Miami & The Beaches Photo Blog

If you missed out on the opportunity to buy a wad of Elvis Presley’s hair at auction for over $15,000, there is still a chance to fulfill your desire for jumpsuits, sequins, and slick-backed, pomaded hair. Mississippi entrepreneur and all around Elvis fanatic Paul MacLeod has spent years collecting and organizing endless piles of memorabilia related the rock icon in his Southern-traditional, antebellum style home in Holly Springs, MS, to create Graceland Too, an active tribute to the hip shaking superstar. Where the once typical attraction to the small country town was the architecture of houses such as MacLeod’s, Graceland Too has usurped all other attractions become the number one feature of the community’s tourism bureau. This tourism destination is summed up on a poster adorning the establishment’s entryway which, lacking appropriate punctuation, reads: “The Universes Galaxys Planets Worlds Ultimate Elvis Fans.”

Graceland Too is located about halfway between Tupelo, MS, Elvis’s birthplace, and the official Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN, which remains unaffiliated with MacLeod’s honorarium. As its proprietor and premier tour guide, MacLeod rarely leaves the overwhelmingly expansive collector’s paradise and offers his touring duties as well as his encyclopedic knowledge of Elvis statistics on a twenty-four-hour basis. He boasts that prospective patrons can pound on his door at four in the morning and he will happily oblige a tour for the admission price of $5 per, fueling his energy via strategically placed space-heaters and an endless supply of Coca-Cola (around twenty-four cans per day).

“My ex-wife told me, ‘Make up your mind. Either me or the Elvis collection.’ So that put an end to that.”

“Collection” barely even begins to describe the amassing piles of Elvis themed items found within the walls of Graceland Too. Since becoming a true Elvis follower at the tender age of thirteen, MacLeod has collected 35,000 records, 25,000 CDs, 185,000 square inches of carpet from the official Graceland mansion, and an endless supply of photos, figurines, outfits, cardboard cutouts, candy wrappers, paintings (velvet or otherwise), clocks, and anything else bearing a connection with Elvis. He also monitors various media outlets for any mention of his idol and has collected over 31,000 videotapes and 43,000 audio recordings. Not surprisingly, MacLeod named his first son Elvis Aron Presley MacLeod, noting how this was the name the singer went with during most of his career. He later changed his son’s name, placing the second “A” in the middle name after it was etched onto the singer’s tombstone.

MacLeod conducts his tour in an erratic, too-excited-to-blink mentality and rattles off an endless stream of facts, figures, and statistics as he navigates his tour patrons through Graceland Too. It is his semi-incoherent rambling of information that enhances the campy appeal of the place and what also encourages patrons to revisit the home, often accompanied by curious friends who feel they have to experience the “magic” for themselves. Among its many repeat patrons is Robert Lopez of Los Angeles, CA, who is better known as “El Vez, the Mexican Elvis.” Despite having graced the halls of Graceland Too over a dozen times, Lopez is quick to note that this “might be a slight warning of what too much love can do.”

New York City is where everyone goes to “make it,” and accordingly, only a very small portion succeed. Countless numbers of actors, artists, writers, musicians, and other “professionals” have ultimately been forced to turn tail and retreat from a city that exemplifies the “dog eat dog” mentality. Rising proudly from the slew of undocumented failures that this city has aborted is The London Souls. When contemporary musicians spend their time experimenting with electronics that clog a stage faster than dreadlocks caught in an overhead fan, The London Souls occupy their time refining their soulful, blues-rock influence into a rocking sound that quickly fills any listener with the warm comfort of a traditional rock feeling. They play fervently with decades of musical influence under their belts and convert that energy into a show ripe with power, charisma, and an overall rock and roll sound that is equally fresh and familiar at the same time, not to mention loud. I got the chance to speak with this unique group of musicians about their music, their influences, the importance of having fun, and playing rock and roll music in the fickle New York music scene.

Brady Berthelson: Let’s start off with the basics. What’s the story of The London Souls? Where did you guys come from?

The London Souls: We all met in New York City through friends. We started jamming and hanging out together one summer and felt a unique sound.

BB: So tell me, where does the name “The London Souls” come from?

TLS: London Souls is an homage to our musical roots. We all started playing because of bands from the London scene in the 60s. Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, etc.

BB: So kind of a blues-rock revival meets an adaptable garage-pop influence? In that case, how would you define your particular sound?

TLS: Soul music on 10.

BB: I think I can get down with that. What do think of the current state of modern rock/pop music?

TLS: It’s going in interesting places, but still lacking in grit and soul.

BB: I couldn’t agree with you more.

TLS: Right. It seems to be more about listening to a band that can’t play very well and thinking it’s a new sound, where it’s more just that they can’t play.

BB: So how do you stay fresh and relevant playing in a genre that some think is “out of style?”

TLS: We just play what we love to play. We just try to play what sounds good to us and it seems to work. I think if people can sing along to our songs, bob their heads, and dance at the same time, then it’s relevant because it’s a real experience. Not an industry party where everyone is told how to feel about it.

