You can go catch him live tonight at 697 North Miami Ave. Miami, FL. Doors open at 11PM.

Here’s a long overdue interview with him.

It is so sad to have only a limited bunch of songs…  since May 18, 1980 was the day Joy Division frontman, Ian Curtis, committed suicide. Living a conflicted life, struggling with epilepsy and medications, a wife, Deborah, and child, Natalie, back home and a lover on the road with Joy Division. Who knows what really went through his head before he took his life… and what would have happened if he had crossed the ocean and toured America like he was supposed to?

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death, and we are closer to his story as we’ve ever been, with movies such as Control, documentaries like Joy Division, and, well, the great history that New Order continued beyond the tragedy. Now it seems to be time for the kids to celebrate Curtis’ talent.

BBC News announced today that the Northern Chamber Orchestra, with schoolchildren of the town of Macclesfield, will composed a Joy Division inspired symphony. This goes hand in hand with the greatest exhibition of Ian Curtis’ memorabilia, personal items, Joy Division set lists, etc. The exhibition will be curated by journalist Jon Savage, who was also screenwriter for the 2008 documentary, Joy Division. As of right now, students in Macclesfield’s local schools are working hand in hand with the musicians from the orchestra to put together the music for this summer.

The exhibition will run from July, 29th to August, 7th. My advice is, if you are Joy Division fan in Europe around those days, definitely stop by Macclesfield and check out the exhibit. Don’t forget to bring me photos. Here’s a live performance from around 1978-1979 to get in the mood.

Friday was day 1 of Coachella. Xavier was the only one person with an actual ticket in our car, and we needed 3 more. Following people’s advice, we figured we would wait and get the tickets for the actual festival at the gates. Even though their website says it’s sold out, they release last minute tickets at the box offices. Yeah… well, that didn’t quite happen this time around. I’m guessing that because they were only selling 3-day passes, that they sold out for real.

Picture this: The four of us are stuck in traffic… We only have one ticket… Its around 3PM… Traffic isn’t moving… X and I get out of the car and start walking. We’re in the frigging desert, it’s 90ºF out, with a beer in hand and a sign that says WE NEED TIX!… and we walk… and keep on walking. After about an hour or 2.5 miles, we prety much get to the actual entrance without finding one single scalper. At that point, things aren’t looking too good for us.. As a matter of fact, we’re kinda freaking out.

That’s when this kinda crazy looking chick walks by. She offers tickets. We’re thinking, ‘Cool! We’re saved!’ Yeah, no. She’s asking for $700 for each. Hell no. WTF? Xavier and I look at each other and start discussing… We ask the girl what her prices were for 3 tickets and we end up deciding on one ticket for $700, and two for $550 each. Great. Now… we need an ATM.

We had a total of about $1200 combined… but we needed $600 more for the third ticket. So Xavier leaves me with the crazy chick (who was actually called Fatima) and runs off with my debit card in the search for an ATM about 2 miles away. Fatima is making small talk, telling me she wants to go in too and all. This whole time I’m thinking,’ OK, this isn’t bad.’ That was until the bitch asks me to go to the parking lot with her… Oh god. She keeps telling me she rode in her friends car, who is at the show, and that she locked her keys in her trunk.

Hmmm.. Okay, shady, but I couldn’t lose the chick! No one else was selling tickets! So she asks for help from the parking lot guys and we all start looking for the car, which mind you, she had no clue where it was. (This is when I start frantically calling people to avoid getting kidnapped, thrown in a trunk and chopped to pieces, or raped) Its already getting dark and the situation is getting pretty shitty… when surprise!!! The woman really had locked her keys in the trunk! And the filipino dudes opened the car (a Civic of course-now I know how to steal one)!

