Love Your Fans was created as a resource for people who love music to share experiences of their treatment as fans by both bands and venues - the best and the worst. We believe that the fans should always be treated with respect because they keep the music industry alive. Unfortunately, in our experience, that is not always the case.

So let this be a place where we hold bands and venue accountable for their treatment of us. Know a band that treats you like a VIP? A venue that's security pushed you around? Let us know!

Visit www.loveyourfans.blogspot.com to share your reviews - stories, complaints, kudos - about a band or venue that you know, and let the list begin.

As if I had not voiced my concern for Ryan ross enough...

( True Love )

I posted this at the new forums at Shoutmouth but I thought I'd bring the subject up here as well...

Definition of Rock

This is a distinction that has always been beyond me and is probably based more on opinion than fact… What exactly is “Rock” music? It’s the million dollar question and I just can’t seem to get the gist of it. Is it just a term that encompasses anything made after 1957? If so, why do I always get called out on calling a punk band “rock” or alternative band “rock”? (And on a similar note, what is “alternative”?) Is there anything anymore that is just rock? And is “classic” rock The Beatles or Led Zepplin?

This is what keeps me up at night. Anyone have a strong opinion on the subject?






...Other stuff..

Music I'm Digging Right Now:
Hot Hot Heat (provided by my bbf, Jen)
The Pink Spiders
Against Me!


PS - From now on I will not be posting every time I write an article on Shoutmouth (unless it's a big deal) so check out my profile if you're interested. They'll all be there.

11:30pm magazine run in my pajamas for the new GQ which features pictures of Fall Out Boy, Paul Wall, Cobra Starship and of course (because otherwise it could have waited until the morning) The Academy Is...

Oh the life I lead.

New and better version of Panic! at the Disco's newest song from i-can't-believe-i'm-missing-this Decaydance Fest in Paris. Originally thought to be titled "Back to the Streets", it's actually called "9 in the Afternoon".



"Your eyes are the size of the moon"?..."We're feeling so good, The way that we should"?

Ryan Ross...is that you?

So yesterday was the best day ever. I FINALLY got my package from LLR Recordings/now Snakes & Suits. Both companies are run by Johnny Minardi and Tony Marion (TAI's tour manager) (you also might remember them from "Down and Out"'s "We won't forget Tony and Johnny oh, oh") - the first was a record label, the second a clothing line. They put out the first TAI album when they were just TA so I found them through that.

But actually, I ordered from them because I wanted a 504 Plan cd that is no longer available except through them. I downloaded it months ago, but I wanted to own the actual CD (I'm like that, I like to be able to buy things so I can like actually hold them in my hands). It's an awesome CD by an awesome Chicago band that unfortunately does not exist anymore but has a few members you might have heard of (Jon Walker of P!ATD, Tom Conrad formerly of TAI, Nick Scimeca). They just play good, solid pop/punk/rock stuff (sorry I'm so bad at describing genres - I call everything rock). You can check them out if you're interested 5o4 Plan

Anyway, I ordered the CD in the beginning of May when I was still in school. I also got two tshirts (one for me and one for Angie of LLR Recordings) and a bunch of LLR Recordings pins (they were only a dollar). I paid up and it showed up on my credit card bill the next day under JOHNMINARD.

Then I waited four months.

Four months, guys.

For merch.

I thought it was never going to come. I had all but given up - after sending several emails trying to confirm my order and considering contacting JFM personally to see if he knew anything. I even wrote on 504's old myspace page (since they still check it) to see if Nick might let Johnny know he owed me.

Then yesterday I walked into the house and saw a package on the table. It said my name and for a second I thought it might be from my twin or something. Then I saw the word "Snakes" in the top corner.

Then I freaked out. Because IT FINALLY CAME!!!!

Love it, love it, love it. CD is awesome. Shirts are awesome. Even the buttons are AWESOME. I am so happy right now you don't even know. THANK YOU JOHNNY I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T LET ME DOWN.

http://www.shoutmouth.com/index.php/news/25259

Not much, but my second article got published at Shoutmouth. Sweetness.

1. What celebrity are you dying to meet right now and why? (Besides Beckett, if that was your answer)
Shoot. You guys know me too well already because I would totally have said Mr. William Beckett (and not just because he's a cute rock star but because I respect his music and his writing and I think we have a lot in common on a creative level). Now I have to think about it. I guess the rest of The Academy Is... is off limits too. Okay, if I'm allowed to say anyone from a band I would say Ryland Blackwell from Cobra Starship because he's quickly becoming one of my favorite people in the world. Every since he rode his bike by me wearing an all white suit. Talk about classy. If I have to be really serious though, I guess I would choose Nora Ephron. She's an author and screenwriter who I was named after and if I could follow in anyone's footsteps it would have to be hers. She is doing exactly what I want to be doing and I would like some pointers from her.


