American’s are generally unhealthy. This is a fact. A big fat fattie fact. The sheer number of fast food restaurants (over 160,000 in the US alone) is a bit overwhelming, but none are less healthy, and more blatantly honest about it than The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.
The votes are in, the judges have spoken, and the categories are sealed for this year’s 2012 OC Music Awards. The show takes place on March 3rd and will recognize a variety of winners in categories such as “Best Album,” “Best Song,” “Best New Artist,” “Best Club DJ,” “Best Surf,” and more… Orange County music lovers have been showing their favorite local bands support at the many “Best Live Band” and “Best Live Acoustic” showcases that have been going on since January. The final two showcases occurred this past weekend, with “Best Live Acoustic” on 2/22 and “Best Live Band” on 2/24.
ChinaShop headed to Costa Mesa on Friday night to check out the final 2012 OC Music Award Showcase where five of the OC’s budding bands squared off to take home the title of “Best Live Band.” Midnight Hour, Slime Kings, Railroad to Alaska, Robert Jon & The Wreck, and We Are The Arsenal took the stage, each performing a 30 minute set of original tunes. While fans packed the venue cheering hard for their favorites, it all came down to the panel of judges – Lil Bose (Music Editor, OC Weekly), Nadia Betkouchar (Writer, CBS Radio/KROQ), Joyce Mealey (General Manager, Fearless Records), and Tazy Phyllypz (Concert Promoter and Radio Personality). At the end of the evening, it was announced that Railroad To Alaska, an alternative metal/post grunge group from Midway City, CA took home the title.
We caught up with Railroad to Alaska prior to their performance to discuss The Warped Tour’s delicious catering, unhappy song lyrics, and a fan sticking a pin into his forehead for a free t-shirt.
New one from School of Seven Bells, Ghostory, is getting some solid reviews…Anais Mitchell’s Young Man is getting serious hype…The Cranberries return after their 11 year hiatus… and Runt re-releases his self-titled Runt… It’s a slow week…
Beth Jeans Houghton - Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose
Anais Mitchell Young Man In America
All of Me - Estelle
Mouse on Mars -Parastrophics
Carolina – Chocolate Drops Leaving Eden
Dirty Three - Toward the Low Sun
Hunx - Hairdresser Blues
Olafur Arnalds - Another Happy Day [Original Soundtrack]
School of Seven Bells – Ghostory
Todd Rundgren -Todd
Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect
The Cranberries - Roses
Fanfarlo - Rooms Filled with Light
Gang Colours – The Keychain Collection
Last week at the MAGIC trade show (the big fashion apparel trade show in Vegas), I ran into the fine folks at Neff headware. Having been around now for the past 10 years, they have learned a thing or two about making quality hats, apparel and accessories. I was compelled to stop by their booth because I feel like Neff is all I have seen, or noticed for the past few months. That darn cute smiling face just keeps showing up.
While patiently awaiting the May 15th release of her upcoming album, Meiko is keeping herself busy by performing sporadic shows. The lively singer/songwriter recently took the stage at Hollywood’s Hotel Café, her former waitressing stomping grounds and venue that hosted her early career launching performances. “My parents were at the show so I was trying to make a good impression,” jokes Meiko, still glowing at the crowd’s reception to her live renditions of songs off her forthcoming album, The Bright Side.
See below for our pre-show interview with Meiko as she discusses strange gifts she’s received from fans, hearing her song come on the radio during a date, and finding a love interest for her upcoming music video.
The BoomCase is decidedly clever, and unconventionally cool. Essentially it’s an old suitcase, lunchbox, briefcase, case of any kind really, that got turned into a speaker system for your iPod. In fact, not only are these one of a kind, but you can send them your own favorite old nostalgic suitcase and they will turn that into a speaker and return it to you 10x better.
Flogging Molly kicked off their 8th annual Green 17 tour last Friday at Detroit’s Fillmore theater. And the group, who has been burning up stages since 1997 (over 15 years), pulled no punches, coming out swinging in support of their most recent release “Speed of Darkness” (as you can see by the below pictures). The 2012 Green 17 tour, presented by Sailor Jerry, will scour the U.S. before heading east to Japan mid April. If you’ve never seen this raucous clan, be sure to pick up a your ticket here and get your rowdy shoes ready for one hell of a show.
5. State of Grace — Duly putting to rest any Irish stereotypes, State of Grace features an unwashed and unruly punk-ass Gary Oldman as Jackie Flannery — binge-drinking, fiery-tempered, always-liable-to-throw-down-at-the-drop-of-a-hat and go off like Mel Gibson when Oksana mentioned the jacuzzi. Here he foresees multiple Oscars for Sean Penn and not even a nomination for for himself for 20 years. Who wouldn’t grab a firearm?
Filtering through the mailbox, inbox and sandbox to bring you the best FREE music, hand-selected by the discerning members of the ChinaShop editorial staff each and every month. Hit the jump to commence downloading. Hope you’ve got more space on that hard drive…
When you have a band called “fun.” at your disposal, an extraordinary photo shoot is in order. We can get a little goofy at times so fortunately for us Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff were up for jumping on outdoor stationary bikes and pedaling away on some Astroturf.
We caught up with the band as they came through Los Angeles to perform a private rooftop gig at the Hollywood Tower Penthouse. fun. is in the midst of a North American tour to promote their new album, Some Nights, which just released on Tuesday. We sat down with the guys to discuss their hit single “We Are Young” blowing up the iTunes charts, being hypersensitive to the word “fun,” and their secret dollhouse building skills.