Navigate / search

Silent Disco: Quietly invading Boston

“Silent disco? What the hell is that?”

Avid silent disco-goers are all too familiar with this question.

So… what is it?

“Silent disco is a new way to experience live music” says George Gayl, co-founder of the event and provider of Silent Storm Sound System.

At a silent disco event everyone is provided with a pair of wireless headphones upon entry.

Through these headphones stream the live music being performed by the DJ or artist of the evening. Each pair of headphones comes equipped with a volume control knob and a mute button. Want to rock out? Crank your volume up! Want to talk to your friends? Hold the mute button down.

OK, so get it? Still skeptical? “Try it, you’ll probably love it. We love converting skeptics,” says Gayl.

‘Angry Birds’ Take Over My Life

If you have an Ipod Touch and still want to maintain a social life- DO NOT READ THIS.

It has been over three months now, and I have yet to grow tired of  flinging birds into wood planks and TNT.

As many of you know, there are tons of games that can be downloaded onto your Ipod. I am not a huge “gamer,” but my boyfriend insisted I start playing this fruit cutting ninja game. I was intrigued for a day or two, but it grew old and I soon wanted something different. After going through a list of the top rated Ipod Touch games, we stumbled across Angry Birds.

I remember the first moments when the game began. I slowly cocked my finger back and released a small red bird into a field of pigs. I didn’t understand it at first- why are we killing these innocent green piggies? So what, they stole the bird’s eggs? Big deal.

I would hit them with a bird and they appeared to be bruised up. I would hit them with another bird and then they poofed away leaving numbers to higher my score.  When I would run out of birds and pigs were still remaining- even if bruised and broken- they would turn their frown into a smile and make oinking noises. That was when the “Level Failed” icon would appear. That is also when the addiction grew strong, and the hatred toward these green oinking bastards overtook me.

I Volunteered at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival & All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt

Some of you may remember the scathing article I wrote about Wilco’s performance at Tanglewood a few years back, so naturally when I heard the band was organizing a festival at Mass Moca, located in my hometown of North Adams, I figured Jeff Tweedy was coming to kill me.

Not only is Mass Moca the largest contemporary art museum in the country, but it’s also a 4-minute walk from Buntology Headquarters.

While a weekend pass was reasonably priced at $100, there was no way I was paying to see Wilco perform live again I wasn’t invested enough in the lineup to drop that kind of cash. So instead I volunteered!

Check out a scrapbook of weekend highlights below…

Happy International Left-Handers Day!

“If the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body, and the right side of your brain controls the left side of your body, then left-handed people must be the only ones in their right minds.”   – W.C. Fields

As if Hallmark needed another reason to make a card, August 13 is International Left-Handers Day. The nearly two-decade old holiday doesn’t seem to get the recognition it deserves- then again, neither do left-handers.

Not surprisingly, there is a Left-Handers Club that came up with the holiday back in 1992 to “increase public awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of being left-handed.” Shall we join in a collective waahhh for southpaws everywhere?

But seriously, I do want to take a moment and say Happy Left-Handers Day to my very own daughter: Twin A., Angela.

I have watched her struggle with scissors, knives, seating arrangements where her arm simply has no place to go, and several other situations that most of us normal- ummm, I mean right-handed folks, never consider. The world is definitely arranged for right-handed people and since I love my daughter today I speak out against this bigotry.

Think of the term itself.  A left-handed compliment is one that is not a compliment at all. The left side of the theater has the “odd” numbered seats. Obviously, left = odd. If you are “left out” well, clearly that isn’t good. The Italian words for left and left-handed are “mancino and mancini” which translate to “defective and deceitful.” A promise you have no intentions of keeping is called a “left-handed oath.”

CAMP BISCO 9 : Bigger, Longer & Uncut

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been two weeks since music lovers from across the country met, in a 200-acre field just west of Albany known simply to them as ILCC. Indian Lookout Country Club is normally home to The Harley Rendezvous – a biker festival.  But for the past three years the bikers have lent their land to another group of social rebels for one glorious weekend of the summer. This year, Camp Bisco 9 called ILCC home from July 15-17 and along with it came 15,000 fans, adorned in their most outrageous and colorful outfits (a.k.a. “rage gear”).

This year was my fourth Camp Bisco, and also my fourth time at ILCC.  Although I had the inclination this year would be bigger than others in the past, I wasn’t expecting the amount of people and traffic we endured that Thursday morning.  After four long hours of sitting in our cars and waiting in the sweltering heat we finally made it through the gates.  It was an exciting moment, but there was no time to relax.