Seen at True Burger in Oakland, CA
They have good burgers too.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Flow charts for "Hey Jude" & "Total Eclipse of the Heart" lyrics
Thanks to jeannr.tumblr.com for creating this and Erin over at Depictionary for posting these: We love them.
"Hey Jude"
"Total Eclipse of the Heart"
The Count Basie Orchestra at Anthology in San Diego, a fun night out with my teenage cousin
"It's like touring with your grandpa, or great-grandpa! But they swing just as hard" says singer Carmen BradfordSaturday night I was down in San Diego for work and wanted to take my 16-year-old cousin out for a nice evening. Going to the movies didn’t seem special and she’s not the kind of kid I would take to an all-ages punk show. And lets face it, I didn’t want to go to a punk show either. I saw that Anthology is all-ages and that the Count Basie Orchestra was rocking the house for two nights. This legendary Kansas City big band is swinging towards San Francisco and will be performing on May 30th at Davies Hall with Kurt Elling as part of the SFJAZZ spring season.
Celebrating their 75th anniversary, the Basie Band has never sounded better. It’s obvious from the smiles, the goofiness, mutual encouragement and choreography (the trumpet section has it down) that these guys thoroughly enjoy themselves on stage. And with songs titles like “Fun Time,” “Way Out Basie,” Right On Right On” and “Cute” a good time is guaranteed.
Some members of the Basie Band are new, yet the majority of the sound still swings from musicians handpicked by Count Basie himself. I would guess that at least 75 percent of the band is over 50 years old. Bill Hughes is the current director and has been in the band since 1953. That’s pretty incredible if you ask me. Basie hired singer Carmen Bradford in 1982 when she was 22.
TO READ THE REST OF MY ARTICLE CLICK HERE
The Count Basie Band makes an appearance in Mel Brooks' 1974 film Blazing Saddles
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Interview with My First Earthquake and a warm-up Noise Pop show at Cafe du Nord on Wednesday
My First Earthquake jumps for joy for unicornsI present to you one of my absolute favorite bands of San Francisco: My First Earthquake. I especially wanted to give them props because they donated all of the profits from their downloaded album in the month of January to the Haitian earthquake relief efforts. They will continue taking donations until this Friday February 5th. On Wednesday February 3rd My First Earthquake will be playing a FREE gig (if you RSVP) at Cafe de Nord as an official Noise Pop warm-up party and the 5th Anniversary of The Owl Magazine!
I sent over some random and silly questions just to see what Rebecca, Chad, Andre, and Dave would say, they did not disappoint.
Jamie: So what's your problem with hipsters anyway?My First Earthquake: We haven't got a problem with them. They got a problem with us? What? Do they wanna fight us? We can take them.
J: How do you feel about the genre term I just coined called "dork rock'? Maybe "geek rock" is better?
MFE: I assume that you're referring to "dork rock" as being the type of music that hipsters listen to and not the music of My First Earthquake. Quite fitting.
J: If you could only wear one item of clothing on stage, what would it be?
Andre: Chain mail. No, wait... Mithril chain mail!!
Rebecca: The shiniest sequins.
Chad: My hyena eating a squid shirt.
David: Snakeskin boots.
TO READ THE REST OF MY INTERVIEW WITH MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE CLICK HERE
Chasing the Moon and Seaweed Sway: featuring some of the best music of the Bay Area
The ladies of HoneycombMy Friday night at Viracocha was full of lush harmonies, unique instrumentation and quirky folks. Named after an Incan God, Viracocha is a new basement performance space located next door to ATA (Artists’ Television Access) in the Mission. The showcase was co-presented by the video podcast Chasing the Moon and the blog SeaweedSway. Michael Musika and Honeycomb performed live sets and the most recent Chasing the Moon podcast was shown featuring Kacey Johansing. Kacey is a busy lady; she performed in both bands as well!
Local recording engineer Scott McDowell, videographer Elijah Pahati and producer Brian Berberich have been at the helm of Chasing the Moon since its start just over a year ago. The podcast has featured intimate performances from folks like Indianna Hale, Steve Taylor, John Vanderslice, Oona and Slow Motion Cowboys. The SeaweedSway is a local blog by Jessie Woletz, who also has a monthly showcase at the Makeout Room.
For more info: The SeaweedSway Chasing the Moon
TO READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE CLICK HERE
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
The Music Never Left You: a repost from Kirk Hamilton's Murfins and Burglars
Reposted from SF musician and friend Kirk Hamilton's blog Murfins and Burglars. I know you're out there fellow musical friends and former classmates.
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Things kind of suck right now, don’t they? It has become difficult, especially over these past few weeks, to shake the feeling that we are lying in the basin of some vast, vague ditch of malaise, frustration and crappiness – nationally, globally, but also individually. Everyone seems depressed, and not just because it’s January.
We’ll see if Mr. Obama can get up there tonight for his first State of the Union and make us feel better about things. I imagine that at the very least he’ll make those of us who support him feel a bit better about him, which should in turn make us feel a bit better about “things.” I doubt, however, that it’ll be the spiritual salve that I, at least, am craving.
But I think I know something that could be. I was browsing the Facebook statuses of my friends and fellow musicians when I saw a post by a San Francisco saxophonist I know, Bari Sax-man extraordinaire Doug Rowan, who shared the following:
Right after seeing that (but unrelated to it), a singer friend of mine shared on my wall that she’d picked up her alto sax again after several years of not playing, and was loving it. And I realized: that’s it! We should go for it, we should turn that thought into some sort of unofficial national initiative.
