Dre Day VI @ First Ave 2/22

Dr. Dre has become perhaps the most prolific and successful hip hop artist/producer the game has ever known. He goes back to at least 1986, to the very beginning of gangsta rap with NWA. That was some hardcore shit back then. It still is, really. Some real, gritty, vulgar, violent imagery that would go on to influence countless rappers and white suburbanite nation, nay, worldwide for years and decades to come.

Straight from the streets, or Straight Outta Compton as it were, was Dre, Ice muthafuckin Cube, Eazy muthafuckin E, MC muthafuckin Yella, MC muthafuckin Ren, and Arabian muthafuckin Prince, who left the group before they hit the big time.



This stuff was absolutely mind blowing and revolutionary when I and millions of other youngsters got hold of it at the tender age of 14 or so, and I have always had a place in my muthafuckin heart for Dre and his many projects. You gotta give Dr. Dre mad respect. Not only was he in NWA and had a dope solo hit or two, he discovered Snoop Dogg, who has gone on to be perhaps the most recognizable face in hip hop, Eminem, and later 50 Cent. Those are some big acts. We are talking about what, billions of records sold? All that doesn't even mention the legendary collaborations with Tupac, on tracks like "California Love", which to me has about the most gangsta beat ever. That's what genius about Dre. Not only does he rock upon the mic, but he comes up with these beats and hooks that add so much texture and layers to a song.

Suffice it to say that Dr. Dre is a hip-hop icon and hip-hop icons deserve to be celebrated in some fashion, and a yearly tribute on Dre's birthday seems as good a way as any. This was the sixth time such a celebration has been held, and it marked his 43rd birthday. This was the first time it's been at First Ave. Previously it was at the Triple Rock, which can often be counted on to host newer and more niche events like this must have been six years ago. This year, my first but not last year attending the festivities, First Ave had a healthy crowd of well mannered hoodlums and fun lovin holligans. The DJ's kept our muthafuckin heads ringing with Dre and Dre related jams, from the aforementioned collaboration with my all time numero uno hip hop artist, Tupac, "California Love", to the old school classic "Aint Nothin but a G Thing (baby)". Also, although we unfortunately didn't catch any of the lives acts, there was Arabian Prince, an original, if not memorable member of NWA in the house. Members of local label Doomtree were laso on hand, and I really wish I would have seen a live "$20 Sack Pyramid".

As if the music wasn't enough to make the night, the bar was selling fucking 40oz's in brown paper bags. Now, I have never bought a forty in a bar before, and tho it was mighty tempting, I do my best to avoid malt liquor after midnight. Instead I ordered a 24 oz Summit and offered the barkeep $1 for the street cred that would come with one of them paper bags. He declined the dollar but did provide said ghetto fabulousness, complete with a sticker proclaiming "Deez Nuts".

I hope to make this an annual tradition and I highly encourage those who have been fans of the D.R.E. for somewhere near half their lives to join in this recognition of a hip hop pioneer.

American Idol - The Top 24 Results

A killer track from Daughtry (new inspirational-made-for-Idol song) backs up the footage of the Top 24 getting the star treatment at various photoshoots and traveling. They certainly are a photogenic bunch.

Everyone’s in suits and nice dresses now for a really lame 60’s medley. The first big stupid sing along of the season, but unfortunately, it’s far from the last.

Fortunately, four of these folks will be gone tonight.

Garrett is the first one. Whew, that was quick and dirty.

Now for the ladies……………..

They taunt Kristi Lee Cook before saying good bye to Amy Davis. No big surprise there.

What is surprising is that Paula Abdul is about to perform on the American Idol Stage.

Oh I guess it’s just a video but damn this video kicks ass. Randy Jackson is rocking the bass and Paula is choreographing like she hasn’t choreographed since her heyday in 1988.

Ok back to results. Either Amanda the rocker or JoAnne the plus size model. After the break…JoAnne is gone. So far, so good.

Also leaving us is Colton, the young theatre str to be. He is young and has plenty of time top make it big as a former Idol contestant.

I think we’re off to an excellent start.


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American Idol - The Top 12 Girls

Tonight the Top 12 girls get their first chance to win the votes of America, and like the guys, they will all sing songs from the 60’s tonight.

Before the first note is even sung we are warned about some of the girls being sick. This is after all, one of the worst

Kristi Lee Cook, Ms. Amazing Grace, trains horses and had to sell one in order to fund her audition trip. “Rescue Me” the first selection of the night, and man it is downright horrendous. Vocals have no strength or personality, and all the movements look really forced. Just a weak performance overall. Randy and Paula acknowledge that it was not great, but let her slide a bit because she’s got the flu, and the poor thing had to go first. Simon aint going for the excuses and rightly calls her attempts at dancing as robotic.

