I went and bought a new CD this weekend, the first in ages. In fact, I bought two, and I have been obsessed with them ever since. They’re “To Lose My Life” and “Ritual” both by the White Lies. Hubby adopted “Ritual” right away, but I’m fine with “To Lose My Life”. I find the music swirling through my head endlessly, even though I only listen to it in the car.
I know this is one of those bands that everyone already knows about, and I’m standing here wondering, “How did I not notice this??” I did the same thing with Nirvana, Green Day, and pretty much every other band I’ve ever liked.
The White Lies are just fantastic. They sound straight out of the 80′s, but not in a copy-cat kind of way. It’s like they time traveled here. The music is like brand new cold wave, beautiful, romantic, and dark, with hints of the Cure, Depeche Mode, and Joy Division. It has permeated my brain. On the Clever Chick Scale this gets a “I will probably listen to my copy on repeat until it disintegrates, then buy a new one and start over again”.
August 17, 2011. Tags: 80's music, album review, band review, cold wave, depeche mode, I love white lies, joy division, music, music review, ritual, the cure, to lose my life, white lies. Random typing. .
It’s Friday, and that means it’s 80′s night at BARBARELLA!!! I have ALWAYS loved 80′s music (Mi Madre said MTV was one of the only things that would keep my quiet as an infant; that and Richard Simmons (totally not kidding)). When I was in high school, a few of us girls would go down to Westheimer in Houston to go dancing on 80′s night whenever we could. Now, I can listen to the same great music and go dancing in a MUCH safer place.
Even though Barbarella has been down on Red River for awhile, it’s a relatively recent discovery for me and my friends. It seems like a different girlfriend has wanted to to go each Friday for the past couple months. I have literally been there 4 times in 2 months. Considering I had only been to 6th street 2 or 3 times in the 5 or 6 years preceding that, it’s a big deal.
Barbarella has big screens up where they play music videos. Videos in the 1980′s were just ridiculous, and they constantly crack us up. Each night of the week has a different theme, but so far I’ve only been on 80′s night. Saturdays is “New Noise”, Thursdays are “Grits & Gravy” (no idea what that means), Tuesdays are “Tuesgays”, Sunday Bump is HipHop, and unfortunately that’s all I can make out from their terrible website.
However, drinks are cheap (Happy Hour ends at 11pm), especially compared to other places in town, and the staff are nice and funny. The place doesn’t get packed until midnight or later, but if you just want to go dance, this is absolutely the place to go. There is no cover charge when I get there, (but I heard one starts at 12:30), and Lone Star (the greatest beer in the world) is only $2!! So I can have a super cheap, fun evening out, which is how I like it.
So tonight is the night. It’s 80′s night as you are reading this, so grab a friend or two, and head down to Red River, just north of 6th street, near Emo’s (which sucks, don’t go there unless you have to). Dance it up, and have a blast!
May 27, 2011. Tags: 1980's, 1980's childhood, 80's, 80's music, 80's night austin, austin, austin 6th street, barbarella, dance club, keep austin weird, lone star beer, red river, where to go dancing. My Quest to be more Interesting. .
