Cassie The Venomous' Blog

Some shows just can't be justified in words, which is precisely why I was so hesitant in my trying to capture my experience seeing Taking Back Sunday in Cincinnati on July 24. Sometimes, as a music journalist (4 classes from a degree, I think I can officially call myself that now), you step back and think, "Fuck! Who the Hell am I :" When you find Taking Back Sunday vocalist Adam Lazzara suddenly standing on the barricade in front of you, singing your favorite new TBS song quite literally against your face as you fumble for something to do with your hands while there's nowhere to put them but on him . Or, as you watch, over the heads of hundreds, him wading through the crowd all the way to the back with his mic cord held up by the crowd (I assume, for a singer, that has to feel something like being attacked by zombies that don't eat brains, but --rather-- grope you). When he looks you dead in the eye, grins and sustains the look as you pantomime his lyric

Behold, my concert calendar! As you can see, I have recently attended a Taking Back Sunday show for which a live review is conspicuously missing. Skim a bit lower, and you will see that I am also seeing them live tomorrow. I plan to do a sort of combined review for the two shows. I'll say only this: The Cincinnati show was one of the best shows I have ever attended. It was also the hottest. Next on the list: Warped Tour! My press passes for this year's Warped Tour were just confirmed. That is where you come in. Last year was the first time I had experienced life in the Warped press room. I discovered there that, as often happens at the festival, there were plenty of surprises. Plenty of my requested interviews fell through last year, and -- by total surprise -- I ended up interviewing Every Time I Die. This year, knowing those surprises so often arise, I did more research and am more equipped for surprise encounters, but I'd like for fans to be involved. On the

UPDATE: July 25, 2011 @ 9:32 p.m. EST The raygun pages are back up and guns available for purchase! Click the guns below to view their MCR store product pages! UPDATE: July 14, 2011 @ 1:40 a.m. EST Apparently, someone got a little hasty with that. The raygun product pages were just taken down from the site. I will continue to update this page, but -- for now -- the provided links to the products at the bottom of this post will not work. __ ORIGINAL POST: July 14, 2011 @ 1:13 a.m. The Danger Days rayguns have been posted for individual sale on the My Chemical Romance webstore. You can now "collect all four" of the poly resin model replica guns that were originally available only through purchase of the California 2019 Edition Box Set s . The rayguns run $35. Product pages: Jet Star | Kobra Kid | Party Poison | Fun Ghoul XoXo c.

UPDATE: July 20, 2011 @5:11 p.m. The iTunes Festival: London 2011 EP is now available . The EP, which costs $5.99 to download, features six live tracks from My Chemical Romance's iTunes festival performance: 1. "Hang 'Em High" 2. "Mama" 3. "SING" 4. "Teenagers" 5. "Vampires will Never Hurt You" 6. "The Kids From Yesterday" ORIGINAL POST: July 15, 2011 @ 5:25 p.m. My Chemical Romance guitarist Ray Toro has revealed that songs from the band's July 9 performance at London's iTunes Festival will soon be released as a digital EP. The iTunes Festival EP, which Toro finished mixing today, is set to include live versions of "SING," "Give 'Em Hell Kid," "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" and more. For a preview of what it may entail, you can stream MCR's iTunes Festival performance through iTunes for a limited amount of time. XoXo c.

1. My Chemical Romance at iTunes Festival On July 9, My Chemical Romance appeared at London's Roundhouse as a part of the 31-day-spanning iTunes Festival . The performance streamed in full through iTunes and is still available to watch there, but -- luckily for us -- MCR fans are pros at streamripping by now, so you can watch it through the hour-and-a-half video embedded above. I know almost two hours sounds like an intimidating amount of time to dedicate to watching a concert online, but My Chem's iTunes Fest performance is one of the best I have seen from them in years. Vocalist Gerard Way, toward the middle of their set, had proclaimed it a magical night. And it truly was. 2. VH1's Do Something Awards VH1 and DoSomething.Org are honoring artists and other personalities who have donated their time and resources to helping others in the 2011 Do Something Awards Winners will be announced on August 18 at 9 p.m. EST on VH1. MCR fans : "#SINGItForJa

**UPDATE: Friday, July 22 @ 7:50 p.m. EST Following My Chemical Romance 's performance at T in The Park on July 10, frontman Gerard Way revealed to BBC Radio One that the band is already* working on new material for a future album. "We've already started writing new music. So, we really wanna do that," Way said when asked if following the Reading and Leeds, they were going to take a break or record a new album. In addition to planning ahead for a new record, Way discussed touring hopes to follow the Honda Civic Tour . "There's some countries we're talking about going to because we haven't gotten to them yet. We haven't been to South America, Southeast Asia, Mexico, so we're still talking," Way said. **Recently, in an interview for the T In The Park Festival programme, guitarist Frank Iero expressed interest in recording, as well. "It'd be fun to go back into the studio," Iero said when asked what MCR's post-f

1. Taking Back Sunday's cover of Kanye West's "Can't Tell me Nothing" I originally heard Taking Back Sunday 's rendition of Kanye 's "Can't Tell me Nothing" through a Warner Brothers Records Summer Sessions stream . Luckily, it wasn't a one-time-only thing (they had commented that it was something they were doing for kicks and were surprised at themselves for playing it live then), and AltPress did a story on their covering it at a recent acoustic in-store so that I could find it and share it with you all. Enjoy! 2.Turntable.fm I finally started using Turntable.fm today (I'm late, I know)! The website is set up with various rooms through which users can stream music for one another as "DJs" or simply listen as audience members. It's great way to interact with others while sharing music LEGALLY! So, join, because I want to play music with people! 3. "Gucci Gucci" - KREAYSHAWN When @shi

UPDATE: July 30, 2011 @ 9:45 p.m. You can now Vote for your favorite designs! The voting period will last until August 7 and winners will be announced on August 18. Good luck to all who entered! Which design do you hope wins? ____ ORIGINAL POST: July 1, 2011 @ 5:48 p.m. My Chemical Romance alongside MASScanvas , a t-shirt design company that works with artists and charities, have issued a t-shirt design challenge to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to submit a "Good vs. Evil"-themed design by July 22. MCR vocalist Gerard Way advises designers, "I think what makes a submission better than another is, firstly, the originality and the idea most of all [and] being fearless about it-- doing the really hard stuff, doing the dangerous stuff, doing the stuff that may ruin your chances. Don't always take the safe way out." "Submit your art in any style you feel will meet the challenge," Wa