BB: How do you survive as a rock-and-roll band in a city that seems to have an unhealthy obsession for “experimental” groups?

TLS: The music and the drive to get better helps us wade through all the other stuff.

BB: So you don’t find any problems?

TLS: No. There’s so much going on in this city, you can find your place in almost any style. It’s never been a huge problem.

BB: Now, you appear to have a lot of fun in your live performances, even while standing in front of a microphone. How important is having fun with your music and rock-and-roll in general?

TLS: It depends on what you’re going for. But for us, if we didn’t have fun, why would we do it?

BB: Why indeed. A lot of your songs are relatively short (less than 3 minutes). Does this have any influence on your particular style and/or performance?

TLS: Definitely. It’s so important to have great concise songs that are structurally sound. The Beatles didn’t need 8 minutes to get a point across. They didn’t even need 3 minutes, or sometimes even 2.

BB: That’s a good point. Some the best Beatles songs are extremely short and have only one or two verses. So how do you transfer the sound and energy generated from your live performances onto a record?

TLS: There’s a million different ways of doing it onto record, but the best thing is to listen back and wait for a take that captures a moment beautifully. For us it’s more important to get an amazing take live than it is to concentrate mainly on manipulating the performance and the listener in post production.

BB: So it’s more about the classic “in the moment” concept of music recording rather than extensive post-polishing? In that case, with all the modern technology and recording practices, how important is it for a band like The London Souls to make a record?

TLS: Very important. But more important than that is making a good record that we don’t have doubts about putting our names on. It’s better to put out one amazing album than to put out four pretty good ones in the same time.

BB: Speaking of making an album, how was it to record in Abbey Road studios in London?

TLS: It was crazy. I don’t think I can describe how crazy it was.

BB: Admiring the Beatles as you do, I can imagine. What are your feelings on the current recording industry, as in online singles distribution vs. full album production and sale?

TLS: There’s no one way to do it. Some people like listening to full albums, some people like listening to that one song. It’s good to have the options. When there were only full albums on sale, we all bought CDs that only had one good song. It’s probably good to have an option.

BB: True. Do you think that in the next five years there will be no physical record stores left anywhere?

TLS: There will still be physical products to buy after 5 years. Don’t know about 10 years, but for now there are a lot of people who like their music in the CD format. Vinyl still sells these days. There can’t be just one way to listen to music.

BB: What are your thoughts on touring? How crucial is it for the success of The London Souls?

TLS: Touring is essential for any band. You can only go so far if your live show is lacking. Even if you’ve got all the hits, if you can’t play them live there’s almost no point.

BB: If you could play one dream gig, where would it be and what band, or bands, would you play with?

TLS: Don’t know. Maybe a festival with lots of great bands. Don’t know how to answer that one.

BB: Fair enough. You seem to be fairly comfortable with yourselves as musicians. Has there ever been a time where you weren’t so confident?

TLS: Sure. There are still times of discomfort. It’s more of a personal thing, but when you get to a certain level, it raises the bar. We may be unhappy with a show, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the audience thought it was a bad performance.

BB: It’s not up to you whether the audience likes your performance even if you don’t think it went well?

TLS: Right.

BB: Okay, with regards to your career, what can you say about where you’ve come from compared to where you are now and where you plan to go?

TLS: We’ve been at it for a few years in the hardest city to make it in. We’ve come so far and it’s all panning out nicely. We plan to just keep playing music.

BB: Well you’ve certainly shown that you can make it if you try hard enough. What advice would you give to a young musician who wants something more out of an oversaturated music industry?

TLS: It’s not enough to put in the time and it’s not enough to struggle. What you do in that time is what matters. There’s never one way to do anything, so don’t become comfortable with methods. Always get better.

BB: Good advice. What can we expect in the future from The London Souls?

TLS: Our album from Abbey Road and hopefully a nice tour around the world opening for a band full of cool people.

Catch the London Souls at our New Year’s Eve party at Le Poisson Rouge!

When I first brought the news that a subversive, independent facebook campaign was gaining headway in their effort to overthrow a single by Joe McElderry, winner of Britain’s The X Factor, as number one Christmas single in the U.K. pop charts with a Rage Against the Machine song from 1992, I had strong reservations as to whether they would actually succeed in their mission. As the U.K. pop charts closed on Sunday and I heavy-heartedly checked the NME website, who had been covering the battle extensively, my reaction was the same as that of “Rage Against the Machine for Christmas No 1” creator/moderator Jon Morter, as well as many others who had been following the campaign, “F— me, I can’t believe it’s Number One!”

That’s right. When all the single sales were tallied, Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” received over 50,000 more purchases more than McElderry’s cover of Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.” The U.K.’s Official Chart’s Company announced that the week’s events have given the RATM song two unprecedented landmarks in chart history; becoming the UK’s first download-only Christmas Number One and notching up the biggest one-week download sales total in British chart history. Not bad for a U.S. single nearly two decades old.

