what a dirrrrrty weekend!

From S-Yo:

Oh SHIT, WHERE do i begin with this weekend?

On Friday night, I had to settle the Martin Sexton show at the Nokia Theatre. No, I did not catch any of the show, sadly. I really do like him. M$ attended the show and said it was great.

Saturday night, all four of us Coachella 2007 Ladies were graced with the presence of Intern Caryn, made the trek from Penn Station to Nassau Coliseum in Long Island (er, Lon Gisland) to see Christina Aguilera. Don't laugh at us, S-Yo and E$ worked on Christina Aguilera from day one (our company promoted the tour). So it was only totally righteous that we see at least one show to know what kinda product we've been endorsing. It was definitely A SHOW. C-train pulled out all the stops: pyro, trapeze artists, multiple costume changes, and of course, her amazing pipes.


We knew it was the beginning of a sweet, solid evening of fun when we hailed a cabbie that boasted a blinged out mini-van with an automatic-closing sliding door and a hula-girl. oh, and reggae jams galore.


The guys on the road with production and finance hooked us up with catering tix backstage. So, we got a free, yummy dinner chockful of pan-seared tuna, delicious eggplant encased with crispy, golden phyllo-dough, ze best aspargus of my life (my pee also smelled so!), and deserts!!! not only that, but the spread included vitamins. Here we are, taking our Flinstones so we can stay strong and healthy. L to R: Caryn, Elissa, Maureen, and Sam.


The infamous Pussy Cat Dolls opened for Christina. So did Danity Kane, but we missed them because I was parked out at the desert table in catering and couldn't stop eating. After everyone physically pulled me away from my plate, we got out just in time to see the PCD.


UMMMMMMMM, i hesitate to use the word SLUTTAY to describe these girls, but let me tell you, as a woman, I felt extremely uncomfortable watching these ladies writhe around the stage in booty shorts and boots. Maybe it's because they make me realize I should drop 20 pounds or maybe it's because I knew there were TEN YEAR OLD girls taking all of this in and probably subconsciously absorbing the message that they need stripper poles installed in their bedrooms to become real women.






AAAAAAND HERE SHE IS!





Christina's grandiose entrance. Very Madonna-esque when she was pulling her Marilyn phase shit.

She chose to open with "Ain't No Other Man." Good decision.


































The final song. Christina chose "Fighter." My favoritest of her catalog.


After-show is always ze best time! We chilled out in the production office for a bit, then partied with the venue management in their offices. The peeps at Nassau Coliseum were so hospitable and fun, Coachella 2007 LOVES YOU! They even ordered a LIMO to take us back to Manhattan from Long Island. Here is Jackie representin' Nassau Coliseum as she leads us to our sweet ride. HOLLA.














































We took the limo down to Allen and Delancey to meet up with some of Sam's friends. Elissa and I danced the night away and fended off lots o' sketchballs. We all lied and said it was her 21st bday and got some free shots from dudes! WOO HOO!





Obviously, we are not afraid to post shitty pictures of ourselves. But this is why our friends love us! Until next time, that's the news for now.

M$:

Now from my camera...

On the train ride over to Hempstead, I offered an old TV from work to whoever won at thumb war. It was Sam vs. Caryn. Sam won the first round, Caryn won the second round, so it was all down to the third and final round. Stay tuned for the results! Video coming soon...

Here is our Hemp-mobile. Ghettooooooo.

The high-tech sliding door!


Food at the production office. Mmmm grass. What are these hard things?

The floor of our pimp limo. MARBLE TILES. what what.



Dancing at Lucky Jack's. Which, by the way, is at the North East corner of Delancey and Allen. In case you get lost like we did...

Hot mamas.

PS. Martin Sexton was alright. The crowd sucked; fulled of douchebags who could not keep quiet. And he didn't even sing "Glory Bound!" WTF.

POP QUIZ!

How well do you know your guitar gods?

Find out here.


How about your hair-metal bands?

Find out here

The Long Winters @ Union Hall

Last night [April 2nd], The Long Winters played Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I've seen The Long Winters about 4 times since last August, and they've always played a solid set and I always have a good time. This is partly because when you go to a Long Winters show, you not only get to see the band, you get to hear John Roderick's stand-up routine. Well, not really...But it feels like that because John takes a break in between most songs to make a joke of some kind, to take requests, or his favorite, to "argue" with someone in the crowd. So I know that when I go see The Long Winters, I'm going to see good music and laugh my ass off at the same time. Good combination, no?

While they did play a good set last night, including songs from all three of their albums, there was something amiss with the sound. Everything sounded muffled, guitars were slightly out of tune, levels were unbalanced, mics were feeding back, etc...Throughout the entire set, John was trying to get the sound guy to fix things. Maybe they didn't have time for a good sound check? Or maybe the sound at Union Hall sucks? I don't know.

Suffice it to say, though, that during their acoustic portion of the set, things were going well. It was just John and Eric up there, playing acoustic guitar and bass respectively. They did 3 or 4 songs like this, including "Mimi," "Seven" and "Bride and Bridle." After their little acoustic number, the rest of the band came up and they finished the show with a few more songs, ending with "Stupid" (against John's will!). Other highlights during the set include "The Commander Thinks Aloud," "Rich Wife," "Pushover" (MP3 below), "Scared Straight" (<3 style organ) and "Shapes."

DOWNLOAD: The Long Winters - "Pushover" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Long Winters - "Stupid" (MP3
Cross-posted at Skank Your Art.

+/- and Bishop Allen @ Mercury Lounge

Friday's show [March 30th] at the Mercury Lounge was amazing. One of the best shows I've seen in a long time.

+/- rocked their set. The second song they played, "Fadeout," came off amazing live. There's a 4 minute buildup in the song, during which you are just waiting for the rest of the guitars and drums to kick in, and when they do it's so satisfying and worth the wait. Another highlight in their set was "One Day You'll Be There," which I imagine is really hard to pull off live with the weird syncopation, but it sounded so good. The band was really tight; but the drummer was the real star.

In between sets, they played snippets of stage banter in between songs at a KISS concert. Funny and amusing the first few times, but a little annoying towards the end. The only thing that was disappointing during their set was that the crowd didn't seem to be into it. Maybe they were all there to see Bishop Allen? Who knows, but I thought that +/- did a great job and I can't wait to see them again.

When Bishop Allen came on, the crowd was loving it. Everyone knew all the words and people were actually dancing, it was really fun. I saw Bishop Allen during their Pianos residency about a year ago, and I thought they were good, but not amazing. So I was curious as to what they sound like live now, what with all their additions and changes to the band, as well as signing a record deal with Dead Oceans. What a difference a year has made. They are a tight band now, and they have a full sound that comes off really well and fills the room. Their songs just came to life on Friday.

DOWNLOAD: Bishop Allen - "Click Click Click Click" (MP3)

I never considered myself a Bishop Allen fan, mostly because I didn't think I knew their catalog well enough. But at the show on Friday, I realized that I knew most of the songs they played, and not only that, but I really love those songs. Highlights for me included "The Monitor," "Corazon" (<3 style="font-style: italic;">Clementines due out later this Summer.

Cross-posted at Skank Your Art.

dead heart bloom

dude, last night i was tooling around at work when i lost my motivation to be productive and stumbled upon a really, really fantastic band called dead heart bloom.

you can download both of their albums for free here. you should get it. you won't regret it. i can't stop listening to them and i am so pissed i missed the last show at rockwood.

new music this week

dude the aol listening party has got some rad shit up for free listening this week.

you can check out jarvis cocker, sia, kings of leon, and fountains of wayne.

ROCK OUT!