of fuzzy in my head now, but I do remember dancing like a bandit and enjoying myself during his set

Now Juiceboxxx came to the stage very shortly after. He started his set by playing an mp3 of Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, and started doing this silly motivational dance. This got the crowd to go crazy and really helped start the energy of this show. After the motivational dance Juiceboxxx brought his funky white boy rap and let me tell you this boy really does now how to throw a party, him running around the venue rapping wherever he damn well pleased, crowd surfing like a beast, and flowing rhymes that are not that cleaver, but that's the point damn it.

Left the show after his set (i think a few more acts were gonna play) but I had some mad exam studying I was sort of putting off and i knew the right thing to do was go back to the apartment and get into my work mode.

So to sum it all up I can most definitely say the night was a success. Juiceboxxx most definitely got me to bring my A game in the dance department, and I enjoyed getting to know a much more house party orientated side of Richmond (and yes I probably will be attending more of these "Church Of Crystal Light" Shows, even if it is some what akward that I really don't know anyone their)

Mogwai / Fuck Buttons @ The National (09-16-08)

Last week me and my brother with some of his friends went to go see Mogwai & Fuck Buttons play @ The National. When i first heard that Fuck Buttons were opening for Mogwai I had a feeling of disappointment because i'll be blunt with you, I've never really been that much of a Mogwai fan, I've found their albums to be very boring, theres always this big build up going on in their songs but nothing seems to ever actually happen with this build up, it just builds and builds and then ends with no real moment of satisfaction. Even with this feeling or negativeness towards Mogwai I knew that I was going to have to go to this show because I was so blown away by the show Fuck Buttons put on when they came to Charlottesville. (as well as the fact that the album Street Horrsing that Fuck Buttons dropped this year is in competition for being the best album of 2008)

When the day of the show came I was really quite excited, I was mega pumped to see Fuck Buttons bring their noisy glory to The National, and I was really hoping that I would be able to understand the beast that is Mogwai because I like to enjoy my concerts (I assume most people do to)

So we get to the venue a little late (this is due to the gang picking up some Vietnamese dinner....really not sure the name of the place). Anyway we got to the venue just as Fuck Buttons area about to start their set and let me say they put on a fucking terrific show. Theirs something just mind blowing about this sonic energy that comes out of that band. Also I must give my props to the sound people at The National for actually not messing up Fuck Buttons sound and letting them take advantage of the very nice sound system they have at The National. So More or less if you ever get the opportunity to catch these guys live don't think twice about it, because their show is orgasmic brain ride that I couldn't reccomend with any bit more passion

Now after about like a 30-40 minute wait Mogwai came on and I'm gonna be blunt I have never in my entire life seen a show that was more boring. There's something just so lifeless and so lacking about this band's live presence that I literally decided to go up to the balcony and see if zoning out and meditating would help me understand this beast that is Mogwai. Well sad news about that, I tried to meditate but what more or less happened was I feel asleep. That's right for a good 5 -10 minutes andy literally was asleep (Maybe it was me exhausted from all that exam studying I had been doing, or maybe its the fact that Mogwai is just boring)

Overall the night was very good, even with me sounding like a negative nancy about how I feel about Mogwai, and I must say one last thing. Damn Mogwai is good at being loud. I mean DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN.

Mission Statement Of Said Blog

hello my name is Andy Dunlap and i am starting a music blog to first of all help me keep keep a diary of the shows i have been to since joining the community that is Richmond. The second reason for this blog is i hope to share info with other people living near Richmond, Virginia on shows that are going on that are most definitely worth checking out.