VENUES\

Inspired by NICHE magazine's 'LA's Concert Venues Reviewed' post I decided to make my own venues review, at least the ones I've been in and most of them are in Jakarta.

Tennis Indoor Senayan
The atmosphere:

• definitely not intimate
• the tribune seats makes it feel like you're about to watch a sports game
• the sound coming from the amps are generally well

The food:

• there are always unhealthy little snacks from outdoors sellers
• not much of choices really, depending on the event and organizers itself e.g. ismayalive on PASSIONaLIVE that brought restaurants to a tiny little tents (sushigroove etc)
• Plenty of other places to eat around the venues such as Plaza Senayan and Senayan City.

Extra notes:

• A place for concerts therefore has that 'i shall be attending a concert' feel every time you step foot in it
• Depending on the events, but generally all ages.
• Every time there is an event, the streets surrounding the place are always jammed.
• If you come early or very lucky, you might find a good parking spots other than that it would take you at least 30 minutes to find decent one.
• Some shows I've seen in the venue: The Used, The Click 5, Temper Trap, James Yuill, Panic at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves, Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy.

Bengkel Night Park
The atmosphere:

• Nice atmosphere for shows.
• Well vented and can always find a comfortable spot.
• The stage are quite high up so even if you're at the back you can still the acts performing.
• Lightening and sound quality are top class.
• There's a high up balcony (not for public I believe, but there's always a way in)

The food:

• Warung outside the venue.
• Bars inside that [in my experience] charges the drink way too high.
• Quite honestly never eaten around or at the venue.

Extra notes:

• Usually 18+
• Parking's a bit hard, but the street are usually pretty smooth for drops and pick-ups
• I've seen Phoenix and Vampire Weekend there.

Esplanade
The atmosphere:

• Spectacular, air-conditioned and very well vented. Feels like being in a staged cinema when entering the Concert and Theater Hall.
• Lightening are adequate, sound quality are always spectacular.
• Acts are always on time, very rarely late.
• The outdoor stage has Marina Bay Sands and the small Merlion statue in its background. With usual lasers coming out from the Marina Bay Sands area sometimes your focus can be shifted from the performers to the spectacular scenery.
• The Concert and Theater Hall are seated for acts that sometimes does not match the atmosphere.

The food:

• A bar right outside the halls, and various restaurants (outdoor and indoor) in the venue from ice cream, local, chocolate delight, pubs, seafood, western etc. If not, it is very near Marina Bay Square and City Link.
• You can find $5 meals to a high class gourmet restaurants around the area.

Extra notes:

• [Usually] all ages shows.
• Taxi queuing after events can take up to 45 minutes.
• I've seen Andrew Bird, Vampire Weekend, Dinosaur Jr., Belle & Sebastian, Handsome Furs and Echo & The Bunnymen there.
  

|MONEY DON'T GROW ON TREES|

As graduation and exams are coming near, so are the "what would you want to be when you grow up?" questions actually matters. When you were a child, about 7 maybe? Remember your parents or teachers or aunts or uncles or grandparents would ask "sonny, what do YOU want to be when you grow up?" I remembered I wanted to be a singer like Hilary Duff and Britney Spears. You know center of the stage, sing in front of audiences and fame, and the adults would just say "aww that's cute you WILL be a singer when you grow up"
.....no you won't.

I realized when you were young they won't tell you that your dreams aren't unachievable, maybe some would but no one ever taught me that me, a now sixteen year old indonesian with a broken accent, no 'tv face' nor personality nor a gift of singing, that my dreams were nearly impossible. Possible, be open minded now nothing is 'impossible' but no it won't happen.
I'm rethinking what my interests are now, what do I want to spend my young life learning about, what career path should I choose? And with that I have to also think: would my parents be okay of me choosing this path? Am I disappointing them? (yeah probably). Would I be good at this? Would it help me in the future, financially?
So far I have a list of majors/paths/area that I have thought about, yet of course being the pessimist teenage girl I am I debate with myself:

• Filmmaking, yes I want to be the next Sofia Coppola or Steven Spielberg: erm yeaah I could be a filmmaker, an unsuccessful independent filmmaker that would never (just ever) make it in Hollywood.
• Illustrator, I like making randoms posters and broaden my mind in the art area using new technology: okay I can do a degree in that but... then what?
• Event Organizing, developing the next Glastonbury-like music festival: For one I don't have a very good personality with people, two I don't know anything about business and three what if instead of developing 'the next Glastonbury-like music festival' I create a 'annual suburban park picnic'?
• Media, maybe journalism or tv reporter: ...you've been reading my blog, I have a gazzilion grammatical errors. Hell I'm failing my English Standard course right now how the fuck am I supposed to be a journalist? And a TV reporter? Maybe as a camera crew yeah, I don't exactly have the television look.
• Radio Broadcaster: I went to a radio office a couple of weeks ago and it did interests me, working around the music area, entertaining etc. But let's be frank, who still listens to the radio? People in the car, and sometimes they don't have the choice to. I personally don't listen to the radio because I don't like most of the 'mainstream music' they play, would I be a hypocrite? A major one yes. Also, my accent fucking sucks.
  
