Sunny Santa Monica?

We are here to spend Thanksgiving with my partners family. Her mom rented a very modern condo in Santa Monica proper within walking distance to everything. Her brother and his wife live about a mile away, 2 blocks from the beach. We rolled into LAX last night, to be greeted by thousands of early holiday travelers like ourselves and rain... wait a second, rain? In Southern California, where the sun always shines?!? Oh well. We are happy to be here nonetheless. The agenda? We are going to ride bicycles to the promenade, a popular shopping destination, then we will head down to Montana Street, for shopping and a bite to eat. Then after that we will take a beautiful drive to Malibu to have dinner. Yay vacation!

Top Trends of 2008

1. Vampire themed books, movies and TV series.
2. Artists independently releasing their own music.
3. Raw food: Not just for hippies any more.
4. YouTube videos for everything you can imagine.
5. Consumers not consuming.

Get Your Skate On!

Whole Foods will open its yearly ice rink "Skating on the Plaza" this Friday. The temporary outdoor rink, which is located atop the Lamar store, will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m through January 11th. $10 will get you access to the rink for one of their 50-minute skate sessions and a skate rental. Tickets can be purchased at the guest services desk up to an hour before each session.

Prince on gay marriage.

"God came to Earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out," he said. "He was, like, 'Enough.'

This is allegedly a quote from the man of purple himself, the artist formerly known as Prince, now known as Prince again.

Confused? Me too.

This is coming from a guy who marched around, scantily clad in bikini breifs and outlandish costumes, who wrote the controversial sex filled songs "Dirty Mind," "Head" and "Do It All Night."

This quote and others are from a piece in "The New Yorker," where Prince was asked about abortion, religion, politics and Proposition 8. Some, including blogger Perez Hilton, have said that the Purple one was misquoted and some of the article was made up. "The New Yorker," a highly respectable publication, stands by its story.

Red River Bar District

I was asked to provide a brief summary of the Red River Bar District by Michael Barnes, my Entertainment Journalism instructor, who also happens to be an entertainment writer for the Austin American Statesman. They are compiling their annual bar guide, and our class was asked to help with the research of the various districts. I immediately picked the Red River District, being fairly familiar with it. Here is my summary:

The Red River bar scene is interesting because its bars represent a wide variety of cultural differences. First, I think that this area is primarily recognized as a live music destination.
You have your metal heads, old skool Red River scenesters, indie hipsters,
goths and gays and let's not forget the crackheads hanging in the alley by
Room 710.

Here's a breakdown of the bars in that area starting at E. Sixth and Red
River and ending at Tenth and Red River.

1. Emo's: A name synonymous with live music for many years now. In addition to a small indoor dive-y venue, Emo's also has a large outdoor venue that attracts many big-name artists. They also have a lounge next door, but I heard that they were closing it to put in El Sol Y La Luna (a
restaurant on Congress). Not sure when that will happen or the details.
Also known for the nastiest bathrooms in town (It's rumored that they have
never been cleaned).

2. Spiros: A dance-y, frat/sorority club with loud thumping beats bleeding out into the street. Crowd more akin to Sixth Street crowd. College kids. No live music, except during SXSW. Mainly dj's.

3. Plush: A lounge club that specializes in dance, hip-hop, primarily dj-based music.

4. Elysium: Goth-y dance bar straight out of the 80's. You will see people clad in black with tons of eyeliner looking like they are carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. They also have a good 80's night, where old people like me can dance to all the favorites from high school and
junior high. They also have a strong gay/lesbian crowd. Elysium features live
music from time to time.

5. Beerland: Dive bar featuring live music. Usually punk-y bands, with a good mix of indie and garage thrown in. Bad sound if you happen to be playing there. Love the name.

6. Red-Eyed Fly: Another dive bar. Has good-sized stage and bar in outdoor area. Think that this bar is mostly metal and hard rock, with a few butt-rock (hair metal-ish) bands thrown in for good measure.

7. Room 710: Live music. Metal, metal, metal! Used to be a little more diverse in its musical tastes, but seems to be steering towards the heavier bands these days. Gutter punks and aging metal musicians (the old
skool Red River crowd) are at home here.

8. Headhunters: The name says it all. Another bar that caters to old skool Red River crowd. Usually the same mix of people. Metal and hard rock.

9. Stubbs BBQ: Premier live music venue. Music featured outdoors and indoors. Outdoor area showcases touring bands that have achieved a larger measure of success. Indoor is more local bands and smaller touring acts.
I heard that they were doing a renovation of the outdoor area to make the stage
more accessible and expanding to make the capacity higher.

10. Club Deville: A hipster hangout. Great outdoor area that now features bands often. Indie-rock is the main staple at this joint. Mostly local bands, but sometimes touring bands are featured.

