Don't Move A Muscle

Don't make a move, punk. I could smoke you without coughing.

So, I leave for Hawaii next Wednesday. I can’t wait. This pasty Midwestern boy is ready to kick it on “island time” for a week. Yesterday, I talked to one of my buddies from LA who is going and he’s hooking up a resort hotel in Waikiki for like $60/night. We’ll be splitting our time between there and our friend’s place who lives in some village on Oahu and teaches biology or something. Pays to have friends who have friends in the service industry. You bet yer booty it does.

Here’s another mix I’ve made for the trip. This one is sort of a hangover-friendly morning mix. Island-stylee. I’m calling this one “Don’t Move a Muscle”, it’s one of the most chill mixes I’ve made in awhile. Nothing to get too excited about here, just lay around for a minute and get your wits about you. We’ll go from there…

Curtis Mayfield – Blue Monday People
Lou Rawls – Willow Weep For Me
Feist – Gatekeeper (XFM Version w/ Broken Social Scene)
Shuggie Otis – Island Letter
Charlie Byrd – It’s Impossible
Beck – Ramshackle
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Herbie Mann – What’s Going On
BB King – Chains and Things
Curtis Mayfield – We People Who Are Darker Than Blue
George Benson – Nature Boy
Shuggie Otis – Aht Uh Mi Hed
Ernest Ranglin – Surfin
Ry Cooder – Poor Man’s Shangri-La
Daniel Lanois – Desert Rose
JJ Cale – Magnolia
Shuggie Otis – Freedom Flight

Happy Relatively-Close-Birthday To Me!

The traditional Birthday Tenderloin

So, I’m laying around last night with Elle and I bring up the subject of my birthday present, which isn’t exactly around the corner, but it’s coming up soon enough. She had mentioned the night before on the phone that she had been looking on the internet for my birthday stuff. I got her to begrudgingly give me a clue, which was “It has to do with the Civil War”. I’ve been to Gettysburg and I’ve read some stuff about history, so I was pretty excited already. Here was my thought progression: Uhh...slaves?...sex slave?...the Underground Railroad?...a Grand Funk Railroad record?...wait, no the war was technically over states rights, right?...and we live in a state capital...the state to the right of us on the map is Ohio...but, nothing really happens in Ohio...Lincoln?...I've been to the home he was born in...and irreverantly participated in an adoption rights protest in front of his monument while I was in a soccer tournament in DC as a kid...Hey, there's a park in Chicago called Lincoln Park...we stayed near there for the Feist show!...but I really hope it doesn't have anything to do with Linkin Park...although they do sound pretty good w/ Jay-Z...music music music...I think there's also a park called Grant Park in Chicago...and, didn't I recently confuse where we stayed as Grant Park instead of Lincoln Park?...only to have Elle correct me and tell me that Lollapalooza was at Grant Park?...Hey, wasn't Grant a Yankee general?...gotcha!: It’s Lollapalooza in GRANT Park, Chicago (Aug 4-6). That was it, and I knew it, and I told her that I knew what it was. Incredulous and doubtful of my Sherlockian qualities, she said there was “no way”. I asked if she wanted me to guess and, still irrationally skeptical of my powers of deduction, she said “yeah, sure”. I then proceeded to simultaneously blow her mind and ruin my the surprise of my birthday present in one fell swoop. But, considering that hotels must be booked and whatnot, I think it’s best to know now. If you haven’t seen the lineup for this year’s Lollapalooza, you’re in for a surprise because I dare say that it is the best lineup I’ve ever seen for a festival. Bar none. And, fewer hippies than any other festival ever…I hope.

Question: Could I be more excited? Answer: No.
Question: Is my girlfriend, like, super awesome? Answer: Yes.

Here’s a sampling of the bands that will rock my own personal Kasbah from Friday till Sunday, with nary a drum circle to break my mood. Want to join us? Belly up to the bar, partner.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West, Manu Chao (mp3: Clandestino), Wilco (mp3: Student Loan Stereo, from one of the "Can't Stand It" cd singles), Death Cab For Cutie, The Raconteurs (see 2/24 post), The Flaming Lips (see 2/24 post), Ween, The Shins, Common, Matisyahu (his interview with The Onion), Ryan Adams (mp3: I See Monsters, live from XM Studios, Spring '05), Thievery Corporation, Broken Social Scene (mp3: Almost Crimes, the original , unreleased version), The New Pornographers, Iron & Wine, Eels, Panic! At the Disco, The Disco Biscuits , Andrew Bird, Gnarls Barkley (see 2/24 post), Stars (mp3: This Charming Man, a Smiths cover), Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, Calexico, Feist, Aqualung, The Go! Team (mp3: Huddle Formation, RJD2 remix)…on and on goes the list…

