My first bike was blue. Sadly, it’s not because I possess any faded Polaroid where I’m rockin’ a, “On My Way to Grandpa’s House…”, t-shirt or possess grandiose flashbacks of my crew and I tearing up the mean streets at age 3. I only know this because the blurry memory of a tiny sliver of paint.
It’s only a week into fall, and already the cold rain is flooding our subways and frizzing our hair – while you peeps in sunnier, warmer locales still get to kick it in flip-flop weather. Bitter? Not me, nooo, I’m not even thinking of my next beach vacation, where I can wear flip-flops 24/7…if only there were cute, affordable options other than neon-colored Havaianas or sea-horse adorned thongs.
Thank the tanned beach gods for Fiel Shoes. Fiel – a Spanish term meaning “faithful, loyal, and trusted” – was born in 2008 when founder Alice Gu discovered herself shoe-less at a handful of tropical destination weddings. “At the time, there were no leather flip flop options other than designer,” she says. “I ended up wearing my very beat up Havaianas to all the weddings, with dresses by Mayle and Phillip Lim!”
Jukebox The Ghost hasn’t played in Los Angeles in a year and a half, so when the guys took the stage at the Echo last Thursday, they had a full house of eager followers. Fans packed into the modest venue, clogging the dance floor, and spilling out into the doorway to watch the rock-solid chemistry of Ben Thornewill, Tommy Siegel, and Jesse Kristin as they performed songs off their new album, Everything Under the Sun, like the dance initiating Schizophrenia, as well as favorites such as Hold it in, Under my Skin, and Good Day. Ben kept the crowd captivated with his animated facial expressions that acted out his keystrokes, while Jesse held it all together on drums. Tommy rocked out so hard that during the song Mistletoe, he hit the mic stand and it swung around and nailed him in the face, to which he replied, “Wow! Did you all see that? I thought that was an earthquake!”
Before the show, I sat down with the guys backstage. As always, when you snag a band for some quality Q&A time, you never know where the conversation might lead. This time it was all about gum, cows, and tornadoes…never a dull moment when you are in a room full of musicians who were born with an impressive amount of the creative gene.
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Another week, another slew of diverse artistry clamoring for your cash…KT Tunstall is earning the critics’ praise wither her latest, Tiger Suit…Jennifer Aniston’s boyfriend has a new one…Phil and his band Down Walk the Walk……Sharon Osbourne needs more of your mulah…and long-suffering New Jersey metallers Overkill re-release 2007′s Immortalis…and Jars of Clay is back at it again. ‘Til next week…
Toby Keith – Bullets In The Gun
John Mayer – Battle Studies Expanded Edition
KT Tunstall – Tiger Suit
Down – Diary of a Mad Band
Fistful of Mercy - As I Call You Down
David Archuleta – The Other Side of Down
Ciara - Basic Instinct
Bruno Mars – Doo – Wops & Hooligans
Guster – Easy Wonderful
Emily Osment - Fight or Flight
Jars of Clay – Jars of Clay Presents The Shelter
Ozzy Osbourne – Scream Tour Edition
Overkill – Immortalis Re-Release
Each week ChinaShop asks one of our favorite people for a mood and for songs that put them in that mood. This week’s picks come from Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine and a most interesting mood she does choose…
Mood: Trepanning
For those of you who don’t know, trepanning, also known as trephination, or trephining is drilling or scraping a hole into the human skull … Just an FYI. Happy Monday!
This won’t be the first time you hear me say this about a band, but before I checked them out on Red Bull Music Academy Radio, I had no idea who Build an Ark was. I went searching for more on them, who’s built a super-diverse musical fanbase in the likes of Harry Belafonte, Carlos Nino, and Pharoah Sanders. It came up relatively fruitless — all I could find was a song sung over and over again by different Christian vocal groups. Makes sense, I guess — but this Build an Ark is the brainchild of jazz trombonists Phil Ranelin and Dwight Trible, and the talent they share between the 30+or so members the band packs on stage at one time is nothing short of staggering.
BAA is a conglomeration of different elements of (all kinds of ) the aforementioned jazz, funk, and soul, but eschew the traditional way of composing in favor of a more Crosby, Stills, and Nash/Grateful Dead route a bit in that their performance is primarily exploratory, jam-based, of the soul. And jaw-droppingly at that.
But perhaps most endearing is their message of LOVE, which they extol so relentlessly in their live performances — and if you listen to the show live below, you’ll get a bit of a taste of it, not to mention what virtuosos they are. Especially since for this particular performance, since they had to make arrangements to re-adjust that normally 30-piece band amongst about 8 members. The fact that they can convey such emotion on such a small stage with such a smaller group is no easy feat, so be sure to check ‘em out.
Last Saturday night something happened. Something rare and momentous, that happens only on very special occasions: the West side stayed up ’til 4am. The cause for such extravagance, Glow, the second in what’s meant to be a series of biennial, Euope-inspired “white night” events centered around light-up art installation. The Glow event in 2008 lasted until 7am, but the Djs, “rave” atmosphere, costs, and 200,000 attendees were too much for the city of Santa Monica to take, so the whole shabang’s been reduced to more manageable proportions.
Hello kiddiwinks! Your favorite time of the week is upon us once again; I am of course referring to the moment when you all get to bask in the glory that is my weekly music news recap. I’ve finally recovered from the oh so lovely cold a certain someone gave me (you know who you are, but don’t worry, I still totes love you) and am feeling back to normal once again! Eeee! Happy panda paws in the air! So, without further ado, let’s get to it shall we?
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I’ve had a fascination with “18 Wheelers” since I was a kid. I’m sure it stems from when my grandpa would take me down to this hill in his neighborhood which overlooked Interstate 40 and we would sit for hours trying to guess what could possibly be in those monoliths of freight. Surely for him it was just a way to get away from my grandmother and an easy occupier for his ADD grandson.
Red Bull Sound Clash Dallas will be the ultimate live music conversation. Two bands will square off in a musical dual for superiority. Their fate lies in the hands of the audience. Only one will rise to victory. Who will it be?