However, the success didn’t come without its share of nail biting and hair pulling. As McElderry’s single was released to physical sale in stores, a purchasing medium which the RATM song was not privy, sales numbers rose to around 9,000 less than the RATM tune and looked as though it would usurp its spot at number one. Also, as McElderry had wished the best in competition and naively mentioned at the start of the sales week how he had never heard of the hard-rock band or the song which was placed in contention with his, later went on record to brandish the tune as “dreadful.”

In the waning hours of the campaign, Paul McCartney, who had performed on The X Factor beside McElderry, gave his support on the side of the RATM song stating that their success would be “funny” and also “prove a [significant] point.”

Simon Cowell, who had spoken up immediately about the usurious campaign calling it, among other things, “very scrooge,” actually showed a respectable amount of humility as he called Morter as the polls were closing to wish him luck and even offering him a job at his production company. Morter explains:

“Simon was very sweet and it was lovely to talk to him. We had a good chat about music in general and just wished each other good luck. I’ve got total respect for him. That was really nice thing to do.”

Jon Morter himself is, perhaps, the most admirable of all the players involved because, as all the dust settled, he was noticeably vocal in the overall mission of the campaign; as a way to raise money for the Shelter charity program (£64,726 or approx. $104,043). He humbly acknowledged the influence of the campaign’s rivalry by stating;

“The whole aim of the campaign was not to dis The X Factor at all. The X Factor fans like music as much as we do so I’ve got absolutely nothing against them…there is nothing sad about being Christmas Number Two. There are thousands of bands across the country who would cut off their right arm to have a Christmas Number Two. It will probably go to Number One next week anyway.”

As promised, Rage Against the Machine will be performing a free concert in the U.K. due to the success of the campaign, although they will most likely not have to apologize for the song lyrics as executives of the BBC had to following a live performance where singer Zach De La Rocha sang the unedited version of “Killing in the Name” after promising to omit the vulgarity. (Really, BBC? You didn’t see this coming? This is the same band who was rumored to have been kicked off the Saturday Night Live set after threatening to take Steve Jobs hostage). 

On Thursday afternoon, the United Nations Climate Change Conference was privy to an unexpected (and in some circles, unwelcome) guest as Radiohead’s Thom Yorke mysteriously acquired a press pass to attend the final two days of the weeklong conference. As representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were unfairly thrown out, Yorke managed to sit-in on the remaining discussions, including one conducted by members of the U.S. government, alongside fellow environmentalist Tony Juniper.

Wearing a long trench coat and sporting an unkempt, shaggy look, Yorke was a noticeable standout amongst the three-piece suited dignitaries in attendance. Other members of the media quickly took notice of his presence, and his honest commentary on the conference reestablished the barrier between the overly bureaucratic politicians and the soap-box social revolutionaries desperate for change. This barrier, which has been slothfully waning during the past thirty to forty years since the debate over environmental impact first surfaced, has almost become a faint image of the past as global-warming naysayers are being overwhelmingly drowned out by the seemingly endless masses of scientific evidence that points to a changing global climate.

As one might predict, Yorke’s sentiments regarding the conference are anything but glowing. He reported to members of the media that he decided to attend the conference due to the lack of clarity found on blogs regarding the event and also the previously mentioned extradition of non-governmental representatives. His comments, which can be found on the Radiohead blog “Dead Air Space,” gives scathing commentary on the apparent lack of societal obligation (‘arrogance,’ as he puts it) found in the reports by Hillary Clinton and what he considers to be an overall ineffective speech by President Obama. Just when you think Yorke is merely pointing the finger at whom he accuses to be irresponsible outsiders, he attacks members of England’s social media outlets, namely the BBC, calling them “f’ing monkeys” (repeatedly in expletive) for their insistence on “evenly” mediating both sides of the issue of global warming, despite the government’s advances in severely lowering England’s impact on the environment, a regulatory trend which Yorke claims, to his own surprise, puts England in the forefront of global climate change.

Yorke, along with Juniper, spoke at length with “The Stupid Show,” a web series associated with the global-warming/environmental documentary The Age of Stupid, about the developments that were touched upon during the conference. He expressed his concerns by stating:

“It sounds like a G8 summit, you know? Everybody leaves with a piece of paper going, ‘yeah, it’s pretty much there. Yup, yup, yup.’ And then it unravels completely. Hopefully that’s not going to be the situation here.”

The experimental Brooklyn-based psych-pop trio known as Yeasayer will be touring next year in support of their sophomore album, Odd Blood, which is due to hit stores on February 9, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The tour will consist of three select shows immediately following the release, one in Los Angeles and two in New York, before the band sets off on an extensive European tour. But don’t you worry your sweet little head, because after traversing the vast Euro countryside, they will be returning to North America in March for a full-on tour with extensive performance dates.

