Passion Pit- The Reeling

Blame It On The E-E-E-Economy

Too funny.  At the 1:07 mark, I swore it was really him.  The guy had the speach/mannerisms down.

I love this dude

VIMBY - DJ A-Trak

WMC In Pictures

Simian Mobile Disco @ Ultra, Day 2

Me, Kee-Won, Nob, Chris and Melissa @ AM Only Party

MSTRKRFT @ Ultra

Me and DJ A-Trak @ Bacardi Party

Surkin- Next of Kin

So Heartless...

Fire and Snow

Just been listening to this song a lot lately:


Snow Patrol- Set The Fire To The Third Bar ft. Martha Wainwright (download)

Mark Ronson @ The Highline Ballroom

Last night I went to the Highline Ballroom (a place that is quickly becoming one of my favorite concert venues) to see Mark Ronson perform. The concert was also doubling as the record release party for his new album, Versions. The original plan was to go with Kerel, but last minute, Vero asked if I could get her a ticket. Unfortunately the concert had sold out, but the venue was going to release a few extra tickets at the door.

Since I get out of work really early in relation to everyone I know, I went down to the Highline early to wait in line to get Vero a ticket. Right before I headed downtown, it started to pour, like torrential downpour. Having some time to kill, I decided to go running at the Reservoir. This might not have been the brightest idea, but I love running in the rain. Once I got to the Reservoir, I started doubting my decision. There were a handful of people running still, but most had better sense to seek shelter. As I ran beside the Reservoir, lightning cracked across the sky at a very consistent rate. The winds were thrashing the water in the Reservoir and painfully pelting me with rain. Even with all that, it was still a fun time. Nothing feels better than feeling like you are fighting against Mother Nature...and winning.

Anyway, after I dried off, I went to the Highline and waited in line for an hour to get Vero a ticket. To kill some time before Kerel and Vero met up with me, I went to Pizza Bar for a drink. I had never been to Pizza Bar before and may never go back.

Although Kerel, Vero, and I arrived late to the Highline, our timing was actually perfect; the show was just about to start. I had never seen Mark Ronson DJ before or play live for that matter (this was actually his first time ever playing with his live band in the US).

Mark Ronson thoroughly impressed me. I think he sometime can be brushed off as a trust fund baby DJ, but the guy is talented and respected. I think that was supported by some of the celebrities I spotted in the crowd which included: Jay-Z, Eve, Q-Tip, Jimmy Fallon, and Danny Masterson.

Ronson performed the bulk of his Versions and brought on many of the guests that appear on the album including: Daniel Merriweather, Santo Gold, Wale, Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet), Kenna, Tawiah, and Tiggers. Sadly Robbie Williams, Lily Allen, and Amy Winehouse were nowhere to be found, but Ronson made up for it by bringing Saigon onstage. I'm a huge fan of Saigon and would not have expected him to show up, but it turns out that Saigon and Ronson are good friends. Saigon even joked that he goes over to Ronson's mother's house on Christmas morning for tea!

Another surprising performance came from Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet. He was really energetic (and possibly drunk), stage diving and just really getting into the performance. He ended his set on stage with the crowd favorite, "California" (i.e. "The OC's" theme song).

Check out some reviews of the show:

NY Times

Variety

For more pictures of the show:

Caaaait's Flickr Page

The Return Of Jane Redux

Some more songs from Maroon 5's forthcoming new CD, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long." I've heard the whole album and its pretty amazing. I don't "buy" a lot of music nowadays, but I'll definitely cop this.


Maroon 5- Goodnight Goodnight

Maroon 5- Nothing Lasts Forever

Kanye West- Heard 'Em Say ft. Adam Levine (of Maroon 5)

Back To Charlie

Crazy story about fanatical fans, cyber-stalking, and identity theft (via Idolator).

Linkin Park's Mysterious Cyber-Stalker (Wired)

Excerpt:

"I know where your kids are," she told them one day when she called. "I have complete control of your lives."

On why she stalked them:

Why did you do all this? Dimitrelos asked. In flat tones, Townsend told him that she was bored. Her job at Sandia took about half an hour a day, and she was looking to pass the time.

The Return Of Jane

Maroon 5- Back At Your Door
(from their forthcoming sophomore album "It Won't Be Long Before Soon")

Put A Smile On My Face

Mark Ronson- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face ft. The Daptone Horns

Morning Glory

A couple of songs that have been on heavy rotation lately:


Freeway- Some Say Yes ft. Sleepy Brown (Produced By Chad West)




TI- Big Shit Poppin' (Produced By Mannie Fresh)

Currently Listening To...

I've been in a very pop/r&b mood lately. Here are two songs I keep playing.

Ne-Yo- "Because Of You"


Rhianna- Hate That I Love You ft. Ne-Yo

You take your girl and multiply her by four, now a whole lot of woman needs a whole lot more

This song makes me happy right now:

Mika- Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) via Sound Gymnastics

Maybe Next Time

Looks like I should have gone to the Justin Timberlake concert at The Garden the other night instead of scalping all of my tickets...

