This video has been making the rounds across the internet. Originally posted on May 17, 2014, it already has a staggering 10,000,000 hits (as of May 22, 2014), and it deserves every view. It’s a moment in time where a street performer jamming on his acoustic guitar when two passerby’s join him in an impromptu jam session.
The description from the original Facebook post states: “I was walking to kroger and saw this guy playing a song. It sounded good so I decided to record it. By the end of the song three guys started jamming. This truly is music in its simplest form. It really reminds of the Austin days. Enjoy”.
This is proof that music is good for the soul. How anyone could live without it is beyond me. Enjoy.
UPDATE: 5/22/14: Apparently this virtual moment was so good, Jimmy Kimmel found some of the fellas who performed and had them recreate the moment for his late night TV show … with a little bit extra 😉
There’s a special place in my heart for James Dewitt Yancey, pka J Dilla. I’ve already written about the impact his music has had on my life, so I won’t rehash it here, but let’s just say his music has meant a lot to me. When I heard that Slum Village and Bizarre Ride Live (The Pharcyde’s Fatlip and SlimKid3 backed by Bizarre Ride producers J-Sw!ft and LA Jay) were paying homage to J Dilla with a concert aptly titled “Welcome To Dillaville”, I made some calls to make sure that I could attend the event.
Slum Village is a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit Michigan that has gone through a lot of changes since it’s inception. Originally consisting of J Dilla, Baatin, and T3, only T3 remains as an original member, with both J Dilla and Baatin passing on way before their time (rest in peace). Currently the group is on record as featuring T3, Young RJ and Illa J (J Dilla’s younger brother), but for this show it seemed that only T3 and Young RJ handled MC duties.
With the ever sublime instrumentals produced by J Dilla, Young RJ and T3 faithfully spit verses from some of my favorite Slum Village tracks: “Fall In Love”, “Get Dis Money”, “Players” and, my personal favorite, “Tainted” (clips of which are all below). They had a couple of surprises appearances from specials guests, including Frank Nitt (a frequent J Dilla collaborator) and one other rapper that I didn’t know (but whose picture is below).
Before Slum dove into their set, Young RJ and T3 gave the audience a little presentation about their beloved, lost member. They gave a slideshow presentation of never seen before letters, track sheets, personal affirmations, and photos, telling stories that only they would know, and it was truly a pleasure to watch them reflect so fondly on their lost comrade.
I couldn’t find a setlist online anywhere, but if anyone has it, please let me know, and I’ll update this post accordingly.
It feels just like yesterday that Terrace Martin released his last album, the sublime “3ChordFold”. But ever the relentless, working musician, you knew that he had more up his sleeve, ready to share with the world. His latest release, “3ChordFold Pulse” is a follow up worthy of some serious attention.
Not only does he once again call upon the help of some of the highest caliber musicians around (Robert Glasper, James Fauntleroy, Thundercat, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, 9th Wonder and Ethan Farmer, just to name a few), but the album is a musical offering that, at least upon my initial listen, seamlessly covers the musical spectrum.
From the jazz elements in the title track “Pulse” (ft. Preston Harris) and “Its Yours” (ft. Robert Glasper, James Fauntleroy and Thundercat), to the soulful R&B vibes in “You and Me” (ft Preston Harris), “Come and Get Me” (ft. Wyann Vaughn) and All The Things (ft. Don Dolla), to the surprising blues offering in “Lets Go Get Stoned” (ft. Snoop Dogg and Tone Trezure) to the jazz infused hip-hop of “Poetic Justice [Live in New York] (with Kendrick Lamar) and “Never Have To Worry” [Live in New York] (with Snoop Dogg) … this album has a little bit of everything.
Perhaps my favorite track on this release is Terrace’s live rendition of Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly” which was recorded at the Del Monte Speakeasy, a show I was privileged to have been at, and features otherworldly performances from not only Terrace, but also Robert Glasper, Ethan Farmer, Marlon Williams and Ronald Bruner. It’s an amazing recording. I’m lucky that I’ll be able to purchase it to have in my collection for life.
