So Here is What I am Listening to...

Hey everyone,

At the request of many people I have built a new playlist and posted it on the right hand side of the page. You can listen to it for free on www.lala.com, I love this site and you should all check it out and start saving a lot of money because almost everything on the web site is free and you can buy an entire album for .80 cents or the actual mp3 files and move them to your itunes or wherever you keep your music.

I hope your summer is as rocking as mine. Next up, working behind the scenes for the Wanderlust Festival in Lake Tahoe July 24-26!

Here are the songs for you, check them out at will:

1. 'French Navy' by Camera Obscura

2. 'Dimestore Diamond' by Gossip

3. 'Eet' by Regina Spektor

4. 'Burial' by Miike Snow

5. 'Paradise Knife Fights' by Vampire Hands

6. 'Folding Chair' by Regina Spektor

7. 'Fools' by The Dodos

8. 'Ramona' by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

9. 'Four Letter Word' by Gossip

10. 'No Fun' by Vampire Hands

11. 'Always the Same' by The Legends

12. 'Quiet Little Voices' by We Were Promised Jetpacks

13. 'Dance Anthem of The 80's' by Regina Spektor

14. 'Cape Canaveral' by Conor Oberst

15. 'Lights & Music' by Cut Copy

16. 'Shout Me Out' by TV on The Radio

17. 'Baby I'm Just A Fool' by Spiritualized

18. 'Dog Days Are Over' by Florence & The Machine

19. 'Transliterator' by Devotchka

20. 'Mexico City' by Jolie Holland

21. 'You And I' by Wilco

22. 'Seven Wonders' by Fleetwood Mac

23. 'Good Times Roll Pt. 2' by RJD2

24. 'Howl' by Florence & The Machine

Concerts I have recently attended or will be attending in July/August:

As always, I highly recommend checking to see when these bands are playing in your area. I wouldn't steer you in the wrong direction:

- Dr. Dog

- Phosphorescent

- Matt & Kim

- Pains of Being Pure at Heart

- Kaki King

- Dirty Projectors

- Magnolia Electric

- The Veils

- Sons of Sons

- Animal Collective

- Friendly Fires

- Kings of Leon

There is Nothing Left to Say...

I am sorry for the few of you that are disappointed that I did not post about the death of Michael Jackson's death. Sorry, I was on vacation and more importantly I just can't - every single angle has been covered and I admit that I am already at the stage where I am more interested in the funny jokes I am hearing about Michael Jackson rather than absorbing every intimate detail of his final days or key elements of his biography.

However, I am happy to buy any of you a $3 signed MJ poster from the guys around Penn Station, a $10 airbrushed shirt of MJ during the Thriller days from the table at the 116th Street 1 stop outside of Columbia University or head up to Harlem and take a video of the people still mimicking MJ's moves outside of the Apollo Theatre for you. Also, given my proximity to Chinatown in NYC I could get any of the above at wholesale, just let me know.

R.I.P Michael Jackson

P.S. - Do one of you know when it is bedtime in Neverland?

P.S.S. - Go find the answer to that joke

Patriotic Songs - A Factual Tribute

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a laid-back, food-filled, fireworks in the background, more sun than rain holiday. I hope Canada Day on July 1st was equally successful!

I am dedicating this brief entry to one of my best friends NS (for confidentiality). I pride myself on having friends that have wonderful and diverse quirks (obsessed with the number 3, afraid of birds, eats hummus everyday, avoids making left hand turns, loves face cakes - cakes with screened faces of the recipients, etc) and my favorite quirk of NS's is her love of patriotic songs. NS and I met at work, she sat right next to me and trained me. Within two days of working next to her I caught her humming You're a Grand Old Flag - at 9:00 am in the middle of August. As our friendship developed far beyond just work colleagues I realized she LOVES any and all patriotic songs year round. Therefore, even though the 4th of July has already come to pass, go ahead and whistle or hum any patriotic song you can remember.

Side note - I got the lyrics off of the Boy Scouts web site and they have almost all patriotic songs lyrics, so random: http://www.scoutsongs.com/categories/patriotic-songs.html

Facts about You're a Grand Old Flag:

- George M. Cohan wrote it in 1906 for his stage musical, George Washington, Jr.

