Rebecca Black. Who is she? She is a 13 year old pop tart who has put out a absolutely horrible song and video that in less than two months has generated over 70 million views on Youtube. 70 MILLION! People say the music industry is dying. They say it's because of illegal downloading. Bon Jovi blames it on Steve Jobs. Bon Jovi is an asshole. itunes is awesome. Everybody has an ipod and everybody has itunes. Everybody has easier access to more music than ever. If anything, itunes killed record stores, not the record industry. Its a sad story and I miss going to record stores but i'll leave that rant to another day.
So while everybody is blaming illegal downloading and Steve Jobs on the dying industry, a 13 year old girl, that nobody has ever heard of and who probably hasn't even had her first french kiss, has managed to get her song watched on Youtube by more than twice the population of Canada. Rumors are she has signed to a major label. Huh?! Did I mention that the song is horrible. Maybe that's what's wrong with the music industry. Labels are struggling so much to stay afloat that they will fight for the rights to produce even more horrible music by her. And it isn't just labels. Jay Leno had her on The Tonight Show recently and had The Tonight Show Band back her as she lip synched her way thru her ONLY song. I sure hope the band took turns peeing in Jays coffee cup for putting them thru that.
What's my point? I feel bad for this girl. She is a 13 year old girl that is being used as an example. While she is being applauded, pawed at and put on a pedestal by some, she is also being destroyed and torn apart by many. Her video is close to breaking a record for the most 'dislikes' on Youtube. Even Miley Cyrus had the audacity to criticize her. Miley Cyrus!? Labels are so desperate that even with all the 'dislikes', they somehow see dollar signs and are going in full force to make it happen. Rebecca did say that she will donate all the profits from this song to relief efforts in Japan so big ups to her and her forward thinking. Bon Jovi, are you listening?
Ironically, around the time Rebecca Black's 'Friday' video was first posted on Youtube, a band that has been around for 10 years putting out 3 amazing albums and leasing the charge of putting the 'indie' back in indie rock was winning the Grammy for 'Album of the Year'. This band beat out Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum. The internet went nuts the next day saying it was fixed. There is no way this band could have beaten out Em? College kids love him. How could they beat out Gaga? She performed in an egg! How could they beat out Katy Perry? She kissed a girl remember? And what about the other Lady band with two guys in in? Everybody loves that shiny new country music. People went nuts. How could this happen? They never even heard of this band. People said who? Who? WHO? Thank you Arcade Fire...
Friday, April 1, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Harry Caray Rock God?
Very few musicians reach the point of being able to play stadiums. U2 and the Rolling Stone are two that come to mind. Sure, they can sell out a few nights in a row, maybe 4 tops. Has there ever been a band that could play the same stadium, night after night (or 81 nights) over a period of six months and constantly fill the seats? No way you say? That couldn't be? Not possible. Yes I say! It can and it happened. HOLY COW!!! No, this wasn't Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd. It was only one man with a backing band of an organ. That man was Harry Caray and for almost 10 years, he rocked Chicago crowds of more that 35,000 fans nightly at Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field performing just one song. The song only lasted a minute but it never failed to bring fans to their feet during the pinnacle point of the evening. Young and old they stood, cheered and sang along with Harry as he held his microphone out to the crowd bring the song to a climatic ending. It was the one thing you could always count on being great each night at these stadiums.
Harry died in 1998 and a roving cast of characters regularly file into his old broadcast booth in Wrigley Field trying to fill his shoes singing this great song. Nobody has and nobody ever will do it as great as Harry did. Why is this man not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I don't know? After all, he saw a million faces and he rocked them all!!
So with opening day of baseball upon us, lets sing along with Harry. All Right! Lemmmeeeee hearrrr ya!! Ah one! Ah two!! Ah three!!!
PLAY BALL!!!
Harry died in 1998 and a roving cast of characters regularly file into his old broadcast booth in Wrigley Field trying to fill his shoes singing this great song. Nobody has and nobody ever will do it as great as Harry did. Why is this man not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame I don't know? After all, he saw a million faces and he rocked them all!!
So with opening day of baseball upon us, lets sing along with Harry. All Right! Lemmmeeeee hearrrr ya!! Ah one! Ah two!! Ah three!!!
PLAY BALL!!!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
My Morning Jacket new cd preview...