Justin Timberlake Concert

Justin Timberlake performs @ the Roseland Ballroom

So after the US Open, I went to see Justin Timberlake play at the Roseland Ballroom. This was his post-VMA performance, which meant that there was a high likelihood that he'd have a lot of guests performing with him. I went with Vero and the same girls that I went to AmsterJam with. I had originally bought tickets for me and Vero, but I was surprised that the other girls were coming, but I guess I should have known since Vero said that I was the one who got them the tickets. Just another piece missing in my memory of AmsterJam.

It took us a really long time to actually get into Roseland for the concert. The line snaked around the block. Even after some serious cutting of the line, we didn't get into the place until around 12 AM, even though we lined up around 10:15. And then we played the waiting game. Justin didn't take the stage until a little after 1 AM, but people didn't get as restless as they did at Kanye because there was a lot of celebrity watching to be done. Among those seen in the audience were Diddy, Usher, and Chris Brown. Another fun part of the pre-concert festivities was one of the girls standing in front of me (not the ones I came with) basically collapsing in the crowd. She was either dehydrated, drunk, or something else, but I ended up carrying her out of the crowd so that security could help her. Crazy way to start the concert.

When Justin finally hit the stage, the place went nuts. It probably would have been crazier if it wasn't an 18+ show, but never underestimate how loud a bunch of drunk 20-something girls can scream. He opened with "Cry Me A River" and threw in a few choice hand movements to confirm that he may still not be over his infamous break-up with Britney Spears. He then segued into "Senorita," one of my favorite songs of his.

(sound quality is pretty bad for all video clips so turn the volume down)

JT performs "Cry Me A River"

JT performs "Senorita"

Then he started to break out his new material, which like me, it seems a lot of people had already downloaded. He opened with "Damn Girl" and I knew that meant his first guest of the night would be appearing. As expected, Will.i.Am of the Black Eyed Peas came onstage midway through the song to perform his verse. People went crazy.

Will.i.Am performs with JT

JT and Will.i.Am perform "Damn Girl"

Then JT performed one of my favorite songs from his new album, "My Love." Of course, TI came onstage to perform his verse as well and the place lost it. To top that, JT jumped on the piano and accompanied TI as TI performed his own hit, "Why You Wanna." The best part of that performance was that after TI rapped, "So how you keep sayin' no with yo panties so wet," one of the girls in front of me (again, not the girls I was with), pulled off her panties and held them above her head screaming, "TI made my panties wet!" Fuckin' hilarious!

JT and TI perform "My Love"

TI hits the stage

TI performs "Why You Wanna"

After TI finished, JT ran through a bunch of other songs, including "Like I Love You" which included a brief interpolation of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and some new songs including "Until The End Of Time," "What Goes Around Comes Around," and my favorite, "LoveStoned- I Think She Knows."

Then he brought out the most unexpected guest of the night, JC Chasez, formerly of N'Sync. JT jumped on the piano as he accompanied JC who sang a new song, which I think is titled "Fire" and is produced by Timbaland. I wasn't sure if I'd really like that part of the performance, but I was quickly won over. JC can sing.

JT and JC Chasez perform "Fire"

The guests didn't stop. Next, Three 6 Mafia hit the stage to perform "Chop Me Up" with JT. At the end of the song, Timbaland appeared to rap his part of the song and then people went even crazier. Everyone expected them to perform SexyBack, but instead, they did a version of Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl" and the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps." I hate the song "My Humps," but I can't deny that its a great song in a club because girls go crazy over that song!

Then the lights went down and the Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" started pounding on the speakers. People went nuts. I guess this is the song of choice to get people going and dancing because Kanye played it at his show too. But that was just the warm-up as the song segued into SexyBack. People lost their shit and the place almost turned into a rave. Then JT and Timbaland slowed it down and did a go-go version of "SexyBack," probably the worst decision of the night, but that was fine. The concert was great, and maybe on of the best concerts I've ever been to. By the time it was all done, it was almost 4 AM, I was exhausted, and I had to be up in 3 hours for work.

Kanye West Concert

Tonight I went to see Kanye West perform at the Nokia Theatre in Times Square. The concert was more of a private concert since tickets were only sold to American Express cardholders, but thanks to Craigslist, I got tickets for the show and Kyle and I went.

Nokia Theatre is a cool location for a concert because it is small, which means you can get really close to the stage. I'd describe it more of a lounge/club setting than a straight concert venue. The crowd was not what I had expected. I've been to a lot of hip hop/rap concerts so I kind of have certain expectations on what to expect from the crowd. I wasn't expecting the same crowd as at the Wu-Tang concert, but the crowd at the Kanye concert was odd. It reminded me of Williams with most people looking like i-bankers and paralegals. A lot of people looked like they had come straight from work (this was at 11 PM). I guess this should have been expected from a show sponsored exclusively for American Express cardholders. (American Express is not exactly the poor-man's credit card.) To add to the Williams feel, Kyle and I ran into at least 10 people at the concert that we knew from Williams.

