OK! Here it is, my review
Pics can be found here:
pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jechie138/my_photosMy mom and I bought snacks and drinks for everyone... stuff like chips and salsa and trail mix and pop and what not. Emm was excpected to arrive anywhere from 5 to 5:30. My friends and I waited outside from her from about five on. At about 5:30, we decided to make signs for her just in case she had trouble finding my house. We made one that said, "Welcome Emm and Jenny!" that we hung on our porch and then my friend Louis made one that just said "Emm" with an arrow pointing at our house.
At about 5:45, Emm and Jenny pulled into my driveway. They were driving a cute little red Echo. I greeted Emm at the door and we got the introductions out of the way and shook hands and hugged. I did the same with Jenny.
First Impressions: WOW she is so TINY!!! I couldn't believe it. This power house vocalist/writer in this little body. But my GOD she is adorable. Seriously, just one of the cutest/prettiest girls I've ever seen. Jenny looked exactly how I pictured her! All the pics I'd seen of her matched the image in person.
We immediately began unloading all of her gear and began setting up. We agreed that the patio outside would be the best place for her to perform. It's a nice open space and we weren't sure how many were coming. Our house isn't big, at all, and this way we could fit as many as we needed. We had the snacks set up on a table, and then I had a card table for her to put all of her CD's and stuff on.
Being that it was around supper time, Emm and Jen were obviously hungry. I offered to go grab them something to eat. Since I work as a waiter, I took their order and headed off to Subway. Jenny got a turkey sandwich with no cheese and everything else. Emm got a veggie sandwhich with no peppers. I also had to get them C-batteries for this little contraption Emm brought along with her. I'd find out later that it was to record the bass parts of Dearg Doom.
So we set up on the patio by running a chord from our computer room to the amp and what not. Emm brought a bass guitar, acoustic, and of course a keyboard. Then there were two mic stands, one by the keyboard and one for standing.
People started showing up around 7:15 and by 7:30, I had about 15-18 people. We decided that it was a good time to start. I introduced Jenny and talked about how she was apart of the band Sanawon, which means fierce in Korean. She was so surprised I knew that hehe. "Oh no you d'int!" she squealed.
Jenny Choi:
Count To Ten
Why Do I
Light The Sky
Pretty Horses
Tiny Airplane
Scary Song
I was so happy she did Count To Ten. That was the song I first heard from her on her myspace profile and I just loved it. It has this mellow rock vibe to it. Jenny's voice live: WOW.... I was so impressed. It sounded much different from the studio. She had so much passion and rawness to it. The best part about her set was her in-between song banter. She first told us about how awesome it was here, and that she loved our little town. It was "miles better than the smokey Chicago bars" she was used to. Then she went into how she hated using the bathrooms there. She said it was better to go to the alley and go instead. "I just squated down by the dumpster and took a dump!" She held nothing back, that's for sure. The BEST story, however was about Tori! She talked about how she met her during the Under The Pink era. Jenny got the chance to meet her at some point. There was a bunch of people around and Jenny was telling Tori how much she loved Icicle. "One day Tori, seven years from now," she said, "me and you will be on stage masturbating together!!" All of us were cracking up. She went on to say, "Everyone was like, looking at me and it was so awkward. Tori said in her sweet Tori voice, 'yes, that's right honey' and gave me a hug. She probably thought I was mentally challenged." We were rolling! After her last song, we gave her a standing O' and got ready for Emm to take the stage.
I was really mad at these bitches for leaving before Emm... I found out later they had a good excuse but still, they could have said something. Anyway though, I told the "crowd" why Emm was there at my house and a little about her and what not. Then, she took the stage!
Emm Gryner:
Forget Georgia
Half-Sorry
Goddess
Summerlong
Dearg Doom
Black Wing Bird
Acid
Killing Spree
Symphonic
Oh. My. Fucking. GOD! Just wow. If you haven't seen Emm live, you don't know what you're missing. I mean, to see her in a venue would be great. But at my own HOUSE!? *sigh* I can't put into words how amazing it was.
