The Real Ke$ha

I try not to be too negative on this space because we don't really need anymore negativity and criticism in the world, but I also haven't really hid the fact that I do not love Ke$ha. She seems like a fraud to me, just as contrived and packaged as the boy bands and Jessica Simpsons/Mandy Moores of the late 90s early 00s. It is obvious that Ke$ha is thriving off the success of Lady Gaaga, and M.I.A., even pointed out that Lady Gaga is not as inventive as she's given credit for. (I don't whole heartedly agree with that statement either).

With this in mind I want to introduce you to the woman the Ke$ha really ripped off. Uffie has been around since 2006, but is just now putting out her debut album. Sex Dreams and Denim Dreams will be released May 31, 2010. The American born but Paris based artist as worked with fellow Franco-Based Justice, and probably is best known for a single called "Pop the Glock". I just read an Elle review that said she's taken four years to release her debut because she was nervous about all the hype surrounding her. I think what pushed her to get this album out was the rise of Ke$ha and the realization that she was being totally ripped off, and that there are probably just going to be more of these less than talented knock offs taking her thunder.

Hopefully with her performance at SXSW she will start having more success in the States. Until May 31st you can check out her music here...

http://www.myspace.com/uffie

What I Would Say to Dave Grohl

The next concert that I have tickets to is Them Crooked Vultures at the Aragon. I am beyond excited because it has been a while since I've seen a great rock show, I love Dave Grohl, and the reviews of this tour and band have been awesome. I have to say that the more I listen to their album the more I fall in love with it, both musically and lyrically. Lots of great lines that will probably make it on the blog eventually. Rolling Stone recently called them the a real SUPER supergroup, and pointed out that their Atlanta show went on for hours because they were just so happy playing together. In this spirit, I have thought of many things that I would lik to ask of Dave Grohl, and as usual, this is my space to share them.

First thing I would ask is if he's tried Intelligentsia Coffee while he's been in Chicago. It is by far superior to all else, and it's obvious from FRESH POTS!!! that the man loves his caffeine.

Next I would tell him of my idea to open a coffee bar and bar bar called FRESH POTS! I hope he doesn't have rights to the name.

I would ask him what it was like opening for The Red Hot Chili Peppers when he played for Nirvana, as opposed to what is was like opening for The Red Hot Chili Peppers with the Foo Fighters. To me it seemed like Anthony Kedis had calmed down during that ten year period...

I would also want to know what it was like living with Kurt Cobain, frustrating? inspiring? Was there art all over the place? Could he see the beginnings of a serious drug habit? Were they closer living together or when they were on the road together?

Next I would want to know about his dual personalities. I mean he wrote "The Ballad For The Beaconsfield Miners" and screams like a wild banshee on half his songs. I mean he must have two very different sides to him. Plus, being a drummer and a front man seems like it would take a split in identities.

I know I would have tons of more questions for the man, but my mind is a blank right now. I might ask him if he needs a best friend, cause I think that I could fill that role pretty well.

Upcoming Interview: K'Naan

One of my favorite NPR radio shows, and a constant source of music news is a great show produced in Chicago called Sound Opinions. This week they will be broadcasting a K'Naan interview. I am beyond excited to find out more about this man's story and how his brain works. I know that in Chicago it plays at 8pm on Friday and 11am on Saturday at 91.5. You can also get the podcast for free from iTunes. Also here is the website...

http://www.soundopinions.org/

I'm sure that you will be able to stream it online. Knowing how moved I was seeing this man in concert, and his raw talent (he learned English listening to Nas), I think everyone will get something out of this interview.

Cleaning Tip

I find coffee and Lady Gaga helps me scrub the apartment. Singing and dancing in mandatory.

For The Love of Posner

Tomorrow night Jenny and I will be heading to Wicker Park to see one of my favorite new acts for a second time, Mike Posner. He was featured in my very first post, and it was actually after seeing him perform at a hideously gross club in Chicago that I decided that I needed to actually start this blog. I had toyed with the idea before, but after loving his concert in the most vial place I've ever seen a show I knew that I had to get my ramblings out somewhere. Let me just say that I am not going to name the place, but post concert this club brought out go go dancers, and as Jenny has reminded me, you could see one of the girl's birth control patch on her butt cheek. The grossest part were the guys standing below her. Vomit. In. My. Mouth.

