Aug 162014
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

Forgive me, Father for I have sinned.

It has been….a really long time since my last confession. My sins are multitudinous (lust, blasphemy, coveting my neighbor’s ass… but in my defense, it’s a really nice ass), but the most egregious of all is idolatry.

See, ever since I could sway to music, Madonna has been my idol. The long-established Queen of my Universe and a musician I just can’t quit despite her numerous attempts to break my heart (that horrible faux English accent, sleeping with Vanilla Ice, sleeping with Vanilla Ice and then documenting it in her Sex book…).

I didn’t grow up Catholic, so I couldn’t seek solace in the open arms of Holy Mother Church. Instead, I sought solace from a leonine-eyed beauty who often incited the ire of the Catholic Church.

Madonna taught me lessons that have carried me through adolescence and well into adulthood.
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Nov 112011
 

Almost as common as ghost, witch and vampire costumes on Halloween is the covers concert. Many bands will forgo their latest release or greatest hits and instead pop on a costume and break out the cover songs. Over the years bands like Phish and The Flaming Lips have become known for their Halloween concert festivities and cover sets of full albums or songs from a decade; this year we take a look at some of the other artists getting their spooky fun on. Continue reading »

Aug 292011
 

Last night at the Hollywood Bowl, an assortment of indie and alternative stars and upstarts paid tribute to Serge Gainsbourg. Beck and his band curated the event, which found artists like Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Victoria Legrand (Beach House), Mike Patton (Faith No More), Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl (The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger), and Zola Jesus playing an assortment of Gainsbourg tunes before an orchestra performed the entirety of Gainsbourg’s 1971 magnum opus Histoire De Melody Nelson. Continue reading »

Aug 262011
 

When he’s not stuck in a dream within a dream or falling in love with Ben Gibbard’s wife, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps himself busy with a new media project entitled hitRECord, which invites content creators to come together and collaborate on projects online. In the name of this project, Gordon-Levitt hosted an event this past Tuesday at the Neptune Theater in Seattle, where he was moved by the spirit of the city to take out his black Stratocaster and perform a solo rendition of Nirvana’s Lithium. The result, as captured in attractive black and white  for YouTube, shows that JGL actually does have some musical talent, although he probably shouldn’t try to make a career out of it. Continue reading »

Sep 142010
 

Celebrities have finally caught the “Bad Romance” covers train, and only about six months after everyone else! No matter. There’s plenty of room on the Gaga Express!

First up is Joseph Gordan-Levitt aka. Arthur (Inception) aka. Tom Hansen ((500) Days of Summer) aka. Tommy Solomon (3rd Rock from the Sun). His performance comes from a summer benefit show he threw with his production company hitRECord. It’s solo. It’s electric. It’s fun.

Courtney Love’s live performance is more funny than fun. She didn’t bother to learn the lyrics, but that doesn’t stop her from making some up! The rest of Hole tries to guide her, but as the world well knows, there is no controlling the Love-machine. Continue reading »