2. If you could be any character in a book, who would you choose?
This is a really tough one. I don't usually picture myself as anyone when I read books - I'm more likely to be falling in love with a character than being one myself. When I was younger I wanted to be Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter, but I stopped liking her in the later books. I related to how shy she was in the 2nd book. If I can be a guy, I would be Scripps from the play The History Boys. That is my absolute favorite play and even though he's not the most developed character, I really love him.


3. You are to throw away all of your music collection besides three albums, which do you keep?
This is an unfair horrible question. I would have to say I can't live without "The Beatles Anthology Disc One" (or maybe "Live at the BBC Disc One" - I love the early stuff), "Sam's Town" by The Killers and "Almost Here" by The Academy Is... because it never fails to make me feel happy and I would need a pick-me-up if I had just been forced to throw away my entire music collection. If you ask me this question again tomorrow I will give you completely different answers.


4. How many career choices did you want through the years? What were they?
My earliest memory is wanting to be an astronaut/author. I was going to write about going to space. After that I wanted to be a detective (a la Trixie Belden, not Nancy Drew). I'm sure I wanted to be a vet and a psychologist and a princess too. Then I wanted to be an archeologist for a long, long time. Then I wanted to be a radio DJ. Then I wanted to be a filmmaker. Then a museum curator. Then an author again. Now just a writer for some kind of publication. Only time will tell I suppose.


5. What lyrics best describe your life right now?
"I've got this energy beneath my feet
like something underground's gonna come up and carry me
I've got this sentimental heart that beats
but I don't really mind that it's starting to get to me now" - "Sam's Town", The Killers


Rules:
- Leave me a comment saying something random (like how you like to step on crunchy-looking leaves)
- I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can get to know you better.
- Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
- Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

Got Shiny Toy Guns' "We Are Pilots" as a present to my broke college self. I will not try to review it because I suck a writing reviews (as, I think, has been proved time and time again), but I will say it is one of my new favorite CDs. I had downloaded one of their songs ("Le Disko") from iTunes for free and liked it, but someone told me the rest of the CD was good too so I figured that instead of buying Paramore (for which a close friend of mine would never forgive me) I got "We Are Pilots". I loved it the second I put it on. You guys should check them out.

Okay, so I think I finally have an almost final list of bands I will be writing about on Shoutmouth.

Gym Class Heroes
Cobra Starship
The Hush Sound
Paramore

The Dollyrots
The Juliana Theory
The Pink Spiders
Emilie Autumn
Relient K
The Thermals
The Spill Canvas

Shiny Toy Guns
Abba
Damien Rice
Dido
Mika
Ryan Cabrera (ahahaha)
The Cardigans
Hard-Fi
The Ataris


I haven't sent my list in yet, but I'm hoping this will work. So now I just have to, like, learn the music of the whole middle section and some of the last section.

( I saw Relient K in concert last night - they were good but they didn't really convert me. )

Oh well. Should be fun. I love new music.

Do any of you know any of these bands?

Been in North Carolina for the weekend to visit my twin and her friends. It was really amazing and I wish I could have stayed there longer. At the airport on the way home, I had a lot of time to read my emo book and listen to my iPod. I'm teaching myself all about the transition from punk to hardcore to emocore to emo. I've gotten up to Sunny Day Real Estate. It's awesome.

Anyway, I cam up with a theory while I was sitting there. It stemmed from the idea that I hate being embarrassed by the kind of music I listen to. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of bands that I don't like to admit to loving. I hate being judged by other people on something so private, so personal, as my playlist. I don't think it's fair, really, to tell someone that something that makes them feel good, that they love, is shitty. Having said this, I do it all the time. If you tell me you like John Mayer, I will laugh in your face. I can't help it. And I'm sure in the same way no one else can help it. Me saying this is not going to suddenly change how other people act, or even how I act.

But still...this all got me thinking. What really needs to happen is for people to stop letting other people's opinions change how they feel about the things they love. If you love it then think to yourself there is a reason I love this. There are legitimate feelings that I have for this. And just because someone else doesn't doesn't make mine any less real. If you can get over letting how other people feel effect you (and, of course, this is a full life lesson here not just pertaining to music), then it doesn't matter what they say.

