RapRocks @ The Studio at Webster Hall, January 6, 2011

Woohoo! The contest winner strikes again! I won a pair of tickets to go to this combination show at The Studio @ Webster Hall this past Thursday, so of course, I went! Now Webster Hall I've been too quite a few times, but I hadn't been to this alleged "Studio" until that night. It would appear that Webster Hall has an actual music studio that doubles as a lounge in the basement of its giant establishment. The capacity is somewhere around 300, so it makes for a quite intimate setting to see live music.

I especially love going to shows where I don't know anyone, or there isn't a big named act performing. I always think it's cool to see someone before they "blow up." Lots of talent at this show on Thursday night, so hopefully there will be enough blowing up to go around for everyone.

The first performer was Googie Gohard, a very fun and entertaining rapper out of New Jersey. His set was short and sweet, doing only 3 songs, but you could tell he had the crowd from the first song he decided to do. He has a great stage presence and a really inviting voice, not to mention the tracks the DJ was playing were crisp, so everything sounded great. His last track was his most entertaining, rapping about crazy girls and the men who love them (himself included of course), and he left the stage to a rousing round of applause, then spent the rest of the show hanging out with people, and enjoying it with the rest of the music loving fans. He wasn't to be the only person to do this, as everyone pretty much hung out and watch the other artists, which was nice.

The next performers were Trinity, a three person hip-hop group with two guys and a girl (who also sings on some of their tracks). I mentioned the sound of Googie's set being great, so I could differentiate it from these guys, who had a really tough act to begin with in the first place, but their sound seemed a bit loud and not nearly as clear. They performed with energy, but you could tell that they feed off of crowds, and when the crowd weren't really giving them that energy back, their performance lost a bit of luster. Their songs were good though, but I would say they were my least favorites for the night.

Up and coming pop singer Shyvonne was up next, and she definitely did not disappoint. She took time off from singing songs to do a couple songs acapella, and it was then that you realized that you are dealing with a legit singer with a ridiculously amazing voice. She was the only artist for the night who did a song I'd ever heard prior to being there, a track called "Mind Reader," which she performed much to my surprise, because I had no idea who sang it in the first place! She was amazing and commanded the stage, even bringing out a couple of back up dancers to perform a song with her. She really used every aspect of a performance to rock it. It was great.

The next act probably should have went last; a rapper by the name of Rocky Business, who was backed by his band. This was the part of the evening where I actually felt bad that I hadn't checked my coat, because, it was mosh time! These guys are full of energy and Rocky himself is quite the crazy character. All of their songs have great sounds, nice guitar solos and fun lyrics. He even brought out one of the guys from Ninjasonik to make things all the more insane. Truthfully speaking, when I heard about the show, I was under the impression that the people performing would all sound somewhat like Rocky and the gang, it being a show called RapRocks and all, but I was wrong. It was OK though, these guys definitely made sure I didn't miss out on my mosh time! Rocky even jumped in to the pit with us for a spell, these guys were awesome.

Show Tufli was the next artist to reach the stage; and much to my happiness, the second one in a row with a backing band! If Rocky Business were heavy metal, then Show Tufli was definitely Jazz & Blues. His sound was very mellow, but his voice resonates. It worked out well too because most of their songs were about women and being in love. The vibe clearly mellowed out, but it was still a good one. There were definitely more women in the crowd at this point, no doubt awaiting the arrival of their artist Show Tufli, who was making it quite clear that water would be the drink of choice for the night, since apparently he recovered from having a stroke. I'm glad he is strong and well again, and after hearing this guy live, you would be too.

The co-host was the lead singer of the White House Band, who were up next. Before performing, they threw out copies of their CD (which I managed to get, after it fell on the floor and the case cracked) and copies of their cards, then proceeded to play some face-melting guitar solos and rap over it. Upon arrival all the talk was about the White House Band, someone even said they had a sound like The Roots. Now that is quite a bold statement, I would say sound-wise they're not like them at all (if anything, Show Tufli is the closest with their jazzy riffs) but they're still a lot of fun.

