Tonight @ B-side "Stunnaz Is A Must"

Tonight @ B-Side in Coventry they are having their stunnaz themed New Year's Eve party.


(mp3) Federation - I Wear My Stunna Glasses At Nite

Tonight : I Got Five On It, One Year Anniversary Party @ Touch

Post Christmas Blues

The weather here in North East Ohio was great post Christmas but going back to work today work was total dog sh*t. This clip from "The Way of The Gun" always cheers me up when I am down, this one is for you Andrew King..

Top Five Songs Of The Week (Christmas Eve Edition?)

I am not in the greatest of moods today for the following reasons, Kelly is down in sunny warm South Western Florida for the rest of the year, I had to work today from 8-2 and I have no time off till next year sans tomorrow, The Browns lost yesterday and might not make the playoffs anymore and The Cavs well were do you start with them, they are missing in action. However since it is nearly Christmas or already Christmas in other part of the world here is my gift to you some more random Christmas songs enjoy and of course Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Buon Natale, Nodlaig mhaith chugnat !

(mp3) The Kinks - Father Christmas

(mp3) The Flaming Lips - A Change At Christmas (Say It Ain't So)

(mp3) Neko Case - Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis (Tom Waits Cover)

(mp3) Frank Sinatra - I'll Be Home For Christmas ( I love this sh*t so much nobody does Christmas better than him except for maybe Nat King Cole)

(mp3) Los Aguadillanos - Si Me Dan Pastales (Por Mi Gente)

Films: Seen and Unseen

Bonus:

It would be a crime if we somehow failed to mention Julian Schnabel's latest film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which will debut in Cleveland on January 11th (yay!)

Also, be sure to check out [this NYTimes Article] which showed us just what an incredibly multi-faceted artist Julian Schnabel is (see some of his artwork here), giving us yet another reason to become *huge* advocates.

So, scratch the surface (while enticing those muted taste buds of yours) by viewing the stunning trailer below for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly:

Tonight: Red{an Orchestra} @ Tower City

Tonight @ 7pm Red{an Orchestra} will be performing for free @ Tower City. So head down to Tower City and check out their wonderful sounds as you watch the dancing fountains and finish up or finally start your Christmas shopping.

{mp3} Ramsey Lewis Trio - Christmas Blues

Shows already to look fwd to in 2008!

Here in the Cleveland+ region we usually go into a slight show lull throughout our frigid winter until the weather improves, that is why we are are already excited about shows just recently announced for early next year:

January 6th @ The Grog Shop: The 1900's (we are especially excited about this show!) are headlining with locals, Muttering Retreats and favorite Nicholas Megalis opening

January 25th @ The Beachland Ballroom: Band Of Horses are headlining with openers Cass McCombs and The Middle Class and recent addition to Band Of Horses, Tyler Ramsey

(mp3) Band of Horses - Ode to LRC

January 31st @ The Grog Shop: Ra Ra Riot are headlining with openers Virgins and locals, To Be A High Powered Executive

(mp3) Ra Ra Riot - Hounds Of Love (Kate Bush Cover)

March 24th @ The Grog Shop: Tilly & The Wall are headlining with locals, Capgun Cowboys and a band very close to our hearts opening, Bears

(mp3) Tilly & The Wall - Freest Man (CSS Remix) Soooo good!!!!!

(mp3) Bears - How To Live

March 27th @ The Grog Shop: Beach House are playing with openers, The Papercuts

(mp3) Beach House - Apple Orchard

(mp3) Papercuts - Dear Employee

April 3rd @ The Beachland Ballroom: Explosions In The Sky with opener Lichens (Robert Lowe from 90 Day Men)

(mp3) Explosions In The Sky - Your Hand In Mine

Note: This performance below, which we had the privilege of witnessing at Montreal's Osheaga Festival this past fall, left us wanting more*

TOP 5 Songs of The Week (This is what it looks like outside right now edition!)

Our apologies for not giving new songs this week, however we did not have the opportunity to listen to anything new throughout the past week. . .So, instead we are giving some love by posting some more of our Christmas faves. Enjoy!

5. (mp3) Fiona Apple - Frosty The Snowman (Cover)

4. (mp3) The Ravonettes - The Christmas Song (Cover)

3. (mp3) Soul Coughing - Suzy Snowflake

2. (mp3) Sufjan Stevens - Star of Wonder

1. (mp3) Smashing Pumpkins - Christmastime Dedicated to Sarah!

Tonight: Good Stuff!!

Check out what is going down in C-town this evening!


Burning River Roller Girls

These ladies are showing their softer side by hosting a benefit for the Greater Cleveland Foodbank*

Bier Markt Second Anniversary Party

The Bier Markt is celebrating its Two Year Anniversary TONIGHT!!!
$5 Gourmet Traditional Pizzas from 5-9pm

Derek Hess

Last Tremont Art Hop for the season!

We wouldn't be remiss without offering at least one song:

[Mp3] Low - Just Like Christmas

This is one of our favorite contemporary Christmas songs. . .and, low and behold --we heard it at j. crew earlier this week. Yeah, we know ;) so, before you go ahead and scoff at us, we make no bones about being indie yuppies*

Have a lovely evening!!

We wish were in Chicago tonight....

Since we are both serious advocates of the magazine VenusZine, we wanted to give others the heads up that this evening in Chi-town Venus is hosting their Winter Issue Release Party -- which is definitely where we would be if we lived in that lovely city. As we type out this post, Effen Vodka and Goose Island 312 Beer (both are sooo good, mmmm) are being served up to the guests -- and, as if that wasn't enough to make the party awesome, DJ-ing throughout the night are The 1900's (not to be confused with The 1990's!! And shouldn't be b/c they are *much* better ;)) who's album Cold & Kind is one of our favorites this year.

