Jovanotti is easily Italy's most notable pop star. He sells out stadiums across Europe and has over 1 million followers on Twitter. With an impressive career spanning 25 years of dominating the charts in Southern Europe, selling millions of records and collaborating with everyone from Sergio Mendes to Pavarotti, including combating worldly issues with the likes of rock royalty Bono, the Italian mega star has set his sights on the ears of the American public. What better way to introduce himself  to American audiences than to perform on the stage of the world's greatest record store?! Jovanotti brought his brand of World/Hip Hop/ Funk  to a very enthusiastic crowd of fanatic Italians at Amoeba Hollywood. He wowed the crowd with selections from the ATO Records U.S. release of Italia 1988-2012, a reworking of songs from his lengthy career, plus four new ones.     

Jovanotti also took time to do a little shopping at Amoeba and shared some stories with us about the music that inspired him to become a rapper and his lifelong connection with dance music. (Hint: even the grandparents do it.)

The legendary British rocker Paul Weller (The Jam, The Style Council) dropped by Amoeba Hollywood for some record diggin'. Weller has been crafting classic songs since he was a teen back in the '70s and he's still at it. His most recent album, Sonik Kicks (2012), debuted at #1 in the UK.  At age 54, The Modfather is still bringing it!

In this episode, Weller digs deep for some late '60s Brazilian tropicalia, classic jazz, and experimental avante-garde music from Germany.

Yep Roc Records Announces Paul Weller Box Set
This year for Record Store Day (April 20, 2013) Yep Roc will release a limited edition Sonik Kicks Singles Box Set. This awesome piece of art is packed with 5 singles on colored vinyl,
an autographed Sonik Kicks poster and 2 unreleased songs.

Here's a video of the 4th in a series of 45RPM Paul Weller singles being released:

In support of her latest release, Is Your Love Big Enough? (Nonesuch), British singer/songwriter Lianne La Havas charmed an Amoeba audience with just her voice and a 1964 Danelectro Silvertone guitar. Given the warehouse sized building that is Amoeba Hollywood, Lianne did a superb job of creating an intimate feel for her performance. She played semi-acoustic versions of new songs including, "No Room For Doubt,"  "Age" and "Forget."  La Havas proudly declared on stage, "It's always been a dream of mine to make a record and for it to be sold in this store and to play in this store. I think it's probably the best shop in the world."  Yes, it is Ms. La Havas! We at Amoeba throuroughly enjoyed the tunes and are happy to be a part of your dreams. Thank you! 

Lianne La Havas is back in Los Angeles March 19 & 20th to play The El Rey Theatre. Make sure to catch her as she will be backed by a full band! You can purchase tickets for this show and many others at Amoeba Hollywood. For those of you in the Bay Area, you can catch Lianne at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. The tour will also roll through the Pacific Northwest with stops in Portland and Seattle.    

On a recent visit to Amoeba Hollywood in support of his current book, That Is All,  funny man John Hodgman found some time to entertain our cameras and give us an inside look at what tickles his fancy. Much like his role as The Daily Show's "Resident Expert," Hodgman gives us the low down on several films and artists including, Island of Lost Souls, Cabin In the Woods, AC Newman and Megafaun. He offers up a hilarious trade in deal to all Amoeba customers that involves John Tesh's A Romantic Christmas and Jonathan Coulton & John Roderick's One Christmas At A Time.   

English singer/songwriter Ellie Goulding performed at Amoeba Hollywood back in October, just a few days after her sophomore album, Halcyon (Interscope Records), was released. It was one of only a handful of performances she did during release week, and her fans turned out in full force. The line to get into her in-store performance followed the side of Amoeba along Ivar Blvd, wrapping around the block. For those unable to attend the show, it was also webcast live on Amoeba.com.

We just posted a video of Ellie Goulding's stunning, stripped down version of her single, "Anything Could Happen," from the in-store:

This in-store performance was Ms. Goulding's second at Amoeba. She performed at Amoeba San Francisco back in April 2011. At that point, she was just beginning her US promotion for her debut album, Lights (Interscope Records), which was released in March 2010 in the UK and had already reached number one there. That SF in-store was truly special and she decided to release it as an EP, Live at Amoeba San Francisco (Interscope Records).