I just see you

'Ello! Here are some photos from The Duke Spirit/Mobius Band/Shilpa Ray and The Happy Hookers show a few weeks ago at Music Hall of Williamsburg.  More photos here.

If I could lend you this feeling I would

I got my ticket for The Duke Spirit at MHOW. Where's yours?

Maxwell's tickets

MHOW tickets

Bob Marley would've been 64 yesterday. Happy Birthday Robert.

This will be a better year

Long time no talk, huh? I've been busy doing everything and nothing. That's how it seems to go sometimes. This post will be full of randomness so hold on.

First off, Happy New Year! We all have a fresh new start. And if your 2008 was as shitty as mine, you need it! We've got a fantastic new president who will hopefully not only fix the problems we have but make us seem a little more human to people in other parts of the world. We care. We know. We see what's going on. And we want change too.


I spent New Years Eve in White Plains at the Lazy Boy Bar with my cousins, eating wings and listening to songs on the jukebox. A DJ played later on in the night, much to my disappointment. I made Jeazette look in her bag for a solid 5 minutes for 50 cents so that I could play "The Sound Of Settling." Sad to say that I never got the chance to sing "Bah Bah. Bah Bah."

I saw The Wrestler and Slumdog Millionaire in the past month. Both were great. I was happy to see Mickey Rourke take home the best actor trophy at the Golden Globes and very happy for Slumdog for taking home every award they were nominated for. A lot of great movies have come out lately and that's kind of rare.

Jeazette's birthday was this week so we went out for dinner on Saturday. She picked a Thai place in White Plains called Reka's. It was phenominal! I had spring rolls and the chicken pad thai (I usually go for the chicken pad thai if I've never been to the restaurant before. If you mess that up, everything else will taste like poo most likely.) Also had fried ice cream for dessert. When we got home that night, Jeazette and I watched Funny Games with Naomi Watts and Michael Pitt. I'd wanted to see it for a while. Totally twisted and a bit unsatisfying I have to admit. But totally creepy in the "this could totally happen in real life" way which isn't often the case with horror/thriller movies. So at the very least, I appreciate that. Also, I've had a crush on Michael Pitt since Murder by Numbers. Holla at ya girl Napoleon!

There seem to be a lot of birthdays this month. Why is that? Kind of weird. My aunt, uncle, and two of my cousins all have birthdays this month. Not to mention my grandmother and several friends. Anyone else been buying a bunch of birthday cards this month? My wallet is empty.

Yesterday, Adhalia, Jeazette and I went into the city to hang out with Micky. We had lunch at this really nice cafe on 9th and 30th (or was it 29th?) in Chelsea. Can't for the life of me remember what it's called but the food was great (I had a burger with fries) and if you order something on the brunch menu, you get drinks to go with it (we all got mimosas). Then we hit up a few stores on Broadway before going back to Micky's and hanging out for a bit. We listened to his Santogold station on Pandora and I was surprised that I had most of the records that were being played (Lily Allen, The Cure, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

Well, I think that's all I have for major updates in my little world.. So here's a little housekeeping.

The Walkmen are on Conan tonight. Watch it. Don't know what song they'll play, but it's sure to be awesome.

The Duke Spirit is playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 16th. I'm pretty sure I'll be going. I know that I'll have a good time and it's always fun going to a venue that I've never been to before. They're also playing at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Small venue and I'd love to see them there. But can you take the Path to Maxwell's? And how late does it run? I'll have to investigate. The band is holding a contest where the winner gets to go to a show of their choice and annouce them on stage. All you have to do is make a YouTube video. Get the deets here.

COYH have a new video for their song "Turn Cold." They're gonna be on tour with Ra Ra Riot soon. Tour dates here.



The Harlem Shakes record comes out in March. Listen to "Strictly Game" on their MySpace. It's my new anthem.

Ok, I think that's all I got for now. I'll try to be a better updater.

I can't help it

I saw my last Duke Spirit show of the year (at least I think it will be the last one) last night at the 40 Watt in Athens. They were brilliant as always. And for it being a rainy Saturday night during Thanksgiving weekend, there was a pretty good turn out. In addition to all of the gems they usually play, they also played "Echo Song" which is a b-side from Neptune (only way us US kids can get it is on import). You can listen to it on their MySpace page.

Besides putting out great records, The Duke Spirit also put on a great live show. Liela's voice is flawless and their sound is solid. I admire their endurance. They've been touring practically non stop since February and I've yet to see a mediocre performance out of them. They give 100% every time.