I'm on a little bit of a MY MORNING JACKET kick this morning. Their new album, titled 'Circuital', doesn't have a release date yet but it should be out later this spring. I love this band. They are truly amazing and I don't think there is a band out there that stretches the limits of their sound from album to album yet never seems to get lost. This was most evident last fall during their five night residency at Terminal 5 in NYC, where they performed each of their studio releases in succession per night and adding in random b-side and cover songs as well. I was there each night and thru all 99 songs performed, from the first one off their first album 'The Tennessee Fire' on night one to night five when they encored with a few songs from 'Circuital', everything was in perfect harmony. This is one of the songs performed on night five that you will hear on this new album. It's beautiful. Enjoy:
A quick one of some awesomeness...
Hmmmm. What can be said about this video other than it is incredibly awesome. EDDIE VEDDER with MY MORNING JACKET covering one of THE WHO'S greatest songs, the mini-opera, 'A Quick One While He's Away'. I had no idea this existed. I saw MMJ perform this last fall during their five night run at Terminal 5 in NYC and I remember having a smile from ear to ear thru the whole song. Mind you, the song is almost 10 minutes long so you will understand why my face hurt when they finished. I guess that's what Jack Black meant in School of Rock when he talked about melting faces. Thru a little research I find this is from a PEARL JAM live DVD from a tour in 2006 when MMJ opened for them. I saw this tour in New Jersey and Eddie joined them on stage for a great cover of THE BANDS, 'It Makes No Difference', which was also awesome. I guess my now you can figure out that Eddie Vedder + My Morning Jacket = Awesome. Well, sit down, turn it up and see for yourself:
Monday, March 21, 2011
!!Rock n' Burlesque Spectacular!!
LOS STRAITJACKETS
w/World Famous Pontani Sisters, Miss Saturn & Miss Ruby Valentine
Bell House, Brooklyn NY
2/25/11
What can be cooler than four dudes wearing mexican wrestling masks playing kick-ass surf & rockabilly music? Add some hot burlesque girls to perform while they play this kick-ass music!! Fans of LOS STRAITJACKETS should be familiar with this formula as they spent a number of Christmas season's spreading holiday cheer with the PONTANI SISTERS and their Christmas Burlesque shows. This winter they are back on tour and they have brought along more friends. The visual aspect of a LOS STRAITJACKETS show is always great with the cool masks, slick suits, flashy instruments and some choreographed moves. Adding burlesque kicks it up a few notches. With dance moves that make a grown man blush and a glowing hula hoop performance that has to be seen, all I can say is, thank God for youtube!!!:
w/World Famous Pontani Sisters, Miss Saturn & Miss Ruby Valentine
Bell House, Brooklyn NY
2/25/11
What can be cooler than four dudes wearing mexican wrestling masks playing kick-ass surf & rockabilly music? Add some hot burlesque girls to perform while they play this kick-ass music!! Fans of LOS STRAITJACKETS should be familiar with this formula as they spent a number of Christmas season's spreading holiday cheer with the PONTANI SISTERS and their Christmas Burlesque shows. This winter they are back on tour and they have brought along more friends. The visual aspect of a LOS STRAITJACKETS show is always great with the cool masks, slick suits, flashy instruments and some choreographed moves. Adding burlesque kicks it up a few notches. With dance moves that make a grown man blush and a glowing hula hoop performance that has to be seen, all I can say is, thank God for youtube!!!:
Monotonix Mayhem!
MONOTONIX-PUJOL-FEDERATION X-285 Kent, Brooklyn NY-2/5/11
I was sad going into this show because the rumor is that this is the last MONOTONIX tour. Seems six years of non stop touring, marriage and new children might be shutting this band down, temporarily. Six years on the road may not sound like a lot for a band to be worn out, but you probably never experienced a show anywhere near one like this. MONOTONIX are a stripped down 3-piece garage rock band from Tel Aviv, Israel that leave a path of destruction everywhere they play. They don't need a stage to perform. The venue is their stage. The band sets up among the crowd and tends to let them dictate where they play each song. It isn't uncommon for the band to play above the crowd, with the guitar player crowd surfing, the lead singer standing up in the crowd Iggy Pop style and the drummer playing a drum kit being held up by their most loyal fans. They steal drinks from fans and dump them on others, they light themselves and their instruments on fire and turn every venue they play into a sweaty crazed up moshpit/dance party.
Thankfully nothing was set on fire tonight or everybody would have been in trouble at this DIY out of the way warehouse. We got to the venue just in time to catch a little bit of the heavy rock band FEDERATION X. These guys reminded me of the JESUS LIZARD, which means they were cool. Next up was PUJOL, which are a catchy punk/garage rock band out of Nashville. From what I gathered, this band is centered around the lead singer, Daniel Pujol and have caught the attention of the one and only Jack White. Expect to being hearing more from these guys...
