Music Update
To think that I've been to Coachella, bought 3 CDs, received 4 others as gifts, burned one and downloaded 75 tracks since I wrote last!
Coachella:
It was a blast! I didn't go Sunday, but I still feel like I got to see 2 of the best performances ever. On Saturday, Coachella was "Prince's House!" and don't you forget it. I had never seen the Purple One live before, and man was it worth it. He had the Time and Sheila E. backing him up, and I gotta say, he is one of the best guitarists EVER! He blew me away!
But, backing up to Friday, Sharon Jones was the act to beat. She's 50-something, and she shook her tail feathers, danced up a storm and sang from the bottom of her heart. It was a spectacle, and I recommend that everyone who can go see her open for Feist on July 20 at the Hollywood Bowl.
Other favorites included Santogold, The Raconteurs, American Bang, Pendulum, Flogging Molly, Vampire Weekend, The John Butler Trio, Devotchka and seeing one stoned mutha driving a stolen cart until it gave out, and then, with a big ass grin, lifting a bong to his lips.
Bought:
After Coachella I decided to buy some of the artist's CD's and bought Santogold, The Raconteurs and Pendulum. I have to say I wasn't as impressed with any of the recordings as I was live. Maybe it was just my dosage timing, but I really liked them all better live. It's the same with Sharon Jones. I had her album before seeing her, and I wasn't that impressed, but live! Wow!
Gift CDs:
katkoala gave me 3 CDs as a gift recently, and I'm honored to say that they were the very first ones she'd burned. (Maybe that explains why the one simply labeled "Angelique Kudjo" didn't work in my player. Hint, hint...) But they were groovy Afro-beat stuff, and I always like free music. And on Sunday, we went to a wedding of a childhood friend's of my wife's and at every place setting was CD with the happy couple on it and 7 tracks of cheesy love songs. I hadn't actually heard any of them. Like I said I love free music, but Jack Johnson's version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"?!? That's the tip of the romantic iceberg for these two!?!? Good luck!
Burned:
I burned one CD, and that was because when we were in a fashion district store, getting new shoes for T, for the wedding, there was a Shakira video playing, and T mentioned how much she liked her voice (I liked the amazing flexibility her bare midriff was displaying), and I looked in my iTunes, and sure enough, I had something like 52 Shakira tracks, so I burned a CD, and now we can listened to it in the car on the way to the wedding.
Downloaded:
I'm a member of eMusic.com, and I get 75 downloads a month; downloads that don't roll over if I don't use them, and this month, I downloaded some great drum n bass (Ursula 1000 and Aphrodite), some OK hard rock (The Atomic Bitchwax and Boris) and some so-so hip hop (DJ Rupture).
Stole:
My computer at work was having some technical problems, and the drive had to be erased. The problem was that I had about 10 Gigs of music on there, that I had lifted from various sources; other people's server workspace, a production's drive, etc, etc, so I finally brought my iPod in and downloaded all that to it. I have yet to really sort thru it all and see what I already had, and what's new. I'm pretty excited about some mashups and new mixes I have, including "Mama Mia (Definitive Queer as Folk Mix)", "Loveshack & Uptown Girl" (B-52s v Billy Joel), "Where's Your Talking Head At?" (Talking Heads v. Basement Jaxx) and "Girls Don't Stop Til They Get Enough" (Beach Boys v. Michael Jackson), among others.
Free:
I'm stoked now that the free Summer concerts are here: I've already scheduled Seun Kuti at the Grand Performances in June, and Lisa Haley at the Levitt Pavilion in August. I just waiting to find out my schedule and look at who's playing when, and I'll host a bunch more (or maybe just go myself--I don't always need to host!)