Of all the versions of “Umbrella” (damn you Rihanna for bringing this horrifically catchy tune into our collective popular consciousness), this one’s my favorite. Ignore the shitty slideshow video.

Scott Simons - Umbrella

This post has been months in the making. DC rapper WALE is bigggg. He’s doing huge things right now. Being Mark Ronson’s hand picked protege just solidifys his place within Hip Hop up and comers. Many people are comparing him to Kanye and Lupe when they first launched. I believe it. Although he’s defintely got his own swagger and style (much different the lupe and kanye), the hype around him is comparable.

Check out his myspace page at myspace.com/wale202. he’s got a free mixtape you can jam on (also Rhymefest has got a mixtape you can download too!!). Personal favorites are the remix of Rehab, WALEDANCE, and Good Girls.

Dance rock outfit The Slants have stolen my heart. They’re on tour right now and will be traveling down the west coast. make sure you come check them out. In response to their …seemingly offensive name (they are Asian American):t

Isn’t the band name, “THE SLANTS” an offensive racial slur?
Yes and no. It’s amazing that the only people that seem to be offended by this term are non-Asians! We’re proud of who we are and aren’t afraid to say that ‘yes, we do have slanted eyes.’ Although we aren’t a socio-political band, we do feel strongly that Asians should be proud of their cultural heriatge, and not be offended by stereotypical descriptions. Stand proud, stand strong - it is why our strongest support comes from the Asian community itself!

Check out their music at Myspace.com/theslants

I know, sometimes I blog on here with what are really bloated comments

Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt and Courtney, is getting some buzz beyond just her heritage.

She has just appeared in Harper’s Bazar as the stars of Evita, Grease and Beauty and the Beast.

Obligatory Youtube video! Because 60% of America is sub literate.

I’m not the one planning the concert, I’m just planning the greatest hotel suite party you’ve ever been to. If you’re a fellow FR*A blogger from out of San Diego I’ll waive the $30 hotel chip in. Someone needs to put together a FR*A mixer syrysly!
Myspace Invite

Click here for concert tickets

Behind gold masks, black hoods and NY hats, stand MSTRKRFT - the unstoppable DJ duo famous for hard-hitting remixes of electro rock hits. From ’90s house to electro rock and indie pop, this edgy duo uses the art of production to turn nostalgic beats into new-age remixes guaranteed to get any crowd on the dance floor.

MSTRKRFT is known for top remixes such as Metric - Monster Hospital, Annie - Heatbeat, Kylie Minogue - Wow, Chromeo - Tenderoni, Justice - D.A.N.C.E., and more.

An international cult following has hyped MSTRKRFT up to modern legends of the stage, all in their own right, and now the dark duo is coming back to San Diego on Thursday, February 28, 2008, thanks to Fieldtrip Entertainment - the ones that move you.

Fieldtrip Entertainment brought San Diego MSTRKRFT in late November, 2007 at 4th and B. This time around, Fieldtrip has graduated to a new era of professionalism and respect in San Diego, and is hosting the first ever local show at the Hard Rock Hotel.

MSTRKRFT, otherwise known as former musician Jesse F. Keeler and producer Al-P, both of Death From Above’s 1979 fame - will take over the Legends Stage at Hard Rock. Alongside the men behind the gold masks will be LA Riots from Los Angeles, Shark Attack from San Diego, and Walter Meego from Chicago.

The Fieldtrip Live Art Show will feature interactive live artists Exist 1981, Tocayo, Restitution Press, SPRFKR, Eli Sipsas, and Nick McPherson - creating a one of a kind mural amid the music and experimental light and video production show.

The luxurious Hard Rock locale is about to meet its match, as the Fieldtrip crowds push the posh out and let a new era take control. This show will sell out quick!!

With bold colors and materials, custom-designed furniture and integrated media centers, Hard Rock Suites’ three connecting spaces — bedroom, bathroom and living room — create a significant sense of space and openness, and give guests separate and distinct areas for plugging in or chilling out.

The entertainment area is a party waiting to happen. Crank up your music through the 42″ LG flatscreen HDTV with integrated video and sound systems with plug-and-play technology that connects your personal audio player (iPod or MP3), video camera or notebook computer to the media hub. The green-room inspired m-Bar refreshment center includes generously sized bottles of boutique spirits, make-your-own margarita kits, gourmet market munchies, intimate apparel and choice music. State-of-the art lighting allows you to set the mood.

The unpredictable floor plan splits the bedroom and lounge with a sensually-styled bathroom that features a separate shower and water closet. The shower’s frosted glass walls lend a voyeuristic hint; the ceiling mounted rain shower washes away the day’s — or evening’s — stresses.

Bedrooms are sensual and lush. Vibrant colors beckon, textured materials energize and luxurious amenities provide the ultimate in comfort. Halo-illuminated beds with Hard Rock’s custom Sleep Like a Rock bedding and 300-thread-count cotton linens beckon. Close the sheers that separate the bedroom from the rest of the suite for privacy and comfort.