The next rapper up was Matthew Ragazino, or Maffew Ragazino (awesome, I know). He was backed by the DJ playing his tracks and his hypeman. This was the act a friend of mine was telling me about, who happens to be his manager/promoter. His style is inherently a Brooklyn one I would say, and his beats are produced by some of hip-hop's most respected sound engineers (DJ Clark Kent and Nottz to name a couple). Mr. Ragazino is from Brooklyn, and his song "Where I'm From" is an ode to his growing up in the rough neighborhood of Brownsville (one neighborhood over from me, in East New York). When he performed this particular track, the guys made sure to have the "Where I'm From" t-shirt on display. Look for more of this guys tracks to invade your radio stations. As they say in the rap business, "get used to this one."

The closing act was another solo performer, this time, without a hype-man even. Homeboy Sandman was the last guy up, and proceeded to thank everyone who stuck around for his set. At this point there were far less people than earlier, but I'm glad I stayed until the end because lyrically this guy was by far the best. His style is a rather technical one, with awesome wordplay and metaphors that he delivers over cool beats, and as fast as humanly possible! This guy's breathing technique is awesome, putting down a few bars per breath at times before needing to get more air. The Sandman probably represented the rapper with the most lyrical talent for the night, so I could understand why he was billed as the last performer for the night. He was a great closer of a great show and I would enjoy getting an album of everyone who performed that night.

Rock & Roll Circus Day One, Lincoln Center, January 3, 2011

What a great idea. Have a bunch of Rock and Punk bands play under the tent of the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center, or so they thought!

Rock & Roll Circus is a 2-day rock music show/festival at Lincoln Center, and I decided to check out Day 1. Now the first day was a free show, and actually with more bands than the second day, which wasn't a free show. I really contemplated getting tickets for the second day because OK Go was supposed to perform, but as I found out attending Day 1, they were no longer booked for the show, so that would really have been a waste of money considering I didn't know anyone else who was playing on Day 2. I hope that last party made sense! Anyways on to the show:

As you walk in there is a lobby area with booths where you can get food and drinks and just have a seat and hang out. It was very cool how they set the whole thing up. After the lobby area there was another area where you could buy souvenir t-shirts, cool circus hats and memorabilia, and even get a Circus tattoo! Yes, a REAL one! When I walked over there was a guy getting one, but he already had so many, it was almost as though this one didn't count. Showtime!

The first band in the circle were the Electric Tickle Machine (yes, that's their actual name). And these guys were wild, with a great sound. They're sound I suppose could be sort of compared to the band The Darkness, but I liked these guys a lot more than I like them. They had a percussion guy who was playing the tambourine and something with sleigh bells on it, and he was awesome. Shirtless, with these high-wasted leather pants and these balloon sleeves, he played that tambourine like nobody's business, and even walked through the crowd with it and partied a bit with the onlookers. They had a great energy and it translated to their music, which was a lot of fun to listen to, just like them.

The second band up were the only band on the entire lineup that I had heard of (or seen live), Brooklyn's own  So So Glos. Now I saw these guys before, in Brooklyn, opening for Punk powerhouses Titus Andronicus. This show was intense (I was punched in the eye in the mosh pit) due in part to the 2 hour Tequila open bar. Ah well, life lesson learned right? Either way I was expecting more of the same from my boys from Brooklyn. Now the way they had the show setup was exactly how it would be to see the circus: people sitting around in seats and the performers are in the ring in the middle. Now after their first song, they told everyone to stand up and dance, why not right? Everyone obliged. After their second song, they then told everyone that the space in the circle not occupied by the band or their equipment is really for dancing, so they should go down to the circle and dance. Everyone obliged again. By the time the So So Glos got to their final track, Execution, there was no one to stop people from crowd surfing and moshing everywhere. This got the Circus security quite upset and they did their best to control the maniacs (me included), which they ended up doing, eventually. Another amazing performance from  SSG, I'm starting to think this may be a regular thing with them.

