Some of the shows from this post are still valid.A small amount of new ones are listed below.
December
Sunday December 5th, the entire Hiero crew will be at the Oakland Metro Opera House. Tickets are $20 presale, and doors open at 8. I have never heard of the Oakland Metro Opera House, but I have heard of Hiero, might be worth checking out if you are in the East Bay.
January
The Budos Band is playing the Independent on Saturday, January 15th. Tickets are $20, grab them here. Doors open at 8:30. This should be a great show. These guys are solid and if you are a fan of the Dap Kings, that throwback, soul, retro awesomeness and horns, then I recommend that you go to this.
February
The Decemberists and Mountain Man will be at the Fox theater on Valentine's day. That date would be Monday, February 14th. Tickets are $37.50 and can be found here.I have yammered on about Mountain Manbefore, so I feel comfortable saying this will be a good show.
Beach House will be at the Fillmore on Friday, February 18th. Tickets are $32.25 including service charges and can be purchased here. The show starts at 9:00. Maybe this time I won't be as freaked out when I see that the singer is a female, I seriously thought it was an indie dude with a beard on lead vocals until I saw them the last time they came to town. I still don't really believe it. March
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Tapes N' Tapes are coming to the Bottom of The Hill on Friday March 11th. Tickets are $16 and available here. It's a later show with doors opening at 10:00 pm. I am really into these guys at the moment. Their Horsepower EP is four songs of greatness that I keep talking about, and I was actually just looking to see if they were coming to town the other day. My search came up with only a couple of stops in NY and DC, so it was a nice surprise to find this posting in my general venue search.
I don't know if you know this but I am quite an arty fucker, I think that's the technical term. I spend my weekends strolling into galleries, sometimes people's personal properties and simply say, "I'll take it, wrap it up" Then I usually clap twice and continue to inspect things in your house. So with that being said I will try and meld my love of art and my love of music by pelvic thrusting a piece of art at you before exposing you to the nicely packaged morsel of musical goodies I have hidden at the end of this entry. The piece to the left is titled, "Put Another One On," and it's by Pam Wishbow. Peruse her Etsy here.
A new indie mix can be located behind the jump if you are so inclined
Does anyone needs some new soul music? Sorry for the long absence, cliche, cliche, blahbiddy blah. You know the deal. Before we get to official business I would like to highlight the awesomness of the picture to the left. It's called, "The Find" and it's by Christopher David Ryan a graphic designer with an incredible style. I have been drooling over his stuff for the last couple of weeks. Go check out his blog here, he kind of rules.
Ok let's get into it. One highlight from this mix is a pretty blatant rip off of the, Temptaion's, "My Girl." This re-worked tune is called, "It's My Baby," and it's sung by Paul Kelly who was on this mix.
Compare the lyrics:
The Temptations- My Girl
I've got sunshine
On a cloudy day.
When it's cold outside,
I've got the month of May.
Well, I guess you'll say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl. (My girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl. (My girl)
Paul Kelly- It's My Baby
when the sun don't shine to me it don't mean a thing
what is it that I have that makes me feel no pain
I hear my friends whisper when I walk by
what is it that makes me keep my head up high,
it's my baby that keeps me satisfied, it's my baby. Talkin bout my baby.
Also just listen to the music. It's a total swagger jack, but personally I am not that upset. I rip off people's entire discographies as my own. I don't even bother to re-interpret the lyrics or the music, so Paul has more effort than me.
First I have to apologize. My friend sent me a link to the Kanye short film, "Runaway," and said it was amazing. I still haven't watched it and that was going to be the main reason for this post. Instead I got distracted and found these other videos. I swear I will get to it though, for now here are some links to the film. On Youtube, and on Vevo, not sure if those are better quality but I'll embed another version I found that doesn't seem to be HD and when I embed it isn't widescreen. You might have better luck at those other links. Anyway, I apologize for my inability to focus on the task at hand. I should also apologize for only posting random music videos. What can I say they are easy filler posts. *Kanye shrug*
Not sure how this matches up with the Kanye video in terms of artistic merit but this is pretty amazing. I know everybody is a fan of the legendary group from my youth, "4 Non-Blondes," right? Yeah I only know that one song too but that's not important. What's important is that He-Man is familiar with them and that one song. I laughed, well done SlACKCiRCUS.
Do you guys like Darwin Deez? Does it make you uncomfortable how much of a hipster he is? I thought about posting this before but thought it might be too weird. That Deez is persistent though. Persistence is rewarded around here. Besides, I am a fan, as evidenced by him appearing on the first indie mix I made. I will Deezifiy my hair by the next time you see me.
Uh this video has some music in it. Is that enough reason for it to be posted? I just love Dieter Rams designs. He was the designer for Braun back in the day where he made some amazing products including record players. Like my profile picture, the SK55 or "Snow White's Coffin." Ha! Another reason to post it. You can see his influence in all of the current apple products and all over the world of design. Ooh one more reason to post this, Snow White's coffin is at the top of my Christmas list. You guys should coordinate so I don't end up getting multiples.
And Newy Scruggs does a pretty good job of summing up San Francisco for the people back home in the Dallas, Fort Worth area. This does not relate in any way to music.
I have some mixes in the works too;
The whistle one needs to be sequenced. A soul one is done. There is a finished hip hop and also a completed indie. So I just need to get those uploaded and ready for your consumption. I'm sure that will happen sometime soon. *Wanders off to google Care Bear dance videos*
Mike Giant & Derick Montez get busy at Ameoba on Haight. Giant is a legend and Derick is super skilled, but I can't help but feel bad for all the people they just went over. I guess it's better than getting buffed or painted over by a toy. Might as well get wiped out by a legend right?
