Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Anutha Funky D Invazion!!!

My agent had some time to do some booking for me last night, so he got me another Ravari Room gig!!! I will be spinnin' vinyl gems again on Tuesday night, March 8th, starting around 10:30. It should be a good time as always, so come on out and reprazent! I think I'm proclaiming today "Spell Like Onyx In Their Heyday Day." It's already awesome.

Dropping like flies!!!

Reggie Roby, an awesome NFL punter from 1983 to 1999, died today of unknown causes. He was 43. You can read the story here. February is becoming a rough month, ya know?

A year ago, a friend of mine...
...scoffed at me for my desire to have a blog. It's been a year now (the first post was February 19, 2004), and he no longer cares one way or the other. Haha. Seriously though, this bloggin stuff ain't half bad. Thanks to all the people who have read so far, and love to the select few who have commented. It's not too late to join this elite circle (wink wink, nudge nudge). I'm no Grand Lord Nappius, who is constructing such a massive recap that he's allowing me to post mine first and pretend like I had a blog before he did, MWAHAHAHA!!! (I'm sure it'll be a doozy, Nappy!) I'm just gonna say thanks, and keep on rockin'. I suppose I could have used this opportunity to launch some new links and whatnot, but I guess that'll have to wait. However, to celebrate this occasion, I need to have a giveaway. The first person who can tell me the hip-hop group, whom were popular in the mid-80s, that I alluded to in the title of this little blurb wins...AN ENTIRE POST DEDICATED TO THEMSELVES, COURTESY OF ME!!! WHAT A PRIZE!!!!!

Breaking News
CD101 hyped a major concert announcement for yesterday afternoon, and I should have figured it would have been details for CD101 Day, the annual cheap shindig that CD101 throws to celebrate the 101st day of the year (though this year the jam's on the 99th day)! The headliner so far is The Black Keys, and the lineup also includes The Dresden Dolls, The Bravery, and Ash. April 9th at Promowest, 5 bones (damn near double that with Ticketshitter charges). Sorry, Medeski Martin & Wood, when you're competing by offering one band (I think) for $20, it ain't gonna happen.

Show of the Year?

Wow. On Saturday night, Andy and I went to Wooster, where we (eventually) met up with Dusty, Sanz, Danny, and Mikhail (I think), and we ventured to Cleveland to see the awesomeness that is Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Damn (it's hot)!!! That was my fifth Daptone Records (check em out here) show, and I think it was my favorite. It was the last night of their tour, and Sharon wasn't lying when she promised they would give everything they had left. Sharon was sweating her way out of her dress and the band was just kickin ass left and right! I was standing in the very front, against the stage, which was awesome. Near the beginning, she was singing to me with one arm around my shoulders! She was definitely right when she said I was scared. Near the end of the show, she had Dusty come on stage and dance with her, which was sweet too. There were four different audience members onstage during the show! Of course, the self-proclaimed "Hoochie Coochie Man" was the king of them all, singin to Sharon and dancin with his wife. They performed some of the old favorites, and alot of stuff from the recently-released Naturally, including the inexplicably funky cover of "This Land is Your Land." Wow, that was a great show. I see that they are listing a Toledo show on 4-20; what better way to celebrate Andy's favorite stoner convention? I mean seriously, I kinda wanna go.

Of course, other rock is not very memorable now. On Friday night, I went by myself to Cafe Bourbon Street for The Lost Sounds, with The Feelers and The Bravado. The Bravado opened; they were OK. I would describe them as a three-piece Bob Log III with more keyboard and greasy 80s, and less blues and rock. But not bad. Memphis' Lost Sounds played second, and kicked out some rockin' keyboard-punk-somethingorother. Freaky good time music. The Feelers closed out with a mildly rockin punk set, but I think I liked them better before at Bernies (who woulda thunk?), oh well. Good timez.

I did it myyyyyyy waaaaaaayyyyyyy
Last night I went with some folks to Restaurant Silla for some fine Korean food and ended up making my debut KARAOKE appearance! As I'm no musical wuss, here are the meaty selections that I sunk my teeth into:

"Suspicious Minds" (Elvis)
"Hey Ya" (duet w/Lee, longest "shake it" section of that song EVER) (Outkast)
"Hangin' Tough" (New Kids On The Block) (Fuckin' right!)
"Holy Diver" (Dio)
"Walk" (Pantera) (R.I.P.)
"We Are The Champions" (Queen)

Helluva time. I might have to start sangin' karaoke more often...

Man, I need my own computer, so I can work on these things more often. Oh well. Keep a lookout for the jams, which could be on and poppin this weekend. I wanna go to Cafe Bourbon St Thursday night for Enemy Love (Boston), Wet Leather (Dayton), and Times New Viking (here). I found out that Wet Leather includes a 2001 Wooster grad, so that would be interesting to see. Go Scots! The weekend is up for grabs. But I'm sure it'll be fun. Oh yeah, shit...