DJ AM spinning pre-show

DJ AM was warming up the crowd when we arrived. He was good, but no one really cared and he seemed to realize that and reciprocated with an equally disinterested attitude. I'm sure he's used to this type of crowd since he was a DJ-in-residence in the Hamptons this summer. After he finished his set, everyone assumed the concert would start. It didn't. It took so long that people actually started booing. Eventually, DJ Enuff from Hot 97 came on stage to introduce Kanye. He was so drunk, which he admitted, that they had given him a hastily scrawled piece of paper with what he was supposed to say.

Kanye hits the stage

Then Kanye hit the stage. Incredible. He brought so much energy to the stage and looked like he was genuinely excited to be there. He ran through a bunch of hits, backed by DJ A-Trak and some backup singers, a harp, and a string quartet. Then he brought John Legend on stage to perform "Ordinary People." I'll admit that I wasn't exactly psyched to see John Legend since he has a much more down-tempo vibe, but he was pretty good and his voice translates well to a live setting.

John Legend performs "Ordinary People"

Then the place went crazy because Common hit the stage (an unscheduled guest). He ran through a bunch of hits including "Go" and "The Light." Then he performed some stuff with Kanye and John Legend.

Common performs "The Light"

John Legend, Common, and Kanye perform

After that, I was pretty satisfied, but Kanye continued to perform some more of his hits and then the biggest guest of the night hit the stage, Pharrell. People went crazy. I like Pharrell as a producer, but a lot of his solo stuff is absolute trash. I'll give him credit, though; he sounds so much better when performing live. He ran through some of his new stuff with Kanye acting as hypeman. Then they performed "Number 1." At this point, Kanye was acting kind of funny. He actually seemed a little coked-out as both Kyle and I noted. And Pharrell, well Pharrell was eye-fucking the shit out of the girl in front of me. It was pretty hilarious because he kept staring at her when he sang and even mouthed some things to her. She was completely embarrassed.

Pharrell performs "Can I Have It Like That?"

Pharrell and Kanye perform (bad sound quality so turn the volume down)

Then they ended the concert, gave a spiel about how great American Express was, and left. Overall, a great concert though I could have done without the American Express "promos."

LoveStoned

To gear up for the Justin Timberlake concert on Thursday, I dug and dug and found an advance of his new album. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, at least as a whole album, but overall, it's pretty good. A large departure from his first album. Three choice tracks are included below. Just right-click and save. Enjoy!

My Love ft. TI

LoveStoned- I Think She Knows Interlude
(the 4:40 mark is what really got me to love this song)

What Goes Around...Comes Around

AmsterJam 2006

It felt like college all over again. I woke up, already exhausted from the night before (Wu-Tang concert), but with the thought that I needed to rally. Waiting to hear from Vero, who was most certainly hung-over as well, I took the hair-of-the-dog approach to wellness and pounded a few more beers. Then the call came. “Get your ass over here. It’s time to drink!”

Vero at AmsterJam

I made my way to some penthouse on the east side of town. It was the penthouse of a friend of a friend’s 40+ year-old boyfriend who happened to be out of town. As I walked into the penthouse, I was greeted by a grand piano sitting in the apartment entryway; the rest of the apartment was just as gorgeous. It was me, Vero, and a bunch of girls I didn’t know. Much vodka was had. I should have known then, when there were barely any mixers, but a lot of bottles of vodka, that the day was going to be rough. We proceeded to finish off a few bottles as we waited for one of the girls to finish emptying out her stomach from the night before. Fortunately, she rallied and we headed toward the ferry to Randall’s Island.

We arrived at Randall’s Island just as Busta Rhymes was ending his set. As we wandered around the park grounds, I already found myself disoriented. The heavy cloud cover and the imminent rain didn’t help much. We laid down a blanket near the stage and proceeded to drink some overpriced beer. Tego Calderon came on stage next and we laughed at the fact that no one knew who he was and the only time the crowd perked up was when they heard the beat for Terror Squad’s “Lean Back,” only to find that Fat Joe was not going to appear but that Tego was just going to mumble some more stuff, a la Reggaeton style. Still uninterested, we drank some more. Bad idea.

LL Cool J performs

Then LL Cool J came on stage. We all got up and rushed into the crowd and that’s when things get blurry. I remember taking the blanket with me, wearing it as a cape at one point, and then losing it in the crowd. I also remember completely losing Vero and the girls and finding some random guys who I ended up partying with for a while. The rest is an utter blank.

Right before getting on the ferry, I think...

Pictures from my camera suggest that I was all over the place in the crowd. I vaguely remember seeing Papoose and the Foo Fighters perform. But the next clear memory is of me waking up on the ferry back to the city late at night, soaked from the rain, being woken up by some drunk girl jokingly kicking me. I stumbled off the ferry, which was empty at this point, somewhat to the shock of the ferry workers. Somehow I ended up at home and in a lot of pain. I’m too old for this…