201 Street » Music

Bata in Phoenix

Brody — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:10:00 +0000

The musical traditions of the world are alive and well in Phoenix. It’s been a place with a strong musical presence since the late 60s, when the Tubes played here in their first incarnation as the Beans. Through years that saw punk, hiphop, and blues come alive, there have always been musicians whose strengths lie in percussion. The rhythms of Latin America have been present in almost all contemporary music, and their African roots gave the time signature to rock and roll. It’s no surprise, then, to see the evolution of these rhythms continue. Phoenix’s eclectic mix of cultures makes it a particularly promising place to listen to some of the sounds.

For the lovers of anything with a Latin pulse, Jesse Joaquin Parker has been leading a breathtaking career, and it does seem that he has a certain magical touch. It’s a tough town to work in, where the visitors at the luxury hotels Phoenix offers may not consider hearing live music as an option. Any of his projects are worth listening to, and they always deliver very upbeat and sometimes even otherwordly rhythms that keep the rooms very hot. His recent collaboration with Bata Ire is another step on a polyrhythmic road. Under the designs of master drummer Emilio Caruso, the sounds bounce from Cuba to Brazil, and manage to land right in the center of Phoenix, and a city is suddenly elevated.

Bata in Phoenix is a post from: 201 Street

Melbourne Australia Live Music Clubs

Brody — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:10:00 +0000

Let’s open up one of the nights in Melbourne with Bennetts Lane Jazz Club for some amazing local and international jazz. Yes, this is a locals hang with great music, nice atmosphere, a down to earth staff and crowd. You may want to check ahead to see who is playing while you are visiting. This place is simply cool.

A couple of the live music venues in Melbourne of notability are actually not to far from each other. You should be able to find a cozy Melbourne hotel room right down the street for a place like the Billboard Night Club which is were the city is gonna rock. Check out some of Australia’s own rock bands as well as many traveling favorites from around the world. It has been around for more than forty years and has been the host club for such acts as AC/DC, Tina Turner, The Little River Band, Cut Copy and many many more great bands. This club has a great stage and lots of open space for everyone to dance and rock out to who ever is playing for the night. So head on in with the other 900 people and rock.

Also right around the corner is the Palace Theatre which is another cool rock club. This venue has a crowd gather along the stage edge and the balcony railing for some great ways to see a great show. The Cult was just there in May and Slash will make an appearance on August 11 2010. Oh, and a couple of days after Slash check out EELS in the 15th. Wow! This would be a great venue to see some of your favorite artists and bands because it is a little more intimate than some of the other venues you may have seen them play in the past.

If you still have more nights to fill check out the Prince Bandroom. It is cool. Really cool.

Melbourne Australia Live Music Clubs is a post from: 201 Street

Cutting the Cactus in Austin

Brody — Thu, 13 May 2010 03:10:00 +0000

The Cactus Cafe , which is a small, famous, and live music performance venue, located at the University of Texas’ student Union building is closing due to budget cuts; about $122,000 a year will be saved by the University when it will permanently close the cafes’ doors in August. This also means that the informal classes program held in The Cactus Cafe will be shut down at the same time.

The Cactus Cafe acquired its national reputation by showcasing top local, regional, national and international acoustic music, with the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss, Suzanne Vega, Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt. The cafe not only helped launch the careers of many musicians, many of the famous musicians would return again and again to play at the intimate venue, because they loved it so much. The Cactus Cafe was also the venue for informal and formal, inexpensive classes that were hosted at the Texas Union allowing non-University professionals to offer classes ranging from graphic design, fencing and wine pairing to the general public; workshops and certificate programs were offered as well and were designed to give the most information in the least amount of time. The Cactus Cafe was a popular place to take classes, it’s was reported the around 10,000 people attended the classes last year and most of them were not UT students.

Austins citizens are outraged by this budget cut and there is a movement to save the Cactus Cafe. Austin hotels , near the University, would book up quickly when a concert was being held at the Cafe, so with it’s closing in August, they too have jumped on the ‘Save The Cactus Cafe’, bandwagon. Some people have even called up the UT’s football coach asking him to give a fraction of his $5.1 million annual salary to save the Cactus Cafe. There is a huge Facebook group dedicated to saving the cafe from budget cuts. Time is running out, students are graduating, so who knows if all the efforts to save the Cactus will have any effect.

Cutting the Cactus in Austin is a post from: 201 Street

NY Dolls in a NY Minute

Brody — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:19:32 +0000

There’s something terribly, terribly attractive about arrogance, especially in the world of rock and roll. In New York City, it’s even more attractive when someone can pull it off, because not it’s not only the most exciting city in the world, it’s also one of the toughest. Someone making a claim to be the greatest of anything in New York City will have the opportunity to prove it, and the opportunity usually only lasts a couple seconds. The people who live here are often among the best at what they do, and they make very astute, and also very severe, judges.

