Anybody Killa at the Muse, once again

Friday, October 14th, 2011
Anybody Killa
The Muse, Nashville, TN
$12

For the second time in 2011, and the third time in a year, I got the opportunity to see ABK perform at the Muse. Beforehand, I made up a batch of 2 dozen Moon Mist cupcakes, and picked up new friend Ryan "Cookies" from his house so he could go to the show as well. When we arrived, nothing was going on yet, so like always, we just stood around and mingled, and ate some cupcakes. I actually only went inside a few times before ABK started to perform since I wasn't familiar with anyone who was opening, and since I'd much rather be hanging out on the patio with my friends than pretending that I'm enjoying someone's performance.

By the time ABK started to perform, everyone had gone back inside and staked out their respective spots near the stage. While I waited, I had something very strange happen. I struck up a brief conversation with a man standing next to me, and after exchanging just a few pleasantries, he said "Too bad more REAL Juggalos didn't show up tonight. I only see three or four." Um...excuse me? I'd never seen this dude in my life, so he obviously didn't personally know every person in the room. And who is he to judge what a REAL Juggalo is? I wasn't even sure how to respond since I wasn't sure if he was including me in the three or four who were "real Juggalos" or was lumping me in the with "not a real Juggalo" rest of the crowd. What a random, judgmental thing to say to someone you didn't know.

Once ABK came out onstage, the show was great, as always. I actually thought the set seemed a little shorter than his past sets, but in reality I don't think it was. This was one of only three "Orange and Black" shows that he did, so hopefully it's a show that was unique to only those three dates.

Photos...



















After the show, everyone made their way outside, and Killa was right behind us. We all just hung around and chilled for a while, took some photos and generally had a good time.


Crystal meets Killa...


...and so does Nick!

After we'd been hanging around for a while, I decided to get my other dozen cupcakes and pass them out. So right as I'd handed them all out and we started to eat, two cops came up. They were shining their flashlights on us and acting like brutes, apparently thinking they were gonna bust us all for doing something illegal. But nope! We were all just standing there eating cupcakes! They kept looking at us, and shining the flashlights all over the ground, but all they found were happy, upstanding citizens eating yummy cupcakes hahaha It was so funny how confused they were. Eventually they left since we weren't doing anything bad!

Not sure what my next show is going to be since I don't have anything else on the plan at the moment. Still hoping that Boondox turns up at the Muse sooner than later!

-Julie

Axe Murder Boyz at the Muse

Thursday, June 30th, 2011
Axe Murder Boyz, Stitchmouth
The Muse, Nashville, TN
$10
See all the photos from this show here

A mere 6 days after the Boondox and Blaze show, it was time to head back to the Muse to hang out with the fam at the Axe Murder Boyz show. I put in a full day at work, and headed over to briefly visit with Pamela where she worked before heading to the Muse. I had tested out a batch of Faygo orange cupcakes, which she and Nick both ended up really liking. Once I headed out from there, I was off to the Muse, arriving at 7:07. Of course, since I was seven minutes late, Dennis had to hassle me about being late! :-) Brandon, Amber and Vikki were all hanging around, but not too many others were there that early. I gave out some cupcakes, and they seemed to get rave reviews, though I think they are a little step down from the Moon Mist cupcakes.

The vast majority of the early evening was spent sitting out on the Muse patio and chatting with everyone, as well as a saunter over to the side door where Bonez and Otis were hanging out with everyone. We popped our heads inside the venue for a bit here and there, but didn't watch any full sets until it was time for Stitchmouth.





Once Stitch took the stage, most people in the area headed inside the venue to check him out. Stitch really is a great performer, and is very entertaining. I must say though, this was the first show I've ever been to where I had to dodge pieces of a Bible that were flying around, but hey, to each their own. I also noticed that the bald guy from SGF was Stitch's hypeman, which was cool. I really hope there's another SFG show in the pipeline some time soon!


Me and Dennis enjoying Stitch's set

After Stitch, the venue cleared out again, with most people simply hanging around out on the patio and enjoying the fun company. We did manage to get a little carried away with the goofy photo taking, but it's all good!


Vikki and Shawn goofing around


Amber with smoky ghostly things all around her


More hanging around


Brandon and Amber...awww...


Look out Vikki!!

When it was time for AMB, everyone headed inside, which proved that there was actually a really good turnout, even if you couldn't tell from the crowds for the openers!