I also appreciate that they're so grateful to crazy fans like me who have seen them loads of times. They're such sweet people and I hope the rest of this year and next are extremely good to them. They deserve it.




More photos here.

I also took a few pictures of Eulogies, one of the opening bands. Check them out, they were really good.

The Duke Spirit is playing Matt Pinfield's Holiday Extravaganza show for 101.9 RXP on the 9th (a few other bands are playing including the Ting Tings) but it's sold out so I can't go. Bummers :( The station is giving away tickets to the show so maybe I'll try my luck there. If you'd like to enter the contest sign up here. The band is also playing David Letterman Letterman on December 8th

For those of you who don't live in NY, 101.9 RXP is a relatively new station. I believe that 101.9 was previously a smooth jazz station. It became The New York Rock Experience in February of this year.

Being from Atlanta, I grew up listening to 99x. Sitting in my room on Saturday mornings and listening to the countdown; laughing uncontroably to "The Morning X with Barnes, Leslie and Jimmy"; "The House of Retro Pleasure" (aka "Duplex of Retro Pleasure" aka "The Retroplex") with Steve Craig where I heard Echo and the Bunnymen for the first time. Thanks to 99x, my friend Stephanie won front row seats to see The Smashing Pumpkins at the Fox Theater, which was pretty major for a pair of 16 year old girls that were in love with them. I loved their Live X CDs, how they'd throw out shirts into the crowd during local shows and all the rad stuff that I got with my Freeloaders card.

As we all know, people don't listen to radio as much as they used to, thanks to internet radio, satellite radio, downloading, mp3 blogs, and a whole heap of other things. And unfortunately, 99x suffered from that. On January 25, 2008 99x stopped broadcasting on 99.7. They last song that was played was Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". While 99x now exist solely on the internet, it's not the same. When I came home in April and realized that I could no longer hear Steve Craig's voice at 1 in the afternoon talking about a great Altered Images song, I was crushed. Listening to The Retroplex was always one of my favorite things about coming home.

Former 99x DJ Sean Demery wrote an amazing post about the history of the station in his blog back in January. It was really interesting reading about how the station came to be and how it evolved, becoming probably the best rock station in the south.

In June of this year, Leslie Fram became the Program Director at 101.9 RXP. She also co-hosts the Morning Drive with Matt Pinfield. Leslie is kind of a legend in Atlanta and a lot of people credit her with giving them their start in music, whether it be supporting their band when others wouldn't or giving them a shot in radio. RXP has the potential to be a great station and it will certainly grow and prosper under Leslie's guidance. Steve Craig, another 99x alum also accepted a position at RXP. He's currently the midday host.

RXP promises not to rely on corporate playlists. I often wonder if bands I listen to would break out and become huge if they were only getting airplay on major radio stations. It's really hard to say. But if RXP truly does intend on playing good, new music, things may just change. I guess only time will tell. But it seems as though they're intent on doing things differently. And hopefully, that will make all the difference.

So caught up in my lone communion

I'm so glad that I decided to get a ticket to see The Duke Spirit at Center Stage last night. As always they put on an incredible show and left me anxiously awaiting their headlining show in Athens next week.

I arrived at the venue probably 5 minutes before 8. The doors opened about 10 minutes later. Once I was inside I remembered that I'd been there before (when it was called Earthlink Live) back in 2002. I saw Kittie, Chimaira, Ill Nino and No One there. Now if you know me, you'll know that every time I've seen Kittie play live, something has happened to me. I always get hurt. This show was no exception. While some kid was crowd surfing, I tried to push him away from me as he was coming and my arm buckled and came out of its socket. Worst. Pain. Ever. It popped back into place after hanging there for a while, but it hurt like hell. Thankfully, I sustained no injuries at last night's show for which I am extremely grateful.

I talked to a very nice security guard while waiting for the show to start. Maybe he felt bad because I was by myself. As it got closer to 9, I got more and more excited of course. The band finally came out a little after 9 to "I Do Believe" and then plunged into "Send A Little Love Token". They're sticking to a set for this tour with Eagles of Death Metal so they played the same songs they played at Music Hall of Williamsburg last Sunday (I saw the setlist). Liela was in great form, very energetic and chatting with the crowd and being her usual charming self. I loved that they played to such an enthusiastic crowd. Sometimes, the crowds in New York just seem so over everything. But Atlanta crowds rarely act like they're too cool to have a good time and I really appreciate that. I'm sure the bands do as well.

