Movers and Shakers

Posted on February 25th, 2007 by April.
Categories: Celebrity, Music, Transgender, Video.

Sony Taking Transgendered Band Mainstream

 
A girl band of transsexuals who model themselves on the Spice Girls are hoping to change social attitudes and achieve pop chart success in Thailand.
 

Venus Flytrap

 

Hot, Cool, Posh, Naughty and Sweet
hope to be an inspiration for young ladyboys
and anyone confused about their sexuality.

 
 
"I hope audiences do look at us for our work, rather than just for being pretty" -Posh Venus

 
I stumbled across a news story about this group yesterday.  As I read about these women, the more I became interested knowing their full story.

Well a little Google here, a little Google there, quick search of YouTube, and POW!  I had a pretty cool story to share… and a decent new pop song as a bonus.
 
Thailand is believed to have one of the largest transsexual populations in the world. Academics estimate at least 10,000 live in Thailand, though some put the figure 10 times higher.

Even the conservative number would mean that per capita, Thailand has many more transsexuals than most developed countries.

Executives at Sony seeing a prospective market niche and potential to attract a mainstream audience, launched a development project to create the next female pop group sensation. 

Mirroring the creation of The Spice Girls or Pussycat Dolls but with an added twist… a female pop group with all transgendered members.

The company auditioned over 100 performers before selecting the five women who’d become the worlds first transgendered pop group signed to a mainstream record deal.

After signing on the doted line, the women spent the next twelve months undergoing intense singing, acting and dance lessons.  In addition to sharping their skills as entertainers, a great deal of time was spent creating an image for the group. The group was being fast-tracked; their debut required style and polish equal to any seasoned mainstream pop group.

In the fall of 2006, the group began a public relation campaign in the months leading up to their debut album release.  TV and radio interviews, public events, award show appearances, and a high-profile Marie Claire cover photo and feature article helped build the public’s anticipation.

Their first album, "Visa for Love," was released in December and Sony’s director for artists and repertoire Amonrat Homhoul says the company is pleased with the groups success.

"The response has been good, even if their songs aren’t in the charts yet."

The groups first single and music video has been in heavy rotation and continue to gain interest.  A growing fan base has also earned the girls a lucrative concert deal, and recently they’ve enjoyed repeat play on Bangkok’s SkyTrain rail network.

For Sony this is a purely commercial venture by a company looking to exploit a niche market in Thailand.

However, for the group members, they have broader goals and see a more important impact they could have on society in Thailand.

In a Buddhist society which prides itself on tolerance, ladyboys, known as "katoey" in Thai, enjoy wide acceptance.

Many Thais believe being a ladyboy is the result of bad karma — paying in this lifetime for misdeeds in former ones — and that ladyboys deserve pity, not blame.

While many transgendered women in Western nations might see the acceptance given to their counter-parts in Thailand as a kind of nirvana, the reality is far from perfect.

Transgender people are often represented in the media and in public Thai life, but they can still draw negative attention.

Social mobility is severely restricted and employment opportunities are generally limited.  More often than not their only option of work is dancing as exotic entertainers in cabaret revues.

Laws in Thailand are also heavily stacked against transgender people. They are not covered by rape laws, and are not allowed to marry.

The women want to sweep aside the common image of ladyboys as cabaret queens or tourist curiosities and join the mainstream of international pop.  Being seen as roll models is something each take very seriously and are dedicated to promoting tolerance and inclusion of transsexuals in Thailand.

The band’s dream is that the music’s appeal will extend to beyond the cabaret clubs tucked away in seedy red-light districts.

"I hope we are paving the way for other ladyboys. I hope society will be more open for them so that they can work, because they are able to work," said Krerkkong Suanyot, or Posh Venus.

Krerkkong, who has degrees in food science and humanities and is studying for a masters in political science, said she hopes her experience with the band will help earn recognition for other transsexuals.

The group does have a nagging concern that their rising celebrity might be based more on who they are, rather than how they sing.