• Photography, something I actually enjoy and do in my spare time: Again let's be frank, anyone can be a photographer. Question is, can I be a great photographer like Annie Leibovitz? but how? The profession would be a gamble really, and with new camera equipments that costs a lot of kaching how would I afford food when I start to become an amateur photographer? And make it to be the next Leibovitz? I tell myself "it ain't 1967 anymore kid, everyone's a 'photographer' these days"

One of Spears' song got me thinking, two kinds of people in this world (well obviously there are more but the song doesn't go like that), the observer and the entertainer. I can't even choose between that. Technically everyone is an observer, but you got to have some balls to an entertainer. You got to have even more balls too be a great entertainer and frankly I don't have any damn balls.
In the wise word of an American television character from 'Supernatural' often say:
"balls!"

C0ACHELL-WUT?

I am 90% sure that no one reads my blog, well this blog anyway. School starts tomorrow, last semester of my high school days, I'm going to miss school, but right now I'm going to uphold my own 'first day of school' tradition. That is to not sleep.

Spent my weekend streaming the supposedly live webcast of Coachella. Had the time to catch acts by Foals, Cage The Elephant, Two Door Cinema Club, Tame Impala, Interpol, Raphael Saadiq, Empire of The Sun and a very tiny bit of Scissor Sisters. As much as I love to just wake up early and stay in bed until the afternoon to stream the last day of Coachella on Monday, I have to go to school. Having to lose my organizer on the first day of holiday wasn't help either.
I don't think I have ever tweeted so much in the period of 50 minutes when Foals had their 'live stream', which turned out to be a hoax and their 'live stream' (as in their actual show) happened 2 hours before the webcast was broadcast. That came to a disappointment to me, my friends, and some random twitter fellows I have encountered on this 'Foals on Coachella' period. As people (mostly who attended laneway festival in singapore) say, it was like watching laneway again except that it's early in the morning, we were all still in our PJs, alone and in our bedroom not wanting to come out from our beds.

The amount of time I spend on music and concerts and mostly Foals on blogs is pretty ridiculous so I'm going to write this paragraph writing something more personal. Have you ever had the urge to just punch a person? Not a random person, a person that you actually know and you have grown close with but you've realized along that short friendship journey that the person you thought was your 'friend' was absolutely everything that you hate about a person? I have, several times. I haven't punch anyone, and I'm not planning to unless I'm in bar fight. But what else can you do except to ignore this person's texts and phone calls and invites? Sounds pretty bitchy especially in my teenage years right now. Psft, azn teen girl problems.

Moving back to Coachella-related post, I spent my experience with my best friends, cyberly of course since all of my best friends all reside 855km away from me. Krovvy has successfully made me to have two new band crushes, and with that also the members of those band. Her lo-fi boy band spam has indeed fill my dashboard with pretty pictures of skinny not-so-suburban american boys.
"We're called Foals or The Foals. Or some of you pronounce as The Fools or Fouls and um... Long live America" and you can tell after Yannis have said this that he did sound high.

+HOTEL SHAMPOO

Thinking of making this blog an actual blog, maybe. I'm not a very good writer. People would hate me if I spill my opinions on the internet. I'm not that interesting. I wouldn't blog everyday. So... yes? Hm. I might just. Amanda and Bening's blogs kind of inspired me, and plus we were talking about it today. They also said I should probably make a blog based on "Yannis supir pribadiku", let's just see where that idea goes by the end of the week.

BOB DYLAN SOON, six days to be exact. I don't know what to say or think I can't even function right, you know how people always say "I can't believe I'm going to watch [insert musician here]!!" that's how I feel. Bob Dylan...... Just, wow. Two Door Cinema Club's coming to Singapore, finally. I don't if I should watch them or not. For personal reasons, I would like to hate them now. I am kind of tired of their songs but, I don't know. They weren't very engaging in Jakarta either, total band turnoff. MONO's going to play in Zouk, I would go if Amanda's going because if she isn't then I wouldn't have a friend to go with (sadly). Gruff Rhys is also coming down to Singapore check it.



Then there's deadmau5, Justin Bieber, Switchfoot, Caribou DJ set, The Chariot, Avril Lavigne, HURTS, Sara Bareilles and The Drums. Honestly the one I am actually excited, and will definitely go to, are: Bob Dylan and We Are Scientists in Jakarta.

I suddenly have this tiny cut on my wrist.... I have no idea how I got it, it's still super red but the blood has dried. Weird

IT AIN'T ME BABE

PEACE x

YOUTHLESS

Casper Butterflip

02. The Beasts

Strawberry Fields (The Beatles Cover)

Good Hunters

This alternative duo from Lisbon is certainly a must heard. Check their soundcloud, facebook and bandcamp. No one ever goes on myspace anymore anyway... right?

v-v-v-v-vitriol