Municipal Waste at The Gramercy Theatre NYC
December 11th, 2009 by planetchocko
Municipal Waste came to town on December 9 and brought their friends with them on tour: Cauldron, Phobia and Brutal Truth. Opening act, Caludron, a trio from Toronto are the best metal band in the business who rock out like the 80’s never ended. They have the look and sound totally down and their new album, “chained to the nite” belongs right next to your Dokken, Queensryche and Iron Maiden albums. Next up was Phobia who played fast and furious anarchist grind core which got the crowd moving. They’re a great band from California and have been doing their thing for almost 20 years. Once the Phobia tunes got cranking, circle pits immediately started and elbows and fists were flying everywhere. NYC grindcore pioneers, Brutal Truth were next on the lineup playing angry, loud and chaotic music pleasing all metal heads and hardcore punk fans. It’s good to see these guys and their new album “evolution through revolution” is out now. The main event, Municipal Waste, everybody’s favorite thrashers from Richmond, Virginia obliterated while singing songs about beers, post-apocalyptic mutants and headbanging. Circle pits, moshing and stage diving was highly encouraged. It was painful to see the one, overweight lone stage diver jumping from the stage and not quite making it into the crowd. His ribs must be still aching after smashing into the rail. Ouch. It seems that with every album, the Waste’s fanbase grows larger and so do the venues. After Tony Foresta (lead singer) pointed out how funny it was that his band with a song titled, “boner city” was sponsored by Taco Bell, a person from the crowd yelled, “sellout!” Tony fired back and pointed out that their first song they ever made was about trucks and jet skis. “Why do you think we started a band?” Too funny. Being influenced by bands such as DRI, Suicidal Tendencies and Nuclear Assault is still evident in their new album “massive aggressive” so get it now. Jet skis and truck payments ain’t cheap. SET LIST: unleash the bastards, thrashing’s my business…and business is good, divine blasphemer, beer pressure, mental shock, blood drive, accelerated vision, wrong answer, terror shark, masked by delirium, sadistic magician, thrashin’ of the christ, mutants of war, toxic revolution, black ice, i want to kill the president, boner city, acid sentence, born to party, guilty of being tight, mind eraser and headbanger face rip!
-chocko
Tags: brutal truth, cauldron, grindcore, live show, metal, municipal waste, new york city, phobia, punk, thrash
Posted in music | Comments (0)
OC and AG at FAT BEATS
December 9th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Diggin’ In The Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) members OC and AG stopped by Fat Beats NYC on Dec. 8 to promote their first album together titled “Oasis.” D.I.T.C. is a group of New York based emcees and producers who gained the respect from the hip hop community for their hardcore lyrics and classic boom-bap beats since their start in the early nineties. The latest release from the crew features other members such as Showbiz and Lord Finesse on production duties providing perfect beats to complement Omar and Andre The Giant’s gritty rhymes. It should also be noted that E Blaze takes care of the majority of the production nicely. If it’s real hip hop you’re looking for, OC and AG deliver with street swagger and passion for the art form. Some of my favorite tracks: Give It Back, Keep It Going and Two For The Money. Their signing at Fat Beats was a fun time for all. They were more than happy to sign posters, records and pose for pics. DJ Premier stopped by (pictured below with OC) and 950 Plus posed with AG (photo above).