11. The Mohawk: Another hipster hangout for the late twenties/thirty-something set. Owners have been successful in turning
this formerly cursed location into a crucial component of the live music
scene. Indie-rock/pop/dance touring acts frequent the outside stage,
while the inside stage keeps it mainly local. Transmission Entertainment,
which features Graham Williams, the former booker of Emo's and local booker Rosa Madriz, is the main reason this bar is so successful.


These bars embody the Red River feel but aren't located on Red River
Street:

The Jackalope: Same grungy old skool Red River feel.
Beauty Bar: Hipsters on cocaine. Live music, mainly dance, dj and indie acts.
The Side Bar: Cool little hangout bar with stiff drinks.
Creekside Lounge: Also a nice little low-key hangout spot. They also feature some live music.
Casino El Camino: Old skool hangout. An oasis on Sixth Street. Delicious burgers if you don't mind waiting a while.
Red 7: Metal, metal and more metal! Sometimes featuring emo and punk bands.

Instrumentals for Relaxation and Studying.

If you're like me, you like to listen to music constantly, but get easily distracted by music when trying to complete schoolwork (assignments, blogs, papers, etc.). I have an annoyingly short attention span and get distracted easily. Some may call this A.D.D. My solution to this? Instrumental music. There's a lot of good stuff out there, some yet to be discovered. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order.

1) Air
I love anything from this French electro-pop group, but some of my favorites are "Moon Safari," "Talkie Walkie" and "Pocket Symphony."

2) The Album Leaf
Not all of their songs are instrumental, but I particularly love the ethereal, soothing instrumentals on "In a Safe Place."

3) Ratatat
I just recently discovered this dance rock combo. Love it. I really like their self-titled debut album. It makes me want to dance while doing school work!

4) Sigur Ros
I know that this band is not entirely instrumental, but singer Jónsi has invented a new instrument with his voice, not to mention a new language called Hopelandic. Beautiful music. One of my favorite bands. I saw them at Bass Concert Hall not too long ago. Amazing.

5) Explosions in the Sky
This Austin band plays hauntingly beautiful melodies equipped with intense crescendos and echoing guitars. I love everything they have put out, but "The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place" and the soundtrack for the movie "Friday Night Lights" are my favorites.

6) Booker T. and the MG's
Old school all-instrumental soul band from the 1960's and 1970's. Several members were part of the legendary house band for imprint Stax records, backing Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and Wilson Pickett, among others. This music is soothing and fun. You can sit back and enjoy the exceptional musicianship and soulful sounds. My favorites include the seminal "Green Onions" and Beatles cover album "McLemore Avenue."

7) The Bad Plus
Avant-garde jazz trio that likes to infuse jazz with pop and rock influences. They've done jazz covers of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana and "Heart of Glass" by Blondie, among others. My favorite album is "These Are the Vistas."

8) The High Llamas
Also, not an entirely instrumental band, but I do enjoy their instrumental songs, especially off of their 1996 release "Hawaii." With its lush sound, borrowing a wee bit from the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds," "Hawaii" is a classic on its own.

9) Mogwai
This Scottish post-rock band has been making beautiful and frightening music for some times. With slow, reverb-drenched soundscapes that sometimes abruptly burst into loud distortion, this band doesn't disappoint. My favorite albums? "Young Team" and "Rock Action."

Proposition 8 Passes in California

As we bask in the glow of the election of our first president of color, clearly a momentous occasion and a victory against discrimination in our great nation, I find myself saddened by the events in California and other states in regards to gay rights. As most of you know, Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state of California, has passed by a fairly narrow margin. This bill, primarily financed by religious rights groups, including the Mormon church, is championed by these religious groups as a necessary move in "defending the institution of traditional marriage," which is being eroded by gay people getting married.
Please! Why do these people care? Because this country is ruled by the religious right. We are supposed to be a democracy that practices a clear separation of church and state, as clearly specified in our constitution.
In addition to creating a bond of love and commitment, most of these gay couples seek marriage primarily to protect their rights legally and medically. If I were to get sick in the state of Texas, somewhere besides liberal Austin, would my partner be allowed to make the necessary legal and medical decisions? If we did bring a child into this world, would the non-biological parent be able to make decisions regarding their own child? If we wanted to adopt a child, considering that there are millions of unwanted children in the world, could we? Not in Arkansas, where they just passed an amendment banning non-married couples from fostering or adopting a child. Bans on gay marriage were also passed in Florida and Arizona.
I personally think religion, especially the intolerant evangelical Christian version, practiced by a large number of Americans, is eroding the national fiber of our country. We live in a country where even our liberal politicians have to profess a religion, a Western religion that is, in order to be elected. Proposition 8 and countless other acts of intolerance and injustice, are making the United States a laughingstock around the world.