Needless to say, SSG are a tough act to follow, but up next was The Pharmacy anyway. For me, their performance was a bit lackluster but, maybe I'm being unfair due to the fact that a mere 5 minutes prior I was holding a guy with a clown mask up over my head while moshing out. Either way, through no fault of their own, this was probably my least favorite of the bands for the night, even including Japanther, who's set was about 3 songs long (we'll get to that!). Their sound didn't really stand out too much for me, it just sounded a bit bland for my liking.

Almost on the exact opposite end of the spectrum was the band that followed, an LA crew by the name of Voxhaul Broadcast. Now their sound was old school, 80s ballad sounding at times and even 60s stuff, like The Who. Their lead singer has an amazing voice for the music they play, it's something like Jim Morrison meets Prince. I say Prince because at the beginning of their first song, he made Prince-like screams into the microphone for over a minute before singing any actual lyrics. They would take time out to have a three person guitar solo, and i LOVE a good guitar solo. One of their guitar players was actually also they're keyboard player, so he was keeping quite busy. They didn't tell anyone to stand up and dance along (everyone was seated during The Pharmacy's set) but by the end of their set everyone was on their feet, clapping and dancing along. From the very young to the old, everyone really liked these guys. I would say music wise, these were probably my favorite act for the night. And they needed to be too, because Japanther was the closing band.

Now there was an intermission of 10 minutes or so between Voxhaul Broadcast and Japanther, the first one of it's kind of the night. If you've see Japanther perform you can probably guess why that is, if you haven't (like me), then you returned to the arena and noticed a few things that weren't there before. The Japanther boys brought their own speakers, as well as a giant flag that said their name that was draped between the two biggest ones. Also their microphone setup is a bit different, they sing through payphone receivers, yes seriously! So they sound as though every lyric is being sang over the phone, it's actually kind of cool. Also, they welcomed everyone back into the ring a la SSG, so they could party and get crazy with them. This wasn't the best idea. Everything was O.K. at first, until security started telling people they had to leave the circle. This didn't go over well with the Japanther fans. Some were escorted all the way out of the show entirely, some threw beer and whatever drinks they had at security. I saw a girl just douse another girl in beer, for no reason! It got out of hand fast. Circus security cut their mics, and Japanther even threatened to leave. They were begged to stay, so what they did was they moved their stuff closer to the people, if the people couldn't come in the circle then Japanther would come to the people. Seemed like a good enough idea. They started playing again, and some dudes started pushing and shoving, but not really moshing, it looked more like they were fighting. By this point, the Lincoln Center guys had seen enough and shut the show down entirely. Someone threw what looked like a full beer at a security guy; why waste a perfectly good beer? The host Acid Betty tried to get everyone out in a peaceful manner and was splattered with middle fingers and F-bombs. Acid Betty, refusing to be outdone, said she appreciated the middle fingers, it's the most action she's gotten in months!

Japanther, who are pretty much as classic punk as one can find nowadays, were very upset breaking down their equipment, as I would be too, because it wasn't really their fault. You have to hate when people decide to be ridiculous and belligerent and mess up a great FREE show like that, but I suppose you also have to know your audience. The people who put the show together probably were unaware as to the type of crowds these bands bring, and these are very essential in putting together a good show, and getting things to run smoothly. Asside from the crappy ending, this was an awesome show, and a great way to kick off the new year.

My Favorite Events/Parties from 2010!

Man 2010 sure was a good year for top ranking parties and events. There was a huge debate, but here is my list for my favorite events for the year that was:

Top 5 Events/Parties


5) Fashion's Night Out, All over Soho, NYC
- Open Bar? You Bet. All kinds of stuff! Too much to name really, but my favorite was Star Vodka, the best vodka I've ever had in my life.
- What's the haps? Fashion's Night Out is apparently a way for people to get really good deals on clothing, but there is really very little shopping going on. For the most part, a lot of industry folk go from store to store and drink all the free booze and eat the free food the stores have, not unlike myself. I was of course in Soho, which has the highest concentration of stores participating in the wild night. By the time 10pm rolled around (the festivities start during the day) I was running through the middle of streets, dancing and high fiving police officers. They really should have called this Spring Break.