-chocko
Tags: 950 plus, a.g., album, CD, d.i.t.c., diggin in the crates, dj premier, fat beats, in-store, o.c., oasis, pics
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Amir Khan beats Dmitriy Salita to defend WBA-Light Welterweight Title
December 8th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Not a post that I was looking forward to writing, but Amir Khan (21-1 before the fight) defending WBA-Light Welterweight champion beats our local NYC hero of the Planet Brooklyn galaxy, Dmitriy Salita (30-0-1 before) in 76 seconds. Amir Khan came out with a thunderous right cross that stunned & knocked down Salita in the 1st 10 seconds of the fight & he never recovered. Salita went down 3 times in 76 seconds that resulted in the referee putting a halt to the fight. Salita’s 1st title shot went unsuccessful as his 1st loss shocked us all. Guess who was the trainer for Amir Khan?….Freddie Roach. The true heart of a boxer will be revealed with the fight after a devastating loss. We hope Dmitriy can recover & continue on with a successful career. I’ve been following Dmitriy & his story for a few years now evidenced by my article on his “Orthodox Stance” documentary @ https://www.planetchocko.com/?p=31. Dmitriy has been a gracious competitor & seems to have a gentle heart with a killer instinct in the ring. All these combinations make for a great story & we hope there is a “to be continued” segment. See below for a youtube video of the fight courtesy of “Rhinostampedes” –pcimprezz
Tags: amir khan, brooklyn, crown heights, dmitriy salita, freddie roach, light welterweight, orthodox stance, wba
Posted in mr. c, sports | Comments (0)
Hamilton Madison House toy drive in NYC
December 8th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Oops, I should have posted this update a few weeks ago, but better late than never I say! Okay, all you Planet Chocko martians! There is a toy drive hosted by the Hamilton Madison House in NYC which is a non-profit settlement house that is focused on improving the quality of life for low income families mainly in the two bridges/chinatown – lower east side area of Manhattan. The toy drive will help to make a better holiday for these kids whose families are having a tough time getting by from day to day. We are hoping a small gift at christmas time for these youngsters will uplift their spirits for at least one day. This toy drive & awareness has been brought to the forefront from one of the advocates of C-town, role model, & business owners of Chinatown, Christina from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. She & her family have been romping around Chinatown-NYC with an inspirational business model called the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for almost 30 years! So, thanks to Christina for raising awareness of this toy drive & let’s give back a little if we can. Dropoff your new unwrapped toys for kids between 5-12 years old @ the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory on 65 Bayard St. NY,NY. The last day of the toy drive is on Dec. 14th. So, if you are in the ‘hood please headoff to CICF, do a good deed to make a kid smile, & while you are there grab yo’self a nice refreshing scoop of homemade ice cream of the rich & delicate proportion made with love from the lower east…china side represent!
-pcimprezz
Tags: chinatown ice cream factory, hamilton madison house, toy drive
Posted in art, community, food | Comments (0)
Brooklyn Comics And Graphics Festival
December 7th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
It was a blustery day with constant cold rain and snow coming down, but that didn’t stop fans and artists of underground comics from showing up to the first brooklyn comics and graphics festival on Saturday, December 5. The show was presented by Desert Island and Picturebox and it would be safe to say that their first go at it was a success. The exhibitors were located in a tiny basement of a church on Metropolitan Ave which comprised of about 50 artists and publishers…many legends and talented artists in the house including Charles Burns, Kim Deitch, Gary Panther, Adrian Tomine, Gabrielle Bell, Ron Rege Jr….way too many to name them all. There were lots of things on sale from original art, prints, books, and shirts. Artist conversation programming was located down the street at Secret Project Robot and that was busy and crowded with people as well. A couple of things I picked up at the show: a mini comic and a badass print from Jon Vermilyea (a young and talented dude…his stuff amazes me), an issue of Humanbeing Lawnmower by Avi Spivak (always liked his art on punk rock flyers and now that there’s a zine to buy…gotta get it), Jumbly Junkery by L.Nichols (a girl that just goes by the name “L”…her stuff rocks), Dense Valley by Mika Oshima, Yeah, It is by Leslie Anne Mackenzie Stein (this girl is awesome and the stuff she’s working on will knock yr socks off) and What Happened Was…by Domitille Collardey (a talented female cartoonist..love her work). I got a couple sketches to add to my collection too. It was a fun show and totally inspiring to see such great comic book art.
