Welcome to installment number 27 in the weekly Amoeblog report New York State of Mind direct from the Big Apple where events of the past week included the eighth annual Pillow Fight Day in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village near NYU on Saturday when hundreds of New Yorkers descended (with pillows under their arms) to partake in the goodhearted annual fun day that is simultaneously celebrated in other cities round the world. On Sunday evening at several bars and clubs around Manhattan, there were Mad Men themed costume and booze parties to celebrate the kick off of the new series of the popular AMC TV show. Dressed like Don Draper and company, fans gathered at places such as The Millesime at the Carlton Hotel on (where else but) Madison Ave. and The Carnegie Club (situated on 56th St. just behind Carnegie Hall), dressed in '60's chic and enjoying period-appropriate music and newly-invented retro-styled cocktails such as the Sterling Cooper Spritzer (Aperol + Grand Mariner + Veuve Clicquot Champagne + soda) and the Womanizer (bourbon + Galliano liqueur + grapefruit bitters) before and during the 9pm airing of the sixth season premiere of Mad Men. 

At Glam I. Rock's in-store performance at Oaklandish last Friday evening the new female rapper from The Town delighted the hometown audience at the downtown retail store, that transforms itself in a concert space every first Friday of the month, as she ran through a string of songs off her recently released debut EP, The Feel (Savvie1ent/The Olive Street Agency). The 21 year old rapper was literally born into hip-hop since her mom is Oakland female rapper Nic Nac who came to fame two decades ago when she recorded with such artists as The LOX and Eve but most notably with Dru Down and the Luniz, and toured and performed with such legends as Too $hort, Ice Cube, and 2Pac.  Nic Nac has been a consistent positive influence in her daughter's artistic growth. "She's played a huge part in influencing me from a young age even before I was rapping.  Just being everywhere she was -- show rehearsals, video shoots, sessions. She had already put me in that element," Glam I. Rock told the Amoeblog in a recent interview noting that, in addition to her mom's music, some of the very first rappers she heard (and likely influenced her) from a  young age included A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Big Daddy Kane, The LOX, Jay-Z and Nas.

As reported by several news outlets including the LA Times, Annette Funicello died earlier today (Monday April 8th) at the Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield. She was 70. 25 years ago Funicello had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Funicello enjoyed major success in both the fifties and sixties, first as original Mousketeer star of television's The Mickey Mouse Club from when it premiered for several years, and in the latter decade as co-star of the phenomenally popular series of "beach movies" she made with Frankie Avalon. Above and below are a few video clips featuring Annette Funicello, including the trailer for 1964's Bikini Beach, a classic 50's clip from The Mickey Mouse Club featuring the Mousketeers that includes Annette looking back in a later decade, and Annette Funicello singing "Jamaican Ska" from 1987's Back To The Beach alongside Fishbone. In Back to the Beach, the grown-up Frankie and Annette go back to the SoCal beach to visit their daughter only to discover there's still fun to be had back on the beach. Also below is the trailer for the original "beach" movie (1963's Beach Party) that kick-started the popular sixties movie series.

1) Tyler, The Creator Wolf (Columbia)

2) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist (Macklemore LLC)

3)  Lil’ Wayne I Am Not a Human Being Pt. II (Cash Money)

4) Kendrick Lamar Good Kid M.A.A.D City CD (Aftermath)

5)  Blu No York! (New World Colour/Greenstreets)

In the number one slot with a bullet this week is the brand new Tyler, The Creator album Wolf  on Columbia Records which arrived in Amoeba on Tuesday this week (April 2nd) in both Wolf regular CD version and in Wolf DeLuxe CD version. Amoeba website reviewers wrote of the album and its maker that he's, "always been an artist and persona as divisive as he is undeniably talented, so why expect (or want) that to change? Sprawling tracklist, angry, occasionally homophobic lyrics and all, Goblin was affecting in its ugliness. The Wolf builds on the Odd Future kingpin’s sound with more manageable beats and R&B touches, but he’s the same troubled joker at heart." 

The Flaming Lips' new album The Terror dropped in the UK on Monday, two weeks ahead of its scheduled April 16th, 2013 Stateside street date. You can pre-order it now from Amoeba Music in both CD and double LP vinyl versions. 

The Terror is the band's 13th full-length album and was produced by the Lips' long-time collaborator Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios. I recently got to hear the nine track release thanks to a label advance streaming of the album and have to say that I like it a lot and consider it their best work in years as it evokes a really powerful, hypnotically dark, grimy feel. "Bleak, disturbing" is how the band's own Wayne Coyne described the record, posing and answering his own question: "Why would we make this music that is The Terror?… I don't really want to know the answer that I think is coming. Maybe this is the beginning of the answer." Down in Austin at the recent SXSW festival, the band hosted two events includig a first-ever live performance of Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, the band's 2002 gold album, in its entirety. Reportedly, the show was filmed live by NPR for a future broadcast. For their other SXSW show, they performed the new album The Terror at the large scale Auditorium Shores venue where Jim James (of My Morning Jacket, who opened the show) joined the band on-stage for a charged version of "Do You Realize??". Last night in NYC, the band was on The Late Show with David Letterman to perform the new album track "Look…The Sun Is Rising" (video above), and over the next couple of months they are playing a handful of select US shows that will include a performance at the NorCal Bottle Rock Festival in Napa on May 10th. In the meantime, you can pre-order The Terror CD and/or The Terror double LP version.