4) Thrillist 5-Year Anniversary Party, Le Poisson Rouge
- Open Bar? You know it. Jose Cuervo and Bacardi Breezers, some sort of Vodka. A bunch of stuff really.
- What's the haps? I won a VIP invite to the Thrillist 5-year Anniversary Party, which was sponsored by a whole bunch of people, including Phillips Norelco, who gave us contest winners their new Electric razor, the Sensotouch 3D (which of course runs for $200 or so). Tack on the great performance from Atomic Tom and you have an amazing event. Needless to say, I stumbled out of there a drunken hot mess. It was still awesome though.

3) Yelp Country Club, Randall's Island Golf Center
- Open Bar? Free drinks galore: Whisky, beer, cider. Free food galore: Luke's Lobster, The Taco Truck, Led Zeppole, Smorgas Chef, Qdoba and way more!
- What's the haps? As a Yelp Elite, I get to go to all these really awesome Elite events, complete with free food and free drinks (thanks Peter D. and Jane!). In June Yelp topped all other events for the year by throwing this huge event at the Randall's Island Golf Center. Lots of booths with free food and drinks from different vendors and restaurants, and you could even play games like Bocce Ball or Mini Golf or hit the driving range like a pro. Impressive day indeed, even for someone who sucks at golf, like myself.

2) Heineken Encore NYC, Pier 36
- Open Bar? Yes sir! Free Heineken like crazy, as well as lots of free food.
- What's the haps? This may have been the best event for the year, but the number 1 definitely beat it. In any other year this would be tops for sure. Nas, Cee-Lo and J-Cole live, free Heineken and free food, in a huge space that was all done up just for this show. There was even a sound studio, so if you felt so inclined you could lay down a track and jam out to one of their beats. This was a perfect ending to a very beautiful day indeed.

1) VH1 Save The Music - The Ultimate Face-Lift, Lord & Taylor's
- Open Bar? Hell yea! More than you could possibly drink, almost every floor had it's own free drinks and different themes, ex: Cognac on the 10th floor, Chocolate Martinis on the 9th floor. Utter insanity!
- What's the haps? This was, without question, the best event for 2010, no comparison, hands down. This may have been, the best party I've been to in my life! As I said before, the majority of the floors had different food and free booze. They had fortune tellers on one floor, aerial dancers on another, and even sketch artists drawing pictures of patrons. DJs galore: Finger on the Pulse, Sky Nellor, Lexey, and even Andrew W.K.! On top of alllll of this craziness, they give you a key (or a bunch of keys, in my case) that you can use to open one of several boxes on various floors. Each box had a different prize: free guitar, concert tickets, all kinds of stuff.   The best part of this whole ordeal, was the fact that I couldn't beg anyone to go with me! Thank God for Facebook or else no one would even believe that this actually happened. Yeap, best party of the year.

My Favorite SHOWS from 2010!

Here are a few of the more awesome-sauce stuff that happened last year. 2010 was a great year for fun events and such, and these are my top 5 shows for the year that was:

Top 5 Shows/Concerts: This was quite possibly the hardest list to compile because I was blessed in 2010 to go to some great AMAZING shows. Here's what I think were my top 5 for the year. Next to the show name is the venue it was held at.

5) WIADCA Benefit Concert for Haiti, Behind the Brooklyn Museum
- Open Bar? Nope. BYOB for me.
- Line-Up: Unbelievable line-up of Caribbean Artists to the tune of Carimi, Bruk-Up, Mastamind, Pupa Leendi, Bud Ramsey, Kevin Lyttle, Serani, Ky-Mani Marley, David Rudder, Spragga Benz, Freddie McGregor and more!
- The Show: The show was so packed with artists that by the time it was over some people hadn't even come out to perform! Everyone on the show (or so I heard) were playing for free or close to it, so basically all the proceeds made went to benefit Haiti after the earthquake. It was a great idea for a fundraiser from the West Indian Day Carnival Association.

