MuFin.com

As many people are using pandora.com these days, another music discovery site appears to be giving them a run for their money!!!!


Enter mufin.com


No, it's not a cutesy little name it actually stands for Music Finder.

clever right?

so what makes this website different or even better?
The difference from other music recommendation services is the use of a sound-based approach to create musical suggestions. The basis for this is the further development of musical fingerprinting technology created by the world-famous Fraunhofer Institute. But what does “sound-based” really mean?Mufin knows around 40 individual musical properties like rhythm, tempo, and instruments for each of the songs stored in its database. When mufin claims that songs are similar to each other, this means that they have similar musical properties – leading to the songs sounding similar and enabling you to discover new music by sound.


start exploring & enjoy!

bark for your records.

Joel Scilley, Oakland based carpenter turned turntable creating artist? interesting.

so what is Mr. Scilley into?

building unique audio furnishings, including racks, stands, speakers, and audio-visual centers.

Check out his full line of products which can be purchased around the $1,000 range on his website below.

$$$ is not object when you can own a conversation piece right?

http://audiowood.com/index.html

the stories of a barista

A 50 something woman walks away with a large mocha blended in hand. As she walks, noises pour out of her lips in the form of "Mmmm... ooooh... mmmm". This 50 something reaches the doorway to exit, pauses, turns around and runs back to the barista. While two inches from the barista the mocha happy customer exclaims, "when you reach my age, this is better than sex!" and proceeds to vacate the building.

The barista, now bewildered and unsure of what to say, laughs with enthusiasm and asks herself, "Did that just happen?" yes, yes it did.

Oh, my magical elf.

The Family Jams - Trailer from kevin barker on Vimeo.
if you know me, you know i love me some magical elf. and by magical elf i mean Ms. Joanna Newsom.


coming soon to your inter-web rental stores what looks like a fabulous documentary of the freak folk king and queen, Devendra and Joanna.

watch the preview above, it looks pretty damn good.

oh and bc im pretty vain, below is a a picture of myself with my wonderful elf, circa 2005?

Long Beach = the great melting pot.

LONG BEACH STATE 2009 STEP SHOW.

yuuup. i attended. i have no problem being one of four white people in a crowd of 10,000.


below you will have a glimpse into what i experienced this past saturday. the biggest critique i had on it all... the hosts. not only did they have lame and unwitty comments throughout the afternoon but their version of "hyping" up the crowd was by doing a "role call".

roll call you ask? let me give you an example.

the host would decide the audience needed to get "hyphy" so he would yell out "where my scorpios attttt? where my taurus' at???? where my CANCER'S ATTTT???"


and yes, it got worse. "where my 21 and over atttt?? where my 25 and over atttt? where my 30 and overr ATTTT?" and people were actually cheering.


kafjdlaksfjasl;fajfda. but again. the dancing was on point.

skip a head to the 30 second mark. it will be worth it.

Jazz is so sweet.

if you love jazz as i do, or just love a great documentary, you must watch Ken Burn's PBS special simply called "Jazz".

Its a breathtaking view through America's history and the art of improvised Jazz.
Jazz is a 10 disc series and is available through instant viewing on netflix until April 1, 2009.


enjoy the journey!

without dreams we have nothing.

blah blah blah... financial crisis... blah blah blah... recession. we all know what pile we are standing in. but maybe a little optimism would help occasionally?

so what do i do when i am feeling blue. i look at travel sites and think of the places i want to go.

i found this pretty sweet flight search engine called

www.tripeedo.com

here you can put in pretty vague info about the date and where you want to go and it will literally pull up 10 websites at once for your viewing and comparing pleasure.

its fast and easy and I LOVE IT!


now i just need to find a get rich quick scheme and i'm set!!! here's to optimism!!!!

Seat Karma

The summer concert season has begun. You missed the on sale for your favorite band and now, poop, its sold out. So what to do? If you are in need of a ticket service where you do not have to sign your soul to the devil then SeatKarma is the place for you. Really who could resist that little blue man above? I certainly couldn't.

http://seatkarma.com/

Location may be considered important enough to bear repeating three times, but money's so important the O'Jays said it 30x in a row and people just started to dance. Ensuring you get the best of both when it comes to tickets, Seat Karma.

Thrillist - Seat Karma
Aiming to create "the ultimate live search engine", Karma's a freakishly simple sports/concerts/theater aftermarket ticket tool that plops avail seats onto an interactive venue map, making it a snap to get the right price on seats so close you can actually smell Christina Aguilera's skank. Plug an artist/venue/city, and SK'll peruse 200+ brokers (StubHub, TicketsNow, SeaTix...) and return the pertinent tickets; select your desired event, and a seating map'll flood w/ green dots representing for-sale tix, which reveal details on pricing and number available when rolled over, pathetic stool pigeons unable to stand the harsh interrogation of your bad cop mouse. You can further refine your search via slider scales controlling the max you're willing to pay and how many tickets you need, extremely helpful when doing cost-benefit analysis of lifelong friendship vs $50.