- The song was first performed at Herald Square Theater in New York City

- It became the first song to sell over a million copies of sheet music - I am crediting this to middle school bands and the Boy Scouts

- Cohan originally named the tune You're a Grand Old Rag, a quote from a vet he encountered. However, so many people objected to referring to the U.S. flag as a 'rag' that Cohan changed it

You're a Grand Old Flag

by George M. Cohan

 

You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'neath the Red, White and Blue, Where there's never a boast or brag. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'neath the Red, White and Blue, Where there's never a boast or brag. Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

Phoenix! Phoenix!! Phoenix!!!

6.22.209 - Terminal 5 - New York, NY - Amazing Baby (pass!) and PHOENIX (Yes please!)

The French band Phoenix has really been causing headlines since debuting their newest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. However, this has been a tour de force band for years, trust me (this is their fourth album + one live album). For those of you that really like the movie Lost in Translation, you have already been exposed to a Phoenix song - Too Young is on the movie's soundtrack. That is because lead singer Tommy Mars has been dating the director of the movie Sofia Coppola for several years; they have a daughter together and live in Paris. As if Sofia's life could get any worse, seriously, I feel bad for that Coppola.

I am settling for the ability to have seen an incredible show put on by Tommy and crew this past Friday. I ignored the four avenue walk to Terminal 5 which might as well be in the Hudson River; I bypassed the sold out crowd waiting in long lines for drinks and I battled the Francophones to get as close to the stage as I could; I had to concentrate hard but I blocked out an introduction to the evening by still bald DJ Matt Pinfield from WRXP 101.9 AND the mediocre opener, Brooklyn band Amazing Baby. I will admit that the guitarist for Amazing Baby was pretty damn good and entertaining, partly because he was a true hard rock hair band guy that didn't seem to know he was in an indie band where the lead singer and the drummer wore headbands. 

All the typical New York annoyances slipped away when Phoenix came on right at 9:45pm and pounded out three great songs in a row - Lisztomania, Long Distance Call (love this song), and Consolation Prizes. That got the crowd near Jonas Brothers decibel level and they stayed enthusiastic for Phoenix even through a few weird instrumental songs in the middle of the set, even Tommy Mars left the stage for a song. However, in their defense it was pretty cool electronic pop and it is what Europe loves them for, they are often compared to Jamiroquai,  but the U.S. only knows their lyric-friendly songs so it was a classic case of jumping on the band wagon. By the time Phoenix came back on the stage for the encore you could tell they were fucking loving controlling that big of a crowd in the U.S., so much so that they shed their too cool French air (think Robin Williams' impersonation "Here the baby is smoking. Does that piss you off"?!) and smiled and thanked the crowd and just let us scream for a bit. 

If you are new to the band here are a few little nuggets:

- They are from Versailles, the same place as Air and Daft Punk. In fact, they got their start as the backing band for a few Air songs. 

- Their first two singles came out in 2000 and are still two of my favorite songs of theirs - If I Ever Feel Better and Too Young.

- They were the soundtrack for a Dior Homme fashion show

- They have lyrics that are easy enough to pick up after a few listens, catchy and fun to sing. The lyrics are also smart enough to not be disappointed when you learn the lyrics enough to translate what the songs are actually about. For example, I absolutely love the Kings of Leon and my cousin and I both love their song Soft, but go learn the lyrics and then you can tell me what it is about and see if you keep singing the lyrics out loud.

So go see Phoenix. They are coming to almost every town near you (except for you Seattle, take it up with the band). New Yorkers they are coming back around in September to play Central Park with the too hot too handle for their first album, Passion Pit.

It was a great concert and a great night, even if it ended with me standing under a sign that said Western Beef. Don't ask, New York is weird man.

The first 90 seconds if Phoenix's setlist - the song is Lisztomania

Phoenix Setlist:

Lisztomania Long Distance Call Consolation Prizes Lasso Napolean Says Funky Square Dance Rally Girlfriend Armistice Love Like a Sunset Run Run Run  Too Young Sometimes in the Fall Rome

ENCORE:  If I Ever Feel Better 1901

David Byrne in Virginal White, in Public, with Interpretive Dancers

... this is how I spent my favorite Monday of 2009. On June 8th, David Byrne and Company (dance and music) played a free concert to kick off Celebrate Brooklyn, a summer concert series in Prospect Park in Brooklyn. He had everyone onstage wear white, play white instruments, and not only keep good rhythm but demonstrate rhythm via dancing. 3 dancers ran on and off the stage performing interpretive dance/ballet/acrobatics; at one point they danced while sitting on office chairs and David participated in the choreography. They were David's New Age sprites.

