The Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, CA.
I’ve been out here enjoying Coachella for the first time. Click here to see how my first day went down.
Tag Archives: Music
Stream Stretch & Bobbito’s One Night Only Show on WKCR
It was 12:30am last Thursday when I was between winks and making a mental note to tune into WKCR to hear Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Cucumber Slice revist their old time slot. It turns out that I couldn’t hang the way I used to when I used to be able to stay up late like nothing. Come Friday, the dedicated DJ Nasty Vaz comes through with a stream of the show which starts off with the entertaining banter between Stretch and Bob, and outtakes from shows that featured freestyles from Akinyele, O.C., and the Hit Squad’s Das Efx. Peace to egotripland and Okayplayer.
Filed under Music
Models x Waffles Served for NYFW
Flyer via OAKNYC
Last Tuesday, a string of luck led me into the Models x Waffles party at Le Baron in Chinatown. Venus X who posted the flyer on Instagram a few hours before the event stated that the list was closed. Taking a chance at getting in led me to an opportune meeting of the self-proclaimed Princess of New York. After being denied entry because I wasn’t on the guestlist, I used my iPhone’s map to give me directions to 19 Kenmare St. As I looked up, Jazmine Venus Soto walked past me. I introduced myself, after already being more familiar with her by way of Instagram, Tumblr, and another article I wrote. She kindly invited me to enter Le Baron with her friends. That gesture solidified her royalty in my book.
Given that it was a Fashion Week party, I expected models, but not food. Waitresses offered everyone little chicken tenders wedged in between two slices of waffles. The waffles were room temperature, but soft at least. The mini treats were special because it brought back the memory of Bobbito Garcia’s Monday night Waffles & Falafels party in the basement of APT, a shuttered nightclub of the Meatpacking District. As the party carried on, so did the entertainment, provided by Venus X who deejayed for Spyda and Magic whose pole dancing acrobatics had the crowd perplexed. Using the little support of the pole in the middle of the dancefloor, the ladies balanced themselves on each other horizontally. Upon achieving that feat, they proceeded to rock vertically like a see saw. This was impressive. But another act that defied the laws of physics was watching money being thrown into the air, to eventually get stuck in a vent overhead. There are NSFW pictures of this scene, Venus X, plus a shot of Posso a DJ duo that played in the basement of Le Baron that night when you click the link below.
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Filed under Nightlife
12 Treats from 2012 in a Yearend Review
One more list to put 2012 in the books. My last two posts were about the music that moved my mind, body and soul, it’s only right to look elsewhere at the memorable people, places and things that made every day worthwhile. Early Christmas morning meant putting together a toy kitchen set with my lady for my son to see when he woke up. The late nights were spent watching post-game highlights and commentary from the MSG Networks team about the Knicks stellar play. I’ll look back at 2012 with a grimace though. Many of the 12 things listed here are all good. There was plenty of heart wrenching losses that words cannot describe. The turbulent times of violence in America and the hurricane in NY are a reason to forget 2012, but remember the lives that were lost. For me, I’ll hold on to these 12 moments forever. Let the good times roll.
The 2012 Hip-Hop List: DJ Treats Edition
Photo by Johan Ospina. Thursday March 15th, 2012 at Kung Fu Saloon, Austin, TX.
It’s that time of year when everyone is coming out of their ears in lists. If mine is the first or the last you’ll read for the year, thanks. Wherever it falls in your reading itinerary, I’m ever-so-grateful. Hopefully what I’ve compiled in most of the categories put together by my friend Dart Parker will go beyond just Best Album.
Last night I finally completed a pretty comprehensive survey that covered Best Cover Art, of course Best Artist, and a category I made up, Best Promo T-shirt. It was tough to finalize my decision, as I even had to revise my selections after realizing I had forgotten folks like Big Sean in favor of the flavor of the moment, Kendrick Lamar. No hating on those who didn’t make it in any category. Much of my reasoning was based on their level of notoriety, their frequency of output, then my personal taste, which will explain some repeat appearances by artists in multiple categories (FTW). Read below for what’s been in my rotation this year.
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Filed under Music
50 Years of Ricky Powell aka The Doloist
Ricky Powell‘s photography is constantly writing history and passing it down at the same damn time. Don’t let tweeting events in real time usurp hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Nay-ver that, doggie. Outside of that one tweet that might ripple into a micro wave of retweets, talking about the memories people have of each other is just natural behavior, unfettered from the use of technology. I imagine the guests, young and old at Ricky Powell’s Milk Studios exhibit opened up the floodgates of tales about the figures shot by like-minded photographers Angela Boatwright, Mel D. Cole and Joe Conzo. If you were in the house (I wasn’t…boo!), all you had to do was just listen. It’s commonplace to have the elders school the youth at these events. They know whatever it is that’s poppin’ for you right now is cool, but they made it popular, ya dig?! I imagine someone set the scene of the train zipping past subway writer legend, GHOST—a story more gripping than one about drawing on dirty car windows (“wash me”). My good friend Ingrid is one of those keen listeners who managed to soak up a gang of knowledge and flicks from the Rickster’s All-Star Classic. Peep Customfad for her recap.
