MUSIC REVIEWS: Dungen, Green Memories, Stephen John Kalinich, Steve Lawler

Dungen
4
(Kemado)






Dungen, roughly pronounced "DOONG-un," is a Stockholm-based band that prides itself for its combination of the finer points of psychedelic rock, progressive, indie, classic rock, and Swedish folk music. Dungen's latest release titled 4 is a little pill of music that slow-releases cathartic melodies into the musical vein. The band's frontman, Gustav Ejstes, can be credited for 4's palatable compositions as well as the lead vocals. Omnipresent in Dungen's work, Ejstes is also behind most of the instruments on recordings despite the fact that Dungen plays as a live four-piece. Is this a case of "if you want something done right, do it yourself?" Perhaps so, however there is little evidence to deem Ejstes's micromanagement as 'poorly spent.' While the entire album is in Swedish, the instrumentals speak the universal language of Rock and Roll. "Fredag" expertly combines the light sound of a piano with the edge of a head-tripping guitar with what sounds like a shuck-and-jiving xylophone. Whatever the combination, Ejstes and his band have put together a fine album worthy of any day-tripper. The only shame of the album is that it's not long enough to accommodate the stamina of what the band really is: a Swedish jam band.

Nicole Velasco


Shahrokh Yadegari, Azam Ali, Keyavash Nourai
Green Memories
(Kereshmeh Records/Lila Sound Productions)





Sound designer Shahrokh Yadegari, an intellectual composer with a Ph.D. in music and a Master’s degree in Media Arts and Technology, and took on a pair of fellow Iranian-American collaborators in order to create an aural portrait inspired by late Persian poetess Forough Farrokhzad’s “I Pity the Garden.” Yadegari compliments Keyavash Nourai’s tense, scraping violin and Azam Ali’s ethereal voice with a self-invented instrument/computer program called Lila, which manipulates acoustic sounds into a dense weave of textures. The resulting compositions, like the opening soundscape “Vidya,” occasionally recall for the lay Western listener ambient recordings like Brian Eno’s Music for Airports and that Boards of Canada song used in David Firth’s “Salad Fingers” flash animations. At other moments, the digitally manipulated frenzy of string sounds and soaring vocals are entirely insular.

Yadegari’s source material was chosen due to its early foresight into impending environmental devastation and call for humans to reconsider their relationship with the natural world. The concept, and its result, is a fascinating exploration of not only the overlapping of Western and Middle Eastern musical modes, but the synthesis of electronic and organic sonic elements.

Toney Palumbo


Stephen John Kalinich
A World Of Peace Must Come
(Light in the Attic)







In a single night in August 1969, poet Stephen John Kalinich got together at Brian Wilson’s house (yes that Brian Wilson) and recorded A World Of Peace Must Come.

Kalinich had already contributed songs to a Beach Boy’s album and Wilson was known to associate with a wide variety of artists on the CA scene, so Wilson producing this collection of 13 songs comes as little surprise. Of the ‘tunes’ here, most bemoan the state of the world with occasional deep pleas to god, like the sprawling “I am Waiting/Birth Of God.” Personally, I like the tracks that have some light instrumental backing; Kalinich’s voice isn’t truly the best to deliver some of the longer works (sorry, but it’s true, he has a slight lisp that can get tiring when it’s all you hear in a tune). Medieval flavored tries like “Lonely Man” and “Walk Alone With Love” are probably the best. “If You Knew” has a really cool percussion backing, almost a Middle-east flavor with what might be Kalinich’s best poetry and in “Be Still” we get the added aural treat of hearing Kalinich talking with Brian Wilson, a real moment-in-time little snippet of studio chit-chat.

The closest we get to any real Beach Boy’s moment-and when we really know Brian Wilson is behind A World Of Peace Must Come-is on the title track; all the various voices and harmonies of this one make it a nice Beach Boy-like opening.

A World Of Peace Must Come is not going to be hitting the top 40, most downloaded on iTunes anytime soon, but it’s a nice piece of history.

Ralph Greco, Jr.


Steve Lawler
Viva Toronto
(Ultra Records)






Viva Toronto is a two disc compilation hosted by house music producer and DJ, Steve Lawler, featuring several artists including Miss Fitz, Mathew Jonson, Alex Tepper and Joel Mull. Extremely airy and not so big when it comes to overall sound, “Viva Toronto” could possibly be the most enjoyable yet minimalist house production to date. Amongst almost 30 tracks, an element ties each song to the next. Nina Simone-esque vocals lift up Miss Fitz’s sunny “Drifting On,” that continue into Nivek Tsoy’s sci-fi “Time & Space.” Both discs, one titled “Inside,” the other, “Outside,” barely rise to any element of surprise and that is its own beauty. “Viva Toronto” simply unfolds as a tapestry of ambient glides consisting of small-minded synthesizers, beat machines, soft padded kick drums and flighty keyboard. There is the occasional enticing wind of club-style bass riffs over the sound of water drops and sunken echoing snare taps. The absence of a more boastful sound allows the songs to expand and softly complement late night solitude or even a club atmosphere.

Chanda Jones

The Daily Shortlist December 31

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Bands: Blonde Redhead Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Terminal 5
Food: Zip Burger
Drink: Subway Inn
Miscellaneous: Kinokuniya Bookstore

2009 is just a few hours away and if you still don’t have big plans you may be screwed! One downtempo option to ring in the New Year is to hang with Blonde Redhead at Terminal 5, where they will be playing their catalogue of mellow melodies as 2008 comes to an end. By the way . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR! At Zip Burger they offer farm-raised, organic, and grass-fed meat and poultry, letting you build your own burger with plenty of gourmet toppings. The first time I went to Subway Inn I thought it was completely strange that there was a dive bar off Lexington Avenue, especially in this neck of the woods, but somehow it works. Born in the 30s, this bar has somehow remained, and thank god, as it’s easily the cheapest place in the area for a drink. For fans of Japanese pop-culture, Kinokuniya Bookstore has a large selection of Japanese themed books, videos, CDs, magazines, comics, and stationary.

THE INTERVIEW: Tom Freund

His music has been compared to Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and many other great singer-songwriters of the last 50 years, but Tom Freund creates a folksy blues-tinged genre all his own on his newest album, Collapsible Plans. As a fan of Tom's music beginning with the Pleasure and Pain LP he made with Ben Harper in the early nineties, which was the first record I ever bought, I was psyched to have a chance to ask Freund about his new album, what is was like working with Jackson Browne, and his own songwriting process.

If someone listens to your music from your work in the early nineties with The Silos to your most recent album, Collapsible Plans, they see a great evolution as an artist. How do you think you have evolved as an artist?

Well, I think subject matter changes in terms of lyrics: new relationships, new scenery, new times globally on the planet etc. The biggest inspiration in my life too has been my 5-year-old kid, lots of new emotions and it even inspired a kids record called, Hug Trees. Musically, I would hope I have progressed in terms of melody and different grooves. The Silos days were a great break-in period for me, lots of touring and lots of indie cred, cult audience. I started writing and recording my own records during this time and I was influenced by all sorts of people we were listening to on the road and seeing live too at venues across America and Europe. From the Jayhawks, to Victoria Williams to The Breeders . . . I think utilizing the upright bass gave me an ability to write more unusual funky and/or jazzy grooves with vocals which wasn't really being done by anyone.

You're sound reminds me of Tom Waits among many other singer-songwriters. How would you describe your own sound?

I do love Tom Waits, I like that he can go from growly blues and jazz to a beautiful simple ballad with potent words. I always believe him whatever genre he is in etc. Sometimes my pork pie hat walking bass line stuff gets compared to him and I suppose I've heard I can have a similar "growl" - this is always taken as a compliment to me. I always say I was raised on a steady diet of Joni Mitchell and Led Zeppelin, with some Charlie Parker and some AC/DC thrown in, so I love a lot of different shades . . never saw the boundaries, it was more about what mood I was in. I feel my sound is very personal to me, I can get very Neil with my harmonica and acoustic or get more Meters jammy on the upright bass etc. but I'm hoping that what comes out is my own thing, I am pretty turned off when I go to a club and find something contrived, I can listen to polka music as long as it feels original to me.

How do you approach writing songs. Is it a process or does it just happen organically?

I always say I take it however it comes. Sometimes words come to me, sometimes an idea on the piano, bass or guitar will spark something. Sometimes I call my voicemail with an idea for a second verse, and sometimes it comes out all in one sitting. It’s great when this happens but it is rare. I think it's organic in the sense that I tend to use what feelings are around me, environmental and people. Different places evoke different themes.

You're new album, Collapsible Plans came out in July. What was your favorite aspect of making that album?

I feel like Collapsible Plans really feels like a time and a place, we did it rather speedily, eleven days in its entirety, recorded and mixed. It was focused and concentrated and we never looked back. Having the team in place was great, Ben producing, Danny Kalb engineering and Michael Jerome drumming etc., was something I haven't done for an entire album since my debut record, North American Long Weekend. Also, to record in such an auspicious place as the Village was inspiring. A big highlight was Jackson Browne playing two songs with us, singing and playing piano, on "Copper Moon" and "Why Wyoming" - I am a big fan and his presence brought up a whole history of California Sound for us. I see that’s kind of the next question too. Ben was very inspiring too, his enthusiasm was contagious, so actually pushing the record button, so to speak, was done eagerly, rather than reluctantly.

You worked with some great artists on your album, among them Jackson Browne and Victoria Williams. What was it like collaborating with them and how did you come to work together?

I met Jackson a couple of times over the last three years, mostly at benefits and other outings that often called for some jamming or sitting in. There was one time in particular at a benefit for our friend Wally Ingram who has beat cancer, where I was playing "Why Wyoming" and after the first verse, I hear this awesome piano and background vocal and I soon realized it was Jackson - almost a pee-in-the-pants moment! When we were scheduled to go in to the studio, I threw it out to Ben about whether Jackson would guest on my record etc, Ben emailed him right away and he came in the next day, it was a real treat to say the least. Working out harmonies for the songs with Ben, Jackson and I in the control room was definitely a highlight and pretty surreal. Genius

The song, "Why Wyoming?" is a deeply personal track. What is the story behind it?

"Why Wyoming" came directly from a life experience that has moved me beyond any other or anyone for that matter. It was my first tour with The Silos and we were headed across the U.S. from Jackson Hole to Portland, Maine. The van hit some black ice, we rolled, and we lost our dear friend, genius musician and singer, Manny Verzosa. He was the only one who somehow slipped out and didn't make it. We were all in complete shock and the way it felt was as if everything in my life before was erased or pointed toward that instant and the future felt like a scene from outer space. This song was inspired while going on the same highway ten years later, coming from east to west. I was driving alone, it just started coming out, and I grabbed my road guitar and drove with my knee etc.

You're albums always include a vast array of instruments. How did you as a performer become so versatile?

I just love being inspired by different instruments. They cause me to play and think differently on each and therefore the creative sphere is enlarged, more points of your brain are being used etc. The mandolin, the piano, the double bass as well as the guitar are all engaging to me and still somewhat of a puzzle I am always trying to figure out. I also like when I see bands exchange instruments on stage, put something down and grab another. It looks cool and creates good theatre as well.

Which artists past and present would you like to work with?

I would love to work with Joni Mitchell, she has made me cry the most. Wilco would be great, I always felt like a 5th member of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, even though they didn't know it! I'd like to jam with Bright Eyes, and I would have loved to have been schooled by Mingus. Ani Difranco would be awesome . . . oh yeah Feist too and Jim Hall...

Collapsible Plans was co-produced by your friend, Ben Harper, whom you recorded the Pleasure and Pain LP with back in the early nineties. What was it like being back in the studio with him?

It was a true comfort being in the studio with him. We had a past together and we knew we came from a similar sensibility and desire to reach people like our heros, everyone from Taj Mahal to Jackson Browne to Dylan, Young and Zep . . .and of course a steady dose of Leadbelly and Robert Johnson thrown in for good measure. I am used to having all the decisions and "how was that take" questions directed to me and it was a real treat to have Ben, whose ears and vibe I trust completely, give me the skinny from the control room. Especially on vocals, he was good with me! It was also of course very special to have him lend his background vocals or slide guitar or Mandocello on something. His studio sensibilities were right on and inspired. We gelled very well, neither of us really wanted to go home at the end of a night . . or morning.

Corey Crossfield

The Daily Shortlist December 30

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Film: Joy Division: The Atrocity Exhibition
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Glasslands
Food: Relish
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Zebulon

For all you Joy Division fans who haven’t had enough of them since Control came out, you can now rejoice as music video director Grant Gee’s documentary on the band will be screened. Afterwards Djs spinning JD’s back catalogue include Chuby242, Shred, and Raymi7. Though Relish looks like a 50s diner or an even larger version of an L train car, this restaurant offers up some gourmet treats for dinner. With influences from all over the globe, Relish features diner classics like burgers and onion rings, and step it up with the likes of Blackened Yellow Fin Tuna ($21). Williamsburg’s first beer garden, Radegast, has a beautiful all-wood interior, an enclosed outdoor backyard, and 12 German/Austrian beers on tap and more than 30 bottles. Another great bar in the area, Zebulon offers free live jazz and afrobeat. The drinks here are inexpensive, and I’ve never seen a bad show here before.

Billy Jealousy Hydroplane Shave Cream

I only just made the switch from an electric razor to manual shaving for my face. I kept away from manual razors due to the multi-step commitment involved, as a consequence of wanting something quick and convenient. I exhaustively researched the techniques of manual shaving when I came upon Esquire Magazine’s 2007 pick for the best shave cream: Billy Jealousy Hydroplane Shave Cream.

This novel, foamless shave cream uses silicon beads to promote the slick, non-drag hydroplane feel. Your razor will effortlessly slide over the curvatures of your face while leaving it free from burn, nicks, and irritation. Hydroplane is alcohol free and has the texture of hair conditioner. It has a hint of citrus and mint aroma due to the natural oils in the product. Billy Jealousy Hydroplane may cost somewhat more, but the investment is in your face… your most noticeable body part.

Ashkan

The Daily Shortlist December 29

Location: West Village, NYC
Bands: DJ ?uestlove Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: S.O.B.’s
Food: Ear Inn
Drink: Village Lantern
Miscellaneous: Jacques Torres

The Roots one and only drummer and sometime DJ, Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson will be spinning vinyl live rather than drumming live. With a sound as deep in the history of music as the Roots, expect lot’s of rare gems to be played. Being that it’s S.O.B.’s, you can also expect some world vibes. One of my favorite places for food, Ear Inn is a 200-year-old bar with a small menu featuring burgers, sandwiches, and a chalkboard with specials including Jerk Chicken that’s under $10. With $3 pints Monday thru Friday 12pm to 7pm along with comedy and music performances, the Village Lantern is a great bar to chill at after work, especially now that it’s finally getting warm outside. Watch some of the best chocolate in the world made right in front of your eyes or browse through the store and sample for yourself the fruits of this master chocolatier’s labor.

DVD REVIEW: The Smashing Pumpkins - If All Goes Wrong

The Smashing Pumpkins
If All Goes Wrong
(Coming Home Media)






In the world of popular music today there is little room for the artist to be creative. That being said, the creative process itself is not always a smooth evolution and with change there is often a price to be paid. This sentiment might be the thesis of the new 2-disk documentary If All Goes Wrong by the Smashing Pumpkins. The film follows the band as they embark on musical residencies at the Orange Peel in Ashville, N.C. (8 nights) and the Fillmore in San Francisco, C.A. (11 nights) writing during the day and performing for sold out crowds at night. The package includes a 105-minute documentary along with a 115-minute concert film showing the highlights of the performances including seven new songs.

The documentary, directed by Jack Gulick and Daniel E. Catullo III, is an interesting look into the Pumpkin’s creative songwriting process and gives the viewer insight into the world of Corgan & Co. The band’s decision to embark on the residency project so quickly after “reforming” (2 original members- James Iha and Darcy Wretzky didn’t participate) was a set-up for discord and rejection; fortunately these emotions seem to be a breeding ground for Billy Corgan’s best new material. Hearing the new songs in their infancy gives a bit of perspective into the Pumpkins musical canon and the stripped down acoustic versions carry a very different but powerful weight to them.

The documentary is an interesting look at the creative process of an artist taken out of context. The main tension in the film centers on Corgan’s lack of the big picture because of his deep self-involvement and his conflict with the immediate world around him. The rest of the band’s participation appears to be strictly musical and the three new musicians seem a bit stressed and detached from the process.

