nuzzaci - an online journal

I didn’t really know what to expect on my first Marilyn Manson gig. I’ve seen a few live videos and heard about his amazing theatrical stage performances and stage set, for instance, the Hitler-esk podium act during Antichrist Superstar, but for the last few years I haven’t been tuned in to the world of Marilyn Manson.

I attended the concert with Richard Dee and Simon Waterfall. Richard was a Manson Virgin, as I, while Simon was an experienced manson-ite.

On our arrival to Wembley I was a bit disappointed. I thought the concert was in the new Wembley Stadium, built in 2007 and seating 90,000; not Wembley Arena, built in 1934 and seating 12,300. But since the Arena turned out to be about 1 third empty — the entire back section of the arena — I can see why they chose the Arena and not the Stadium. Obviously I thought an artist of Marilyn Manson’s caliber would attract a larger audience. So, even before I entered the venue, I had to re-adjust my expectations; turn the dial down a few levels. One positive outcome of the smaller venue was that our otherwise poor seating was closer to the stage.

Similar to a check-in queue in airports; it’s fairly easy to guess what has brought the gathering of people together. In an airport it’s the destination, at a concert it’s the artist. An audience is an artist’s reflection. So, on a Marilyn Manson concert… well, I can’t say it’s a pretty sight. Freakshow is not the right word but the first that comes to mind. Confused. Lost. No. One thing is certain — I didn’t blend in. So, to be honest, I was the freak.

Supporting Marilyn Manson was the Norwegian deathpunk band, Turbonegro. They are absolutely wicked. Unfortunately not that many people were there to see Turbonegro, and Turbojugend, their famous fan club, didn’t seem to have many representatives present. When Turbonegro tried to get the audience to sing along to the song “I got Erection”, hardly anyone joined in. So Hank Von Helvete, the lead singer, abandoned the attempt and tried get the audience to sing “I’m a Londoner, so I can’t get an erection” instead. Brilliant.

Photograph captured by Andrew Kendall

And then came Manson. From start to finish the performance just grew and and grew and got better and better and better and better. Looking back on it, I don’t think he could have failed even if he tried too. With songs like Disposable Teen, mOBSCENE, The Irresponsible Hate Anthem, Sweet Dreams, The Fight Song, Rock Is Dead, The Dope Show, Antichrist Superstar and The Beautiful People, I can’t see how a failure would have been possible.

One thing that I wouldn’t have minded more of is dialogue between the songs. I see dialogue between songs as bonus material that you don’t get on albums, and it’s something I treasure quite highly when I go to a concert. A front figure like Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine can get away with not uttering a single word during a concert, but he belongs to the exceptions and not the norm. An artist like Marilyn Manson is the kind of artist you’d expect and want to speak his mind between songs.

As the concert kept going, I began to get very jealous of the job of my fellow Swede and guitarist, Tim Sköld. I would have loved to be on that stage and play those tunes. So much energy. So easy and yet so damn good. However, I have learned that Tim’s role in the band extends way beyond just playing guitar live — he’s producing, editing, doing artwork, electronics, drum programming and beats, playing guitar, keyboards, accordion, synthesizer bass and backup vocals — which I can’t say I envy. But to stand on a stage and deliver the energy of those songs through a guitar — priceless.

Photograph captured by David Herranz

One thing that struck me during ‘The Fight Song’, while the words FIGHT were flashing up in big red letters behind the stage, and the main part of the standing audience were raising their fists and screaming along “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”, was how provocative Marilyn Manson really is. We liberal Europeans shouldn’t forget that Manson’s main audience is based in America, where about 80% of the population are christians. As Simon Price on the Independent said:

Context, of course, is everything. A recent USA Today /CNN /Gallup poll revealed that 88 per cent of the American population believe that God had at least some hand in the creation of life on Earth. And so, when Marilyn Manson ascends a lectern for a mock-Nazi rally during “Antichrist Superstar” and sets fire to a copy of the Bible, one has to remember where he comes from.

If Manson’s shock tactics appear a little blunt to us urbane Europeans, one has to remember that this – the land of the religious right, the Intelligent Designers and the pro-lifers – is the battleground where he fights.

Photograph captured by James Harber

As the lighters during a ballad have been replaced with the light of a camera-phone, youtube seems to be the replacement for photography, reviews and set lists. I had to spend quite a while online to locate the set list of the night, I finally managed to find it on lyingonthecovers.net, but way before I managed to do that, my search query had found basically the whole concert through the eyes of a camera-phone lens on youtube.

1. If I Was Your Vampire (See it on YouTube)
2. Disposable Teens (See it on YouTube)
3. mOBSCENE (See it on YouTube)
4. Tourniquet (See it on YouTube)
5. The Irresponsible Hate Anthem (See it on YouTube)
6. Are You The Rabbit? (See it on YouTube)
7. Sweet Dreams (See it on YouTube)
8. Lunchbox (See it on YouTube)
9. The Fight Song (See it on YouTube)
10. Putting Holes In Happiness (See it on YouTube)
11. Heart Shapped Glasses (See it on YouTube)
12. Rock Is Dead (See it on YouTube)
13. The Dope Show (See it on YouTube)
14. The Reflecting God (See it on YouTube)
15. Antichrist Superstar (See it on YouTube)
16. The Beautiful People (See it on YouTube)

Enjoy.

