A Year of Concerts: 2014

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Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens | “Peace Train … Late Again” Tour | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/14/14 [Concert Review & Photos]

Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens | “Peace Train … Late Again” Tour | Nokia Theatre L.A. Live | 12/14/14 [Setlist & Video Clips]

Jamestown Revival, Nikki Lane & Pete Molinari | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Concert Review]

Jamestown Revival | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video]

Nikki Lane | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video]

Pete Molinari | The Troubadour | 11/30/14 [Photos and Video] Continue reading

OK Go | Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier | 9/4/14 [PHOTOS]

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

I’ve always been a fan of OK Go. Their cheery, campy music (and music videos) have always been put me in a good mood. With their next album, “Hungry Ghosts”, due out this October, they have been making the rounds touring the United States throughout the Sumer  and will continue touring through October. I’m certainly glad they decided to perform for the Twilight Concert Series.

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It was my first time watching them perform live, and though there’d be no blasts of confetti and streamers into the audience for the show (they would have been fined by the city of Santa Monica for pier clean-up), I learned one thing. OK Go’s live show is, capital “F”, Fun.

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With their music leading the Fun movement, they fully interacted with the audience, telling stories (like how they came up with the band’s name), doing an impromptu number from the musical “Les Miserables”, recording audience sounds to incorporate into a song they were going to perform and even venturing into the audience to perform. So … friggin … fun.

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I really hope that their next album performs well. Shunning the big, corporate machine that is the major record labels, they decided to record the album on their own. I’ve only heard the singles they’ve released and the songs that they performed at the pier, but I’m thinking … as long as they keep winning fans over with their live performance, they’ll be just fine.

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I couldn’t find a setlist of OK Go’s performance, but you can check out video clips of most of the band’s set by CLICKING HERE to check out a collection of Instagram videos that have been compiled.

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

Free Concert Alert | OK Go and Allah-Las at the Santa Monica Pier | 9/4/14 [Preview]

CLICK HERE to check out the other acts I plan on checking out this Summer at the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier!

If you haven’t been at the Santa Monica Pier this summer to enjoy some of the free music they are offering with the Twilight Concert Series, you should try making it out this Thursday to catch Allah-Las and OK Go rock the beach.

 

OK Go, best known for their amazing music videos, will give the audience a chance to listen to music from the forthcoming album, “Hungry Ghosts”, which is to be released October 14th, 2014. I’ve got to give it to this band. With record labels letting go of artist’s with a loyal following (and not knowing how to capitalize on a band’s popularity with compromising the product in some way), OK Go’s upcoming release is an independent effort, with the album being distributed through the direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic.

 

Check out the video below of the first single from the album, and make sure you head out to the pier to catch them perform live!

Follow OK Go on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

 

Opening for OK Go is Allah-Las, an L.A. based garage band that I recently caught at Echo Park Rising.  Though their style of music is quite different from OK Go’s sound, they should be appetizer for the audience at the pier. With their loyal fan base, I’d highly recommend getting to the pier early to ensure that you make it in before the venue reaches capacity.

Follow Allah-Las on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

 

To see the full list of acts performing at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the 20th Annual Twilight Concert series, CLICK HERE.

 

CLICK HERE to check out the other acts I plan on checking out this Summer at the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier!

Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier | Summer 2014

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Whenever I have friends visiting Los Angeles during the summer and they ask me for suggestions, I always recommend attending a concert at the Santa Monica Pier. After all, there isn’t a much better way to spend a summer day/eve, at the beach with a picnic listening to some quality music.

For the past 30 years, the Santa Monica Pier has been hosting an extremely well-curated summer concert series known as the “Twilight Concerts”. This year, their line-up is as impressive as I’ve ever seen it. This year I am planning on attending almost all of the schedule concerts.

Below are the bands that I’ll be checking out, and will be updated with blog posts of previews, Instagram videos and photo pictorials and reviews. If you don’t follow my blog, save this page in a tab to follow my summer at the pier!

JULY 10th

July 17th

July 31st

August 7th

August 14th

August 21st

August 28th

September 4th

September 11th

To see the full list of acts performing at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the 20th Annual Twilight Concert series, CLICK HERE.

Your Weekly Weekend Music Mix | 6/27/14 [NEWS]

MUSIC INSTA-BABE: Nicole Scherzinger

Nicole Scherzinger is a singer, songwriter, actress and dancer who first gained notoriety as the front-woman of The Pussycat Dolls (a burlesque inspired recording group) before branching out as a solo artist. Part Filipino, Hawaiian and Russian, she seems to have procured the best of each gene pool. Follow her on instagram: @nicolescherzy.

KILLER COVER: Sam Smith covers Whitney Houston

I acknowledge that Sam Smith has a great voice, but I haven’t been all too impressed with his latest singles.  They’re growing on me, but I think the switch still needs to be turned on before I purchase his album (full disclosure, I haven’t heard the entire album) … but when I found his cover of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know”, I was floored. I actually went to iTunes to see if that recording was available on his album. It wasn’t. Let’s just say I would have purchased the album just for that cover.

