LA Weekly

Last night on CNN a show about the NY Philharmonic playing in Pyongyang, North Korea, trying to explain how this was a moment for Art. But I wondered was it actually a moment for The Arts? To understand the difference, I ask that you read this wonderful essay just posted by critic Greg Sandow on his BLOG.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/26/nyphilharmonic.nkorea/index.html

http://www.artsjournal.com/npac/2008/05/art-and-the-arts.html

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From Spaceland to Broadway: Stew

Passing Strange, the Broadway musical created by longtime fixture on the LA music scene Stew, received seven Tony Award nominations this morning. The show, which started Off Broadway but moved to the Big Dance in the spring, has gone on to become one of the most critically acclaimed and successful musicals of the season.

The nominations for the former leader of the Negro Problem are some of the biggies, too. Stew himself is nominated for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Musical, and Passing Strange is nominated for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Original Score, among others. (The entire list of nominees can be found here.)

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Big ass night for Los Angeles music. If you're in from out of town, you picked a good frickin' Monday to be here. Fortify with a big dinner cuz there's no cover and you can whoop it up tonight and spend all your money on booze and cigarettes.

Le Switch

Top on the list is the great quadruple bill at the Echo, during week two of Le Switch's residency. The band is on everybody's lips right now, and reports on week one were uniformly positive. Next week will apparently be acoustic based, so if you want to get a major dose of the band doing it the way they do it, tonight's the night. To boot, a few other LA buzz bands will be filling out the bill. The much lauded Division Day; the Henry Clay People of Jax Art records; and the totally impressive pop band Princeton.

At Pehrspace, joy of joys, will be Harvey Sid Fisher. Yes. Oh yes. Here:

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Duke Spirit, Ohhlas
Troubadour, May 10, 2008
By Timothy Norris

Liela Moss of The Duke Spirit at the Troubadour. The band's new album, Neptune is out now. More after the jump.

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Elbow, Air Traffic
Avalon, May 9, 2008
Photos and words by Timothy Norris

Shortly before Elbow took the stage Friday night for the final show of their latest North American tour, someone asked me, “Why aren’t Elbow bigger than they are?” I've got no good answer for that. Although I'm a relatively recent fan to their music (beginning with 2005’s Leaders of The Free World), there's little doubt that Elbow's music is anything but top notch on a number of levels.

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Silver Daggers were on the bill to play at the Part Time Punks' Third Anniversary show Sunday night. This is what they did for 20 minutes instead (a few of them--not all members were present):

At least if you're going to do nothing, make it interesting- see: John Cage; Kevin Smith; Andy Kaufman. This was essentially a big "fuck you" to the audience (i.e. me), to which I might say "fuck you" right back, except I'm not really that angry. I'm just kind of irritated that I wasted two passes of deodorant on going out. Those in the 21+ set who pay to see shows on weekday nights generally have stuff to do the next day, like work, and are sacrificing sleep to hear good live music and/or have a good time. This was neither.

I get what they were trying to do, really I do--that's why I think it's lame. Silver Daggers used to be a good band... now they are officially the band that made my non-existent cock go limp for 6 hours.

Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

When ex-Just Blaze proteges, Kidz in the Hall released their debut album, School Was My Hustle on the newly revived Rawkus Records, I didn't listen to it for a variety of reasons. Chief among them was the "Ivy League Rap" label critics ascribed to the duo of Nawledge and Double-O. Still scarred from having heard Brown grad MC Paul Barman, I figured Ivy League Rappers were the last thing the world needed, besides something seemed corny about Kidz in the Hall's insistence on trumpeting their Penn degrees and posing for their album cover in letterman's jackets.* And by all accounts, their debut seemed stuck in the "conscious" neo-Native Tongues albatross that has flapped over indie rap since Rawkus' first-go-around. To say nothing of the fact that one of the Kidz' had the audacity to bestow himself with a rap name as openly condescending as Nawledge.

But that was two years ago, an eternity in rap time. In the interim, something people persist on calling "hipster rap" has come into vogue, an inane classification that Kidz in the Hall have roundly rejected (like the Supreme Court and prior restraint.) But no matter how vehemently they deny such labels, there's a bit of truth to them, as the retro-aesthetic dominates the very funny and very good video for "Drivin' Down the Block," the jump-off single from The In Crowd, the Kidz' new record slated to drop next week on Duckdown Records. **

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're looking for some nookie this weekend, as in: your special one has been hesitatin', and you've been motivatin' but there is no reciprocatin', well, maybe you need to butter up with some Keith Sweat. For example:

Tonight you can check out Hot Buttered Sweat at the Greek Theatre on a bill with the Gap Band, the Emotions and One Way.

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hello internet users. In about 10 minutes I will be co-DJing with my friend Brian Long on his long-running internet radio show Infinite Eargasm. That is 2pm-4pm EDT, 11am-1pm Pacific. I have just drunk a single glass of red wine and am such a lightweight that the world is starting to spin just a tad slower than it usually does. In other words, this show could be extremely entertaining.

You can hear us by clicking here and then clicking somewhere else on that page. (It's the internet, lots of clicking!)

I expect to be, erm, spinning an admixture of contemporary classical music, old obscure hardcore tracks, and various other sad sad songs -- the emphasis being the flow between them, how to get from point A to point Z.

I'll try to post a playlist in this space after we're done DJing.

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tapes ‘n Tapes
The Troubadour, May 8, 2008
By Jonah Flicker

Photos by Timothy Norris

About halfway through the first night of Minnesota’s Tapes ‘n Tapes two-night stint at the Troubadour, somebody in the audience yelled out, “Another waltz!” Though this sounds like the snarky, modern-day equivalent of calling for “Freebird” at a Sebadoh show, it’s actually not an unreasonable request. After all, it seems like half of the incredibly catchy indie rock songs singer/guitarist Josh Grier and company churn out are in 6/8 time. But that’s not the only trick up their collective sleeve.

Click here for more photos of Timothy Norris' Tapes 'n Tapes and White Denim at the Troubadour.

Tapes’ latest album, Walk it Off, sounds like it was mastered through a Big Muff pedal, perhaps due to the recruitment of producer Dave Fridmann (Sleater Kinney’s The Woods, Flaming Lips). In a live setting, this effect was amplified, as guitar, bass, drums, and keys practically buried Grier’s engaging warble beneath layers of warm, fuzzy, crunchy distortion.

Read on...

Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tom Waits' Anti-Scalping Plan May 8, 2008
Peter Saville explains why he won hearts & minds with his record cover designs May 8, 2008
Madonna to Lead Large Pilates Session at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 6 May 8, 2008
Crystal Castles: Not Total Hipster Bullshit May 7, 2008
Shary Boyle tonight at Hammer: Visual collaborator with Will Oldham and Swan Lake May 7, 2008
Daedalus and TI$A team up for Obama video May 7, 2008
Someone needs to take a poo on Diddy's Clorox white suit May 6, 2008
Trent Reznor's Awesome Package May 6, 2008
Why Biz Markie Should Have Known From the Get-Go That He Was More Than "Just a Friend" May 6, 2008
My Bloody Valentine announces two LA shows in the fall May 6, 2008
Some Thoughts on the "Best. Politician. Inspired. Single. Ever." Also, Nazis. Also, Jesus. Also, NFL football. May 6, 2008
Metaform-Standing On the Shoulders of Giants May 5, 2008
Ben Harper, Jackson Browne, Claremont Folk Festival, 5/3 May 5, 2008
Marfa Film Fest Dispatch: World Premiere of Heath Ledger-directed music video May 5, 2008
Dodos, Akron/Family, Natural History Musuem, 5/2 May 5, 2008