The concert film is a bit conventional, like a visit from the ghost of concert films past notably Woodstock with its split screens and The Song Remains the Same. In reality the concert is a bonus to the documentary more than a piece by itself. One interesting point is “Gossamer,” a goliath 37-minute composition which is musically virtuous but essentially melodious masturbation borrowing notes from every decade of rock music.

The real highlight of the film is really in observing the process of the musicians and showcasing their new songs. The musicianship, even early on in the process, is top notch and songs like “Peace + Love” and “99 Floors” are terrific even in their infant stage. After witnessing the songs development in the documentary the audience has a greater appreciation for them in concert. Overall, the package is a very personal look at the band, for better and worse, and is absolutely worth checking out.

Tim Needles

DVD REVIEW: Laibach’s Volk: Dead in Trbovlje

Volk: Dead in Trbovlje
Laibach
(Mute)





If you've ever seen Laibach in concert, you know they can put on a show to say the least. Using film projections, costumes, spoken word, and choreography along with an intense musical presentation, they rock the shit out of you.

Laibach hails from Ljubljana, Slovenia. They've been known to stir controversy over the years, and they certainly don't shy away from it on this DVD. In the first half, they target several nations in variations on a theme approach to their national anthems including the United States, Great Britain, Russia, Slovenia, and several others. The second half is not specifically targeted at any countries, but is equally entertaining.

Laibach has a special way of incorporating different elements of art into one grand presentation. The DVD is particularly adept at focusing on one element at a time. Close-up shots of the projection screen, the musician’s faces and expressions, and the audience reactions all convey exactly the mood and vibe of a Laibach concert. If I hadn't already had the privilege of seeing Laibach in concert, this DVD would inspire me to do so.

Marc Amigone

THEATRE REVIEW: Shrek the Musical

Broadway goes Green! Pictured: Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. Photo by Joan Marcus





Based on the William Steig book and popular 2001 DreamWorks animation motion picture (voices by Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz), this monstrosity of a musical makes its trudge to the Great White Way. I mean, monstrosity, in the nicest way possible. Fortunately, Shrek the Musical, which clocks in at an agile 2 hours 25 min, earns the affection it requires to make this contemporary-fairy-tale-love–story-of-“inner beauty” digestible without the indigestion. Speaking of, there is plenty of flatulence and ogre burps to make the kids laugh while making you just about to feel uncomfortable in your seat.

Early on, we meet a cavalcade of fairy tale creatures who arrive in a swamp land having been expelled from their familiar region of Duloc. Among the characters, insert a strangely falsetto-voiced John Tartaglia (Avenue Q) as Pinocchio. In Duloc, Farquaad’s magic mirror has convinced him that he must marry one princess Fiona who lives at the top of a tall tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. He hires Shrek to do the deed, and when Shrek saves Princess Fiona, an onion-layered courtship ensues. Add to that a cast of 30, extravagant costumes, high-tech effects, a cavernous set designed by Tim Hatley, and $24 million dollars later, you have an entertaining romp for the whole family.

Like its predecessor, using rude humor and pop culture references, Shrek the Musical, has a concise book and lyrics penned by David Lindsay Abaire (Rabbit Hole). Along with an impish wit, Abaire’s ability to guide laughter into silent wonder is primarily why this production works. There is a steady stream of “Oh, no you didn’t” campy behavior performed playfully by Daniel Breaker (Passing Strange) as Donkey. A tad juvenile, if slightly “limp hoofed,” it is because of Breaker’s comedic chops that make this potentially ass-making role enjoyable. Much can be said of his sidekick, Shrek, played honorably by Brian d’Arcy James. He is camouflaged by impressive green prosthetics, but we are drawn to d’Arcy’s rich baritone voice that can summon a wide range of emotions. In the song, “Who I’d Be,” d’Arcy performs with warmth and understanding, showing that beneath the repulsive green exterior is a lonely creature longing for love and acceptance.

Potentially, the most comic role is that of Lord Farquaad played with enthusiasm by Christopher Sieber (Spamalot). Sieber spends the entire show on his knees to convey the dwarf sized Farquaad, and his opening number, “What’s up Duloc?” which channelling a Vegas night club act, is the highlight of ACT I. The story and the dancing pick up the pace at the top of ACT II with “Morning Person” sung beautifully by Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie). Sort of A Chorus Line meets Saturday Night Fever this showstopper complete with a row of tap dancing rats is a reminder that Broadway magic is still possible.

Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change) composed the earthly poppy score with roots in bluegrass and gospel, but in retrospect it sounded more like Muzak at its most forgettable. Jason Moore’s (Avenue Q) brisk direction helped to match the diligent yet otherwise un-magical choreography by Josh Prince. This is the first collaboration for DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions (Sam Mendes), and it rivals the highly successful Wicked that also tells the story of a misunderstood and green-skinned outsider. It seems that having green skin is a natural ingredient for a smash hit on Broadway, but does Shrek have the “green thumb” needed to keep it growing in today’s economy? If the theatre seats can’t stay filled we may not be surprised to hear Shrek singing instead, “It’s not easy being green.”

Check out discount offers from Playbill.com HERE

Kila Packett

DRINK CLUB: Superfine

Spending time in DUMBO is like being in a village. With a neighborhood hardware store, a friendly dry cleaner and boutique clothiers, walking into the local dive bar, Superfine, feels no different. Nestled under the noisy Manhattan bridge, this cozy, retro furnished, old brick warehouse feels like you're walking into your favorite pub.

At lunch you might find eight construction workers enjoying a Brooklyn Lager alongside local office workers eating a chicken and pancetta sandwich or a pork chop with a side of mashed potatoes. In the evening the atmosphere evolves to a hot happy hour hot spot with incredible drink specials and a friendly staff.

The point is, Superfine tries to be everything to everyone: inexpensive drinks, an excellent and flavorful menu, addictive shoestring fries, an orange felted pool table, a mini art gallery…but in trying to be everything to everyone, they actually manage to pull it off. In a village, like in DUMBO, you sort of know everyone there: a pick-up game of pool might pit you against a guy from the elevator in your office building. Nothing makes a dive bar greater than cheap beer, excellent food and a place where everyone knows your… face.

Superfine, 126 Front St., Brooklyn, NY 11201 (at Pearl St.), (718) 243-9005. Lunch Tues–Sat: 11:30 AM–3 PM, Dinner Tues–Sun: 6 PM–11 PM, Brunch Sun: 11:30 AM–3 PM. Bar open Sun–Thurs: until 2 AM; Fri–Sat: until 4 AM. Happy hour: Mon–Fri: 4 PM–7 PM; $2.50 bottled beer/well drinks.

dear greer

The Weekend Shortlist December 26 to 28

The New York Dolls are the godfathers of sass and glam

Friday December 26

Location: Upper West Side, NYC
Film: Scorsese Classics: Mean Streets
Show time: 3:50 PM
Venue: Walter Reade Theater
Food: Josie’s
Drink: Candle Bar
Miscellaneous: Emack & Bolio’s

Part of Scorsese Classics, featuring six days and nights (starting tonight) of Martin Scorses’s finest films. Tonight’s feature is Mean Streets, with one of Robert De Niro’s earliest performances in this gritty story of a small time hood trying to move up in the local mafia in Little Italy. Dairy free, organic, and free-range are things that come up often on the menu at Josie’s, offering dishes like the Warm Macadamia-Crusted Natural Chicken Breast Dinner Salad ($17.75), several tofu and seitan specialty dishes and the Freshly Ground Char-Grilled Brandt Natural Beef Cheeseburger ($15.75), so everyone here will walk away happy. Comfortable and dimly lit, the Candle Bar has a pool table in the back and drink specials daily. For some of the best and most interesting ice cream in the city, Emack & Bolio’s offers some eclectic flavors like Deep Purple Cow (Black Raspberry ice cream with white and dark chocolate chips and blueberries). This place thakes their ice cream serious.

Friday December 26

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Kimya Dawson Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Bowery Ballroom
Food: Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant
Drink: Verlaine
Miscellaneous: Gus’s Pickles

Anti-folk superstar Kimya Dawson, whose music many of you know from the movie Juno, recently put out a children’s album called Alphabutt and is touring in support of it. Collaborators include Third Eye Blind’s guitarist Kevin Cadogan and several other of her musical friends and their kids. For din-din, check out Clinton Street Baking Company & Restaurant. Serving up sandwiches, omelletes, and baked goods for breakfast and lunch, for dinner expect the likes of Pan Seared Halibut with sweet corn succotash, herb roasted tomatoes, and summer squash ($19). Named after the poet Paul Verlaine, the bar offers an asian food and drink menu. While you can’t order the absinthe that probably helped kill the poet, you can order drinks like the El Chupacabra, which is better tasting with a kick of its own. If you like pickles, Guss’ Pickles has been around since 1910, it’s a landmark spot, and still makes a great pickle.

Saturday December 27

Location: Union Square, NYC
Bands: New York Dolls Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
Food Chat N’ Chew
Drink Beauty Bar
Miscellaneous Max Brenner: Chocolate by the Bald Man

Though most of the original members have passed on, singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain soldier on bringing original late 70s New York swagger back home and even with a mostly new lineup, they still sound fantastic. A good drink spot that will be as interesting as this show is Beauty Bar. This former beauty parlor is one of the most happening bars in the city. Where else can you get a manicure with your drink (seriously, drink/manicure specials on weekends $10). Chat N’ Chew is a down-home comfort food spot with plenty of faves like meatloaf, Mexican, and milkshakes. If you’d prefer to just escape the cold, head over to Max Brenner and cool off with a variety of hot and cold chocolate drinks that will blow your mind.

Saturday December 27

Location: East Village, NYC
Bands: Gogol Bordello Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Webster Hall
Food Minca
Drink Ace Bar
Miscellaneous Le Gamin Café

Lead singer and provocateur Eugene Hütz leads this high-energy gypsy punk band that fuses theater, dance, punk, dub, and klezmer. Gogol Bordello shows are always audience interactive, meaning that at some point Eugene will be in your face singing. Not bad for a holiday weekend! Close by is the ramen noodle bar called Minca. After recently trying this place, I’d highly recommend it. The ramen noodles are made fresh and way better than those you’d buy and boil. What makes the soups here great is the broth. Take the Minca Ramen, a mild broth with pork, chicken and dried seafood ($8.50), it has impeccable flavor that hits the spot. Plus it’s way less expensive than other ramen specialty restaurants and just as good. Right across the street from Minca is the Ace Bar. Sort of divey, it’s also where you’ll find people playing skeeball and shooting pool, while drinking some decent beers on tap. For dessert and coffee, Le Gamin Café is the place for crepes.

Sunday December 28

Location: Tribeca, NYC
Bands: Bustle in Your Hedgerow Get Tickets Here
Show time: 10:30 PM
Venue: Knitting Factory
Food: Ear Inn
Drink: Village Lantern
Miscellaneous: Jacques Torres

Not your normal Led Zeppelin cover band, Bustle in Your Hedgerow (a line from “Stairway to Heaven”), is made up of Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, Rana's Scott Metzger and WEEN bassist Dave Dreiwitz who perform instrumental versions of Led Zep songs. One of my favorite places for food, Ear Inn is a 200-year-old bar with a small menu featuring burgers, sandwiches, and a chalkboard with specials including Jerk Chicken that’s under $10. With $3 pints Monday thru Friday 12pm to 7pm along with comedy and music performances, the Village Lantern is a great bar to chill at after work, especially now that it’s finally getting warm outside. Watch some of the best chocolate in the world made right in front of your eyes or browse through the store and sample for yourself the fruits of this master chocolatier’s labor.

THE BOOK REPORT: Descent into Chaos

Descent into Chaos
by Ahmed Rashid
(Viking)






Descent into Chaos is a timely and critical book about the ongoing turmoil and degeneration in Afghanistan and Central Asia, written by acclaimed veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid (Taliban and Jihad). He surveys this region to reveal to us the failure of U.S. policymakers' (both past and present) at nation building because of their refusal to commit the forces and money needed to rebuild after the invasion of Afghanistan.

Rashid also shows us the powerful extremist forces at work in that region of the world and explains how U.S. policy makers made corrupt alliances with warlords to impose a superficial calm while continuing to ignore the Pakistani government's support of the Taliban and other Islamic extremists, instead choosing to focus on Iraq. Afghanistan and Pakistan, he argues, are greater threats to the West than Iraq.

The material in the entire book is extremely detailed and significant, and it is revealed to us by such a qualified writer. Rashid walks us through the history of Afghanistan and explains the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan, laying out past events clearly and chronologically. He explains how U.S. ally Pakistan has armed and financed the Taliban. He also outlines future scenarios of where we may be headed, so it's a good wake-up call for our future policy-makers and the ill-informed public in the West.

Although this book is not an easy read, it begins to clear up a lot of the confusion, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Christine Thelen

The Daily Shortlist December 25

Location: Union Square, NYC
Band: Jelvis Get Tickets Here
Show time: 10:30 PM
Venue: Highline Ballroom
Food: Oyama
Drink: Bowlmor Lanes
Miscellaneous: The Virgin Megastore

Jelvis–the Kosher King-presents a “Jew-El Tide Christmas” (say it fast). That’s right, the Jewish Elvis impersonator kosherizes the holiday and Presley’s songbook, like “Blue Suede Yamulka.” Seriously dude? My favorite 50% off sushi joint, Oyama serves good and cheap sushi including inventive rolls like the Oyama Special Hand Roll, which includes lettuce, tobiko, cucumber, avocado, shrimp, and mayonnaise ($5.95). For drinks, sitting at a table in Bowlmor lanes is a good way to enjoy watching people fall on their behinds trying to bowl in this rather large bowling alley. What better way to waste anywhere from a few minutes to several hours than at the Virgin Megastore. With two floors filled with CDs, DVDs, books, games, and plenty more, you can catch up on what’s hot and figure out what’s worth buying.

MUSIC REVIEWS: Jay Reatard, Curumin, Underoath and ENUR

Jay Reatard
Matador Singles ‘08
(Matador)







Jay Reatard has a knack for getting to the point. He crafts two to three minute stomps that burn to the core of the rock ethos: loud, fast, and snotty—not to mention his softer side as well; but not so much on this try. Apparently, Jay has a back catalogue that adds up to about 15 albums, and Matador Singles ‘08 is a cherry picking of some of his recent stuff.

I’ll start off by saying that I definitely prefer 2006’s Blood Visions, but I digress. “See/Saw” starts the collection off well as a moderate tempo rocker with a Dinosaur Jr. feel to it, but I’d say “Screaming Hand” and “Dead on Arrival” are my favorite tracks on the album. They drive a little more and remind me of his earlier stuff. Another track I like, and always seem to get the chorus stuck in my head, is “Always Wanting More;” mainly because it’s just catchy: “Always wanting more/you’re such a useless bore,” and it seems to sum up Jay’s perspective for me.

Overall, this is a decent collection with some good songs and a couple of misses (“Flourescent Grey”). I was really excited about the prospect of this record, and it’s not necessarily a letdown, but I think my sights were aimed just a little high. Check it out if you like his older stuff, or if you’re interested in seeing what the hype is about.

Dave Levin


Curumin
Japanpopshow
Adrenaline Records






Japanpopshow, the new album from Curumin on Adrenaline Records, could be the best samba-funk album of the century. Hailing from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Curumin embraces the many sounds to which he has been exposed to create an eclectic but consistently funky sound. Hip-hop, reggae, bossa nova, funk, and rock are all abundantly prominent throughout the album with certain songs featuring one sound more than another.

Curumin has been making music from a young age. He started his first band at 8 and was gigging regularly as a drummer in clubs across Sao Paulo at 14. At 16 he learned to play keyboards. Eventually he enrolled in music school and formed his first band, Zomba, which focused on Brazilian classic funk with DJ accompaniment.

Chief Xcel of Blackalicious heard Curumin's last record, Achados e Perdidos, while touring in Brazil and brought him into Quannum Projects. Japanpopshow is the result. This album has one of most inventive, funky sounds of any I've heard this year. Curumin's playing at BAM December 4th; if you like funky, original music, check it out.