On to the main attraction of the evening. Maybe they are getting worn out from the crazy performances as this seemed to be the shortest of all the MONOTONIX shows that I have been to. Either way, they always give the fans what they came for and you are never left disappointed. After lots of crowd surfing, spraying beers, scaling walls and even using the bar as a stage, the band ended up on the main stage asking everyone to sit down and told everyone to "shut the fuck up!!" They thanked everyone for their support over the years and confirmed the rumors that they this will be their last tour in the US. Then they walked off into the crowd talking with fans and friends as if they were hanging out in a bar. It was a pretty odd way to end the show but nothing these guys do should seem odd. That is what makes they so great.
Found this little video clip online from the show. You can spend some time on youtube watching craziness from other shows they have played. Lots of it.
Here are some photos I took from when I saw them before (Brooklyn Bowl 2010 & Coney Island Siren Fest 2009):
I was sad going into this show because the rumor is that this is the last MONOTONIX tour. Seems six years of non stop touring, marriage and new children might be shutting this band down, temporarily. Six years on the road may not sound like a lot for a band to be worn out, but you probably never experienced a show anywhere near one like this. MONOTONIX are a stripped down 3-piece garage rock band from Tel Aviv, Israel that leave a path of destruction everywhere they play. They don't need a stage to perform. The venue is their stage. The band sets up among the crowd and tends to let them dictate where they play each song. It isn't uncommon for the band to play above the crowd, with the guitar player crowd surfing, the lead singer standing up in the crowd Iggy Pop style and the drummer playing a drum kit being held up by their most loyal fans. They steal drinks from fans and dump them on others, they light themselves and their instruments on fire and turn every venue they play into a sweaty crazed up moshpit/dance party.
Thankfully nothing was set on fire tonight or everybody would have been in trouble at this DIY out of the way warehouse. We got to the venue just in time to catch a little bit of the heavy rock band FEDERATION X. These guys reminded me of the JESUS LIZARD, which means they were cool. Next up was PUJOL, which are a catchy punk/garage rock band out of Nashville. From what I gathered, this band is centered around the lead singer, Daniel Pujol and have caught the attention of the one and only Jack White. Expect to being hearing more from these guys...
On to the main attraction of the evening. Maybe they are getting worn out from the crazy performances as this seemed to be the shortest of all the MONOTONIX shows that I have been to. Either way, they always give the fans what they came for and you are never left disappointed. After lots of crowd surfing, spraying beers, scaling walls and even using the bar as a stage, the band ended up on the main stage asking everyone to sit down and told everyone to "shut the fuck up!!" They thanked everyone for their support over the years and confirmed the rumors that they this will be their last tour in the US. Then they walked off into the crowd talking with fans and friends as if they were hanging out in a bar. It was a pretty odd way to end the show but nothing these guys do should seem odd. That is what makes they so great.
Found this little video clip online from the show. You can spend some time on youtube watching craziness from other shows they have played. Lots of it.
Here are some photos I took from when I saw them before (Brooklyn Bowl 2010 & Coney Island Siren Fest 2009):
Love was in the air...
FEDERICO AUBELE-Joe's Pub, NYC-February 14, 2011
Federico Aubele is an Argentine singer/songwriter that blends reggae, dub, tango, bolero, hip hop and a whole lot of romance. Even his break up songs sound romantic. So you can imagine the vibe going on tonight, Valentines Day, at this intimate downtown venue which was sold out and filled with couples in love. Aubele, playing an acoustic guitar was backed by a stand up electric bass, bongos and a lovely co-singer. Alternating between duets and singing solo, they sang songs that seemed like they were created for tonight. Touching on all three of his cd's, the music never seemed to go above a whisper and the vibe transported you to a place far far from New York City. It was a perfect night.
Federico Aubele is an Argentine singer/songwriter that blends reggae, dub, tango, bolero, hip hop and a whole lot of romance. Even his break up songs sound romantic. So you can imagine the vibe going on tonight, Valentines Day, at this intimate downtown venue which was sold out and filled with couples in love. Aubele, playing an acoustic guitar was backed by a stand up electric bass, bongos and a lovely co-singer. Alternating between duets and singing solo, they sang songs that seemed like they were created for tonight. Touching on all three of his cd's, the music never seemed to go above a whisper and the vibe transported you to a place far far from New York City. It was a perfect night.
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