Following the Justin Bieber phenomenon, showbiz has embraced a number of young teenagers whose fame started from their personal YouTube videos. Greyson Chance, a 14-year-old boy from Texas, was among those discovered stars and recently staged his debut performance for his fans in Bangkok.
In 2010, Chance showed off his piano and vocal skills to Lady Gaga's Paparazzi during a performance for his fellow sixth-grade students at his high school. After his brother wrote to television star Ellen DeGeneres and suggested she watch Chance's video, Degeneres invited him onto her programme The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she signed Chance as the first artist on her new record label "eleveneleven".
His debut album, Hold On 'Til the Night, was released last August and his Paparazzi video has been viewed over 47 million times.
_ Yanapon Musiket
Asobi Seksu and Summer Camp
Live concert enthusiasts should be overjoyed with two showcases in one week.
First up is the band Asobi Seksu. Hailing from New York City, Asobi Seksu has been around for quite some time and their dreamy pop promises an inspiring concert. Japan-born Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna are the core of the band along with other session musicians. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2004, and the latest, Fluorescence, hit the shelves last year.
Asobi Seksu plays in Bangkok on May 9 at Sonic, Ekamai. Tickets bought in advance are 800 baht or 1,000 baht at the door.
Visit www.facebook.com/TheWorldMayNeverKnow.HomeVideo.
_ Onsiri Pravattiyagul
Popping Summer Camp
What better way to beat the heat than by going to Summer Camp? English indie-pop duo Summer Camp has been invited to play on May 12 at Center Point Studio, Sukhumvit Soi 105. But this isn't just a gig _ it's also a live exhibition of Thai fashion label, Sretsis. Tickets are 1,200 baht and available at www.thaiticketmajor.com. Sretsis card holders are eligible for 20% discount.
If you're strapped for cash, the kind folks at Sretsis are giving away five double passes. Simply email why you should get these tickets to onsirip@bangkokpost.co.th with your name and phone numbers.
Good luck!
_ Onsiri Pravattiyagul
Peace
Every month, there are bands that the press say are going to be huge. Sometimes it feels like it's not about supporting your preferred bands any more _ it's like a treasure hunt to see who can spot the newest talent the fastest. This doesn't feel right to me, as bands need time to progress and brew, and they don't need the added empty hype too hard and too fast.
Having said that, to put my money on Citizens! or Spector would be far too easy as those bands are sure to get even bigger. They've got what it takes to go all the way.
After a few months of stalking Peace, I'd like to say the same thing for them. Harrison Koisser (vocals, guitar), Sam Koisser (bass), Douglas Castle (guitar) and Dominic Boyce (drums) are kicking and screaming all the way from Birmingham, UK. Their track BBlood reminds me of Wu Lyf, and maybe a bit of Foals _ and that's a good thing. Peace also come equipped with youthful attitudes and that quintessential English naughtiness as well as elaborated quips and fibs.
If Peace shall be the future of indie, then things are not looking too shabby.
_ Onsiri Pravattiyagul
Dracula 3D
Everybody knows the story of Dracula, and seeing it on screen in 3D was inevitable in this age of commodifed horror movies.
Dracula 3D is a new film by Italian director Dario Argento. High camp and with lots of fake haemoglobin, the new Dracula looks satifyingly perverse and unreasonably gory, meaning we won't miss it for the world. Rutger Hauer (yes!) plays vampire hunter Van Helsing and Asia Argento (yes!), the director's daughter, takes the role of Lucy, while Thomas Kretschmann is the fanged count. The film will premiere as a midnight screening this month in Cannes.
_ Kong Rithdee
The Cronenbergs
We're talking about David and Brandon, father and son filmmakers who are both in the official line-up of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
In a rare coincidence, the world's most influential movie festival, which begins on May 16, will feature David's film Cosmopolis in the competition selection, and son Brandon's Antiviral in the Un Certain Regard lineup. The hereditary bizarreness oozes from the titles of their two films, and Brandon may soon find himself fending off questions regarding his father's dark influence as Antiviral _ his first film _ bears a resemblance to his David's penchant for biological transmutation and weird, viscuous fluids.
Seventy-one-year-old David's Cosmopolis is a film about a road trip through Manhattan hell starring Robert Pattinson as a hotshot money trader chasing the tumbling yen and ruminating on his personal, postmodern apocalypse. His last film, A Dangerous Method, about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, was released in Bangkok in March.
Meanwhile, Brandon will make his feature debut with Antiviral, in which an underground clinic sells viruses extracted from celebrities to obsessed fans. His father's first film, Shivers, in 1975, was about a zombie virus that infects a building full of people.
Cosmopolis will soon open in Bangkok. We have our fingers crossed for Antiviral.
_ Kong Rithdee