Marc Amigone


Underoath
Lost In The Sound of Separation
(Tooth & Nail)






Underoath's anticipated Lost in the Sound of Separation is a return to the bands blended screamo/metal sound. Similar to Define The Great Line, the bands progress since They're Only Chasing Safety is clear. The first track, “Breathing in a New Mentality,” is the perfect starting track. It's a tease--leading you into the album only to knock you down. The track screams about "being in over my head again" and that's exactly what it does to the listener. The furious and belligerent drumming of Aaron Gillespie is a high point in the album. At no point is it not the driving force on the album. Tracks like “Coming Down Is Calming Down” are driven holistically by the high-caliber drum work he brings to every track. Vocally, the song is also the strongest on the album, easily bringing references to bands like Saosin. "The Created Void" is another high point in the drumming on the album. Overall, the album is another strong show by an already strong band. Fans of Underoath's prior albums will not be let down by these more progressive hard songs. Those looking to mosh will be pleased. Those looking for melodies-however-should look elsewhere.

Tania Katherine


ENUR
Raggatronic
(Sequence Records)







Even if you detest the discotheque, chances are you've heard the saxophone riff and heart-reviving beats of ENUR's chart-topping biddy, "Calabria." Featuring the vocal tendings of reggae all-star Natasja Saad, "Calabria" is the tip of the iceberg for the DJ duo's full album appropriately titled Raggatronic -no false advertising here. As expected, ENUR delivers track after track of electronica-boosted reggae beats that gyrate alongside infectious vocals with the likes of Beenie Man, Greg Nice, Natalie Storm, and others from the ragga-elite. Raggatronic is reflective of the duo's personal history: On one hand, you have Rune Reilly Kolsch (aka Rune RK--please note the ENUR is Rune backwards) who produced beats for "lazy" blunt-smoking rappers just before he channeled into electronica and teamed up with his brother Johannes Torpe. Since then the duo has worked hard to create tracks that have a bit of something for everyone (cue international success). With regard to Raggatronic, it may be best to remember that the foundation for this album is reggae, not dancehall. While the album may induce a dance party immediately, there are clear roots in the ragga. A particularly choice track is "Gwaan," featuring Natalie Storm and a clever manipulation of that universal reggae beat. "Ucci Ucci" is an ode to ENUR's hip-hop roots with lyrical stylings by The Chopper City Boyz. Overall, the album is consistent with what you'd expect from the team that mastered that get-on-the-floor-and-dance feeling with "Calabria."

Nicole Velasco

The Daily Shortlist December 24

Nam June Paik and Otto Piene. Untitled. 1968. Manipulated television set and plastic pearls, 9 x 13 x 10" (22.9 x 33 x 25.4 cm). Gift of The Junior Associates of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Greenwich Collection Ltd. Fund, and gift of Margot Ernst. © 2003 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Thomas Griesel

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Art: Looking at Music
Show time: Sat – Mon, Wed & Thurs: 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM, Fri: 10:30 AM – 8 PM, Tuesday closed; Through January 5, 2009
Venue: Museum of Modern Art
Food: Sullivan Street Bakery
Drink: Rudy’s Bar & Grill
Miscellaneous: The Shops at Columbus Circle

While it’s Christmas for many, us Jews also tend to spend this time going to the movies and eating Chinese food. Thankfully NYC has plenty going on, like the MoMA's exhibit Looking at Music. Here, MoMA takes a look at the early days of video art from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s with early media works by Nam June Paik, Bruce Nauman, Steve Reich, Joan Jonas, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, and David Bowie. Also featured are related drawings, prints, and photographs by John Cage, Jack Smith, Ray Johnson, and others. Arguably one of the top bread makers on the east coast, and good to get gourmet pizza’s and sandwiches, Sullivan Street Bakery makes exquisite food using ingredients you’d see on the Food Network! More bar than grill, Rudy’s is like going back to college, minus the books. The beer is cheap and by “grill,” they mean free popcorn and hot dogs. If you have trouble finding the bar, just look for the 6 foot tall fiberglass pig standing outside! To get out of the cold and see what an upper-class mall is like, stop by The Shops at Columbus Circle. Expensive restaurants like MASA and shops like Williams Sonoma are fun to browse through to see how the other half lives.

THE INTERVIEW: Fashion Stylist Jlamar

Art. Future. Ferocity.



When I was a little girl, I watched my father dress for work. He discussed (in great detail) why he chose a yellow pocket square versus a blue one. He laid possible outfits on the bed and described how the print of a certain tie accented the fine grey stripe in his suit. It was from him that I first heard the Coco Chanel quote about taking one accessory off before leaving the house. Had my father been born in another time he may have been a fashion stylist, not a financial advisor.
Around the time I was under my father’s tutelage, a young boy in Bridgeport, CT was pulling from his first closet (his grandmothers) and reconstructing the vintage garments in an attempt to stand out from his middle school crowd. Years later, he’s found a way to get paid for his efforts and styles for runway shows, hi-fashion editorials and regular folks like you and me. With a number of reality shows about fashion stylists, a tabloid frenzy about a certain underfed celebrity stylist and the unfortunate lack of fashion “don’ts” on the red carpet nowadays (save for Cher) it seems fair to say this young man was born at exactly the right time. I asked Jlamar some questions.

What were you like as a boy?

An imaginative introvert with a great attraction to space and otherworldly things. I was very much into science fiction and the arts as a kid. I started out reconstructing old things I found around mine and my grandmother's house. I have a 'thing' about seeing the same stuff that I have on other people, so I started designing to make my wardrobe a bit more exclusive.

What do you do as a fashion stylist?

Being knowledgeable of designers and collections is a must. You do everything from researching inspiration for shoots and setting up appointments with showrooms to dressing models & creating/styling looks. Even the small things like steaming garments, setting up racks and taking inventory of loaned items. You do it all, and it's definitely to your advantage to know how.

How would you describe your personal style?

Hmm... I love to wear neutrals, especially black. Particularly, pieces that are strong and defined. I usually get dressed with a specific item in mind, and build a look from that. It's pretty entertaining to watch.

Who/what are your influences?

Art. Future. Ferocity.

Who are some of the designers you've styled for?

Marc Jacobs, Imitation of Christ, Vogue Italia, Womens Wear Daily.

You also design clothes, what's the name of your line and what’s the aesthetic?

I had a line out called Junk by Jlamar a while ago. It was a small line of shirts and accessories that were made with re-used fabrics and materials. I'm working on some really fun and interesting new stuff right now. It's all still in my head, and I need a good chunk of time to get it out and execute. You can email me at jlamar.w@gmail.com. Website coming soon!

What are three items of clothing that you’re really into right now?

1. Neon Yellow Patent dress shoes
2. Black Dior Homme pleated front trousers
3. An Ivory fencing uniform.

What trend would you like to see die?

Girls: I despise Ugg boots with all of my being.
Guys: Sagging pants. I mean... really?

What music are you listening to right now?

Kelis (always), punctuated by some 80's to mid 90's hip hop and r&b, classic/northern soul, doo wop, and depressing love songs.

What kind of sunglasses are you wearing these days?

Most of what I own is vintage, but I recently bought a pair of black/grey gradient wayfarers in Soho that I really love. I'm on the prowl for some Horn - Rimmed frames, though.

If you could style/design for anyone who would it be?

Bjork. She's insanely creative and uninhibited when it comes to fashion, and music. The closet for that project would be AMAZING.

Sheehan McGuirk


Jlamar has styled for (left) Marc Jacobs and (right) Imitation of Christ.

The Daily Shortlist December 23

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Bands: Wu Tang Clan Get Tickets Here
Show time: 7 PM
Venue: Hammerstein Ballroom
Food: Island Burgers and Shakes
Drink: Smith’s Bar
Miscellaneous: Colony Music

Christmas comes early as the remaining Wu Tang Clan members: RZA, GZA, Raekwon, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Method Man, and Masta Killa gather to perform at Hammerstein Ballroom, bringing more than 15 years of music, together and solo material, to the stage. For a kickass burger or chicken sandwich, Island Burgers and Shakes specializes in making great burgers like the Bourbon Street Burger that’s blackened, with bacon, Jack, bayou mayo, and onion on sourdough. One cheap bar in midtown, Smith’s is a dive bar with cheap booze, friendly locals, and live music daily in the next room. Though the place is way expensive, Colony Music is a fun music store that sells albums and sheet music. You can walk around and check out the entertainment memorabilia. Whether you’re looking for an autographed guitar signed by the Rolling Stones or an autographed 8x10 of Linda Carter, they’ve got it.

Urban Decay Lipstick

A fiunky design is just the start with this lipstick




Urban Decay’s lipstick packaging makes for an easy “I spy!” moment in the cosmetics drawer or handbag. Urban Decay reinvents lipstick tubes by creating a bulky, violet metal package with a gunmetal dagger at the end. Is it more about the presentation or the product? Urban Decay has continuously been the vanguard when it comes to their color palates, particularly with names like Gash and Jailbait. The application is creamy and rich, but its claims of extended wear fall short (much like the majority of lip product claims). Extended wear is virtually impossible for lip products as you are constantly moving your mouth through the day).

In tradition with Urban Decay philosophies, the lipsticks have one ingredient over other similar products: hyaluronic acids. Hyaluronic acids or spheres are the latest technology in dermal fillers. This lipstick not only colors your lips kissable, but also hydrates and temporarily fills in any wrinkles or lines.

Ashkan

The Daily Shortlist December 22

Location: West Village, NYC
Bands: Gloria Cheng
Show time: 10:30 PM
Venue: (Le) Poisson Rouge
Food: Koo Sushi
Drink: Blind Tiger Ale House
Miscellaneous: Peanut Butter & Co.

Pianist Gloria Cheng stops by (Le) Poisson Rouge, one of the better of the new music venues that have opened in NYC lately, to perform compositions off her Grammy-nominated CD Piano Music by Salonen, Stucky & Lutoslawski, putting her own spin on three of contemporary music’s best composer’s. A feat that Cheng can no doubt do with eloquence and virtuosity. A little known sushi joint, Koo Sushi offers affordable and fantastic fish with an impressive number of specialty rolls. For a bar that looks like any other, Blind Tiger Ale House offers an impressive number of beers including draught, bottled, cask and one called Louise’s Bloody Beer. Try it if you dare! If you’re in the mood for some comfort food, Peanut Butter & Co., offers some PB heavy hitters like the Elvis, a PB, banana, and bacon sandwich that tastes better than it sounds.

DVD REVIEW: Get Smart: The Complete Series

Get Smart: The Complete Series
(HBO Home Video)






If you’re a fan of innovative, hilarious 60’s television, crave Mel Brooks or Buck Henry’s writing more then you can say, or even remember seeing these satirical spy stories when they originally aired, then you owe it to yourself to pick up the hefty box set Get Smart: The Complete Series.

Besides offering all 5 seasons of this groundbreaking comedy sitcom, 138 episodes on 25 discs, in a super nifty case, this box set is chock-full of goodies. First of all, like most any DVD you buy these days, commentary abounds here, from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, to various episode directors and even Get Smart’s female lead, the alluring and smart Barbara Felton, Agent 99. In fact, Feldon handles a lot of the commentary duty plus introducing mostly every extra. Then there are plenty of ‘bloopers’ and interviews with the show’s creators (an especially high point is the one with Buck Henry) and Get Smart guest stars, show promos and snippets of appearances of Don Adams (agent Maxwell Smart himself) on various TV shows of the day.

Just a for instance of what you can find littered through this set:
- The ‘featurette’: “Barbara Feldon” Real Model to Role Model.”
- 1967 Emmy Broadcast snippet of the show winning two awards
- Don Adam’s 75th Birthday Celebration
- 1969 Rose Parade clip with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon
- Interactive “Max’s Apartment”
- Commercials of the day featuring the stars.
- Interview with Bernie Kopell (he played the Nazi commander of Maxwell Smart’s enemy “Chaos.”)
-And more, more, more.

What’s apparent beyond how wonderful the Get Smart shows are-and they are wonderful and wacky, sending up all manner of spy movies as well as taking broad shots at social dilemmas of the day (some Buck Henry is surprised they got away with!)-is how great Don Adams really was. The man was a superb mimic (anyone who knows Get Smart, immediately recalls Don Adams’ exaggerated “would you believe” smarmy voice), a master of double-takes and such a friend to comedians of the day that Get Smart, like Batman, was riddled with guest star appearances, even if it was for brief cameos. All one has to do is watch the show to spot people like Don Rickles (who has some hilarious bloopers himself), Phyllis Diller, Steve Allen, Milton Berle and many many others.

Digitally remastered, 5 DVD boxes with 5 DVD’s apiece, the Get Smart: The Complete Series is another of those great releases from HBO, chock-full of just about everything and anything a fan of this series would want and enough material to introduce the uninitiated. This major milestone on marketing memorabilia is a must to marshal your memory or create news ones.

Ralph Greco, Jr.

I WAS THERE . . . Stella @ Nokia Theater 12.09.09

Michael Showalter, David Wain and Michael Ian Black are Stella Photo by Eric M. Townsend

STELLA!!! Stella, made up of Michael Showalter, David Wain and Michael Ian Black, have been making me laugh since my high school days when my friends and I would quote the funniest lines or skits from the MTV show The State, the show they got their start on. These days--instead of MTV--their act was being performed at the Nokia Theater in Times Square, but the result was the same--hysterics.

Eugene Mirman opened with a short but very funny set, poking fun at the odd multiple-choice options offered by Russian news polls and classmate.com surveys. Mirman showed a video of a hotel room he stayed at in Fargo, ND, highlighting all the objects and amenities you would expect to find in a roadside motel including his lovely view of a first floor conference room.

Showalter, Wain and Black then take the stage welcoming us with their excitement to be back in "New York Shitty," went thru long self introductions then urged audience participation in a dance they made up called the "NY Stomp"--which kind of resembles that wedding favorite, the Alley Cat. I think I would laugh at these guys if they just stood there--the chemistry between them is so on and genuine, most likely due to their many years of friendship and partnership--but they don't just stand there. They interact with hecklers in the audience, sing, dance, read poems, and rhyme with each other.

Their humor is off the wall and at one point each has the tech guy play their all-time favorite party jams. Showalter busts a little soft shoe like shuffle across the stage to "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang. Black does this childlike dance, waving his arms in the air wildly to "Who Let the Dogs Out," while Wain’s party jam, "Tears in Heaven" sees him dancing and playing heavy metal air guitar before the guys fill him in that the song is about the death of Eric Clapton's son by falling out a window--of which Wain replies, "..and into a party." You know you shouldn’t laugh, though when put with that visual--it's really hard not to.

At one point, David Wain calls on an understudy so he can use the bathroom and after the audience gives the stand-in an enormous round of applause, I realized it was Paul Rudd, (who was in White Hot American Summer and The Baxter with them) who fit right in, rewinding the current skit and doing Wain's part.

The show ends with them singing Billy Joel’s “Moving Out” but they didn't know the words and make them up as a cartoon visual on a screen behind them depicts the mistakes they are singing. It was the best rendition of a Billy Joel song I’ve ever heard.

Leslie Torre

DVD REVIEW: The Singing Revolution

The Singing Revolution
Documentary Directed by James and Maureen Tusty
(New Video Group, Inc.)





If any combination of the following interest you; bloodless revolution, awesome 80s haircuts, stone washed jeans, storming castles, music festivals, Soviet history, progressive politics, human chains, folk songs, and heart warming ends, The Singing Revolution is a film that you should see.

Relating the story of the Baltic country Estonia liberating from the USSR, this film has educational elements, though centered around the largest annual traditional music Festival of National Unity and asking the question, “Can Culture Hold a People Together?” Culling contemporary footage from the 1930s through the 1990s, as well as interviews with survivors, children, and participants in Estonia's 60 year struggle for independence and liberty.

Giving a brief overview of what befell the country during World War II, Estonia was occupied by both the Nazi's and the Communist Red Army, finally being claimed by Stalin after the war. It's citizens arrested, sent to Siberia, and the oppressive propaganda of Communist Russia grinding out any thought of individual expression or political thought, Estonia was a country shackled behind the Iron Curtain.

The country was able to survive and maintain an individual ethnic identity largely due to the sheer amount of folk songs the country has, one of the largest collections in the world. Even under the heel of the Communists, in 1947, the Estonians began peaceful protests as twenty five thousand performers sang a song in their Native Estonian of National Unity at the annual Festival that was based on a 100-year-old poem.

Not until the mid 1980s, when Gorbachev came to power in the USSR, did political groups start to push the boundaries of Communist rule, speaking the truth of their country's past as a Rock and Roll Revolution spread throughout the land. Synthesizers and stone washed jeans ruled the day. In 1989 over three hundred thousand people attended the annual Festival to hear spontaneous speeches on how Estonian needed to be the national language and to reveal further the truth of the past.