Song of the Week

"New Slang" - The Shins, Oh, Inverted World

Nothing's really jumping out at me today, so...I figured I'd be a lame white kid in 2005 and laud some more praise on the Shins. This song is awesome though. Imjussayinisall.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

While we're at it...

Let's remember another all-time great, shall we? In what was universally heralded as the most talked-about death of the '90s (by universally I mean "Davekwonally"), Harlem rapper Big L died six years ago today.

In memoriam, I'm playing Lifestyles Ov Da Poor and Dangerous, his only studio album, as I write this. A master of punchlines and larger-than-life street talk. "If rap was a game I'd be M.V.P. - The most valuable poet on the M.I.C." R.I.P.

Planz
The KOV+1-1 could be venturing to a hip-hop/crap night at NYOH's Wednesday night, if only for an hour and a half of classic hip-hop and affordable beverages.
Friday night is wide-open at this point. I thought there was a Tiger Tiger/Lab Rats show at Scarlet & Grey Cafe, but that does not appear to be the case. Sooo, there's a show at Cafe Bourbon Street featuring The Lost Sounds which is looking pretty strong at this point.
Alls I know for sure is that a 6 man posse will be overtaking Cleveland Saturday night for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Damn it's gonna be awesome. Saturday (February 19th) happens to be the one year anniversary of this assed-out blog, so hopefully I will commemorate this fact (and the anniversary show) with a nice post on Monday.

Oh yeah, I went to some shows...
Last night, due to unfortunate circumstances, I rocked a 5+ hour hip-hop adventure by myself, but it was rather fun. It started with an in-store appearance by Hangar 18 at Magnolia Thunderpussy. There were no mics to be found (I did go and get mine, but they decided not to use it), so Wind 'n Breeze and Alaska rocked the beat without 'em. Wes managed to get a crowd in there by recruiting drunk girls who, though very annoying, did seem to get the rapsters in the mood. It was a up close and personal, one-of-a-kind performance that was fun to watch. It definitely gave me more appreciation for the MCs interwoven wordplay, especially on "Saved By the Beezy." After that wrapped up (or the store closed), I walked across the street to Little Bros for the actual show. It was probably the best-paced hip-hop show I've ever seen, or at least in a long time, as the locals started at 10 and the whole thing was over at 1. After some spinnin by Numeric, there was a scratch-tastic set by Ginsu and Ndcent with some MC assistance from Chase Manhatten. Pretty nice. Then came probably the best set of the night, courtesy of One Be Lo and DJ/MC Majestik Legend. One Be Lo's new album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M., just dropped, and he did alot of new jams. It was tremendous. Just beat after beat and rhyme after rhyme. He's definitely good at the conscious-yet-streetwise hip-hop style. See him live whenever you can (Maybe he'll show up at Blueprint's release party April 2nd???), you'll thank me later. Then the Hangar came on and kicked it. They were definitely having a good time, and so was I. The funniest moment was when Alaska announced that it was t-shirt giveaway time. DJ Big Wiz (or whatever, he's on tour for DJ PAWL) dropped the beat for "Whoa," and the crowd was made to compete to see who was loudest by yelling "Shirt" in place of "Whoa" to win the shirt. Hilarious. The set was just about an hour of awesomeness. Great use of my otherwise pointless Valentine's Day.

Sunday night, I think I caught the first installment of Park Street Tavern's (formerly the 5:01 Jazz Bar) Sunday Night Jazz Series. Postal kicked some ass with their new school attack. Good organ/keyboard, sax, drums (nice use of cymbals), and a guy sitting in the bar came on all of a sudden to rock the t-bone quite well. Good early show.

Jason, Dave, Andy and I only saw one band Friday night, but my did it count! We saw Electric Grandmother at Cafe Bourbon Street, which was actually one guy with pre-programmed keyboard beats, a projector, and plenty of songs about...80's sitcoms!!! Definitely the finest sitcomcore I've ever witnessed, haha. Not exactly a high-brow affair, but definitely very enjoyable. Then we ran for the hills.

Man, I gotta quit going to so many shows...or post more often. Every time I write, by the time I'm done with show reviews, I'm tired of writing or I have something else to do. Oh well. How about a quick new feature?

Song of the Week!!!

"Alive and Amplified" - Mooney Suzuki, Alive and Amplified
To me it sounds like a glam-rock party with a Sleepy Brown/Outkast hook grafted onto it. Look out for this one on CD101 or your local jam-receptacle.

