Wowser..... Julian.... So hot..... Listen to the new single "My Drive Thru" by Julian of the Strokes, Santogold and Pharrell of NERD

Somone say new summer single........ H-O-T....

Here the details from NME (http://www.nme.com/news/pharrell-williams/37201):

The song, 'My Drive Thru', was written to commemorate the birthday of Converse trainers and sees Santogold's Santi White swapping vocals with Julian Casablancas, while N.E.R.D and Neptunes man Williams takes care of the production.

"We were in the studio together," Williams told NME.COM of the hook-up. "We came together and did a track for the commemoration of the 100th year anniversary of the [Converse shoe] Chuck Taylor, which is an iconic shoe in the punk world, an iconic shoe in the rock world and definitely in the hip-hop world - so it made sense."

To listen to the song head to NME now and simply launch the media player or try this:
http://www.nme.com/mediaPlayer&playlist_id=1402

All I know is it nice to see that boy again... I has been too long.... Summer is starting to look good.

Bringin' it back to 1988 - The Cool Kids at the Knitting Factory

I say Cool.... You say Kids..... Cool Kids..... Cool Kids....

Last night, I found myself again down in the Chinatown end of Tribeca to see Chicago's The Cool Kids. The night before I found myself at 100 Layfette AKA Santos Play House for some soiree. Is chinatown becoming the new L.E.S?


The Cool Kids consists of Antoine "Mikey Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll who interestingly found each other on MySpace a few years back. And as they stated as lit up an incendary stage after the hot sounds of HEAVy(BBE), Mickey Factz and Egg Foo Young, they are here to be the new beastie boys. Here to bring us back to "88"(also name of one of their songs).

Making old school new....

And they did. The crowd- many of whom I question to have experienced the year 88 personnally- quickly put up their hands in the air and danced like they really could care. Putcha hands, putcha hands up.... And the Cool Kids filled the smoldering room (about 100 degrees in fact) with their refreshing smooth, tongue-in-cheek rhymes over basics back beats and simple samplings.

Being soo hot was never soo cool.....

And the Cool Kids, well, they are on their way to be the hottest thing around.

Punk rock reigns again with the Black Lips @ Market Hotel | Jun 5th, 2008

So last night, I made my way out to one of the new DYI venues to see the Black Lips that seem to be popping up in Brooklyn. An interesting trend mind you.....


Best part it is not in one of the gentrified areas like Williamsburg... No, no... It is big, bad Bushwick - one of the last neighborhoods of New York that stills wear the dodgy rep that once haunted New York.


Many moons I went to a few parties at McKibben lofts part of Bushwick but have not been in the area in years. Not much has changed it seems... But that is kinda refreshing considering since most New York has become a corporate mall.


The new venue is called the MARKET HOTEL.


It is pretty nondescript from the outside. The only reason I found the door that takes you to the 2nd floor space was there was skinny indie looking kid shooing away other indie kids from loitering in front of the ancient cast iron facade building.


Go up the rickety steps and you enter a fading former Dominican speakeasy from the late 70's. The stage was in the corner of the largest of three rooms. It had that CBGB's punk rock charm of peeling paint and fear of electrical fire from overloaded sockets. In fact, a few times the lights went out leaving the barely legal crowd dancing and moshing in the dark until the fuse was replaced.


Tonight, the line-up was: So So Glos - TITUS ANDRONICUS Gringo Star - BLACK LIPS .


The room filled up quickly for the So So Glos, the house band, which is a pretty good band with a definite clash vibe. It did not take long for a pit to form. The pit grew and grew as Titus Andronicus and Gringo Star played their sets. There was a definite brit influence in the air and the crowd seemed to get into. The roomed filled with slamming bodies and the fervor seem to grow the hotter the room became.

When the Black Lips plugged in, the place was on fire. Kids invaded the stage and danced the band in the corner. It was sheer punk rock madness. Bodies colliding. Drums wailing. Guitars thrashing....

Somehow I was thrusted on stage and landed by the amp. It ended up being a great place to be and it sheltered me from the full force of mayhem of the flailing front.

The crowd went from mosh to mob... Members of the band had seek out refuge by standing on the amps.

One point I saw the lead singer smack a drunk shirtless trouble maker in the head with his guitar. Next thing they were rolling on the stage knocking invading stage divers back into the crowd. Pretty punk rock.

With all the chaos, there was a brilliance about it. Not another typical New York show where the crowd is too self aware, too cool to unwind and let the music take hold of them. Not like the Terminal 5 show earlier in the week where the Black Lips challenged the Raconteurs status as monsters of rock and people just talked over them and tried hard to resist the urge to tap their feet.

It was one of the best shows I have been to in ages and it was so about the venue.

I look forward to many more sweaty fun filled nights there.


DETAILS:

MARKET HOTEL 957 Broadway @ Myrtle enter on Myrtle Bushwick, BrooklynJMZ - Myrtle, L - Jefferson, G - Myrtle-Willoughby


-- MYSPACE --> http://myspace.com/markethotelnyc

Time keeps slipping into the future...

I have been a horrible blogger of late. I never seem to be able to sit down and tell my tales and I should... I have had much intrigue, travel and adventure in my life. God, I could write days on my experience of having roommates in New York...

The Horror, The Horror, I have seen.....

In fact, I just got over a batch of normal ones - nice, well mannered, not trying to steal from me roomies. A few minutes of peace... But good news for plot content... The crazies are back in my life.

Anyways, I need to start to be more disciplined and begin to spin my tales.