Dueling Ferris Wheels from the awesome Elawgrrl's photos of the Florida State Fair this year. [Charles] Friday Forecast is a fun little recurring blog post that I write every Friday at lunchtime to help plan three awesome things for the weekend. My recommendations often lean heavily on my neighborhood of Seminole Heights with music, art, and getting out the main thing. Thanks for checking it out.
Tonight at New World Brewery there will be a band that I've heard some pretty solid recommendations for and I'm excited to see how they sound in Tampa's favorite small rock venue. Hank and Cupcakes are a duo from NYC that remind me a little of an indie rocker version of Matt and Kim. They have really great beats but in this case the female drummer is doing the singing duties as well. Replace Matt's frenetic keyboard with a guitar and this band still manages to skirt the edge of dance and rock. Definitely this is one of the do-not-miss shows at New World this year. Plenty of hype around this group will keep them from playing a venue this small next time around.
Forecast: 75% chance multiple people might actually dance at New World tonight...
Saturday is probably the perfect day to check out the Florida State Fair. The weather should be awesome for trying such new fried food ventures as Maple Bacon cupcakes and what I'm really excited about - Red Velvet Funnel Cake! Right?! Gotta try this! The other thing I like about the fair is some of the more old-fashioned exhibitions you can check out. Apparently in Cracker Country on Saturday a guy is going to teach how to make a banjo out of a gourd. Also they have horse riding demonstrations and plenty of ag-related animals to visit. One year I saw an entire room of flower breeding competitions. Its an interesting part of Florida that you can see at the State Fair and I always try to catch it. Also, one of my work buddies is in a Southern Rock band called Boss Hawg and I promised I'd try to see them play the beer dome from 1-4. Turn it up guys...
Forecast: 90% chance you will see someone carrying a ridiculously over-sized stuffed animal from winning on the midway.
Looks like you might as well accept Sundays in the hood as a tradition at Ella's and get on over there. Sunday you'll hear local artist Kaleigh Baker who has a solid bluesy sound and storytelling style that is hard not to like. This should be exactly the perfect soundtrack for sipping beer under the trees and hanging with friends. The opening band is Shak Nasti who are described as a funky fun big band with influences of jazz, afro beat, pop, and funk that should definitely get the party going. They are well known to Florida audiences as they have played tons of shows and festivals in the area.
Forecast: 75% chance you'll completely lose track of time at this one and will have to call and have somebody pick you up...
[Charles] After following Elawgrrl around this weekend to see just how she gets her awesome live shots at concerts, I was definitely feeling like it was time to read my Digital SLR's manual and see what I'd been missing. I'll post separately about the concerts themselves but today I wanted to point everybody over to a great post she did a month or so ago about adding a fisheye lens to the Iphone.
She has been using the Iphone for her 365 photos in 365 days project this year and decided to make some modifications to the camera to push the creativity beyond what Hipstamatic and some editing can do. The post was great and showed a simple way to take something that's cheaply made and modify it so it is useful. If you want to see how her 365/365 project is going, check it out here -
Here's a shot she made after properly installing the lens with an Iphone (I still can't believe some of the shots she gets with her phone)
Photo from Elawgrrl of Sleepy Vikings and friends at Summer Jam [Charles] This Friday I've got to make some decisions. Why does it seem like every weekend we get more and more good bands here? I don't want to sound optimistic about the scene here but I kind of am. Pretty cool to have enough great shows to cause trouble deciding which I'm going to hit -
So anyhow the Forecast is:
20% chance I'll drive the bridge and see Matt and Kim with Fake Problems although it really sounds like a great show and my buddy Elawgrrl will probably almost certainly be there snapping away with her music hungry lens.
35% chance I'll head over to the Brass Mug to catch Injustice System and their speed punk with the rocktastic Andy Stern on drums - who you may also know from Porch Fire or many of the other bands he's been kicking a$$ with for years.
50% chance I'll head down to The Bricks in Ybor to hear Sleepy Vikings in support of Glitter of our own Tampa Bay Derby Darlins and her mounting hospital bills from being hit in an accident while riding her scooter.
