Around 6:30pm on an incredibly warm 4th of July a yellow school bus pulled up on the Cahuenga side of Amoeba Hollywood, ready to take about 40 Amoebites on our third field trip to the Hollywood Bowl.

Our first Amoeba field trip to the Bowl was back in 2007, also to see Hall and Oates, and it became the stuff of legend around the store. See photos from that inaugural trip to the Bowl. Our second trip was to see Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings open for Feist in 2008 (kind of an odd pairing musically, but still a fun trip). This trip to the Hollywood Bowl was set for the 4th of July and included the LA Philharmonic and a fireworks spectacular. In other words, it was going to be a really fun Independence Day!

Amoebite Tuna brought some blue face paint to help us get into the 4th of July spirit. By the time the bus pulled up to the Bowl, most of us had shiny blue paint somewhere on our faces. An unintended, but pleasant side effect of the paint - it helped us identify each other in the sea of people entering and leaving the bowl. Look for the blue paint! Tuna even befriended the people in the rows around us, painting their faces blue as well.

Hall & Oates performed most of their classic hits, opening the show with "Maneater" and closing it with "Private Eyes" accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. We danced, we sang, and we danced some more.

And then there was the fireworks show - most definitely a spectacular, as the Bowl promised. Set off directly behind and on top of the Bowl itself, everyone in the ampitheatre had a fantastic view of some pretty fabulous fireworks.

If the late great hip-hop producer & famed crate digger J Dilla were alive today he would have been the first in line at Amoeba Hollywood (or first online at the Amoeba.Com store) to scoop up the endless extremely rare vinyl gems that make up the absolutely amazing, treasure trove of "library music" recently acquired by Amoeba. This very rare specialized record collection is of interest to producers, DJs, and avid crate-diggers eternally looking for that never before discovered, perfect beat or sound to sample or manipulate in the mix.

Quietly unveiled a little on June 17th both online and in the Hollywood Amoeba store (in the main room "sampler" aisle + a full bin's worth in the back jazz room) word has not yet really gotten out on this unprecedented collection that will make any true crate digger salivate for days. So there's still time to unearth lots of golden finds among the close to 2000 different vinyl records from this collection that is so rare that Google searches will only lead to data on about a quarter of these rarities that found their way to Amoeba Music care of a Canadian distributor / collector who had been sitting on this rare collection for three decades.
 
Amoeblogger Mr. Chadwick recently described this "music library" collection as; "These LPs contain music produced and owned by production music companies, who licensed the music to film, television, radio, record producers, and other composers. The music was produced with the most accurate attention to a generic style or context, so that it would fit with any precise musical needs of the user." Extremely limited in their respective vinyl pressings the companies who made these sound library collections include the likes of Colorsound, Hibou, Spectrum, Intersound, Telemusic, and Intl. SFX, and boast rare titles like Commercial Music Bed Series by Interwestern Production Music Corp.

UPDATE - July 1 - Unfortunately, all our free passes for the advance screening of Beats, Rhymes & Life are gone. But you can still catch the film when it opens in LA and NY on July 8.


Special advance screening event for Amoeba fans! Visit Amoeba Hollywood starting Thursday, June 30 to get a ticket to a special advance screening of Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, a new feature documentary about one of the most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in Hip-Hop history. Limit 1 pass per person please (each pass admits you + guest).

In 2008, director, actor, and longtime Tribe fan Michael Rapaport went on tour with A Tribe Called Quest when they reunited for the first time in the almost ten years since their last album, The Love Movement (Jive). Rapaport wanted to create a film that documented the tour and explored the group's journey, successes, interpersonal differences, and their influence on the Hip-Hop community and music in general. The film also features interviews and stories from Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Common, Beastie Boys, Pharrell, Mos Def, Kanye West, Pete Rock, and many more. Plus, Madlib provided original music for the film and Peanut Butter Wolf was its music supervisor.

Amoeba is pleased to present an advance screening and special Q&A with Michael Rapaport and Peanut Butter Wolf at the Los Angeles Film School on Thursday, July 7 at 7pm. Tickets to this event are free & available starting Thursday June 30 at Amoeba Hollywood. Just ask for them at the info counter. Limit 1 pass per person (each pass admits you + guest).

Celebrate independent music and the best of L.A.’s food trucks on July 4th from 1:00pm - 5:00pm  with Frysmith, José O'Malley's, Maui Wowi, Aloha Fridays, and more serving up their tastiest treats. They’ll be parked at the Amoeba Ivar lot (located on Ivar Ave. south of the store between Sunset Blvd. and DeLongpre Ave). 

Come on down and join us! 

V/A-Persian Funk

The latest release from Secret Stash contains more pre-Ayatollah Khomeini madness from Iran. Although there are a few repeats from the excellent Finder’s Keepers release, Pomegranates as well as the Rak Rak Rak compilation, Persian Funk focuses on rare soul and Disco cuts and less on the psychedelic rock. The Middle Eastern Percussion and string arrangement separate itself from the pack of eastern groups doing western influenced dance music, in fact, on can argue that western artists were trying to get that Middle Eastern sound in Disco but couldn’t nail it, but that’s another argument for another time. Nevertheless, drop some of these tracks at your next party and watch everyone on the dance floor go, “Ruh?”

LP release only

Jokers-S/T

Speaking of Iran, this gem of Iranian psychedelic blues comes from a 1972 recording with just a few mics and no overdubs. Originally, no one wanted to touch this sludge feast so it’s only now that this album is seeing the light of day. The four songs that make the Jokers album are heavy; in fact, calling this release “heavy” is not doing it justice. Only 500 LPs were made and on most websites they are out of stock, but we have a few left. For fans of Blue Cheer, MC5, Stooges and Jimi Hendrix. Also available on CD