Mr. Byrne is currently on a year-long world tour performing the music he has created with Brian Eno throughout his career along with a few Talking Heads favorites like Once in a Lifetime (my favorite song in 8th grade) and Burning Down the House - phew because I am pretty sure 67% of the people would have said the show was only fair if he had not played that gem. Side note - does anyone really know the words to that song, really?

David greeted the very diverse, very Brooklyn crowd by saying, "I'll be your waiter tonight. My name is Dave and here are the specials." He then launched into Strange Overtones, one of my favorite songs from their recent album and tour title 'Everything that Happens will Happen Today.'

I read up on David Byrne and had no idea the versatility of this artist: Obviously the creative force of the Talking Heads; he directed and starred in the cult movie True Stories; partnered with Twyla Tharp for a Broadway show called The Catherine Wheel; he won an Oscar for best composition in the The Last Emperor and has been featured on multiple soundtracks; he is the founder of Luaka Bop which is a world music record label; he launched an internet radio station called Radio David Byrne; he is also a visual artist with several installations both to his name and anonymously, including designing bike racks in 2008 in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

AND he manages a web site where he frequently posts personal comments http://www.davidbyrne.com/. Permission to feel like a lazy schmuck granted.

Go see David Byrne because he is the coolest and most versatile 57 year old guy on the planet. He can still sing, dance, and entertain, and you will be surprised by how many of the songs you will know even if you don't think you know his Brian Eno collaborative work because it runs consistently through his career. So buckle up for a good summer ride. I am jealous of you Coloradans that have the luxury of seeing him at Red Rocks on June 20th.

My final note is a personal comment that David Byrne posted on his web site in July 2007. I think it sums up the current situation/dying of the traditional music business. My thoughts exactly:

"There was another piece in the Times today about yet another 20 percent drop in CD sales. (Are they running the same news piece every 4 months?) Jeez guys, the writing's on the wall. How long do the record execs think they'll have those offices and nice parking spaces? (Well, more than half of all record A&R and other execs are gone already, so there should be plenty of parking space). They, the big 4 or 5, should give the catalogues back to the artists or their heirs as a gesture before they close the office doors, as they sure don't know how to sell music anymore. (I have Talking Heads stuff on the shelf that I can't get Warner to release.) The "industry" had a nice 50-year ride, but it's time to move on. Luckily, music remains more or less unaffected — there is a lot of great music out there. A new model will emerge that includes rather than sues its own customers, that realizes that music is not a product in the sense of being a thing — it's closer to fashion, in that for music fans it tells them and their friends who they are, what they feel passionately about and to some extent what makes life fun and interesting. It's about a sense of community — a song ties a whole invisible disparate community together. It's not about selling the (often) shattered plastic case CDs used to come in." - David Byrne

Thanks to lala.com for bring the factual goods to the table this time around.

Why I spent $193 Dollars Today...

I will tell all of you, tell you proudly, that today I was 1 of 2 people I know that spent $193 on two prime seats to see the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring supported by a full orchestra at Radio City Music Hall on October 10th - bring your hobbit garb! Howard Shore's original and Academy Award winning score will be conducted by Ludwig Wicki and you know this German is taking the task seriously; he has done this job a few times now which puts me at ease. Side note - Howard Shore was the first band leader of Saturday Night Live - how far this Canadian has come.

Apparently, performing the musical score to a film is very, very difficult and non-stop the entire length of the three hour movie. So the price of my ticket includes getting to see an entire orchestra 'exercise'. I grew up loving the story of the Lord of the Rings series, my dad was a huge fan, and Peter Jackson's films made it even better. I thought the culmination of my love for this series was visiting several of the locations they shot the trilogy in New Zealand but I now say with confidence that this is going to be the coolest AND simultaneously the fucking nerdiest thing I have ever done, spent money on, or admitted to. You can buy tickets secretly and join me on October 10th, a Saturday night, or the Friday before on October 9th at Ticketmaster.

Get even more excited once you have tickets by seeing some of the clips that are on You Tube.

