jinners: why do you come here? and why do you hang around?
who is jinners?
why do you come here? and why do you hang around? ...it was just to see, just to see all the things you knew, i'd written about you... oh so many illustrations...
jinners is my nickname... hopefully in an affectionate sorta way.
DIRTY ON PURPOSE RELEASES "HALLELUJAH SIRENS" TODAY!
I am delighted to announce the official release of Dirty on Purpose's debut full length album, Hallelujah Sirens on North Street Records. In celebration, they've added a new song from the album to their MySpace page -- "Your Summer Dress." Enjoy!!
Also thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Thanks to everyone who likes and supports the music. You can buy copies at your local record store or online:
haystack and insound present... july artist summer series @ club midway
for those of you who don't know who haystack is, they are an online music community whose motto is "music powered by people." they are launching later this month, and to celebrate, they've compiled a bunch of great artist showcases with cavalier king in residence at club midway. i helped book a few of the bands and the DJs for the shows. i hope to see you there. spread the word!
i went to see persephone's bees at crash mansion on friday, and they were pretty sweet. fun. girly. sexy. fun! the lead singer has sass. the guitarist is great and more experimental than i thought he'd be. the bassist is a goofball, but in an endearing way. the drummer deals out some surprisingly sugary harmonies. you probably have heard them in the cingular commercial. their song "the city of love" has been bouncing around in my head lately. columbia is all about them, and i can see why.
though i missed them at tiswas this past weekend, i'm going to see them again tonight at mercury lounge. they're playing with the grates, the lovely feathers and tokyo police club at mercury lounge. come out!
i want to send a big CONGRATS and smooches on the cheek to the wonderful peeps in the big sleep (yes, a lovely rhyme there) for signing to french kiss records. syd is a lucky man. sonya, danny and gabe deserve much success!!! their album, son of the tiger, will be released september 19, 2006. it's been in my player for so long now, but still kicks serious ass.
Thursday, June 22 FRICTION @ Sin-e (150 Attorney Street @ Stanton) 9 The Unsacred Hearts 10 Levy 11 The Big Sleep Open SPARKS bar from 8-9
Filter is presenting an advance screening of Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man tonight @ the Film Forum. This is a very limited seating engagement so we are doing things a little different. The first 10 people that reply back to joseph@filtermmm.com will receive guaranteed seating for themselves and a guest. He will reply back to confirm admission and email you a pass for film.
Screening Information Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man June 19th, 8pm at the Film Forum (209 West Houston Street NY, NY)
so check out this weird strawberry motif that stalked me everwhere on saturday....
i woke up on saturday, craving strawberry cream cheese. i'm not sure if i dreamt about it, but... i really wanted a toasted bagel with strawberry cream cheese. where better to get one of these than the wonderful bagel store on bedford avenue. so i'm heading out the door and my lips are feeling chapped. i see my strawberry chapstick on the shelf and take it with me, generously applying it on the way to the bagel store. we get there and the strawberry cream cheese is not in stock. however, they do have strawberry bagels. i order that. it was aiite.
we continued walking towards mccarren park, and there's a huge fair going on with little boutique-type sellers in cute tent stores all around the circumference of the park. we walk to fred flare's tent and i see a pair of sunglasses just like the ones i've been looking for... and they are $5. of course, i buy them. (remember, i needed to ditch the sunglasses from the future that jay was making fun of me for.) the guy who sold me the sunglasses then hands me a little freebie gift. it's a tiny cylinder with a strawberry sticker. inside? strawberry seeds. the bottom of the container says "thank you berry much."
later mike and i go grocery shopping and end up buying goya strawberry juice (yummy) and strawberry preserves to spread on our sunday morning bagels. hey, if you can't buy strawberry cream cheese, just make it yourself, right?
even later that night, mike had to go see this band called faces on film at mercury lounge. they sound like modest mouse... i think sometimes, a little too much like modest mouse. but at least they're working on finding their own voice. anyways, we met their manager and he gives us a copy of their cd...
strange? coincidence? does it mean anything? who the hell knows. judging by this record cover, i hope it doesn't mean my strawberry obsession will end up killing me like that corpse. i googled "strawberrys symbolize" and came up with this link to christian symbols. the site has a lot of religious references, but the last line talks about how the strawberry can represent humility. does the cd art perhaps allude to how humility can be the death of you?
