Thursday, June 11, 2009

Just Call me Miss Rollings


Even though I'm sick in bed today I wanted to post these because I'd dance to them if my body didn't hurt so much. 




SoCa reminds me of riding in Brooklyn cabs late at night or Bobby Konders show on Hot 97. The kids love it now! I think Diplo is to blame/congratulate for this. Speaking of, the entire Major Lazer album is streaming on their myspace. Next Tuesday I'll even buy it with actual real money when it comes out.

Ok, off to convalesce.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Hey, Look Over There

I'm guest-editing Radio Free Chicago for a bit. In the meantime I'll probably just be using this as a "Jams Depot," which is all most people probably use this site for anyway and the reason why I feel perfectly fine about writing LiveJournal-y entries like the one a couple back.  

Posting this video from Brooklyn band Suckers because not only do I like the song, upon closer examination I realized it features Cute Quinn, the freshman with the pretty eyes who had more of a hip hop thing going on back in high school:



Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I Am the Starfish



A year ago this Monday I woke up at 6 am, shoved my screaming cat into a bag and got on a plane to Chicago. I told myself I was going just for the five months that my free housesitting situation allowed me, because five months would be enough time to get to know a new city and the people in it. Did I know on some level how entirely preposterous that theory was? Maybe it was a way to protect myself against the fears that come with jumping in with both feet, alone. Or else I was just naive and thought I'd instinctively know which direction to head on the el train (I didn't) and that a city of strangers would welcome me excitedly with open arms (they didn't). The past twelve months have brought me a job and a layoff, many new friends that I worked like a damned dog to make, and some painful separation of wheat from chaff in the life I left behind. I'm happy here. I now know that I, and anyone with an ounce of sense, should follow their instincts. I don't *love* Chicago like my bones love Brooklyn, but it still hasn't been that long really. I do like it an awful lot though. And the people in it. And I like myself far more than I did a year ago too.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

All That and a Bag of Chips


My buddy Dan made this cartoon with comedian Gil Ozeri, and it makes me laugh. 
I wonder how much it cost him to eventually find an operator good enough to get the job done, as it were.


Wednesday, April 29, 2009

DJing tonight at The Burlington

Tonight (Wednesday the 29th) I'm fake-djing again at one of my favorite places in Chicago, The Burlington. Actually I've only been there four times but both the patrons and proprietors are freakishly nice, and the last time I went Flosstradamus did an Oldies Night where Diplo randomly showed up and played. Wait no, the last time I was there was to meet up with a friend in from Brooklyn, what a delightful time. We laughed, OH how we laughed. What was I talking about again? Oh yeah: Come hang out with me at the Burlington later.

The funny thing is I've been listening to almost no new music these past few weeks - mostly just  Yacht Rock-type smoothness, 90s dancehall, and "Night Moves" on repeat. No one but me wants to hear The Doobie Brothers and these Midwestern crackers don't listen to dancehall for some reason. Like, if you're out dancing and it's 1 a.m., this is usually when the DJ busts out some classic Beenie Man/Mr. Vegas type stuff but here they play...well, this song usually. Which is fine, and there probably aren't any Jamaicans in Chicago (?) but its absence is still odd to me. Oh well, it still gets heavy rotation in club My Room. 

Some songs I will NOT be playing tonight:




Some songs I probably WILL be playing tonight: 



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

beginnings and endings


I'm moving this week and my job ends the following day. As soon as I've settled into my new digs and had my previous roommates Eternally-Sunshined from my brain (Morbidly Obese Southern Shut-In, Crazy Eyes and her husband Out of Work Stuntman, the cat with bladder problems, the old mean cat, the convalescing bunny, the ferrets I never had to see thank g-d: I'll see you all in Hell but Mr. Giant Fish you're ok), I'm hoping to keep as busy as an unemployed person can. 2009 has gone by lightning fast so far, but it's been pretty great. Yesterday I ran my first 8k - in a snow storm, adding another item to the long list of things I never thought would happen in the past 365 days. Now I'm starting to get absurdly excited for the summer even though it's still months away.

Back when it actually felt like spring last week I started listening to a compilation called Fly Girls! B Boys Beware: Revenge of the Super Female Rappers! While they could have picked better songs from some of the artists represented - the Latifah, Lyte, and Missy songs are obvsville and it reminded me that I've meant to post some (more interesting) stuff from Bahamadia - there are some inspired choices like Nikki Giovanni. A couple gems:

Sparky D - I Can't Stop (divshare)

Camille Yarborough - Take Yo' Praise (divshare)