Lykke Li “Can I Kick It?”

Lykke Li, yes you can!

Check out this pint size singer cover Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It” into Lou Reed’s “Walking on the Wild Side.” Love her. Peep the new video for “Tonight” at the Round Table.

Social Media and Music…

Merry Christmas Eve all. This will be a brief post, but wanted to share something pretty cool with you that happened today. I work in digital communications, therefore, I’m (obviously) an advocate of social media and networking with folks via various sites. For the last year or so I’ve been a fairly frequent user of Twitter, a microblogging site.

In the beginning, Twitter was mainly a tool for me to connect with different PR industry folks to stay on top of news, trends, and be part of the overall conversation. By connecting with different people, I was exposed to their web of followers (friends and colleagues), who in turn, I started connecting with as well.

Today, I was corresponding with some folks when I saw a musician named Aaron Zimmer chatting with social media guru Chris Brogan. Aaron was offering up his new album “Live Wires” for free to any and all, so naturally being a music fan, I jumped at the opportunity to download it. Given it was a slow day at the office, I took it one step further and tweeted at Aaron – asking if he’d like to guest blog on The Round Table, a music blog I run with some friends. Aaron graciously accepted my offer (thank you!) and through one quick message we were able to help spread the word about Aaron.

It’s one of those moments where as an advocate of social media you can sit back and smile. Though the ability to connect with someone like Aaron (even Chris Brogan) may have existed just a few years back, it was still fairly unknown, whereas today it’sa more natural occurrence. Pretty cool stuff.

Be sure to check out Aaron’s post at the Round Table as well as visit his personal site: www.aaronzimmer.com

To download Aaron’s new album, visit: http://www.aaronzimmer.com/music/livewires.zip

Britney Brings The Circus…

Full disclosure – I was never a Britney fan. I mean, I’m a pop music fan, so I guess in some respect I could appreciate Britney Spears in her hay-day, but still, I never owned a CD. I can’t tell you how many arguments I had with die-hard fans back when predicting her over-saturation in the media would eventually lead to her downfall. Rather than sit back and say “I told you so,” instead I felt a tad bit guilty because being a pop music fan, I fed into that demise. We’ve watched the rise of Britney, the fall, and of course as she hit rock bottom only to come full circle to potential rise again.

We all know she’s never been a vocal superstar, heck, most days she’s lucky if she can actually lip-sync properly to her own tracks. So what do I find appealing about her? She’s an entertainer. Good, bad or indifferent, she has entertained us since ’98 no questions asked. Like the perfect toy only to be tossed aside when something more shiny and new came around. We built her up, only to break her down  and once the guilt became too much (even for us masochists) we found a way to slowly put the pieces together again.

Part of our repentance is to cheer Britney on as she gears up for one of her (more) anticipated album releases in “Circus.” Yup, it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek realizing that for the most part, Britney is willing to laugh along with us with Larry Rudolph, long time manager playing ringleader. “Circus” is another all-star list of producers from Bloodshy  & Avant to Danja and of course pop impresario Max Martin aka the man who brought us “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” What’s the difference this time around? Well, it seems Britney is an active participant in the process, not a passive one like she was with “Blackout.”

So far, “Circus” delivers. It’s along the lines of what we’ve come to expect from Britney as far as sound up-beat tracks about wanting to dance (in various forms), but at least she is present in the songs – not just incoherently ad-libing her way through. Needless to say, I’m pretty pumped for the album’s release – more so for the upcoming MTV “documentary.” Just wish she’d begin it with a throwback to “You think you know, but you have no idea….”

Be sure to check out “Circus” – streaming now at Imeem.

Jesse McCartney: “It’s Over”

Slightly embarrassed mortified by my recent love of Jesse McCartney. First off, even though he is technically 21, he still looks 16 to me. Secondly, his songs are kinda corny – doesn’t have the swagger to pull of a white boy doing pop infused R&B. Third, this video is pretty pointless — yet I can’t stop watching it.

With that said, enjoy the eye candy. It makes Tuesday that much more tolerable.