Hey, Terrace? When are you dropping your albums on WAX?!?!? I NEED!
I won’t front. Back when I was freshman in high school, I wasn’t into Tool. The rock music that I was into at the time was more along the lines of Depeche Mode (who released “Violator”), Nine Inch Nail (who released “Head Like A Hole”) and INXS (who released “X”). I was a narrow minded, music snob then (which I truly regret), and I wasn’t willing to open my mind to other bands’ music.
It wasn’t until I had graduated from college that I really took the time to listen to what Maynard James Keenan’s music had to offer, and it was the first album from his second band, A Perfect Circle, that got me hooked. With “Mer de Noms”, songs like “Judith” and “3 Libras” sent shivers down my spine. I was a fool to have waited so long to discover that Maynard was a monster, rock vocalist. Not only able to belt out tunes like it’s nothing, he also adds a level of emotions to the underlying lyrics he sings, which sets him apart from other rock vocalists.
I first saw Maynard perform at Coachella in 2013 with his band Puscifer. Though the music was different from A Perfect Circle, I thought that it was one of the highlight performances of the day. It was fun, sexy and raunchy all at the same time. I still have the Puscifer Airlines candy that they threw out to the crowd from that day.
Cinquanta, a two night celebration of his 50th birthday at the Greek Theatre, was a ticket that any Maynard fan couldn’t pass up. Billed as a concert with Puscifer as a headliner with A Perfect Circle and Failure (who had reunited in late 2013 and acted as Tool’s supporting act for Tool’s recent tour) as “support”. But each band rotated sets every 15-30 minutes, even collaborating with each other on certain songs, throughout the evening. Green Jelly (a band that Danny Carey- the drummer of Tool- and Maynard were members of) made a surprise appearance to perform “Three Little Pigs”; Neil Hamburger made an appearance to sing “New York, New York”, and 3/4 of Tool (minus Adam Jones) performed the Tool classic “Sober”. Personally, I thought one of the out-of-the-box highlights of the show was when Carina Round sang the lead on “The Package”; a superb rendition.
Based on my notes, and what I was able to find online, below was the setlist:
Failure: “The Nurse Who Loved Me” (w/ Maynard James Keenan, Billy Howerdel and Carina Round)
Failure: “Saturday Savior”
Failure: “Dirty Blue Balloons”
A Perfect Circle: “Weak and Powerless”
A Perfect Circle: “Orestes”
A Perfect Circle: “The Noose”
Puscifer: “Vagina Mine”
Puscifer: “Trekka”
Puscifer: “Polar Bear”
Puscifer: “Breathe”
Puscifer: “Oceans”
Puscifer: “Monsoons” (w/ Billy Howerdel)
Puscifer: “Horizons”
Failure: “Another Space Song”
Failure: “Frogs”
Failure: “Solaris” (w/ Maynard James Keenan)
A Perfect Circle: “The Hollow”
A Perfect Circle: “Rose”
A Perfect Circle: “The Package” (featuring Carina Round)
Puscifer: “Conditions of My Parole”
Puscifer: “Man Overboard”
Puscifer: “The Undertaker” (w/ Ken Andrews)
A Perfect Circle: “Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm
A Perfect Circle: “3 Libras”
A Perfect Circle: “By and Down”
Failure: “Blank”
Failure: “Wet Gravity” (w/ Jeff Friedl)
Failure: “Heliotropic”
Puscifer: “New York, New York” (w/ Neil Hamberger)
Puscifer: “Cuntry Boner” (An Electric Sheep cover w/ “Hildy” and Danny Carey)
Puscifer: “3 Little Pigs” (w/ Green Jelly and Danny Carey)
Puscifer: “Sober” (Tool cover w/ Justin Chancellor, Danny Carey and , and Zac Rae)
Puscifer: “Humbling River” (w/ Danny Carey)
Wow. Just looking at this setlist is making think that the $40 I spent on the ticket was definitely money well spent. Even if a song or two may not have been to one’s liking, the action on stage, with the casual stage setting of lawn chairs and constant filling of chalices (presumably filled with adult beverages) gave the audience something to watch as there was something going on onstage at all times, whether it was Maynard pouring drinks for others, performers taking selfies onstage, or individuals having private conversations in front of everybody, it was a concert that truly felt like a party. And when the audience sang along? The hairs on my arms stiffened. When they closed with “Humbling River”? I got shivers.
