Archive for the music category
dead man’s bones tonight!
by josh on October 31st, 2009
so headed up to echo park to take in a show from ryan gosling’s band, dead man’s bones. super excited! i tried to get tickets to a couple shows they did in sept. at a puppet house out here…..but no luck. so needless to say….i sprang at the chance to see the final show of the tour on halloween night here.
here’s a video from the philly show:
even i am sick of technology.
by josh on April 18th, 2009
we are wrapped up in the days of twittering, facebooking, live video streaming….and really it can all be done from something as simple as a cell phone. i am just as guilty as the next person realize….so i am not pretending to be above it all. hell, i signed up on twitter over 2 years ago, but just now finally realized how it can be used. and it’s still stupid to me.
however, it got me thinking about the coachella music festival that is going on out in the desert here this weekend. the festival itself has turned into a bit of a bummer on the whole over the years (if you ask me). crappy headliners, not all that great of side acts, and most importantly…..it’s pretty damn expensive to be rotting out in the desert for.
i’ve seen this trend growing more and more as 2009 has kicked in, but with coachella it has gotten just retarded. what am i talking about? every single no name hack is there “reporting live from coachella!” like really? i keep seeing content posted all over the place from ppl that aren’t even involved in the music industry.
for example, KCRW (an indie radio station out of santa monica college) is there providing videos and pictures from the festival grounds. ok, cool….they actually have a lot of the bands playing in their studios for live sets and shit. that makes sense to me.
but then there are others from industries that have nothing to really do with the music…all “reporting live!” i am talking about tech ppl, marketing ppl, social web nerds, etc. OH! and by far the best….is pacsun is reporting live there too! if that doesn’t solidify how lame the whole event has become then i don’t know what else does. kinda makes me laugh though because they canned one of the only decent managers while i was there…stating his job (which was music and entertainment web based promotions/contests/etc) was just not really pertinent to the core demographic. or something along those bullshit lines. 5 years later….they are flinging some dork around the music festival circuit like he’s some underground indie music journalist. i actually feel bad for him though, cause give it a few years and someone will eventually realize what a waste of time and money that is for a fuckin’ mall store chain.
there were ppl from my work talking about going all week too. i think they were just cruisin’ out there on their own dime though. or at least i hope, because again….even they have no real relevance for being there on a work related premise. specially when we are trying to save money.
anyways, i’ve kinda gone off on a tangent here. this technology ppl are using has become more annoying than anything of actual relevance. and you can tell it’s all being headed up by some marketing knob that really doesn’t know anything past their post graduate classroom.
a couple weeks back i was following a sports reporter on twitter during a brewers and padres game. it was fun…she was cute…and yadda, yadda, yadda, but i don’t need life in it’s entirety updated to me through twitter. what’s even worse….is the attention all of this is getting. some other examples? charlie villanueva of the milwaukee bucks was recently slapped on the wrist for twittering during halftime of a game. mark cuban, owner of the dallas mavericks, was fined $25,000 by the NBA for twittering about the horseshit refs.
like really? i think as a whole ppl are putting too much weight and credit on such a dumb internet vessel. for those of you that don’t know what i am talking about? here’s a good explanation of this twitter thing. 
that said….i’ll finish up with a video from when coachella was actually still about music fans getting together to party….and not just a big conglomerate of corporate america and wannabe celebrities whoring themselves out. smells like sundance indeed.
ps. pretty funny how the dude makes a “friendster” reference, cause that was from 2005 and on dawn of these new technologies. pretty sure it sums up exactly what i am talking about here.
why russ rules.
by josh on April 3rd, 2009
i’ve been fallowing sen. russ feingold’s political career from the start. really just because he took office in wisconsin right around the time i started realizing what politics are. it’s only in the last years that i’ve seen him really do some good things. for example, voting “no” on the patriot act. his reasoning? “unlike everyone else,….i actually read it.”
needless to say, i was hoping he was gonna run for president this past election…..but it’s all good in the hood.
real point here…..while some ppl may think it’s wrong of him to reach out to the ppl on something like this…..i can’t help but love the way some of our political leaders are using today’s simple technologies to at least try to be on the same level as the citizens.
-click to view-
here’s the url on his website: http://www.russfeingold.org/get-involved/fein-tunes.html
either way, it’s just refreshing to see some of the politicians taking the time to participate in normal everyday entertainment.
flavor of the week.
by josh on February 5th, 2009
folgers brazilian blend.
the shit is good! target usually has it dirt cheap too. but for a mid-tier bean blend of heaven, it’s not half bad. highly recommend. A++++
in other news? well, don’t really have much….so here’s a song to enjoy your coffee with.
