assume vivid astro focus

Clearly I was sleeping. I've seen this art, but never knew who did it. Now I know.

HOUSE MUSIC ALERT

With Galleria Saturdays my boys at Deep Boston have created a unique event that merges art, djing and live music and this Saturday they're bringing me and Cnyce in for a guest appearance. With such a diverse range of talented DJs and musicians over there, it will definitively be a night full of delicious flavors. Hit their site for free admission and the artist reception with complimentary champagne and hors d'oeuvres (9:30pm to 10:30pm). Guest list closes at midnight after which a $15 cover charge will be in effect. Come support your boys!

eat my Bodega

Big up Oliver Mak aka Makko aka Gucci Vuiton aka Mr. Bodega. The man with the busiest weekend in Boston. BOOOO!

speaking of SNAP

You can't top the early 90s

snap yo fingaz like temptations

While Crunk music spins its next chapter in the Yay Area the winds of change have swept through the dirty south. Houston's still got its slowed down style, but in the Dirty's capital ATL the new fire on the street is SNAP MUSIC. Groups like D4L and DFB have had huge snap music hits and Lil Jon is getting his snap on with his newest track "Snap Yo Fingers". Even Mr. Collipark originator of his own Intimate Club Music sound is up on SNAP: "The freshest movement going on right now is the finger-snap movement," he said in a recent interview with MTV. "We're getting that regional sound back with these finger-snap records. Atlanta is commercialized now with Jon getting so big, Ying Yang Twins getting so big. It's like with anything — once the mainstream gets ahold of it, the value goes down. Now we're having a whole new movement with the snap music."

Ghost Riding

According to my Oaktown buddy, Ghost Riding is the highest form of Hyphy.

Infamy

Anyone who is interested in DJ culture has seen Scratch and now director Doug Pray (who also did a doc called Hype! about grunge music) has turned his attention to one of hip-hop's other essential elements: Graffiti. His new film Infamy premiers in Boston tonight and tomorrow at the Coolidge Corner Theater as part of the Independent Film Festival, which also has a ton of other exciting movies playing so check the site. I'm going Saturday night thanks to Judd, once again coming through with the hook up!

Speaking of scratch, there's another DJ battle going down this Sunday at the Paradise.

a message for Google

Thank you...

for pointing out that not only is April 20th a national holiday for hippies and college students, but it's also the birthday of one of my favorite artists, Joan Miro. I have always been a fan of his bold use of shapes and colors in his paintings, but his sculptures are what I really love. Especially, this one in Chicago.

No thank you...

for teaming with up Sony Pictures to create an interactive contest to help promote The Da Vinci Code. While I'm all for innovative new forms of new media marketing, Google had to go and require contestants to register for a Google account in order to compete. Sure I have a gmail account, but this just seems like another step in their evil plan for world domination.

Marc Ecko bombs airforce one

How did Marc Ecko get close enough to tag airforce one AND how did he not get arrested? Check out his new Graf website to see the video and find out.

The next DJ trend: SOUL THROWBACKS

New round of DJs getting press in the Boston Globe for playing Soul classics. Cool gimmick and I like soul, but next big thing? Click for story

Step to my Dub

While many people still haven't even heard of it, Grime has been "the next big thing" to come out of the UK for awhile now, but with only 2 artists, Dizzee Rascal and Lady Soveriegn getting any recognition stateside and the only real excitment coming from Hipsters, Grime has clearly not blown up. Now here comes Dubstep, the next bastard child of UK's dance music scene. With a history that goes back further than Grime and a growing following in the US's Drum&Bass underground it seems like Dubstep might actually have some staying power. Click here for Martin Clark's take on the sound and its history. Click here for the Wikipedia definition. Click here for US Dubstep ambassador Joe Nice's profile on SoulChampion.com.

2 Years of Thank You!

Thanks to everyone for making Reunion Thursdays 2 year anniversary such a crazy night and thanks to The Rub for killing it!


Click for Reunion.Click for The Rub.

Yelp.com takes Boston

Personally, I have always secretly wanted to be a restaurant critic, as a trendsetter and food lover it seems like the perfect job. Thanks to Yelp.com, I now have the chance to live out my dream as the Boston community manager for this growing website. For those that don't know, Yelp was started in San Fran about a year ago and is built on real people's reviews of local businesses. From resaturants and bars, to boutiques, to spas and salons, to doctors and dentists you can find what you are looking for on Yelp. The best part is that anyone can sign up and WRITE their own reviews with tons of people actually reading them and sending compliments. We had our Boston launch party earlier this month and it was great and I'm excited for Yelp's Boston take over. Check me out on Yelp!

Record stores stay alive...

Not just about vinyl, but the Boston Globe had an article today about independent music stores staying alive despite the rise of the I-Pod. There is a small section about vinyl. My favorite quote captures why I will always love digging: "[Before MP3] Shopping was a hunting expedition, almost as much of a thrill as the music itself." Read the article.

Hyphy

New music/dance movement coming out of the Bay Area that finally has E-40 getting his props in the mainstream (his new album is selling like nothing else in his 15+ year career and he's dropping a DVD about the movement). The dance style is called "go dumb" and it's being called the Bay's version of Crunk, but it also reminds me of the Crumping and Clowing dance style out of LA made popular in David Lachapelle's film: Rize. More info and videos in this MTVNews article.