"I hope audiences do look at us for our work, rather than just for being pretty"

 
Ladies and gentlemen… performing their hit single, ‘Visa for Love‘, and making their Nouveau Girl Blog debut, please join in giving a warm welcome to… Venus Flytrap:
 
 

 
 
OK, what did you think?
 
Maybe I’m having an 80’s flashback induced by the song’s vaguely familiar hook, but it’s not too bad. Kinda catchy… I bet after a few listens it will get stuck in my head… visa for love… do you want me to stay… da da da… visa for love… too late.  
 

Related Links

Offical Site: Venus Flytrap
Fan Site: Venus Flytrap [lots of pictures & videos]
MySpace: Venus Flytrap [unofficial]

YouTube: Music Video - Visa for Love
YouTube: Music Video - Cause I’m Your Lady
YouTube: TV Performance - Medley at At Ten

Book: Personal Narratives of Thailand’s Transgendered Youth
Personal Home Page: My life as ladyboy in Bangkok
Wikipedia: Kathoey - Thailand Ladyboy

Reuters UK: Thai ladyboy band hopes to hit the high notes
Gay New Zealand: Thailand: Transgender band’s record deal
Yahoo! News: Spicy Thai "ladyboy" band aims…
Pink News UK: Thai Spice Girls Preach Transsexual Power
UK Gay: Ladyboy-band sign to Sony

 

 
 
  -April

2 comments.

A Nerdcore Sampler

Posted on February 11th, 2007 by April.
Categories: Music, Nerdcore.

What, you’ve never heard of nerdcore music before?  That’s OK, almost no one has.

Nerdcore hip-hop has been mostly a underground and word-of-mouth thing. 

A nerdcore artist is generally: a musician that’s also a nerd, self-published, self-produced, and writes songs about subjects traditionally outside the traditional hip hop culture: obscure psychotropic substances, politics, computers, video games, science, and science fiction.
 
Ignored by the music industry and ridiculed by many in the hip-hop music world, nerdcore has only been seen as a parody, gimmick, a one-off flash in Internet time, and not to taken seriously. 

While nerdcore has found a growing and dedicated fan base on the Internet, a majority of the listening public have no or only little exposure to this new sound.

Maybe that’s all about to change…

After the better part of a decade, nerdcore has started to attract attention from music critics, the industry, fellow artists, and is slowly finding an audience beyond it’s core of underground fans.  I’ve seen what appears to be a growing "buzz" surrounding the nerdcore seen.

The evidence… Nerdcore is the subject of two upcoming films, a growing number of musical collaborations between nerdcore and established artists, the nerdcore lifestyle was the inspiration behind Al Yankovic’s hit "White & Nerdy", and the gaining notoriety of nerdcor’s first true "stars" - MC Frontalot & mc chris.  Both musicians have found enough commercial success to make nerdcore a full-time gig.

A nerdcore musical sampler.

I selected tracks from several musicians that, hopefully, will demonstrate some of the musical styles within the nerdcore genre.  If you find that one track is just not your thing, please try another.. you might find something new to tell your friends about.  Remember, this is just a sample. 

Most nerdcore music is distributed for free (as in beer). 

Explore. Let me know if you find anything.

Nerdcore Sampler Tracks

Beefy

• Nerd - be proud… yeah I’m a nerd.
• Internet Celebrity - what would Andy Warhol think about YouTube, Mahir, Lonelygirl15, Dancing Baby, the list goes on…?  Who cares, I just want to be an…

Karl Olson

• Nerdcore Life - livin’ the nerdcore life is not easy.
• Start The Pwnage - you’ve been pwned.. bow to your sensi.

mc chris

• Fett’s Vett - Boba Fett, a bad-ass just tryin’ to make the payments on his car.
• The Tussin - adventures in dextromethorphan (a.k.a. Robitussin DXM)

MC Frontalot

• Goth Girls - Suicide Girls got him trippin’
• Floating Bridge - holdin’ it down on the engineering tip
• Yellow Lasers - playa’s got game until…
• Livin’ At The Corner Of Dude & Catastrophe - a fine line…

