Alex Leonard’s Neighborhood

Har Mar Superstar - Game Night Har Mar Superstar Tour Dates 11/08/09 Aquarium* Fargo, ND 11/09/09 Waiting Room* Omaha, NE 11/11/09 Brick Kansas City, MO 11/29/09 Oxford O2 Academy 3, UK 11/30/09 Relentless Garage London 12/01/09 Thekla Bristol, UK 12/02/09 Wedgewood Portsmouth, UK 12/03/09 Cabaret Voltaire Edinburgh 12/04/09 Bodega Nottingham, UK 12/05/09 Brickyard Carlisle, UK 12/06/09 King Tut’s Wah Wah Glasgow 12/07/09 Ruby Lounge Manchester, UK 12/08/09 Plug Sheffield, UK 12/09/09 Academy 2 Dublin, Ireland 12/10/09 Stiff Kitten Belfast, Ireland 12/12/09 Concorde 2 Brighton, UK 12/13/09 Barfly Cardiff, UK * with Bang Bang Eche Read More Har Mar Superstar http://weheartmus... Har Mar Mall - I mean Superstar - is back, after five years of absent since 2004's The Handler......

Parking in the college area known as "Dinkytown" in Minneapolis can be kind of hard, especially when the meters on 4^th Street runs until 10pm. I didn't mind walking a few blocks to the beautiful Varsity Theater as the weather was nothing less than perfect that Friday evening.

Opening up for Har Mar Superstar are three very different genre and acts. Starting with Koo Koo Kangeroo (official / myspace), whose music styling is that of hip hop - for toddlers. Their songs are dead simple, like "AOA" (sample lyrics: "aye oh aye oh aye") and "Cheh Cheh Chi" and "LMNOP", but they're catchy and easy to sing along. The highlight of their set was when they threw down a white tarp-like covering and the audience was dancing under it like a party fort.

Wow, Bang Bang Eche (myspace) are young. Someone told me that they're about 18 years old, but they certainly look much younger. Their music is very punk high-energy and reminds me a bit of Arctic Monkeys influenced. My easily favorite song from their set is "Fist Full of Dollars", perhaps a reference to Sergio Leone classic film? They ended their setlist with "Die Hippy Scum". Oh, also, it's worth noting that bassist T'Nealle sported a three keyboard cat moon t-shirt. Adorable.

The odd group on the bill was two-person group, Lookbook (myspace). The band is basically guitarist Grant Cutler, who plays guitars and handles the pre-recordings, with vocalist Maggie Morrison. Their music sounds like 80s pop, not exactly the "body-moving" type of music that you'd think Har Mar's audience would demand. Not really much to say, except I think Maggie looks really cute and I will be talking about them in further detail on my "book"-theme news on Sunday.

Har Mar Superstar ♥ Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (11/06/09)

Compared to the last time I saw Har Mar Superstar, which was basically a man and his undies and boombox - he now has a full band, all dressed in white with a red cross on the back. Also, the last time I saw him, he basically stripped down after the first few songs - this time, he started off very heavily dressed with an African cover, hat, etc.

After the first song, he took off his hat. After "DUI", he took off the overall to reveal a Prince "Purple Rain" shirt. He kept taking off articles of clothing as the night went on. From "EZ Pass", to "Girls Only", to "Creative Juices"... the audience was loving it all.

Har Mar and Melinda Park singing "Powerline"

By the time "Brothers & Sisters" was played, he inevitably took off his shirt. The pants disappeared with "Apple Sauce", followed by "Turn it Around". The finale song was "Tall Boy", which Zach, from Bang Bang, and some woman called Melinda Park (or was it Mindy Park?) joined on stage to help sing the song. Park would later turn up again to help sing one of the encore, "Powerline".

The very last song, Har Mar sang an a cappella version of Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday". He would pretend the song ended and everyone would clap... only he would continue to sing the refrain. After the third false ending and after he said "goodnight", he came back and sang some more.

Har Mar's latest album is Dark Touches, available from Dilettante Recordings. Read Andrew's review of the album, pick up a copy at amazon

 11/07/2009 04:22:06 ♥ vu () ♥ harmarsuperstar.com ♥ myspace.com/harmarsuperstar ♥ twitter.com 

• 00:57 @davidpdilley Invites for Dave & Dave have been sent amigo. Still no word if the Chupacabra has accepted the remaining invite yet.
• 01:10 @russ_maloney When I see that whale, True Romance comes to mind. "I eat the pussy, I eat the butt. I eat every mutha-fing thing"
• 01:16 @davidpdilley I'm not surprised, especially since those rumors of limes in space have been proven.
• 09:52 @Rachael Just say to yourself "Icon do it. Icon do it!" If that doesn't work give it a good whack as that sometimes resolves software issues
• 10:10 @LambieD I see that my reputation proceeds me. ; ) I can't help it if I serve 'em hot & steamy!
10:16 @LambieD That had better not be some knock on my face. Yes, I know these pants take the attention from my face, butt...
• 10:26 I've got an extra ticket for the Old Warehouse Acid Party tonight at the Melkweg. Anyone interested in joining? Tickets are all sold out.
• 10:34 @LambieD Totally not believable! Everyone knows even Hunky Santa has a beard. You can be hunky and hairy at the same time. Trust me, I know
• 10:57 Does anyone have a Xbox 360 Hard Drive Transfer kit? I have a new 360 Elite, but the bundle I got didn't include one. Thanks MIcrosoft.
• 17:12 Let's get some bubbles! RT @Nalden: it's that time again: FREE champagne party for all my followers when I hit 3000+ hahaha RT & drink!
• 22:13 @isabelleokane Still no good word with my peeps. I'll ping them again after the weekend and hope they come up with something.
• 22:22 @AncillaTilia What's up with the reigning sexiest vegetarian not being in the voting now? www.wakkerdier.nl/sexyvegetarier/dames.php
• 22:33 @zoekdekking @steviefrancis Sorry guys, a friend of mine is coming so I'm out of tix now.
• 23:06 @RodSimmons Did you find the GAL lookup & signature settings in Android yet? If not I can point them out to you now.
• 23:45 I'm not sure that Old Warehouse Acid Party is actually appropriate anymore since the party is at the Melkweg, but OWAP here I come!

