Blog: Podbop Blog

Photo by Gene Chilling Robin Wiliams is playing Las Vegas this upcoming Saturday and I'll actually be in town for the International Music Festival Conference promoting SCHED* . I'm going to see if I can go, he's been one of my all-time fav comedians. You can listen to some of his comedy for free on one of my other sites, The Laugh Button . Helpful Links: Theater Tickets Robin Williams Tickets Comedy Tickets [...]

Last night I caught the Brooklyn stop of the Evangelicals/Holiday Shores tour, which continues for five more days. Rarely have I seen two acts so perfectly suited to perform together: Both reference 1960s pop and garage rock while putting their different spins on it--and without sounding like simple regurgitation, the way a lot of "retro" bands do no matter what era they're copying. The first band I saw at Union Hall was Tallahassee, Florida's Holiday Shores. When you can say that a group's synth sounds evoke the classic Moog so perfectly, there isn't much more praise to [...]

Think of the first half as "crime" and the second half as "punishment" (detailing what happens to convicts, not victims). (1) "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline," X (2) "Date Rape," Sublime (3) "Prison Sex," Tool (4) "Cake and Sodomy," Marilyn Manson Other suggestions? Tags: Roman Polanski , X , Sublime , Tool , Marilyn Manson , rape

The recent release of The Beatles: Rock Band video game. The boxed sets of remastered versions of all the Fab Four's U.K.-released CDs. The multitudes eager to buy it all. It sounds like the band has all the love it needs. But there's also the hate. Hilarious hate. Hate that a music connoisseur--one who even loves the Beatles--can enjoy. BBC News ran this great story today on Beatles hate websites: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_ news/magazine/8246313.stm . "I just think they are either childlike and simple or rather leaden and pompous - one or the other all the time," says London [...]

New York Post writer Maureen Callahan penned an interesting column about that singer Susan Boyle. You know, the frumpy lady with a beautiful voice who charmed viewers of Britain's Got Talent and, thanks to YouTube, American audiences and talk shows. Ms. Callahan suggests that Boyle's Cinderella rise was no accident , but rather shrewdly choreographed by the same people (i.e. judge Simon "Trousers" Cowell) who seemed to have no initial faith in her. My reaction? Duh! I'm not putting down Ms. Callahan, just noting that she's saying what most industry-savvy people [...]

Eventchaser Blog: Cirque du Soleil Ka @ The MGM Grand Hotel in Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada My review of the event! Tags:

EventChaser is a new blog (part of the Razorgator family) that hooks up bloggers with free tickets if they review the show and share their experiences. It provides me with extra motivation to write up a show so I figured I'd give it a shot. Since I'm in Las Vegas for the week, first up will be a Cirque du Soleil show on Thursday. I'll capture what it was like, how to get there and any inside dirt I dig up. Let's go! [...]

Don't let the fatcats at the mini-monopolies collectively known as The Industry decide the next big band. Do it yourself, with Makeastar.com . I first heard about this contest (well, the original music portion of it) when the Hollywood band Orange excitedly announced that it won several preliminary and semii-finalist rounds. The upshot: These guys are appearing on the FUSE network at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time tomorrow, as part of the so-called "Hollywood round." I'm rooting for Orange , a pop-punk outfit that's the first Hollywood band I saw after moving [...]

Check out our SXSW 2009 coverage over at http://sxswblog.sched.org and keep an eye for the SXSW Schedule to launch on SCHED* in late February! Tags: sxsw2009

By now, most people have heard that Deftones bassist Chi Cheng went into a coma after a car accident early last month. Sadly, he remains unresponsive: "There's been no significant change in his condition," the band reported on its MySpace page last week. Bands all over have been holding benefit concerts to help pay for the bassist's medical expenses, with music fans crowding shows in Sacramento and San Francisco. This Sunday is Los Angeles' turn to host a benefit, put on by the Internet TV site Hollywood Music. The show starts 9 p.m. Sunday [...]

The Associated Press has a story this week about how the creators of music--from Rage Against The Machine to Sesame Street tunes--are protesting usage of their art for torture. Now that's a fair use issue I can get behind! According to the AP , guards at U.S. military prisons use songs by Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC, Queen, Pantera, Eminem, Dr. Dre, and more to break prisoners. It's an especially torturous weapon against detainees from Afghanistan who, thanks to the Taliban, have had little or no exposure to Western heavy rock. Thus, [...]