On friday we (POKE) launched a new website. So when you have a few minutes to spare, have a browse in the portfolio, read the blog and subscribe to the RSS. A lot of love in there.

When i was younger i had a belief that in one of my previous lives i was a successful business women in New York. I thought once i go to New York i will feel familiar with the city, it’s people and it’s roads. I believed New York and I had some previous life history together; almost family blood band. Once i go there i wouldn’t want to come back to wherever i came from. As i have grown older this belief has faded, but going there for the first time brought the memories of the belief back. It turned out NY and I didn’t have that much in common. Maybe my belief was wrong — there is no pre-life, maybe NY has changed since i lived there as a business women. Most probably, i just had a romantic view of the Big Apple.

With great beard comes great responsibility

Last year i saved a beard for christmas (photo), and this year i’m doing the same. As a joke people said that i wouldn’t get past the US custom with my beard. Sadly, it seems like the perceived ideas that a man with a beard has something to hide (or is a terrorist) is true. Quite a racist belief if you ask me. Whenever they had a random security check; they checked me. I got asked question while standing in queues. They went through my hand luggage. Metal detector beeped even if i had nothing on me, which resulted in a head too toe frisk. The US custom guy, when talking to Willow, referred to me as “so, who’s the felon standing next to you?”. So all bearded people, remember: with great beard comes great responsibility.

New York. New York is OK

It is probably a combination of my high expectations and the fact that we only were present between Friday evening to Monday morning, but after round one New York hadn’t knocked me of my feet. The cultural step from London to New York is tiny. The biggest cultural hurdle is probably understanding how to tip — when and how much. You get a bigger cultural different if you go 2 hours on the train outside London.

A few thing i found positive are the availability of goods (gadgets, clothes), good food and groceries (and all that in combination with the week dollar). It’s almost a bit like we here in Europe still can’t escape the after math of the second world war. Or, we simply aren’t as creed and feel we need to overindulge us in an literally a sea of options and endless possibilities. Or, what do i know, maybe our foreign trade laws are different. Maybe our economy is set up differently. I don’t know.

I’m sure if you live in New York for a while (or elsewhere in the United States i guess), you start taking all this overindulgent for granted and see it almost as a basic need and civil right. “What was the life before we all had mobile phones?” or “How would i survive without my pastrami sandwich!” kind of question.

Since we were aware of the fact that the dollar is weak, we had agreed that we would focus a bit more on shopping than we normally do when we are abroad. But neither Willow or i really got in the mood. I’m not really the kind of person who can just switch a switch and be in über shopping mode. I did manage to stumble over a few things. The only one worth mentioning is the enormous (47-54mm from 9 to 6 o’clock position) but yet so gorgeous 51-30 PU from Nixon (photo below).

I don’t think i will return to New York in a hurry, or phrased another way; don’t think i will invest any of the coming years holidays on New York. I’m quite sure though that our paths will cross sooner than later anyway.

Having said all that; before i moved to London 4 and a half year ago — i hated this city, and my encounter with it had been very limited. So, basically, my opinions and thought on New York are currently worth as much as a piece of toilet paper — after it’s been wiped and flushed away.

Not long ago Willow and I had serious thoughts of moving to New York.
So never say never.

A new way to document a holiday

I don’t like the common concept of a digital camera — snap snap snap snap snap snap snap it’s all free so let’s snap snap snap snap — almost like a chorus of a 120bpm radio hit song (rubbish). I don’t own a camera, i once did but i gave it away, and i can’t really see myself buying one soon. At the moment Willow fills all my digital photography needs with her camera.

Before we left for New York, Willow brought some film for her Polaroid camera and a Moleskine City Notebook for New York. I didn’t think much about it, but as we left our brilliant accommodation on Avenue C, Bed and Coffee, on Saturday morning it just felt so natural to start taking snapshots with the Polaroid and file them in the Molskine notebook. On the back of that, i also saved a few receipts a long the way and slowly i started collection business cards from stores and other small things that crossed my path. Very natural. Not force feeding the idea or the concept.

The line between the concept described in the above paragraph and digital photos is very thin. Maybe most of you can’t even see what i’m getting at. But for me it’s a big difference. It’s a but like advertising vs spam or singing vs talking. Small different but still not the same. And i rather look back on a holiday through a mixture of collected items wrapped in a book filled with small notes than only composed digital photography.

Have uploaded a few things to my flickr account. You can find it on http://www.flickr.com/photos/nuzzaci/tags/newyorknovember2007/. Most of the stuff is accommodated with a description.