120 posts tagged “kcrw.com”

Director Nanette Burstein reflects on being part of the “John Hughes generation” and bares her heart with stories of love and loss in a chat with DJ Chris Douridas. The Academy Award-nominated documentary director (for “On the Ropes”) shares her thoughts on the movie that broke open the world of soundtracks, sings a few bars and reminisces about life as a young NYC artist, and highlights a song that never fails to motivate and move her.

“American Teen” made a big splash a Sundance this year and will be in theaters this Friday. Chris was the music supervisor and Jason Bentley contributed an awesome Frou Frou remix to the soundtrack.
 
KCRW’s Guest DJ Project

p.s.: iTunes has featured the Guest DJ Project on their podcast page under "New Releases."

RR

 

When the City of Santa Monica called us a month ago to tell us about an all-night art event they were planning and asked if we would participate, we were IN. I mean, we love free events that we can invite our listeners to. Little did we know that the event they expected 15,000 people to attend would draw closer to 100,000.

The crowd was as diverse as any I’ve ever seen and I think that may be the biggest success of the night. Unfortunately, having that many people in one place also had its problems. When Garth Trinidad kicked off his DJ set at 10pm, there was already a group of dancing folks pressed up against the barricade. By the time his set ended at midnight, there were bodies as far as I could see (from behind the DJ booth) and people partying it up in the sand below. (some camped out in the middle of our logo, see photo by Beth Topping).

Raul Campos took over after midnight with an old-school house set and the crowd was really digging it. Sadly, the cops pulled the plug a little after 1am, much to our dismay. (as Raul said, you know it’s a good party when the cops have to shut it down. He was having a blast.) We knew the crowd was full of listeners who heard about GLOW through us and we hated the idea of letting people down. Jeremy Sole’s records never even got to touch the turntables.

The good news is one word – possibility. Los Angeles has a lot of public space (particularly, Santa Monica has a lot of sand) that is not utilized for events like this. I love that tons of people came to Santa Monica from across Los Angeles for an art/music event. I think there are ideas for the future floating around in a lot of people’s heads. 

Thanks sincerely to everyone who came out. (more photos below)
RR

p.s. Did anyone actually see the grunion run?

 

I first saw married duo Mates of State at a day party during SXSW in 06. I really enjoyed watching Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel on stage together. They were facing each other with a keyboard and set up drums between them and it was really intense and wonderful. For their MBE set today, the couple brought a cellist and violin player to round out the band and their baby was hanging out in the control room during the show. (Their 4-year-old sat this trip out.)  “Re-Arranger” is a clear favorite for me and it’s off their new album. Check out the whole set here

RR

Sunday’s salute to “women in rock” at the bowl was dominated by the powerhouse that is Sharon Jones. Her cover of James Brown’s “"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" brought the house down. It was the highlight of my night, although her dance moves (with and without heels) were a close second.

As far as visual imagery goes, Feist has some of the most interesting artistic backdrops I have ever seen. They were being created real time by two women, a projector, and an array of finger paint and props. My eyes were glued to that screen for a good part of the night. It was magical and something I have never seen before. One thing I learned about Feist is that she is an excellent guitar player. Watching her rock out on guitar during “1,2,3,4” made me proud to be a woman. “I Feel it All” is my personal fave and I loved sharing that moment with thousands of other people. That song just makes me happy.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Sharon Jones’ band the Dap Kings, you might have heard their soulful funk on a little album called “Back to Black” by an artist named Amy Winehouse. If you’re a soul fan, you HAVE to check out artists on Daptone Records. Everything they put out is full of heart and soul and played by incredible musicians – I’m a big fan of Budos Band and The Sugarman 3, myself.

RR

The Real Tuesday Weld calls their style “antique beat” – melding jazz, pop, film score sounds, and electronica into a sonic mix.