The trio of Anand Wilder, Chris Keating, and Ira Wolf Tuton has been experimenting with popular music since 2006 and first came into public notoriety at the 2007 SXSW Festival. Since that performance, they have gone on to tour with MGMT, Man Man, and were the supporting act for Beck during the European dates of his Modern Guilt tour. They have also had the privilege of performing at nearly every large venue festival worth mentioning: Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Reading/Leeds, Bonnaroo, Roskilde, the list goes on. They have performed an a cappella “Take Away Show” for La Blogotheque, a French internet media website, which was filmed on a French metro train.

Yeasayer has a distinctive “throwback” style that is reminiscent of psychedelic music from the 1960s from such bands as Country Joe and the Fish, Jefferson Airplane, and Big Brother and the Holding Company, although with a distinctively modern flair. Their trippy musical feel is accentuated by their live shows which typically involve a similar other-worldly, psychedelic feel directly complimenting the music. The transition of quality between their first album, All Hour Cymbals, and their soon to be released Odd Blood, shows a distinctively evolving focus which the band attributes to “several mice [being] killed during its recording in rural upstate New York.” It’s statements like these that cement Yeasayer as one of the top bands to watch in the upcoming year, especially when Odd Blood is officially released.

Tour Dates:

Feb 5 – Los Angeles, CA @ Natural History Museum
Feb 8 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Feb 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Apr 3 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Apr 4 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Apr 5 – Ashville, NC @ Orange Peel
Apr 6 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
Apr 7 – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Café
Apr 8 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
Apr 9 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues Houston
Apr 10 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
Apr 11 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
Apr 14 – Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
Apr 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
Apr 17 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore Auditorium
Apr 19 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Apr 20 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Apr 21 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Apr 23 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
Apr 24 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
Apr 25 – Omaha, NE @ Waiting Room
Apr 26 – Saint Louis, MO @ Gargoyle Club
Apr 27 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre
Apr 28 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
Apr 29 – Chicago, IL @ Metro
Apr 30 – Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop
May 1 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Place
May 2 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
May 3 – Boston, MA @ Paradise
May 4 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
May 5 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero

The Onion A.V. Club:

I still don’t like those old Hurricane football teams, but “The U” at least gave me the context to understand them better and respect the source of their collective rage and swagger.

With his lightning-paced, pulpy documentaries Cocaine Cowboys and Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin With The Godmother, Corben has established himself as an energetic young chronicler of Miami’s criminal underworld. He’s both a hard-working journalist who can connect these vast and dangerous networks while keeping tabs on the city’s history and someone who clearly enjoys a good yarn, even if it tends to glorify some ugly, murderous behavior. (Corben’s inability to grasp the moral dimension of his subject matter resulted in a first film, Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent, that may be the most repugnant, exploitative documentary I’ve ever seen…)

Corben’s abiding interest in Miami’s seething underbelly makes him the perfect guy to tell the story of UM in the ‘80s; the neighborhoods that helped revitalize the moribund program are the very same that were ravaged by the poverty, drugs, violence, and racial animus detailed in the Cocaine Cowboys movies.

Adam Berger’s editorial “Embrace the Past” in the UM Hurricane:

The film was superb and will make any ‘Canes fan proud of the program’s past, which makes the University of Miami’s official stance against the production so surprising and disappointing.

Instead of assisting director and UM alum Billy Corben in the making of the film the university turned a blind eye to one of its own, and in turn to an important era of the school’s history. There was absolutely no promotion for the documentary on campus.

Even the early viewing of the picture that was made available to students at Cosford Cinema spread by word of mouth and Facebook, not by school efforts. No one is saying that the school should have expended all of its resources in facilitating the film’s needs, but some basic mention of its existence would have been nice.

Regardless, Corben certainly proved that he didn’t need any help in creating a powerful window into UM’s past, but for the administration to basically denounce the entire thing as if it were a black sheep is straight up hypocritical.

For obvious reasons however, the University of Miami could not officially endorse the film. There certainly are some things highlighted in the documentary that any school would have a hard time celebrating.

Still, that doesn’t mean the school should have barred Randy Shannon from participating in the documentary. That doesn’t mean the school should have asked former players, coaches and athletic directors not to speak to Corben. And certainly that doesn’t mean that the university should have acted as if that entire era of football and UM history didn’t happen, because it did.

This film is something to be proud of, not ashamed of. Embrace your past Miami.

Two of New York City’s leading indie-rock groups, Cymbals Eat Guitars and Bear in Heaven, will be bringing the eclectic sounds of the greatest city in the world to the rest of North America in the upcoming spring. Both of these bands have released critically acclaimed albums this year and have bright futures full of career potential, industry admiration, and tremendous respect for their craft. The combination of these two superior musical inspirations is something that close followers of the ever-evolving indie scene will undoubtedly bust a crotch-seam in their super-tight, skinny jeans over.

Bear in Heaven hails from Brooklyn amidst a slew of “secretly-wish-I-were-famous” scenester suck-ups committed to copying everything they’re told is stylish. While some musicians in the scene tend to give a hypocritical image to the term “individualism,” Bear in Heaven has forged their own path through the hype in the vanguard of musical expression. With their latest album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, their electronic experimentation and acknowledgment of pop-stylings gives their music a kind of acceptance that appeals to differentiated musical tastes. Songs will often wander into forms of psychodelia and krautrock, a German-originated, semi-ambient musical form, which further projects them into the forefront of musical experimentation.