4) The 4th Annual Okay Player Holiday Jam, B.B. King's
- Open Bar? Nope.
- Line-Up: Surprise line-ups are always best, don't you think? The Roots feat. Rahzel, Estelle, John Legend, Patti Labelle, Melvin Van Peebles, Chiddy Bang, Yelawolf, the cast of Fela! and MANY More.
- The Show: You have to be joking me right? Every year in December The Roots hosts a holiday party and invite all their best friends to come out and jam. 2010 was no different, with a line-up that was amazing. On top of that, the entire show is free! Yay for The Roots! Having the great one Patti Labelle come out was a welcomed surprise to just about everyone in the audience, and quite possibly the biggest surprise of the night, but it was still awesome.

3) Heineken Inspire Encore NYC, Pier 36
- Open Bar? You bet. All the Heineken, Heineken Light and Heineken Dark you could drink. Not to mention free food (beef patties, tacos, pretzels, hotdogs).
- Line-Up: DJ sets from Roxy Cottontail and Diplo (of Major Lazer fame), and performances from J-Cole, Cee-Lo Green from Goodie Mobb/Gnarls Barkley and Nas!
- The Show: It's funny because when I got the invite for this show I thought it was a joke. It was at a "secret location" released only on the day of the show. And it took me quite a while that day to find it, but it was well worth it when I entered the huge Pier and saw the stage and the amazing setup, I knew, I was in for a treat. Free Heineken and free food and free entry and free Nas?! The best part was the fact that it was in November, and it was about 66 degrees outside. A beautiful day indeed.

2) WIADCA Brass Fest, Behind the Brooklyn Museum
- Open Bar? Nope. BYOB for me.
- Line-Up: Another ridiculous Caribbean Artists lineup: Destra Garcia and her Band, Krosfyah feat. Edwin Yearwood, Lyrikal, Tallpree, Denise Belfon, JW & Blaze, Lady Saw, and Machel Montano HD feat. Patrice Roberts and Farmer Nappy.
- The Show: It was hard for me to not put this as the top show for the year for me, but my number 1 pick should really explain that. Utter pandemonium ensued when the big bands hit the stage, with Machel Montano and his gang ending the show, but not before bringing out JW & Blaze, the "Palance" boys to completely destroy the place. If you didn't leave this place sore, battered, and beaten, then you probably weren't here. PALANCEEE!

1) Prince and Friends, IZOD Center
- Open Bar? Nope.
- Line-Up: Cassandra Wilson opened (then did a duet with Prince!), followed by Maceo Parker and his band (who then did a jam session with Prince!), and then Prince, the man of the hour, came out and destroyed it. He brought out Sheila E. too!
- The Show: As I said before, it was a tough fight for #1, but this had to be the #1 show for the year. Free tickets to see a show is awesome, but to see a living legend, that you've never seen perform before? Yes please! He had 3 separate curtain calls (the second of which was actually Sheila E. instead of him) and performed for over 2 hours. Yea it would appear, that this was my top show for the year.

Prince @ the Izod Center - December 17th

This ridiculous story starts a month or more ago, when it was brought to my attention that Prince, THE MAN, was performing in the NYC area in December. I was talking to a friend of mine about it, and I said to him, "Yo how am I going to get into the Prince show for free? I really want to go, but there's no way I'm going to be able to afford tickets." At the time all I had was was the thought that I wanted to go, but couldn't pay for it, with no actual plan as to how I was going to do it. That same night, I went home and searched on my computer for free ticket giveaways for the show, and could find none. After a bit of searching I found ONE, so I decided to sign up for it. I figured, what's the big deal, I will just give them my name and number, and if it doesn't work I don't really lose anything by entering. So I sign up and stopped really thinking about it. The Wednesday before the show I get a phone call from the radio station who's website I signed up on, telling me I won a pair of tickets to go see Prince. OH MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY?! WAIT REALLY?! I was running around for a while, unbelievable!!!! I suppose, it was one of those "thinking it into existence" situations that everyone talks about, or maybe it was just a late birthday present from God, whatever it was, I got to go see Prince for free!!!!