13: The Musical…

Last night I had the opportunity to check out 13, the new Broadway musical from Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years and Parade). 13 is about teenagers trying to navigate life as they know it — the usual — puberty, crushes, and cliques.

At the center of the show is 12 (soon to be 13) yr old Evan played by Graham Phillips. Evan is a Jewish kid from New York who moves to a po-dunk town in Indiana after his parents decide to divorce. Naturally, the living shake-up causes turmoil in young Evan’s life, especially centered around his upcoming Bar Mitzvah. Evan is smart, quick-witted (thanks to Phillips great comedic timing), but an outsider nonetheless. In trying to get in with the cool crowd, Evan risks alienating the friends that accepted him outright — outcasts Patrice (Allie Trimm) and Archie (Aaron Simon Gross).

The show itself is short in comparison to other Broadway musicals – clocking in at 90 minutes without intermission – but it still felt lengthy at times. Not to knock the show, but I’m 27 so the sounds of pubescent boys singing gets to be a bit much on the ears after a while. The on-stage band is composed of all teenagers, which keeps true to the shows overall theme of showcasing talented up and coming stars. The songs are standard JRB, which fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics, but definitely not his best work. Impressively, the young bandsters managed to navigate JRB’s music with ease and confidence.

Though the show is centered around Graham Phillip’s character Evan, the stand out talent is Allie Trimm as Patrice. This girl has some serious singing chops with potential to have her name in lights for a long time coming. She plays the sweet girl-next-door type perfectly, but her cute factor makes it a bit difficult to imagine her actually being a true “outcast.” For teens, Trimm and Phillip’s chemistry worked nicely, especially during their duet on “Tell Her,” which gave me chills.  

Other standouts were Al Calderon (as Eddie) and Malik Hammond (as Malcolm). This comedic duo played the best buds of Brett (Eric M. Nelsen), the oh-so popular kid with no brains that Evan desperately sought the approval of. Calderon and Hammond kept the audience laughing on cue with quick one-liners and of course the occasional politically incorrect joke. Even a quick swipe at the original tween-teen musical creator, Disney.

Overall, 13is a good show with incredible potential. You can’t help but be jealous watching these ridiculously talented kids perform to sold out crowds of adoring tween/teen fangirls who shrilled each time any male character stepped on stage. However, if you’re out of the teenage range, borrow a younger cousin or neighbor’s kid to take to the show or you’ll just look like the weird creepy person in the audience.

For more on 13 check out the show’s social networking site at www.13fans.com or www.13themusical.com to download videos.

Janet Jackson +Ernie Halter…

So, the day has finally arrived (again!). I’ll be seeing Miss Janet Jackson tonight at Madison Square Garden aka MSG in NYC. Obviously, I’ve been amped about this show for a while. The MSG date was one of the shows she postponed back in September due to her bout with vertigo, so I’m relieved that the date has finally come back around.

Having seen her in NJ about a month ago, I can honestly say this is one of her best live shows ever. Seriously. The setlist is no joke, 30+ songs, not medleys/snippets, SONGS. Her choreography is on point and for the first time in a while (back to Janet days), she’s actually performing live vocals throughout the show. Needless to say, I was not disappointed when I saw her in NJ.

However, seeing her at MSG will be a true treat. MSG is the mecca for performers here in NYC. I’ve never had the opportunity to see Janet play the Garden, so I’m pretty pumped about it. As a warm up to the show, I wanted to share another of my favorite artists with you: Ernie Halter.

I’ve wrote about how brilliant Ernie is in the past, but this takes the cake. In honor of Janet Jackson day,  I just had to share this amazing acoustic performance Ernie put together.

Here’s a little “Nasty Boys,” while you patiently await my update (and pics) post concert.

Bad Blogger of Late…

Sorry ya’ll. I’ve been such a bad blogger as of late. I’ve been so preoccupied with getting our music blog, The Round Table, (plug plug plug…) running consistently that I’ve totally abandoned this site. Well, not totally, I have logged in – attempted to blog, but then got side tracked. With that said, here’s a few updates on life in general.