Capturing the authenticity and irreverence that is rock ’n’ roll, these contemporary-styled suites are where style meets substance.

I finished reading the biography of Kurt Cobain, Heavier Than Heaven written by Charles Cross, just in time for what would have been his 41st birthday. My conclusion?Kurdt (that’s how he liked to spell it) was a jerk!

Cortney Love had the crowd call him worse things when she read his suicide note to them.

I was not an active and avid fan of Nirvana when their singer Kurt Cobain killed glam rock with his nonsensical screams and pop structured punk grunge tunes. I liked their music though, and I remember wondering,

“Why is he singing about girl’s deoderant?”

As I listen to the Nirvana albums today, I realize that I know practically every song. I guess you can’t be a teen in the early nineties and escape the impact Nirvana had on that generation.

I try to imagine what I would have done if the idol of my own teen years, Tori Amos, had committed suicide while I was in the midst of using her music and voice as a resonator for my young soul. I would probably have sobbed in grief silently under my bed covers with her album on repeat, or maybe I would have smashed her cds on the street in effigy at the betrayal. Whatever the physical actions, I know for sure that the piercing and torturous scream in my head would have been:

“WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!….”

That’s exactly what Courtney Love screamed as she waded her hands in the blood of her beloved dead husband and saved a piece of his shotgun shattered skull. His suicide was simply a pattern that he had repeated his whole life since his mother left his father when he was 7 years old. Before that event, he was a little boy that didn’t want to sleep because he didn’t want to leave his family. After that, he was a self-destructing, relationship sabotaging jerk.

To be fair, Kurdt wasn’t all bad.

He was an animal lover who took in strays and loved having a bathtub full of turtles in the middle of his dwelling. His home always smelled like the bottom of a litter tray.

He was incredibly respectful of women, more feminist than the feminist punker girl love interest that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was written about. His song “Polly” is as poignant a song about rape as Tori Amos’s “Me and A Gun (and a man on my back).”

He really, really loved his parents and sister, which is why he reacted so strongly to the breaking of his idyllic home life. He cared deeply for his grandparents and other relatives.

He really, deeply, truly loved his wife and daughter. Why else would he name his albums In Utero the year after his marriage and daughter’s birth?

Though a drug addict, he called Courtney and cried when drug addicts worshipped him at a concert. He couldn’t stand being an icon for drug use.

Kurdt was charismatic, drawing people into his life with his sincere kindness and empathy as well as the siren song of his art.

But he was a control freak. He would create something real and genuine then quickly destroy it himself before someone else could. It was his way of protecting himself from loss. He broke everything precious to him the way he smashed his guitars. He had attempted suicide multiple times.

As I read the biography, I had thought that I would become so invested in its main character that I would be very sad for him when he died. Unexpectedly, there were three other moments instead that were intensely painful to vicariously witness. First was a short conversation he had with his estranged father where they actually exchanged an awkward and heartfelt “I love you.” Then there was the moment when he held his daughter for the last time and whispered into her ear before he went off to kill himself. Finally, there was Cortney’s reaction to his death. She had covered herself in layers of his clothes that still had the lingering scent of his body. Like all deaths, it’s the ones left behind that suffer.

Cross did a great job allowing readers a glimpse into Cobain’s life and mind. I’m a bigger fan of Nirvana after reading the book. As I read his description of Kurdt in the actual act of suicide, the image of him abandoning family, friends, and millions of adoring fans who had linked their hearts and souls with his caused me to whisper under my breath:

“How could you?”

Granted it wasn’t like all of his family, friends, and fans were perfect people, but it is heartbreaking to see so many hearts break.

I was 14 years old when I was first captivated by the progressive music and voice of Tori Amos as she screamed into my ears through the walkman headset: “…those demigods with their nine-inch nails and little fascist panties tucked inside the heart of every nice girl…” (Song: Precious Things).

I knew exactly what she was talking about.

This past Christmas I received a wonderful gift from my dearest friends–I went to my very first Tori Amos concert 15 years after I bought her first album.

It was the last show of her tour for her newest album, American Doll Posse, and lucky for me she went all out performing over 20 songs over more than 2 hours of wonderful live music bliss.

When I arrived at the Nokia theater and my friends revealed the surprise concert to me, I was trying to play it cool and not get all fan-gril about it all. I bought a concert t-shirt and the elegant program, sat down, and tried to calm my anxious heart.

As she began to sing, I was so moved that tears would occasionally roll down my cheek as I laughed and sang along with many of the songs that I knew so well from my years as an adolescent girl.

The real killer, though, was when she sang the song she called her anthem: “Silent All These Years.” As I floated in the midst of this song that I had sung along with countless times, I soon found myself sobbing uncontrollably. It felt like a lifetime of solitude welled up in me all at once. Tori Amos live is quite an experience.