Jazz artist Cassandra Wilson was the opening act, who I'm not very familiar with, but it is Jazz, so at least there's a very good chance that the music is good. Strangely enough, at one point, she sang one of her songs and Prince came out during the performance and they did a duet! Yes that's right, he came out during the opening act to sing a song with Cassandra, when people were still just arriving and the Izod Center was nowhere NEAR being full! It was the first time I've ever seen that happen, but then again, it was the first time I'd ever seen Prince perform. It was actually pretty cool, and then when the song was done, he just walked right off the stage and let her finish her performance!

Next up was Maceo Parker, legendary saxophonist and funk musician, and he defnitely brought the funk with him. He let us know that "This Funk is Off the Hook" while he jammed out with his backing band. Again, weirdly enough, Prince came out again! This time, with one of his guitars in hand, and he rocked out a song with Maceo and the band! It's one thing for him to come out once and jam, but twice?! It was funny to think about the people who showed up after both openers, because by the time they got to their seat Prince had already performed twice!

After the two great openers though, it was Prince time. "Dearly beloved," he said, while the lights were off, and the crowd went wild (me included). Of course, it was Prince time, but more specifically, time for 'Let's Go Crazy!' The stage lit up (it was in the shape of his symbol, and huge) and it was definitely time to go crazy. The thing with Prince is that he does a different show everytime you see him. This means that if you see him perform on a Wednesday, his show will be different from Friday, including the set list. For my show, on Friday, he did just about every song I wanted to hear (The Beautiful Ones, Kiss, Purple Rain, etc.) with the exception of 'I wanna be your Lover' and 'When Doves Cry', those are two of my favorite Prince songs, but, alas, they were not on my night. I didn't care though, because Prince destroyed it.

It was my first time seeing him perform, and luckily for me my seats were facing what would be used as the front of the stage, so he spent most of his time on my side of the arena. He played the piano, he SHREDDED the guitar, and even took some time off from his busy schedule of doing that to bless us with a little old school Prince dance moves. After 'Purple Rain' he made his (first) exit, clearly, daring us to beg him to come back. We obliged. He repaid us by coming back out and singing Kiss. After doing Kiss, he of course left again. We begged, and pleaded, but he didn't return. Instead, out of the mid-stage elevator came the great Sheila E! UNBELIEVABLE! She of course reminded us that she wants to live 'The Glamorous Life', maybe not necessarily Sheila, but someone does! Prince came back out with his guitar in hand, and they called some guys on stage to dance with Sheila (as they did earlier with the ladies, and Prince). Of course, like before, most people were just doing a 2-step, except for this one guy, who did like 4 or 5 jumping splits! I can't blame him, I would have done it too.

While Prince and Sheila performed together, all I was thinking about was how cool it would be if Morris Day and the Time came out and they did their big hit 'Jungle Love'. That didn't happen, but it was like I telepathically told Prince I wanted to hear that song, so he performed them instead! He even did 'The Bird', and the crowd all decided to do the dance along with Prince's back up singers. What an insane show! After that though, Prince made his exit again, and we all screamed and begged him to come back. However this time, the house lights came on, so people thought it was really over. At this point, some people left (as you would guess), and some of the stage crew actually came out to take stuff down. Even I thought it was over, but some of the fans that left were screaming, so I decided, why not? The worst thing that could happen is that he doesn't come back out. Luckily for us though, he did, for curtain call number 3!

