Right up there near the top of my list of coolest jobs ever, along with Sesame Street character (don’t ask) and professional skydiver is Phil Blaine’s title: Art Curator for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Careening around festival grounds in his golf cart a few days before the gates open to the public, surrounded by gigantic stages and sculptures, he looks something like the mayor of Alice’s Wonderland. Would that make him The Caterpillar? The Queen of Hearts? But I digress…
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Music Going Postelle
The Postelles are living the dream. Four friends from Columbia Prep high school get together, have a genuine rock star produce their album, tour the world and pull down praise from five year olds and grannies alike.
They are currently in the studio finishing up their first full length. Before they could even begin digging into brunch, the Postelles were fielding multiple interviews. I sat down with Billy Cadden and John Speyer to take some uncomfortable photos and hear about their SXSW – which was only about 45 minutes old. Here’s what I learned.
Music Make Mine on Rye Rye
Ryeisha “Rye Rye” Berrain can whip a crowd into a frenzy. This small but mighty Hip-Hop star hails from Baltimore Maryland and is the first artist to sign to M.I.A‘s record label N.E.E.T.
Rye Rye surprises as she comes at you hard from the drop. The beats are big and the energy so high its infectious. Her show Tuesday night in Hollywood was no exception. Her rhymes not only flow, but they stick. The radio player in my mind is still alternating between “Shake it, to the ground” and “Bang”. Check out this video with Rye Rye and DJ Blaqstarr and you’ll see what I mean. If you aren’t skakin’ your booty at the end you better check your pulse.
Words by Barbie Brady, photos by Sidney McMullen
Film Trailers From Hell
No movie-going experience is quite the same without trailers. Movie trailers preceding the feature presentation is a combination as inseparable as peanut butter & jelly or Raisinets & popcorn. And whenever I’ve arrived late to a film without seeing the trailers, well, there always seems to be something lacking from the experience… .like sex without the foreplay. But I digress; trailers are an art form unto themselves – they spur debate among film freaks, they sometimes ruin the movies themselves and they pump us full of hype for the next blockbuster.
Music Cemeteries, Secrets and White Lies
White Lies, an engaging alternative rock band out of England, played a super secret gig Tuesday night at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. (That’s not a mistake, you read it right). They played at a mausoleum generally reserved for funeral services in one of the most notorious cemeteries in the country. How many bands can say they play amongst the likes of Jayne Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino and Cecil B. DeMille?
Event Gallery I Shot Jesse James
Every year Jesse James has a birthday, just like you and me. Except he gets to be married to Sandra Bullock and party like a rock star with the likes of the good Reverend Horton Heat and some of the sickest toys you can create. Lucky Bastard. Check out the birthday event below with about 1,000 Rockabilly Cats and Kittens through the door and classic Rat Rods out the ying-yang!
Photos by Dustin Downing
Featured Music N.A.S.A. In Another Dimension
George Clinton once told me that he loved the Wu-Tang Clan (verbatim, ’04), though he might not have ever known he’d work with them, until the guys from N.A.S.A. put Dr. Funkenstein, RZA, Meth and O.D.B. (r.i.p.) on the same album. Okay, so they might not have been featured on the same tracks, but they both added to the musical ambrosia that is N.A.S.A. So at least I got to share a small tidbit of info about the N.A.S.A. album, that Squeak E Clean honestly had never heard, and seemed to make him happy (even though he said it took a while to even get George’s voice to warm for his track). Luckily, it was well worth it, “There’s a Party” featuring George Clinton is an epic cut of some old school funk, not of the Baile variety, but with the same communal spirit that underlies N.A.S.A.’s whole album. It is this musical collectivity that is the hallmark of the N.A.S.A. sound – a sound that plays more to their Baile Funk roots for live shows and mashing and weaving from all sorts of different genres for the album, providing a cool dynamic and furthering their musical intrigue.
Film American Harmony
You know you are into music hardcore if you understand what the following stands for: SPEBSQSA. Any guesses? For me, it’s as easy as “Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America.” There’s a personal reason that I know all too much about the world of Barbershop singing, my father was in a Barbershop quartet. And he chased after a first place medal for years as the lead in quartets such as the Vagabonds and Center Stage. In fact, he would often take me on road trips where I would see him sing in front of audiences of 10,000 or more. Dad was a rock star among this adoring and appreciative audience of Barbershop lovers and I couldn’t be prouder.
Bars/Clubs Featured Antone’s
I’m not for positive if your familiar with it, but on this 3rd rock from the Sun exists a form of musical expression simply termed, the Blues. It’s a genre based on 8,9,12, and sometimes 16-bar blues chord progressions made up of the blue notes. These are played or sung at slightly lower pitch and often incorporate a call-and-response lyrical form to convey a sense of sadness or melancholy.
Now, I for sure haven’t the slightest idea of what any of that shit I just wikigiarized means, but I know I loves me some blues music. And in Austin, Antone’s is the place to be when you’re a “Booze Crazy Man” and you wanna “Dance With Your Black Drawers Off” with a “Big Legged Sally”.
Contributors Jipsy in the Shop
Notorious photographer Richard Avedon once said, “If a day goes by without my doing something related to photography, it’s as though I’ve neglected something essential to my existence, as though I had forgotten to wake up.” ChinaShop contributor Jipsy feels pretty much exactly the same way. You can check out her incredible images at www.jipsy.com and www.nefariousgirl.com.