-chocko
Tags: art, comic books, fest, indie, underground
Posted in art | Comments (0)
williamsburg, brooklyn
December 7th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Posted in music | Comments (0)
THE XX
December 7th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
UK’s The xx made a recent appearance at Newbury Comics in Boston, MA. These young musicians from South London were originally a four piece but are now down to 3 members: Romy Madley Croft (vocals and guitar), Oliver Sim (vocals and bass) and Jamie Smith (drum machines and percussion). This soft-spoken bunch play slow indie pop songs with stripped down instrumentals accompanied by seductive lyrics that stick in your head. Their debut album is easily one of the best albums of 2009. Their performance, in a jam packed Newbury Comics, was their first Boston show ever. They played the following songs: vcr, basic space, islands, crystalised, night time and infinity. I wished they played more, but they were off to another show that night opening for Friendly Fires. The video here is The XX performing “islands” at Newbury Comics. 12.04.09
-chocko
Tags: boston in-store, live performance, newbury comics, rough trade, uk band, xx
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Hong Kong 4/09 pics by C
December 3rd, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Hello all, just a few sprinkles of pictures that I took when I was in Hong Kong for 1 week in April of 2009. HK is a beautiful city with enormous amounts of energy that I cannot describe. Eating, shopping, drinking, malls upon malls, did I mention eating? are all activities Hong Kong does well! The architecture & skyscrapers in HK really make NY look like an old dwarf. The metro/subway system there is so efficient and clean! Hong Kong is my 2nd favorite city behind the Big Apple!
Posted in art, mr. c, travel | Comments (0)
Cheeky's Last Show Ever
December 1st, 2009 by Planet Chocko
All good things must come to an end and unfortunately the awesome pop-punk band, Cheeky have called it a day. They played their last show ever last Saturday at Death By Audio in Brooklyn with a little help from their friends: Zombie Dogs, Stupid Party, Slingshot Dakota, and Shellshag. Ari Up of The Slits was also in da house. The place exploded when Cheeky hit the stage and blasted through their set playing lots of songs off their new album, “what the heck” and of course their “choke on a cheeseburger” 7″ which rocks and should be in your record collection. The crowd was singing along, crowd surfing, and dancing…it was definitely a good way to go. But, who was the sucker who dropped the 40 oz. by the stage? Broken glass and fine alcoholic beverage all over the floor? You suck! Most importantly the show was also a benefit for the walk for PKD (Polycystic Kidney Disease). Check out the video above for Cheeky’s performance of “get outta here.” Oh, Cheeky…I’ll miss your catchy punk songs and awesome shows. It was lots of fun while it lasted!
-chocko
Tags: cheeky, death by audio, diy, last show, punk
Posted in music | Comments (0)
Movie Review: 'Red Cliff' directed by John Woo
December 1st, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Red Cliff, a film directed by John Woo is an epic period piece Warlord movie that displayed a war infested regime during the Han Dynasty in China. The Lord of Mainland China was convinced by one of his henchmen, General Cao Cao to battle against the Empire of Wu in Southern China to become the undisputed Warlord of China! The main protaganist in the film were Liu Bei, & Sun Quan, the leader of the Wu’s. Sun Quan’s brother, Zhou Lou who is played by veteran Hong Kong actor – Tony Leung is one of the Wu’s main generals. Zhu Ghe, a character in the film was also pivotal in convincing the divided Wu Empire to collaborate & go against General Cao Cao & their formidable 100,000 strong arms. Zhu Ghe, also proved to be a great weather forecaster in the film! The heartbeat of this movie is less about the gore & graphics of mindless warfare, but more about strategy & the art of war. Discussions about the ‘outdated bagua,turtle, & eagle wing’ formations,predicting weather patterns,& using the plague for psychological morale busters were a trending topic in this period piece movie. You will also see the ladies in the movie play a big part in the decisive battle @ Red Cliff. One of the woman actors in the film will be a familiar face to you if you’ve seen “Shaolin Soccer”. She played the Tai Chi & bun making master.
