Category Archives: Reviews

Any review that is done for the website be it music, video, convention, concert or trade show. The sky is the limit and all are found under one section.

Happy 10th Anniversary To Ragtag

Many years ago I pursued the challenging career of working musician and while I did achieve some local notoriety in bands from the region such as Eclipse and eventually Machine after them, I did not stick to the plan proper and remained more of an occasional jam here and there.  Maybe a blog in the future will discuss that bit of adventuring.  One of the dudes from my way back years is Rob Emery and reconnected a number of years ago and since that time I have been supporting his project that is entitled “Ragtag”.  Sometimes the band sports an “NYC” after the name but I have not seen that lately so perhaps it has been omitted for good.

In any event, Ragtag is a three piece Rock/Funk outfit with Robbie singing and playing some serious axe while Alan Chan grooves on the bass and Sinehead Doug locks it down on the drums and 2011 finds the band celebrating being together for ten years.   They play a mixture of originals and covers on any given night. I hit the recent gig at Sullivan Hall in NYC which is a venue I like even though they don’t really do much Metal over there.  It’s a pleasant change of pace and even though I was not “working” my usual role as journalist and photographer, I did use my Panasonic Lumix to snare some video which I am sharing with you all.  I figured this is a fun little side thing to offer readers of the PiercingKen blog, so let’s see how much more comes in the future. The video posted is a performance of their original number “Not Long Ago”.



Congratulations Ragtag on your ten years of making music together. I raise a glass to you my friends. Keep on rocking.
 

Strangest Concert Pairing Ever?

Even though the PiercingKen blog is only a few months old, its pretty safe to say that most of its readers know that I am a massive fan of the live concert scene and that some of my side musings might be about music as a result of that. I will try to keep them to ones that really don’t make much sense for the Official PiercingMetal Blog though. So resultant of my keeping a comprehensive event calendar I happened upon this rather amusing listing. It was the kind of thing that just had to have a screen capture taken of it. Take a look.



You are not imagining this and of course seeing it very clearly but please know that it is a mistake listing. If it was not, I am not sure what planet a headlining set by The Killers Brandon Flowers would have had Children Of Bodom opening, but it was amusing to see nonetheless. There was a hot minute that fans and I were fooled since we didn’t readily know the singer of Killers name. Its not the kind of stuff the general Metal fan knows off the top of their head. I did send a link to this to some industry insiders to be on the safe side because if it was happening I would have had to set up coverage of the Finnish openers. That being said I leave you to your regularly scheduled programming. See you again soon.

PiercingKen Goes To The PDN Photoplus Expo 2010

Today was going to be my first ever time attending the PDN Photoplus Expo at the Javits Center. Even though I have been writing about and photographing the things that interest me for a number of years now, it was only very recently that I decided to delve into the conventions and that is why my PiercingMetal fans have some coverage of the 2010 New York Comic Con on the main site.

Logo - PDN Photo Expo

For those in the unaware, the PDN Photoplus Expo is where all the major companies that deal with photography come to showcase their wares and to make some sales. Its daunting if you are a professional as much as a hobbyist. Trust me on that. So I am here wandering with my buddy Pete Parrella who most of you know as Skeleton Pete and since I am not “on assignment” I was just testing the waters to see what was around. This will mostly be a photographic presentation of the lovely sites and coolness so do please enjoy.

pdn photoplus expo, pdn photoplus expo 2010, photos from pdn photoplus expo 2010

pdn photoplus expo, pdn photoplus expo 2010, photos from pdn photoplus expo 2010
Continue reading PiercingKen Goes To The PDN Photoplus Expo 2010

Hangry & Angry Fashion Show @ New York Comic Con/Anime Fest 2010

convention logos, new york comic con, new york comic con on black

This past weekend was the New York Comic Con & Anime Festival that was being held at the Javits Center in NYC.  It ran from Friday until Sunday and in my guise as Master and Commander of PiercingMetal.com, I attended all three days of this incredible convention event.  The official site blog will feature a number of narratives that relate to the goings on at the convention since some of my wanderings found me discovering some cool music stuff and the personality responsible for them as well.

The convention is also one that offers a wide variety of companies the chance to come in and present their wares for the general public and one such booth that I found was the one for designer h.Naoto and also Gashicon.  Gashicon is a Japanese illustrator and the creator of the Guro-kawa (or grotesque and cute) character mascots of Hangry & Angry.  If you are a fan of the J-Rock style of music you know who I am talking about but if you are still in the dark please know that this is a group founded in 2008 by Hitomi Yoshizawa and Rika Ishikawa.  Here’s a photo of the girls that I found online.  I admit that I myself do not have much of an idea about them…..yet.  There is always time.

hangry and angry
J-Rock’s own Hangry & Angry

When I stopped by the booth I was told that a fashion design show would be held downstairs from the main exhibition hall and this would be featuring many of the Japanese Gothic Lolita fashion designs that I saw in front of me at the booth.  Designer Gashicon was there as well and she showed me all of the characters that she had designed for the group.  There were many of these plush characters available for sale and they were selling like hotcakes.  Those images will be in the Comic Con blogs so watch for them.  Since the fashion show was early enough on the Saturday of the Con, I got into place and aimed the camera at everyone as they strutted their stuff and showed off these designs.

hangry and angry, hangry and angry fashion show, gashicon, ny comic con 2010, fashion shows

hangry and angry, hangry and angry fashion show, gashicon, ny comic con 2010, fashion shows

Continue reading Hangry & Angry Fashion Show @ New York Comic Con/Anime Fest 2010

The Eyes Of A Blue Dog Dance Company

During one of my visits to a very favorite dining haunt of mine I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Miss Elspeth Brown and after some quick music journalist publicity I learned that she was a dancer and the artistic director of her own company which is called the Eyes Of A Blue Dog.  For me its always interesting to meet new creative people because I find this to be the kind of positive cross-networking that helps reinforce my own resolve for the writing and photography – but enough about me.  We kept in touch and discussed each others enterprise and I swore I would one day see her perform.  Trust me it is not always easy to find a free night with the battery of Metal forces that come through a market like NYC.  Anyways, it was the dead of winter and I learned that Elspeth and company would be presenting a new piece at the APAP Showcase and it would be held at the Dance New Amsterdam space in lower Manhattan.