Personally, I love how it sounds old and new all at the same time. I’m the biggest indie rock fan around, don’t get me wrong, but I LOVE when a band like this comes through the studio. Dressed up in snazzy suits and with a clarinet that reminded me of a Woody Allen movie, they had it going on. Mastermind and singer Stephen Coates tells Nic their album “London Book of the Dead” was inspired by the birth of his child and death of his father. It's interesting stuff.

If you are in LA, check out a free show by the band TONIGHT at Grand Performances Downtown hosted by Chris Douridas. And hear/watch the set here.

RR

Earlimart played their set this morning in their pajamas. They also had the sound of chirping crickets between songs. But other than those two oddities, it was exactly what I expected – a great performance by one of LA’s most promising local bands.

Earlimart are growing and growing fast. After spending three years working on their last release, they decided to do their follow up the opposite way – book four weeks of studio time, go in without any songs written and treat it as a “science project.” Ariana continues to have a bigger role as a singer/songwriter on “Hymn and Her” and Aaron Espinoza is as solid as ever. The songs are more personal than their previous work. It’s good stuff. Take a listen to the new tunes here.

RR

DIGG Founder Kevin Rose is kicking off a new phase in the Guest DJ Project as we go weekly! New sets will now be available every Wednesday AND the program will also be offered as a download and a podcast available via iTunes and other formats. You can see the sets HERE and sign up for the podcast HERE.

Past shows, including interviews with “Hancock” Director Peter Berg, Conan O’Brien, Padma Lakshmi, John Cusack and Danny DeVito, are also available as a podcast.

Kevin Rose, a true technology visionary, shared songs that fuel his late night work hours and the track that was passed around the DIGG offices until the whole staff became fans.

Up next, “American Teen” Director Nanette Burstein reflects on being a part of the “John Hughes generation,” Comic book and “Heroes” artist Tim Sale talks about his code song for finishing a comic, and "24" Actress and Comedian Janeane Garafalo shares songs and stories from her past with humor and sincerity.

RR

I never posted a blog about our KCRW happy hour meet up at Botanica in NYC last week. It may have been because it was, well, happy hour but it was a really fun event and I got to meet a bunch of KCRW fans and some of our volunteers. We do KCRW Presents shows on the East Coast too and our lovely volunteers help us out by hanging up posters and such at venues. It’s kind of like putting out a “Welcome Home” banner for our fans in other cities. I took very few photos at happy hour (again, not that surprising) but hopefully I will have a link to all the t-shirts Snerko designed on site.

I spent an afternoon at David Byrne’s newest project. It’s called Playing the Building and it’s exactly what it says. You play a building using an organ that is connected to pipes and other parts of the structure. It’s hard to describe but it was super cool (photos below)

And coincidentally enough, who do I see THAT evening at Damon Albarn’s Honest Jon’s Revue but David Byrne! The minute I saw him I knew I had to say something and he was super duper nice and friendly, as was his lady friend.  I figured it must have been meant to be -- it was an honor meeting him.

The building is right on the water. This is the view from outside and you can see part of another art project --  one of four man made waterfalls rising from New York Harbour. It’s the work of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson.

 RR

Sound Generation studio was abuzz yesterday as we prepared for Ximena’s U.S. radio debut. Her boyfriend (Omar from Mars Volta) dropped in to say hello, a reporter from Hispanic Magazine was plotting to turn a short assignment into a full fledged feature on the singer and, of course, engineers were running around to make it all happen. Ximena is from Mexico and was a child star but the 22-year-old currently only films movies once a year so she can focus on her music. I can’t speak for her acting but her music is PHENOMENAL. This could easily be one of my favorite albums of the year. Her voice is strong and sweet. I have no idea what she is saying (ok, I have a very vague understanding of Spanish since I grew up in Miami) but it doesn’t matter – the music translates a mood that I can pick up on. As Ariana said, it’s late night music.

I busted into the room as soon as they were done playing so I could get some photos as the band was celebrating their MBE AND U.S. radio debut.  Raul Campos got there just in time for a pic and said she stole the show at her Bowery Ballroom showcase the night before. Check out the live set

See you back in LA!

RR