Posner will be back again tomorrow night, and is once again playing a club. We've already made a pack that once the set is done, we will get out of there quickly. It should speak volumes to how good of an artist this guy is that I am willing to possibly be in this situation again. The truth is that Mike Posner is going to be huge, and when he gets there I'll be able to say that I saw him when he was playing skanky clubs in the Midwest. He's already signed up for the Warp Tour this year, and it's just going to get bigger from there.

The night of the first concert, Jenny and I had recently been to a Robin Thicke concert. She had asked me, if Robin this is D'Angelo's and Justin Timberlake's love child, who are Mike Posner's parents? I couldn't come up with an answer. That was in January or February and I still can't come up with an answer. He's definitely got some JT in there, maybe some Snoop for the pot references, and maybe some MGMT with the electronic feel, but not quite. See? still nothing, I can't even whole heartily put him in one genre. The boy is an original. Better yet, the boy manages to be an original while pulling and sampling from the likes of Beyonce, The Fray, John Mayer, and Electric Light Orchestra, and have Kid Cudi, Big Sean and 3OH!3 in the mix.

To further highlight this, this morning I was listening to "Evil Woman" one of his many re-works of other songs. I hit the genius button on my iPod and I get the message, "Try Again, This song does not have enough related songs to create a Genius Playlist." Not even Steve Jobs' software can classify him (probably a hint that I should stop trying).

So the main reason I adore Mike Posner is that he is distinctive. Plus he looks like he's having the time of his life on stage.

New Band Concerts

Yeasayer, one of my favorite new bands from Brooklyn, is playing in Chicago next this Thursday at one of my favorite venues, the Metro. I don't actually have tickets and the show is sold out, but that's what craigslist is for. I find that on weekdays, especially day of the event, tickets on craigslist tend to go for face value when people realize at the last minute that are too tired to go. So we'll see on Thursday night if I'm doing laundry or singing in the crowd at a sold out show.

One thing I love about seeing young bands perform is that you pretty much know what they're set list is going to be. Typically these bands only have one album out and it is highly unusual that it's going to be a double disc. I love the feeling of going to a concert and knowing every song that the band plays. This happened last year at Chester French, and if the crowd has been larger I truly believe that would have been an epic concert. You rarely leave these concerts going, "that was a good show, but I wish they had played..."

The other great thing about seeing a band in it's infancy live is the covers. Because a band does not have much to pull from, and I have never actually see a band play their entire debut album on stage, you tend to get some really interesting covers. Eight years ago at Filmore in Denver I saw Maroon 5 do an awesome cover on Nine Inch Nails "Closer". Also they're second release was a live album EP with a cover of the Beatles, "If I Fell In Love With You". I love that feeling when you're in the crowd feeling a concert, a new song comes up and you go, "I love this song! Wait, this band doesn't play this song! Oh let's see how they cover it!" And kudos to any new band that proves themselves with "Baba O'Reilly", taking on Townshend is a challenge.

That said, I'm now thinking that I'm going to have to go see Yeasayer, and see what they might choose to cover. I bet it's something awesome and psychedelic from the late 60s, or maybe some Queen. Freddie Mercury was a genius.

The Obsession Continues

Thanks Mom for forwarding me this article. It's a pretty good one on Courtney Love if you have 10 minutes I suggest reading it. It's making me excited for return of Hole.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/arts/music/18courtney.html

Also, I know my mom does not like Courtney Love, or the fact that I think she gets treated worse in the public eye because she's a woman. (No one cares when male rockers fall off the wagon or take years to get albums done). What I am impressed with is her self awareness to send, "Bad Courtney" away. Stephen Tyler and Keith Richards don't seem to be able to do that. Also, as much as people may dislike the public persona, the woman can write, and even this article and most rock critics out there will admit that.

Rock On Courtney.