It was an amazing show. I don’t know what else to say. Happy Birthday, Maynard. You did it right. Simply kick-ass.
I wasn’t able to get permission to shoot the show, so all of the photos below were on my Sony Cyber-shot G, point and shoot that I couldn’t live without.
For the most part, I am not a fan of EDM music. When I want to see “live” music, I want to see people playing instruments, not punching buttons. When I saw the Saturday Night Live, Digital Short, Lonely Island clip, “When Will The Bass Drop” that aired over the weekend, I nearly had the soup I was eating for lunch come out my nose. It is HILARIOUS (especially all of the one-liners the “fans” spout, since I’ve heard those exact words from other people I’ve been around). I’ve always wondered what EDM DJs did behind their consoles. Now, I have an idea. Enjoy!
Dead Sara, a Los Angeles based, hard rock band consisting of Emily Armstrong (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, Sean Friday (drums), Siouxsie Medley (lead guitar) and Chris Null (bass guitar), have been in the studio recording music for their highly anticipated sophomore album for the past half year. Having recently finished recording said album, they decided to bless their L.A. fans with three club gigs throughout the month of May (at The Echo 5/6/14, The Bootleg 5/14/14 and the Satellite on 5/21/14). I was lucky enough to snag a ticket (before all three shows sold out) to their gig at their first show of the year at The Echo.
I’m a huge fan of this group. When I heard the opening riffs of “Weatherman” for the first time, it was like love at first listen. When Emily started wailing over the music, I was hooked. I saw them perform twice in 2013 (once at the El Rey Theater and also as the headliner for the Lobster Festival at the Port of Los Angeles). Their live performance solidified my love for this group. They rock, and they rock hard. My passion for this group’s music was enough for me to get “inducted” as a member of “The DEADicated” (a group of die-hard fans that will go to great lengths, and travel great distances- across continents- to see Dead Sara rock).
The day of the show, The DEADicated arrived at the venue at 10:30am to secure their spots up front. I wasn’t there, but if I stopped dating a girl because she didn’t like their music (true story), I feel like I earned a right to be a member of The DEADicated too! LOL.
Their set consisted of music from their debut LP and music from their forthcoming release (“Evil”, “Radio”, “Suicidal”, “Traveling Band”, “Something Good” and “Mr. Mr.” were all performed live for the first time ever! Lucky me!). They performed their cover of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” and the audience even sang “Happy Birthday” for Emily, as it happened to be her birthday. Emily prefaced the show stating that the new music were still works in progress, and asked that no one video record them until they were performance proof.
I spent my time trying to find the right camera settings to take decent pics, but leave it to a DEADicated to post up videos of their older songs from the show. Click through the video and check out other videos of their older songs from the show.
I’m still a newbie at taking concert photos in a venue with tricky lighting, but I think that I was able to snag a few decent shots with my DSLR. If anybody has any suggestions (other than getting a better – more expensive- lens), please chime in below in the comments. Hopefully, the next time I see them perform live, I’ll have it down pat.
Eric Hutchinson is an American, singer-songwriter whose folksy, tenor voice; witty, lyrical writing; and humorous onstage banter always entertains me. I may be a bit biased though (full disclosure) as one of the first albums I really took the legal, paperwork reigns on was his breakthrough independent album “Sounds Like This” … that, and I consistently beat his fantasy basketball teams back when we all had time for that (sorry, Eric… had to throw that in there lol).
He is touring in support of his recently released album, “Pure Fiction”, but his set was mix of songs from his entire catalog. Though it’s been a few years since I’ve seen him perform live, his sound and performance style will still as energetic and soulful as ever.