Highlights for me were of course "Hello to the Floor," "Dog Roses," "Red Weather" and "Love Is an Unfamiliar Name." It's so good to hear older stuff as you tend to hear less and less of it with the more albums that a band puts out. Of course my favorite song from Neptune, This Ship Was Built to Last, sounded epic and Liela glanced over at me and smiled as I sang along. They closed with "Cuts Across the Land" which is another good oldie and you could tell that they left everyone who hadn't heard them before impressed.

I sat out in the lobby for awhile afterward and watched some of Eagles of Death Metal on the TV screens behind the bar. Then I decided to take off since unlike New York, the trains here stop running around midnight. As I was walking to the train station who should be coming from the other side of the street but Olly Bets, the Duke's drummer. When he crossed over to my side I told him how awesome they were and that this was my 6th time seeing them this year. For those of you keeping score at home I saw them twice in February at Mercury Lounge and Union Hall, twice in April at Bowery Ballroom and the 40 Watt (when they opened for Black Rebel), and once over the summer when they did that instore at the Apple Soho store (see picture)

Anywho, Olly couldn't believe that I'd see them so many times this year but he seemed genuinely appreciative so that was cool. I told him that I was going to their show at 40 Watt next week and I'm so looking forward to it. If you're not doing anything on the 29th, you should definitely go up to Athens and check out the show. It's a headling gig for them so I'm hoping that they'll pull out some gems that I haven't heard live before, like "Scratching Around," "This Heart Is A Lonely Hunter," or "A Wild Hope."

I took a few pictures at the show and I'm happy to say that a loto f them came out looking great. I think I finally found the perfect "show" setting on my camera, so that's cool.




More photos here.

Georgia, take me to the seeeeeaaaaaaaaaa

My room is a mess. I'm trying to start packing for my trip to Atlanta but I can't really find the motivation. I'm just exhausted. I've been tired all day (maybe not enough sleep last night) and never did catch my second or even first wind. Hoping that I'll get a nice nights rest tonight.

I'm missing The Duke Spirit tonight and it's killing me a little inside. They opened for Eagles of Death Metal tonight at Bowery but the show sold out before I could get tickets. While I'll be seeing them twice when I'm back home in Georgia, I always feel odd not seeing them when they play in the city. Like I'm a bad fan or something. They played MHOW last night but as most of you know Brooklyn shows are rough for me unless I have a place nearby to crash afterwards. With as far uptown as I am, train rides too late at night can take FOREVER.

On Friday, I'm seeing Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson at Drunken Unicorn which I'm looking forward to. Seeing The Duke Spirit and Eagles of Death Metal on Saturday at Center Stage. Feel kind of bad that I'm missing Snowden on the 29th at The Earl (The Duke Spirit is headlining a show in Athens at the 40 Watt on that night and I just can't miss a Duke Spirit headlining show as I haven't seen one of those since February) but I will most likely be seeing them on the 3rd at Mercury Lounge anyway, even if I have to go alone.

I finally got to see Rival Schools in the last few weeks. Saw them at the Knitting Factory at the Brooklyn Vegan Showcase during CMJ and then at Mercury Lounge on the 6th. Both shows were amazing and they sound phenominal. I can't wait for the new record. The King Left was one of the openers at the Mercury Lounge show and they were great to watch. They totally rock out and sounded like 1000 times more amazing than when I saw them open for Snowden last year at Maxwell's.


To check out the pictures I took at Knitting Factory, visit my flickr.

I also saw Jaguar Love on Halloween at Mercury Lounge. It was pretty cool seeing J on stage again and he is a maniac on the drums. Also Johnny Whitney's voice is remarkable. I mean, how does he do it? The crowd loved Johnny and the rest of the boys and I was glad that I got to see them play.

Now that it's well past my bedtime, I think I'll hit the sack. I leave you with this fantastic interview with President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle from 60 minutes last night.


Watch CBS Videos Online

You don't look like I look back

A funny thing happened on the way to The Duke Spirit show on Tuesday....

Dirk and I could not find the Bowery Ballroom. Ok, so yeah you're going to find out that I'm not the downtown LESider you thought I was. Ok, you probably didn't think that, but as many times as I've been to Mercury Lounge, you'd think that I'd have no problem finding Bowery. I mean, they ARE in the same neighborhood. I partially blame hopstop, and the man that we stopped to ask for directions at the liquor store. But I thank the nice couple that told us we had to walk back towards the bridge. And of course Liela.