Guest Editor: This post is Written by Jenny, my ever dedicated concert compadre

So, you know those really annoying people who do something, like, I dunno, pop out a kid and it’s all they can coherently talk about for the next 18 years? I thought I was going to be like that with my new puppy (hi, Thomas!), but I’m not. Instead I will talk until your ears bleed about the absolutely transformative night I had with K’naan.



It might seem odd to any new person I meet that Hip Hop is my favorite genre of music. I grew up in one of the most affluent suburbs in America and my mom was the president of the PTA and my dad was a stock broker. You can say that on paper, I’m about as white as a white girl can be. But when a random guy at the K’naan concert looked at Sarah and me and our reactions to the show and said “damn, you girls have got some RHYTHM!” I thought, “Baby, you’ve got no idea”.



It seems fitting, almost prescient, that we began the night discussing Wallace Stevens’ poetry (odd to the casual observer, perhaps, but that’s why Sarah is my favorite girl in Chicago). I waxed eloquent (or as eloquent as I could, considering the vodka) on the beauty of poetry, complex ideas made even more profound through the importance of each individual word in a line. I explained to Sarah that it is in those moments, surrounded by the brilliance of the language, that my mind comes alive. I overanalyze everything, almost to a fault, but I can blame it on my passion for language, and my extensively liberal arts focused education- and the fact that I’m a woman.



It is in this intense love of everything linguistic that I found my passion for Hip Hop. Sarah has said it to me, and published it here in her blog, her trepidation for seeing a techno show because she feels “like there’s going to be less of a personal connection with the audience cause he’s going to have this huge set up literally blocking him from his fans”. In Hip Hop, you literally have a man, a mic, and you. You are connected so personally to everything that the MC is saying because he is laying it bare on the stage for you. The way an MC can spin a rhyme to tell a story and share his vision is so intensely personal, I feel like I’m getting the chance to read their diary.



When K’naan took the stage (in a fantastic furry hat) I was a bit apprehensive. I knew that he had penned the theme song for this year’s World Cup, but that was it. A few songs in I was mesmerized by the timber of his voice, his intense –but never over the top- enthusiasm, and the way he could spin rhymes in an almost hypnotizing way. I was thoroughly entertained, but still anxious for Wale to come to the stage. Then he introduced Kate. Kate is a 13 year old girl from Chicago that someone in K’naan’s crew had seen on YouTube playing an acoustic guitar and singing her own versions of K’naan’s songs. I’ve become a bit jaded when it comes to live shows. I expect for the most part a more self-involved, self promoting energy from the performers, but K’naan was entirely different. He gave the stage EXCLUSIVELY to a thirteen year old white girl in a track jacket- for an entire song. While she was decent, her performance didn’t take my breath away, but her connection with K’naan’s music did. I saw a girl transformed, an early pubescent girl so moved by an album that she dedicated herself to learning it, knew every song by heart, and sang the words as if she had written them in her own diary. Watching K’naan watch Kate play showed me again the power of the connection people can find through music. I thought “ok, this is definitely a man worth paying attention to”.

Following Kate’s performance (and a rousing cheer of “KATE! KATE! KATE! from the audience at the Metro), K’naan began to perform what I can only describe as my musical baptism. It was a story told in verse, slowly, set to music, deliberate, gut churning-ly painful, but with a disarming humor and honestly that left me feeling like my legs had melted into the floor and I would no longer be able to move from my spot. Listening to K’naan tell the story about how a night originally set out to chase girls ended up with his two best friends being gunned down on a beach in Somalia, followed by his mother’s reaction and their resulting refuge from a war-torn country left me gobsmacked. I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite lines from Wallace Stevens’ poem, The Necessary Angel:



The imagination loses vitality as it ceases to adhere to what is real. When it adheres to the unreal and intensifies what is unreal, while its first effect may be extraordinary, that effect is the maximum effect that it will ever have



The point Stevens makes here is the timeless importance of speaking the truth, and speaking it well. If a story is based on something unreal, initially it will shock and awe, but it is the truth in a matter that lets a message stand the test of time. This is by far the best way to describe the gift that K’naan gave to me last night. He explained, through Hip Hop lyrics, a story I had heard countless times before, but with such a raw and brutal honesty that I will never forget his message. It will stick with me through the rest of my life because it was anchored in an incredibly raw truth.



