The first time I saw Jane’s Addiction was in 1989 in Pittsburgh. They opened for the Ramones and got boo’ed off stage. Needless to say, they quickly became one of the most influential bands of the following decade. Shows what you know 19 year old self.
Jane’s Addiction re-assembled to play the Playboy party in Austin and ChinaShop Cameras were there to catch the action.
Words by Barbie Brady. Photos by Mary Sledd.
The Maschinenmensch was created in 1927 by Walter Schultze-Mittendorff for Frit Lang’s Metropolis, a film which examines the social crisis between workers and owners in capitalism obsessed futuristic urban dystopia. The Afropunkfunkmensch was created circa 1985 by The GODS for Janelle Monae’s upcoming Metropolis, alternately a debut album which desires, “…to free people through underground music, to free themselves creatively and inspirationally”.
LMFAO played a pool party and ChinaShop was there to capture the moment. It might not be Miami bitches…but it’ll do son. It’ll do!
Red Foo and Sky Blu from LMFAO are laughing all the way to the bank. Their hit song I’m in Miami Bitch has boosted them to party rock stardom! They dropped into the ChinaShop compound and talked with resident Chris Gore about living life out loud.
Video after the jump.
Interview by Chris Gore, shot by Zoetica Ebb, photo gallery by Dustin Downing
If there was one thing that was evident this year, it was how closely “tribes” stuck together and how little cross pollination.
There were the pool parties but now that Beatport charges for their event, conference week lost its one great free networking event. Its DNS were top notch and mercifully less commercial than those at the Shelborne, Surfcomber and Nikki’s, where spring break was more the order of the day. Maybe that’s why my favorite pool party of all was the South Seas South Philly pool party. The pool itself had the charm of an urban watering hole, and if the bodies were less perfect than those at the swanky parties, the dancing, the music and the vibe had a gritty rawness the others couldn’t buy.
Miami’s like a ghost town, populated by a handful of zombified veterans, delaying re-entry as long as possible. Tales of old conferences have been told; reasons to return discussed. And good-byes, some with an air of possible finality, were exchanged.
But so were reasons to return, like the boat party, Sunday School and John Digweed’s throw-down at the Vagabond. At least in Digweed’s case, that has as much to do with the club as it does the DJ.
Miami has never been known for its service, political consciousness or sensitivity. But tourism is big business here and Winter Music Conference is one of its big cash cows. So you wouldn’t be out of line to expect the city to go out of its way to do everything it can to at least feign an interest in consumer satisfaction.
Wednesday 3:05
The Shelborne
There’s something about Miami during the Winter Music Conference. Time simply fractures. So now, short of a trip to publix, some random conversations about whether or not to see Danny Howells in bed (at BED) tonight and why the music sounds so good from the 15th floor of the Shelborne and why the people look so Mtv. But the sun is out, the breeze is blowing, and America’s biggest party seems to be on it’s way.
Neil Feineman has been writing about music and pop culture for the past three decades, as a journalist for publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Face and seminal magazines such as Beach Culture and Raygun, for which he was the founding editor. He has worked with a variety of musicians over the year, including John Hiatt, John Wesley Harding, the Psychedelic Furs and Chris Isaak. After running Napster’s music program for a year, he has spent much of the past three years on the road, writing about his travels with artists such as Sasha and John Digweed and Sigur Ros. The author of more than a dozen books, his work has not just won numerous awards but reflects a life lived with passion and commitment to the ideal of positive change.
The Sasha and John Digweed boat party may have upheld an annual tradition but tweaked another. In the past, the party was on a Friday, the night after they played at the Mansion. This year, you had about two hours to get from the boat to the South Beach super club, and the process was jarring.