So here is my advice (that I myself am at the moment trying to take - I will keep you updated as to it's progress and success):

If you want to earn real respect for the bands that you listen to, if you want to know why they make your heart beat faster despite your best efforts to not just be another 13 year fan girl, you need to find out where they come from. What makes them beat, tick, bleed. Who came before them? If you know that, you will never be ashamed to followe them to the ends of the Earth.

This will not work for everyone I know. But it's working for me. It's also like one in the morning and I am well aware this plan may not sound as good in the morning. Oh well.

What do you guys think?

Okay, I know these are lame, but I love them. So if you haven't seen it yet...here's...

( I wish I knew these kids in high school, don't you? )

Just heard Panic! at the Disco's new song, "Back to the Streets". You can see it on Youtube.com or here, through Shoutmouth.

( In which I chime in about P!atD )

BTW, if you notice that the journal title, links etc. keep changing it's because I'm trying to figure out a theme. Right now it's sort of "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)" and sort of not. So please bare with me.

Last night, my bbf Jen and I drove to a concert venue nearby. We've never been there but we're going to see TAI there in the fall and we had nothing to do so we went to check it out. There was something going on (of course, it was Saturday night baby!) but we didn't go in, just sat in the parking lot and listened to the kids standing outside. The place is tiny - and located in a strip mall type building between a CHURCH and a DOLLAR STORE. Why anyone would want to play there is beyond me, but I couldn't be more excited. We listened to Almost Here on the way back and it was...just...just so great. One of the best nights I've had all summer. Music is life, man. Music is life.

On a similar note, I just bought a book a few days ago called "Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers and Emo" by Andy Greenwald. I got it because 1) I love music and 2) I'm starting to feel like I might want to write for a music magazine when I get out of school. This internship at Shoutmouth has gotten me thinking...just because I'm not in a band doesn't me I can't spend my life with music.

But that's enough self-reflexive bullshit about the future. We get enough of that at school, don't we? So look, if anyone has any interest in how emo came to be, on how it's related to punk music or just how it feels to be a teenager, this book has got it all. I've been skipping around in it and I just finished the section on Dashboard Confessional. Greenwald went on tour with Chris Carrabba in 2002 and what he came out with is the pure, beautiful, beautiful gold that's an artist paring himself down into what all artists really are underneath - real people.

Now I have never listened to Dashboard Confessional. I looked through my iTunes and I have one song under that artist (it's "She Said" if you're interested) - burned onto a mixed CD given to me by an ex-best friend. So this is where I'm going to say, hey does anyone have a couple of good Dashboard songs they can send me? Usually I wouldn't do this - I think you should pay for your music, bitches - but I'm gonna be a hypocrite here for a minute (read: poor poor unemployed college student) and just throw this request out there. I'll trade you, seriously, whatever you want. If you have "Bitter Pill" which I have read so much about but never heard, I will give you an entire CD - burn it and then draw little hearts on it before I mail it to your house. ;)

As you can tell, the book had a big impact on me. Just hearing Carrabba talk about his music and his fans and how much he gives to them every night and how much it changes their lives. It was amazing. I was a little sad about it only becaus the atmosphere at the shows that was described is not an atmosphere I've ever really felt at the shows I went to. This was all positive and bonding - and at least at the shows I've been to, I've been faced with some real negativity by the other people I've met. So that made me sad. Salty, man. Salty.
But it's good to know that not everyone is like that, not all fans are like that. Maybe it's just in recent years that it's gotten bad.

On a happy note - speaking as a fan who has personally been changed by a band, by a lyricist, by songs and music and standing in a dark crowded room singing along, I loved hearing the perspective from the stage. Imagine if you were the one who wrote your favorite song, or a song that got you through a rough time in your life...and then people came up to you and told you it changed them. As a (wanna-be) writer, I can't even imagine what that must feel like. To have it happen every night, to have thousands of kids look at you like you're a God, is not a feeling I can begin to comprehend. I'm just one of the kids. And I spend all my time trying to say "thank you" for that song. Hearing Carrabba say that that's what he wants, what he needs to hear from us kids, was reassuring.

SO RIGHT NOW: if you have a song that's changed your life, that means the world to you, go write a love letter. Do it. Write a letter to the person who wrote that for you and send it this time. Because I think, I'm almost sure of it now, that they'll appreciate it as much as you appreciate them. It's the least you can do. (Unless you downloaded their music...and then GO BUY THEIR CD TOO JEEZ WHAT ARE YOU SOME POOR COLLEGE STUDENT?!)

That is my rant for the day. Now I'm off to write a love letter.




