PERRY FARRELL

I was walking by the Lower East side with a friend and we saw a picture on a bus stop of Perry Farrell (Jane's addiction front man) on a John Varvatos ad.
Nice ad by the way.
Here's a video of Perry Farrell and Jane's addiction

JASON LINDNER: The MoogeyMan

There is a lot to say about Jason Lindner (JL). As Chick Corea said: he's a "musical universe".
Everytime I seem to forget what a great musician he is, he decides to refresh my memory with a better performance.
It's not only the fact that he plays with different formats that can start with a solo and grow to a big band, or the fact that he may perform with acoustic sounds (instruments) as well as sound effects and elecronic instruments, but even if he plays a simple melody or the most complex rhythm it will always sound natural.
JL is so daring that he merges everything with his playing. I'm sure that if you really pay attention to his music you'll be able to listen to life juncture or the most basic human emotions, or maybe, just have fun with the music; simple beautiful and cool music.
Even if you are familiar with JL's style, he'll always be able to surprise you with his warm sound.
I couldn't pick a favorite project in which he's involved but I love the live performances with Baba Israel who's encharged of dub poetics and beatbox on Now V.S. Now, a project with Panagiotis Andreou on bass, Mark Guiliana on drums and sometimes Avishai Cohen on trumpet and effects. (I really recommend the special with Now v.s Now they broadcasted on NPR) Now V.S. Now will release a recording next spring -I can't wait-

Anyway, I saw JL's Big band for the first time about a month ago @the new Zinc bar and I've been meaning to write this post for a while but just did it today.
Let's leave the music speak for itself. Here's a video of Jason Lindner's big band and if you like it I strongly suggest you go to his web page by clicking on the title of this post and also go to his myspace http://www.myspace.com/jasonlindner and listen to Monserrate, a beautiful song which I guess has something to do with Bogotá, Colombia.
Enjoy the video

COVER ART CENSORSHIP...FILLING THE BRIM

The germand band Scorpions released Virgin Killer under RCA Records label in 1976 but the cover art created souch controversy that they had to create an alternative cover so the reissue was under Polydor, Capitol records.
on 2008, 32 years later, the UK's Internet Watch Foundation(IWF)banned the original cover image on Wikipedia for a while. Can you believe that?-I'm not going to write on this subject because this will turn into a really long post. I have very strong thoughts on this subject- The IWF argued that they wanted to keep children's porn out of sight, and that's ok, but why censor an art cover that only music lovers remember?.
Although guitar player Rudolf Schenker accepted that we're living other times, "We wouldn't release a cover like this today.Infant pornography is terrible. But we where living other times. It wasn't a problem then." After a big controversy and the fact that some text was banned too (it really makes me angry, specially comming from a so-called first world country),last Tuesday they decided to back down on their censorship decision.
Just a little example of what free expression and free press are today

Here's a little background on the original cover art for Virgin Killer
The image was designed by Steffan Böhle, and the girl on the cover is the daughter of Böhle's niece who was photographed by Michael von Gimut.
This was what Rudolf Schenker said on the art cover:
"We didn't actually have the idea. It was the record company. The record company guys were like, 'Even if we have to go to jail, there's no question that we'll release that.' On the song 'Virgin Killer', time is the virgin killer. But then, when we had to do the interviews about it, we said 'Look, listen to the lyrics and then you'll know what we're talking about. We're using this only to get attention. That's what we do.' Even the girl, when we met her fifteen years later, had no problem with the cover. Growing up in Europe, sexuality, of course not with children, was very normal. The lyrics really say it all. Time is the virgin killer. A kid comes into the world very naive, they lose that naiveness and then go into this life losing all of this getting into trouble. That was the basic idea about all of it."

POP-QUIZ or should I say PUNK QUIZ?

Ok, I promise I'll drop the punk subject because I know I can get obnoxious, but one last thing...
What inspired The Ramones' band name?
Well, that Paul Ramon was an early pseudonym used by Paul McCartney. You didn't knew that, did you?

"We're living in the age of the IPhone and this shit still happens" WHAT THE PUNK?