I would highly recommend watching this movie in any format you can, either bootleg DVD from your nearest Chinatown,VCD,divx,or http://www.hkflix.com , but to truly appreciate the awesomeness of the costume, sound, story, & the graphics of this movie, catch it in the theatre! I really did not know what to expect from a John Woo period piece because I just envisioned the Woo meister to just tell his tale from the Hong Kong gangster point of view. The 2 films that we fans have tattoed in our minds of John Woo is “The Killer” & “Hardboiled”. Then, after a few minutes of meditation & pondering, my mind drifts back & remembers that Woo was a student of the 60 & 70’s shaw brother films. The Woo meister was a protege of the great Chang Cheh! Oh, also of note, “Red Cliff” that is released in American Theater’s is about 2.5 hours long as opposed to the original chinese version which is in 2 parts totaling over 4 hours long. The 2.5 hour express version was ‘frankensteined’ for a respectable release for us movie goers with attention deficit disorder,but if you truly do get a chance, watch the original version. The original cut takes you on a journey & discovers each nook & cranny of some of the characters in the film! Throw your swords & spears in the air & wave them like you just don’t care! We’ll leave those 9mm pistols alone for another time!
Tags: john woo red cliff tony leung
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
street art
November 28th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Tags: new york graffiti street art
Posted in music | Comments (0)
A slider a day will keep the Dr. away….
November 24th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Slider Slider y’all! “No batter…No batta…no batta”…Northern New Joisey is known for two great legendary-healthy food haunts. One, is the deep fried hot dog a la “Rutt’s Hutt” and “Hot Grill” in Clifton, “Hirams” & “Callahans” in Fort Lee, “Pappy’s Diner” in Totowa, or “Johnny and Hanges” in Fair Lawn. The other NJ commodity is the recession burger known as the “Slider”. For all that do not know what a slider is, it’s those diminuitive steamed burgers that white castle made famous. The 5 cent sliders @ White Castle spawned & inspired a bunch of mom & pops in NJ to create a spinoff of White Castle like “White Rose”,”White Diamond”,”White Manna”,”White Mana”, & “Blue Castle”. In my subservient opinion, these mom & pops knock White Castles out the box! The slider jewel meats at these local joints are fresh, not frozen,& the love that these grill masters emulate onto their mini creations are galaxies ahead of the factory style White Castles. I suppose they call it a slider because it slides in one opening and out the other in no time! I’m blessed that I live too, darn close to one classic slider joint in Hackensack, NJ called the “White Manna”. White Manna grill masters scoop up the slider meat with an ice cream looking scoop onto the grill with one hand, & then uses the spatula to flatten out the meat delight with the other. Then, a heaping portion of onions gets sloshed in and acts as a cover for the slider to steam in while the onion infuses with the precious meat. In no time, the master griller summons up a potato roll to marry the slider meat in! DeeLicious! I know, I know, this is a straight tease without photos, but get your AZZ off the office space chair and shimmy yo’self over to your nearest slider establishment in the Dirty Jerz! I mention a few below so you can promptly enter them into your google maps! These non-fancy ‘little dude’ burgers are getting some fancy treatments in NYC! We tried a new slider joint in NYC called “Marks” on St. Marks Place – East Village and it is worthy of a visit to the former bohemian street in NYC if you are in the ‘hood! I’ve even seen some posh posh NYC restaurants serve foi gras & duck meat as slider variations. To me it seems kind of funny & ironic that these 5 star restaurants are marketing these mini gourmet burgers as sliders. Sliders=working class,cheap,& tasty burger=americana. Do the electric slide, y’all !
White Manna
358 River Street, Hackensack NJ 07601 (map)
201-342-0914
Mon. to Sat., 8:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Sun., 10 a.m. – 6 p.m
White Mana
470 Tonnele Avenue, Jersey City NJ 07307
White Rose System (Highland Park)
154 Woodbridge Avenue, Highland Park NJ 08904
White Diamond (Clark)
1207 Raritan Road, Clark NJ 07066
Marks
33 St Marks Pl
(between 3rd Ave & Astor Pl)
New York, NY 10003
Tags: bobby flay, burger, hackensack, marks, mini burger, slider, white mana, white manna
Posted in food, mr. c | Comments (0)