Everyone waiting for AMB to go on

The only other time I'd seen AMB was a very brief glimpse seen while waiting in line, when they were opening for ICP in January. They were also supposed to have opened for the last ABK show I went to, but Otis had had to rush home that night. So I was curious to see a full set of theirs, especially when they were the headliner. Once they hit the stage, they were pretty good...not the greatest group I've ever seen, but they were solid enough, and I really enjoyed the performance.


Otis


Bonez Dubb


Tearing it up, and dancing around


Both the brothers

I didn't recognize most of their songs since, honestly, I'd never listened to an album of theirs. Lots of Juggalos don't tend to like them for one reason or another, so I had just never bothered to listen to their stuff. But overall, it was very enjoyable.


Dennis, looking very ready for a 4 Non Blondes show

After the show, everyone filtered out and upstairs to the Undertones bar where we hung out until the wee hours of the morning. Once everyone was sufficiently exhausted and the ABM guys needed to move on to the next city, Dennis, Brandon, Amber and Vikki loaded into the truck, and even ended up taking Shawn with them back to the Jackson area!

The next show...it came out of nowhere! U2's 360 Tour!

Hopsin, SGF, Stitchmouth and more at the Muse

Saturday, April 30th, 2011
Hopsin, SFG, Stitchmouth, Lil Wyte, etc.
The Muse, Nashville, TN
$15
See all the photos from this show here

After last month's awesome ABK show at the Muse where SGF was an opener, I was really happy to see that SGF had another show coming up as an opener for Hopsin. I also noticed that local underground legend Stitchmouth was on the bill, which was awesome since I'd been wanting to see him for a while too. I went out with a guy recently who seemed more interested in bad mouthing Stitchmouth during our date than actually getting to know me, so it made me want to catch one of Stitch's performances all the more! haha

After a full morning of baking up two dozen of my almost-famous Faygo Moon Mist cupcakes, I headed out to pick up my friends Pamela and Nick, who were joining me for the show (or I was joining them, however you want to look at it!). After a quick stop by the venue to pick up some presale tickets from a guy named Sweet Tooth in an almost drug deal-like transaction, we headed off for lunch at El Mariachi. Two chimichangas and a plate of nachos later, we were back at the venue, well in advance of when the doors were to open.



After a few minutes of careful blood drip application, we were ready for the show.


All set for the show!

Once we were ready to go in, the doors still weren't open, so we had to hang around outside for a while. The vibe was really different than what we were expecting as well. Lots of people were there dressed in club wear, and there was even one guy in a sweater vest! haha Not the crowd we were hoping for, though we had an inkling that the crowd might turn lame since it was announced on the radio that Lil Wyte was playing at that show too. Oh well.



The first performer on the bill was Stitchmouth. What a frickin' travesty to have him be the first person on this bill! Especially considering how terrible a few of the bands after him were! This dude was awesome, and definitely should have performed much further into the night just so there would have been more people there! We missed about half of his set because we couldn't even tell that he'd gone on yet!



Stitch just dripped with everything that is violent and angry about underground music. And as Pamela says, he only came across as "a little bit satanic-y. Just a smidgen." hahaha


Looking intense...too bad we missed so much of the set



Next up was this joker, who was very, very obviously lip syncing!! Like, he was missing entire lines that were in his voice, then putting the mic up to his mouth for the last word or two, like no one would notice! I was embarrassed for him.



But what I didn't get was why the rest of the guys in the group were singing for real, and only the one guy was lip syncing. In any event, they sucked, and we went outside about halfway through their set.



Next up...Nick Rage. Not bad. Average. Passable.


I felt sorry for them though since there were literally 8 people in the venue watching them

Once Nick Rage was done, it was time for someone else I'd never heard of, so we went outside to hang out for a while. While we were there, we pondered how the crowd just didn't feel like we were expecting. When you're at a completely underground show, the whole crowd is really friendly, and everyone is having a good time. But for this show, it really did seem like there were two groups of people there...the Juggalos (who were having fun), and everyone else (who were picking fights with each other and acting like hookers) haha. And the Juggalos were out numbered by far! Since I still had two dozen cupcakes hanging out in the car, I decided to just go get them and hand them out to anyone I saw that I could tell was fam.

So, I went out to the car and brought back a dozen cupcakes, and the second I walked back onto the patio with the box (with its Faygo Moon Mist label), every lo and lette in the area was instantly like "WOAH! Faygo cupcakes?!?! Can I have one??" I gave out the first dozen within the first three or four minutes that I was there, and everyone seemed to love them! And it was so, so funny to watch all these other random people who were obviously not fam see me giving out these cupcakes, but me not offer them any haha. I was definitely giving off a "keep your hands up off my cupcakes unless you're fam" vibe hahaha

With the first dozen gone, I ran back to the car and got the other dozen and brought them back. I gave one to the girl at the bar, and one to Stitch...almost offered Hopsin one since he was just standing around with everyone, but I didn't get up the nerve. I know...I should have. I ended up chatting with a group of folks who are also from the Madison/Rivergate area, and it was great to meet even more local people who I can expect to see at shows. It's been awesome to have made so many new friends through this genre of music.