So it’s always a strange but real thrill when a group like the New York Dolls can keep up a very potent reputation, and the band continues in various incarnations and side projects (and even occasionally a reunion show thanks to Morrissey). You can trace some of the footsteps with any visit to the city. Booking a hotel is fairly straightforward at newyorkboutiquehotel.com, and you can find gracious attitude with elegance. There are lots of amenities with anything that you do in New York, but the arrogance is something you’ll have to come up with on your own, and you better be able to back it up.

The New York Dolls began their assault on the world of rock and roll in 1971. Cross-dressing and an enormous dose of attitude characterized their on-stage persona, and the music was spectacularly rough. There were definite traces of the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground in what they played, and to a large degree in their performance. But there was also a strange mix of surf music, and the whole thing had a sense of instant nostalgia. It was almost as if the old school rhythms kept the chaotic presentation from getting completely out of control. But there was always the sense that they could lose it at any moment, and that’s really at the heart of rock and roll, and New York City, too, for that matter.

NY Dolls in a NY Minute is a post from: 201 Street

Fame Higher Swiftrank for Surreality

Brody — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:37:50 +0000

Fame is elusive, but everyone looks for it. Or for fortune. Either one is never everything that people claim, and they still go looking, and sometimes it’s as easy to find as time. Taylor Swift at 20 probably isn’t concerned with running out of time, and doesn’t seem to have much trouble with fame either, and fortune has definitely been a by-product of all of her good luck. If pressed about which is more surreal, however, fame gets the higher Swiftrank every time. And it probably should, because it seems as though everyone who’s been where she is has the same feeling about it.

Andy Warhol said interesting things about fame, is perhaps the most observant philosopher of fame for the 20th century (for the 19th, it would have to be Stendhal, whose cocktail party ramblings about the good life, and being draped in velvet still influence our definition of celebrity-dom). He understood all to well that it was an illusion that everyone pursues, and also understood that when it does come, it never stays for very long. These are difficult lessons for anyone who spends a lifetime looking for it, so in the case of Taylor Swift, it’s not so much of a heartbreak if it does go, because she seems to be concerned with keeping an eye on the larger picture.

It might be difficult, however, at this point in the 21st century, to pinpoint exactly what the larger picture might be. As her songs suggest, we are a construction of texts, of various texts, and they don’t always fit together neatly. Some of these texts are images, and image becomes a new language in the 21st century. Some of the texts are spoken, and some, of course, are songs, and quotations of songs. Her ability to revamp and remix a tradition, with a very personal and introspective touch, is a remarkable feature of her talent, which speaks to the way fame can and should work when things are out of joint. It might be velvet, or it might be denim, but it hints at a revolution that tries to open a road where things like fame no longer matter.

Fame Higher Swiftrank for Surreality is a post from: 201 Street

Two Tones in New York

Brody — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:35:46 +0000

I came to New York to participate in a weekend workshop that will teach me about Binaural tones or beats. Luckily, I managed to book a room at a New York cheap hotel that was not far from where the workshop was being held. I learned so much that I’ll be able to now offer my clients another healing and meditative alternative.

I learned that Binaual’s is an auditory process which perceptions arise in the brain independent of the physical stimuli. The brain which produces a phenomenon that results in a low-frequency pulsations in the loudness of a perceived sound when two tones at a slightly different frequency are played separately, one to each ear, using stereo headphones. I got to experience this first hand, and I must say, after just one session, I could tell a difference with how I felt and looked at my surroundings. A beating tone will be perceived by a person, as if the tow tones mixed naturally, out of the brain. The difference between the two tones and frequencies must be small, about 30 Hz for the effect to occur. If the two tones are heard separately, then no beat will be perceived.

The effect creates a brainwave synchronization or what’s known as the brainwave entrainment. It’s a practice that aims to cause brainwave frequency to fall in step with the periodic stimulus which has a frequency corresponding to the intended brain state, for example, to induce sleep. It depends upon a frequency following a response, a naturally occurring phenomenon where the human brain has a tendency to change its dominant EEG frequency towards the frequency of a dominant external stimulus. This stimulus will be aural and visual.

I was so amazed with the results that I ordered most of their CD’s that were created with he Atmosphere Dream Synch mode. The Atmosphere composition has been used in television like ‘Lost’ and in movies, like the ‘Bourn Ultimatum’ and ‘Transformers’. All my clients will now benefit from this form of meditation.

Two Tones in New York is a post from: 201 Street

Concert Tickets for the Old

Brody — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 18:09:01 +0000

I realized, luckily, at a young age that purchasing Concert Tickets at $100 a pop and then spending the whole concert standing in the spewing line in the bathroom was really to crazy. I would spend even more money on wine or beer, a really fleeting purchase if one really contemplates it long enough, when I could’ve bought a concert T-shirt. Something that I’d wear for years and it would bring back fond memories of the concert, but then again, that would be a stupid purchase too.

Spending the $100, I realized, as I got older, was so I could get pushed on, pawed, crushed and mushed, all the while my good shoes would be wading through spilled beers, sodas and who knows what else. All I can say, is thank god I managed to make it to the middle-age and no longer need to go to live concerts. What is really funny though is when I drop-off my two sons at a concert, I see so many ‘not-so-young any more,’ people at those concerts. I guess they just don’t want to admit that they’ve gotten older and that they refuse to let the new generation have their moment in the sun.