We start walking back to meet up with the rest of the people, when I find out that I have exceeded the daily limit on my card. It dawned on me: WE’RE FUCKED. Xavier was inside looking for a magical ATM, while I get in the car who miraculously appeared and both Fatima the scalper and I jumped in. We park. We’re in Coachella territory. Sans tickets. That’s when Mario suggested I call Bank of America (insert hateful thought here). I am literally sitting outside the gate, talking to about 5 different people from one department to another and all I’m saying is: “I’m in California, I’m trying to go to a music festival, I’m literally sitting outside with a scalper and I can’t take money out because you froze my account! I need my money! I need to be in there!” and I’m pointing the phone towards where the music is playing because the bank rep totally understands what I’m talking about. Needless to say, that didn’t work out so well.

We decide to buy just two tickets, and slip one wristband off and get the other person in (Oh! the advantages of having skinny wrists). Desperate times call for desperate measures. This was when Fatima tells us how the procedure goes: she takes the money, gives it to her broker in exchange for the bracelets, comes back, and walks us in. Yeah, no… sorry but Fatima isn’t walking away with my $1200. That’s a whole lotta fucking money! After some discussion, we decide Xavier is going along or the deal is off. She agrees. Ok, good to know we didn’t waste 4 hours of our day on her.

It’s already like 9PM, we can almost hear LCD Soundsystem playing and we see Xavier walk away with the girl. The whole time, Des and I are totally thinking he’s gonna get beat up, shot, who knows. It took them about 10 minutes to come back even though we thought he would totally be missing a tooth or something. Now the only question remaning was: are the bracelets real?

We decide Mario stays behind. Xavier, Des, Fatima, and I head to the door for them to scan our wristbands. We’re already exhausted, what else could possibly go wrong? Nothing. And nothing did. About time. We walk in, woo hoo! The wristbands work! So Des slips hers off, I slip it in my very-important-stuff-goes-in-here pocket, and go get Mario who was hiding and waiting for the bracelet to arrive. The whole time I’m thinking, “he’s got skinny wrists, it’s gonna work”… It turns into a 15 minute struggle plus Red Bull used as lubricant and the Coachella wristband is now around his wrist… and that shit ain’t coming off. We walk back, triumphant look on our faces, and after much anxiety, struggle, hours of walking, countless phone calls and texts, and $1200 later… WE’RE IN!

We all run to Vampire Weekend. We can barely hold our excitement when we notice we’re gonna have to do the whole switcheroo thing again tomorrow… but who cares?! We’re iiin! We caught a few Vampire Weekend songs from previous albums, and their latest one, Contra, then we walked over to see Fever Ray. ‘Creepy’ would be a great way to describe her show. We also thought it was really funny that we saw two bums sleeping right next to the smoke machine and people kept stepping on them and they wouldn’t wake up. Fever Ray sounded exactly like the album, and it kinda even seemed like performance art too. The costumes were either black or blood red, and there were table lamps scattered throughout the stage. Told you, creepy. We left Fever Ray right on time to catch Jay-Z performing The Empire State and then kinda hung out for a few minutes and walked over to Whitest Boy Alive. It was the proper way to end the day; the tent where they played was packed and the vibe was pretty amazing. The melodies were the perfect ending to a day that was more like Mission Impossible: Coachella Edition.

With that concept in mind, Diesel decided to help boost the music industry and take Diesel:U:Music, a project that began in 2001, and turn in into what has now become one of the largest world tours yet. Diesel:U:Music has stopped by Berlin, New York, Tokyo, Helsinki, Oslo, Paris, Madrid, London, and Vienna, with the next two stops being Miami and Sydney. The tour featured artists like Passion Pit, Theophilus London, The Roots, Peaches, Heartsrevolution, Lilly Allen, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Big Pink, The Cool Kids, The Glimmers, special appearances by Kanye West and Lykke Li, and more.

The next stop of the D:U:M tour will take place on Tuesday, November 17th in Miami, bringing headliners Kid Cudi and Santigold to the Paris Theater (550 Washington Ave) for a night of fun, music, and drinks. A limited amount of passes were handed out at the local Diesel stores and, as an employee, I get in on the fun! Doors open at 9PM on Tuesday, so, if you get a chance, go pick up a ticket at any Miami location.