I will never apologize for my intense reaction to this show, I’m not a dramatic girl- never have been- but I know what a transformation feels like. And K’naan’s show transformed me by it’s adherence to the real and the beautifully raw medium in which he shared it. Thank you K’naan, and thank you Sarah, my music guru, without whom I’d never have had this amazing night.

An Experience

So I just got back from the Wale K’naan show at the Metro, and it is in serious contention with Common for the best hip hop show of my life. My friend who I was there with, at one point was in tears. Have you ever been to a hip hop show that made you cry? I thought not.

To start the evening out we managed to get a spot on the front of a raiser, so we had a great view of the stage. Next, we were under the impression that Wale was opening for K’Naan, and I am I bigger Wale fan so we were talking about leaving after the Wale performance and maybe two or three K’Naan songs. I mean we asked the people working who was performing first and them told us it would be Wale, so we were more than surprised when K’Naan walked on the stage in a big furry hat after the opening act. Thank god he did or I may have missed one of the most moving performances of my life. For those of you who don’t know, a K’Naan song has been chosen as the theme song for the 2010 World Cup and the chorus goes, “When I get older, I will be stronger, they’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag.” Before he performs this song he tells the audience about what it was like leaving Somalia on the last commercial flight out of the country and touching down in NYC. He says he literally thought, where are all my friends? Then he raps, and this is poetic, slowed down, you can hear every sylabblr of every word, rap, about the INS and his family fleeing to Canada. Then he tells us about witnessing his two best friends gunned down in front of him on a beach in Somalia, and during this refers to himself as “cry baby”. We were tearing up just listening to it, living through it obviously must cause tears like no other tears ever felt. It was one of the most amazing stories/poems I have ever heard in my life. My friend and I were standing next to a guy who has seen K’Naan like three times live and said that it’s the third time he’s heard the story, but I don’t care, it’s still a moving tale, and the more people that hear it the better. And in a cool twist of fate, our cab driver home ended up being Somalian, and I had a great conversation with him about K’Naan and the different tribes in Somalia. I feel educated and moved and feel like I had more of and experience than any other concert I’ve seen. This is what music and art is supposed to do for you.

I don’t want to leave without saying that Wale was amazing. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t play “Let It Loose” which has become a staple in my playlists, but besides that he was full of energy, and his DJ was amazing. K’Naan came out for “TV in the Radio” and you realize the significance of the line about other rappers not wanting to follow K’Naan.

Oh my god, the story was so amazing I almost forgot to mention Kate. Kate was this 13 year old girl someone on K”Naan’s team found playing his music on an acoustic guitar on YouTube. I guess Kate is from Chicago, and K’Naan brought her on stage for two songs, one done pretty much entirely by the teenager. And she looked exactly like any shy 8th grader would in her jeans and Addidas zip up. And while she wasn’t mind blowing, I fell in love for her. It was a very female empowerment moment. I kept imagining her going to school the next day talking about being on stage at the Metro with K’Naan and having the entire venue chanting “Kate! Kate! Kate! Kate!”

Here’s hoping that my friend who went with me tonight will agree to be a guest editor and spill her feelings on the concert and how much it moved her. Plus she was an English major so you know it’s going to be good.

I’m leaving now a very inspired, happy, moved individual and now that this is a concert that I will look back on for the rest of my life.

Attention Deficit Love

I just want to say that I now I am late to this but I am in love with the Wale Album Attention Deficit. I have had a couple tracks off it for about a year, but in preparation to see him on Sunday I bought the whole album. I am listening to it and falling in love with it the same way that I fell in love with Kanye West's College Dropout, which is one of my desert island albums. I was also late to that party, not fully immersing myself in the album until 6 months after its release. I listened to that record by playing a couples songs a few times that I really liked, then I would move on to a couple more, than I would re-listen to the whole thing again, and then it just became my go to album for everything. This pattern is reoccurring with Wale. I started by playing "Let It Loose" and "Pretty Girls" in repetition. Then it was "TV in the Radio" and "Shades" and this morning I'm obsessed with "Contemplate" and "Diary". I have a feeling that tonight while I'm doing laundry and cleaning my place the whole album will get a listening. I'm not going to come out and say that this album is going to be my new College Dropout but it is definitely holding my attention for this week. Also, Wale has this really versatile voice that is sometimes raspy and I think, is that Weezy? Then other times it sounds much more like Kanye. I just can't wait until Sunday when I get to see what he's like onstage.