then when you google with "strawberries" spelled correctly (haha), it brings you to a page that talks about the history and lore of strawberries. who knew there was so much meaning with this yummy fruit. the site says that the strawberry's heart-shape symbolized purity, passion and healing. it also symbolized venus, the goddess of beauty, so perhaps the cd cover art means beauty and vanity will be the death of you?
ok i think i'm reading too much into this. but still somewhat facinating and amusing, eh?!
anyhoo... i leave you with a cute photo of ziggy yawning. he recently lost his left fang. ;-( but his nose reminds me of a strawberry.
the other night i went to the songwriters hall of fame induction ceremony in new york and saw a bunch of great people perform including stevie wonder who made me nostalgic with "my cherie amour" (honoring songwriter sylvia moy) and pete yorn who did an amazing cover of "blowin' in the wind" (honoring peter, paul and mary) (yes, later recorded and made famous by bob dylan). alicia keys presented the starlight award to john mayer. strangely, whoopi goldberg presented to peter, paul and mary. paul shaffer did a medley of thom bell hits -- one of my favorite motown hits -- "i'll be around." one of the unexpected highlights was when they honored kris kristofferson. country star trace adkins came out to sing the kristofferson hit, "sunday mornin' comin' down," and then i suddenly had a crush on his johnny cash like attitude and enormously deep voice. wow! i also didn't know kristofferson had gotten cash's attention by visiting him in his home in a helicopter. that takes balls. they also honored will jennings -- the guy behind the titanic hit, "my heart will go on."
i went to see sonic youth for the first time at cbgbs last night, and all i have to say is that i think i am in love with kim gordon. i couldn't believe mark ibold was playing bass with them. i think he looked even giddier than when he played with pavement. he was all smiles. but hey, so was i.
yesterday was one of those joyous days. it was the kind of day you dream will pop its head into new york. sunny. breezy. smiley. it was also a day of creeping out of hibernation. i saw so many people i hadn't seen in a while, and even met a few incredibly nice new ones. it was pretty awesome all around!
first, mike and i stopped by the loose record bbq at union pool but got there too late to enjoy any food. however, there were tons of people out there enjoying the company of the affable jay good times, who referred to my sunglasses as the future. it's true. my sunglasses are pretty funny, but i haven't had any time or money to shop - c'est la vie. mental note: get a new pair of sunglasses.
then we ran off to wish audrey of melody nelson a happy birthday. it was so nice out. the wind was rushing through everyone's hair, people were wearing their superstar shades and audrey looked brilliant in royal purple. happy birthday!! laura took some photos on the modern age...
afterwards, we went to town hall to see cat power. we got there a little too early... in other words, we ended up catching the opening act who was this older gent with a proclivity towards wild and fast jerry lee lewis and the serious and brooding sinatra. it was quite strange. the sinatra-like songs were better than the jerry lee lewis-like songs.
cat power's band, the memphis rhythm band, was quite large - taking up the entire stage at town hall. she had two backup singers, a string section, a horn section, a pianist, guitarist, bassist and drummer. they were introduced as "the memphis rhythm band and cat power." but of course for the first song there was no sign of chan marshall. the band played an instrumental that made me feel like i was in a bar in the french quarter or something. i wondered if cat power was ever going to come out and sing. eventually she did... strangely hopping barefoot and flapping her arms like she was a chicken.
ok, so she's kooky. once she started singing though, i found her voice simply magical. but i kept getting distracted by her fidgeting on stage. i think it would have been less invasive to her performance if the fidgeting jived with the lush beauty of her music. but it didn't. she just seemed so friggin' uncomfortable performing. i also didn't like her backup singers. they sang like the fake backup singers on a parody of a kids game show. they also sang louder than cat power in a way that wasn't complementing her delicate, soft voice. at several points she used jazz hands (sparkle motion!) and even did the milli vanilli dance (blame it on the sunshine). perhaps that's her charm. i don't know. i was starting to fall asleep and ended up leaving the show before the end.