I’m excited about this upcoming event and I hope to see you all there. In the meantime, check out these videos from the previous stops of the 2009 tour:

It isn’t very often that we get to experience most of Miami’s talent under one roof, all during the same day. Since this kind of occasion does not take place often, we decided we had to be there. This satuday at SOHO studios (view map), we’ll be spending our afternoon, and I am sure most of the night, listening to the best Miami bands and DJs. The day-long festival, headlined by Pharrell Williams’ N.E.R.D. will also include: “lifestyle elements that mirror Miami’s unique culture including: various music genres, art, gaming, action sports, fashion, eco-consciousness, food and more”… TBH, you had me at “action sports”.

Gathering local talent that cover all music genres, the festival also features our friends and local Djs such as Aramis, Ray Milian, Induce (whose new album you can find on iTunes), Dirty Hairy DJs Danny Daze and Contra.

Live band performances will be scattered throughout the day, with bands such as: Awesome New Republic (Miami New Times best band 2009), Afrobeta, Modernage, Spam Allstars and many more…

Get tickets here

Awesome New Republic

Spam All Stars

Afrobeta

Modernage

Other Acts include:

Locos Por Juana, Suenalo, Volumen Cero, Mayday Artofficial, The Hongs, Soniko, Elastic Bond, Fusik, Bachaco, Butta Verses, The Morning Flesh Project, Ketchy Shuby, Lex One, Cynic, DJ Danny Daze, Contra, Tom Laroc, Induce, DJ Elle, Aramis, DJ Pauer, Ray Milian, DJ Artime, Haviken Hayes, DJ Keen One, DJ DBJ, Pusher FM, DJ Mirage, Stevie D

More info at:

Tickets

Festival Website

There is no way to explain how influential they have been throughout their careers… and I knew that having the possibility of seeing them perform all the songs that I love was unique. Who knows if I’m going to get a second chance to experience it? Also, knowing the opening act, Peter, Bjorn & John, it was something no one would want to miss out on.

Depeche Mode has been touring the globe for the release of their latest CD, Sounds Of The Universe. The tour went under the nam

e Tour Of The Universe (how appropriate), and it took them everywhere from Europe to North America, South America, and back to Europe again. The band is sch

eduled to finish the trip around the end of February, adding the dates that were cancelled a couple of months ago.

The possibility of the show at Bank Atlantic Center getting cancelled was the big scare. Lots of dates had to be postponed due to healt

h issu

es, leaving a certain degree of worry in my mind. I don’t know what I would have done with myself if I was left without a show. Luckily, no band members were injured or sick… and I got my show.

Day-of was here and we drove up to Weston to  pre-game and to later head to the arena all together. We turned out to be a crew of 10 people, from which only Ray had already seen the band perform. He told us that being a first-timer in a Depeche Mode show was like not being born yet. We drove to the arena and I soon began to appreciate the magnitude of their success: fans gathered from all areas; there wasn’t an appropriate age or gender, and I could finally see for myself just how there wasn’t just one type of fan, but a mass of mainstreamers, grown up goths in their forties, loyal fans in their thirties, hipsters in their twenties, and even ten year old kids.

I can’t really put in words how the show was. Amazing would not be enough. The enthusiasm that the band exuded was the biggest gift they could have given us, as we danced, screamed, and sang along with Dave. I know I will never forget that night, there are no need for pictures as reminders of what I experienced. For those who were not there or simply want to know what they played in order, here is the complete set-list:

In Chains
Wrong Hole To Feed
Walking In My Shoes
It’s No Good
A Question Of Time
Precious
Fly On The Windscreen
Little Soul
A Question Of Lust Miles Away / The Truth Is
Policy Of Truth
In Your Room
I Feel You
Enjoy The Silence
Never Let Me Down Again

Encore #1
Shake The Disease
Stripped
Behind The Wheel

Encore #2
Personal Jesus (here is a clip from the show)

Expectations were through the roof as I stood in line waiting to get in. it was definitely a weird set up; wooden tables in the middle of the dance floor made Kukaramakara look cluttered. People were sitting and chatting like it was a picnic on a Sunday afternoon, but the music set a different tone. The DJ was spinning some familiar south American tunes and it was a nice atmosphere, which I did not expect out of a Colombian club, sorry!