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Oracle Sun Java have announced betas of Java SE 7 and Java EE 6 !

• Java SE 7
• Java EE 6

• comprehensive support for file I/O
• Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) to support stream connections over InfiniBand fabric
  

Possibly one of the best movie series of all time.  It still is great today as it keeps the attention of my kids, ages 13 and 7.  They both love the series and I don't blame them, the movies are awesome.

• 09:51 Arrived at work soaked thanks to the lovely Dutch weather. Complete with wringing wet shoes. Yuck! Wet socks suck.
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• 11:02 Score: Coffee machine = 1 Adam = 0. It appears that I actually need more coffee in order to properly operate the machine. Doh!
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• 12:21 I just became the mayor of Café Défilé on @foursquare! bit.ly/2gt04x
• 12:59 @Rachael I'm jealous! I am only a 2x tastemaker on likaholix. Still need a hundred or so points to be a Fiery Pro. Then on to Black Ninja!
• 13:05 @Rachael Yeah, that sort of trumps my one day of liking things, no matter how exquisite my taste is. I'll settle for gadget hero status.
• 13:20 Interesting report shows cannabis use in Holland trending down, + amongst the lowest % in the EU. Smoke that O'Reilly: bit.ly/3u7N4Y
• 13:59 Even 3 years later, this is still one of my favorite photos I have ever taken with a cameraphone. Guinness anyone? twitpic.com/ocpv4
• 15:34 @steviefrancis did you see this design quote that @Nalden posted? Right up your alley mate: quotesond esign.com/april-greiman/
• 15:40 Thanks Google! You've developed great services that I use lots and now you give me 1 place to manage them. www.google.com/dashboard/
• 16:25 @russellperry You've been waiting this long to catch a Wave? You should have told me as I had invites from the first Wave wave.
• 16:57 I definitely work in IT. An attractive woman came in to the office for an interview and all productivity stopped. Not discrete at all fellas
• 17:05 Hooray! I'm officially a Tastemaker in gadgets, beer and architecture. Check out my profile on Likaholix - likaholix.com/buckofive
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• 12:30 I'm thinking that I need to finally take that trip to Bilbao I've always wanted. The Guggenheim there has Frank Lloyd Wright expo until Feb!
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• 14: 02 @RodSimmons HD2 is nice, but the Hero still feels better when held. Plus, #Android is awesome for hacks. I now have a hotrod kernel on mine!
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• 15:33 @Nalden When is your Lotus going EV? RT @formulazero: Providing test runs in EV Lotus and Golf on an air field! twitpic.com/o8eg8
• 16:44 @MaaikeFx Yes! You do know what is best in life. (But to truly be best it has to be spoke with a very heavy Ah-nuld accent)
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There is now an open source release on CodePlex for a subversion based assembly version management library that leverages MSBuild Tasks for automation. What this provides is a way for you to integrate version management on your Visual Studio Projects and automatically ensure that the SVN Revision number is attached to the assembly version.

The Grates - Burn Bridges The Grates 1 comment  The Grates Setlist ♥ 7th Street Entry,  Minneapolis (11/03/09). Tour Dates 11/05/09 Radio Radio Indianapolis, IN 11/07/09 Schubas Chicago, IL 11/08/09 Magic Stick Detroit, MI 11/14/09 Bowery Ballroom NY 12/31/09 Purple Sneakers Sydney Read More the Grates http://weheartmus... Look at these guys, awww.... everything appearance-wise about The Grates oozes cuteness and fun (...

Patience in the Audience ♥ 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (11/03/09)

The Grates came on with full energy with their often-intro song "Trampoline". Yes, Patience does do that weird rabbit hopping dance, as seen on their Til Death Do Us Party: Live At The Forum DVD. Patience is now a blonde, dressed in a gymnastic outfit.... making her look even more child-like than ever. Which may sound quite weird to hear her talk about wanting a baby of her own (I thought to myself, well there's always cloning...)

Other things I learned from Patience: if you eat enough of your hair, you'll have to take a pill to poop out the hair. Hence "hair butt". Fist-bumping, she tells us is called "boning". She likes to climb onto things, or jump into the audience and singing... while using a twirling baton. Fun to watch, but they also require audience interaction.

"It was this big!"

I thought the highlight of their set was either "Howl" or "19-20-20". I'm not that familar with their new material, but I did recognize their single, "Burn Bridges", from the setlist.

If you are looking for a good time or see cuteness in action, check out Brisbane's export, The Grates touring through your area. They are quite approachable, so please have a friendly chat with them after the show. Their lastest album is called Teeth Lost, Hearts Won, which if you get it on vinyl, will come with a bonus CD. I might also suggest checking out their debut album, which four singles from that album made it onto Triple J Hottest 100. I'm sure Sally will keep us informed of the 2010's Hottest 100.

Bonus: Enjoy "Trampoline" from Til Death Do Us Party: Live At The Forum DVD

The Grates - Trampoline

 11/04/2009 04:57:32 ♥ vu () ♥ thegrates.com ♥ myspace.com/thegrates