Treme Excitement

I think that is was obvious from the opening credits of the first season of “The Wire” that David Simon is a music fan. There are few things that I am obsessed with in my life as much as music, but David Simon and “The Wire” are one of them. For the best television show ever made, he chose Tom Waitts “Down In the Hole” for the opening credits, and changed the performance for each season. He had the insight to know that Waitts wasn’t right for the first season and chose a version recorded by The Bilnd Boys of Alabama. It is with this musical excitement that I’m looking forward to Sunday night the premiere of the new David Simon project “Treme”. Where “The Wire” focused on drug trade and the slow urban death of Baltimore, “Treme” focuses on the neighborhood of “Treme” in New Orleans, and the musicians in that city starting three months after Katrina. Talk about high expectations.

I wonder what the musical influence will be like. The Wire was not scored, and the only time there was music was if it was coming from a passing car or a juke box in the bar, or the police were singing at a policemen’s wake. I wonder if Simon will take the same approach with Treme, and I hope he does. I’m excited to hear that city for the way it is with it’s street performers, and music spilling out of jazz clubs of the French Quarter. New Orleans is such a rich city musically, with history of jazz, blues, and now also a powerhouse for rap, with the Cash Money Millionaires and Lil Wayne. I can see Birdman playing from a passing by car, the same way it might when Chris and Snoop drove up in “The Wire”. It will be fascinating to watch a David Simon production about musicians without a score.

Next I am beyond excited for the characters. Wendell Pierce, who you may know as “Bunk” from “The Wire” is playing a trombone player who returns to the city to find his house in ruins. What you may not know is a Julliard trained actor and a New Orleans native. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the richest character on screen, and I hope the Emmy’s don’t ignore this show the way they did “The Wire”.

Also from “The Wire”, Clark Peters will be joining the cast. He was Lester Freeman on the Wire, but he also has a long Broadway resume. He will be playing a character that plays an Indian Chief in the Mardi Gras parades. If you don’t know about the Mardi Gras Indians I suggest you look into it. For some reasons it’s one of the coolest and most vibrant cultural aspects of New Orleans, yet virtually unknown outside the region.

Also in the cast is Steve Zahn playing the character of Jazz DJ at the independent Jazz station, and is a complete music snob. I sort of wonder is Simon put a bit of himself in this character, because from what I heard is that he’s a bit of a jackass.

There will be some local musicians playing themselves on screen, so us non New Orleans residents will be introduced to established musical greats of the city. Simon also cast locals in “The Wire”, most notably casting ex gang member and ex-con Snoop as hit woman Snoop. While I Love Snoop, I am a bit more excited about the jazzmen of New Orleans. I also have heard that Elvis Costello will be making an appearance. I do not if he will be playing himself, but for the most part Elvis Costello can do no wrong.

David Simon and music collide, my life could be complete.

iPhone Issue

I love my new phone but I have one issue with the iPod part. It has a feature that when you shake the phone the song changes. This is not just an issue when it's in pocket while jogging, but also am issue cause I pretty much dance around my apartment while doing house work. The latest offender with this feature is Wale's "Let It Loose". I know there's a way to turn it off and I think it's come to that.

Concert Bliss

Just want to let everyone know that I'm going to Wale on Sunday night and I am so excited! He's on my list of people I need to see live that I have not yet. Also, he's playing with K'naan at the Metro, which has become one of my favorite places in Chicago take in a show.