JoAnne B, the beautiful plus size model, got the final slot in the top 12 girls, and does “Say a Little Prayer for You”. It has a rough start, and never really gets any better. Yup, it’s rough all the way through. The judges hum and hah about nerves getting to her, but Simon sums it up nicely as usual with the word “substandard”.

Alaina Whittaker is the youngest contestant on the show at 16, and her 17th birthday is tomorrow. “I love you More Today than Yesterday” is her choice. It’s one of my favorite songs, and to my surprise, she really knocks it out of the park. I think she has a chance to go far. Best so far, but that aint saying much. Simon hates the “corny” song, but that’s ok.

Amanda, the rock and roll biker nurse, got her car totaled by a semi truck since auditions, so shes probably pretty goddamn lucky to be alive. I’m glad she is as she rocks “Please Don’t go Down to New Orleans” or whateves. I like her attitude, and her voice is not spectacular, but I think she is a fantastic performer. I like her. Whether your average American American Idol voter will vote for her remains to be seen. The judges call her authentic and they all like her too. “Sorry I pulled out in front of you” are Amanda’s words to the semi truck driver, if he’s watching. Yipes!

Amy Davis, 25, is a trade show model and grad student, and plays geetar. Girls with Guitars are hot, like that cool song by Wynonna Judd. She seems humble and sweet, but gives us a pretty lame performance of “Where the Boys Are” or something. Straight up boring. Randy keeps it real by calling it pitchy and Paula says the camera loves Amy, but it was lackluster. Simon concurs. She’s gonna need to do much more than that to be competitive in this muthafucka.

Brooke White, the 24 yr old nanny, is the one who’s never seen an R movie. She’s pretty likable, and does just about as well as anyone can singing “So Happy Together”, but it wasn’t outstanding. The judges think it was good, but Simon finds it all just too damn squeaky clean, like some washing up liquid from the 60’s. That’s exactly what I was thinking Simon.


Alexandrea Lushington is absolutely adorable, and is absolutely a natural on stage. I love the oversized peace sign earring for a nice touch of the 60’s. Randy proclaims it to be the year of the youngsters, and praises her great performance. Paula loves the dope outfit and the confidence, but Simon just didn’t get it. Sucks for him. That was cool.

Kady Maloy is 18 from Houston, and does a scary Britney Spears impression. She’s the first of the ladies to start her song sitting on a chair, and does “Groovy Kind of Love”. Sounds good to me, she has a powerful voice but I think she could’ve done much better with a more appropriate song. I bet she’ll be around to watch in the next several weeks.

Asia’h Epperson is just about the cutest fucking little thing I have ever seen, and she has a ton of great energy to boot. “Piece of My Heart” is the evening’s first Janis, and she does the song justice. I like this chick. Judges love it as well and it was Simon’s favorite of the night. Word.

Ramiele “Big Voice for a Little Girl” Malubay is also cute as a button but her song choice doesn’t really do much for me. Good vocal, but I am looking forward to hearing her sing something else next week. Simon even says she outsung everyone tonight. Wow.

Syesha “The Scarf” Mercado has power vox and sings the rocking “Tobacco Road” like a pro. Crowd loves it, judges love it, voters love it, she’s going far.

Carly “Irish” Smithson had a record deal at fifteen, and is more modest than she should be. She rounds out the night with a real snoozer, but you can still tell she has mad talent. “The lucky coin in the pocket” (??) says Abdul, and Randy thought it was the best vocal of the whole Top 24. Simon, somehow, didn’t catch on to it. I thought it was brilliant, and love that we are so welcoming of this Irish lass and the Aussie gentleman.

Going home, its gotta be between Kristi Lee Cook, JoAnne Borgella, Amy Davis, and maybe Brooke White. The rest of them are all pretty awesome actually. This really is going to be a great season I think. Even so, I’m glad there are only 20 people competing next week, I have Big Brother to watch, for Chenbot’s sake.

Galactic @ The Cabooze 2/20/2008

Galactic is a five piece funk band from New Orleans, and having been around the NOLA block, they've played with countless musicians, and had who knows how many MC's jump onstage for a freestyle or two. Not too long ago someone had the brilliant idea to make a record with this outstanding live funk band and an array of respected MC's. The result is "From the Corner to the Block", an cool new album featuring my favorite rapper from Jurrasic Five, Chali 2na, on one track and opening act Omegha Watts as well. Chali has a crazy deep voice, really smooth delivery and rhymes that are clever and quickly spit.

I was surprised that he and his younger brother Laidlaw, who he'd brought along on tour, spent a good part of the show on stage with the band, I'd say about half of it. That was a welcome surprise for me, but after the show I heard more than one complaint about not expecting that much hip-hop. That's a legit bone of contention I suppose, as Galactic is normally more about creating lasting deep grooves to funk the funk out to than hard beats and rhymes. In any case it was a fantastic show and got me looking forward to summertime and more sweet sweet music. They played not only "Whole Lotta Love" during the first set, but "Immigrant Song" during the amazing encore.