People of the world!
Ex-band geeks, garage rockers! Dorm room strummers and lapsed fifth-grade recorder virtuosos!
Hear me, and heed the call! It is time to pick up your instruments once more!
Seriously, I am talking to YOU. Perhaps you played an instrument in your high school band, or banged on the bass in a garage punk group in college? Maybe you sang in the madrigals or were a marching band nerd? Did you rent-to-own a euphonium, or spend days learning scales on the xylophone? Is there an accordion moldering in a closet somewhere in your house?
If so, go dig that accordion up, dust of those drum cases, re-string that bass, have your folks ship out your old Squire. Find your old instrument and see if it still works, because I’ll bet it does. And more to the point, I’ll bet that you can still work it. Just place your hands on it and see what they remember. You just might surprise yourself.
And sure, you might be utter rubbish, you might give your cat a nervous breakdown. Playing again may remind you why the lip pain, sore fingers, and frustrating metronome bleeps made you stop in the first place. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize how much you loved music, how much you miss it, and you might start to play again. Find a teacher. Learn some new songs you like. Join a band.
I know this won’t solve anything tangible. It won’t get back any bailout money, or fix the California state budget, or re-hire all the amazing teachers who are going to be let go this year, to say nothing of what it won’t do for the suffering multitudes of the world.
But what it will do is something less quantifiable, perhaps smaller but no less grand – it might allow you to rediscover a part of yourself that you’d forgotten was even there.
You don’t have to sound “good.”
You don’t have to sound like anything at all.
Just give it a try. See what happens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things kind of suck right now, don’t they? It has become difficult, especially over these past few weeks, to shake the feeling that we are lying in the basin of some vast, vague ditch of malaise, frustration and crappiness – nationally, globally, but also individually. Everyone seems depressed, and not just because it’s January.
We’ll see if Mr. Obama can get up there tonight for his first State of the Union and make us feel better about things. I imagine that at the very least he’ll make those of us who support him feel a bit better about him, which should in turn make us feel a bit better about “things.” I doubt, however, that it’ll be the spiritual salve that I, at least, am craving.
But I think I know something that could be. I was browsing the Facebook statuses of my friends and fellow musicians when I saw a post by a San Francisco saxophonist I know, Bari Sax-man extraordinaire Doug Rowan, who shared the following:
Everyone that ever played a musical instrument and quit playing for some reason or another should pick it back up again and see what happens.To which I say: YES. Doug, I love this. “Pick it back up again and see what happens.” Yes. Yes.
Right after seeing that (but unrelated to it), a singer friend of mine shared on my wall that she’d picked up her alto sax again after several years of not playing, and was loving it. And I realized: that’s it! We should go for it, we should turn that thought into some sort of unofficial national initiative.
People of the world!
Ex-band geeks, garage rockers! Dorm room strummers and lapsed fifth-grade recorder virtuosos!
Hear me, and heed the call! It is time to pick up your instruments once more!
Seriously, I am talking to YOU. Perhaps you played an instrument in your high school band, or banged on the bass in a garage punk group in college? Maybe you sang in the madrigals or were a marching band nerd? Did you rent-to-own a euphonium, or spend days learning scales on the xylophone? Is there an accordion moldering in a closet somewhere in your house?
If so, go dig that accordion up, dust of those drum cases, re-string that bass, have your folks ship out your old Squire. Find your old instrument and see if it still works, because I’ll bet it does. And more to the point, I’ll bet that you can still work it. Just place your hands on it and see what they remember. You just might surprise yourself.
And sure, you might be utter rubbish, you might give your cat a nervous breakdown. Playing again may remind you why the lip pain, sore fingers, and frustrating metronome bleeps made you stop in the first place. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll realize how much you loved music, how much you miss it, and you might start to play again. Find a teacher. Learn some new songs you like. Join a band.
I know this won’t solve anything tangible. It won’t get back any bailout money, or fix the California state budget, or re-hire all the amazing teachers who are going to be let go this year, to say nothing of what it won’t do for the suffering multitudes of the world.
But what it will do is something less quantifiable, perhaps smaller but no less grand – it might allow you to rediscover a part of yourself that you’d forgotten was even there.
You don’t have to sound “good.”
You don’t have to sound like anything at all.
Just give it a try. See what happens.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Sleeveface: an awesome blog
I've noticed that Sleeveface.com has been getting more creative lately. I wanted to share some of my favorites with you.
Sleeveface: one or more persons obscuring or augmenting any part of their body or bodies with record sleeve(s) causing an illusion
Follow Sleeveface on twitter.
PBS's new music program "Sound Tracks" explores relevant music around the world
Some of the world’s best music has been created out of great passion and great struggle. I was listening to Forum on KQED/NPR this morning driving my cat home from the vet and heard about an exciting new show that will air next Monday night at 10pm called "Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders." I didn't get to hear the whole report (a cat in a carrier is not a happy cat), but I am very excited about this show.
Producer Marco Werman and international correspondents Alexis Bloom, Arun Rath and Mirissa Neff have created a show that will take viewers on journeys of discovery from the bayous of Louisiana to the backstreets of Havana, from the nightclubs of Paris to desert music festivals in Mali. They'll interview everyone from Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famers to Bollywood singers, violin virtuosos to bluegrass musicians. It's not just good music they are looking for, but good stories behind the music.
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