In case anyone was wondering about Guetta, we left early. The best line of the night came from my pal, "he didn't even play any of his big songs." Well that's because we left before he even took the stage. Unfortunately techno is not our thing, and we knew of a party going on that we were upset that we were missing. We danced for the opening act and peaced. I think it would have been better if it wasn't at The Congress. The Congress is pretty much the biggest of the general admission places in Chicago, and it's just too big. We'll see how it compares to the Aragon Ballroom which I have never been in, but did manage to buy tickets to see Them Crooked Vultures there in May.

In the revelry that was birthday celebrations we did manage to fill our upcoming month with quite a few shows. Starting first with Wale this Sunday. I was supposed to go to Major Lazer on Saturday but decided not to because I will be seeing him a week later in San Francisco. Also this Friday I'm going to try to go to Dan Black, but I have to see if I can convince people to go with me. Also in SF I'll hopefully be seeing Yeasayer. I know tickets are sold out, but that's what craigslist is for. Then, another thing I am pumped for is at the end of April Mike Posner is returning to Chicago, playing some gross skanky club. We're watching him then leaving, but I know it will be awesome. By the way, the album was supposed to drop in 2010 and we're 4 months in and still waiting. Frustration nation! Then in May we've got Them Crooked Vultures and Broken Bells at the Vic. The Vic is awesome and it will be the first time I will be seeing DJ Dangermouse live.

Look out for a month of video blog posts.

New Dream Job

I just heard someone on NPR described as a Rock Historian. How do you get that title? Do you think you just write a book or two about rock? I think that is my new dream job. Please share if you have any ideas how to go about achieving that.

Birthday Playlist

I know I usually do a countdown for Friday, and I had a countdown of my top ten bitter songs, but I am in too good of a mood to think about bitter songs, so I am forgoing the countdown this week. Tomorrow is my birthday and probably one of my favorite traditions is every year I make a Birthday playlist. I love to dance, and on my birthday I can make my friends who typically don't love to dance have a dance party with me, because it is my birthday. So today, instead of a countdown I am sharing this years Birthday playlist. This was however thrown together at 6 am this morning, so it will probably be changed, improved, and especially have the songs moved around a bit. So here is my mix entitled, "Birthday Means Dance"

1. Da Rockwilder - Method Man and Red Man. This is one of the best songs to start a playlist off with because it's short but it had that great beat, and starts with that "Oh my god!" Plus it's CHEEEEESE!

2. Memories -David Guetta (feat. Kid Cudi). Fun party song and we're going to the Guetta concert for my birthday

3. All Eyes On Me - Clipse (feat. Keri Hilson). I once again dare you not to move.

4. Did It Again - Shakira (feat Kid Cudi). I love me some Cudi / Shakira action

5. Hollywood - Hollywood Holt - I've seen this kid live three times, he is ENERGETIC!

6. Who Knows - Big Sean (feat. Mike Posner). I love a teenager with the guts to stalk Kanye until he signed him. Plus his voice is a favorite.

7. Hold the Line - Major Lazer. Reggae meets hip hop meets electonic. This is future of Jamrock.

8. 1980 - Dirt Nasty. No joke, a friend put on my fb wall lyrics to this song with a happy birthday message this morning, that's how much I enjoy celebrating to this gem. Plus for those of you who don't know, Dirt Nasty is the actor Simon Rex.

9. Electric - Consequence (feat. Kanye West. This in Kanye before College Dropout, and it's down a Tribe Called Quest beat. There might be a post coming up about souley this song. I think it's from around 2000 - 2001, but I'm guessing that from the B2K reference.

10. In This City - Iglu & Hartley. I don't know if they are as good as I think or if I am bias because I went to school with them. I have to say though that I never really cared for Iglu in the dorms.

11. Your Woman - White Town - This song is so bizarre and so good. Plus I love a random 90s reference

12. People Everyday (Metamorphosis Remiz) - Arrested Development. Early rap re-tool Everyday People

13. BARS - Ninjasonik. This is a total party jam. The type of song that should play when the life of the party enters a room in a movie. And I love that their producer/dj is called DJ Teenwolf. One of the better names out there. Also, who doesn't love the idea of sonic ninjas? I think that idea and calling bad music "audio terrorism" my two favorite new music phrases.

14. Whatever You Want - Consequence (feat. Kanye West and John Legend). I do not understand how Consequence has not become a bigger deal.