He came out and we cheered louder than we did when the place was packed, to which he responded, "I guess they're going to have to kick us out of here!" He told them to leave the house lights on, and he went into a love songs medley (Do Me, Baby, and the like) before making his 3rd exit. The people still in the arena thought, well maybe he will come back out yet again, but this time, the stage crew came out again (for their first curtain call!) and actually started taking stuff down, as opposed to last time. Ah well, I think 3 curtain calls is a fair amount! I also think, this may have been the best show I've been to for the year, and maybe ever. It will take some evaluating, but I won't be surprised if it's number one when it's all said and done. If you are planning on seeing Prince on this tour, you should bring a fresh pair of undies and prepare to be speechless! Let's Go Crazy!!!

Just another Wednesday

Ok, well maybe not just another Wednesday, infact, it was completely out of the ordinary for a Wednesday, but it was rather awesome! I was on the guestlist to go to the Wired Store on Wednesday, to see Tokyo Police Club perform, which was a lot of fun, but I was also on the list to go to a lot of other places too, so I wanted to make sure I made the right decision. It would turn out I did.

I arrived at the Tokyo Police Club show with an assortment of new friends, and after figuring out the door and list situation it was time to get some free Bushmills! The conversation with my new friends was so great that we ended up missing almost the entire set from the opening act, a band I don't know even up to now. It turned out that one of their members was a really nice guy we met and talked to in the bathroom line! I feel like a bit if a hack for not listening to them and writing a music blog, but I suppose this section is about Tokyo Police Club. In my defense, the Wired Store is 3 floors of cool stuff to play with, its like a toy store for adults. We decided to venture downstairs, where there were video games and a foosball table to play with. We stayed down here and played said video games and foosball for a while. The downstairs area had music playing, so we just assumed it was coming from upstairs. This was not the case. In fact, it took the good ears of a friend I was with to alert me to the fact that there was someone on stage performing while we were playing X-box. We ran upstairs to find out that it was indeed the Tokyo Police Club, the act I went there to see.

They didn't disappoint, just like I thought they wouldn't, despite the fact that I'm not very familiar with their songs, and I've never seen them perform before. Their sound is cool, new age punk and pop rock, but not cutesy, its a very mature sound. Their tracks are a bit Weezerish, which I thoroughly enjoy. After a decent set, they brought out Jewish reggae artist Matisyahu, and he did their song that they have together. I'd never seen Matisyahu live prior to Wednesday night, but I thought he may have been more hyped on stage. Maybe it was the fact that the stage wasn't very big that kept him rather stationary. I guess it was only one song too, it being their last song before the end of the private event. This of course was where my night became challenging.

There were so many things to do Wednesday night that I wanted to make sure I made the best decision. This is funny because usually Wednesday is the day I usually have the least amount of social events going on. There was a big hiphop show at Santos Party house, with an assortment of artists performing, including Cory Gunz, Freddie Gibbs and Aloe Blacc. I was told by a couple friends of mine to check out Aloe Blacc, apparently he has a really great sound. I could have went right after the TPC event at Wired. I decided to take a different route, but not that different.

The Roots were having their Christmas show at BB King's, and I was told by even more people that this yearly show is a great one, not to be missed, especially if you've never seen The Roots perform, which I hadn't, until Wednesday. In hindsight, this was possibly the best decision I've made all year!

At first it didn't seem that way, having to stand on line in the blistering cold for like an hour outside before being let in. I don't even know what was taking them so long! When we finally got into the very warm surroundings of BB King's (a place I've also never been to) I was greeted by the one Rahzel, beatbox extraordinaire. After talking to him for a minute we headed downstairs and found a nice spot by the stage. After some early warm from the DJs, the band affectionally known as The Legendary Roots Crew took the stage (tuba player and all). They played on their lead vocalist, Black Thought, who took the stage then grabbed a mic, and just did track after track without a break. After a few songs in a row he called out his new best friend John Legend, and they did a few tracks off their new combination album. Legend's voice is basically the same as on record, that unique sort of smoky sound that makes you think of the best crooners, if they did soul music of course. John called out his friend Estelle, who did a couple songs, one with The Roots and American Boy. Estelle then made way for the huge surprise of the night, the incomporable Patty Labelle! Truthfully speaking, she only did 2 songs (yes one of those songs was Lady Marmalade) but I honestly could have left afterwards. She's commands a presence on stage that only the great ones have, so that even a 2 song performance makes you feel like you got your money's worth, even though the show was free.