Bonus Whitney

Since we’re talking Whitney, you should check out the a cappella track from her recording. It’s pretty awesome too.

Think You Know All About Michael Jackson’s Videos?

Rolling Stone Magazine posted a cool video “compilation” of some of Michael Jackson’s best videos. With each of the videos comes a little tidbit that you probably didn’t know about. If you have time to go through 20 of his videos, this read is highly suggested

The Making of OK Go’s “The Writing’s On The Wall”

Since I blogged about their latest video last week, I figured I post this week a “behind-the-scenes: from the trenches” video that they shot simultaneously of them making the video. It’s basically all real time, and really cool.

MUSIC NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

I’m not a fan, and really never have been, of Electronic Dance Music. But the youth these days can’t seem to get enough of it. Well … some have paid the ultimate cost recently when two died after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas and dozen of fans were hospitalized during an Avicii show.  Personally, I just don’t see the true musicianship in EDM “performances” … if you’re willing to call it a performance. I hoping that it’s just a fad. Something new has got to come along, right? Man, I hope so.

L.A. Weekly (one of my favorite local publications) wrote a great editorial about “How Bob Marley Was Sold to the Suburbs”.  It’s a terrific read. If you have the time, and you love Bob, you should read the article.

YouTube is making it hard for independent labels today. Some great artist’s videos (like Adele, Vampire Weekend, etc) may no longer be available to view on their traditional platform. For an in depth analysis of why independent label are unhappy with Youtube’s contractual offerings, you should click here and read this article. It’s not the easiest read, but it will give you perspective.

Rumors are afoot about D’Angelo’s new album FINALLY coming out in 2014. Please, please, please, please, please let this be true.

TMZ reports that Chris Miles, a 15 year old rapper, just signed a million dollar record deal. Apparently, his appearance on “America’s Got Talent” got his videos going viral. Sure, he needs to sell/write records to make that milli, but he did get a $182,500 advance. Is he worth it? Check out the video below and let me know  what you thinking he poll.

Your Weekly Weekend Music Mix | 6/20/14 [NEWS]

MUSIC INSTA-BABE: JoJo

http://instagram.com/p/o7oysnHCyx/

Though her music career had been embroiled in contractual battles with her prior label, fresh off performing at South by Southwest and having inked a new deal with Atlantic Records earlier this year, it sounds as if JoJo’s music career is about to get some much needed major label support. I’ve always enjoyed her R&B infused pop music … and being easy on the eyes certainly doesn’t hurt. Follow her on Instagram: @translucentbrownsugar

KILLER COVER: Allen Stone covers Marcy Playground

Remember that Marcy Playground song “Sex And Candy”? I do. I first heard it on the radio at college. It was a HUGE college radio song. Allen Stone soul singer who is about to release his sophomore album, and he does a great job covering this song.

Here’s the original Marcy Playground track:

HAHAHAHA …. Just For Laughs

The POWER of Music! It seems like Terry Crews can do anything with his muscles … even make music.

OK Go with a NEW Ground Breaking Music Video

OK Go’s music videos are always amazing. The music video for their latest single, “The Writing’s On The Wall” is a both a sonically pleasing and visually amazing. And it looks as if they did it all in ONE take. Take a look.

MUSIC NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Bjork to have a 3-D fusion of film and music exhibit at the MOMA! She’s always on the cutting edge of art, so it seems only fitting that she’ll have an exhibit at a prestigious museum.

A family named their twin boys Ghostface and Raekwon. Is this taking fandom to a new level … or Nah … lol.

Iggy Azalea recently scored both the Number One and Number Two spots in the Billboard Hot 100. A feat only accomplished by one other musical act: The Beatles. Now firming entrenched in the spotlight, commentary regarding her rise to the top has been steady growing.A professor from my alma mater, Cornell University, wrote one titled “The Conspiracy to Whitewash Hip-Hop”. An interesting read, for sure, but do you agree?

Enjoy watching music videos on Youtube? What’ll happen if your favorite band’s music is no longer available to watch? Well, it may be happening sooner that you think. Youtube hasn’t been able to work out deals with certain independent record labels, and music acts like Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Adele and others may soon no longer be available to watch on Youtube. A damn shame if you ask me.

JACK WHITE WITHDRAWAL

Last week I posted a link to a Jack White show that I regretted missing. Over the weekend, I suffered from Jack White withdrawal when I kept seeing various twitter feeds explode with Jack White updates during his performance at Bonnaroo as it seemed to be legend … wait for it … ary. I was again heartbroken for not being at a Jack White show. See below and join in my sadness.

OK Go| Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier | 9/4/14 [INSTAGRAM VIDS]

CLICK HERE to check out other acts I caught at the Twilight Concert on the Santa Monica Pier!

Below are Instagram clips of some of the songs from OK Go’s set at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the Twilight Concert Series. Instagram’s embed settings are, unfortunately, too large for WordPress, but hopefully, you’ll still be able to click through to watch the video clips. Enjoy.

CLICK HERE to check out other acts I caught at the Twilight Concert on the Santa Monica Pier!