Listen for yourself and be sure to check out Venus at your favorite seller of periodicals*

(mp3) The 1900's - Cool & Kind

(mp3) The 1900's - When I Say Go

Top 5 Songs Of The Week (No Work Today Edition!)

This Saturday there are a lot of really great events/holiday sales of local merchants/artists going on. Here are just some of the ones that we'd like to bring to your attention.

In Collinwood:

Music Saves is having a great holiday sale today

and so is Shoparoni

And of course don't forget about the Rock N Roll Cool Yule Flea Market @ The Beachland. Be sure to hit up the wares of our boy Troy @ Codename7 who will be there

Just down the street is The Holiday Artist Sale for the Arts Collinwood Gallery


Meanwhile over Tremont....

Banyan Tree are having their annual Hot Toddy Party


Tonight Red {an orchestra} will be performing @ Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ


Also this evening Atmosphere Gallery is having their Annual Holiday Jewelry Shopping Extravaganza


While over in Lakewood, Bela Dubby is having their 3rd Annual Holiday Art Bazaar


Can't forget about Coventry where @ B-side Mick Boogie along with Terry Urban will spinning a tribute to famed hip hop producer J DILLA (R.I.P.)


And now for some music...

5. (mp3) Plants and Animals - Faerie Dance This Montreal band make beautiful breezy music complemented by steel guitars, hip hop beats and strings. You too shall have this chorus stuck in your head just like us

4. (mp3) Decomposure - Hour 1 is a project by 24 year old Canadian Caleb Mueller, he took 23 hour long cassettes that he used to record all of his activities throughout a day and then combined them into songs that are poppy/glitch filled

3. (mp3) UGK [ft. Outkast] International Players 'Anthem (Pink Skull Remix by Lumfire) Pimp C from UGK sadly just died R.I.P. Pink Skull is on the bill for the Peer Pressure party tonight in Williamsburg

2. (mp3) The Mary Onettes - Pleasure Songs This band is just an nice another great band on the awesome Swedish label Labrador Records home to many great bands ( Acid House Kings, Sambassadeur, Love Ninjas etc) This group make 80's sounding synth-driven pop in the vein of the cure

1. (mp3) Linus and Lucy - Vince Guaraldi we have been listening to the A Charlie Brown Christmas album a lot lately. how could you not, it just flat out owns!

Tonight: José González

Who: José González with openers Cass McCombs and Brian Straw

What: Indie singer/songwriters with soul

Where: The Grog Shop!

When: This evening at 9pm ($18/ticket)

Why: Check out this interesting interview with José González conducted by our local NPR Station (WCPN) recorded just yesterday afternoon

[Mp3] José González - How Low Off his latest release, In Our Nature

[Mp3] Cass McCombs - That's That An instantly catchy song from his junior effort, Dropping the Writ

Brian Straw - Stream some songs on his MySpace

Big News!!!

Today we found out that SONIC: America's Drive In is finally coming to North East Ohio. This is a pretty big deal to us because we currently do not have a Sonic within a 90 mile radius and we are always taunted by their commercials -- not only are they quirky and clever but the food just looks so damn good. We have even toyed with the idea of driving to the closest Sonic, but we were patiently waiting and hoping that one day their fine establishment would grace us with a location nearby. . .

We are happy to announce that this day will arrive next summer when a Sonic opens in Streetsboro (which is kind of funny because we *never* thought we would ever be excited about anything that is located in that particular city).

Upon learning that Sonic was coming to our neck of the woods, of course we felt the need to blog about it. And, thus wanting to include the Sonic commercial where they make fun of bloggers -- however, we were unable to locate it on you tube. What we did discover was there is an entire sub-culture of people creating their own parodies of Sonic commercials where even the two main "Sonic guys" acknowledge this and encourage it. As far as the specific commercial we wanted to post, actually did find the transcript of it here.

The below Sonic commercial is our second favorite :)

Saturday Sights

Yesterday we braved the cold to go downtown and attend the 2007 Cleveland Bazaar Bizarre down on Prospect in the up and coming East 4th neighborhood.

Here are some pictures we took:

Top 5 Songs of The Week (Hello December?)

So December is upon us here again. On this particular Saturday even though it is cold and suppose to snow today there is plenty to see and do like Bazaar Bizaare, Murray Hill Art Walk, CIA Faculty Exhbition. Once you are down braving the cold might we suggest you crack open a bottle of wine or beer and listen to our a selections for this week,

5. (mp3) Chromatics - I'm On Fire (Bruce Spingsteen Cover) This Portland trio make this song their own but at the same time keep it very close to the original albeit with female vocals.

4. (mp3) Say Hi - Shakes Her Shoulders This is the new effort from Eric Elbogen he used to go by the name of Say Hi To Your Mom (which we always felt was a pretty entertaining name). His new album The Wishes and The Glitch comes out in Feb. We really like the warm vocals, hand claps and the way the energy builds in the chorus.

3. (mp3) Underwater Tea Party - The Untold Story of Mary & Nick This 5 piece band hail from Madrid, Spain. They make music that you can either end or begin your day with because their sound is comforting yet whimsical and @ the same time gently energizing.

2. (mp3) Joy Zipper - Wave of Mutilation (Pixies Cover) this track is off of the complation Dig For Fire yet tribute to The Pixies but this one has much better bands than you've heard cover The Pixies before which includes: The Rosebuds, British Sea Power and Mogwai to name a few.

1. (mp3) Jose Gonzalez - Down The Line (Live on KEXP) We are both super excited for his show this coming Tuesday @ The Grog with Cass McCombs and local favorite Brian Straw. This song comes from his new album "In Our Nature"out now.