Intimately tied to the liberation movements of Latvia, Lithuania, and the crumbling of the USSR itself, The Singing Revolution shows that with nonviolent and intelligent political action, the unity of a culture can overcome even the most feared and brutal regimes. All and all, if you like 20th century History, this oft overlooked chapter is very interesting and enjoyable.

The Singing Revolution Collector’s Edition 3 disc DVD set is exclusively available now at www.thesingingrevolution.com, while a single disc version will be available on Amazon.com on February 3, 2001.

Kenneth Joachim

FILM: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Legendary musician Scott Walker was big in the 60s gaining fame as a teen-idol with hits like “Make it Easy on Yourself,” then turned avant-garde putting out a string of albums that though his heavy fanbase ignored, garnered respect and love from musicians like Brian Eno and David Bowie. After a 10 year hiatus, 63 year old Scott Walker stepped back into the studio to record The Drift (4A.D.) and let the cameras roll to capture the album being made. In this documentary 30 Century Man, Director Stephen Kijak explores the music and career of this true musicians musician as friends such as David Bowie, Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Brian Eno, Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), and many many more give their take on just who Scott Walker is. Check out a great interview with Director Stephen Kijak at Kevchino.com HERE

30 Century Man will be playing at 11:05am, 12:55pm 3:00, 5:05, 7:40, 9:45pm, plus Fri-Sat: 12:30am at IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue, (212) 924-7771) through December 23, 2008. Director Stephen Kijak will be there in person to answer audience questions after the film Fri, Sat & Tue at 7:40pm. Designer Graham Wood in person Fri at 7:40.

DaVe Lipp

EAT: Corner Shop Cafe

Location: SoHo
Corner Shop Cafe
643 Broadway, New York, NY‎ 10012
Tel: (212) 253-7467‎

Whether it's a lunch date or a first date, this charmingly indie cafe at Broadway and Bleecker is sure to impress. Their "simple and yummy" organic menu offers elegant tweaks on classic American cuisine to SoHo tourists and residents alike. Lunch at the Corner Shop can be deceptively simple, with dishes like "The Corner Shop Dog" or "Corn on the Cob." The self-proclaimed Dog is the perfect sweet-salty combo of sweet italian sausage, grilled peppers, and balsamic caramelized onions, and the corn is served Mexican style with creamy cotija cheese & lemon cayenne mayo. The restaurant takes a turn towards the intimate during evening hours, when a generous count of tea candles flickers against the cafe's exposed brick wall and distinctive wall-mounted mirror. The dinner menu changes frequently, but always features a carefully tailored list of free range and organic veggie goodness. All in all, the fresh ingredients, warm ambiance, and friendly staff make this a top pick for a casual-chic meal with friends.

Lauren Wang

The Weekend Shortlist December 19 to 21

Disco glam makes a comeback along with LaBelle

Friday December 19

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Budos Band + Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens Get Tickets Here
Show time: 10:30 PM
Venue: Mercery Lounge
Food: San Loco
Drink: Max Fish
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Take the hip shaking afrobeat the Budos Band makes that you can’t help but dance to and add in Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens who take gospel and soul and turn a party into a revival and you have a recipe for one helluva time. Let’s face it, San Loco does not serve the greatest Mexican food ever. But it certainly isn’t bad. The prices are inexpensive, you can get a heaping amount of nachos for as little as $3.75, and telling by the heavy traffic, the place is doing just fine. What I like about Max Fish is that it’s a local bar for local artists. It’s walls play host monthly for art exhibitions, there’s a pool table in the back, and drinks aren’t pricey, like many new bars springing up in this neighborhood. For one of the best cupcakes in the city, Sugar Sweet Sunshine has 10 varieties, on top of cakes. Try the Sexy Red Velvet or the Bob, a yellow cupcake with chocolate almond buttercream.

Friday December 19

Location: Harlem, NYC
Bands: LaBelle Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Apollo Theater
Food Amy Ruth’s
Drink Harlem Lanes
Miscellaneous Stop 125

Patti LaBelle, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash are the original divas who wrote and sang “Lady Marmalade” back in the 70s along with a string of other disco hits. Reuniting after more than 32 years and with a new album Back To Now, expect lots of glitter and glam. While you’re up in Harlem, head over to Amy Ruth’s for some of the best fried chicken around. A MUST TRY is the fried or smothered Chicken & Waffles named The Rev. Al Sharpton ($9.50). It’s out of this world! A complex housing 24 bowling lanes, mini arcade, and a gourmet café, Harlem Lanes also has a sports bar with 24 plasma screen TVs. At Stop 125 you’d think the outdoor Tiki Bar would be the main attraction, but it’s the food that many come for. Offering dinner entree’s as well as small tapas style appetizers like the much-loved Chorizo With Caramelized Figs sautéed in its own juices (sm $6.95, lg $12.95), Stop 125 takes American cuisine and spices it up with the international flair that NYC, and especially Harlem are known for.

Saturday December 20

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Event: 3rd Annual Kraftenplatz
Show time: Noon to 6 PM
Venue: Cake Shop
Food: Paladar
Drink: Welcome to the Johnsons
Miscellaneous: Economy Candy

Looking to buy some last minute gifts for the holidays? Check out Cake Shop’s FREE 3rd Annual Kraftenplatz where talented local venders and designers will be selling their wares. Cake Shop will also be selling used and new vinyl for all you audiophiles. Paladar, whose celebrity chef, Aarón Sanchez is from the Food Network show “Melting Pot,” delivers a Pan-Latino concept taking traditional Spanish fare and adding deliciously executed gourmet twists. Feeling retro? Then Welcome to the Johnsons is the place for you. It’s like being in your uncles wreck room from the 70s. With all wood paneled walls, plastic covered couches, and a Pac Man machine, this bar is out for a good time. Stop by Economy Candy and get a small taste of what it might be like to walk through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, minus the hijinks, as there’s all sorts of candy everywhere. A real NY landmark, it’s been around since 1937.

Saturday December 20

Location: Union Square, NYC
Bands: Serious Business Records Holiday Party
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: The Studio at Webster Hall
Food: Thai Me Up Sandwich Bar
Drink: McSorley’s Old Ale House
Miscellaneous: Mudd Cafe

Rock label Serious Business knows how to throw a holiday party: Have bands play and make it free! With nine acts playing in three hours, you’ll get more than your fill of holiday cheer. Plus if your company cancelled their holiday party due to cutbacks, this is a great way to put one over on the man! With performances by Secret Dakota Ring, The Unsacred Hearts, the Homosexuals, Higgins, Benji Cossa, Rocketship Park, and much more. For eats, check out Thai Me Up Sandwich Bar, a sandwich shop offering Thai sandwiches with 7 Steamed Fried Vegetables and a choice of chicken, veggie, tofu or beef on a baguette with 3 types of sauces for $7. One of the city’s oldest bars, you can feel the history when you enter as memorabilia, since its beginnings in 1854, are all over the walls. Aside from it being a frat hangout nowadays, it’s worth the trip. You’ve seen that orange Mudd coffee truck parked on Astor Place and on various other streets, but check out their café on East 9th for coffee and a healthy, vegan, and vegetarian menu.

Sunday December 21

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Major League Dreidel Tournament
Show time: 7 PM
Venue: Fontana’s
Food: Paladar
Drink: Welcome to the Johnsons
Accessory: Economy Candy

For all us Jews trying to celebrate the 8 crazy nights of Hanukah during this Christmas season, well fear not because there’s the Major League Dreidel Tournament at Fontana’s. Anyone can sign up and metal band Gods of Fire will put a hard spin on classic Hanukah songs. Paladar, whose celebrity chef, Aarón Sanchez is from the Food Network show “Melting Pot,” delivers a Pan-Latino concept taking traditional Spanish fare and adding deliciously executed gourmet twists. Feeling retro? Then Welcome to the Johnsons is the place for you. It’s like being in your uncles wreck room from the 70s. With all wood paneled walls, plastic covered couches, and a Pac Man machine, this bar is out for a good time. Stop by Economy Candy and get a small taste of what it might be like to walk through Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, minus the hijinks, as there’s all sorts of candy everywhere. A real NY landmark, it’s been around since 1937.

THE BOOK REPORT: Somebody Else's Daughter

Somebody Else's Daughter
by Elizabeth Brundage
(Viking Adult)






Elizabeth Brundage takes a much bigger bite than she can chew in the complexity and multitude of issues she tries to address in Somebody Else's Daughter. Included among the many conflicts her characters face, are those of post-adoption identity crises (on the part of both parent and child), the return of an adult to childhood haunts, eating disorders, drug abuse, physical abuse, animal abuse, sexual assault, prostitution, AIDS and confrontations resulting from socioeconomic disparity.

Perhaps the most relevant theme of the novel is that of women's rights. Brundage's message however, seems to be lost, as the female character who initially demonstrates the greatest strength, ultimately is lured first, by the male protagonist whose wealth is secretly acquired through his success as a bigwig in the porn industry, and later by the weakest male character who sheepishly harbors an identifying secret of his own, that he is the true father of the female protagonist, adoptive daughter to Mr. Porn CEO.

The title subject manages to retain a healthy sense of stability for the majority of the novel, yet the downward spiral that she eventually enters is somewhat abrupt. Furthermore, the author could stand to do, as English teachers say, a lot more showing than telling.

Clearly this novel involves a tangled web of characters, and Brundage absolutely deserves to be lauded for her ability to develop all of her characters' in full via a plot that is easily followed and, at times, pretty suspenseful. That being said, maybe next time she will consider implementing a narrower focus on the conflicts her characters address.

Jessica Stein

The Daily Shortlist December 18

Location: Tribeca, NYC
Bands: The 3rd Annual Anticon 10 Year Anniversary Get Tickets Here
Show time: 7 PM
Venue: Knitting Factory Main Space
Food: Pakistan Tea House
Drink: Mocca Lounge
Miscellaneous: Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

As the Knitting Factory prepares to close it’s doors at the end of this month in Tribeca and reopen in Brooklyn, the music doesn’t stop as Bay Area record label and collective Anticon host the third annual Anticon 10 year anniversary. Featuring Themselves (doseone & Jel), Yoni Wolf (of WHY?), Buck 65, Sole, Alias, Odd Nosdam + Jel (live set), pedestrian + DJ Thanksgiving Brown. Nearby, Pakistan Tea House is a buffet style Indian restaurant where you can choose between chicken, meat, fish and vegetables. It’s affordable and very good. For drinks, check out Mocca Lounge. With a funky interior and a menu of Italian inspired fare, it’s also a bar with a large list of coffees with or without alcohol, beers, and frozen shots. Smack dab in the heart of Chinatown, the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory makes gourmet ice cream flavors like Black Sesame, Ginger, Durian, and more exotic flavors like Taro and Wasabi. Don’t worry, they have the go-to’s like Vanilla, fruits, and chocolate flavors too.

MUSIC REVIEWS: The Dears, Parts & Labor, The High Dials

The Dears
Missiles
(Dangerbird Records)






The Dears 2008 release, Missiles should be sure to be on top of many best of 2008 lists at the end of the year. Mixing the whimsical, lofty nature of bands like Anathallo with the dark, ambient sounds of Radiohead, the Dears album is best listened to with headphones. Standout tracks such as "Lights Off" even border on being b-sides from the Radiohead collection. The noises move from ear to ear and there is no room for dancing. The album is more experimental. You will not be singing along to every word. There's no need to clap. Just listen, breathe and enjoy. Title track, "Missiles" is a key example of this; melodic and slow-paced, the song drags the listener into it. The guitar solo at the end is a welcomed retreat back to 80's rock and not at all what one would think to expect. "Dream Job" is the closest thing to an 'upbeat' song on the album and calls some folk references to it. Overall, the album is more than worth a detailed listen by anyone who’s a fan of slowed, down rock with a conscious.

Tania Katherine


Parts & Labor
Receivers
(Jagjaguwar)






Give me some nice beeps and electrical farts, some feedback guitars, droning vocals and nice off-beats and I’ll be yours forever…or at least for the time it takes me to listen to this new CD from Parts and Labor, Receivers. The CD’s an amalgamation of interesting tunes, maybe some a little longer then they need be, still this four-piece delivers some good stuff, part Talking Heads, part Sisters of Mercy, and a little bit of Missing Persons thrown-in for good measure (I even hear some Men Without Hats here).

Of the eight tunes, I think the shorter ones work best for me. I really like all the beeps and burps, especially in the first song “Satellites” but I get behind the second half of the CD best. “Wedding in a Wasteland” (with a nice organ part pushing the whole thing), “Prefix Free” with Joseph Wong’s cool drums and the last tune “Solemn Show World” are my faves. There are a ton of people who made this record work (Matthew Welch’s bagpipes are duly credited on “Little Ones” and they really are a nice addition) but the band is Dan Friel-electronics/vocals, BJ Warshaw-bass, electronics/vocals and sax, Sarah Lipstate-guitar/electronics/tapes (reminds me of the old credits given to Floyd members on “Dark Side Of The Moon”, all the electronics-which could mean anything really, from keys to plugging in a table lamp!-and tape credits) and the best player for my money here, Joseph Wong-drums and percussion.

Receivers is a nice little package from this quartet. There are some good obscure lyrics here (thankfully provided in the booklet) and deep thick aural landscapes, even at times with a beat you can dance to.

Ralph Greco, Jr.


The High Dials
Moon Country
(self-released)







The British and Canadian music press have already blown their wads over Montreal-based The High Dials' latest album, Moon Country, helping Anton Newcombe's favorite band make back some of the front end they pumped into making sure every wankish guitar arpeggio and trite vocal in their self-released third LP was thoroughly drowned in uninspired, unnecessary reverb. The Moon Country-inites have branded the sound "psychedelic," justifying this groundless assertion by affixing a "neo-" or "post-" thus misinforming a new crop of music listeners. Make no mistake: this is nothing more than commercial rock too lacking in star power to send to MTV, instead packaged as psychedelia for the same people who think The Strokes are "garage rock" and who sincerely use the term "alt-country." If you like the idea of an identity-crisis-afflicted Spoon playing dress-up as Blur and the Verve, then the High Dials may be for you. But if you haven't quite made your way to the blossoming "post-original" movement yet, just dust off your '90's Britpop CDs--or even better, an actual psychedelic rock record.

Toney Palumbo

The Daily Shortlist December 17

Oasis Play MSG

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Bands: Oasis + Ryan Adams & The Cardinals Get Tickets Here
Show time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Food GoGo Curry
Drink Stitch
Miscellaneous Leisure Time Bowl

With a new album, the brothers Gallagher are back on the road with Oasis. Hopefully no one in the band will be attacked by a fan or by a brother. Joining them are Ryan Adams & The Cardinals whose new album Cardinalogy is purely amazing. The owner of Go!Go! Curry is obsessed with the Yankees Hideki Matsui and his Jersey (55). The menu’s theme is baseball and katsu, a fried meat, chicken, or shrimp cutlet served in a curry sauce is the specialty here. Portion sizes are Walk (small), Single (Med.), Double (L), and Triple (XL) and are inexpensive. The mascot, a gorilla for some reason, is plastered everywhere, making this place even quirkier. In the heart of the garment district, Stitch, a cozy after-work bar/lounge, stocks a cocktail menu with a design theme. If you still have energy and are in the mood to bowl, check out Leisure Time Bowl. Located in the Port Authority, this place is stylish and fun.

THE INTERVIEW: Coheed and Cambria

Progressive is more then just a style to Coheed and Cambria. Photo by Chapman Baehler





Since taking on the moniker Coheed and Cambria in 2001, these New York natives have been tackling one of the most ambitious projects in recent musical memory. The band’s discography serves as the musical telling of “The Amory Wars” a science fiction/fantasy story created and written by singer Claudio Sanchez (also available in Graphic Novel form). Presently the band is on the road with the “Neverender Tour” in which the band plays four nights in each city, one for each of their albums released to date. I had the opportunity to speak by phone with Guitarist Travis Stever.

Hi, thanks so much for taking time to speak with me. Something that has always intrigued me is how all your work falls in to a story arc. When did you guys realize this is what you were going to do with your music? Did the story come before the music, or was it the other way around?

All of our albums do fall into a story that Claudio (Sanchez) our singer wrote several years ago. The lineup changed in 2001 when our previous drummer Josh joined. Claudio had a side project called Coheed and Cambria, which was focused around the story. We decided we liked the story and the name, so we adopted the story and made it part of our work. Before this, we went by a different name (Shabutie).