Music placement in TV shows, commercials, and movies has become a very big business in the past few years and has helped to turbo launch the career of many bands/musicians. This nerdy blog is a little shout out to the instrumental music in movies which is pivotal to developing the mood of a scene effectively throughout multiple mediums. I can only imagine how difficult it is to compose music that will help to translate and build emotion, culminate a plot, essentially develop a scene beyond the visual and spoken word. So kudos to you Howard Shore, and to you Ludwig, and let us not forget you Mr. 4th chair tuba player. I will be enjoying your work from the Orchestra Seating area on October 10th; I may or may not be dressed like the chief of the Nazgul. PLEASE do not mess up, I will notice, hold it together the entire time because the music that goes with the sound of Boromir's demise will be pivotal to my and my party's enjoyment.

Good journey until then.

Be the first to listen to the new Wilco album!

This just in from Digital Music News:

*Wilco is now streaming its upcoming album online, a reaction to a recent leak.  Wilco (The Album) is available on-demand on wilcoworld.net, or, as many have already discovered, as a free download across the web.

Click HERE to start your listening bliss!

This album is not due out until June 30, 2009 so you're welcome.

WILCO

Album Tracks:

1. Wilco (the song)  2. Deeper Down 3. One Wing 4. Bull Black Nova  5. You And I featuring Feist  6. You Never Know   7. Country Disappeared   8. Solitaire   9. I'll Fight   10. Sonny Feeling  11. Everlasting Everything 

My quick thoughts:

I think it is a little pretentious to be a band called Wilco, call your album Wilco, and have your first song called Wilco where the chorus is 'Wilco, Wilco, Wilco, Wilco...'

The song 'You and I' is cute and simple and featuring indie chart topper Feist.

If you have been a fan of Wilco for awhile and really liked their sixth album from 2007 Sky Blue Sky then you will really like this album; though a lot of other bloggers think it is more like their fifth album A Ghost is Born. My favorite is still Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; the song Jesus, etc. is one of my go to songs for every occasion.

Info on Wilco for beginners:

They are an indie rock band with definitive and consistent streaks of alternative country; they are from and still based in Chicago. They formed in 1994, most members of the band came from the band Uncle Tupelo. Jeff Tweedy is the lead singer, songwriter, and unstable star of Wilco. He has cleaned up his act in the past three years and can now be counted on to show up and put on a good show; displaying solid frontman skills while maintaining relative sobriety. Wilco (The Album) is their seventh studio album so it is safe to say they have their sound down, they know their fans, and they are beloved by their record company.

The Pomegranates are in season

Let me first apologize Pomegranates. I think you guys are absolutely great; I thought this when I first saw you at The Bell House back in February when you played with your buddies the French Kicks. I see nothing but good things coming your way; which was evident by the scene of label scouts (I can pick those earplug wearing soda sippers out anywhere now but it took some practice!) on May 13th when I last saw you play at the Mercury Lounge (Houston & Essex for the you virtual visitors of NYC or the Upper West Side). So why have I waited 15 days to post my praises? I can only say this - I am an asshole. Sorry, life got in the way - my new nephew says hello though! Here is a short but sweet plug for you guys. Good luck finishing up your tour and thanks again for my 'Poms Not Bombs' shirt.

The Pomegranates is a Cincinnati quartet that  formed in late 2006 and just released their newest album Everybody, Come Outside! on April 14th, 2009; their debut album Everything is Alive came out in May 2008. I first heard them on my beloved online radio station Woxy.com, formerly "97X--Bam!--The Future of Rock & Roll" famously stated by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.

I think they got it right when they called themselves 'art-pop denizens'. The band consists of:

Joey Cook

vocals + guitar + keys + percussion + bass

Isaac Karns

guitar + bass + sampling + vocals + keys

Joshua Kufeldt

electric guitar + vocals

Jacob Meritt

drums + percussion

Jacob stays steady on the drums and has a style that makes me think he used to play in the house band down in Fraggle Rock. The other three are very active throughout their set, switching instruments, changing stage positions, singing different parts on different songs, picking up a loudspeaker here and a tambourine there. 

They kicked off their set with Sleepover, one of my favorites, then rolled into Coriander, the album's first single. By the time they got to playing the title track Everybody, Come Outside!, everybody was enjoying themselves, including the Pomegranates and that is the way to tell when a band is comfortable in it's own skin and has come into a groove of their own creation. The band explains their new release as "A conceptual album of sorts, weaving an interesting tale of a man who leaves home, only to be abducted by a time traveler... Each of the 11 tracks add to the mystique, as well as reveal a bit more about this unusual tale." Translation: creativity, art, and drugs are in abundance in Cincinnati.