Happy McDrinky Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Hideawayheads! Let’s cut the crap about what the true meaning of the holiday is. It’s a day for drinkin’. I can’t help the fact that a black and tan really does sound super delicious right now. Tonight, I’m gonna catch a buzz, enjoy the merriment of my fellow man in the over-crowded ambience of a faux-Irish drinking establishment and leave it at that. I don’t need to hear bagpipes; in fact, I’d prefer not to. In fact, since the street-level intent of this holiday is excessive drinking, I wanna hear party songs, not The Chieftans. And, wouldn’t ya know it, I’ve compiled a new party mix this week. I did it in preparation for my upcoming trip to Hawaii for a friend’s wedding, but a party is a party. Drink up the goodness and be safe.

1. Belle & Sebastian-I'm a Cuckoo (Avalanches Remix)
2. The Go! Team-Ladyflash
3. Kid Koala-Third World Lover
4. The Rolling Stones-Miss You (Dr. Dre Remix)
5. Diplo-Gold Digger (Remix)
6. Curumin-Guerriero
7. Jorge Ben-Taj Mahal
8. Brazilian Girls-Pussy
9. DJ Shadow Mix-I Can't Go For That
10. DJ Ayres-Get It Twisted
11. DJ Danger Mouse-Tom's Diner (Remix)
12. The Beastles-Pass the Word
13. The Beastles-Tripper Trouble
14. Beck-Girl (8 Bit Remix)
15. Mylo-Drop the Pressure
16. White Stripes vs Biggie-Hypnotize the Army
17. The Game feat. 50 Cent-Love It or Hate It
18. Gnarls Barkley-Crazy
19. J Live & Thes One - Give It Up

Rhymefest – From the Point of View of a Naptown Loc

Lose the gloves, dawg

Rhymefest - Brand New

Rhymefest - These Days

Kanye West (w/ Common & Mase) - Jesus Walks (Remix)

Last Thursday I went to the Vogue Theater and saw Rhymefest open up for Common. It was a really great show, which is rare for live hip-hop. It must be really hard to do the sound for hip hop shows because the mix always sounds muddy. Maybe it’s the people doing the rapping because both Common and Rhymefest brought it and for the most part it sounded pretty clear…and pretty awesome. I’d never seen Common before, and he was every bit as great as I hoped he’d be. One of the things that I loved about Rhymefest is how much the marketing surrounding him and his upcoming album, “Blue Collar”, reflects his reality. He’s being marketed as an everyday dude, a workin’ man. I asked my buddy Paloz to share some of his stories about seeing Rhymefest around Indy’s hip hop scene over the past couple years.:

[Koopa],

Yo man. Cool idea. Yeah, I got a couple stories...I'll try to keep them brief.

The first one is about when I used to watch Rhymefest get his ass handed to him at the old Melody Inn battles. He'd come in there with what looked like regular old hand-me-down lookin' clothes and just get demolished! Then I watched him SLOWLY get better and better... along with his style too! [Rhymefest would go on to out-freestyle some dude named Eminem at 1997 Scribble Jam]

The other is right after he started getting big. He was sitting on the hood of a car right outside the now gone Patio and was chillin' out waiting for his show to start. He looked kinda down and to himself... no one was talking to him. I was drunk! I decided now was the time to go and berate him for giving me his manager's phone number when I asked him for his personal number earlier in the year. I got in his face about how I wanted HIS number not his F'in' manager's! I told him that I'd have my girlfriend fix us a chron meal and that I just wanted to kick it with him for real... have some beers and be real; be my guest for real! I told him I didn't want his F'in' manager's number... all the while I'm stumblin' drunk. He sat there and took all the abuse without saying a word...looking me right in the face. When I was done he simply said, "Man... go get me a pen." He wrote his real number down and I never called him to hang out.
Now it's too late.

Rhymefest's album should be droppin this May. Here's his Myspace page with some more streams. Here are some cool interviews with the guy here, here, a Newsweek write-up, and a Rolling Stone write-up. Did I mention he wrote Kanye's Grammy-winning "Jesus Walks", yet got his verses left off the album version, as well as the remix? And, he's still tight with 'Ye, which is either very shrewd or very forgiving. Rhymefest is the genuine article and is an example of what you can do if you work hard at something.

Oh, and, don't believe the Kanye-Common-related hype, Rhymefest is Naptown, not Chi-town. Alright, so the marketing isn't ENTIRELY accurate.