Cymbals Eat Guitars is a group that is relatively young in the music industry, yet they’ve already garnered an incredible amount of admiration in the short time that they’ve been making music. They unashamedly hail from Staten Island and have only one album under their belt, but critics have already praised the group as a band to keep your eyes on in the coming years. Their debut album, Why There Are Mountains, is influenced by the success of over twenty years of indie-music from Dinosaur Jr. to Pavement to Modest Mouse and plays with the culminating tactics of seasoned indie veterans despite being barely old enough to drink legally.

Prior to their conglomerated tour, Bear in Heaven and Cymbals Eat Guitars will be playing respective gigs in the coming months. However, expect the clouds to part and the gates of paradise to open when they hit the road together in March.

Tour Dates:

Cymbals Eat Guitars

Dec 11 – Madrid, Spain @ Caracol (Primavera Club Festival)
Dec 12 – Barcelona, Spain @ Sidecar (Primavera Club Festival)
Dec 16 – New York, NY @ Wired Store

Bear in Heaven

Jan 13 – Cleveland, OH @ The Spot (students only)
Jan 14 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas (Tomorrow Never Knows fest)
Jan 15 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
Jan 16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
Jan 27 – New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

Cymbals Eat Guitars and Bear in Heaven

Mar 05 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Mar 06 – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Mar 07 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Mar 09 – Nashville, TN @ The End
Mar 10 – Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light
Mar 11 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Mar 13 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
Mar 16 – Houston, TX @ Mango’s
Mar 18-20 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Mar 22 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rhythm Room
Mar 23 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Mar 24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
Mar 25 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Mar 27 – Portland, OR @ Berbati’s Pan
Mar 29 – Vancouver, British Columbia @ The Biltmore Cabaret
Mar 31 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
Apr 01 – Denver, CO @ Hi Dive
Apr 02 – Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge
Apr 03 – Saint Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Apr 04 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas Tavern
Apr 06 – Toronto, Ontario @ El Mocambo
Apr 07 – Montreal, Quebec @ Il Motore
Apr 08 – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
Apr 09 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

You don’t have to be an acid-fried, VW driving, hippie-burnout to appreciate a good jam-band, nor do you have to be a hoity-toity, pinky-flaring, culture snob to appreciate the subtle nuances of good improvisation. In fact, the presence of a loyal fan-base is far from evidence proving notable talent (need I cite the existence of multiple Paris Hilton fan-clubs?). But, there is one so-called “jam-band” that transcends the barriers between underground appeal and critical notoriety. Regularly treading their own successful path through the journey toward musical greatness is the Chicago-based improvisational conglomerate, Umphrey’s McGee.

They may be grouped with the likes of other jam-bands like the Grateful Dead and Phish, but Umphrey’s McGee has a unique style eclectically derived from rock bands like Pink Floyd, the Police, Iron Maiden, and even the Beatles. Their live performances have been heralded as works of majesty that are no less than blessings to those who bear witness. They’ve frequented coveted spots at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, selling more CDs in their initial 2002 appearance than any other artist on the bill, which included Trey Anastasio, Widespread Panic, Jurassic 5, and Norah Jones. Umphrey’s McGee continued performing live, releasing several albums (both studio contribution and live performance), and instituted a program called “UM Live,” where audience members could buy live recordings of the improvised show they had just witnessed after the performance was over. In 2005, the band began production of various live performance podcasts, which today are heard by nearly 20,000 listeners. A year later, in an effort to generously spread the Umphrey’s McGee influence, they began a program where they would send free tickets to concert tapers, providing they would freely distribute the material online.

In spite of the vast number of their live recordings, the band has released a number of critically acclaimed studio albums. Their latest, Mantis, is an apt example of the level of progression that accompanies the group. As you may have guessed, Umphrey’s McGee will be touring in support of this album. However, as they tend to push the overall creativity-factor associated with their live performances, the band will be instituting an interactive fan-conduction experience which they have dubbed the “Stew Art Project” (or “S²”). In a special pre-show performance, ticketed separately from their live set, fans will be able to “conduct” the band in their live improvisations via texting suggestions to a mobile database. “Sound Caresser” Kevin Browning will then cipher through the many suggestions and present them on a large display screen for the band to interpret. Each audience member (only 50 for the S² shows) will receive an autographed CD of the performance they “conducted.” Make sure you get your tickets straightened out for the correct performance and you can make interpretative suggestions like “taking the bus to grandma’s house,” “ham and cheese on the radio,” or “not without my raincoat!”