I've always wondered if I'm a punk spirit who happened to have been born in the wrong decade, but as we all know, New York is the best city in the world, and last night I had the chance to try a sip of what would've been if I had actually been around while the New York punk scene was hangin' out in 1982 @ A7.
"We where the right age at the rigt time. Anything seemed possible in NY then, and maybe it was.Until reality began to set in a few years later in the late 80s (you know...responsability, drug addiction, etc.) We had the time of our lives. Wether we came from good or bad families, educated or not, we found each other and hung. Really hung. And laughed...a lot. Although I wasn't in the original line-up of Borscht, they were(and are) like brothers to me, and I was eith them all the way, starting with Chappaquiddick+5. Places like A7 and CBGB (and quite a few others) were our own little world. Although I've read that punk was never about escape, looking back not from this point, I can see how it was. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. We created our own thing from the bottom up, from our gut, with our hearts. I can't speak for all the guys in Borscht, but I think they'd agree with me. And we're still laughing. I love these guys, and all four of us are grateful for the opportunity to play. (...)" said a member of Borscht, one of my favorite bands that played last night and dedicated their set to the memory of Adam Nodelman, Borscht bassist.
Borscht set
After listening to 4 bands I understood that I'm clearly not a punk lost soul, and although I enjoy hard core music and I loved their scene, I guess I'll never be able to understand them completely because I'll always be an outsider.
Besides observations like "It's 2 fucking chords all the time!" by a young guy on the stairs while heading to another stage, and the fact that I can't imaine how hard it is to fill a 15 min. set with songs that last between 30 seconds and 1 minute at aprox. 250 BPM (beats per minute) -and that'll definitely explain the sweat-
I'm never going to be able to fully understand punk. Anyway, my love for music is clearly marked by their energy, their musical structure, and their thoughts. I'm just a daughter of my time, not a regular one because I felt like the feedback that was sounding las night to which a guitar player said:"We're living in the age of the IPhone and this shit still happens"...

Here are some pics, quotes, and videos from last night (37 bands together) remembering the A7 scene and the music that changed NYC playing @ the Knitting Factory, a venue that's celebrating it's 20th anniversary and the end of its days in Manhattan because they're re-locating to Brooklyn.
"To somebody like me who never went to their high school reunion or prom, or to a lot of us who were high school drop outs, misfits or black sheep, this is as close as it gets to a high school reunion for any of us. That club opened up my eyes to a whole different way of looking at things. I was coming from a neighborhood that was full of conformity and to hear a band like Reagan Youth sing about things that I was concerned about as a young teenager was really important to me. I was looking up to guys who were like big brothers to me and they were just kids themselves...we were all just kids...with a lot of inspiration and issues and concerns...and some of us still do...but in general it was a very positive experience, especially as a 13 year old, to simply be part of ot" Kevin Kash/Adam 12


"I found the A7 by accident, on a flier that I found on the ground on 2nd ave. my best friend and I were looking for fun and trouble; we found it...the best club in the whole world. $3 admission at the door with your LESRAMAS (Lower East Side musical appreciation society) card. How cool the owner dave was to put up a dozen bands in a room that brought a whole scene together. the coolest people I've ever hung with. Some shows we fought for our lives not to suffocate and loved every minute of it. Bad Brains, Black Flag in my living room and it only got better..." Kenny Waste/Urban Waste
I have trouble uploading pics and videos again...
Anyway, here's the list of the bands that performed
-STAGE 1-
FATAL RAGE
76% UNCERTAIN
PAYLOAD
JERRY'S KIDS
ANTIDOTE
PURE HELL
ISM
URBAN WASTE
THE ABUSED
FALSE PROPHETS
NIHILISTICS
VIRUS
-STAGE2-
ARMED CITIZENS
ADAM 12
BORSCHT
RAPID DEPLOYMENT
SEXUAL SUICIDE
FED UP
VIOLEN SOCIETY
ULTRAVIOLENCE
BUTCH LUST
MAJOR CONFLICT
SUX (AOD)
REAGAN YOUTH
-STAGE3-
ICU
MODERN CLITZ
REASON TO FIGHT
WASTE MANAGEMENT
DISGRACE
LOST GENERATION
CARDIAC ARREST
GOVERNMENT WARNING
KRIEG KOPF
PSYCHO
OPPRESSED/BETRAYED
BLACKOUT SHOPPERS
US CHAOS

"The only things that survive are cockroaches and twinkies" said Reagan Youth's front man.