Getting all flustered 'cuz over your packed holiday party schedule? Me neither. However, there are some interesting events happening, music-wise. Or at least, bound to be :) I'll be updating this list as I hear about more shows and parties. Feel free to comment about anything that I might not know! Thursday, Dec. 4: Rococo Rendezvous , presented by Zippercut. I first met the adorable ladies of Zippercut (edgy lifestyle/culture/fashion bloggers and event planners) at a "Lolita Tea Party" a few months back. Now, don't get your gym [...]

Getting all flustered 'cuz over your packed holiday party schedule? Me neither. However, there are some interesting events happening, music-wise. Or at least, bound to be :) I'll be updating this list as I hear about more shows and parties. Feel free to comment about anything that I might not know! Thursday, Dec. 4: Rococo Rendezvous , presented by Zippercut. I first met the adorable ladies of Zippercut (edgy lifestyle/culture/fashion bloggers and event planners) at a "Lolita Tea Party" a few months back. Now, don't get your gym [...]

Sitting down with Suicide Ali the day after their U.S. debut, I noticed something. Unlike most musicians I've known, these four guys from Osaka are larger-than-life when off the stage. It's not the meticulous makeup, which lasted a long day of promo appearances at the Pacific Media Expo earlier this month. It's not the elaborate costumes and platform boots, which the band admitted are rather hard to move around in. It's because these guys really do live for their music--and that dedication is what Suicide Ali radiates, whether onstage or during an intimate face-to-face. During [...]

The last competition rounds--to snag a slot at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis early next year-- are happening as we speak. For Southern California, acts who made it to the finals are playing a marathon show, Battle Of The Blues Bands, this Saturday at The Cellar in Long Beach . Personally, I'm rooting for 805 South , who play the first set at 4 p.m. sharp. Think of them as the Riot Grrrls of the blues: Two ladies sharing lead vocal and songwriting duties, backed by classic instrumentalists on bass, drums, [...]

I never knew that a band--and their fans--could be at once bad-ass and adorable. But that was the case with Suicide Ali, a Japanese "visual kei" band who made their U.S. debut last weekend at Pacific Media Expo. (And also, to a lesser extent, with L.A. J-rock band VAEIDOS, one of Ali's opening acts). I've been to plenty hardcore/metal shows, and the sight of hundreds headbanging in unison is common. But after the PMX concert, I'm thinking my new favorite venue is going to be anime/manga/comic book conventions. There's an electricity in the air [...]

Expat life in Japan really is different from life as a foreigner in any other country. (Something that Lost In Translation , in my opinion, utterly failed to portray.) Rather than slowly get accustomed to things, you start out on an absolute high, loving every single thing you see and experience. A couple of months into it, though, you crash hard, as all the not-so-great aspects of society seem to come to a head. And thus the cycle continues until you leave for good. For me, the thing that saved me from despair after my first [...]

Emo kids, fall to your knees and heed the wisdom of the legendary Ian MacKaye. Before I go into MacKaye's Q&A speech on Sunday in Hollywood (he's been touring the West Coast the last several days), recall this: The musician/singer/songwriter/Dis chord Records founder--of Fugazi and Minor Threat fame-- helped sow the seeds of the punk and hardcore scenes that flourish even now. And from which, in turn, sprung the "emotional hardcore" that begat today's emo. MacKaye, a lifelong Washington, D.C. resident, talked about both music (he laments that his early band Teen Idles' demo [...]

One of the best things about living in southern California is that there are international-class bands in your own backyard, some of whom have yet to be discovered by the outside world. So when a local music festival happens, it's almost as if CMJ or SXSW or Bonnaroo has come to you. SoCal Rock Revolution, happening Saturday, showcases more than 80 bands--with headliners are as diverse as roots reggae masters Eek-A-Mouse and punk stalwart Unwritten Law. Others topping the bill are Kottonmouth Kings, Finch, Hed Pe, and Lower Definition. Perhaps even better is the [...]

The 1990s were, musically, the decade that began with a bang and ended with a whimper. The dawn of so-called grunge quickly paved the way for all kinds of "underground" music to get radio play and to be on mainstream store shelves. But for whatever reason, compelling music was soon driven back. Partly because these acts continued to grow, leaving behind the sounds they had made trendy (Pearl Jam, anybody?); and partly because the evil powers at major labels poured all their resources into pimping young girls and boys, so as to put pop back on top. "Underground" music resorted [...]