I do have to admit though, I am going to the Bonnaroo, but that is open for all ages. It will be fun to see the different mix of people and to, probably for the last time, experience the concert subculture which this music festival will bring out from the woodwork. I know I’ll be somewhat envious when I see the younger crowd run through sprinklers and dance as if they have not a care in the world. But, hell if I’m going to miss seeing Springsteen! And that’s when I’ll shine and the little teenyboppers will be a little envious of me when I scream ‘Yay! Tune! Da Boss!’

Concert Tickets for the Old is a post from: 201 Street

Spamalot

Brody — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:15:21 +0000

Spamalot is a musical comedy by Eric Idle, who wrote the book and lyrics, and John Du Prez, who wrote the music. The musical is a parody based on the Monty Python movie The Holy Grail. Eric Idle was one of the founding members of the English comedy team. It opened on Broadway in 2005 and won three Tony Awards that year including the award for Best Musical. Tourists who are staying in one of the four star New York hotels have the opportunity to see this and some of the other Broadway greats while they’re in town. The theatre scene also happens to be the reason why many tourists visit New York.

The musical includes the infamous characters from the film including King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Sir Robin and Sir Dennis Galahad, among many more. King Arthur: King of the Britons is not very bright, and has trouble putting two and two together. Sir Lancelot the Homicidally Brave, is just as his name implies, almost psychotic. Sir Robin, the Not Quite So Brave as Sir Lancelot, is just the opposite. He is quite cowardly, though he is well versed in musical theatre. Sir Galahad is quite dapper, dashingly handsome and charming and was formerly a political activist peasant.

Mike Nichols directed the Broadway premiere, which opened in March of 2005 at the Shubert Theatre. Tim Curry was in the original cast and played King Arthur. David Hyde Pierce was also in the original cast and he played Sir Robin. Hank Azaria played Sir Lancelot as well as other characters, including the taunting Night of Ni. Before the New York opening, Spamalot previewed in Chicago at the Bank of America Theatre. The production began a North American tour in 2006. Also in 2006, it had a premiere in London, at the West End’s Palace Theatre.

Spamalot is a post from: 201 Street

Struming My Pain

Brody — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:22:12 +0000

He was too young to be playing the Blues on Open Mike-Night at the local coffee shop, but man, being young didn’t stop him from making me sit over two hours listening to him make me feel every note he pounded out on his electric guitar. He must be around eighteen, his face is that of a pup, so innocent and sweet. But, has he kept playing one Blue’s tune to the next, I could tell he’s been through much more than I will ever go through. His pain floated past me and through the audience of 5 on out to the evening air.

I was walking past the coffeehouse on my way to meet up with some friends after eating at Restaurants Dubai when his pain wafted through my soul. I had to see who’s pain it was that touched me to the core. So young to hurt so deeply. Was it a girl? Or something more life soul-taxing like not being able taste the beauty of a sun setting after a thunderstorm. Or a need to write poetry but doesn’t know how to read or write. The depth of his never-ending reach into my familiar pain of a life longer lived and more stupidly. His pain is intelligent and seems thoughtfully arranged and categorized from least hurtful to pain one cannot even put words to. Yes, he’s that good!

How can I fall in love with pain? How does that even happen? I’m such a sucker for a wounded puppy. A puppy run over by a semi-truck and survived all squished and guts hanging out for all to see, hoping for someone to rescue him and put a balm on his wounds. So, I’ve fallen in love completely, wishing I was young again. I walked up to his tip jar, as sexy as I could and drop him a ten. He gave me a nod and a wink and continued to sing. I left him there in his pain, feeling my pain my loneliness entering into the evening air.

Struming My Pain is a post from: 201 Street

Sun Yanzi

Brody — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:46:20 +0000

A wonderful respite for the working traveler, and a generous offering of world class luxury, Singapore business hotels are winners. There is no better place to relax and unwind after a long day, or to wake up, rejuvenated, and ready to begin another life adventure. There’s no need to wish for the comforts of home, because they’re here at your fingertips.

There is a world-class pop culture scene here in Singapore. With easy access to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Malaysia, there is some cross-over success possible for some stars. And Singapore’s own Stephanie Sun, or Sun Yanzi has achieved success in all of those places, and may very well be Singpore’s first superstar, or at least, for the moment, its most visible. She is also very well-loved in all these places, and extremely popular here. Her fame is perhaps in part due to her background in marketing, which was her major when she attended Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. One of her school music teachers noted her exceptional singing voice, and pushed her in this direction. Using her marketing expertise along with her natural talents, she has made quite a name for herself in the world.

Her first album, I am Sun Yanzi, which launched her career in 2000. She sings in Mandarin and sometimes in English, and is very adept at taking on various dialects when she sings. This is one of the factors contributing to her pop stardom. She has recorded more or less continually, with a brief break in 2003, after which she returned with her next album, Stephanie (titled so as to reflect the first self-titled album). Now an internationally known artist, she is the owner of Make Music, her own company. A very successful woman!

Sun Yanzi is a post from: 201 Street