Janet Jackson – As you know, I’ve been amped for this tour for months. I have front row tickets (NJ) and 10th row (MSG) tickets for her concerts in the area. As always, someone is f-ing with me upstairs. Janet’s come down with some mystery illness and has postponed dates left and right. The MSG date has been moved to November 1st, but miraculously the NJ date is still listed for this Friday. Guess we will see what goes down – but knowing my life and my luck – there is NO WAY this tour is happening. Worst part – if she cancels the tour – ticket holders get a refund but lose out on all the tax/shipping and handling fees, which means I’m out a good $150. Ridic. Needless to say, I’ll be the most depressed person ever.

New Phone – My beloved BlackJack is no more. He was a good soldier — lasted 2 years, but started to show signs it was time to move on. I loved him dearly, but the constant shutting down was freaking me out. So, I made the tough decision to purchase a new phone. I’ve been torn for a while on which device to get, but I drank the kool-aid and went with an iPhone 3G. Do I love it? Yes! But, I’m deathly afraid of scratching it and/or dropping it – so it’s somewhat hysterical that I have a touch phone that I refuse to touch.
NYC Food and Wine Festival – Took my mom to the NYC Food & Wine Festival here in Chelsea. We bought tickets to a few food demos with Tyler Florence and Bobby Flay — my two favs! It was awesome. So much fun. After the Bobby Flay demo we hustled over to Chelsea market for a book signing with the two guys. I met Tyler and my mom met Bobby. Feel free to check out pics from the event at my Flickr page.

Janet Jackson’s Official Set List (Spoiler)…

Alright kiddies, the day has finally come and gone and Ms. Jackson officially opened her Rock Witchu Tour in Vancouver last night. You know I’m not one for surprises so I had to go ahead and check out images and set list from the show. Concert attendees said Janet performed for 2 hours and 30 mins, that’s a ridiculous amount of time if you think about how much dancing that chick does in a show. Needless to say, I’m soooo excited for October to roll around. Yup, I’m seeing her in NYC at Madison Square Garden on October 16th followed by front row tickets to see her at Izod Center in NJ on October 17th. Insane.

Here’s the final setlist from last night’s show (don’t read if you like being surprised!)

Intro
Pleasure Principle
Control
What Have You Done For Me Lately
Feedback
You Want This
Alright
Miss You Much
Rhythm Nation – Interlude
Never Letchu Go
Come Back To Me
Let’s Wait Awhile
Again
So Excited
So Much Betta
Nasty
All Nite (Don’t Stop)
Rock With U
Together Again
Young Love
Say You Do
Don’t Stand Another Chance
Doesn’t Really Matter
Escapade
Love Will Never Do (Without You)
When I Think Of You
All For You
Got ‘Til It’s Gone
Call On Me
That’s The Way Love Goes
I Get Lonely
Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)
Any Time, Any Place
Discipline
Black Cat
If
Rhythm Nation
Luv
Band/Dancer Introductions
Runaway

*Picture courtesy of Associated Press – Janet Tour Rehersal

Other images from last night’s opening show can be viewed at Janet-Xone Flickr page.

VMAs: I’m Over You…

Dreadful. That’s the one word I’d use to sum up this year’s VMAs. Really, that should come to no surprise after last year’s horrific show and my post-VMAs round up. (Myspace blog sucks, so you might have to search for post). We’ve been down this road before, VMA night is like my Oscar night. It’s the ONE big award show I look forward to every year (way less this year after last year’s debacle, but still…). Why the VMAs? Because I am the MTV generation. I grew up on MTV, for better or worse, some of my earliest childhood memories are linked to music videos and of course the award ceremony.