How do your songs come together?

Well, usually Claudio will bring a piece of a song, usually some bass lines, vocals, or at least harmonies. Then the rest of us will each write our own parts. However, this process is not set in stone and can be different based upon the situation.

As far as lyrics, do you guys write the songs with the intent of fitting them into the story or does it just fall in to place?

It's a little bit of both. Our songs aren’t just part of the story. Often times they are biographical, either stuff Claudio’s gone through or all of us together.

My understanding is that with the last album (No World for Tomorrow) you finished telling “The Amory Wars” story—what comes next?

Yes, the story did come to a close but there is a fifth part which is a prequel. We have been working on material, but anticipate that to be out in 2009 or more likely 2010.

What comes after that?

We don’t really know. We know the sky’s the limit for us now and we feel that we can do whatever we want. Maybe we’ll start another story or maybe just do a rock record.

So on this tour you’ve been doing four shows in each city, playing each album in order, how has that gone? How has it been revisiting material you might not have played in years?

There have definitely been hills we’ve had to climb with this stuff—but the reaction’s been great overall, and for us its been great.

With this tour, is there more of an intent that people will come out to one, or are you expecting - and more importantly - have you seen the same people coming out for all four shows?

Well we’ve sold packages of tickets to all four shows and those have sold very well—last night was the first in New York and it was sold out.

Over the past four albums, there’s been some really notable changes in the sound and the music, can you speak on that?

Well, we as a band are always changing and always evolving. We might not fit the typical idea of a prog band, but for us, what makes us a “prog” band is the fact that we are always moving forward. On the next album, you’re going to see some of the styles of all the stuff we’ve done, from stuff resembling our older stuff to more similar work to the most recent album.

You mention not fitting in to the Prog tag and a lot of people have tried to place you guys into that category. What do you classify yourselves as?

A rock band. When you get down to it it’s all rock music.

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me and good luck with the shows.

Thanks very much.

TJ Olsen

The Daily Shortlist December 16

Location: Chelsea, NYC
Bands: Neil Young Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9:30 PM
Venue: Madison Square Garden
Food: Pop Burger
Drink: Gaslight Lounge
Miscellaneous: Amy’s Bread

Neil Young has always told it like it is, even in recent years being booed on tour for his political leanings, but with a discography of hits as deep as his, I’m sure most will recover with plenty of time to sing along to Keep on Rockin’ in a Free World. Burger joint in the front, upscale lounge in the back, the menu at Pop Burger includes basics like 2 pop burgers for $5 for a quick fix or if your lounging, the likes of tuna tartar with soy truffle jus ($15). The Gaslight, a great hotspot bar in the meatpacking district, is dark and cozy while affordable for the area. If you don’t know Amy’s Bread, when you order a sandwich at a café or restaurant in the city, ask where they got the bread. There’s a good chance it’s from Amy’s because she’s one of the best bread makers in the city.

Billy Jealousy Ocean Front Body Wash

Not just a great looking Body Wash. It offers great results!





Surfs up! with this invigorating body wash. It’s just the right thing when your morning shower is your wake up call. It slightly tingles due to the ingredients such as menthol and smells refreshingly (non feminine) botanical. The basic white packaging gives it the attention it deserves among a bathroom full of products. At the same time, this body wash hydrates and exfoliates the skin. My friends and I jointly came up with a phrase to describe this product: squeaky-clean. The only place you should be dirty is…

Ashkan

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer

Keep your skin movie star smooth with Smahbox's Primer






“You have movie star skin!” I heard this comment, or some variation of it, for an entire week. I attribute my recent radiant skin to an extraordinary face product called primer. Primer acts just like a paint primer from the hardware store. It creates a smooth surface for the application of make-up onto the skin. One makeup artist at a major retailer put it brusquely, “Primer fills in the holes.” Primer feels silky-smooth due to its lightweight, silicone formulation. It may deceptively feel like a moisturizer, but it is a wholly different product with different functionality. Primer was traditionally used by makeup artists for photo shoots, then celebrities started using it as part of their daily routine, and now it has hit the mainstream market. The only downside is the price tag, as most primers retail at $30 or greater. To get that star-studded glow, try Smashbox Photo Finish Primer.

Ashkan

The Daily Shortlist December 15

Location: Upper West Side, NYC
Author: David Sedaris
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Avery Fisher Hall
Food: Hummus Place
Drink: Jake’s Dilemmal
Miscellaneous: Alice’s Tea Cup

Best selling writer and one of the best humorists this century, David Sedaris stops by to discuss his life and read from his best selling book of semi-autobiographical essays, When You Are Engulfed in Flames. Cheap yet not too heavy, Hummus Place serves up surprisingly great hummus in the uptown version of their original downtown location. More a game room for adults than a sports bar, Jake’s Dilemma offers more than 50 beers to choose from while you can play pool, video games, or foosball. Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Alice’s Tea Cup is as much for adults as it is for kids. Get one of a vast assortment of teas flown in from around the world here or a gorgeously designed slice of cake.

FILM REVIEW: The Wrestler

The Wrestler
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
(Fox Searchlight)



In the world of celebrity it’s said the bigger you are the harder you fall and in the early 80’s there was no one bigger than professional wrestlers. This sentiment is the basis for Darren Aronofsky’s new film The Wrestler which focuses on the story of fictional powerhouse pro wrestler Randy "Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) twenty years or so after his prime. The film follows the Ram as he tries to pull his life together while working poorly promoted local matches, VFW autograph signings, and a part time job at the local supermarket. The Ram develops a relationship with a stripper, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei), who is also past her prime and finds herself at a turning point in her life. Part of the magic of the movie is the clever juxtaposition of the world of exotic dancing and professional wrestling, both, which glorify a false sense of glamour. The performances by Rourke and Tomei are truly remarkable and the depth and subtlety of the characters make the story relatable to nearly any audience. The film works ultimately because of the strength of these two main characters and the plot becomes almost secondary at times. There are some issues with the film such as the Ram’s underdeveloped relationship with Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood), the daughter he deserted years ago and tries to win back, but they are minor. The film does a superb job in illuminating the nature of performing and the painful real world of professional wrestling with all its inner workings. With all of it’s unflinching realism and the caliber of the performances, I’d be surprised not to see a few Oscar nominations here even if it doesn’t play to wide audiences.

The Wrestler will be released in theaters on December 17, 2008

Tim Needles

I WAS THERE . . . Vampire Weekend @ Terminal 5, 12.06.08

With one of the best albums of the year, New York’s own Vampire Weekend concluded their 5 night sold-out run Saturday night at Terminal 5 with a spirited hour-long set. The first snow of the season didn’t slow down the crowd a bit and the venue was packed for the two warm-up local bands which the audience seemed very familiar with- Air Bombay and Fiasco. Vampire Weekend took the stage around 10 PM and their performance was energetic and vibrant. Their upbeat sound, which mixes together off-beat percussion with bright guitar rhythms, was even more fun in person and the eclectic crowd danced along with exuberance throughout the show. The foursome started off their set fittingly with “Mansford Roof,” the single that started it all for them and they continued with tracks off their freshmen album including “I Stand Corrected” and their hit “A-Punk.” Midway through the show the band welcomed out a string quartet which added an interesting spin to songs like “M79” (about the uptown bus line) and “Ottoman,” their cut off the Nick and Nora’s Soundtrack album. They also mixed in two very diverse but interesting covers songs- Blondie’s “X-Offender” and Fleetwood Mac’s late 80’s hit “Everywhere” which they pulled off with verve. They closed the show with their fan-favorite “Walcott” and thanked the crowd for all the hometown support.

Tim Needles

One more pic:

I WAS THERE . . . Red Hot + Rio 2 @ BAM 12.05.08

Bebel Gilberto and Otto steal the show. Photo credit Jack Vartoogian





It was a night of beautiful music, people, and dancing from start to finish at BAM's Red Hot + Rio 2 where 16 of the best Brazilian artists in the world touched the stage, both contemporary and classic. From bossa nova to samba soul, Jobim to Tropicalia, it was a celebration of Brazilian culture that had the entire BAM Howard Gilman Opera house dancing and going crazy.

The stage was absolutely filled to capacity with Brazilian musicians. Curumin, CéU, Bebel Gilberto, José González, and Otto, rotated singing in front of the superstar backing band of João Parahyba, Moreno, Domenico, Kassin, Stephane San Juan, Alberto Continentino, Money Mark, Janja Gomes, Ze Luis, Jorge Continentino, and Carlos Darci. Featuring trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, baritone sax, two guitars, bass, 3 percussionists, and 3 singers, the total sound throughout the night achieved beautiful and rich melodies and harmonies, that resonated throughout BAM's beautiful opera house and were accentuated by visual projections.

It started with Jose Gonzalez serenading the audience with his velvety voice. Then Curumin came on the mic and picked things up a notch. CéU followed and enchanted the crowd with her beautiful voice. Bebel Gilberto came on next and the crowd got progressively warmer. Then Otto came out and got everybody jumping. Things calmed down for a bit, but then the Harlem Samba drum line walked down the center aisle and onstage making the entire audience get on their feet to end the show.

Marc Amigone

The Getaway: Lyndhurst, New Jersey

Though NJ suburbia might seem the wild and woolly hinterlands to Manhattanites, many of the towns and cities of NY’s just-across-the-river neighbor are on direct lines for buses and trains for the thousands of people who commute daily into ‘the city.’ One such little enclave is Lyndhurst, NJ, a mile-by-mile town filled to the brim with commuters of every ethnicity, shape and type of running shoe. So for those walking, running, catching a bus or hoping a train in, here are a few places worth checking out for a nosh.

The Bagel Stop (290 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst, NJ), is the place in town for fresh bagels. A mere five minute walk to the train, this friendly bright spot, manned by a spirited husband and wife team, sell such a constant variety of bagels to commuters, teachers (there’s a school right across the street) and local business people that the place is a beehive of friendly neighborhood activity in the morning. Lunch here is tops as well, featuring homemade Mexican fare. Plenty of seating at the counter or tables.

Of the same ‘breakfastie’ style, but concentrating more on their specialty, which is coffee, Joe’s Java (302 Ridge Road (a block down from the Bagel Stop and literally two steps from the bus)) offers the best coffee variety in town. Lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolate and daily blends, this place cannot be beat for the real coffee connoisseur. Do yourself a favor and grab one of the homemade cupcakes, voted in a recent newspaper poll as one of the best in NJ. Open late night for dinner and hanging (they do lunch to) visit them for real or in cyber space at www.myspace.com/joes_java.

Tero’s Snack Bar and Restaurant (224 Ridge Road). Thought not really a ‘snack bar’ this Spanish ‘tavern’ features a bar with tables on one side, then a dining room on the other. Serving reasonably-priced lunches or dinner, the staff here is friendly and the food great. Their chicken sandwich and garlic shrimp are to die for, and there is a bunch of other stuff to choose from as well. Take out also available.

All the above places happen to be on the main thoroughfare of Lyndhurst, Ridge Road, but on the other side of town is the landmark, The Lyndhurst Diner (what report of NJ eateries would be complete without a diner mention?). Sitting on the corner of River Road and Kingsland Avenue, this classic NJ diner gives great food, great prices and waitresses who probably know you by name. Pea soup on Thursdays, French toast anytime and a house specialty escarole and beans, you will be satiated any time, day or night, at The Lyndhurst Diner.

Ralph Greco, Jr.

The Weekend Shortlist December 12 to 14

Chocolate News star David Alan Grier breaks out the funny this weekend

Friday December 12

Location: Meat Packing District, NYC
Comedy: David Alan Grier Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Comix
Food: Spice Market
Drink: Plunge
Miscellaneous: Little Pie Company (located at 407 W14th St.)

We’ve loved David Alan Grier through the years when he first made us laugh in In Living Colour till now when he finally get’s his due with his own show Chocolate News on Comedy Central. Expect lot’s of lampooning and flambéing of celebrities as well as impersonations and Grier’s take on the first black president. For dinner, if you can get a table, check out Spice Market. Chef and owner Jean-Georges Vongerichten converted this HUGE space into one of the sexiest Asian restaurants in NYC. Serving up exquisite dishes like the onion and chili crusted short ribs with egg noodles and pea shoots ($22), Spice Market impresses. If you choose not to stay at APT for drinks, close by is Plunge. Located at the top of the Hotel Gansevoort, this rooftop lounge offers stunning views of the city. If dessert is your thing, stop over at Little Pie Company, where pies are baked on premises. Whether you’re in the mood for sour cream apple, southern pecan, or Mississippi mud pie, you can’t go wrong here.

Friday December 12

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Bon Iver Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9:30 PM
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Food: Dumont Burger
Drink: Radegast Hall & Biergarten
Miscellaneous: Verb Cafe

Who can resist the debut album For Emma, Forever Ago from Bon Iver, which sees this talented indie folk singer making his vocals the main attraction and writing gorgeous music to highlight it. With one of the best burgers in Williamsburg, Dumont Burger offers theirs with gourmet toppings, sandwiches, salads, and their amazing mac & cheese. So you consider yourself a beer connoisseur and like to party. You can do all that and eat at Radegast. The Austrian/German menu perfectly compliments the 12 beers on tap and more than 30 German and Austrian bottles at this large beer hall. One of the oldest and best hipster hangout coffee shops, The Verb offers up excellent coffee and baked goods, a boho vibe, and big windows to watch the days pass while collecting unemployment!

Saturday December 13

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Comedy: Ronnie Spector’s Xmas Party Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
Food: Whistlin’ Dixie’s Texas Tavern
Drink: Druids
Miscellaneous: Ruby et Violette

Legendary singer Ronnie Spector breaks out the holiday cheer and hits from her 1963 album, A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector, at her annual Xmas Party. At her age, she still sounds just as good as she did back then, especially when singing "Frosty the Snowman," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and her rendition of “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." It’s the holidays bitches! With different drink specials for every day of the week and a Tex-mex menu, you’re almost guaranteed a good time at Whistlin’ Dixie’s Texas Tavern. The atmosphere here is fun and the food and drink aren’t expensive. With a beautiful backyard patio for dining and a menu featuring American and Irish faves like sirloin burgers ($8) and Guinness Beef Tenderloin Stew ($19), Druids is a great neighborhood bar in a less than great neighborhood. Specializing in cookies, Ruby et Violette makes some amazing and inventive kinds like the traditional chocolate chunk and toffee with vanilla chunks.

Saturday December 13

Location: East Village, NYC
Event: SantaCon
Show time: 10 PM
Venue: Multiple venues in the East Village
Food: Supper
Drink: 2A
Miscellaneous: Whole Foods on Bowery

It’s been awhile since I got caught in a bar with several hundred people dressed like santa swilling beer and singing holiday songs, but after 13 years going strong, SantaCon returns to NYC today so don’t be surprised when you belly up to the bar in the East Village and are surrounded by a room full of Santa. Those looking for good and inexpensive Italian food should most definitely check out Supper. Do yourself a favor and try the “Priest Stranglers” pasta with Marinara and soft Ricotta di Pecora cheese. A good bar nearby is 2A. With two floors of windows, it’s great for watching the remaining hipsters who can still afford to live in the city pass by. If all your dinner/drink plans fail and you need an all-in-one, the Whole Foods on Houston Street is your upscale go-to-grocery store for dinner and snacks.

Sunday December 14

Location: Chelsea, NYC
Bands: BUST Magazine's Holiday Craftacular
Show time: 10 AM-7:30 PM
Venue: Metropolitan Pavilion
Food: Il Bastardo
Drink: Brite Bar
Miscellaneous: Café Grumpy

It’s that time of year again, not to celebrate the important things in life, like friends and family, but to buy them stuff and things so when you need their help, like to help you move, you won’t have to lay on a huge guilt trip. Join funny lady Amy Sedaris and Project Runway's Stella Zotis as they host BUST Magazine's Holiday Craftacular, where 200 crafters will be selling their wares like knitwear, jewelry, beauty products, ornaments, vamped up vintage clothing, and much more. Not just a great name for a restaurant, Il Bastardo offers excellent Italian food, seafood, and steak in a large and beautifully designed space. With an interesting menu of cosmos and cocktails like the Fother Mucker, made with Zygo, a locally distilled energy vodka, Brite Bar looks like a lounge but is way more fun. One of my favorite coffee houses, due to the fact that they are doing a great job of reinventing the wheel when it comes to making coffee, is Café Grumpy. Here, every cup is freshly pressed and the latte’s are thick and rich.