He performed some of my favorites (not that anyone cares, but “Oh!” is still my favorite song), and cleverly integrated covers of popular songs (though it’s not identified in the photograph of the set list below, I was especially impressed with his inclusion of The Pharcyde’s “Ya Ma Ma” in “You Don’t Have To Believe Me”). Perhaps the most impressive thing to me was how some of his older “classics” have evolved since they were first written. I mean, I still have old demos he recorded from even before he was signed to Maverick Records, and they’ve all evolved into dynamic versions of the original.
Eric bantered to the audience between songs and, to the delight of the audience, even ventured among them to sing a song. It was great seeing Eric perform live again. If you haven’t already checked out his latest release, or even his older albums, I recommend that you do. His music may put smile on your face like it does mine.
I was not issued a photo pass for this concert, and all the photos below were taken on Sony Cyber-shot.
When The Dandy Warhols played the Wiltern Theater last year (June 13, 2013), I kicked myself in the bum. Not only were they a band that I had wanted to see perform live since high school, but they were, at the time, also celebrating the 13th Anniversary of their seminal album “Thirteen Tales of Urban Bohemia”, which they played in its entirety. SMH. I’m still regretting it.
When I heard that they were playing two gigs at The Roxy, I immediately jumped on purchasing a ticket. Even though I knew that they probably weren’t going to play many of the songs from “Thirteen Tales”, I had to see them perform in such an intimate venue.
Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Peter Holmström, Zia McCabe and Brent DeBoer took the Roxy stage and unleashed their brand of psychedelic, alternative rock to an appreciative crowd. Though they didn’t perform many songs from “Thirteen Tales” (in fact, I think they only played “Get Off” if memory serves me well), they did perform many of their singles.
The setlist I found below doesn’t seem to list all of the songs that they performed that night. If you Dandy Warhols fans know if there should be additions, let me know and I’ll edit it.
The lighting at the Roxy was tricky for me, and I feel like a camera with better aperture could have suited me better, but I thought that I got a few keepers … especially of Zia. Still a babe.
I’m a fan of Tom Krell’s music. Performing under the stage name “How To Dress Well”, his music has always has always resonated a sadness or longing in me. Whether its his airy falsetto, or the generally dark lyrical topics of his compositions, his music always makes me want to lay on a coach and contemplate life, love, at other personal topics.
When I saw him perform at The Roxy earlier this year, Tom performed “Repeat Pleasure” and noted it was a song about controlling emotions even though you know that “if you do something once, you’ll probably do it again”. He also noted that it was perhaps the most “poppy” songs he had had ever written.
That being said, I suppose one would have expected a music video with an airier, light hearted mood, but I think if that had been done, it would have been so out of character for Tom, his fans, myself included, would have said, “Huh?”
Tom’s music video for “Repeat Pleasure”, which is apparently part 1 of the “What Is This Heart?” (the name of his forthcoming album) trilogy, will pull on your heartstrings. It seems to tell the story of a young man who’s grandfather is gravely ill, and his efforts to take him somewhere familiar before passing. The video is appropriately “How To Dress Well”, and I fully appreciate Tom’s creative vision for his music.
Opening for the Dandy Warhols at the Roxy was the American, psychedelic rock band The Warlocks. Founded in 1998 by Bobby Hecksher, the band has been playing with various lineups since, with Hecksher the only constant member.
With half a dozen albums released since it’s inception (with their latest album, “Skull Worship” being released in November of 2013), The Warlocks concert seemed to cover their entire repertoire (according to a The Warlocks fans standing next to me). When I snagged the setlist (which you can see below) off the lip of the stage, she took a look at it and noted (while giggling) how they abbreviated the names of the songs.
The Warlocks’ music isn’t for everybody. If you aren’t familiar with them, you may assume that their sound is akin to the Grateful Dead (the Grateful Dead’s first name was The Warlocks), but you’d be wrong. Rather, their sound seems to be heavily influenced by the neo-psychedilia and experimental rock of the Velvet Underground. Personally, I was feeling it. I thought that perhaps the start of the set was a bit too downtempo for my tastes, but as it went on, the energy picked up and had me grooving by the end.
It feels just like yesterday that Terrace Martin released his 
#DKLPHOTOS 