True to their name, Karma's pledged to donate 10% of their pre-tax profit to cancer research and other charities every month, a move they promise'll have no affect on ticket prices -- good thing, since you'd sell your precious body for the love of money money money money.
http://www.thrillist.com/nation/2009/03/11/seat-karma?launch=lifelong_friendship

EtchU

I just picture some house party in los feliz, an art dude walks in, finds an Etch A Sketch chillin on some table.... and the light bulb goes on.

why not sketch people on this old school toy and everyone will go crazy!


well this is what i pictured to have happened.

Cut to EtchU Productions and now you can hire this guy to come to a party and sketch your friends within the LA/Hollyweird area.


i have to admit i'm thinking of sending in a photo.

get all the info here: http://www.etchu.com/

Fingerprints "No Go on the Coachella Tickets"

so i had finally scrapped together enough pennies to purchase my Coachella 3 day pass. I drove my boo-tay over to fingerprints in the LBC last night and what do i find? They are sold out. "Sold out? Really?!"

Fuck this recession, people need to see them some bands.


I called again today. what sounded like a very ummm intelligent(?) employee relayed to me, "ummm ya we're sold out. don't know when we will have more. no one knows anything or when or if we will have them". sweet.

UPDATE: they have more!!!! get em before their gone!

Portland Gem: Northrup Inn - Boutique Hotel

Located in the NW corner of the would be secret city Portland, OR lies Northrup Inn. Also known as the Rose Quarter district, Northrup Inn has an amazing one of a kind design with immense eye candy at every corner. Not only does this hotel sport an uber arty design (which sold me upon entering), but the location is unbeatable. Right outside the hotel lobby you are greeted with the (free) city street car and within blocks you have multiple restaurant and bar choices, many of which are vegetarian oriented and a bike rental shop. Especially for a first time visiter of Portland, one will find this hotel charming, welcoming, and easily accessible to everything. The staff is pretty amazing as well, helpful with any questions a guest may have about the area or what to see or do. Most rooms include a full living area and kitchen for your pleasure and of course Trader Joe's is just a step away. Finally when writing this review i must mention that Northrup not only provides continental breakfast, but supply their guests with waffle makers and all the batter you need to make a blissful breakfast.

I can't wait to go back!!!!!



all you can eat candy!

http://www.northrupstation.com/

website love of the day.

are you struggling to find your local music venues and good bands that are coming to town?


visit:

http://effingmusic.com/

here you can type in your city and pull up everything around you!!! its pretty sweet.


enjoy.

KCRW Dance Par-tay.

KCRW to Throw Massive Dance Party @ Park Plaza Hotel
By Ryan - Tuesday March 03rd 2009
Let it be known that April 11, 2009 shall be your chance to see damn near every single music-spinning radio face the Santa Monica station has to offer at one place and one time, including Jason, Garth and the newly-added face of Henry Rollins:
On Saturday, April 11, KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) will host RadioActive, a Spring dance party featuring the station’s own skilled selectors at The Legendary Park Plaza in Downtown Los Angeles, a beautiful space that is not normally open to the public. Tickets to RadioActive go on sale to members only on Thursday, March 12 and will be available to the public starting Tuesday, March 17.

Tickets are $35 in advance and will be available at KCRW.com/radioactive. All proceeds will go towards supporting music programming at the Santa Monica-based public radio station.

This is the first time KCRW has put on a dance event featuring station DJ’s even though many of them have headlined some of the biggest venues in the world independently — from the dance mecca of Ibiza and Central Park’s Summer Stage in New York to Coachella and the Winter Music Conference.

“All of our DJs are immersed in the live music scene and this is a chance to rally their considerable talents and fans for the station they all call home. We rarely come together in one place at one time and the staggeringly beautiful Park Plaza is the best place to do it,” said KCRW Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic Jason Bentley.

The venue will feature four unique, themed rooms:

Dub House Disco Ballroom - Jason Bentley, Raul Campos, Liza Richardson, Jason Eldredge

Neo-Soul Streetbeat Sound System - Garth Trinidad, Jeremy Sole, Anthony Valadez, Mathieu Schreyer, Aaron Byrd

World Folktronic Jazz Lounge - Henry Rollins, Anne Litt, Mario Cotto, Eric J. Lawrence, Jason Kramer

Grand Voodoo Salon - Tom Schnabel, Chris Douridas, Dan Wilcox, Gary Calamar, Michael Barnes

DETAILS:

WHAT: RadioActive: A Dance Party for KCRW
WHEN: Saturday, April 11, 2009
WHERE: The Legendary Park Plaza in Downtown LA– 607 South Park View Street
TIME: 9pm to 2am
TICKETS (all general admission):
Tickets sold through KCRW.com/radioactive
Thursday, March 12 - KCRW member-only pre-sale
Tuesday, March 17 - Public on sale
$35 in advance / $45 at the door (cash only)

**This event is 21 and over

LBC artist spotlight: Vince McKelvie

one of my favorite local artists is a dude named Vince McKelvie. Currently studying and creating insane pieces at the famed Cal Arts in socal, he is an artist not to be pigeon holed. Mr. McKelvie recently recreated a website for his portfolio which includes still, moving and interactive art. follow the link below and enjoy.

ps. i hear he is a killer on the dance flo.

http://vincemckelvie.com/

Welcome

and enjoy the ride!!!