Amoeba Music Hollywood has one highly recommended free instore performance today when producer/remixer/rapper and hip-hop legend Pete Rock graces the stage of the 6400 Sunset Blvd store at 7PM for a free show. For full details on the Mt. Vernon, NY hip-hop great, whose new joint is the appropriately titled NY's Finest -- a guest-heavy production that among others includes Wu Tang Clan's Raekwon and Masta Killa.  Check out the insightful, in-depth bio on Pete Rock (including his influential years with musical partner CL Smooth, with whom he recorded one of hip-hop's greatest songs - the classic "T.R.O.Y." - among others) elsewhere on the Amoeba website by clicking here. 

Remember tonight's Hollywood Amoeba instore starts at 7PM sharp so get there on time if you are planning on heading over.  Meantime check out the electronic press kit video of NY's Finest below.




Another new hip-hop full-length release and one that I highly recommend is Questolous by longtime San Francisco turntablist DJ Quest of the Bulletproof Scratch Hamster/Space Travelers and Live Human fame who tomorrow (April 1st) drops this, his first solo album since he dropped Questside seven years ago.  Questolous is an amazing hip-hop album, rich with scratch mastery from the pioneering Bay Area scratchmaster Quest plus his numerous guests including DJ Marz (Space Travelers), DJ Vandal, Oaty Love, Dawgshit, and DJ T-Rock, who each add either scratching or production to the sixteen track offering that also features the three Bay Area emcees Luke Sick, Bas-One, and Eddie K, each on their own tracks.  If you love hip-hop but have gotten sick of much of what passes for hip-hop in recent years, this is an album you should really like.

It reminds me a comedy skit that I heard years ago about a once in a lifetime opportunity to get every recording ever made.  But apparently this current offer to attain the "world's greatest music collection" and to own the "largest collection of recorded music in the world" is for real. 

Very real but at a real high price: $3 million dollars precisely for this ebay item, which closes on Thursday, Feb 21st at 6AM PST, and boldly boasts to include "3 million records and 300,000 CDs containing more than 6 million song titles...From Thomas Edison to American Idol, this is the complete history of the music that shaped and defined five generations."

Damn! And you thought Amoeba had a lot of records and CDs!  The seller claims that it is "the undisputed largest collection of recorded music in the world. About half of the recordings are new and never played, and every genre of 20th century music is represented. There are countless rare recordings worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars each on the collectibles market. Organized and cataloged, the collection is meticulously maintained and housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. The estimated value of this amazing collection is more than $50 million."

The item, which claims to be the "most viewed and watched listing ever on ebay," has gotten an awful lot of attention alright, but not so much from potential big spenders as much as curious music fans like the folks at Mojo magazine who really want to interview the seller, eBay member jpaulhenderson5a4e, about this whole collection. The two photos here are part of the alleged collection which the seller claims  "was purchased by the collection's owner over the past fifty years and represents a lifetime of work and his desire to see the music preserved for future generations. Advancing age and health concerns are forcing the owner to sell."