Any one of these shows will be worth spending an awesome Friday night out in the Bay Area so really folks just pick one, get out of the house, and you can't go wrong. Hope to see you out!
Photo TSM - Ernie Locke of Nervous Turkey - "Preaching the Gospel"
[Charles] One of my friends, April, asked me a couple of weeks ago if I had heard any good music lately. I replied with a deer in the headlights look that surprised myself as I heard the sound of thousands of cd's crashing to the floor inside my head. Of course I have tons of music I'm listening to at any given time, but sometimes I have a hard time getting it narrowed down to favorites. I threw out a few titles but then I thought - why not? Get it together and put out a summer mix! I love doing it every year at the end of the year so surely I can come up with a dozen or so new bands and hot tracks that have wiggled their way into my inner jukebox... Easier said than done of course, but here it is two weeks later and I'm pretty psyched about it. I've listened to it a couple of days in a row on repeat and feel like it will at least open some ears and lead to a nice spin for most of my friends. Enough exposition already... here's the tracks -
1. Tokyo Police Club - Breakneck Speed
This a good track to kick it off - it feels like summer with the windows down on those few days it is cool enough to roll em down here. It has that "Let's go ride bikes" feeling that Heather refers to on her blog. This one found me a couple of months ago with simultaneous recommendations from DJ Fuego and Heather of I Am Fuel, You Are Friends. If you don't know Heather's blog then well I understand you're busy but come on even Nick Hornby is a fan so I'd give it a shot. As for DJ Fuego - check her out in town when you get a chance, she's got really awesome musical taste layed over a super chill personality sort of like a tasty Vegan dog with extra smokin hot sauce.
2. Mumford & Sons - Roll Away Your Stone
Everybody says "If you like the Avett Brothers then you'll like them." That may be true but it is really selling both bands short. I love, love, love the Avett Brothers and am unashamed to call them my favorite band right now. They are amazing live and on albums. Mumford and Sons sort of sound like the Avetts do now, but they are nothing like the raw and ragged Avetts of early albums that we fell in love with. The comparisons come more from the passion and feeling that both bands wear on their sleeve. They both are unashamed to share their feelings about love, life, and death. To me they diverge where the Avetts songs come across as intimate rural church tunes and Mumford and Sons songs feel like big church hymns that could fill an ancient cathedral. They seem a little more ambitious in their themes and attacks and that's okay, I'm happy to put both of their cd's on heavy rotation.
3. Gorillaz feat. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul - Superfast Jellyfish
I love Gorillaz music and this track really nails the vibe that makes them so awesome. It is catchy and groovy with a not too hidden message about the way our world is headed these days. Two spins of this song and you'll be singing along, trust me.
4. The Dead Weather - The Difference Between Us
I trust my buddy Stacey for recommendations and I trust Jack White to push the envelope so here you go. I like this track and didn't like a lot of the others on the cd. It does grow on you though and it feels like that dark vibe that seems to overshadow the news this summer.
5. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Paris (Ooh La La)
This is another catchy song by a new "chick rock" band but trust me, they don't pull any punches and guess what you'll be singing along with this one too.
6. The Ettes - Crown of Age
Missed these ladies at Heatwave this year, but I like this song and love rolling down the windows and hitting 11 on the volume. Enjoy this one, just try and not crank it, I dare you...
7. Passion Pit - Little Secrets
These guys put out a cd that has been beating around in my head since late last year but they were just in town at the Ritz and I missed it. Oh well, I'm guessing seeing this one in person might not improve it because I'm guessing they draw a crowd of annoying frat boys and hipsters. Sounds mighty fine in my car though.
8. Sin Fang Bous - Catch the Light
Heard this one day and it just caught my ear. I like it, it has a nice outside summer feel to it. This one would be nice on the lawn at Bonnaroo or Suwannee.
9. Josh Ritter - Change of Time
I like this guy and picking one song is sort of unfair but really this song is sad and sweet and hopeful all at the same time and isn't that really what life is like anyway?