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Filed under Photography
Viva Nico and Morrissey
T-shirts might fade over time, but a silk-screen print of Nico (Christa Päffgen) is built to last. The Velvet Underground’s singer, immortalized on the above T-shirt was recently worn (in white) by Morrissey’s band this Tuesday on Conan. She looks pensive and subdued in the graphic, which was the best way to describe the feeling of watching Moz take late night TV with a performance of his new song, “People Are The Same Everywhere.”
Morrissey wears his appreciation for The Velvet Underground pretty close to the chest like his V-neck sweaters. Last year, Moz listed his 13 favorite albums, which included two Velvet Underground LPs (White Light/White Heat and The Velvet Underground & Nico) and Nico’s solo record Chelsea Girl. As a model and singer, she could waltz into your lobes whisking you away into bliss, which is akin to the effect of Morrissey’s poetry. Aside from their palatable sound linking them, these two icons are vegetarians. A-alike, B-alike. I imagine there’s a small nation of Nico tattoos out there like the ones sported by Smiths and Morrissey super fans. Lou Reed’s got some mass appeal too. His portrait for Supreme lined cities between New York City, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo carrying on the legacy of The Velvet Underground. Video of Moz on Conan after the jump.
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Filed under Music
The Purpose of Seoul Music
The art of digging for records is never fully mastered. Just when you think you’ve covered all of the essential records hip-hop has borrowed from, you’ve barely scratched the surface (sucker DJs). The Far East—Korea—Seoul, if you wanna get all geo-targetty, is as musically rich as the samples taken from the western world’s golden eras like disco and Motown.
My man Jaeki Cho brought DJ Soulscape to New York, saving us a trip around the world to hear the rarest of rare vinyl gems. VON bar on one night, Turntable Lab on another, served as pulpits to drop knowledge on the 60s and 70s renaissance of rock, jazz and boogaloo. Growing up as a product of the vinyl era of deejaying, I was born again listening to Soulscape’s sets. They reminded me of the first time I heard DJ Riz compile classics like Chic’s “Chic Cheer” and Kool & The Gang’s “Soul Vibrations” on the “Live From Brooklyn Mix.” I copped the record, then loaned it to DJ Dreamer who probably still has it to this day! Oh, speaking of Chic, look out at the 28:32 mark where Soulscape drops a beautiful Korean rendition of it. So without further adieu, 이들은 휴식 아르.
Filed under Music
Beavis and Butt-Head Do Music
Where’s the remote?
There’s that extremely awkward moment when Beavis and Butt-Head watched a video that seemed so absurd, that they would inevitably change the channel. It was normally preceded by the blank expression seen above. Don’t front, you probably made it the first time you saw the video for Milli Vanilli’s “Girl You Know It’s True.” Maybe you had to pick up your mouth from your Swanson TV dinner, or douse your crib in bug carbamate to keep the crickets at bay. Regardless, when a string of music videos featured that one wildcard, the fish stopped swimming. So if tradition holds, then the 2011 return of Beavis and Butt-Head could have similar moments of awkwardness.
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Filed under TV
World Piecebook at Red Bull Space
Photo by Sophia Chang
The summer of 2011 in New York City was enough to make you faint from exhaustion. The time harkened back to the days when not only steam and carbon monoxide thickened the air outside, but anywhere you walked, fumes from aerosol cans colored your lungs ROYGBIV. Inside NY’s Red Bull Space this past July, Sacha Jenkins SHR and David “Chino” Villorente gathered famed writers from the art world to celebrate their work in the new World Piecebook. I was there to deejay alongside the legendary grand-imperial Prince Paul. This was our second time spinning (props to DJ Soul and D-Nice) at the same event since last year’s gallery opening in support of the crisis in Haiti.
With the spotlight on graffiti that night, SHR announced the forthcoming re-launch of your favorite writer’s magazine, Mass Appeal—yours truly will be at the helm. Temperature’s rising kids. The streets are still burning from tags by Sen 2 (Puerto Rico) and Pez (Barcelona). Mass Appeal is an institution to lifestyle journalism tapping into urban centers worldwide. When you stay participating at their level you’ll work up a sweat that will leave you stinking of success, not from sitting behind a desk. Peep the graphics after the jump.
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Filed under Books
