WTF A Podcast?

I'm sorry I haven't updated. But you just kind of lose the will to when you see that you have at least 80 people who read your blog but never comment. I just so happened to get really bored today and made a podcast.

Yes, a podcast.

You get to hear my super-sassy uppermiddleclassbitch voice. But not too much of it, it's mostly music. Girly, electro music. If this gets a semi-decent response, who knows? Maybe I'll humor you with another one some time!

You can either download it here or here.

REMEMBER POP-UP VIDEO!?

Oops, I think I've been posting to my tumblr more than I've been posting here. If you're ever bored, you should look through that. While I'm bored (not doing work I'm supposed to be doing) I just sit on my laptop and discover all kinds of random shit of interest.

Like today I came upon MTV Music. Maybe people started bitching about how MTV is no longer Music Television but Whiny-Rich-Bitch-Reality-Shows Television. Whatever it was that sparked the idea, it's a good one. Now instead of looking to YouTube for shitty quality music videos spammed by strange comments in foreign languages you can just look to MTV Music's database of pretty much every music video they have shown.

Um, other than that I've been addicted to online shopping as of late. Or at least online browsing due to my currently being semi-broke (mmm, graphic design supplies). I've been obsessing over all the holiday collections on Sephora...

YELLE'S American Tour!

There's definitely no reason for you not to see the French electro cutie superstar, Yelle, in Miami! She's on her "C'est Amerique" tour and will be rocking the Polish American Club (1250 NW 22nd Ave) tomorrow. It's all ages and only $15. Buy your last minute tickets here. Yelle will also be coming to Chicago on the 21st -- I'll be there, you can count on it!

"Ce Jeu" (Check out the Nerf bullet-adorned sunglasses!)


"Je Veux Te Voir"

C'est Amerique tour dates are as follows:

Sat 10/11 : Orlando, FL @ The Social

Mon 10/13 : Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

Tue 10/14 : New York, NY @ Webster Hall

Wed 10/15 : Boston, MA @ The Roxy
Tue 10/21 : Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium

Wed 10/22 : Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Fri 10/24 : Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Sat 10/25 : Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

Mon 10/27 : Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Tue 10/28 : Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom

Wed 10/29: Portland, OR @ Berbati's

Fri 10/31 : San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine

Sat 11/01 : Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Sun 11/02: San Diego, CA @ Beauty Bar

P.S. Now when you search the acronymn "UMCB" in Google, uppermiddleclassbitch shows up on the first page! It may be last on the list, but still!! Keep visiting the site, tell your friends, and show some love! There will also be a drawing for a free giveaway when the visitor count reaches 2,000. Sign up on the mailing list (on the left under my picture) to double your chances of winning. Tell your friends about the site and keep checking back! Love you guys!

Interview with The Fire and Reason's Bella Saona!

Many a Saturday night ago at Poplife (every Saturday at White Room), I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with the gorgeous Bella and Steve of the New York electro-rock band, The Fire and Reason (TFaR).

If you're down with catchy rifts, pretty vocals and good clean dancing music (who isn't?), check them out! Give 'em some love on their MySpace! If you're in Chicago, the Kinetic Playground is located at 1113 W. Lawrence -- only steps away from the CTA Red Line 'Lawrence' stop!

Download their sampler here. (.zip format)

Miss Lix: So how did you first become interested in making music?

Bella Saona: I've been singing all my life. I went to performing arts school for voice. Music is my salvation!

Miss Lix: What performing arts school did you go to?

Bella Saona: Laguardia School of Performing Arts. The school the 80s show "FAME" was based on, hahaha.

Miss Lix: Did you meet the other members of TFaR at school?

Bella Saona: Nope... I went to a show with my sister and Steve was singing with his old band, Radiate. He was the lead singer and the guitarist mastermind. I walked up to him after the show and said "Hi, I'm Bella. I'm a singer too..." He gave me a CD and a T-shirt when I signed their mailing list, and we started e-mailing, working on music together -- So thats how I met steve. Lee, our other band member has known Steve since they were five. They had played in a bunch of bands together.

Miss Lix: That's cool, so you all have a background in music. So with all of you guys' previous musical talent, what do you think influenced TFaR's sound?

Bella Saona: Everything I think -- music, art, fashion, movies, life, love, sex. We wanted to meld a bunch of different genres like rock, dance, pop, and electro to make something thats fun, hot, and dancey!

Miss Lix: Yeah, I totally get that from the "Shut Up, Dance!" EP. I noticed that you have a couple songs on there that have Spanish lyrics, what's up with that?

Bella Saona: We also have a few baile funk songs in Portuguese. I am Brazilian/Italian, so I speak Spanish and Portuguese. I listen to a lot of singers like Shakira, Marc Anthony etc. so it was never a question of not singing in Spanish. My music is an extension of me so its natural for me to sing in those languages.

Miss Lix: Are Steve and Lee fluent in Spanish?

Bella Saona: Steve is, not Lee. He's Ecuadorian. We are both proud of our Latino roots, and have played a lot of Latin-based parties and stuff. The show we are doing in Chicago is a Latin/electro night.