Finally it was time for one of the main events, SGF! These guys really killed it at the ABK show, so I knew that they'd really get the crowd going.


Awesome SGF tattoo (which I found out stands for "Spewing Guttural Fragments" haha)


All four guys


The other side of this guy's head was completely tattooed...wish I'd gotten a photo of it!


Near the end of the set, SGF called Stitch back on stage for a song, which was awesome. The crowd was so into it...it was great.



Up next was someone else we didn't know, so we all went back outside again. Once again, I ended up sitting with the Madison people, and after a while, most of the patio cleared out as people went inside to watch Lil Wyte.



I had never heard his music, but I had heard some pretty bad things about it, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It ended up being very not my thing, in an overrated mainstream sort of way. Since this was the main act that the "polos and micro tank tops" crowd was there to see, it didn't surprise me AT ALL that a fight broke out during his set. They had to stop the music and wait for all the white trash to stop throwing beer bottles at each other before they could start performing again. That mess doesn't happen at Juggalo shows. I didn't really get any good pics during his set, but I didn't really care either. But I did manage to watch almost the entire set with Hopsin standing right next to me, which was cool!

Finally, it was time for the main event...Hopsin and Swizzz! Well, after a long time of listening to a DJ, who was actually pretty good. It was funny to watch all the Lil Wyte people leave in a mass exodus, while all the Juggalos were filtering back in.


Check out the white eyes!

I'm not all that versed in Hopsin's music, but I could really see me getting into him. He had a lot of really fun songs, and he was very animated all through his performance.


Hopsin and Swizzz


OMG his EYEEEEEZZZ!!! So freaky!







After the show, everyone slowly started to head out for the night. It was definitely an interesting show, and I'm very glad that I decided go, and even more glad that I decided to make my cupcakes to share! haha I'm glad that people liked them, and was glad to put some smiles on some peoples faces.

For those of you that are interested, here's the recipe for the Faygo Moon Mist cupcakes!

Cupcakes
1 Box yellow cake mix
1 cup flour
1 box vanilla pudding
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 pint Moon Mist
Splash of lemon and orange extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients and the oil together, then mix the eggs in one by one. Once all the eggs are in, mix in the Moon Mist and the extracts gradually. Bake until they are done (my oven takes 28 minutes). Makes about 30 regular sized cupcakes.

Frosting
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
Zest and juice of 2 limes
Splash of lemon and orange extracts
Add a little water if you need to thin it out

That's enough frosting for a relatively thin layer. If you like a big mound of frosting, you'll probably want to double that recipe.

Next show...Stone Temple Pilots, which in real life took place the very next day from this show!

-Julie

Super-Killa-Fragilistic - ABK at the Muse

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
Anybody Killa, P.R.E.A.C.H.
The Muse, Nashville, TN
$12
See all the photos from this show here

Considering that I live in Nashville, I find it really strange that I've had two opportunities to see Anybody Killa (ABK) in concert here within the last five months. But hey, I'm definitely not complaining! His show last November at the Muse was my first Psychopathic show, and I really enjoyed it, so I was definitely not going to miss his return.

Work was nice enough to let me leave an hour and 15 minutes early, and when I arrived, there wasn't much going on just yet. After getting the best parking spot yet behind the Muse, I met Pamela in the parking lot on the way in. The first thing we heard were rumblings about Kung Fu Vampire being MIA, AMB not being able to play since one of the guys wasn't there, and now ABK was refusing to play. Knowing how incorrect info can spread like wildfire, we both chalked this up to being like the telephone game...someone said something, then someone overheard it and changed the story a little, then someone overheard that, and so on.

Since nothing was going on yet, we sat down outside and chatted, and mingled with the others waiting for the show. Eventually we heard that Kung Fu Vampire was definitely not going to be there, which was fine since I'd never really listened to them.



The first band, S.G.F., went on a little before 9:00 They were awesome though, with elaborate makeup and blood, and some great rhymes to go with it.


Chick in the tank top is not impressed



Near the end of the set, they stirred up a mosh put and a couple of the guys jumped right in, while a strobe light was making everything look like it was happening in slow motion. Wild! I would definitely head back out to see these guys again since they were VERY entertaining.