I had made my way to one of the guys from the crew and told him about my intentions of sitting down with the band to have a quick chat, he took my card and said I might be able to after the show. I was a woman with a mission.

Needless to say, the show was beyond amazing. Babasonicos sounded great, better than ever, and with that classic badass attitude that they exude. The set list consisted of mostly newer songs, but I was surprised to hear their classic “Seis Virgenes Descalzas” (or six barefoot virgins). Opening with Cuello Rojo from their latest album, Mucho, they started off with great energy and made us dance from the get-go. Considering I wasn’t at my usual concert alcohol levels, it was amazing.

During the show, I had set myself directly in front of the stage, right in the middle. I could have smelled their sweat, if I had tried, that is.  When the show ended, Mariano, the guitarist, approached me and asked if my name was Barbie. I nodded, shocked, but I tried to keep it together. One of the crewmembers approached me and told me he would take me backstage for an interview. Ten minutes and a backstage wristband later, there I was: smoking cigarettes with Babasonicos, my favorite South American band.

This is my attempt to explain the oddness of the situation. There were girls everywhere, alcohol, and equipment being moved back and forth. I sat down and chatted with them about fans, travel, music, and fashion. I sat with lead singer Adrian Dargelos, Mariano “Roger” Dominguez, Diego “Uma-T” Tuñon, and Carca, and went on and on for about two whole hours, while the rest of the band walked around the place.

One of the first things I noticed was that there were no more camera flashes in the room. I then learned that it somehow bothered some of the guys in the band that people would only take pictures or record videos from the show… for them, it is all about living the moment through your eyes, not a screen. I agreed. Besides, how else would you enjoy the hypnotizing music and moves if you were living it through a lens?

I asked guitarist, Mariano “Roger” Dominguez, how the tour had been so far. He said that he was happy to have toured again, but that playing 40 cities in 90 days is exhausting. Miami was their last stop in the US, and they are playing in Chile in a few days.

For those who know about the beginnings of Babasonicos, the band started off with a very experimental sound, which made people label them as indie music, or new wave. It was after their album Jessico, that they reached a mainstream fan base. Mariano discussed how people now accuse them of selling out, but then I looked around the room and thought, if selling out allows you to travel the world, play for a crowd, and party? Why not? If it pays the bills…

They explained how they are humbled every time they visit the US. This is not their turf. Apparently, they are allowed to go all out in South America while touring, but being in this country is different. They have yet to break through the American market. This topic made me drift off to the more personal questions and fans. What was it about them that made the girls want to tear their clothes off for them?

It seemed like every guy in the room was chatting some girl up. There was something about this group of Argentine men that drove us nuts, not going to lie. Somehow, though, it didn’t seem as if the guys were all trying to find a female companion for their last night in Miami. As I looked over to say hi to a friend, I asked Diego “Uma-T Tuñon (keyboards), why he hadn’t stopped dancing throughout the show. He joked around and said that he enjoys dancing more than playing. He was definitely the funkiest looking guy out of the bunch.

I began to talk about music. Being a huge Depeche Mode fan, I brought the subject up. As some of you might know, DM is performing this Saturday, September 5^th. Mariano enlightened me and told me which album he liked the most (Ultra) and that they opened for Depeche Mode, along with INXS and Soul Asylum, in Argentina back in 1994. He said that everyone hated them. Funny how things work, right?