Here is a taste of their sound. Check them out further on MySpace and look for them in the future, you will find them.

I want Kate Havnevik to play the soundtrack for all my jubilant moments

Two things happened this past Monday night (5/11/2009)

1. I saw Kate Havnevik play for the second time. She played at The Living Room this time, the approachable Lower East Side music haven where Norah Jones got her start.

2. Just after Kate finished her set I became an aunt for the first time to a healthy baby boy that was born in Boulder.

Now I could elaborate on what a pile of happy mush I was and how I embarrassed myself on the street crying on the phone with my mom or how the bouncer congratulated me on the way out but I will save you from that.

I want to focus on how Kate presented the best kind of music to be playing why a big life moment happened. She has that beautiful, ethereal voice and she sings with such earnest, really connecting with the crowd, that she creates a whole world that you are privileged to go visit. I admit several of her songs are not about the jubilant moments in life but the way she puts together a song - everything from the lyrics, her vocal range, the combination of electronica and live band - Kate makes the point that those heart crushing moments are also beautiful. I think that is the gift that Scandinavians have mastered well; Kate hails from Norway but is half-POM (property of the UK monarchy).

Most music interviews describe her sound as a combination of Kate Bush, Bjork, and Joni Mitchell. They also inform us that music supervisors of TV shows love her; the O.C., West Wing, and especially Grey's Anatomy. The mega hit show (where Katherine Heigl hysterically resuscitated a deer to kick-off the second season) has featured 6 of her songs, put her on the soundtrack, and asked her to write a song specifically for the second season finale. 

What I will tell you is that she is enchanting in between songs. She engages with the audience, tells little jokes and stories that gives you the impression she is completely comfortable talking to anyone anywhere. She knows how to select musicians that compliment her sound wonderfully but what is even more impressive is her use of technology to manipulate her sound, loop her voice, and bring to the table a song that is a full meal though it is really just a bunch of little Kates singing at once.

Kate's next gig is at The Living Room again on May 27th so that gives all you folks in the area plenty of time to check her out on MySpace, buy her CD 'Melankton' and recruit friends that also like being ahead of the musical curve.

Kate's next album is due out in the Fall but her new single 'Halo' just came out on May 2nd!

Photos 1 & 2 by Vicki Dawe

I just want to make it clear how great looking Kate Havnevik is. She has the rare ability to look great while singing her face off and having her face convey real personailty

WANDERLUST FESTIVAL: Be the first to know about it and the first to attend:

I am happy to announce the launch of a new festival this summer! The web site just went up, tickets go on sale May 12th, it's taking place at the very cool Squaw Valley USA in Lake Tahoe, CA July 24th-July 26th so buckle up.

For those of you hard core music fans that aren't lazy or tubby and can rally for multiple days of shenanigans, this festival is for you! You schedule in yoga classes just like you schedule which band to see, you walk around the concert area at 8,200 feet, skip the gondola and walk back down to the village if you dare and then party all night, getting weird with the likes of Girl Talk and the burlesque troupe Mutaytor.

So check out their flow and read more about it below using their words not mine:

http://www.wanderlustfestival.com

Music by Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Gillian Welch, Broken Social Scene, Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Girl Talk and many others. Yoga taught by John Friend, Shiva Rea, Duncan Wong, Sianna Sherman, Elena Brower, Schuyler Grant, Janet Stone, Rusty Wells and more.

The Press Release for Wanderlust:

Wanderlust Festival Lands in Lake Tahoe

Yoga, Music, and Spectacular Views Set This Festival Apart From the Rest

This summer a new happening will redefine the destination festival experience. A boutique, three-day experience, Wanderlust brings together the world’s leading yoga teachers and top-tier rock and roll performers, all in a setting of breathtaking natural beauty. This feast for both the body and the senses takes place July 24-26 at Squaw Valley USA, Lake Tahoe, California.

  Festival-goers can spend their mornings down in the Village at Squaw Valley getting centered in one of many classes led by some of the most notable names in yoga today, including Shiva Rea and John Friend. Wanderlust will include other notable instructors like Annie Carpenter, Christy Nones, Duncan Wong, Elena Brower, Janet Stone, Jason & Jenny (acroyogis), Katchie Ananda, Kenny Graham, Les Leventhal, Rusty Wells, Schuyler Grant, Sianna Sherman, and many others from San Francisco’s Yoga Tree studios.