Miss Lix: Oh, awesome. I'll totally be there! Now for a kind of fun random question... tell me about the craziest crowd you've had.

Bella Saona: Easy. We played an all ages show in the bronx with about 250 kids. It was in the auditorium of a church with no A/C. These kids were going nuts and stage diving the WHOLE SHOW! I even stage-dove twice, hahaha. We were all dripping sweat. It was insane. There were even little 12- and 13-year-old kids hitting on me! It was a trip.

Miss Lix: Haha, speaking of which, how old are all of you guys?

Bella Saona: I'm 19, and both Steve and Lee are 28.

Miss Lix: Talk about an age gap! Do you feel like they overshadow your experience at all?

Bella Saona: Haha, not really. I write the lyrics and melodies that make the songs hot!

Miss Lix: That's impressive. What's the process for lyric-writing for you? Like, are any of these songs about real-life experiences?

Bella Saona: Steve writes a beat, we listen to it in the car, I start coming up with lyrics and melodies, and then we demo it in our studio. Some of the songs are based on personal experience. Some are just fun party songs.

Miss Lix: Well I love the entire EP! Thanks for your time, Bella! Anything you wanna say to the readers of uppermiddleclassbitch?

Bella Saona: Yes, come to our show when we come to Chicago on December 6th at the Kinetic Playground! We wanna ROCK YOU! Thanks babe, you rock!

Sign Up For The Chicago UMCB Mailing List!

Sign up on the uppermiddleclassbitch. mailing list for Chicago event flyers, reviews, blog updates and contests (want the Miami newsletter)?

Comment on this post with your name, location and e-mail address. Only I will be able to see it. I promise I won't junk up your mailbox/sell your information.

XOXO
Miss Lix

Sign Up For The Miami UMCB Mailing List!

Sign up on the uppermiddleclassbitch. mailing list for Miami event flyers, reviews, blog updates and contests (want the Chicago newsletter)?

Comment on this post with your name, location and e-mail address. Only I will be able to see it. I promise I won't junk up your mailbox/sell your information.

XOXO
Miss Lix

I am, You are, We are Uncle Karl.

Karl Lagerfeld does it again for his Spring/Summer 2009 collection in the motherland of courture during Fashion Week. Here are a few highlights from the show:




And my personal favorite... I hope the darlings on Canal Street get their contacts in China to do this one.

All photos by Flynet Pictures.


And free music for you! This is my current favorite track.
Santogold - You'll Find A Way (Switch & Sinden Remix)

Reminder!

My official going-away party is tonight at White Room.

There's NO cover, open bar (free vodka!) 10-11 and first 10 minutes of every hour, the best DJs: Johnny Strokes, AL B Rotten, and De La Vega (Diego + Dalton), and you should should come to see me for one of my last party nights in Miami, bitches!

1306 N. Miami Ave

Miami, FL 33136

(Find it on Google Maps)

Be there or else you're stupid.

The flyer is in the previous post.

TGIS! The Week In Review..

So while I wait for what seems like forever for the pictures from last night's Murk'd party "The Big Sleep" at PS14, here's the week in review. 

I'll throw some pictures at you from this past Monday's Exposure party which just so happened to be a panty party AND Krystle's birthday as well. I anticipated only a couple girls showing up in underwear, but hell, it got super-packed, super-fast. A birthday platter of cookies and brownies adorned the corner of the bar while The Unicorn King graced our presence as usual as more and more of us (including myself) stripped down to our underthings. DJ Johnny Stokes helped take our minds off of the room being a hellpit with some awesome jams.

What's that? You want pictures? Unfortunately, our normal party pic go-to, Justin, was absent so we had a kind of community photography effort. Phear our superior point-and-shoot skillzz!!!!11!!

... I don't know what you're thinking, but I'm sure it's along the lines of, "Dayum." Perhaps.

Tuesday and Wednesday I stayed in (or at least from the downtown area). Thursday was Money$hot at the Vagabond. The backyard was closed off the entire night, which allowed for the air conditioning to fully fill and circulate through both rooms. I was celebrating my friend Stephanie's birthday that night, so I wasn't all too much of the cynical socialite I usually am. I mean, it was your normal Money$hot. Indie rock, you know? Not really my thing. Whatevs.

Friday was the new Sound Clash night at The White Room with DJs Johnny Stokes, Dalton and Diego O. There was something weird going on at first (electrical, I think) so we all got in around 10:30-ish instead of 10, when the open bar was supposed to begin. Unfortunately, the party was a little bit of a bust at first. The crowd came, drank, and went when open bar was over at 12. And Johnny Stokes couldn't spin cause of an equipment fuck-up. Dalton tore it up meanwhile. Then we had a surprise set from DJ GRRRPWR! And then it all went dead around 3-something. Whatever, I had fun. Heard The Vagabond was dead for the most part too.