15. The Whole World - Outkast. Birthday is not a birthday with Outkast, though I might switch out for a different song.

16. Let it Loose - Wale. Best rapper out of D.C.

17. Daydreamin' - Lupe Fiasco (feat. Jill Scott). Sometimes you just need to sway instead of dance.

18. New Fang - Them Crooked Vultures. ROCK!

19. Soul Rebels - De La Soul. Live for hip hop hip hop.

20. A Star is Born - Jay-Z. Here, listen to a brief history of hip hop. Thanks Hova.

21. Bust Ya Windows - Jasmine Sullivan. Slowing it down again, I mean I would be tired if I danced for 20 songs straight.

22. Gossip Folks - Misse Elliot. I consider this the first song of the new decade of Missy.

23. Luv 2 Luv U (Remix) - Timbaland and Magoo. That is for Jenny.

24. Bullet Proof - La Roux. British dance music.

25. Friday Night - Lilly Allen. I really like Lilly Allen, she sounds sweet but says really rude things. I think we could be friends as long as I didn't want to strangle her.

26. New In Town - Little Boots. Someone explain to me how Ke$ha is a pop star and Little Boots is relatively unknown? Also along those lines, go listen to Uffie, that's who Ke$ha ripped off.

27. Can't Stop Won't Stop - Young Gunz. This could be one of the best beats out there. I can never get sick of this jam.

28. Bamboo Banga - M.I.A. The same way a birthday is not a birthday without Outkast, I need M.I.A. I am dying for a new album though!

29. High Ground - Stevie Wonder. No explanation needed.

30. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon. I like ending my mixes on rock notes.

31. Chelsea Dagger - The Fratellis. Guaranteed good mood.

32. She Moves in Her Own Way - The Kooks. If Jamiroqaui's "Canned Heat" was not already my personal theme song, this song would be.

33. Movin' Cool (The After Party) - Outkast (feat. Erykah Badu). The same way I love to open mixes with Da Rockwilder, this is best way to close mixes.

Kinda Funny?

Anyone else think it's kind of funny that JJ is touring with The xx? I do, look for both on the festival circuit. I wish I could think of some other double letter repetitive bands.

Remembering the King of Rock Photography

Last week Jim Marshall, one of the most famous rock photographers of all time passed away at the age of 74. You may not recognize the name but I promise you that you know the images. You know the photo of Jimi Hendrix on fire? That image is so well known that Rolling Stone recreated it last month with Shaun White and a snowboard. Well that was Jim Marshall. He died in New York where he was planning on promoting a new book and had a speaking engagement at a gallery in SoHo. While the death is unknown, it does seem that it was unexpected.

Since only really my parents, Jenny and Becca ready this blog, it should come as no surprise that photography is another hobby of mine. I am obviously not as deeply in love with it as I am with music, but I am much better at it. When I heard that Annie Leibowitz went on tour as the official photographer for the Rolling Stones in 1975, I realized that these two loves could be combined, and that one could be entrenched in the music industry without the ability to play a musical instrument. Jim Marshall seems to have been the most respected of all the photographers in this industry. He was the only photographer allowed at the Beatles last concert in 1966 and he was the chief photographer at Woodstock.

What I love about photography as an art form is that in captures art that is seen in everyday life. For that moment in time something is happening that will never happen again in that way, and a photograph captures that beauty and energy. In terms of music, and both fashion photography, this can be lost when the focus is a celebrity. Just like all of us and maybe even more so, the subject is focused on their image, how they appear. It can be hard to break through that and get a genuine feeling. The reason Leibowitz and Marshall were so successful were that they could make these rock gods feel like rock gods they were and people at the same time. Also, I imagine sports photography has the same problem, but these people are active, and it is impossible to get someone to “pose” for a shot. It makes the photos that much more dynamic and that more difficult to get. Finally, I try to take photos at concerts whenever I go, but I always get distracted by the music and what is going on onstage. One has to have the discipline to keep shooting, because you never know when you’re going to get that perfect shot. Marshall always seemed to get that perfect shot.

RIP Jim Marshall.