Top Artists this Week (see more)

16 Mar 2008 – 23 Mar 2008

1		Danity Kane
2		José González
2		Zero 7
4		Ghostface
5		Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek
6		Elisabeth Withers
7		Madvillain
7		Jamie Lidell
9		Chris Joss
10		Talib Kweli

Last week's pick-ups/purchases: Ghostface Killah's Big Doe Rehab, Elisabeth Withers's It Can Happen to Anyone, Jamie Lidell's Jim (Thanks Felicia!), Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, Super Cool: California Soul 2, Zap Mama's Supermoon, and

Is Anybody Listening

Danity Kane

Hoping to get to know each other better, the guys and girls jump in a limo for a night out at on the town. The drive is filled with awkward silence, but once at the club, everyone starts to loosen up. After a round of shots, Aubrey and Donnie start dirty dancing and Dawn and Qwanell get flirty. Stay focused, guys!

The next day brings all the Making the Band 4 participants back together for the first day of recording. The girls nail a song called "Is Anybody Listening," proving that they already have a winning formula in place.

Last.fm Recommended:

I Like Giants

Kimya Dawson

Kimya Dawson is most famous (in my mind) for being the fantastically charismatic folk singer from Olympia who once photographed her own poop and posted it on her MySpace. She's also an honest and bright songwriter who plays joyful acoustic guitar while singing optimistic and sometimes weird songs. While you drive to Kent, think of the opening lines to "I Like Giants"—"When I go for a drive/I like to pull off to the side/of the road/turn out the lights/get out and look up at the sky/And I do this to remind me that I'm really, really tiny/in the grand scheme of things/and sometimes this terrifies me."

- Road Trip by Megan Selig, The Stranger, 10.24.07

Song of the Week:

Another Day

Jamie Lidell

With all the music I bought last week in a sneeze-filled haze, the song of note comes from an impromptu video chat with Felicia and her gracious file sharing. I remember being underwhelmed with Jamie Lidell's Multiply so I was prepared to find his new album nice but forgettable. This track is far from that. A bright and shiny blast of soul, this is a song you put on first thing in the morning. I might have an inexplicable love for my Danity Kane girls but I know serious music when I hear it and this is mixtape worthy now and will likely be 5 years from now.

Wake up!

Felicia and I sat on the BART heading towards SFO and as the doors of the train closed someone's cell phone began playing a TruTones version of Bittersweet Symphony. I saw our getaway film fade to black and the credits roll up right then.

There was a post-script, sure, a bonus scene of she and I sitting in an airport bar drinking doubles of Ketel & soda and turning a not-so-innocuous comment about how we didn't want the life of the family of 4 a few tables away from us into a deeper conversation about the relationships we've had with our own parents but this weekend was more about doing than reflecting.

The last 24 hours seemed less intense but in that time I'd brunched with a lady, hung out in Washington Square Park, eaten Dim Sum, seen live action Sailor Moon at the Cherry Blossom festival, geishas on stilts, and a Japanese drum circle and created a new game for all ages - "Costume or Awesome?" or it's alternate rule, "Costume or Crazy?"

I enjoyed life that didn't require a car. I liked being close to humanity. I liked feeling connected to not just the city but to the community.

And whether costumed or crazy, I judged those people and found them all very much awesome.

I'll be back in about a month, my lovelies. Rest up. Get familiar.

This post's playlist
1. Nobody Like Me by Little Brother
2. Elevator Music by Beck
3. Keep it Playa by Pharell
4. As Long As It's You by Incognito

Date Stamp: 04.21.07

A light rain covers San Francisco. It's 6:33  pm. I'm sitting in the mezzanine at the Hotel Metropolis trying to angle appropriately for the complimentary wifi that seems to elude me. Felicia and Melissa are napping in our kryptonite colored room. I've just coordinated dinner plans with some of my very favorite people like Mita and Mr. West and I trust that our evening will only begin with tapas.

I'm very happy.

I've twittered about random things like leg cramps and Dixie bands and cannoli while I've been here and they are all true. I'm still battling the muscle tightness that cropped up last night at the Element Lounge. MJ's web 2.0 birthday party featured some ridiculous pop confection - at least 4 songs featuring Fergie and the Timbaland/Nelly Furtado/Justin Timberlake hit twice - along with the requisite megamixes and reggaeton and after trying to play it cool and take it easy, I was overcome. We danced it out. We walked it out. We got George to break it down. And then, because I'm old, the back of my right leg seized up. It hasn't quite relinquished it's hold.

This should be a problem because we spent the day walking the city. Breakfast at Cafe Mason was followed by a cable car ride to The Buena Vista and many an irish coffee, many a joke, and one camera lesson on the wonder of the macro feature and food shots. We then trekked through North Beach and found the "WashBaG crawdad feed" that featured the most excellent Dixie Band covering some of your 80s favorites including Rockwell, Phil Collins and the Eurythmics. We didn't stop there.

Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

So we continued on through the Italian rooted enclave until we found Mara's Italian Eatery and had the finest of pastries, gelatos and coffees before walking back to Union Square and then on to the hotel.

In betwixt all that, I've seen Smokler and Tim Ferriss and Jaschu. I've danced with strange women and been drunkenly encouraged by strange men. I've discussed local politics and web industry gossip and eaten my face off.

I've felt both special and normal at the same time. I've felt at home.

Huh.

So, if this feels like home what does LA feel like to me right now?

A question for another day, methinks.

This post's playlist:

1. To Dry Up (feat. Charlotte Savary) by Hope & Sorrow
2. Don't Sit on the Pickets by Racetrack
3. Morning Child by 4Hero
4. Interlude by Jay Dee aka J Dilla
5. You Broke My Heart by Cavalry of Light
6. Sweaty  Wet/Dirty Damp by Gameboy/Gamegirl

Just want to give a little public thanks to:

Our Waiter at Arnie Morton's on Monday - It was our first time there and he treated us well. He cracked jokes, asked if we smoked out before arriving, was convinced he'd seen us before (which, you know, is possible. We are internet famous), brought us complimentary asparagus and molten lava chocolate cake and regaled us with tales of his long time experience as a waiter there. The steep bill was well worth it for my birthday dinner. Kudos.

Curtis - Curtis has been my bartender of choice for at least 2 years. It began the night of the LAist one year birthday party and has continued ever since. This week, with a packed bar at The Vermont, he bought Felicia and I our first round and then gave us a 5 minute classic Dave Chappelle routine. The whole experience of the Vermont is about us getting great service. From our favorite valet, who can see us coming from a mile away to Alex, the 2nd bartender, to the bar backs, the good twin and bad twin, Kevin, and even you, Smarmy Waiter, y'all make The Vermont always feel like home. Huzzah!

Dj O-Dub -- Mayne, you were in mad service to my feets last night. I did the slide, the twist, the wop, the boogaloo, the happy feet, the running man, the robot, the jerk, the swim, the shimmy shake, the rhumba, the salsa, a little west coast swing, the glide, the mashed potato, and my best James Brown and Billy Preston impersonations to your Soul Sides set at Funky Sole. We walked in to Mr. Wang dropping some of my Soul Sides faves - Those Dells and Dionne Warwick joints - before he just tore the roof off the sucker. It was hot and sweaty in the Star Shoes back room and it was perfect. O-Dub let my soul glow. Egon and Miles weren't bad either.

Joey - We see you, Joey, our Fred 62 waiter being sweet on us at 2 in the morning. Yes, you're right, we are internet famous. Now, go get us some mac daddy and cheese balls, damnit.

I appreciate y'all. I really do. Now, if only someone would come be in service of this damn sick I'm encumbered with today.