Life In Color at the AMP
On Thursday, Oct. 18, Life in Color (formerly Dayglow), the “world’s largest paint party,” will be at the Arkansas Music Pavilion as part of their 2012: The E.N.D. (Electronic Never Dies) tour. Starting as a college tradition in Florida back in 2006, Life in Color has since evolved into a world-renowned live concert. Having sold out over 70 shows last year, the show now features DJs, soaring aerial acts, stilt-walkers, contortion acts, fire shows and paint-blasting cannons, bringing the best of the rave world and the circus world together into one wildly eccentric evening.
The epic psych-up on the official flyer, which might have been written by one of Tyler Durden’s Trance-head understudies, riffs on Mayan-borne apocalypse superstition: “While this may mark the end of an era, we believe as the year draws to a close, the world is only gearing up for a new day … To every beginning there is an end, and a chance for rebirth. Because in the E.N.D., we are not our jobs, our failures, or our fears, we are every note of every song that made us close our eyes, reach for the sky and know we were home.”
Life in Color also asserts they are “taking a unified stance and upholding their beliefs” that “love, expression, music, creativity, and most of all, paint, will be the only force that will survive into the next generation of a life in color.” The exact meanings of these phrases are certainly open to interpretation, but for the casual or professional raver, the message is clear: There will be wild electronic music, wild electronic paint and wild electronic dancing, a haven for rave freaks flavored by the freaks of the circus.
Alongside the Caravanserai ensemble and Tokyo String Quartet mentioned in last week’s weekender, several Texas-based country and singer/songwriter musicians are playing at George’s Majestic Lounge this weekend, starting with Pat Green on Friday, Oct. 19. Known for the Billboard-topping single “Wave on Wave,” Pat Green is touring in support of his new album, “Songs We Wish We’d Written II,” which features reworkings of classic songs by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Warren Haynes, Collective Soul, Aaron Lee Tasjan and a couple of fellow Texas songwriters. The band’s official biography asserts, regarding the new album, that songs like ”Galilee,” “Soulshine,” “Jesus On A Greyhound” and the imagery in “Austin” all come together and “combine to form a spiritual undercurrent on the album akin to the message of Green’s biggest hit, ‘Wave On Wave.’”
The next night, Oct. 20, Texas-based James McMurtry, the singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader and occasional actor, will be playing George’s with opening act Joe Pug. McMurtry has played with John Mellencamp, Joe Ely, John Prine and Dwight Yoakam and has received the highest praise from Mellencamp, as well as from Michael Nesmith, numerous news networks and entertainment publications. But, most interestingly, McMurtry’s music has been highly acclaimed by American horror novelist Stephen King, who included McMurtry’s song “Talkin’ at the Texaco” in his 2009 novel “Under the Dome.” King said to Entertainment Weekly, “The simple fact is that James McMurtry may be the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation.” Bridging from King, the semi-anticipated “Paranormal Activity 4” premieres in theaters this weekend. As of Oct. 16, rottentomatoes.com has landed the movie with a 44 percent approval rating and a big green splat. Scott Weinberg, writing for FEARnet, remarks that in “PA4,” “There’s some fun to be had, but we’ve officially reached the ‘for fans only’ stage of this particular horror franchise.” This is, of course, one of the more polite reviews offered of the film; however, to gear up for Halloween, maybe a string of spooks like this is exactly what the (witch) doctor ordered. And, after all, according to the film tagline, “All the activity has led to this.”
Think about all of the activity that has occurred — if it really has all led up to this film, watching it has to at least offer some sort of catharsis, right?