So here's the deal. I'd never seen a show at Bowery Ballroom before. Dirk had only been there once. We were pretty certain that we'd passed it somehow (even though we were being all eagle eyed with the lookout for Delancey). But we were walking and walking and didn't see it. So, after too much walking, I decided to ask this nice couple which way Delancey was. They told us to go back where we came from so we started walking. And walking. And walking some more. I decided to try looking it up on my Blackberry again, and saw out of the corner of my eye as two people walked by. Dirk said, "Hey I think that was Liela." I said, "huh?", stopped, and looked back. And sure enough it was Liela. She must've heard him say her name, because she looked back in our direction. So did Luke (who plays guitar) who was walking with her. So I said to Dirk, "Maybe we should just ask her where the Bowery Ballroom is," so I did. By this time, her and Luke had walked a pretty good ways, but that didn't stop me from yelling "LIIIIIIIIEEEEEELLLLAAAAAAAAA" down Bowery. She turned around and stopped and I started running towards her and she started coming towards me. Sometimes I can be really outgoing.

So first off, Liela Moss is totally the sweetest person ever. I'd met her and Toby back in February at the Union Hall show where she was super nice and remembered that Dirk and I were at the show the night before at Mercury Lounge (you know how I love that stuff.) Anyway, she had the best smile on her face and I asked her where the Bowery Ballroom was. Isn't it awesome when you can ask a person from London where something in New York is and they know!?! She said, "Oh it's actually really close by, just another block over," and I was grateful to know that we were close. Oh yeah, and it didn't suck getting to talk to the lead singer of one of my favorite bands again either. We thanked her and she and Luke went back the way they were going, and we headed towards Delancey. And of course, we saw the street sign clear as day starring at us when we reached our destination. How could we have missed it? Who knows.

Don't know what time it was, but by the time we went inside, Chief were already on stage. I'd read about them Paper magazine (the beautiful people issue with Joanna Newsome on the cover) so I was like, "Oh yeah! Those guys." The crowd was definitely loving them, and they played a really good set. They had a laid back, folk groove to them. Great harmonies too. The Pierces were next and Catherine and Allison did not disappoint. Their vocals were haunting and confident, but very sweet. I'd only heard one of their songs before, but was impressed with their set. I especially enjoyed the song, "Boring," and think it sounded even better live than on record, which is always nice. And of course it was cool to see that Russell Simins, who plays drums for Tiny Masters of Today, was playing with them.

The room was pretty packed when The Duke Spirit took to the stage. They walked out to "I Do Believe" which is a 43 second track that opens their new album, Neptune. Then they launched into "Send A Little Love Token" and proceeded to unleash all of their awesomeness on a very appreciative and excited crowd.


Even though I've only been listening to The Duke Spirit for about 3 years, I'm certain that Liela Moss will go down as one of my favorite lead singers, male or female. When she's on stage, you cannot keep your eyes off of her. She's mesmerizing to watch. Besides the gem that is that fantastic smokey voice of hers, she moves pretty much non stop, banging her tambourine and dancing, her blonde hair flying. And even though she wasn't wearing her signature feather, her outfit (a shiny gold sleeveless top, with leggings and black boots) looked great.

But of course, The Duke Spirit wouldn't be the Duke Spirit without those four awesome guys that Liela performs with every night. Toby, Luke, Dan and Olly are all incredible musicians and we're all fortunate that this group of people found one another and decided to play music together. Olly is an animal behind the drums and I love the back and forth between Toby, Luke, and Dan.


The band played mostly new stuff including "This Ship Was Built to Last" (which is the most EPIC song I've heard in quite some time), "Sunken Treasure," "Into The Fold" (which Liela said is "about conviction"), "Sovereign," "Neptune," "The Step and The Walk" (which had the best Liela dancing and tambourine banging of the set in my opinion), and "Dog Roses." They also played oldies like "Red Weather," "Lion Rip" (which I hadn't heard live before, but sounded amazing), and "Love is An Unfamiliar Name." The best was when they did their very last song in the encore, which couldn't have been anything other than "Cuts Across The Land." It was perfect and got every old Duke fan in the house crazy with excitement when they started playing it. I truly love this band and I know that 2008 will be a great year for them.

If you've yet to pick up Neptune, please go to your local music retailer and get it ASAP. You can even get it on iTunes (which is what I did back in February). Every song is fantastic. Feel free to get your own tambourine and bang it along with Liela. Although stay away from the harmonica, 'cause she's got that shit down.

I took loads of pictures but the one at the beginning of the post is probably my favorite. See the rest on flickr.