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new year opera.
by josh on January 5th, 2009
i am not exactly sure why….but i find myself listening to a lot of pavarotti lately….
here:
which probably means i should either be in the mafia, or am just a big fat homo….
i can’t help hearing just how cinematically perfect this stuff is though. duh, it’s from operas……but beyond that. it could treat a scene like corn cobbed salted butter. perfect and juicy. stay tuned for the video test…..heh.
and happy 2009 or whatever.
some vids from the aimee show.
by josh on December 9th, 2008
i guess i shoulda waited until everyone else posted their shit online before my other blog about this…..but whatever. here’s some vids from the show.
voices carry…
office jim makes an appearence!
patton oswald’s stand up bit…
wise up.
aimee mann’s xmas: a review.
by josh on December 7th, 2008
so yes, i went to the aimee mann christmas show last night at the wiltern up in downtown los angeles.
i’ll be the first to admit i was exactly thrilled about it being a “christmas” show, but wow was i surprised by how much more than that it was. after getting some drinks and people watching….we found our seats about 10 mins before the show started. the seats? were ridiculous. first row of the lodge…..which is basically the balcony in the wiltern. needless to say, the theater isn’t that big, so we were right on top of everything. then again, the wiltern rules in the sense that just about any seat was right on top of everything too.
well the show started with a few christmas tunes, while aimee introduced speical guests nellie mckay and grant lee phillips. both were amazing and even played a couple solo songs themselves.
one of the more interesting aspects of the show, was a 3 part video christmas special that consisted of a sarcastic spoof of a christmas carol. they split it up into 3 parts. the first part consisting of aimee being awoken in bed by…..dun, dun, dun…..micheal penn! he informed her of the 3 ghosts that would be visiting her. the 1st ghost soon chimed in…..via ichat video conference on aimee’s laptop. it was nothing short of hilarious for anyone that has ever tried to video chat…..with video freezing, things not working, having to switch to skype, the ghost not knowing where the cam button is on skype, and just……well, maybe it made more sense to anyone that’s tried to use that kinda buggy technology…..but was still funny for all.
next, comedian patton oswald jumped in the mix. you may know him from things like king of queens and reno 911. he sang along a bit and did a good 10 minute stand up set somewhere inbetween more music and the next video installment.
the 2nd part of the video was pretty slick. it started as aimee was singing chestnuts roasting……but she got interrupted by the ghost of christmas shows present via a live satellite feed. the ghost, was played by none other than!!!!! jim from the office! john krasinski.
it’s was as equally as funny as the first part…..until……JOHN CAME RUNNING OUT FROM BACKSTAGE!!!!! to not only surprise the crowd, but apparently aimee as well. they sang a song together, and john was a horrible singer……but like it mattered. fucking jim from the office comes running on the stage at an aimee mann concert? only in los angeles.
-click to play video-
at that point aimee played a few normal songs, save me and wise up. which made my panties wet.
other highlights included a great rendition of mr. grinch from aimee and grant lee (here’s a video from last year just to give you an idea of how sweet it was). grant lee also came out dressed up as willie nelson….and needless to say there were plenty of weed jokes to go along with the already stinky air in the theater. also, the 2 cops from reno 911 came out to inform the audience of a special christmas charity this year for crackheads. “christmas for crackheads”…..as in you can sponsor your very own crackhead for christmas this year. heh.
there was also an appearance from the hanukkah fairy. she came out stumbling drunk…..and preggers with god’s baby. hahahaha……she then preceded to cut some licks into a rap where aimee and the other backup singers helped her out with a chorus that consisted of “the immaculate conception of the hanukkah fairy”….and “the mutherfuckin’ hanukkah fairy”……hahaha. was awesome.
the third video installment was just as hilarious as the others. aimee tried recruiting michael cera (from juno, superbad)…..to be part of her show. he was thrilled…..but he refused to play tiny tim. hahaha, which, of course is the part they had in mind for him.
the 3rd ghost to visit aimee? none other than john. c. reilly!!! who was just as hilarious as the rest of course…..but unfortunately he didn’t run out from backstage.
overall the show was just simply amazing. filled with good music, suicide christmas jokes, some go obama fist pumps, and more than anything….an evening watching friends be friends.
aimee mann did the soundtrack for magnolia right? well, patton oswald had a small part in magnolia. john c. reilly of course the connection is there…..but grant lee phillips? plays a lot with jon brion at the largo here in los angeles. jon brion? did the score for magnolia…..as well as collaborated with michael penn on various other projects. michael penn is married to aimee mann…..
and it is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just “something that happened.” this cannot be “one of those things…”
all in all….i recommend this show to anyone that has a chance to see it. too bad she is pretty much only playing in california, and then off to the east coast to hit conn, mass, and new york.
sigur ros.
by josh on August 7th, 2008
just found out they are coming out here for a show this fall. i am not really big on concerts anymore. least not the stadium mega shows…..but i’ve never seen sigur ros before. so i may have to make an exception for this….
music is unreal. from iceland…..
bright eyes.
by josh on June 16th, 2008
i’ve been obsessed with this tune lately.
….not even really sure why exactly….so i’ll spare the “whoa…like this song is sooooo talkin’ to me” girl type crap…..
just seems to make a lot of sense to me at the time. so enjoy..