If you want to read more click on the title of this post and you'll go to the Village Voice article "Back to the shoebox" by Tony Rettman

LAST NIGHT'S DREAM:VOLVER

Last night I had one of those dreams when you're not sure if things really happened or you made them up and turned out just to be a dream. I spent all day recovering from it because it really got to me. Those dreams are almost like a memory. Just a little reminder of something you once where able to feel although it might have been 20 years ago and you almost forgot that once upon a time you where in fact, able to feel that, and those feelings actually inhabited your feel-like dynamic spectrum.
But the most shocking thing with last night's dream is that I actually have a song that perfectly matches the feeling. I've never been able to match a song in souch a perfect way, so off course it'll be a mauve tango by Carlos Gardel with Lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera, and in a perfect version by Adriana Varela.
So here's the perfect song that describes my dream.
VOLVER

POP-QUIZ x 3

Here are 3 pop-quiz questions.
1.This one's a little technichal but I'm thinking of Thelonious Monk.
-What's the only song Thelonious Monk wrote in 3/4?


Well, "Ugly beauty"

2.Now I'm thinking of spoken, shouted, whispered and sampled intros, so what are the songs for this?

-"I know when to go out. I know when to stay in. Get things done"

1983!! David Bowie "Modern Love". I love this song!!!!
Here's the song with better audio


-"OK, Tokyo, South America, Australia, France, Germany, UK!"
This is a pretty shitty song, but here's a hint: Two top musicians who had the worst results working together. Here's the proof

Mick Jagger and David Bowie "Dancing in the street".
Have you ever seen a worst duet in history? I bet you have. hahaha

MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THE OCEAN: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMI HENDRIX

Eventhough everyone's eating turkey or tofurkey on thanksgiving day, here's a little rock n' roll reminder.
The so called best guitar player of all times, James Marshall Hendrix, was born on November 27 1942.
On october 16 1968 the double album electric ladyland was released. This was the third and final album of the Jimi Hendrix experience.
I'm not going to review it because many things have been said about electric ladyland, about the summer of love and 1968's music in general, so eventhough it's a great album by one of the best musicians of all time, and used the best technology from the US and the best technology from teh UK, this is just a brief reminder for you to be aware of the date.
Here's All along the watchtower live version. Bob Dylan's original song coverd by Hendrix on electric ladyland

IT'S ALL ABOUT MOBY

As usual Moby can't stop 'till he gets enough!. As eclectic as he is, last Monday (November 24) Moby released his album Last nigt remixed. A remix by Brooklyn-based DFA Records signees, who re-imagined Last Night's original album that was released earlier this year. I just heard some of the new mixes @ http://www.myspace.com/thisislastnight.
This is a good record, so good that Moby answered to Peter Gaston when he asked him about the track "I like to move in here" remixed by Holy Ghost the following: "It wasn't so much a remix, as they actually re-recorded the entire song. They even hired a horn section and a new singer. I like the original, but I actually prefer their version."
Good new version by the way. Everything points to the rave rebirth thanks to AC Slater the Bushwick-Broklyn based DJ/producer who remixed my favorite song of Last night:"The stars".
AC Slater is as Moby called him the "re-inventor of the old rave aesthetic".
You can hear to the remix here: http://www.myspace.com/theacslater and warm up
for next Saturday December 13 Degenerates party. My favorite dance party in which this time Moby will be dj-ing with AC slater, Drop the lime and JDH+Dave P, this time they'll spin @ le Poisson Rouge not @ Hiro Ballroom as they used to.
See you there.

Here's another remix of "I like tomove in here" I found on Youtube. Pretty minimal techno elements that match my taste on music.

MUSIC INVASION

I planned to blog on las Friday's concert: Jason Lindner's big band @ new Zinc bar but I haven't been able to stop humming "it swell" a song by Jeff Taylor.
It seems Jeff Taylor's music has invaded my brain because besides the catchy and very sticky melodies and warm harmonies, I can't seem to be able to come down from the feeling I cought last Saturday.
Can't believe I missed him at CMJ because here's what he wrote on that night
"Friday, October 24, 2008
CMJ Blog ’08
Whoa... Last night was crazy.
We played 205 Christie on Thursday.
Equipment was flying around the stage, I knocked myself in the forehead with my telecaster, started bleeding...
I may have had a couple too many....
Blurrrrrr........
-----------
Hope you had a good time if you were out in the audience; it was a blast up on stage.
Had lots of fun with 'Progress,' a new song where I get to stomp around on effects pedals.
Thanks for supporting, see you at Rockwood on Saturday for an 11pm show!
Yours,
Jeff"