THE BOOK REPORT: Slam by Nick Hornby

Slam
by Nick Hornby
(Putnam)







Readers familiar with Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and About a Boy will find much to appreciate in his latest novel Slam.

While in many ways Hornby’s novel, told from the point of view of a disaffected youth named Sam who often speaks in British slang, invites comparison to another tale of teenage angst—J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye—Slam is neither as psychologically penetrating nor ultimately bleak enough to represent the real experience of being forced to cope with the responsibility of parenting at 16 years old, its ostensible topic.

Rather, Hornby’s representation of young parenting is a romp through male teenage adolescence, pop-culture therapy in the form of a talking poster of Tony Hawk, and countless awkward teas between families that don’t have much to say to each other (although when they do the fallout is frequently hilarious). That’s not to say such a light-hearted approach isn’t an enjoyable read, but as usual in Hornby’s fiction, life just ends up feeling a little too perfectly imperfect.

While Sam and his ex-girlfriend/mother of his child don’t end up holding hands and walking into the sunset, they do find new, apparently better-matched partners (who can all sit down at a civil dinner together) and seem to be managing childcare division and their careers just fine. Teen parenting is a tricky, complex subject to say the least and Hornby avoids all the pain and real destructiveness of it in favor of a charming, hilarious, enjoyable read.

Miranda Ganzer

The Daily Shortlist December 11

Location: East Village, NYC
Bands: The Idelsohn Society Presents: And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Our Vinyl
Show time: 9:30 PM
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Food: China 1
Drink: Hi Fi
Miscellaneous: Second on Second Karaoke Bar & Lounge

Celebrate the book release of And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Our Vinyl, which takes the reader on a journey through the evolution of Jewish music. Performances include legendary Jewish artists like Gershon Kingsley, Irving Fields, El Avram, Sol Zim, and Jackie Hoffman. Part restaurant and part club, China 1 serves up more upscale Chinese food than you’re used to. With décor that’s more dungeon lounge than China, this is a fun place to hang. With an MP3 jukebox that has 3000 albums to choose from, nicknamed “El DJ,” Hi Fi is a rock lover’s wet dream. With daily drink specials, this place is cheap, and that’s a rare thing in NYC these days. If you’re still in the mood to party after this early reading, hit up Second on Second for some karaoke, where you can sing till your throat is sore!

MUSIC REVIEWS: Spindrift, Como Now, The Streets, Johann Johannsson

Spindrift
The West
(Beat the World/World's Fair)







Spindrift describes their sound as "a psychedelic shootout in a Western town on a distant planet," and it's difficult to come up with a more appropriate assessment. While the carnivalesque opening track, "The Isle of Lost Souls," is reminiscent of the genre-hopping Liverpool group The Coral, much of the rest of The West saunters around like the new gun in town making sure you know his name. Songs like "The New West," "Ace Coltrane," and "La Noche Mas Oscura" conjure up images of lone rangers on horseback, swinging saloon doors, and the expansive nighttime desert sky, all viewed through an addictively hallucinogenic lens.

But Spindrift isn't all space cowboys and Indians, with shades of both the Ramones and TV on the Radio highlighting "If You Don't Like It (Get the Fuck Out)" and a Jesus and Mary Chain coolness pulsing throughout "Goin' Down." An auditorily tantalizing array of sonic textures weaves its way through the album, eluding easily pre-packaged stylistic labels. Whatever the influences, by the time the nearly ten-minute closing track, "Colt's Crime," comes down from its extended Dead Meadow-meets-Sergio Leone trip, The West will have you won over.

Toney Palumbo


Various Artists
Como Now: The Voices of Panola Co. Mississippi
(Daptone Records)






In July 2006, Daptone Records invited local singers to come on down to Mount Mariah Church in rural Como, Mississippi to create a permanent record of gospel music - the heart and soul of the south. The resulting album is an absolutely irresistible collection of some of the most heartbreakingly beautiful voices giving life to a truly stirring set of songs. There are no fancy studio-sounding tunes here. The production is raw and uncluttered - completely focused on letting the community's musical heritage shine. When the gravely voices of Della Daniels and Ester Mae Smith belt out songs like "Jesus Builds A Fence Around Me" and "Move Upstairs" it's a truly spiritual experience and even approaches the divine.

Amy Wagner


The Streets
Everything is Borrowed
(Vice)






A new sense of spirituality and humility persists throughout The Street’s new album Everything is Borrowed but with it comes a loss for the loose, raw qualities that gave them an edge earlier in their career. The Streets, an alias for English rapper Mike Skinner, made a big impact back in 2001 with the album Original Pirate Material and recent years have seen the group flounder. The new album is a departure conceptually but not an entirely successful one. The title track leads off with a familiar tone and Skinner’s trademark accent but somehow the philosophy, although interesting, comes off as heavy and sophomoric. “Heaven for the Weather” and “I Love You More (Than You Like Me)” follows it up and hits much closer to the mark capturing a bit of the early Streets feel with its cool beats and mixture of rapping and singing. Unfortunately, tracks like “The Way Of The Doto,” “On The Edge Of A Cliff,” and “The Escapist” sound forced and almost cheesy despite their positive message. The songwriting is really an issue in the album and it sounds like Mike and the crew are trying too hard and not being true to themselves. The album is not a total disaster (it’s actually perfect for lofty college kids in their first philosophy classes) but the Streets have promised that their next album will be their last so we hope they get it right before it’s over.

Paul Kim


Johann Johannsson
Fordlândia
(4AD)






Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson’s Fordlândia derives its title from the tale of Henry Ford’s attempt to build an idealized American society on the Amazon in the 1920’s. Johannsson also cites running themes of rocketry and “nature reclaiming territory previously lost to human industry.”

Just as the nearly 14-minute titular opening track transports the audience through sweeping Sigur Ros grandeur and triumphant U2 guitar heraldry, the stirring and epic finale “How We Left Fordlândia” appropriately signals the return home from the completed dystopic pilgrimage. Bookended between the two opuses are eight other tracks of unmistakably classical arrangement and execution that nonetheless demonstrate popular influences. “The Rocket Builder (Io Pan!)” features a twinkling Danny Elfman-like melody supported by a moody accompaniment, while the low ambient guitars buried in the mix of “Melodia (III)” were allegedly inspired by Johannsson’s bearing witness to a Sunn O))) performance in an Austrian church. A curiously electronic-sounding percussion track even fuels “Melodia (Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device
based on Heim's Quantum Theory).

Though inspired by failed utopias, Fordlândia is a rousing success, bringing modernity to the classical and evading the sappy sentimentality that plagues music this ambitiously cinematic.

Toney Palumbo

The Daily Shortlist December 10

William Eggleston, "Untitled", 1975. Dye transfer print, 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm). © Eggleston Artistic Trust. Courtesy Cheim & Read Gallery


Location: Upper East Side, NYC
Photo: William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961–2008
Show time: Wed-Thurs & Sat-Sun 11 AM-6 PM, Fri 1-9 PM; Through January 25, 2009
Venue: Whitney Museum of American Art
Food: Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack
Drink: BB&R
Miscellaneous: Dylan's Candy Bar

One of the most influential photographers ever, William Eggleston gets his first retrospective in the United States which includes his more famous and lesser known works ranging from black-and-white to color as well as his video work from the 1970s, Stranded in Canton. If you’ve got a craving for barbeque, check out Brother Jimmy’s Bait Shack as the ribs, chicken, beef, and pork are all smothered in some amazing BBQ sauce. BB&R, which stands for Blonde, Brunette, and a Redhead is the brainchild of three best friends. What they’ve created is something between a neighborhood bar and a lounge with leather seats in the front and a pool table, photo booth, and video games in the back. Looking more like it came out of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dylan’s Candy Bar is a colorful place to get lollipops, licorice, and all things sugary. Don’t go crazy though, or your sweet tooth might melt here!

THE INTERVIEW: Late of the Pier

Inspired in part by classic rock and 1980’s synth, Late of the Pier have an original sound that is making a big impact with listeners globally. The young English foursome recently released their first album, Fantasy Black Channel, a diverse collection of songs on the forefront of electronic music. I had an opportunity to have a conversation on topics ranging from music to social and political ideas with singer Samuel Eastgate and drummer Ross Dawson during their most recent stay in New York

Your music definitely has an 80’s feel to it. How did you incorporate the sound into what you do? What’s your process like?

Samuel Eastgate (S): Most importantly it’s not completely 80’s- I think the best few moments of the 80’s are remembered in our music for that kind of sheer individualism. People just looked ridiculous in the 80’s, sang ridiculous songs, and played ridiculous guitar riffs and things like that. Though I think when we make music it’s bad to always veer away from that. I think a lot of musicians think they’re being cool and veer away from those more obscene kinds of sounds which were so popular in the 80’s. When we make music we want to go to those extremes, the 80’s being one extreme- a synth sound or a type of production and we juxtapose that against things from other decades like classical rock from the 60’s and even a modern, more electronic club sound. I think we just have this love and hate affair with every decade of music.
Ross Dawson (R): Yeah, that’s true, it’s weird

The funny thing about the 80’s is that much of the music was kind of shallow and in a way it represented the culture. People often mention the same influences when they speak about your music, do you feel a stigma with the 80’s influence?

S: Some of that is just repeated journalism that might’ve happened a lot in America. One English interview said something like “this song sounds like Gary Newman” and it’s been recycled a few hundred times and now we’re just some Gary Newman tribute band.
R: Yeah, people try to lump us in with New Wave and really we just sound nothing like it.
S: The best way to battle against that is to just play our music for people.

Yeah, one thing I respond to in your music is that you seem to experiment and then push things forward. What is your process for doing that? Do you set aside time to play around as a musician or does it just come across organically?

S: It’s a mixture of a few different processes. When I was writing bits of songs they would just be an hour in my day- in a day where otherwise I was probably just doing something really boring- I was at college for a lot of this stuff on the album. For awhile I was wondering if I should be at college or not and some days I’d just go home and write 30 seconds of music and feel okay. I really liked that 30 seconds of music and I’d think I had done really well so it deserved the half a day off of school. Later you just go and make something out of this song and rather than just repeat that thing over and over again I’d get another idea and figure out how to make those two into some kind of song. You get this thing repeated over and over and then sometimes it’s like an epiphany where you just go oh my God, those two fit together perfectly. It’s kind of an obvious thing for us because so many songs have been just ideas from different times, maybe a year apart that just belong together in some way. Who knows, they could’ve worked with another combination of melodies and things on our album could’ve actually worked in a completely different order? It’s a crazy thought, I never really thought about it.
R: Yeah, really neither have I.
S: They are in a constant evolution. We’ve changed songs so many times that it’s really just a particular moment in that songs life that’s on the album.

What about the remixes? You guys have a whole lot of remixes. Do you do the remixes or do you work with other people?

S: We’ve done a couple of remixes of our own stuff but we like to get other bands to do them. Other times we just try and impress people who we really respect with our music and see if they will do a remix- often that’s worked really well. We managed to get a few such as Hot Chip which is really good.
R: Yeah we’ve got some commissioned but Faley, our bassist, who in particular is really into meeting these people and you see their Myspace page, you don’t know who they are really but you’ve heard they do the best remixes. He’s really up for interacting with them and working with them.
S: Faley talks the talks.
R: Yeah he definitely talks the talks.
S: He’s a bassist but he started off as a manager (R: and networker) for us. He was like the manager role in the band so he would always get up the next day and say leave me alone because he spent 5 hours on Myspace last night. We were all like well…OK, did you have to spend 5 hours, but he did get us a lot of our early gigs.

Wow, through Myspace?

S: Yeah, I mean that’s the crazy thing, we got our first gigs through it but then we really didn’t know how to use it properly- we were always a bit late on the ideas that people had on giving away free music. We didn’t catch on to that early. It’s probably because we didn’t have any proper music recorded so there were these little snippets of demos, then playing gigs to the all ages crowd, mostly based in London. People just get excited– I think they thought this was something that they could truly say was there own and that’s probably when we work best is when people think that this is a small thing that they can really identify with and call their own. So for instance when we had this massive press coverage in magazines in England I think people feel like their little band was being taken away from them a bit. I think we are just trying to prove to people that it’s not the case, that we’re still doing it for those few people so we still play small gigs and try to make sure they don’t forget about us. We come back and surprise them- “Late of the Pier, we’re still here and as young and foolish as ever.” We’ve not become a stadium band.

As a visual artist I wanted to ask you what some of your influences are outside of music?

R When we were younger, we used to discuss all sorts of art forms, varying from film and photography. Me and Sam both studied art for a time.
S: I did photography and for a long time we were definitely considering being artists instead of musicians at the start of the band.
R: You were leaning towards graphic design and I was leaning more towards photography.
S: I kind of hated graphic design in some respects because I was too arty for graphic design and too graphic for art so I always did an odd sort of mixture, then I did photography as well. Actually the best thing I ever did was when I found this website called “Deviant Art” - it’s a huge website now but when I was young it wasn’t, do you know it?

Yeah, sure.

R: I wonder if they’re still up there, they probably are?

Yeah, they should be they- that stuff stays up forever.

S: Do they? Well they’re probably still up there. I’ll let people try to find them themselves. Yeah, so we really just didn’t know if we were going to be a band. It’s funny, of course we design all our record covers also.

Well that seems to make sense. From the clips I saw online, your live shows are almost performance art piece at times.

S: We try to make every gig memorable.
R: You never know what you are going to get.
S: I remember one gig when we hit the nail on the head completely. We built this huge purple castle out of cardboard- went through all the pain, got a crown, and then I had those wooden slats that I play hanging from the ceiling- it was a spectacle. We had this wooden horse that we found in a skit in London and all these crazy things. At the end of the gig, amazingly the support band came on with hammers and smashed the castle to pieces, we didn’t ask them to do that but…
R: God, I nearly got hit in the head with a hammer- this hammer was like “woof,” past my head (laughing) “careful!”
S: Some days it’s better than others, you know. We’ve really been put on the treadmill recently, which is something we are really eager to just step off and maybe get back to doing what we do best which is probably one-off shows and a bit more writing. Next year, apart from the U.S. tour, which is going to be in March, it will be much more of an onslaught.
R: I think we’re definitely into the idea of making the U.S. tour different from what we’ve done so far.
S: We don’t want to play the same gig like a hundred times

This year is an election year here in the U.S. and there’s some tension in the air. I wanted to ask you guys, coming from England, about some social and political issues. Do you talk about any social issues?

R: Yeah we have a lot of political and social ideas.
S: We’re very strong minded about things like that. Education is one of the things we usually talk about. People ask about how you start as a band and one of the things we say is that we were bored [in school]- we feel that not everybody has to go to University.
R: I guess everybody wants to say they were going through some kind of rebellion.
S: Once upon a time, University was only for a few select people, nowadays there are so many people going to University that it kind of loses its meaning for a lot of people. Although it’s good for them to be around like-minded people, I think sometimes it gets watered down. People now want something more than University, something more suited to them. For us the only way we could get that was just to leave it behind- I think that’s the way we became friends as a band.
R: People are just scared though really, to get off the road of education.
S: It’s not an easy thing for people to say no to University. We found it extremely hard.

Did you guys meet in University?

S: No we met before A-level
R: We were about 16 or so.
S: We really got together, I guess because we were the kids who were a bit worried about whether it was right for us to go to University considering we had such unconventional ideas.
R: I hated school really.
S: We went to a bad school.

That’s interesting because I teach art and film in high school and I always have students ask me if they really need to go to college and even when they aren’t sure I tell them it’s a good idea to go- even for just a semester or a year to know whether you should go or not.

S: Well I had a couple of amazingly good teachers. The last teacher that I had before I quit school basically said “well you’re a really good student you should stay but I think you probably want to leave for a good reason.” He still sends me emails now and then. He’s supportive of us. We always talk about how education could be better for people. I think because of the growing number of people, it puts a stress on schools and the education system. It’s the same problem in England.

Yeah, I’ve heard.

R: Well you should probably just not be there if you don’t want to be there. It would probably make it easier for everyone wouldn’t it?
S: But also there’s the obvious problem that teachers nowadays are told more and more strictly what to teach and how to do things.
R: Which is the problem we had with ours. I used to get C’s and it used to just really get me down. I’m not a C student.

I’ll end with the question of what advice do you have for musicians or artists coming up in the industry?

S: Just keep plowing your own path and understand that if people tell you there’s one way of doing things they’re probably being forced to say that by the government.