And then Saturday I made sure to hit up the entire holy trinity... Poplife/Rock the Bells Afterparty at White Room, Back Door Bamby at the Vagabond, and PS14 for Otto von Schirach. Poplife was decent, but there were more people at Back Door. I walked in during the middle of a performance, chilled out for a bit in the back room (the front room music isn't really my thing), and then wandered over to PS14 in time to watch the last half hour of Nastie and Otto being crazy on-stage. It was a pretty eventful night.

Oh and shit to do you have to do (especially seeing these pictures from the last one...) :

I'm hosting that shit bitches! (Just never call me Alexandra. Lix, please.)

Suggested Reading

No no, I'm not telling you to skim-read through To Kill A Mockingbird over your summer vaycay. Check out this article.

SO! With that said, another reminder for this Saturday! Be sure to show up and give your extended hispter/indie family huggles at the Poplife 9 Year Anniversary at White Room. For those of you who aren't into the "scene" (for lack of better description), it's a really big deal to be able to keep an ongoing party up for even a year or two. Especially in the ever-picky metropolis of Miami.

I'll include myself in the aforementioned picky. Personally, in retrospect it gets me kind of warm n' fuzzy on the inside. I've met most of my close friends at random Poplife nights, and always look forward to toting along someone who has never been before. I can name my favorite usual people that I KNOW will be there on my hands (more than once). Aw.

 I extend a high-five to Barbie and Aramis. Come celebrate and get down to Free Blood with all of us! Click here to purchase your $15 ticket from Wantickets.com.

Sidenote: UMCB has an e-mail and AIM screenname available now! If you ever need to contact me for any reason, just shoot me some formatted Unicode at misslix.umcb@gmail.com or talk shit with me on AIM using misslixtheumcb. I expect to hear from someone soon!

Gameboy/Gamegirl at Poplife at White Room Review

Another delayed post.

This past Saturday at Poplife, the Australian electro group Gameboy/Gamegirl was booked for a show. Honestly, I had never heard their stuff beforehand so I was feeling pretty accepting no matter what. The kids pretty much had a slightly more extreme-looking "I got this granny jacket at Goodwill for $3"-look in comparison to a lot of the people I see in the usual downtown scene (feel free to rank on me regarding "usual downtown scene" at any point if you were there and saw me wearing my American Apparel rouched tube dress).

The main room remained pretty empty for maybe the first half of a song or so, but soon quickly filled up. Quite honestly, the lot of their songs seemed like looped samples that they just Uffie-style sang-talked over. A technical difficulty, ripped pant leg and exposed-and-drawn-on-fatty-tummy later from them, a few beats were catchy in the end. Unfortunately for the most part I just leaned there against the booth and kept thinking about the time and cost of the flight from Australia to the 305 for this.

I had a chance to meet up and talk with them afterward and tell them that they did indeed act pretty enthusiastic on stage and that the performance itself was enjoyable. I promised an add on MySpace and proceeded to continue dancing with my peoples while Miami Horror's set (not to be mistaken for being from here, also originates from Down Under with GB/GG) was going. Which I enjoyed more that the main showcase.

And now still and motion media from my super sophisticated Canon point-and-shoot:

Gameboy/Gamegirl performing on stage at White Room

Here's some quick UMCB-suggested reading from my boo Duran down at the Miami New Times. Although it's not an after-show review (which you should keep checking back for), it definitely speaks another unmentioned facet of why I'm not too sure about GB/GG.

And for photography that actually clearly shows the show/my extended hipster family, you ought to keep on the New Times site and look at the slideshow or my favorite party pic site, The Popness Party.

A nice picture of Duran and I.Justin Namon/Miami New Times
P.S. As mentioned before, UMCB will be undegoing some changes in content. As of today, MAJOR changes. My tastes have changed as well as what I do on a daily basis. In example, compare this post to the Victoria's Secret PINK Rally at the Raleigh event coverage way earlier.

Poplife Lovin'

Last night was crazy awesome. I saw so many friends last night that all the people I actually care about should have been there. There's only so many of you. So why weren't you there? I also met a cute boy named Mike that flails his arms when entering a crowd who lives in the 954. Funny guy. And if he's reading this he should call me to set up a date. ASAP QT!

Photo by thepopnessparty.blogspot.com

Haha, Steph and her Capris. Girly cigarettes rule. I'm going to buy a pack of Pink Dreams just to whip one out while in conversation and have people go, "OMG R THOSE PINK CIGZ?" And I'll say, "Yes."

Anyway, in case you're mad out of the loop, more info about Poplife parties is here and here. 

P.S. Can I share my favorite track at the moment with you? Sooo fucking good.

Bust A Move (Don Rimini Ravekid Remix) - Young MC

Lazy

YES, I know I haven't updated in a long time.

NO, I don't have my energy 100% back to rant and rave about WMC. It's not over yet for me. I fell asleep at the fucking gym yesterday.

I'm broke (-$370something).

Leave me alone.

Going back to the couch now.

P.S. Favorite track as of recent available for download here. Yeah, I know MSTRKRFT has been getting played the hell out recently but I still love those guys.