That's enough. In the immortal words of my soon-to-be 60 years old father, "Have a nice weekend."

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

R.I.P. Jimmy Smith, 1928-2005


Yesterday was a sad day, as it marked the passing of Jimmy Smith, the primary man responsible for the popularity of the Hammond Organ in jazz music. He died in his sleep in Phoenix, at the age of 76, and you can read a news story here from our good friends at MTV. He was responsible for countless organ classics throughout the 50s and 60s, and though the quality of his output seemed to decline in the 70s and onward, he kept on churning out the jams. Chops and I reminisced with these two gems last night:


Root Down is a live jazz classic that everyone should own (I think the Beastie Boys agree), with that cover of "Let's Stay Together" that comes damn close to the power of the original. I wish I had gotten a chance to see him play, like my dad, who was lucky enough to see him when he was at Wooster in the 60s. Damn. I don't have much more to say, I just know he'll always be the king of jazz organ. R.I.P.

On to lighter news: My second review for Swizzle-Stick.com is finally up!!! I Want to Live a Peaceful Life by The Holy Sons is a helluva album, and you can read my thoughts on it here.

Remember that last post where I laid out four shows I was going to attend? Well, I only went one for four, though the weekend was still a good time. Wednesday night, however, I did make it to the 2005 Columbus Beat Battle at Little Brothers, where I met up with Andy and Dave. The amount of Columbus (and Ohio) dudes with beats is crazy. This guy named J-Swift won it all, though I'm just going on the word of everyone else because it finished super late. Spitball also kicked it live as part of the festivities, and it was quite enjoyable. SYSTEM LINK produced another hip-hop smorgasbord, and look out for the next one on March 16th with DJing by Dante Carfagna and J. Rawls!!! Should be a helluva time.

I had a bunch of music-related things kicking around to tell y'all about, but I think I'm gonna save those for later (and try and remember some of them). Right now it's time to dig this out:

Peace.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

My nuts don't dance...

They just write these dumb blog entries for me. Isn't that nice of them? What's happenin, y'all? The utter blog-frenzy caused by my latest DJ appearance has definitely died down, so it's time to post again. Wooster was crazy fun this weekend, as those kiddies always show this old man a good time, or something like that. The Royal Rumble was watched Sunday night at Nappy's (once I woke up), and Batista kicked ass like you knew he would. So now he can have a big dramatic loss at Wrestlemania. Huzzah. Now for some...

Upcoming SHOWZZZ!!!
Wednesday, Feb 2nd: 2005 Columbus Beat Battle hosted by SYSTEM LINK (Numeric & Ginsu), with a performance by Spitball @ Little Brothers. Beatmakers are coming from all over the place to see who has the best! Andy and I should be there, will you?
Thursday, Feb 3rd: Not sure if I'm doing anything, but Sundresses/Mors Ontologica/The Bravado @ Ruby Tuesdays sounds pretty sweet, don't you think?
Friday, Feb 4th: Freekbass & New Basics Brass Band @ Little Brothers, which would be extra dope to see!!!

Saturday, Feb 5th: Very up in the air, but if I end up at a show Saturday night, I want it to be the Tiara/Miranda Sound Split Album Release Party @ Little Brothers with DJ Riko & The Killionaires, sponsored by good ol' Donewaiting (check out the flyer, y'all. I would put it on the page, but it is much too huge).

Past SHOWZZZ!!!
On Friday night, my cousin Nate, my friend Todd, and I saw Mitch Hedberg at the Mershon. He was pretty damn funny, as was his raunchy first opener, Rob somethingorother. Ol' Mitch appeared to be eight sheets to the wind, but he kept going (while leaning against a curtain, lighting a pipe and then putting it into his pocket, and telling jokes from behind the curtain, amongst other things) and did a good job. Comedy is hard for me to write about, so let's just say it was funny!
On Thursday night, Andy and I made it to the 2nd Anniversary Party for the Taco Ninja at Cafe Bourbon Street (home of the Ninja). Of course, Jason let Andy try a "pinch of the Bear," which soon put young Nappy to bed. Like he already said, don't dip, kids! The openers were The Spikedrivers, a damn awesome rockin' bluegrass band that you need to see sometime! Then the poisonous duo of Wicked Lung & the Wookalar came on to wreck shit. They played some new songs, which were rather sweet (Look out, look out, look out, my teeth are falling out!), of course. For the last half of the set, they kicked into their DEATH METAL set, which I was seeing for the first time. Pretty damn entertaining, if you ask me. Sure, it's just them screaming demonically (BEASTMASTER!!!) over metal-looped beats, but doesn't that sound like enough for you??? Good times, even with the early retiring of the Nap.

Well, I hate to run, but...I must. Let's see a show together this week, huh?