Tim Needles

The Daily Shortlist December 9

Location: Murray Hill, NYC
Bands: Smokey Hormel
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Rodeo Bar
Food: Seven’s Mediterranean Turkish Grill
Drink: Shalel Lounge
Miscellaneous: Boat Basin Cafe

How do you pass up the chance to hear a guitarist who’s played with the likes of Beck, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits and more, as well as having put out a number of his own projects that have run the gamut from blues to bossa nova, in a small club like Rodeo Bar? For good Mediterranean food on the UWS, Seven’s is an excellent choice. Specializing in Pides (stuffed dough), they also serve most of the staple Turkish dishes. Hidden, though well worth the hunt, Shalel Lounge is a romantic spot with a cave-like atmosphere, and an excellent though pricey beer and wine list. Overlooking the water in Riverside Park, the Boat Basin Café is a really beautiful outdoor café with one of the best views of the Hudson River and NJ. You heard me, NJ! The menu is mostly burgers and sandwiches and plenty of BBQ. Best of all, it’s affordable and fun.

Redken Real Control Overnight Treat

After coloring, drying and flat ironing my hair, my golden locks were crying for help. Their thirst for moisture was overwhelming. Then I was lucky to find this amazing product. The most wonderful part about it is that it works overnight! Many say that sleep is the best beauty treatment. This natural beauty treatment is also essential in transforming damaged and over worked hair into shiny, luscious locks. With Redken’s new Real Control Overnight Treat, women with dense, dry, sensitized hair can now achieve the intense conditioning, control, and repair they need while they sleep.

Real Control Overnight Treat is a lightweight rejuvenating lotion that absorbs instantly and does not transfer to your pillow or sheets. It can be applied to damp or dry hair before going to bed and can be left in or be rinsed out in the morning. Hair results in maximum softness and control. Protein and ceramide provide strength and lasting protection. Shea butter provides smoothness and controls frizz. With all these fabulous ingredients, you will feel that you have given your hair a wonderful gift for the holidays!

Meryl Hartstein

Not just a beauty writer, Meryl Hartstein also runs Re-Vamp Cosmetic and Image Counseling. For more info see her website Re-Vamp Counseling

Nickel Fire Insurance After Shave Cream

Keep your skin smooth and non-irritated





Men’s skin care is relegated mostly to one arena: the art of shaving. Centuries of shaving still have yet to produce the flawlessly smooth, anti-inflammatory shave. Just think what shaving is… multiple blades are literally running across your most sensitive organ day in and day out; typically followed by products containing irritants like alcohol. This routine is cause for a 3 alarm fire on your face, hence the term razor burn. Nickel for Men presents Fire Insurance After Shave Cream to extinguish the post shave heat. Two principal ingredients are at work here; corn oil acts as a calming effect and allantoin as a moisturizer. This silky, hydrating lotion squelches any cinders to instantly cool the skin while acting as a non-irritating moisturizer.

Ashkan

The Daily Shortlist December 8

Meet your hosts, Murray Hill and Linda Simpson

Location: East Village, NYC
Event: Monday Night Bingo
Show time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Bowery Poetry Club
Food: Momofuku
Drink: The Village Pourhouse
Miscellaneous: Sundaes and Cones

Making bingo more fun (if you can imagine that), drag queen Linda Simpson and Murray Hill host Monday Night Bingo. With a bar, coffee shop, and restaurant, you can eat and drink while playing. There’s also a BINGO HAPPY HOUR from 7pm-8pm. If you like ramen noodles and pork, then Momofuku is your spot for food. The Berkshire pork is the best I’ve had and it’s the only place I’ll eat pork period, which should tell you just how good Momofuku really is! What looks like a neighborhood bar to watch sports actually has three more rooms, where you can order food or find a quiet place to smooch! For dessert a little left of the dial, Sundaes & Cones offers eclectic flavors like wasabi and corn and many more flavors that are familiar.

DVD REVIEW: John Adams Mini Series

John Adams Mini-Series
(HBO)





The second president of the United States and “voice” of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, is a figure that often falls in the shadows of America’s better known forefathers. This perception might be as true now as it was then and it’s in part why the 7-episode HBO miniseries that follows John Adams life from his early days as a colonial lawyer in Boston through his presidency and his life after office is as interesting as it is moving.

John Adams is a truly spectacular piece of work from top to bottom and succeeds to push the genre of the mini-series itself with its production value and attention to detail. The success of the series is beyond any one element but the acting, writing, and cinematography are all extremely effective. The special effects also play a major role and go beyond that of many feature films even though you might not notice them without the “making of” feature included on the DVD.

The story itself is very well constructed following Adams, a man with as much virtue as ego and pride, through history from the Boston Massacre in 1770 through his death in 1826. Indeed the only major criticism of the series is by taking on such a large span of time, gaps occasionally develop in the timeline. Paul Giamatti, who first came to national attention in the film Sideways, is perfectly cast in the role of Adams and portrays his character without bias with his misgivings married to his philosophical brilliance. The true character of Adams is seen in context with his relationship with his wife Abigail (played marvelously by Laura Linney) and their interactions with their children- notably John Quincy Adams who later becomes president himself. The supporting cast is equally as impressive, especially Stephen Dillane’s performance playing Thomas Jefferson, Tom Wilkinson’s portrayal of the off-beat Ben Franklin, and David Morse’s uncanny depiction of George Washington.

The filmmakers manage to take the audience in to witness the fragile birth of our country in a way no other work has yet to accomplish. The series, produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book written by David McCullough and features an excellent documentary on the author. The historical accuracy of the series makes it a true learning experience adjusting some of the misconceptions that are common about the period, but beyond that, the series is a moving work of art. One need not be interested in American history to enjoy the characters and drama of the story. I’m sure this series will have a long life in American history classes but this amazing story of love, ambition, ego, and ultimately loss is one anyone can enjoy.

Tim Needles

DRINK CLUB: Dive 75

Dive 75
101 West 75th Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam Aves.)
Phone: (212) 362-7518









Happy Hour: 5-7 everyday- all domestic drafts are $3 and all domestic bottles are $2.50
Hours:
Monday through Thursday, 5 PM-4AM
Friday, 3 PM-4 AM
Sat & Sun, 12 PM-4 AM

In a neighborhood ripe with raccoon lodge-esque sports bars filled with bald marrieds hiding from their wives, the Upper West Side gem, Dive 75, is a welcome respite.

This is a no frills scene with a large selection of foreign and domestic draft beers as well as a full bar. While they do have TV’s for checking the score of the big game, what makes this place special is the relaxed atmosphere, the jukebox and the board games. After Sunday brunch or a rough day at the office, you can sit at a cozy table for a game of scrabble or trivial pursuit lit only by the 150-gallon fish tank. This is a dive bar where you can actually sit down, engage in conversation but not ruin your white jeans. A good date place for a low maintenance girl: what is a better first date than winning a game of connect four while listening to a juke box filled with Johnny Cash, Barry White and Radiohead?

For one couple it was the perfect first date- I saw them get engaged when the man spelled out “will you marry me” on a scrabble board. This place holds special meaning to people on the UWS. In the city that never sleeps, this unique, local joint reminds you that sometimes it’s OK to simply drink 6 Brooklyn lagers in the middle of the afternoon while enjoying a friendly game of boggle.

dear greer

The Weekend Shortlist December 5 to 7

Mercury Rev

Friday December 5

Location: Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Bands: Red Hot + Rio 2: The Next Generation of Samba Soul
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: BAM
Food: Junior’s
Drink: O’Connor’s
Miscellaneous: Thomas Beisl

For fans of world music and the sounds of Brazil, then Red Hot + Rio 2 is for you. Featuring the next generation of samba-soul influenced artists, performers include CéU, Curumin, Bebel Gilberto, José González, Otto, João Parahyba (from Trio Mocoto) with a backing band of Kassin +2, Moreno, Domenico, Money Mark, Janja Gomes, Jorge Continentino, Carlos Darci, Zé Luis. Known more for its cheesecake than anything else on its menu, Junior’s also offers fantastic diner and deli style eats from steak burgers to deli sandwiches. If you can make it through dinner, the cheesecake will be worth the wait! One of Brooklyn’s most interesting dive bars, O’Connor’s offers cheap drinks in a place where Park Slope hipsters meet old-time drinkers, making for one of the oddest pairings that works. An excellent place to get schnitzel and goulash and other Austrian delights, Thomas Beisl is right across the street from BAM.

Friday December 5

Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Bands: The Squirrel Nut Zippers
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Southpaw
Food: Los Pollitos II
Drink: Pacific Standard
Miscellaneous: Gorilla Coffee

Remember Squirrel Nut Zippers hit song from 1996 called “Hell”? Well the band, who recently got back together after taking some years off, are on the road again blending 1940s era swing, blues, jazz, and klezmer. This show should be fun! Joining them is The Old Ceremony. While Mexican restaurants may be everywhere, not all are created equal. One that stands out, in that hood, is Los Pollitos II. Having gone several times, what makes me come back for more are the Chilaquiles for brunch and the gorditas for dinner. The guacamole is damn good too. Did you say you like beer? I like beer! Hooray for puppies! At Pacific Standard, the front bar has 16 beers on tap and the back room looks like a high school library. I think this is my new favorite bar. Don’t forget to ask about the frequent drinker card program! I’m totally serious. If you like your coffee black, Gorilla Coffee specializes in deep roasted flavors and provides it through fair-trade.

Saturday December 6

Location: Lower East Side, NYC
Bands: Nada Surf + Delta Spirit + Gramercy Arms Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Food: Three of Cups
Drink: Whiskey Ward
Miscellaneous: Sugar Sweet Sunshine

Nada Surf, though not a huge band, have steadily gathered a following for years full of fans who love their alternative, folky and melodic pop songs. California band Delta Spirit also fall into that folk category crafting beautiful songs that would fit snug somewhere in the 1960s music scene. Gramercy Arms, a collective of NYC musicians has so many top notch collaborators, including members of Nada Surf, that you may see a familiar face or two in the band you know and love. What I like about Three of Cups the most is that the food is classic Italian fare like Pizza made in a wood-fired oven, risotto, pasta, while also offering more exciting dishes like lamb stew in a barolo wine reduction, served with potato gnocchi. The atmosphere is relaxing, bordering on romantic. With a name like Whiskey Ward, it’s expected that they deliver the goods, which lucky for this bar, they do. Whether it’s Scotch, Bourbon, Whiskey, or Single Malts, they got em’ along with a pool table and a damn good jukebox. Who doesn’t like cupcakes? Sugar Sweet Sunshine has one of the best in the city. With 10 different kinds, it’s hard to beat.

Saturday December 6

Location: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Bands: Yeasayer + Suckers Get Tickets Here
Show time: 9 PM
Venue: Music Hall of Williamsburg
Food: SEA
Drink: Zablozki’s
Accessory: Academy Records

You couldn’t really deny the eclectic originality of Yeasayers album All Hour Cymbals last year as they effortlessly blended pop, rock, world music and anything else they could find into gorgeous songs that sounded happy though had darker underlying meaning. And that’s exactly why you should be seeing them live. A great restaurant on the same block is SEA. Asian inspired from the décor to the food, this huge and gorgeous space serves up a mostly Thai menu from massaman curries to house specialties like Red SEA Duck (Half duck in red vinaigrette-tomato gravy sauce served with stir-fried mixed veggies). SEA is inexpensive and visually impressive for Brooklyn. With an increasing amount of new bars on the block, Zablozki’s is a standout that’s cozy, mostly mahogany, and has great drinks specials. A great stop off if you’re early is Academy Records. One of the biggest vinyl shops in NYC, if you are a vinyl fan, you will be blown away.

Saturday December 6

Location: Meat Packing District, NYC
Event: Details Block Party
Show time: 12 - 6 PM
Venue: Multiple venues throughout the Meat Packing District
Food: Spice Market
Drink: Plunge
Miscellaneous: Little Pie Company (located at 407 W14th St.)

It’s that holiday time of year to buy presents for loved ones and friends and instead of getting them some gift certificate from Target, why not get them something from one of the Meat Packing District’s amazing shop’s during the Details Block Party which will feature sample sales and great deals of up to 30% off on big names like Hugo Boss, Massimo Bizzocchi, Equinox, Los Dados, Spice Market, Ed Hardy, Theory, Puma, Helmut Lang, Bijou, Tracy Reese and more. There will also be free food and liquor tastings as well as. For dinner, if you can get a table, check out Spice Market. Chef and owner Jean-Georges Vongerichten converted this HUGE space into one of the sexiest Asian restaurants in NYC. Serving up exquisite dishes like the onion and chili crusted short ribs with egg noodles and pea shoots ($22), Spice Market impresses. If you choose not to stay at APT for drinks, close by is Plunge. Located at the top of the Hotel Gansevoort, this rooftop lounge offers stunning views of the city. If dessert is your thing, stop over at Little Pie Company, where pies are baked on premises. Whether you’re in the mood for sour cream apple, southern pecan, or Mississippi mud pie, you can’t go wrong here.

Sunday December 7

Location: Union Square, NYC
Bands: Mercury Rev + Dean & Britta Get Tickets Here
Show time: 6:30 to 9:30 PM
Venue: Highline Ballroom
Food: Maritime's Matsuri
Drink: Hiro
Accessory: Cha An Japanese Tea House

Start off the evening at Matsuri*, with Chef Tadashi Ono’s highly acclaimed Japanese food (*make a reservations). At Matsuri the fish is so fresh it’s flown in from Japan daily. I highly recommend the sushi with one of over 200 kinds of sake they stock. After dinner, head to the Japanese-themed bar Hiro for a dimly lit cocktail to lubricate your mind for the music to come. If you’ve never heard Mercury Rev before you’re totally missing out on some great music. What the Flaming Lips are doing now, the Rev have been doing for years, creating songs filled with cinematic swoops and using eclectic sounds to do it. With the release of two albums this year in Snowflake Midnight and Strange Attractor, this band proves that they’ve grown and that they can still keep it interesting. Former Luna members, Dean & Britta, who have been creating beautiful folky and sexy songs together will be joining the Rev. After a show like this you might want to head down to Cha An Japanese Tea House to sip some Matcha tea and calm yourself down.

THE BOOK REPORT: Exposing the Real Che Guevara

Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him
by Humberto Fontova
(Sentinel Trade)







Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him, by Humberto Fontova wastes no time doing exactly what it sets out to do. In debunking the myth and idolatry surrounding Che Guevara, Fontova provides legitimate historical insight into the life of a man who saw to the execution of hundreds of political prisoners during the Cuban revolution and early years of the Castro regime, yet is hailed as a figure for the common people's struggle against oppression.

Fontova prefaces his book with the story of his family's escape from Communist Cuba in the early 1960's. He blames the biases of the liberal United States media for the image of the man we know as Che, but in working against that bias, he replaces it with his own. He is vehemently prejudiced against anything the Cuban government has ever done and staunchly in favor of any position the United States government holds. While he pokes many holes in the research of Che's most highly-regarded biographer, John Lee Anderson, his own anti-Cuba, pro-America biases make his position subject to a different, yet equally present, bias and prejudice that diminishes his credibility.

Marc Amigone

The Daily Shortlist December 4

Location: Upper West side, NYC
Art: A Photography Exhibit to Benefit Multiple Sclerosis
Show time: 6:30 to 9:30 PM
Venue: Macauley Honors College, CUNY
Food: Josie’s
Drink: Candle Bar
Miscellaneous: Emack & Bolio’s

This FREE opening reception features photography by a Doctor, a Patient, Friends and Family who want to do something about MS Now. This exhibition shows works by Jed Best, D.D.S, Ann Parry, Sallie Jo Perraglia, David Snyder, M.D., MS Specialist, Peter Tejera, and Christine Thelen. Dairy free, organic, and free-range are things that come up often on the menu at Josie’s, offering dishes like the Warm Macadamia-Crusted Natural Chicken Breast Dinner Salad ($17.75), several tofu and seitan specialty dishes and the Freshly Ground Char-Grilled Brandt Natural Beef Cheeseburger ($15.75), so everyone here will walk away happy. Comfortable and dimly lit, the Candle Bar has a pool table in the back and drink specials daily. For some of the best and most interesting ice cream in the city, Emack & Bolio’s offers some eclectic flavors like Deep Purple Cow (Black Raspberry ice cream with white and dark chocolate chips and blueberries). This place thakes their ice cream serious.