PS - I had no clue that CIWWAF are from upstate NY?? Is this true?????!!!?!

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So a few days ago I got GCH's old cd "The Papercut Chronicals". I am a huge Gym Class Heroes - I blame the first concert of theirs that I saw (Feb. 2006, Webster Hall) for starting my concert addiction and for introducing me to one William Beckett. I love Travie McCoy and I have been known to have a sort of ridiculous crush on Disashi because he's the coolest person I've ever seen. Last year, Angie and I even had a boysinbandinterlude in which GCH were playing at a college near by but they wouldn't sell tickets to non-students...so we dressed up as prosepective students and sort of, kind of, broke in. It's a good story for the grandkids....*sigh*

But that's not what I'm posting about. Bare with me now because this is going to be my official first CD review...and it's gonna get messy.

I am totally in love with this CD. I love "As Cruel As School Children", but I might even like this one better. From "Za Intro" to the ridiculous ending two minutes after the last song stops (be sure to hang in there, it's worth it), Travie has won me over again. I don't even realize that I'm listening to rap until someone else points it out - guys, seriously, even my mom liked it.

I was never a huge fan of "Papercuts" but put in context with the rest of the CD I love it - and the remix is pretty wacky, unexpectedly changing the volume and quality of Travie's voice in a way that's sort of jarring. It's almost like something a kid made with Garageband than a professional remix, but I like it. "Taxi Driver" is genius and is the first song by them that I ever heard so I hold in near and dear. "Make Out Club" cracks me up and I don't even mind that it sounds a lot like "Petrified Life And The Twice Told Joke (Decrepit Bricks)" because that's already becoming an anthem for me. "Pillmatic" and "Simple Living" are had me singing along, but it's "Faces in the Hall" that made me stop. Good for you Travie - this is what rap should do, this is what music should do - make people think. "Graduation Day" and "Apollo 3-1-5" were surprising little breaks - clever and relaxing leading into the second (and in my opinion, weaker) half of the CD. There's also the originial "Cupid's Chokehold" (which had a much better music video!!!!patrickstump!!!!)...I think I do actually like the newer version better - this one is a little weak, but a start.

The only thing I was disappointed about was "Band Aids" because, yeah, I got the "Almost Famous" reference and was ready for some major hommage to one of my favorite movies - but that's not what it was at all. Instead it was a sweet little shout out to Travie's own band aid - whoever she (or he) is. Awww Travie. I <3 you.

So in conclusion - go buy this CD. I think you'll like it.

For those of you who don't know, this is my new music only livejournal. I just got an internship at SHOUTMOUTH.COM and needed a place dedicated just to music. So all the communities I join, all the friends I make and all the posts I do will be somehow music related.

"It's all happening."


PS: My first article was posted on SHOUTMOUTH.COM this afternoon...go check it out.

I have recently come to the conclusion that Brendon Urie (or as I like to call him, Bden) is my very favorite Las Vegas born, ex-Mormon, lead singer, did you see his new tattoo?, overly-caffeinated, vegetarian, make-up wearing, it’s a giant guitar coming out of his arm, cuddly, ADHD weirdo. My very favorite.

At this point you may be wondering what brought me to make such a difficult and specific decision. A legitimate question. I can’t downplay that I appreciate Brendon's recent decision to shave off his hideous facial hair which, if you recall, made him look a little less emo and a little more…like he had facial hair.

(Side note: Can we think for a minute, about how completely unacceptable facial hair is on any member of an emo band? Unless you are Andy Hurley, you should probably shave it off. Don’t even think about it, William Beckett.)

But besides the recent loss of excess hair that cannot be straight-ironed, Brendon has also won this - my coveted title - with the recent Panic! at the Disco feature article in Kerrang! (which unfortunately I do not subscribe to…because it’s $100 for a years worth).

The first time I read an interview with Brenny Bear (more affectionate nicknames - I seriously love this kid's face), I remember thinking how pleasantly surprising it was that he appeared to be intelligent and well spoken. I still retain the belief that he is intelligent and well spoken, but I would also like to point out the fact that he is also a 20 year old boy.

I'd love to go into greater detail, but for now I leave you with this quote: "I finally hit puberty, so I had to deal with that as well as everything in the band. My ball dropped finally! I got hairs on them and have become hairy in places I didn't even realize was possible!"

Classy, Brendon Urie. Classy.


Also, this just in: Paris Hilton and Ryan Ross are beffys. Or should be.

Existential quetion of the day: Are you William Miller or Penny Lane?