  Afternoons and evenings are dedicated to musical discovery. Ride the cable car up the mountain and soak in fresh, diverse performances on a stage perched atop the Sierra Nevadas.  It’s a setting like no other, with a line-up to match. Michael Franti & Spearhead, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Jenny Lewis, Broken Social Scene, Gillian Welch, and Girl Talk lead the collection of acts.  Other artists performing at 8,000 feet include Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Rogue Wave, Amanda Palmer, Kaki King, Mates of State, The Honey Brothers, The Mutaytor, The London Souls, Jai Uttal, and more. 

Tickets for the three-day experience go on-sale Tuesday, May 12th at 10am CDT at www.wanderlustfestival.com.  A variety of options are available with prices starting at $124.50 for a weekend music pass and $169.50 for a music and yoga weekend pass. Prices are inclusive of all service fees and credit card charges.  VIP packages are also available and include exclusive access to the High Camp facility, which is a first class spa at 8,200 feet that boasts a swimming pool, local, organic fine dining, a hot tub, tennis courts, yoga on the deck, and breathtaking views of the Sierras below.   The Village at Squaw will also play host to a variety of local food vendors and earth-friendly products accompanied by acoustic performances during the afternoon on Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26.  Activities at the Village at Squaw are open to the public and promise plenty of fun for the whole family.   Wanderlust is produced by Velour Music Group, in conjunction with C3 Presents (Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival) and Starr Hill Presents (Bonnaroo, Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival).

Why Battle of the Bands are so great

Every aspiring musician or band struggles with finding a fanbase beyond their own family and friends. The onslaught of social media in the past few years has certainly unearthed this roadblock - everything from the all-powerful MySpace to iLike to YouTube, Facebook, personal web sites, and let us not forget the world of blogs. That said, I warn you, don't discount the power of competitions and Battle of the Bands. Might I remind you of a certain cult classic "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" where the Wyld Stallyns win the fourth annual San Dimas Battle of the Bands and quickly become the most successful band on the planet?!

How funny is this photo of the two of them? Le Abstract!

I encourage all you musicians to consistently scan magazines, posters at bars and venues, everywhere really to find these types of competitions. Playing at and especially winning these competitions will give you exposure to new fans, people in the industry, and often the chance to open up for an established band.

For these reasons I am making a shout out to band Icarus Rising. They earned a final four slot in On Tap magazine's Battle of the Bands. The winner opens up for Blues Traveler on June 5th led by the now skinny John Popper.

For those of you in D.C. or Northern Virginia - GO SEE ICARUS RISING PLAY!

When: Saturday, May 9th

First band starts @ 9pm, each of the four bands play for 30 minutes

Where: The Continental

1911 N. Ft. Myer Drive

Arlington, VA

703.465.7675

More info: www.ontaponline.com/events

For those of you out of the area, check this band out, buy their CD, become a fan:

http://www.myspace.com/icarusrisingdc 

http://www.icarusrisingdc.com 

The Love Language Indeed

  My pics: Uh Huh! Go Hipster Go!, the rafters of the Bell House, The Love Language in action, the setlist they gave me

Sorry for the delay in writing to everyone, birthday benders do that to a person. I am willing to share one element of my birthday bash - getting to see The Love Language play at the Bell House in Park Slope, Brooklyn on April 24th, 2009! 

I have not been more jazzed to see a band in awhile and they delivered. The Love Language is seven people making some great noise. Think lo-fi everywhere, fuzzy remnants of the sound of the sixties, by their own admittance a little cabaret, an homage to the Walkmen along with every kind of noisemaker and an occasional happy seizure with a tambourine - we know how we at Broken Tambourine love a good tambourine jam session!!

The band hails from Raleigh/Wilmington/Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is fronted by wild man Stuart McLamb along with six other cohorts including two female keyboardists and a very tall, emphatic oft singer that bangs on everything from a guitar to a triangle to sleigh bells.

Good for them, sad for me since I couldn't break the news to everybody: SPIN magazine featured them in their April 2009 issue under the title 'Hot New Band'.

So check them out on www.lala.com or MySpace and keep me in mind when you hear 'Lalita' because that is the only song I played walking around Manhattan for a solid week.

Check out my home video of 'Manteo' below. I will get a better camera/recorder eventually but will never be that person recording the whole show so don't hold your breath, go see the band or at least buy some of their songs!