MC Hawking

• Entropy - drops thermodynamic knowledge
• Jesse Helms - a difference of opinion

n00b Killaz

• Waitin’ 4 tha "V" - dreamin’ of Microsoft Vista

Optimus Rhyme 

• Ford vs. Chevy - calling out the playa haters and demanding respect for nerdcore 
• Fuzzy Dice - a taxicab confession

Nerdcore Links

Artist: Beefy
Artist: Karl Olson
Artist: mc chris
Artist: MC Frontalot
Artist: MC Hawking
Artist: n00b Killaz
Artist: Optimus Rhyme

Film: Nerdcore Rising
Film: Nerdcore For Life

Technorati: Blog Search "nerdcore"

Music: nerdcorehiphop.org
Music: songfight.org
Music: dangerously.ca
Music: futuristicsexrobotz.com
Music: nerdysouthrecords.com
Music: garageband.com

Wikipedia: Nerdcore hip hop
Wikipedia: Dextromethorphan
Wikipedia: Lonelygirl15
Wikipedia: Internet Phenomenon
Wikipedia: Mahir (I Kiss You)
Wikipedia: Suicide Girls
Wikipedia: Andy Warhol
Wikipedia: Al Yankovic

YouTube: Weird Al - White & Nerdy

.end

0 comments.

Littlest Things

Posted on February 5th, 2007 by April.
Categories: Love, Music, Video.

Did anyone catch SNL last weekend?   Drew Barrymore hosted and Lily Allen was the musical guest.

I’ve been looking forward to Lily Allen’s first album after finding some demo tracks she’d released on the Internets, and downloading her first single "Smile" last summer (an iTunes free track of the week).   I was hooked on her voice and very catchy songs.

Yeah it’s pop, but there’s nothing wrong with pop songs… well good pop songs.  Lily’s songs are fun, smart, witty, and just kinda feel like summer.

Musical guests on SNL can be hit or miss.  Something about the venue, the SNL audience, equipment setup, or maybe just rehearsal constraints can produce a lack-luster show. (or having the wrong tape queued up in the tape deck… Ms. Simpson, what the hell was with the dress you wore for your return performance a few weeks ago?)

Lily’s singing was great.  Her band was tight.  She wore a fabulous dress; so cute, I’d be willing to kill just to look good in.  She performed the first two singles from her debut album Alright, Still, "Smile" and "LDN". Music videos for both are available on YouTube.

Her new single, a beautiful bittersweet song, is about past love remembered.  I think everyone has had the experience of feelings long forgotten popping up when your brain finds some connection to a random event in your day.

Not the fights or painful breakup.  Not even the best times you had together.  It’s the littlest things.

Bonus Points:  The song Littlest Things contains a musical sample from a 1974 film.  The film is part of a "brand" estimated to have turned over more then US$5 Billion to date.  That’s billion with a ‘B‘.  Can you name the film?  (hint, it’s not a ‘007′ film)

-April

Editors Note: This article was originally published here.  It has been republished on this site to preserve continuity.
.end

0 comments.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Posted on August 27th, 2006 by April.
Categories: Food, Fun, Music, Video.

I had a delicious ham and cheese crêpe yesterday. I like crêpes more then the standard american style pancake.

An omelet sounds like just the ticket today though… maybe pancakes next weekend.

What did you have for breakfast (or brunch) today?

[editors note: I don't know Ally G. I'm just linking to her crêpe picture.]

-April

Editors Note: This article was originally published here.  It has been republished on this site to preserve continuity.

0 comments.

Ministry of Industrial Evolution

Posted on August 26th, 2006 by April.
Categories: Music, Video.

Ministry

Hostile, Punky, Over-The-Top Aggression, Unremittingly Intense, Crushing, Abrasive, Pounding, Repetitive

Editors Note: This article was originally published here.  It has been republished on this site to preserve continuity.

0 comments.

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