10. Good Old War - Coney Island
I just blogged about these guys being in town at the Orpheum but I originally had them slated in for this spot before they cemented it at the show. Like I said in that post, these guys are comfortable and fun and heartfelt, and this song makes me think about how a town can break your heart and drag you back just like Tampa does all the time...
11. Gaslight Anthem - The Diamond Church Street Choir
Thank Elawgrrl for this one although I'm glad she insisted I check it out! Everybody wants to compare these guys to Springsteen but who cares? They are really good! This song is exactly what true American music sounds like to me (not that garbage that Toby Keith and the like pander with). Its rock and outdoors, maybe the sort of thing you'd sing along and picnic to and then they'd shoot some fireworks off on the 4th of July. Definitely worth giving a chance to listen.
12. Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness and the Scream
These guys actually sound more like the Avetts than most bands compared to them, but I'm really hooked on their sound. This one just haunts me for some reason. I heard them one morning on WMNF and had to find every song I could of theirs. Hope you like it.
13. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
I'm a late adopter on Arcade Fire but I have some misgivings about bands with too much buzz from that hipster crowd. That being said, this is pretty awesome. I'm still letting them grow on me but I know it's just a matter of time.
14. Josh Rouse - I Will Live On Islands
It's like he bottled Paul Simon in Africa and uncorked him in the BVI. I love this song. It is impossible not to smile and sing a long to this story about a guy wrongly imprisoned and who just wants to be set free. It's a great island vibey one and might even have you shaking your hips a bit!
That's it folks. I don't know how to post all the files and all that but if I figure it out I'll post em here. Until then, let me know if you want a copy and I'll "burn one down" and give it to you when I see you. Hope you enjoy the mix and that it livens up your summer...
Photo from Elawgrrl (although technically I'm pretty sure this was taken by yours truly on her Hipstamatic phone camera)
[Charles] As soon as I got to the Good Old War show at the Orpheum I knew I had made a good choice with my after hours freetime on Friday night. Maybe it was the lack of an extremely packed house that helped my comfort level with crowds, maybe it was the smiles from my buddies Nicole and Andy that spotted me on my way in, and maybe it was the post-rock alt to alt-country three piece band that was playing their hearts out on the stage to a respectable cluster of dedicated fans. In any case, I was immediately relaxed and happy and, with a grin that would be hard to recreate on Monday morning, I skipped my traditional first trip to the bar and headed right in to the front of the crowd with the ultimate rock expert Nicole.
"Elawgrrl", as she is known to most of the hundreds of bands that she has photographed in her "other job" of live music photog, was my ticket to a good spot in the crowd. We snaked our way through the crowd from a not so obvious sideways tack and even though I had to squeeze and push a little, most everyone was pretty forgiving about letting me through. I was about three people back in the center and I was completely surrounded by fans of the band that knew every word. I was heartened to see that they weren't the sort of annoying frat boys that typically latch on to bands like this, but more of the thoughtful rocker guys and girls that have a soft side and aren't afraid to sing along with PBR in hand to lyrics like "All of my dreams, hope they won't leave me too."
I loved it. I loved being in the middle of all of it. The drummer comes around at one point and grabs an accordion for a few songs, and the front man even shook the maracas during one song (this led to me and Andy's post-review snickering about the fact that it takes some maracas to shake the maracas in a band.) It does though, and these guys were completely comfortable with who they were. They seemed completely happy to play to a small crowd in a small bar. They played "Coney Island" - the song that even I knew - and they were in no hurry to shut down when the show was over. They wandered out into that warm gooey center of the crowd and headed up a sing-a-long to a few well worn crowd-pleasers including Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia" with their Tampa Bay friends.
As we chatted at the bar after it was all over, I couldn't help but wondering aloud to Andy and Nicole that if you weren't so worried about having millions of fans around the world, wouldn't it be nice to have 100 really dedicated fans in every town? Thanks Good Old War for a really great night - maybe we should move that number up to 101 in Tampa - I'd be happy to sing along with you guys anytime...
Here's a blogger that's posted "Coney Island" if this post got you wondering what they sound like...
Dueling Ferris Wheels from the awesome Elawgrrl's photos of the Florida State Fair this year.