Just check this out

This posting is not directly related to music per se but in my defense I think a lot of people think the hipster look/revolution/genre is considered by many to be the uniform of indie fans. Not true. Indie is short for independent music meaning do-it-yourself, free from the major record label machine; which we should all support more. Indie music has become exponentially popular in the past five years but remains to be very diverse, I promise.

Anyway, I digress. The whole point is I couldn't help telling everyone about this web site I just found that you can't help but enjoy..............................prepare to giggle...........................................

http://lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com

The pictures are funny, the captions are funny, and the funniest thing is I have seen half these people around town, more or less. I encourage all of you to become rogue photographers and cunning linguists and add to the site. I bet you can't pick which one I posted.

Bob Dylan is a Marketing Machine

A few weeks ago I announced that Bob Dylan had released his first single 'Here Lies Nothin'' to several music web sites to create buzz about his upcoming 33rd album, Together Through Life. I found the track on www.rcrdlbl.com. It worked and people were buzzing.

Bob has continued to ride the creative marketing train by thumbing his nose at itunes and giving Amazon his first video for the album to distribute for free. Yes, Bob Dylan makes music videos, well kind of, the video is a montage of cool black and white photos set to the song.

Check out the video on Amazon for free, at least for the next few days:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/mAL9TK87AMS9T 

The Amazon exclusive was first reported by TechCrunch.

Sonya my Kitchell

On Monday, April 20, my oft partner in crime and I took our first trip to Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side to take part in an intimate set with young songstress Sonya Kitchell along with some string-prone friends and one drummer.  Fighting the rain was worth it because this little venue is intimate, fully bricked and fully stocked (see above right).

Sonya's last album came out in September of 2008, This Storm, when she was 19. Also in 2008, she toured with Herbie Hancock which is how some of you may know her. She has also been a Starbucks featured artist, which is how you black eye/red eye/sit at your desk and twitch people may know her. 

So she is 20 but you would not come close to guessing that age when you hear the raw talent that is her voice and the personal and political lyrics she sings. She makes me feel void of talent and ambition, so I drank another glass of wine while she sang, thanks Red Diamond Cabernet.

Sonya will be playing at Rockwood for the next three Tuesdays so go check her out at this really intimate space and you will get to hear some of her new songs played in public for the first time. She is looking to head into the studio sometime this summer.

Side note: I still can't get over how rude it is to launch a flash in a small room where an artist is performing so I apologize for some of my blurry photos. Sonya didn't mind after the show and posed with Garth, her double bass player that also helps her with music arrangement.

What happens when you go to a date concert without a date

If you did such a thing, you would be me at the recent Great Lake Swimmers concert at the Bowery Ballroom. I am not holding it against any of you huggers and swayers or those trying to get past the awkwardness of the first date, I am just saying I was in a feisty mood that Friday night, too feisty for every song to be about love. Actually, I take that back, I am not in agreement of the first date concert. Talk about a flood of things to question and worry about: Do I get a beer and be cool, hard liquor to ease the mood or do I make the mistake of the crap wine that has been opened for days? How close do you get to the stage? If you get too close then it will be too loud to say much of anything to them but maybe that is a good thing if you already think they are a dud, do you stand back by the bar but risk getting glared at and shhhhushed by the lush concert goers? I mean shit, do you sway, just nod your head, keep the beat by slapping your thigh? What if he has bad concert etiquette like pretending to know and sing the lyrics to all the songs or have no reaction whatsoever? Do you simply cringe and try to see pass it off or write him off immediately and already send him to the fate of the butt out buddy hug at the end of the night?

No thank you, no concerts on the first date. Get a few meetings in there before you launch into a group experience with that person. Sushi, Ethiopian, BBQ, any other potentially dangerous idea is better than the first date concert.

Sorry Great Lake Swimmers. You were pretty good and I really liked 'Your Rocky Spine' and the cowboy shirt of you singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Thanks for bringing some good banjo and harmonica down from Canada; sorry I was so preoccupied judging the audience. One thing I take umbrage to is your opening act - that female singer was so awful and so weird, and NOT in a good/ironic way. Seriously, it was like getting tricked into showing up early to see a solid opening act and instead you see a girl on stage whirling cats around while wearing sequined leggings and a head wrap. It still gives me the chills, the kind you get right before you start throwing up.

"Try to look weird...I think we got it!"