Chali 2na with his little brother:



the band:



During the encore, Chali 2na came back up with his brother and invited opening act Omega Watts to join the. The result was about 7 dudes onstage taking turns rhyming backed up by some super hot spacefunk.

Here's a video from Bonnaroo 07 of Chali 2na and Galactic:



Damn, and heres some sick footage of the encore of my show, at the Cabooze that someone posted. I must have been literally right next to this guy. This is shot from the exact angle I was at. It's a smokin zepplin jam w Chali.

American Idol - The Top 12 Boys

We have finally made it through the long and arduous audition process and the judges have whittled the contestants down to the top 24. It’s all in America’s hands now. We certainly have an interesting group of fellas this year, perhaps even the most intriguing group ever. From this point until we reach the Top 12, we will lose two boys and two girls each week, so there isn’t much room for mistakes in the next few weeks.

David Hernandez was first up among the guys. His choice to wow us for the first time in the finals in “The Midnight Hour”, a fantastic song, but he didn’t really make it work for him. He has a good voice but virtually no stage presence or energy, and he is quite a bore to watch. The judges kinda let him slide but Simon, as always, calls ‘em like he sees ‘em, and tells him to ‘loosen up’. Exactly.

Chakezie is up next. He made it to Hollywood last year, but no further. His performance tonight is weak and lacking charisma. He seems like an agreeable guy with his huge constant smile, and the judges find it agreeable for the most part, but Simon calls it old fashioned and knocks his dumb red suit.

David Cook, the guy with the weird spikey hair with an unexplained streak of red in it, picks “So Happy Together”, and it is a terrible choice. He is waving the mic stand around like some kind of rocker but sounds like a pansy. He kinda shouts at times too, like he’s trying to give that edgy song even more of an edge. Alas, it doesn’t work and his first chance to impress the audience is gone.

Jason Yeagar, the singing server with the son who has the hair helmet, seems to be trying out for a Disney movie with this rendition of “Moon River, the fatty Andy Williams joint. He may be one of the first to go.

Robbie Carrico - Now this guy I like. Before he sings he shares with us that he was in a ‘boy girl band’ that opened for Britney Spears a few years ago. He really doesn’t seem like the pop star type, but whatever pays the bills I suppose. He chooses “One is the Loneliest Number” and nails it. Shows some style, some personality, and actually seems to be getting a reaction from the crowd. I think he will go far.

David Archuleta is 17 but giggles and acts like he’s about 14. He sings “Shop Around” and while he definitely has a great voice, he really needs some more self confidence and he could go far.

Danny Noriega sings “Jailhouse Rock” and although it isn’t the strongest performance, I like this little dude’s attitude. He made it to Hollywood last year but was cut right away. I predict he’ll be with us for a while.

Luke Menard may have been the worst performance of the night. His version of “Everybody’s Talking at Me” was just terrible. His voice was super weak and everyone seemed a little baffled by him. He’ll most certainly be one of the first to go.

Colton “Gay as the day is long” Berry has a theatre background and you can tell when he sings “Suspicious Minds” like he’s auditioning for some horrible off Broadway Elvis revue. At first I thought this kid might do ok but I am having serious doubts about that now.

Garrett Haley is one of a few dudes we have yet to hear a peer from, so there is some suspense and mystery surrounding him. Seacrest goes for the Leif Garrett comparison, and Garrett says he also hears that he looks like Peter Frampton. I think he looks creepy and skeletal. He sings “Breaking Up is Hard To DO”, and man was that ever disappointing. Here I figured this was going to be some kind of surprise talent here the way the built it up, but no, he sucks.

Jason Castro, the dreadlock with the huge smile, is singing for the first time on the show, and admits that before trying out he’d only sung in front of people a handful of times. Still, when he starts singing “What a day for a Daydream”, he immediately captivates everyone’s attention. I love this dude! He is super talented and has a great voice, and had the courage to bring his guitar out on stage with him, the only one of the night to do so. The judges love him and I may have a new favorite.

Michael “the Scarf” Johns, is last but not least. The hunky Aussie sings “Light My Fire” and captures a bit of the Morrison mojo as he charms the ladies. There is no doubt in my mind that this guy will be in the finals. He’s got a great voice, knows how to work the crowd, and no surprise, gets critical acclaim from the 3 judges.

An impressive night overall, but I think it may be the end already for Luke, Garrett, David H or Jason Yeagar. In fact, I’d put money on two of them leaving Thursday. Tomorrow night we get our first good look at the Top Twelve girls, Thursday we get to see four people go home!

Deadheads for Obama

This is so goddamn cool...