MUSIC REVIEWS: The Best of Bond, Sing it Loud, Noah and the Whale, Pit Er Pat, and The Panics

The Best Of Bond…James Bond
Various Artists
(Capitol)






With the release of the latest 007 flick, Quantum of Solace comes the new CD, The Best Of Bond…James Bond.

There seems to be as many James Bond songs, themes and opening credits hits as there have been Bond’s. As expected, the CD opens with John Barry Orchestra’s rendition of Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme” (the one with that real dirty guitar riff played by Vic Flick). “From Russia With Love,” the incomparable Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger,” Tom Jones’ passing-out performance of “Thunderball” (the story is when T.J. hit and held the last note he fainted), Nancy Sinatra’s weak “You Only Live Twice” and Louis Armstrong’s “We Have All The Time In The World” all follow in chronological progression. My all-time favorite Bond song “Diamonds Are Forever” is included, and this tune, more than any other of these 24, really illustrates what could be great about these early Bond tunes. The orchestra is restrained, the horns complimenting a great singer singing a well-crafted adult pop song.

A new Bond is represented by Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die,” heralding in the era of Bond songs performed and written by rock/pop acts. I could be mistaken but the sound here seems like it has been cleaned-up, in this version I really hear the electric guitar better then I ever have before. We get a spate of mediocre late 70’s/80’s offerings; Lulu’s “Man With The Golden Gun,” Sheena Easten’s forlorn “For Your Eyes Only,” and talents like Rita Coolidge, Gladys Knight, and Sheryl Crow having a go. For me, Duran Duran’s “View To A Kill” and Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” are the strongest from this mid-era Bond stuff. The last three songs fare a bit better with Garbage’s techno/string mix of “The World Is Not Enough,” Madonna’s even techno-ier “Die Another Day,” and Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” from the most recent Casino Royale.

The Best of Bond…James Bond is a CD chock-full of solid songs written for one of our most enduring cinematic icons.

Ralph Greco, Jr.


Sing It Loud
Come Around
(Epitaph)






With so many punk bands trying to infiltrate the scene and stand out, its hard to find a band that's done it better than Minneapolis band Sing It Loud. Their first album Come Around, gives them the credentials to call themselves a bonafide punk band. Although the band would prefer to be called a pop band on a punk label, they got some help from just the right people to make this dynamic album one worth remembering.

Produced by Motion City Soundtrack guitarist Josh Cain, engineered by Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World and Blink 182) and cameos from Cain's bandmate Justin Pierre and All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth, this album is filled with catchy hooks, wicked guitar riffs, and fiery synths that make some of the more popular bands sound like amateurs.

By the time you have played this album through, you will forget you're listening to a rookie punk band and realize this is genuinely enjoyable stuff. They touch on young love and heartache with the emotional "Best Beating Heart" with its strong vocals and harmonies, and lyrics like "pretend this dream will never end / and time will stop again" and bold tracks like "Don't Save Me" and "No One Can Touch Us."

Come Around is a collection of punk anthems in the making. Expect to see fans rocking out to their songs for a long time to come.

Jennifer Hein


Noah and the Whale
Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down
(Interscope)






No that’s not a botched reference to a bible story (it’s Jonah and the whale). It is a statement of their affection for director Noah Baumbach and his 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale. This is an appropriate affiliation for a band with the sensibilities evinced in Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. The album does many of the things that Sufjan Stevens does, without the tics that make him alternately unbearably precious and remarkably masterful. The pocket symphony sound is there, employing a wide variety of instruments, but without descending into overtly show-offy tracks that serve little purpose other than to underscore the band’s mastery of composition, ala the instrumentals on Illinoise. The lyrics deal largely with painful emotional circumstances, without relying too heavily on “crying in a van with my friends” or “crying in the bathroom.” What remains is instead a delightful piece of indie pop, carried formidably by the dual vocals of the sweet-voiced Laura Marling, and the deeper, croakier work of Charlie Fink.

Nate Campbell


Pit Er Pat
High Time
(Thrill Jockey)






Pit Er Pat has made a name for itself by defying classification. On their newest album, High Time, the Chicago band utilizes a grab bag of foreign textures and timbres, including the bobo balaphone, electrified kalimba, and the anandolohori, to craft a sound that is simultaneously modern American dance-rocky and unplaceably exotic. The tight, eclectic rhythm section is complimented by rougher-around-the-edges guitar lines that meander between exotic scales and powdered-wig melodies; "Copper Pennies" is a representative culturally-ambiguous song, featuring falsetto vocals, varied instrumentation and shifting soundscapes, while "Evacuation Days" trip-hops over a slinking Arabesque guitar.

The record opens with "ANNO IV:XX," a hypnotic groove layering deep-voiced "one, two"s over alternative percussion. Other highlights include "Creation Tripper," in which a syncopated marimba foundation gives way to an anarchically crescendoing coda, and closing track "Good Morning Song," a dreamy trip with seemingly incongruous rhythms and vocal elements repeating relentlessly until a final one-two cymbal crash abruptly ends the album. A High Time, indeed.

Toney Palumbo


The Panics
Cruel Guards
(Dew Process)






Cruel Guards, released on Dew Process Recordings is the new album from Australia’s own, The Panics. A record that snagged the group four nominations at this year’s ARIA awards, and won Best Adult Contemporary album. Cruel Guards, has easily made it’s way to my top records of 2008. It’s a solid effort that somehow comes across facile, simple and smooth. Among the forty-three minutes and ten tracks, these songs, “Get Us Home,” “Ruins,” “Don’t Fight It,” “Cruel Guards,” and “Live Without” were standout. Compared to the band’s previous work, this album sounds far more upbeat, with pianos and trumpets against the weighty words of Jae Laffer. Each song is a little tale, the lyrics painting vivid scenes against the backdrop of carefully coordinated music.

Dezzy Ramdeen

The Daily Shortlist December 3

Original Soundtrack Photo by Tim Shore

Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn
Bands: Original Soundtrack by Brian Joseph Davis
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: Issue Project Room
Food: Chiles & Chocolate Oaxacan Kitchen Drink
Drink: The Gate
Miscellaneous: Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.

Sound artist and writer Brian Joseph Davis brings an unconventional live performance featuring 20 television sets and DVD players. The DVD players have different movies stuck on their menu page featuring endlessly looping film music, which creates a wall of cinematic sound. Speaking of interesting, ever have Oaxacan food? Chiles & Chocolate serves up some fantastic, not exactly Mexican food. Try the smoky flavored Mole Negro, one of the best mole sauces I’ve had in NYC. Before leaving, you must try one of the hot chocolates like the Chiles Y Chocolate. A hint of chipotle without too much heat is a nice kick-start for the night. The Gate is a great Park Slope bar with excellent beers on tap and a outdoor courtyard to chill. If time permits, you must, and I mean MUST go to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., a non-profit organization that helps kids with their writing, that’s fronted by a store selling super powers.

THE INTERVIEW: Fashion Designer Gary Graham

What to Wear in Abandoned Places













His designs are delicately crafted, incorporating Japanese dyeing techniques, distressed leather, reversible jackets, silks and intricate embroidery. Mythic, romantic, moody and rock star are some of the terms used to describe his collections. I say his clothes are what a poet and time traveler can wear to leap into centuries past or future without blowing her cover. He says, “It’s like Scarlet O’Hara after the war.” I got to interview Gary Graham and ask what’s a typical day in his life like, who are his influences and where he would go if he could time travel. Gary Graham’s designs are available at ABC Carpet and Home, on the first floor.

What were you like as a young boy?

I was really into Vincent Price and horror movies. I was very shy and stayed inside. I went to see Vincent Price give a lecture and he was so incredible and creepy and generous. I made lots of costumes and puppets.

When did you start designing?

I started designing my own collection in 2000.

How would you describe your design aesthetic?

Washed and worn, dark, romantic, past lives.

Who/What are your influences?

Its like Scarlet O’Hara after the war. That transition was a big influence or Dorothy in the reverse from distressed to clean. David Lean’s Oliver Twist (I wanted to be in that gang). Times Square with Robin Johnson. My mom’s tooled leather distressed stilettos from the 30’s. Tallulah Bankhead in Lifeboat sort of blew me away and made me think that there was a whole other type of person out there. Edward Gorey.

What kind of woman, do you think, likes to wear your clothes?

I just did a trunk show up in Calgary and all of the women were smart, beautiful, a bit off and completely amazing. I had so much fun. If there was a big fancy party with like a live band and a big staircase entrance, my customer would enter through the garden doors covered in mud or something like that and the leading man would fall in love with her and then she would ignore him and then regret it the next day.

What's a typical day for you like?

I wake up at 5:30 and meditate, drink coffee, do a power sketch stream of consciousness session, work out at the gym, get to the studio by 10 and meet with my team. Then the day just kind of happens. We design, make and sell clothes. Then I go home and go to bed. I do exactly the same thing everyday.

What music are you listening to right now?

Right at this moment, I am listening to Brian Eno. I’ve been listening to Meredith Monk a lot lately and also Marilyn Manson’s American Family album I’m relistening to. I listen to Svarte Grenier most Saturday mornings if I am home. Vorak, Irene Cara, Red House Painters, Minor Threat, this type of thing. First, Last, Always by Sisters of Mercy is one of my favorites.

What type of sunglasses are you into right now?

I cant wear sunglasses.

What public figure would you like to dress/design for?

I’ve dressed Lili Taylor and I love her to death. There is a scene at the end of Abel Ferrara’s, The Addiction where she is covered in blood walking through the streets that is just incredible. We have lots of cool women shop at the boutique but I don’t like to name names.

If you could time travel, what era would you go to and why?

I just read Luc Sante’s, My Lost City so I would like to go to 70’s NY for a couple of days. It seemed like a no man’s land. I like abandoned places.

Sheehan McGuirk

The Daily Shortlist December 2

The Daily Shortlist December 2

Location: Union Square, NYC
Bands: 2K Sports Bounce Tour with Q Tip + The Cool Kids Get Tickets Here
Show time: 8 PM
Venue: The Highline Ballroom
Food: Yama
Drink: 119 Bar
Accessory: Barnes & Noble (Union Square location)

While the lineup for 2K Sports Bounce Tour features one of my fave hip hop acts The Cool Kids, Q Tip is the main attraction as his new album The Renaissance finally shows off his skills the way you were hoping after he went solo. One of the best Japanese restaurants in the city, Yama, serves up some of the hugest and freshest portions of sushi, while not being as expensive as you think. Close to Irving Plaza, 119 Bar is one dive where you can get cheap drinks, play pool, and hang with friends while not standing out or being bothered when you’re a sweaty mess from dancing after seeing Shadow and Chemist perform, and I mean that in a good way! If you’re bored and early for the show, head over to the four floor Barnes & Noble to look through magazines and get a cup of coffee.

Technical Difficulties

You've probably noticed that the site was down for a week, which was due to circumstances that were out of my control. Well, we're baaack! So feel free to hit up Short and Sweet NYC again to check out all the entertainment info on NYC and beyond that you've come to love. Just letting you know. Thanks for reading!

DaVe Lipp--Managing Editor

Win FREE tickets to see Mercury Rev and Dean & Britta at the Highline Ballroom

The sexy and sweet swooning of Dean & Britta (Left) meet the eclectic and psychedelic rock of Mercury Rev (Right)



Enter to win tickets to see this great double bill of Mercury Rev and Dean & Britta play the Highline Ballroom this Sunday, December 7th. Two lucky winners will win 2 tickets each.

To enter, e-mail us by December 5th Here

The First Lady of Style

She’s been compared to Jacquelyn Kennedy and has fashionistas everywhere buzzing – and she hasn’t even moved into the White House yet. From her polished blow out to her flawless makeup, first lady to-be Michelle Obama exudes an effortless and sophisticated glamour that is sure to inspire women of all ages. Mixing designer pieces with budget friendly items, Obama’s look is chic, elegant and just a little adventurous.


HAIR
Sleek, shiny and simple, Obama’s hair is a perfect accent to her impeccable style. Try:

Matrix Sleek.look Blow Down Extreme Crème ($15.00)
For a smooth blow out with tons of body, this weightless crème contains a long lasting medium hold and 24 Smooth Multi-Mend TechnologyTM to instantly smooth, repair damage and stop frizz before it starts – for silky, straight hair that lasts all day.

Price: $15 at fine salons. To locate a Sleek.look salon please log onto www.Matrix.com




MAKE UP
Natural yet polished makeup gives Obama a fresh faced glow that always looks great. Prescriptives embraces all women, all skins, all ages with products that enhance the unique beauty of the individual and shades that flatter every skintone. With over 170 shades and 9 formulas to choose from, Prescriptives has All Skins, All Women covered - from lightest to darkest. For Obama’s look, try:

Prescriptives Custom Blend Foundation
Only Prescriptives can create a shade to perfectly compliment any skintone for the most natural look possible. Customize your coverage, finish and specific needs such as oil control, moisture level and brightening and firming elements for an unbelievably flawless match.

Price: $62.00 at Prescriptives counters nationwide and www.prescriptives.com


Prescriptives Colorscope Lipcolor in Mochaccino

The moisture-rich formula of Colorscope Lipcolor delivers extraordinary shine and comfort for lips you'll love at first sight. This rich brownish red shade will drench your lips in brilliant color and leave them looking luscious all day long.

Price: $17.50 at Prescriptives Counters nationwide and www.prescriptives.com


Prescriptives Colorscope Eye Color in Bean
The long-wearing formula of Colorscope Eye Color has a soft, smooth finish that glides on skin and blends evenly for an incredibly silky feel. This shimmery brown shade is modern, sophisticated and adheres to skin for long wear and lasting pigment.
Price: $14.00 at Prescriptives Counters nationwide and www.prescriptives.com


ATTIRE
Obama is not afraid to experiment with bright, bold colors and favors monochromatic color schemes. Knee length dresses in simple, feminine silhouettes flatter her shape and give her a fresh, stylish and always sophisticated appeal. Try:

The Limited Black Tie Satin Dress

Price: $79.50 at www.thelimited.com














Shoshanna Ponte A-Line Dress

Price: $370.00; visit www.shoshanna.com for store locations















ACCESSORIES
Mixing classic accents like her trademark oversized pearls with current, on-trend pieces like a black cinch belt gives Obama a chic but playful edge. Try:

Aldo Flotard Heel

Price: $90 at Aldo Stores











Aldo Atella Necklace

Price: $15 at Aldo Stores










Aldo Padergnone Belt

Price: $25 at Aldo Stores






Hidalgo American Flag Pin

Price: Available upon request, visit www.hidalgojewelry.com













Laurie Hugill - Alison Brod PR

Eminence Organic Skin Care

The grapevines behind my grandmother’s tiny house were so thick I needed a machete to get through to the other side, where, allegedly a magical pony farm stood. My homemade machetes were flimsy but each year when the grapes came, I ran in the back to see if their color had changed to purple. Either way, I gagged the green ones down as I imagined collecting enough to sell and buy my own damn magical pony. Eminence Organic Skin Care’s new collection, Divine, is also inspired by grapes, Hungary’s Tokay Ice Wine Grapes. The Tokay Ice Wine Masque and Mimosa Champagne Sugar Scrub and Lotion are ripe with polyphenols, an antioxidant that will have you looking like you just walked out of a stroller. Coenzyme Q10, (a highly effective enzyme) digests impurities while nourishing your skin and can be found in each facial product along with hydrating and purifying essential oils like orange and quince. Eminence has been doing the organic thing since 1958, (that’s long before it was cool to shop at the Farmers Market in Williamsburg) and helped set the standard in organic skin care.

Sheehan McGuirk

The Daily Shortlist December 1

Location: Midtown West, NYC
Bands: Tina Turner Get Tickets Here
Show time: 7:30 PM
Venue: Madison Square Gardene
Food: Fat Annie’s Truck Stop
Drink: Stout
Miscellaneous: Jack’s 99 Cent Stores

Don’t miss your chance to see the legendary Tina Turner back on stage where she belongs after an eight year hiatus on this best-of tour. Expect all the hits and all the stops. Fat Annie’s Truck Stop offers truck stop style food oddly positioned in Herald Square. Burgers, chilli, po boys and pie are some options in this fun restaurant. Right next store, Stout may look like a sports bar but it has one of the largest selections of dark stout beers in the city. Yeah, it’s a 99 cent store but Jack’s is more like watching a train wreck happen slowly. The place is packed with people trying to get by, yelling, and elbowing each other. True the deals are great, but you’ll either find it hysterical or swear you’ll never go back.