Tour Dates:

Dec 10-13 – Runaway Bay, Jamaica @ Caribbean Holidaze

Dec 29 – Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre

Dec 30-31 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom

Jan 14 – Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre

Jan 15 – Las Vegas, FL @ House of Blues

Jan 16 – San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre

Jan 17 – Reno, NV @ Knitting Factory

Jan 19 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory

Jan 20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot

Jan 22 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen

Jan 23 – Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium

Feb 2 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown

Feb 3 – Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall

Feb 4 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant

Feb 5 – Nashville, TN @ War Memorial Auditorium

Feb 6 – Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle

Feb 9 – Birmingham, AL @ WorkPlay Soundstage

Feb 11 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel

Feb 12 – Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm

Feb 13 – Charlotte, NC @ Neighborhood Theatre

Feb 14 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live

Mar 21-23 – The Melkweg, Amsterdam @ Jam in the ‘Dam

May 28-30 – Chillicothe, IL @ Summercamp

As winter begins to take hold of our fair city and the color green recedes into memory, spring could not seem farther away. For the folks at the Brooklyn Grange though, spring is all they’re thinking about. You would imagine that slinging delicious pizzas at Roberta’s would be enough to keep this agrarian minded crew of foodies occupied and out of the cold. Not likely. They’re already hard at work preparing to open a brand new one acre rooftop farm in Brooklyn. That’s right, an acre of farmland on a roof. In Brooklyn. It’s gonna happen.

Plans and enthusiasm for the work ahead abound. The only thing they’re short on is cash. That’s where this fundraiser comes in. For $50 dollars a head, Brooklyn Grange and Bobo invite you to come enjoy a night of cocktails, delicious snacks, conversation with a cadre of intriguing people, and live bluegrass music. Does this sound like an ideal chance to impress a date to you, too? Tickets are available for purchase here.

If that $50 price tag seems a little steep or the sound of the banjo brings back bad memories of seeing Deliverance at too tender an age, you can always donate to the Grange in any amount. Creating a commercially viable and community oriented urban farm certainly won’t happen on its own, so expect more parties and other events of note from the Grange and their friends in coming months.

When: Monday, Dec 14th
           7 to 10 pm
Where: 181 West 10th Street
           (at 7th Avenue)

Miami Herald’s Dan Le Batard – Miami Hurricanes Succeed Where Others Are Failing:

Before Allen Iverson and Ron Artest, before Terrell Owens and OchoCinco, before Trick Daddy and Lil Wayne — before America was quite ready, in other words — there was championship University of Miami football. It was fun, violent, florescent, reckless and wonderful, but the street getting so close to the library was also pretty new then, and that particular kind of new can scare people the way black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson scared them by dating white women once upon a time.

Notre Dame’s Tim Brown admits now, all these years later, that the only time he was ever terrified playing football was against Miami — not because of the Orange Bowl noise or even the Hurricane talent but because of what he feared Miami’s players might do to him in the parking lot after the game. South Florida loved the so-very-Miami aura around those teams. America hated it.

ESPN is doing a two-hour documentary on UM’s renegade years this week. It is done by UM alums and will mostly embrace that fascinating time, but the current administration didn’t want anything to do with the film and even advised former players not to participate. UM has a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder about its past, understandably. You might, too, if the nation’s largest magazine in your field called for your eradication because it had, in its grandfatherly senility, confused you being edgy with you being evil.

But here’s the thing: This UM hasn’t been that UM in a really long time.

Palm Beach Post:

I’ve seen only clips of the UM documentary, but I’m very familiar with Corben’s prior work – “Cocaine Cowboys” is a classic and “Raw Deal: A Question of Consent” is a lesser-known but equally brilliant piece of work.

Corben is an unrepentant fan of the Hurricanes, particularly those ‘80s teams that were gangsta before there were gangstas. Who else would allow Luther Campbell to record the theme song to his documentary?

The Oklahoman:

ESPN Films’ “The U” documentary will bring back painful memories for OU football fans, as well as fans of other Big 12 powerhouses, including Nebraska and Texas.

Corben said he wishes he could have talked to defensive tackle Jerome Brown, who, while a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, died in an automobile accident in 1992.

“If Miami was the team of the ’80s then Jerome Brown was the player of the ’80s,” he said.

Who can forget Brown leading his Miami teammates, all wearing military battle dress, off the plane after arriving to play Penn State in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl?

As Shockey says in the film, “It’s a ‘Cane thing.”

Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin – Screen Gems:

The U (9 p.m. Saturday, ESPN) — This documentary on University of Miami football in the 1980s  contains enough ugly spots — the pay-for-play allegations, the NCAA violations, the arrogance and hot-doggery of the players — that the university tried to kill it. But it’s also got the on-the-field performances that led to four national championships during the decade.

I was having quite a terrible day on Wednesday. On top of a generally lousy turn of events, the crossword puzzle in the Metro newspaper (my daily vice) had the clues indecipherably mixed up by spelling “disappointment” in seven vertical letters. With heavy rainfall as my traveling companion on the unavoidably long ride home, I was ready to smash my head against the wall of the tiny room that has become my sanctuary over the past few months. Searching for something to lift my spirits, I got on my computer to find that I had an email waiting in my typically lonely inbox from Paige Skolnick, one of the PR representatives here at Joonbug; “You are on the list for Flobots tomorrow night [at] Brooklyn Bowl.” There was much whooping and fist pumping going on in my little, dimly-lit hobbit-hole.