In the middle of the show, I had typed up the name of one of their songs on my phone: PARAGUAYANA. I got his attention while he was playing; he came up to me and read what I had written. He then told me that he thought it was hilarious. I guess I had managed to amuse him by wanting them to play one of my favorite songs… Mariano said it was an old song, that somehow, they might have forgotten how to play it.

After that, I was the one answering the questions. How long ago did I leave Argentina? Who do I live with here? Do I ever go back? It seemed surreal to be hanging out with the guys that give a soundtrack to my life.  I explained that I am a fashion design student, that I work retail besides interviewing people backstage (and write about fashion) for Life.is.

The conversation turned to fashion. Babasonicos stopped by The Webster. They said they were mesmerized: so many cool clothes, so expensive. I told them that it was pretty much the most exclusive boutique in Miami.

It was getting late, I was exhausted but wanted to keep chatting with the band. When some girl walked in to have the boys sign some underwear she had bought, the guys seemed a little put off. Mariano whispered saying she had made him sign eight of those already.

I offered to take them on a night out on the town, but, apparently, their entourage was too big to try to organize anything. Wanting to spend more time with them, I sadly hugged them goodbye. I knew I had gotten what I wanted. My goal of stepping backstage had been accomplished and it was time go home.

Here is the complete set list for those crazy fans, like me:

Cuello Rojo

El Idolo

El Colmo

Las Demas

Como Eran Las Cosas

Seis Virgenes Descalzas

Pijamas

Yo Anuncio

Irresponsables

Carismatico

Yegua

Pendejo

Asi Se Habla

Y Que?

Putita

Estoy Rabioso

Microdancing

Encore included Risa and Sin Mi Diablo.

I always get amazingly excited when bands pay a visit to Miami. Its been almost three years since Babasonicos, my all-time favorite band from Argentina, has played here… and they will be blowing my brains out again this Saturday 29th. Playing at an all-too-familiar venue, the previously called Studio A, now Kukaramakara, Babasonicos will present their new material and also take us down memory lane with their past hits.

Babasonicos is not one of those new bands that just appeared out of nowhere. They got together in the early 90s, and were mostly an indie band, surviving off of their steady fan base, until one album changed everything. They had established the New Wave sound in Argentina and were walking a different path, setting them apart from the rest of the music industry down in that country. One of my favorite albums from their early era is Trance Zomba, a mix of sounds and harmonies that was almost hypnotizing for me. I then learned that they had added a DJ to the band, who stayed with them until after the release of their album called Miami, which was recorded here, in our beautiful city. Other albums released during their beginnings were Pasto, Vedette, and Dopadromo.

It was in 2001, with their massive release of their simpler yet still amazing album, Jessico, that the band hit stardom. Great album, if you ask me. I have spent hours jamming to Jessico, with tracks such as Delectrico, El Loco, and my favorite, Los Calientes.

After Jessico, they dropped two more albums, Infame and Anoche. They were even more successful with the new fans, easier to love in that same Babasonicos vibe. I had been expecting a new album for a while, but then the unfortunate death of one of the members last year had the fans torn between compassion and expectancy. We did not know what would become of them. Amazingly, and much to everyone’s surprise, Babasonicos made it through the storm and released their latest album, Mucho, in 2008. Microdancing, the first single’s video…

Nominated in several ocassions for the MTV Latin American Music Awards (won Best Rock Artist in 07), and the Argentinean Premios Gardel, Babasonicos have made a name for themselves; and I cannot wait to see them perform again, just like I have experienced it many times before.

WHERE? CLUB KUKARAMAKARA (EX STUDIO A)

ADDRESS 71 NW 14TH ST, MIAMI, FL, 33136

WHEN? SATURDAY, AUGUST 29TH – DOORS OPEN AT 8PM

BUY TICKETS ONLINE, $30 (SO WORTH IT!)

Event is 21+, but, come on… this is Miami. Get creative! See you there!