Big fan of Miss Janelle Monae - think OutKast meets Gnarls Barkley transmitted through a really gifted female voice. Check out her EP Metropolis - The Chase Suite it’s really dope. The song “Sincerely, Jane” is enough reason to cop it.
Here’s the first song that put me on to her - “Letting Go” (MP3) from the Big Boi compilation Got Purp? Vol II
And be sure to check her out in person if she’s performing at a venue in your town. Her live show is definitely a good time.
Opening for Raphael Saadiq @ Highline Ballroom, NYC:
Calling all future designers, entrepreneur‘s, graphic artists and dreamers.WIN $2,000 CASH and LOLLA TIX plus the winner‘s design gets sold at Threadless.com!
LOLLAPALOOZA WANTS YOU TO DESIGN A T-SHIRT!
In the ongoing ” Threadless Loves” series comes an exciting new partner, Lollapalooza! Yes, THE Lollapalooza that takes place in Chicago on August 1-3, 2008. Lollapalooza that‘s got a lineup of 130+ acts including Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Love and Rockets, Gnarls Barkley, Bloc Party, The Black Keys, Broken Social Scene and a whole bunch more. Created in 1991, by Jane‘s Addiction front man, Perry Farrell, Lollapalooza established itself as the first large-scale showcase in the U.S. for the alternative music scene. It quickly became a lifestyle festival staple for exposing concertgoers to a subculture of ‘alternative‘ living and art, and providing a platform for numerous human rights and environmental causes.After all that, did you know that the actual word “lollapalooza” means “remarkable or wonderful person or thing?” This will be the theme for the ” Threadless Loves” design submissions.
If you chose to take on this challenge, your goal is to show us what inspires you and show us what makes you happy. Show us what “lollapalooza” means to you. Be sure to make it exceptional! If your design is chosen you get two 3-day passes to the Festival, two round trip air fares to the Festival from anywhere in the world, hotel accommodations for you and a friend, your design printed and sold through the Threadless store, $2000 in cash (yes, CASH) and more. Find out more and submit your design here:http://threadless.com/loves/http://threadless.com/loves/lollapalooza
Mike Ness took the stage last night dawning a black cowboy hat and ready to play his roots approach to rock and roll. Sure this is a Mike Ness solo tour, but when fellow Social Distortion members Jonny Wickersham and Brent Harding are joining him, it is more of a Social Distortion “unplugged” show. I highly doubt you will ever see Social D break out the stand up bass like Harding did last night.
Ness & Co. played through most of his two solo albums, which admittedly contain many covers. However, seeing his passion playing the songs by Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, Carl Perkins, and Sonny Curtis is fine by this guy. In addition, the crowd was treated to Ness originals, “Cheating at Solitaire“, “Rest of Our Lives“, which was written for his wife, “Ballad for a Lonely Man“, which Ness had asked Johnny Cash to play with him on the album, but the Man in Black’s health was not good at the time, many others, and a newly written song.
The Social D fans were treated at the end of the first set with “Ball and Chain (Honky Tonk)“, which the crowd eagerly joined in singing. Ness & Co. finished the night off with a three song encore, which ended with Sonny Curtis’s “I Fought the Law“. Maybe it is the punk rocker in me, but I love that song, and these guys played it right to end the evening, with typical Ness intensity once again dawning the black cowboy hat.
Mike Ness is in New York again Thursday May 15th. If you did not make last night’s show, you might want to check this out.
Brand new on to the scene Forever the Sickest Kids release their debut album Underdog Alma Mater today.
These boys are quickly becoming the next big thing, selling over 100k digital tracks before their album was even released, and joining the mainstage of Warped all summer long.
If FTSK knows how to do anything (besides have fun) it’s write a good, solid pop/punk/rock song. You can’t help but sing along to the anthemic first single “Whoa” or crowd favorites “Hey Brittany” and “Believe Me, I’m Lying”.
Hopefully they’ll be celebrating killer first week sales at Bamboozle this Sunday.
Currently defunct legendary NYC music venue CBGB’s is set for a somewhat disheartening ressurection. High fashion designer John Varvatos is said to be invading the once scrappy punk club and turning it into his new NYC boutique.
Varvatos may use the likeness of such rock royalty as Iggy Pop and Slash in his advertising campaigns, but does this license him the cred needed to take on the space minus adversity?
It’s set to be an interesting battle that will surely end in Varvatos’s favor….because as we learned with the poetic closing of CB’s; money beats preservation.
MAE is set to hit the road this fall opening for Motion City Soundtrack along with Anberlin and Metro Station. MAE will be touring in support of their new record SINGULARITY available 8/14.
MAE are currently out on their own headlining tour with As Tall As Lions and Dear and the Headlights.
October 17 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Orbit Room
October 19 - Duluth, MN - The Relf Center
October 20 - Omaha, NE - The Sokol Auditorium
October 21 - Kansas City, MO - Beaumont Club
October 23 - Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Center
October 24 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Bar-B-Q
October 26 - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
October 29 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Landing
October 30 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution
October 31 - Lake Buena Vista, FL - House Of Blues
November 2 - Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
November 3 - Charlotte, NC - Amos Sounthend
November 4 - N. Myrtle Beach, SC - House Of Blues
November 6 - Norfolk, VA - Norva
November 7 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club
November 9 - New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom
November 10 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
November 11 - Worcester, MA - Palladium
November 13 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
November 14 - Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
November 18 - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus
November 20 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
November 21 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore (formally The State Theater)
November 23 - Milwaukee, WI - Eagles Ballroom
November 24 - Maplewood, MN - Myth
November 28 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
November 29 - Portland, OR - The Roseland Theater
November 30 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre
December 1 - San Diego, CA - Soma
December 3 - Anaheim, CA - House Of Blues
December 4 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern LG
December 5 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
December 7 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues
December 8 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
December 9 - Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
December 11 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
December 13 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart’s
December 14 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theater
December 16 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
Tickets for the headlining tour go on sale nationwide on Friday, August 10. There will be a limited number of tickets available during a special presale that starts this Monday, August 6 at 10 am EST.
Large Prof killed it at Zune BBQ this past Saturday. Zune held a really incredible BBQ at Fulten Ferry Park in BK this past Saturday, where they had XBOX 360 set up all over the place, basketball contests to win free Zune’s and amazing performances from Clipse, MIMS, Large Prof and many others.
Band of horses concert poster b Jon Smith available for purchase 