The next day, I traversed the walk from the last Brooklyn “L-stop” to the Brooklyn Bowl through Williamsburg which, for those who don’t live there, is always an interesting journey, to say the least. Upon entering the gentrified factory, I first noticed that the word “Bowl” was not indicative of a large performance venue but was, in fact, a reference to the numerous bowling lanes that make up the establishment (who knew?). The lanes took up the majority of the interior and appeared as though they were professionally maintained, not like the warped alleys of two-bit operations that aren’t even suitable for handicapped-league night. Instead of hard, fast-food restaurant style seats, the waiting-to-bowl areas had plush, leather sofas that caused an unsuspecting bowler to become enveloped in the cushiness. The upscale lanes, coupled with the low mood lighting and overall classy décor, gave the sense that one was in a high-end steakhouse that just happened to have ten-pin lanes.

With the pre-described décor and the fact that all I had to eat that day were several cups of coffee (add half a dozen cigarettes and I could have claimed a “writer’s breakfast”), I decided to wander into the restaurant for some well-deserved eats. I ordered a bacon-burger and recanted on my beverage choice of “just water” asking the bartender/server what she would suggest for an “ale-lover,” since they only served local micro-brews. She suggested an IPA from Sixpoint Breweries and upon my first sip I was overcome with the desire to not drink the pint. Instead, I wanted to take it home with me and savor it for as long as possible, it was so good. Before my eyes rolled back into focus from their euphoric state, she had already brought my food out in half the time I had expected. The burger was cooked thoroughly tender, overhung the edge of the full-sized bun, and went perfectly with the shoe-string fries that were cooked to a crispy perfection. Although it well exceeded my usual “Burger King budget,” I would highly recommend that anyone who finds themselves at the Brooklyn Bowl take a palpable consideration to the items on their menu.

In retrospect, I should have taken as much time on my burger as possible. My arrival was timed with the predestined “doors open” time posted on the event listing, 6PM. However, the first band wasn’t scheduled to go on till 9PM. It wasn’t economically feasible for me to rent a lane solo, so I simply had to wait several hours till the show was to start. The projection screens around the venue played several sound-less videos including the cult video art film The Animation Show Vol.1, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and a very intellectually thought-provoking film titled Koyaanisqatsi, a Hopi Indian term meaning “life out of balance” among other definitions. The multi-definitive piece went through a series of expertly implemented film footages of nature’s intrinsic beauty coupled with scenes of modern human progression. It set an appropriate tone for the kinds of socio-political messages that the Flobots tend to express in their songs, although, having watched it twice in its entirety with only sounds of rolling bowling-balls and pins crashing, I was thoroughly bored by the time the first band took the stage.

Killing the Messenger was the opening band and it was good to finally get some live music going. They started out with a kind of Incubus-style song with a noticeable organ part played on a keyboard and a female vocalist who had kind of a dirty, L7 vibe to her singing. I was excited to hear what else they had to play…until they played their second song sounding, again, like they were trying to imitate Incubus. The same with the third. And so on. It wasn’t even as though they were trying to copy the style of the good Incubus songs, but more so the filler tracks that get added to take up album space. All in all, Killing the Messenger needed to spend more time working on a sound that was original and less time worrying about looking cool onstage.

Next up was Kinetix. They played with more of a pop-y feel that was refreshing after the blah factor that accompanied the opening act. They did a better job of connecting with the audience and had kind of a heavier Blues Traveler sound, but they too sounded like an Incubus tribute band. The highlight of their performance came with their finale as they covered Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Invigorating as it was, it was devoid of any creative inspiration and merely sounded like an emulation of the rock classic, without the Freddy Mercury high notes.

By the time the Flobots took the stage, I was thanking the powers that be for the creative upheaval that I had been waiting for. They started right in on “There’s a War Going On for Your Mind,” their spoken-word, call-to-arms rallying cry. As they continued with their unique hip-hop/rock infused style that, when you really get down to it, cannot be classified as “rap-rock” or “nu-metal,” they gradually sucked the audience closer and closer to the stage. The dual emcees, Brer Rabbit and Jonny 5, made full use of the entire stage as they brought their vocals to a heightened intensity without resorting to overzealous screaming. They never overshadowed the musical precision of the rest of the band members, including violinist Mackenzie Roberts, whose expert catgut skills are just as much a part of the Flobots sound as Andy Rok’s guitar, Jesse Walker’s bass, or Kenny O’s drums. Throughout their set, the entire band expressed their politcal concerns about a socially unconscious generation by addressing issues of gay rights, extracting armed forces from the Middle East, closing Guantanamo Bay, and the decriminalization of marijuana. Throughout their set, they kept the crowd emphatically energized and (hopefully) motivated toward real socio-economic change. They kept to their established brand of politicized hip-hop all the way until their finale, which consisted of well executed versions of their popular hits “Handlebars” and a fist-raising climax with “Rise.”

