Happy Halloween ghosts and goulies! Everyone here at ChinaShop hopes you a safe and happy weekend full of tooth decaying, gut rotting good times! Let’s take a look back at the posts from the past that had a bit of that halloween flavor. ChinaShop treats for all!
It’s time again for the National B-Boy competition that dusts all the others. Red Bull BC One pits the world’s top 16 B-Boys in 1 on 1 battles in a fight to be the best of the best. In preparation for this historic battle, going off this year on Nov 18th in New York City, Red Bull created a series of videos, re-imagining the elements of Hip-Hop.
Tickets to Red Bull BC One are sold out, but there is still a chance for you and a friend to get a VIP pass to the show. Go to Facebook.com/redbull on Nov 5 to participate in the Red Bull Stash virtual treasure hunt. Be the first to solve the clue and Red Bull will fly you out to Red Bull BC One VIP status! The clue will be released to the public at 9am PT on November 5, so don’t lag! Get on it and see you at the show.
BC One Champion, Ronnie Abaldonado, speaks about the circle and what it means both symbolically and in a battle.
The long awaited debut from super-group Them Crooked Vultures will be released in the US Nov 17th. Finally they have posted a full length song for our listening pleasure. I can’t think of a better way to start a Thursday than with a fresh song to get stuck in my head. As the incomparable Josh Homme sings, “Sometimes you break the finger on the upper hand”! I like the cut of your jib sir! Have a listen….
Ruff Shod | The schizophrenic musical sensibilities that lurk underneath State Radio‘s radio-friendly image will please many and perhaps drive away many others; one need only listen to their new LP Let It Go to get a sense of the band’s diverse musical territory. State of Georgia, for instance, immediately calls to mind the flat, dry endless terrain of certain states below the Mason-Dixon line. And tracks like Knights of Bostonia– nothing short of a full-fledged punk rock fist-pumping outburst– might conjure up imagery of Rancid or The Lets Go Out Tonights, stuff of the steel-toed boot days of yore.
Forté, presented by Seam Collective, was a smash hit. It had all the elements that make up an excellent fashion show: a red carpet, late starts, pounding music, striking clothing, goodie bags, swarming style photographers & an open bar. There was even a fellow wearing a harness full of harmonicas.
The show was a celebration of female fashion designers, featuring the ready-to-wear collections of four young up-&-coming New Yorkers. The show was headlined by Kenley Collins (of Project Runway fame), with Elizabeth Roynish, Sheila Frank & Marissa Erskine also sending fabulous spring frocks down the catwalk. In addition to showcasing talent, Forté was a charitable event for Gilda’s Club, a non-profit organization for people living with cancer. The proceeds of a silent auction & half the ticket sales were donated to the organization.
If you haven’t been eagerly anticipating the release of Kid Sister’s debut album, Ultraviolet, you may want to come out from under that rock, because that’s exactly what the album does—it rocks. Melisa Young (AKA Kid Sister), girlfriend to famed DJ A-Trak, friend of Kanye West (who raps on the song “Pro Nails”) and sister of J2K of electronic act Flosstradamus, is the well-connected face and voice behind the record. But now, two years after work on Ultraviolet—and major hype about Kid Sister as a female MC—began, Young emerges a little older, a little wiser and ready for center stage. Watching her perform live at LA’s Echoplex on Saturday night, it’s clear that her success isn’t all connections; she brings plenty of talent and charisma to the table as well.
The Red Bull Music Academy site has this very cool Radio station pop out player. You can listen to something like 1737 shows, all free! That is a lot of good stuff in one place. While perusing the lineup I noticed that the newest edition was with a band that ChinaShop has some love for, Thunderheist. Their smooth beats and fluid raps bring together two genres that generally mix like rain on some new suede shoes. However, the storm is coming! Listen to Thunderheist play Main Stage….Live at Melt! 2009.
Miles Tackett has an unmistakable affinity for dirty and dusty sonics. As the backbone of funk collective Breakestra, this multi-instrumentalist/producer/vocalist has spent the past decade reinterpreting ‘60s and ‘70s funk and soul from a hip-hopper’s perspective. While he once produced sample-based programmed beats (as This Kid Named Miles), Tackett has since exclusively taken the organic, analog route with Breakestra. As he puts it, the music of his band is part of the, “new, old funk movement.”
What began as a live entity at renowned venues like Root Down soon grew into studio sessions. And since creating the first Breakestra project The Live Mix, Part 1 up until their brand new LP, Dusk Till Dawn, he has opted to ignore the lure of most digital technology, opting to record directly to tape. “Analog tape brings a character and flavor to it that digital just can’t ever get,” explains Tackett. “There’s randomness that exists within tape it being an organic matter—it works completely different.”
So many of us have a bottle of perfume in our bedroom that we barely even think about — we just pick it up each morning, spritz some on, & waltz out the door. Odds are excellent that you’ve been using the same fragrance for years, & while it’s wonderful to have a signature scent, the world of perfume is changing all the time! There are trends & fads, constant new releases & bold scientific advances. Just like clothing, you certainly don’t have to wear the same thing every day. Being able to choose a scent to match an occasion, season or mood is quite fantastic.
If you want to try something new, where should you start? Put simply: anywhere you like! It’s incredibly easy to find out about new perfumes on the market. Why? Because perfume is a multi-billion dollar industry! Even people who aren’t interested in perfume can probably name a number of fragrances, based on advertising alone. We are constantly bombarded by billboards, women in department stores waving scented cards & provocative magazine campaigns, so all you need to do is pay a little attention.
Seeing a movie in a theater can be miserable these days.
Texting.
Talking.
Smoking.
It’s nearly impossible to freely smoke or send a text message to a friend during a movie without being bothered. Some get upset over this and even tell you to stop smoking or to put your phone away. The nerve! That’s when I tell them exactly WHERE they can GO!
And then an usher usually escorts me out.
In any case, there is a place you can go, long forgotten by most moviegoers, in which you can do all of these things and more. Heck, you can bring a pizza, adult beverages and your own smoke of choice. Here you can watch a movie in a comfortable setting and enjoy the freedom to do whatever the hell you want.
It’s called… the Drive-In.