Here's a video of It Swell with Thing (Mark Guiliana's trio)@ Rockwood



If you want to listen to Jeff Taylor's music click on the title of this post

MARK GUILIANA'S THING

The thing with Mark Guiliana's music is that it's based on good taste and deep emotion.
Beyond the technical aspects, which he clearly controls, he's the type of musician that transfers life to music and viceversa.
Nothing's evident but everything's there. It's as if he had chosen my favorite elements of music and merged them to play with the THING (his trio with Nir Felder on guitar and Malcom Kirby on bass), but that's not the only thing that strikes me about Guiliana's music.
He can play different genres but his stamp's always there, not in an narcissistic way but to serve his energy and the music.
Honesty is what you'll percieve if you listen to him, and to me that makes Mark Guiliana NYC's best drummer.
That being said, here's a video of the solo he played last night to end his concert @ Rockwood music hall.

you can check out Mark Guiliana's music by clicking the title of this post

THOUGHTS ON WRITING ABOUT MUSIC

I think I shouldn't admit this but recently I got to the conclusion and finally understood that there are not perfect words that could possibly describe music.
That's the reason I stopped bloggin' for a while.
Anyway, there are many ways of communication and music is the most direct way for me, but I also want to share my thoughts with words so that's why I'm back and I'll keep writing and sharing my perspective with whoever wants to read...

QUESTION 6

Barak Obama was elected which makes me believe in human kind. I'm optimistic, and hopefully racial attacks will cease, and there may be peace, as Dee Dee Bridgewater sang while collecting founds for Obama's campaign. But singers and racial conflict have always been related and here comes my question:

Which 1964 song was Nina Simone's response to the killing of Medgar Evers by a white gang?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GpOGtGCLyk

Mississipi Goddam
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activists from Mississipi and was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

And now that we're into songs related with human rights listen to this classic.
Strange fruit, an anthem that can be one of the firs anti racism songs remembered, specially in Billie Holiday's voice

ROCK AL PARQUE HAS BEGUN

The most important rock festival in South America is taking place this weekend in Bogotá, Colombia (Nov1,2,3). The free "Rock al parque" festival in it's XIV version started yesterday with the metal day which is the day that attracts more public. 80 thousand people went yesterday to see the local bands and the international bands that included Paradise Lost and Carcass (England), Ratos de Porao (Brazil), and Muscaria (Ecuador). The other 13 bands that played yesterday where local and national bands. For the record Colombia is a very strong country on metal music production.
It's a shame I'm not in Bogotá for Rock al parque and eventhough I never go to the metal day, it's a shame I couldn't see Koyi K Utho, a Bogtá based band that has played 5 times in different versions of this fest. and that's sponsored by GIBSON guitars.
Today and tomorrow are my favorite days of the festival because the two stages will present diverse music souch as 1280 almas, a rock legend from Bogotá, Gondwana, Nawal and Sargento García for the reggae-tropical lovers, la Kinky Beat (Spain), Black rebel motorcycle club (U.S.A) and BLOC PARTY!!! (England).It's really bad that I'll miss Bloc party's show, specially now when they just released their new album...
In terms of organization and weather conditions (it's an outdoors fest)I really hope this year's Rock al parque is better than last year's because last year an unexpected ice-rain storm fell upon Bogotá and chaos ruled because besides the fact that the park was covered with ice rain (10 c.m) people went CRAZY (remember that Colombia has no seasons so we're not used to those types of "natural hazards").
And now that we're into natural phenomenons this year the slogan for Rock al parque is: "Rock for the water and the earth". Maybe some of Radiohead's and Al Gore's global warming awareness is filtering to the south. Anyway, I'll have to wait to see some of the youtube videos and maybe share them with you because this year's Rock al Parque will present 37 national bands and 15 international bands. We'll just have to wait to see how it went and while we do, let's check out some videos:
Bloc Party



LAST YEAR'S ICE-RAIN AND CANCELLATION OF THE PRESENTATIONS


GONDWANA


Koyi K Utho


For the official website of Rock Al Parque click on the title of this post

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

I saw this on youtube and I can't keep it to myself because I want you to laugh with me on this creepy day.
A cheesy Cumbia Colombiana to celebrate
Que viva Colombia!