Although both creatively and intellectually stimulating, their performance was ruined by a group of three, overly intoxicated scenesters (they don’t even deserve the satisfaction of being labeled “hipsters”) who insisted on trying to start a sloppy, drunken moshpit with each other. Nobody in the immediate area was amused in the slightest, and one girl, who had been slammed into numerous times, turned around and slugged one of the guys with a swift right hook. To my and everyone else’s disappointment, his level of intoxication left him unfazed. One of the drunkards even pushed his way to the stage-front screaming at Jonny 5 to try to start a pit. When asked by a crowd member to cool down, he turned with a glazed-eyed stare and screamed, “Freedom of Speech! Bla-ha-ha-ha!” in such a way that would make Lenny Bruce, Bob Marley, and Martin Luther King Jr. all turn in their graves.

At this point, I very much wanted to leave, afraid that my pen would find its way into an intoxicated scenester’s eye socket, but there was one more band on the bill and what kind of a journalist would I be if I left before the show was over? I waited for the last act, the Everyone Orchestra, to set up and start playing, bitterly noting that the large ensemble group that featured a conductor. “What kind of band is arrogant enough to need a conductor?” I cynically thought to myself as they began their set. I quickly realized that this wasn’t a band leader, per se, but an improvisational orchestrator who made suggestions on which the individual band members would improvise. He would scribble notes on a dry-erase board that he would show to the band, and sometimes the audience, (examples include “Flutter D,” “Tight Soft,” “Overload,” “Dead Circa ’81,” and “Bowling”), which would signal the band to cut the sound in order to overhear pins crashing as an accent to the performance. I kept telling myself, “Five more minutes, then I’m gone,” over and over until I was next to the stage grooving to the music for the rest of their set. Despite the inclusion of electric guitars, synthesizers, and a turntablist providing scratches and samplings, I felt like it was akin to a classic jazz improvisation that one hears about in a music history class, only the conductor wasn’t Count Basie, Duke Ellington, or Artie Shaw, this wasn’t Harlem, and it wasn’t 1935.

Have you ever walked into your local coffee shop and wondered if they would ever play anything except that same loop CD of unsigned local bands that just make a tough morning that much harder to deal with? Have you ever wished that your favorite restaurant would play something other than easy-listening drone-tones since it turns into a Top 40 nightclub after 10PM? Have you ever found yourself sitting at the edge of the nearest local watering-hole, crying into a mug of cheep beer, wishing to God that you could hear Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” to chase away the pain of a life that’s apparently going nowhere?

Okay, maybe that last one was a little too specific, but if you are looking for a little musical variety in your life, you won’t be finding it in any of the small, independent venues that are struggling to make ends meet in this turbid economy. Not if some of the biggest names in music have anything to say about it.

In a recent wave of oppression of the “little guy,” pop stars like Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, and Bon Jovi have all taken legal action against entertainment establishments (i.e. bars, coffee shops, etc.) for playing their copyrighted material without their permission. In the most recent of these copyright “atrocities,” Jay-Z, who is arguably the most successful and wealthiest hip-hop performer to date, filed suit against a small Mobile, Alabama establishment called “A Spot of Tea” that unlawfully played the Jigga/Rhiannon compilation “Umbrella.” That’s right. Jay-Z is suing a poorly stereotyped, British catch-phrase.

The methods by which these artists established precedent for these lawsuits is just as arrogant as the suits themselves. Representatives from ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, sent undercover informants into these mom-and-pop businesses to see what music they were unlawfully playing for patrons who may not have even been paying attention to said music. These series of sting operations prove that nobody, not even a tiny sports bar in bumf— Idaho (quite literally, as is the case in the Taylor Swift suit), is safe from the music industry’s ever present fascination with profit over product.

You might be asking yourself, “Doesn’t purchasing a CD provide the owner the right to play the music as they see fit?” (You’ll notice I didn’t say “distribute.” Big difference.) To a certain extent, this is true. An owner can play purchased music however they see fit, provided the music will not be played on any occasion where the owner will be profiting. Bars and coffee shops have to pay for music rights due to the beverages that they sell. Radio stations pay for music rights because they make profit off ad sales. TV and film companies have to pay for every single song that they use in their productions, which, in actuality, accounts for a majority of producers’ budgetary concerns. Even politicians have to pony-up for the use of songs in their political campaigns. Remember Radio Raheem’s boombox that continuously blasted “Fight the Power” from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing? That is essentially as far as it can go (although it should be noted that Lee had to deal with his own copyright issues before deciding on the Public Enemy track).

Essentially, if you go to a random house party and feel upset that you have to pay for a cup in order to get a drink, simply call up ASCAP, tell them what music is playing on the stereo, and have them shut down the party for copyright infringement. You may be regarded as “the chump who broke up the party,” but at least you will be performing your civic duty and making sure that the recording artists get the pennies they deserve.