Ms. Labelle is now part of the cast of Fela, so it was a great segue into the Fela performers coming onstage and doing what they do best, dance. At this point the staged was filled with people: horns section, drums and dancers and not to mention The Roots were still on stage as well. After the Fela portion of the show, Black Thought decided to bring out more hiphop artists, to the tune of Chitty Bang, a young group who I believe are also from Philly, but I may be wrong. They rocked for a little bit before Black Thought took over again. There were so many people coming out it was hard to keep track of everyone. Even Yelawolf came out and did "Pop the Trunk" before he made way for another artist. Also in the legends category was Melvin van Peebles, who did his funk thing with a little participation from the crowd. I left BB King's when Black Thought was trying to figure out who to bring out next, it was 2:30am at that point! This was an amazing and exhausting show, one that I surely will not miss if I'm in NYC next yeat around Christmas time, and you definitely shouldn't miss it either.

AWOLNATION: The Show That Never Was

So I sat for a few days wondering whether I would blog about NOT going to a show, but I think I owe it to my friends to at least make them aware of GBH, some sort of "promotion" company that is now on my shit list. I figure I write about going to cool shows, I might as well talk about not getting to go to one right? It's only fair:

So for the better part of the last month, I've been patiently awaiting the live performance by band AWOLNATION at Santos Party House, which took place this past Tuesday. The event was completely free (I think) and all you had to do was RSVP through GBH.tv, which apparently does promotions for shows and parties. They're pretty big it would appear as well, judging from their website. Either way, I couldn't see this show being even a slight problem, after all, it's a rock show and Santos Party House, a great place to see live music.

Either way, on the day of the show I arrive right before it was supposed to start, even before they bouncers got there to put out the barricade. Like I said, I was REALLY excited to see these guys live. The bouncers show up, barricades come out, line forms, and it's time to let people in. Now I'm in the front of the line and the prick who has the list (that he isn't even looking at) asks me what listen I'm on, I say GBH, he responds by saying he's not letting in guys right now! To a concert? Mind you, I was at the front of the line with another guy I've seen out at events before. So the bouncer then tells us to get off the line. We move asside, then he lets in the next 2 girls that were behind us, and the next 10 guys who were behind them. I mean, it's a rock concert, there's probably gonna be more guys than girls.

I of course enquire as to why I'm not being let in, and he says I'm not dressed right. For a CONCERT?! Mind you I was wearing jeans and sneakers, which of course, is what everyone else was wearing, you know, to go to the CONCERT! They of course let in almost everyone else, he probably took 2 guys off the line but I couldn't really make out why, sort of like, how I couldn't figure out why I wasn't allowed to be a part of this show. I still, up to now, have no idea. I told the prick that everyone is wearing the same thing as me, and he responded by telling me that he gets to be selective...HMMMM...As you could imagine, I was EXTREMELY upset. I mean, it's one this to not get into a show for a reason, but for NO reason? It makes no sense, on top of that, I would have gladly bought tickets to go to the show, because, I really wanted to see AWOLNATION, but that didn't happen either, so I just left. Angry. So angry infact, that I wrote this blog to tell other people not to support the pricks at GBH.tv. I even wrote on AWOLNATION's Facebook wall and told them the same thing, never work with these guys. I now have to be on the lookout to make sure I'm not supporting them because they do promote a lot of shows in NYC, but I don't care, they don't run this place, I've never been to any of their shows prior to attempting to go out on Tuesday, so I will live without them. You can to. Down with GBH!