After a break, P.R.E.A.C.H. was the next artist to perform. I wasn't sure what to expect with him either, but he was fantastic. Great beats, great lyrics, and great interaction with the crowd.


Tank Top is also not impressed with P.R.E.A.C.H.


lulz She looks miniature in this picture

One of the guys he was with also handed out CDs and lighters that said P.R.E.A.C.H. on them, so I ended up with a nice yellow lighter too. I was very pleasantly surprised with his performance. It's so awesome to go to shows not expecting to find any new artists to pay attention to, then come out as a fan of one of the openers! (Happened last time too when Critical Bill opened for ABK, and I figured out that Critical Bill was exactly the style of music I enjoy!)



With the first two openers having been big hits, Bones from AMB came out on stage to announce that Otis had had a family emergency and had to fly home, so there wouldn't be an AMB performance that night. Not a biggie for me since I'm not a big fan of AMB. He then introduced local Juggalo rappers Lords of Chaos.



Poor guys...you can tell that they're new to performing since they seemed to struggle to remember their Juggalo-centric lyrics and did little more than just stand there and recite them into the microphone. They also had some song about "the dark side of 615" which pretty much painted Juggalos as gang members, which I really wasn't fond of. But whatever.


And she's totally not feeling Lords of Chaos either



Bones made another appearance and introduced a guy named FLOW who he said was new to their record label (it was news to me that AMB have their own record label now, but hey, I must not keep up with them well enough hahaha). FLOW was entertaining, though not because he was particularly good. He was all smiles the whole way through his set, and didn't seem to be rapping about anything too serious.


Tank Top had to resort to playing with her phone since she was so bored with FLOW's performance



By this point, given that neither Lords of Chaos nor FLOW were particularly good, the venue had almost completely emptied out. Too bad that the two best performers went first, since the next two acts completely sucked the life out of the venue. S.G.F. and P.R.E.A.C.H. definitely should have played just before ABK.

By the time that it was actually time for ABK to take the stage, people were slowly filtering back in, and chants of "ABK!" and "Fam-uh-ly" were starting to fill the room. Since this show was technically a part of the Medicine Bag tour (just like the last one was), I was expecting the backdrop to be the same Medicine Bag backdrop as last time. But instead, when they dropped the tarp, there were two large hatchetman banners on the sides, with some sort of tall riser in the middle that he was standing on, which was a much grander entrance that just walking out on stage!




Pamela with ABK in the background


Tank Top was actually enjoying this performance! I think she was even taking a photo with the phone and not playing with it.







Much like last time, the performance was great. He moved around the stage a lot, and made prolonged eye contact with lots of people numerous times throughout the set. At one point during "Ghost of my Ex," he stared me down and reached out his hand toward me. But dammit if I didn't have a dude standing right in front of me, and I couldn't reach back far enough to grab his hand haha Overall, again, another solid performance. Better than last time in my opinion since he seemed a little more energetic and was having a little more fun with it.

After the show, everyone made their way outside and hung around for a while. I'd met new friend Dennis "Lazy D" before the show, and he'd invited me and Pamela upstairs to the Undertones bar because he anticipated that ABK would head up there for a few drinks later. I'm certainly not one to pass up the opportunity to meet a celebrity, so after a while, we all headed upstairs. After a good 45 minutes of hanging around with no sign of ABK, Pamela and I decided to go downstairs just to make sure that his trailer was still parked beside the club, and that he hadn't slipped away unnoticed! It was still there, and after chatting with a security guard about how much we both loved Boondox, ABK came our way. We gave him a quick whoop whoop and he headed upstairs, with me and Pamela following behind. He ended up being such a Joe Average cool dude to hang out with...didn't draw attention to himself or act outrageous like you hear some musicians doing!


Yep, that's what ABK looks like without his paint!

Once ABK and almost everyone else snuck off to the back room for a while, Pamela and I stayed to chat with Dennis, who ended up being such an interesting guy! Everyone else came back into the main area of the bar at some point, and as it approached 3:00am, the subject of the Gummi Bears theme song came up. So eventually, we all ended up watching cartoon theme songs on YouTube over the big screen TV in the bar! Epic...totally epic hahaha

I've said it before and I'll say it again, that I am so glad that I chose to embrace this whole genre of music. The music is great, the concerts are awesome, and the other fans are so, so fun! Now all I need is for Boondox to come to the Muse and I'll have seen everyone on the label :-)

-Julie