-Forget Georgia was done on acoustic guitar. It was the perfect song to open with. People were looking at me with wide eyes... I don't think they were expecting her to be so good! I smiled and sang along with the words. The "Never goin' back" part was so awesome! I was really happy to hear
-During Half-Sorry, the moths floated toward the lamp we set up outside and kept flying in Emm's face. She laughed it off like a true sport. But wow, what an awesome performance this was... so so powerful. Had chills the entire time. This is another one of my favorite songs and to hear it live was fantastic.
-Summerlong because it made me think of how my summer was. It went by so fast but it seemed like so much changed. Really emotional for me, and the crowd really seemed to like that one.
-The weird little device thing came into play on Dearg Doom. She recorded a bass part, and then played it while she played another part when she actually performed the song. I invited my friend Katie and her Japanese foreign exchange student that she is currently hosting. They both seemed to like this one the most. It has this sinister feeling to it. The bass line is just wicked.
-After Dearg Doom, she was suppose to do Nothing Rhymed. However, she asked us what we wanted to hear: either a carnival-type song or a rip your heart out ballad. We all screamed for the ballad and she introduced the next song as a new one called Black Wing Bird. Rip your heart out doesn't begin to describe how sad this was. If this isn't on the new album, I'll be really disappointed because this is one of the best things I've heard from her in ages. The piano sounded so familiar!
-The highlight of the night: ACID, oh my lord. Before the show, I'd given her a picture I drew of her with the lyrics written on it. She started out by saying, "This new song is dedicated to Jake. He drew me this amazing picture with the lyrics written on it so how can I NOT play it?" She started the song and I already started to get teary-eyed. My neighbors also decided to join us at this time. She paused to acknowledge them and to join the party. The whole song, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. This was THE song I wanted to hear and it made the whole night for me. All of these emotions that I associate with this song just came flying at me at once. It took everything I had not to break down in front of everyone. I gave her a standing ovation and then ran up to the stage to give her a hug. She then gave me a HOMEMADE copy of The Great Lakes Living Room CD. It had a gold cover instead of the maroon one you can purchase, and the booklet was handstamped and hand EVERYTHING. She had my name and location and date printed on a blank page so everyone who attended the show could sign.
-Killing Spree, another new one, was another unexpected highlight. She was so ferocious on this one! My mom recorded this with the cam so I'm hoping I can find a way to upload it on here for you all to see.
-She closed with Symphonic, the PEFECT closer. "How could I forget you?" Seriously, how could I ever forget about this night? She did this on piano and I think the crowd liked this one the most. I heard a lot of people asking her, "what CD is the last song you played on?" when everyone hit the merch stands.
After her set, everyone mad rushed the merch stands. I RE-bought my copies of Girl Versions, The Original Leap Year, and Dead Relatives. I also bought both of Jenny's albums, plus Emm signed a poster for me. Everyone in attendance basically bought things. I'm sure Emm made a hefty amount of cash and that is what I wanted for her! My lord, the woman put on a free show and drove all the way to my dinky little town. She deserved some form of payment! I stood by her the whole time and I suggested albums to people. She signed every CD she sold, as did Jenny. Jenny signed my album with this hilarious message:
Jake, I pooped in your toilet and it was AWESOME! xox Jenny
*sigh* I will always treasure that just because it will remind me of her hilarious sense of humor. You can see all of the pictures that we took in that photo album in the above post. The Cheez-Itz are there because Emm kept talking about them during her set and having us pass them around.
The girls left at about 10:45 and headed to Chicago for a show the next day. We gave each other hugs and promised to email pics and stuff as soon as we could. She begged me to come to Canada and see a few shows and hang out. I told her that when I was 18, nothing in the world would stop me.
That's it! Thanks for reading and any questions or requests for bigger pictures can be sent to me via this thread/PM/or IM.