From dead.net:


Deadheads for Obama

Grateful Dead Members to Reunite for Barack Obama

(San Francisco) Members of the Grateful Dead will host a get out the vote concert in support of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama on Monday, February 4th at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco.

Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, and Bob Weir, joined by Jackie Greene, John Molo, and Steve Molitz, will play show together in support of Barack Obama.

The video website Iclips will be producing a live simulcast streamed via the Internet on www.iclips.net at approximately 7:30pm PST.

This will mark the first time that the members of the legendary band have performed together since 2004. They have agreed to reunite for this one-time-only event in order to lend support to Senator Obama leading into the crucial “Super- Tuesday” series of primaries held on Tuesday, February 5th.


I read somewhere that it sold out in 20 minutes. The show began with a taped thank you message from Senator Obama:



Here's Phil! Such a cute old guy!




Bobby:



and, Mickey:




And from http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN0462538720080205

"The last time hope was in the air, it was ended by a bullet," Weir said, referring to Kennedy, who was assassinated on the night he won the California Democratic primary in 1968. "We've been reluctant to do political events all along."

Awesome.

American Idol - Hollywood Week & Top 24 Revelaed !

Well we have survived auditions once again and finally we've made it to the Hollywood round. The first part of the two night, three hour spectacular definitely showed some potential, and also made me glad that the majority these people will go no further.

The new phenomenon of people singing and instruments has definitely not paid off yet. So far everyone who tries it seems to be worse off, as if the instrument is just a prop, or a distraction from the fact that they suck. The "Hooked on a Feeling" drum kit guy was a perfect example. If you can't sing, it doesn't matter if you can play an instrument. Some guy also failed miserably with a keyboard audition, and one guy was called out for not really even knowing how to strum the guitar he was holding.

The young David Archleta will be one to watch, he has a good voice and got a 100,000,000% yes and a 100 kazillion percent yes from Randy and Paula, respectively. The way that they are throwing around these big numbers, it really may be the best season yet, like the judges have repeatedly said in interviews. There is a lot of talent and more personality than usual this season, which should make things more interesting.


The classic lyric forgetters get their own little montage, which is always good for a laugh, then we revisit the Venezuelan kisser who brought his guitar this time. He simply cannot sing the Bryan Adams number that he and a million other contestants chose, and he will go on home.

Then we have Josiah, the guy who sleeps in his car between little coffee shop gigs. He comes onstage and dismisses the band-thats pretty bold and risky. He spoke with a fake English accent during his first audition, which isn't as pronounced this time, and makes all kinds of theatrical movements as he plays the keyboard. His song choice, that theatrical Queen "Why don't you love me" was baffling to me at first but he somehow made it sound pretty good. It was clearly not the best he could do, and the judges put him through to the next round based on his past audition. Simon even declares this the most memorable audition so far. We find out later that this wanker didn't make the top 24 and he's going home to his car. A little disappointing, but oh well.


For the first time, we can actually check out everyone who made it to Hollywood! All 164 of them!


www.americanidol.com/hollywoodweek

Wednesday night we have reached the top 24, with even more people getting the boot. from 164 to 24 is a lot of people going home. But now we can get down to business and start picking our favorites. here is the website for the top 24,

http://www.americanidol.com/contestants/season7/


I cannot make my predictions quite yet because I'm not even sure I've heard all these characters in the top 24 sing yet, but here my faves and picks to go far as of now:


Carly Smithson, 24 - The Irish chick! from Dublin, she has a really cool voice, was on the show in 2005 but had problems with her visa and couldn't compete. I'm glad she came back.


Alexandrea Lushington, only 16 years old! - she is super cute, lots of personality and has a great voice. Obviously a good combo.


Amanda Overmyer, 23 years old-the rock and roll nurse, as she's been dubbed, could do well because she is unique, stylish, and has some pipes.


Asiah Epperson, 19 - Spunky little thing full of positive energy, i like her a lot and hope she does well. very pretty.


Danny Noriega, 18 - has a bit of a 'this season's Sanjaya' vibe to him, except that he is far more talented and has better style and he doesn't seem to be in denial about the fact that he is gay. Seems like kind of a bitchy diva, but I like him.


Kristi Lee Cook, 24, seems like the inevitable annoying religious goody two shoes, which is helpful with some voting groups, and so far has only really succeeded singing "Amazing Grace". We'll see how she does.


Michael Johns, 29 - This guys got it made, at least for a few rounds. He is the Australian heartthrob, and can definitely sing. Seems pretty charming as well.


Ramiele Malubay - 20, I love this girl, she is fun and has a lot of potential.


Robert Carrico - 26, He's like Buck Covington's older, cooler, more talented brother. Good voice, but his hair is a liability.


Syesha Mercado - 21, has a great voice and seems very likable, but she can't seem to stop crying. That gets old real quick.

An impressive crop this year, I am excited to see things really get going!