Truthfully, I didn’t have very high expectations going in last night after hearing the performance line-up, Lil Wayne, Jonas Brothers, Paramore, TI, Rihanna (way TOO much of her). Then of course there was all the Britney hype and hype it was. Will she open? Will she perform? Will she crash and burn? The countdowns…the teasers…the spectualation all for nothing. Britney opened, she took part in bland skit with (sometimes funny) Jonah Hill, but after 15 seconds we got the point. Then they showed Brit Brit walking from her dressing room to the stage only to announce Russell Brand. Boooorrring…

That’s not a knock on Brit, it was nice to see her looking at least somewhat happy and sane. It’s just to say that MTV billed it to be so much more, anyone watching couldn’t help but be disappointed. So the real opening act was Rihanna performing “Disturbia” with dozens of dancers wildly banging large glow sticks. Huh? I don’t get it. Then Rihanna floated in the auditorium on some giant cake only to reveal a less than flattering outfit. Problem is, Disturbia has no words other than the chorus so it was a wasted effort – only enjoyable part of the performance was when the band went into White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” Poor Jack White.

Fast forward through a somewhat amusing monologue by Brand who apparently is not a fan of Republicans or the current President of the U.S.. Then of course he latched on to the Jonas Bros purity rings and never let go. No really, it was the only thing he rambled about ALL NIGHT LONG. We get it Russell, you like sex, we just can’t tell which gender you prefer it with.

Unfortunately, Brand didn’t knock the Jonas Brothers for the one thing he should’ve — their performance. I felt like I was watching Sesame Street – as the three of them sat on stairs and sang some acoustic rendition of “Lovebug” or something to that effect. After 2 long minutes of pre-pubescent screeching by Nick, the stage opened to reveal a full on band and the Jonas Bros screamed the remainder of the song as young girls and gay boys. I don’t get it. I’ve jumped on the bandwagon of a lot of random pop acts in my time, but the Jonas Bros, I just don’t get them at all. It’s not for lack of trying either.

Let’s speed this along… Lil Wayne ran around the audience with his pants falling off (wearing a belt mind you!), while grabbing his crotch and choking over the words to his own song leaving him inaudible through most of the performance. T-Pain joined him, but lip-synced. Really, rappers that lip-sync piss me off more than anything — Yup, that goes for you too, T.I…

You know what, there was so much bad, let’s just focus on the few highlights:

Britney winning her first VMA, then second, then third. Hoping these weren’t awarded to her out of pity, but either way, she was pretty, classy and humbly accept her award with a genuinely sweet speech  (did you ever think you’d see those words together when describing Britney of late?!)

Pink. She performed her single “So What” on the backlot studio and it was amazing. Now THIS was a performance worthy of VMA show opening, too bad it can about an hour and half too late. There was excitment, stunts, fire, a sexy costume reveal, and oh yeah, and LIVE singing. Can’t beat it.

Travis Barker and DJ AM – but more so Travis Barker. The dude ripped it on the drumset. I would’ve much preferred to listen to him bang away to random hip-hop songs all night than watch half of the performers take the stage.

Sadly, Britney reclaiming her career, Pink tearing it up (as always), and a drummer were the only worthwhile portions of the 2 hour and 15 minute show. There was no Britney performance and no sighting of MJ or any Jackson for that matter. In Russell Brand’s opening monologue he noted MTV’s storied past, but how the show was all about the future. Well, if last night’s show was any indication of what’s in store for music – we should all be worried. I mean, even Christina Aguilera lip-synced, ’nuff said.

Here’s some friends who live-blogged or tried to at least:

www.imbringingbloggingback.blogspot.com

www.music.consumerhelpweb.com

Janet Set List Posted…

Miss Jackson, it’s been a long time coming (still 2 months out), but I’m ready to Rock With U. Never a Perez Hilton fan, but have to give him some props for somehow obtaining this (alledged) set list for Janet’s upcoming tour. It’s a hand written list, 3 pages long — we’re talking about 30 tracks spanning all Janet eras.

Obviously the set list (as it stands) highlights more of her past hits (If, Rhythm Nation, Control, Alright, That’s The Way Love Goes, Black Cat, Nasty, etc) but she still managed to squeeze in some newer stuff (Feedback, The 1, etc).

Who am I kidding? Janet could stand on stage and not say a word and I’d pay a pretty penny to be there. Needless to say, I’m pretty pumped for this tour. I’m most excited to see her perform “You Want This” off of her Janet (’93) album. The video was pretty sick — don’t believe I’ve ever seen her perform it live so that will be a nice surprise.

So here’s the set list — can’t wait!