ok this is crazy news, but i'm going to spain to attend this music festival, benicassim. the line-up includes bands like scissor sisters, tom verlaine, pixies, the strokes, echo and the bunnymen, franz ferdinand, morrissey, depeche mode, placebo, art brut, nada surf, the rakes, we are scientists, yann tiersen, mojave 3, the walkmen, madness and more! the best part is that it's by the mediterranean sea in valencia.
i've never traveled outside of the u.s. before so i'm ecstatic! i will be taking a million photos and trying to interview some bands while i'm out there. so much fun!!!! i almost can't believe it.
hello this sunday june 11 is record release party at daddys that means FREE RECORDS. every record a dj plays they will give away featuring djs all the way from monster island and many special guest djs playing the likes of hawkwind, steppenwolf, hank williams, blacksabbath, chuck berry, the ventures, patsy cline, led zepplin, t rex, deviants, well you get the picture, really great stuff. it starts around 9:30 and goes more or less until closing. so please spread the word, come, bring your friends and get some free records.
* for those of you who don't know, daddy's is a bar in williamsburg and is the roger sisters' bar. go to the graham avenue L train stop.
so you want to know why i never update my blog anymore... my schedule has just been bananas. i know by now i sound like a broken record, but whatever. i'd still like to share what's going on in my crazy life...
also here's the video for "light pollution" - it was directed by george's brother, gregory wilson, and produced by the awesome daniel brothers. see it below:
amp camp says:"...this band has an entirely different perspective than its contemporaries; DOP's ambition is more palpable, and their songs go farther. The influences are there, but the lasting effect is one of inimitable freshness." (review by fernando royale)
filter mini also had some nice words to say on the new album: "Aggressive and soft, quiet and loud, Dirty On Purpose disarm the year-long anticipation for their full-length with tracks as fulfilling as a lengthy dorm-room snogging session. Slow when it needs to be, full of robust melodies and swirling with competing nuances worthy of second consideration (think soft hair, a little rough stubble, some musk around the collarbone), Dirty On Purpose’s Hallelujah Sirens is sure to score more than a few couples getting fresh for many make-out moments to come." (review by catherine adcock)
i know how hard a time people have had in describing their music. but today we came across a review that also truly seems to get the essence of what dirty on purpose is. the music blog, good hodgkins, however, really seems to get it: "As far as I’m aware, space rock and dream pop essentially mean the same thing yet a distinction is necessary for one very good reason: space rock begat dream pop when it reached the point where it had more in common with 60s pop music than straight-ahead rock and roll. Listening to Hallelujah Sirens - the debut LP from Brooklyn four-piece Dirty On Purpose - it’s hard to tell exactly to which sub-genre they belong. At one moment we’re greeted with a hammering guitar assault that borders on shoegaze; in the very next instant - within the same song, no less - we’re met with a jubilant trumpet hook. And that, really, is the essence of Dirty On Purpose: the influences are all present and accounted for but it seems they’ve all exchanged clothes. What we’re left with, then, is something unmistakably fresh."
so now that the album is done and some early reviews are pouring in, i thought i would announce the details for the new york cd release show, siren music festival and the san diego street scene! see below...
"HALLELUJAH SIRENS" CD RELEASE SHOW Thursday, June 29, 2006 @ Mercury Lounge 217 E. Houston Street New York, NY $12/$10 Advance
The Village Voice Sixth Annual SIREN MUSIC FESTIVAL Saturday, July 15, 2006 @ Coney Island Brooklyn, NY
We are very excited to be playing at the wonderful Siren Music Festival at Coney Island this summer along with some amazing bands including Stars, Art Brut, Tapes 'n Tapes, The Stills, The Cribs, Celebration and She Wants Revenge. We're looking forward to the corn dogs, the sand, the water, the Cyclone and most of all, hanging out with our friends and fellow music lovers. The best part? It's FREE!! For more information, visit http://www.villagevoice.com/siren.
SAN DIEGO STREET SCENE Saturday, August 5, 2006 @ Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, CA
We are also looking forward to playing San Diego Street Scene in August with great aritsts like Kanye West, Modest Mouse, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Bloc Party, The Futureheads, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, and about a million more great bands! For more information or to purchase tickets to the festival, please visit http://www.street-scene.com.