The Morning Benders, who I just saw last Saturday have a newish video for their song "All Day Day Light." It was a great show, they sounded amazing and it was a nice set, just some complaints not related to the band's performance. A much better writer did a review of the show and you can check that out at her site located here.
Nice beat on this one. Talib always flows nice, on beat or off beat and it's not a bad video from Reflection Eternal with their song, "Long Hot Summer."
El Mac puts in some work in Vietnam to a nice track. Does anyone know who that's by? Does it say somewhere in the video and I spaced for that part?
This is scary as shit. Why would you do such a thing Japan?
Breaking these down by month. Seems to make the most sense.
October
Uhhh not sure why you would pay $15 for this but if you are bored tonight and happen to be near the Independent why not go watch the Air Sex Championships? Actually I can think of a lot of reasons why not to go, but I won't judge you if you do. Tickets are available here. I expect a full recap and re-enactment of the championship routine if you do in fact venture into that darkened dungeon of pelvic thrusting stage humping madness.
Lyrics Born, Chali 2na, and Rakaa of Dilated Peoples have a show at The Independent on Friday October 22. Tickets are kind of money but that's a pretty solid trio of underground hip hop. These guys meant a lot to me back in the day. Doors open at 8:30, the show starts at 9:00, and $25 tickets can be purchased here.
Murs, Moe Green, and J. Billion will be at the Shattuck Down Low on Saturday, October 23rd. The show starts at 9:00 and $17 tickets can be found here. Huge fan of Murs, one of my top emcees, witty, great delivery, and solid beats. If you don't know about him you better axe somebody.
The Best Coast will be at The Great American Music Hall on Tuesday, October 26. Doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 8:00. $15 tickets can be purchased here.
DeerHunter will be at The Great American Music Hall on Friday, October 29th. Doors open at 8:00, the show starts at 9:00. Tickets are $17 and are available here. If you can't make that show they will also be at Slim's on Saturday, October 30. Doors open at 8:00, the show starts at 9:00. Tickets are $17 and are available here.
November
Stars, who have the first song on this mix. Have a show at the Fillmore on November 10th, which is a Wednesday. Doors open at 8:00 and tickets are $39.50 once the extra fees have been slapped on. Grab them here or save yourself $12 in fees by going to the actual box office.
Zion-I, Locksmith, Hold Up, Bayliens, and DJ Kevvy Kev will have a show at Slim's on Saturday November 20th. Doors open at 8:00 for the 8:30 showtime and tickets are $20 advanced sales and $23 at the door. Grab them here. If you can't attend that one you can catch them the following night with Eligh and Scarub, Bang Data, Hold up, and The Oakland Faders, on Sunday, Nov 21st at the same venue, same showtime, and same price. Pick your poison. Tickets for that show can be found here.
Souls of Mischief, Candlespit Collective, Broken Complex, Uephoric, and DJ Pause have a show at Slim's on Wednesday, November 24th. Doors open at 8:00, the show starts at 9:00. $21 tickets can be purchased here. Local heroes, underground legends, Souls reps the Bay Area underground scene to the fullest. This will be a real hip hop show that people shouldn't miss out on.
December
People Under The Stairs or P.U.T.S., will be at Slim's on Friday, December 3rd. Tickets are $19 and will be available here on Sunday, October 24th. These dudes are some underground icons. They have that golden age sound with beats constructed from actually digging for records, what!!!?? Who does that anymore.
The Grouch, Brother Ali, Eligh, and Los Rakas will be at the Independent on Wednesday, December 15th. Doors will open at 7:30 with a showtime of 8:00. Advance tickets are $20, $22 at the door. They will be on sale on Friday here.
Eyedea and Abilities peppered a ton of my hip hop mixes when I was in college. Them and the entire Rhymesayers crew, were played in heavy rotation during those years.
Although Eyedea could be too abstract for me at times, he was an undeniably gifted emcee. His studio stuff was experimental, harder to grasp, almost too high brow and poetic for my taste. Where he really gained my respect was his ability to freestyle. He could come off the top harder, faster, wittier, and more skillfully than 99% of the people in the game today. Guaranteed he could smoke your top ten emcees in a battle.
When I say battle I don't mean you spit a written, I retort with a written that I have had in my pocket for the last couple of months. I mean battle in the true sense of the word, what it used to mean. Two dudes coming at each other actually freestyling, no rehearsed shit, just real, on the spot rhymes. I am not sure when the meaning of "freestyle" changed but in my eyes it has always meant spitting whatever you could come up with on the spot, and you would be hard pressed to find someone that could do this better than Eyedea. It used to be if you couldn't rock a cypher you couldn't get on. People honed their skills, learned the culture, appreciated all of the elements of hip hop. I bet you a lot of the rappers on the charts now couldn't even jump in a cypher without looking foolish.
Eyedea was hip hop through and through. A freestyle battle champ he paired up with award winning turntablist and God like DJ, Abilities for their first release, Firtsborn, in 2001. Eyedea stormed the freestyle scene at the young age of 16, was signed to Rhymesayers which was a label chock-full of underground royalty and really left his mark on the hip hop world. He was a large part of my college soundscape so the news of his passing was unexpected and tragic. R.I.P. Eyedea.
From Billy Jam, “Emcee and renowned freestyle battle champ Eyedea suddenly passed today (Oct 17th). Actual cause of death is not confirmed yet but reports all indicated that the rapper born Micheal Larsen was found dead by his mother, Kathy Averill , earlier today. He was only 28 and a few weeks shy of his 29th birthday.”
"His mom posted on his Facebook page today, “It is with great pain and sadness that I tell you my son Mikey (Eyedea) has passed away. At this time we kindly request your respect and our privacy as we process this devastating loss.
We do, however, welcome your kind words, memories, and positive thoughts. We have created a Paypal account and are accepting donations towards the cost of his services. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so by accessing this link:
