1) Murs/9th Wonder Sweet Lord
(Record Collection)

2) Atmosphere God Loves Ugly (Rhymesayers)

3) Dälek Gutter Tactics (Ipecac)

4) X-Clan Mainstream Outlawz
(Suburban Noize)

5) Cappadonna Slang Prostitution
(ChamberMusik Records)

Thanks to Luis at Amoeba Music San Francisco for supplying this week's Hip-Hop Top FIve chart of the best selling albums of the week at the Haight Street store where the new number one is the album Sweet Lord by Murs and 9th Wonder. It was recorded about two years ago by the Los Angeles emcee and the North Carolina producer but not first released until a few months when it was made available as a digital download only; the album is only just now available to buy on CD. 9th Wonder, who is one of the best and most in-demand hip-hop producers today, and Murs, who is among the brightest and most gifted lyricists in the genre, have worked together before. Most recently they collaborated on a few tracks off of Murs' major label debut Murs For President, released on Warner in late September. In the studio they have a wonderful chemistry. As Murs raps on the Sweet Lord track "Are You Ready?" -- "Welcome ye'all to the 9th Wonder, Murs' dream. Ghetto music with a purpose..two of the world's most respected musicians are now at work. I suggest you listen."

The rest of the ten track album is really, really good (you wouldn't expect less from the talented duo) and features such other standout songs as "Free," "It's For Real," and "Nina Ross." "Nina Ross," which is a very clever song, is one of those great hip-hop tracks that draws you in thinking it is (yet) another tale of a hip-hop guy scamming on girls or (in this case) on the one girl, Nina Ross. Instead Murs flips things up in this engaging tale. And as the story unfolds it turns out that Nina is the one in control of the situation and that the guy is the one been taken advantage of -- or rather being taught a lesson for his past sexist & explloitive attitudes & deeds towards women.

Somehow longtime author, punk rock drummer, and self-described "punk anthropologist" Aaron Cometbus (born Aaron Elliot) has managed to stay relatively under the mainstream radar while simultaneously gaining great notoriety and deserved respect among underground punk circles for close to three full decades now -- ever since the beginning of the eighties when, barely a teenager, the highly intelligent and gifted Berkeley youth began writing his seminal punk fanzine Cometbus.

He also played music in many bands from a young age. His second band Crimpshrine, in which he played drums, was the pioneering East Bay punk band which had a major impact on the burgeoning East Bay punk scene, up until their demise in '89. Since then Aaron has continued to consistently make music as a member of, literally, dozens of different bands -- most of them short lived groups. Some, such as Pinhead Gunpowder, which he formed with Billie Joe Armstrong and others in the early nineties, still play occasionally. His most recent band is the Thorns of Life which formed a few months ago in Brooklyn and features Blake Schwarzenbach (of Jets to Brazil & Jawbreaker fame) and bassist Daniela Sea (known for her former membership of the Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow as well as her acting role in the TV show The L Word). The band, who played their first club date ever on Monday at the Hemlock in SF followed a few days later on Thursday last by a "secret show" at Thrillhouse Records with a reported 100 folks squeezed into the small Mission Street retail space., play 924 Gilman tomorrow (Sat. Jan 31st).

Having covered cityscapes in another blog, I've tried to focus a bit more on signular structures. It's actually pretty difficult to do; companies that chose buildings for their label image wanted the cool skyline at nite thing.

As reported earlier today by both the Guardian UK and Associated Press, famed British folk singer-songwriter John Martyn has died earlier today, of unknown causes, at age 60. Martyn, who was very recently awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in the 2009 New Year honours list, was best known for melding jazz with his folk musical style.  

Martyn's 1973 album Solid Air, whose title track reportedly was a tribute to singer-songwriter Nick Drake, with whom Martyn was often compared, remains his most acclaimed album. Over his several decades-long career Martyn had collaborated with such high-profile acts as Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, and David Gilmour. Additionally he had collaborated a lot with his former wife Beverley Martyn.

As reported by the Guardian, Martyn, who was known for wholeheartedly living the rock n roll lifestyle (booze and drugs), had struggled in recent years with alcoholism and once told Q Magazine that, "If I could control myself more, I think the music would be much less interesting. I'd probably be a great deal richer but I'd have had far less fun and I'd be making really dull music."

In 2003 his right leg was partially amputated after a large cyst under his knee burst, leading him to spend his latter years in a wheelchair.

I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona last night and it was all so very Woody Allen. In a way, it's nice to know that despite setting his movie in a place as far-flung as gorgeous, sun dappled Spain, you can't take the neuroses out of a New Yorker and thus his work.

The movie is about two friends who are opposites when it comes to love, which in this movie equals life. They visit Spain for the summer, one to study art and architecture, one to study, of course, love and life. They quickly meet an artist named Juan Antonio who has a violent ex-wife, Maria Elena. Various entanglements ensue. I do tire sometimes of Woody Allen's female characters and their limitations in so many of his films -- his women are so often both shallow and unknowable, both to other characters and the audience. You can tell a man with a somewhat restricted, maybe even old fashioned knowledge of women's inner lives has written the script. But then, each time this thought enters my head while watching a Woody Allen film, I think of Annie Hall and I know that there is or was something more in him, just not in this particular movie, which for me includes Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Penelope Cruz exhibits enough rage and instability as Maria Elena to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and good for her. She is probably the best, most emotive character in the film, and yet I was still frustrated by the lack of depth to her character.

There are some odd, Woody-esque details that make the film feel almost a tad silly, maybe a bit lovable: The oddly sinister sounding omniscient narrator that chats us through the film; Vicky's square fiance and his perfectly coiffed hair; The ending itself is oh-so-Woody Allen, but I won't give any of it away.

Truthfully, like most of Allen's films for me, the whole thing, as usual, comes off as a slightly creepy, should-I-really-watch-this? old guy's fantasy. Which is probably what it is anyway, right?

That said, the flim did keep me absorbed throughout (it's only about an hour and half long), and brought up some interesting thoughts about class divisions and life choices. And did I mention the scenery? I mean, if Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johanssen, Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall aren't enough for you, there's always the Spanish countryside, which is just as seductive as the characters, if not moreso. The camera lingers and gazes at the scenery with a kind of wonder that matches that of Vicky and Cristina, the tourists.

This picture is not a weighty work, but all things considered it's a rather flippant, light pleasure to watch. And considering it was written and directed by a guy who is the same age as my grandparents and whose creative output continues nonstop, despite his age, I'd call it worth watching. It arrived on DVD&nbs

Amoeba Music and Phil Blankenship are proud to present some of our film favorites at Los Angeles’ last full-time revival movie theater. See movies the way they're meant to be seen - on the big screen and with an audience!

---

January 31

Paul Verhoeven's
Basic Instinct

New Beverly Cinema
7165 W Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Midnight, All Tickets $7

An exotic setting for an album cover is a great way to grab the attention of the record buying public, but it can leave an artist with a bit of a problem. Does the music match up with said exoticism or is this really just another late period Three Dog Night record???






I was somewhat surprised that Ian Lloyd was the lone user of the always effective bird of paradise.  Below, Richard Torrance proves "Anything's Possible" as he was able to convince Capitol to OK this design!

I must say that this blog has taken a very long time to put together. Occasionally I come up with a concept that just lays itself out nicely over a couple of months time -- although that's the exception, not the rule. I've been collecting these images for well over a year now...






I started out with a fruit & vegetable theme, but obviously fruit wins hands down. Rutabaga Records is the lone vegetable of the bunch. I have other foodstuffs set aside for a future blog; we'll see how much longer that takes to piece together.

Patrick Hambrecht of the unique Brooklyn rock group Flaming Fire has a really wonderfully written article in the latest Vice magazine (published online yesterday) entitled "The Past, Or Three Reasons I Quit My Band and Started Over." In the piece he writes, "I was in a band called Flaming Fire. I recently ended this band." The charismatic center of the self-described "spooky electronic chant" band / metaphysical arts collective has created an extremely entertaining piece of writing in which he draws analogies to the cartoon G-Force and also Syd Barrett. What he wrote follows and will certainly entertain anyone who has ever been in a band:

"When I was a kid, my favorite show was G-Force, an anime about "Five secret agents trained to fly like birds." They traveled around in a huge space plane that could turn into a phoenix, and everyone on the show had a cool vehicle that detached from the phoenix. Mark, the leader, had a jet fighter; the robot sidekick had a subterranean drill; the girl had a scooter; the cool guy had a racecar. The only guy who didn't have a cool vehicle was Tiny. Tiny was the fat dork who drove the big plane, and waited for everyone to come back from their awesome solo missions. When you start a band, you think you're going to be Syd Barrett, and everyone else will let you get drunk, do lots of drugs and be fun while they pack drums and set up gigs and do all the boring stuff. But that's not going to happen. Because you're the band leader, the band is your thing, not theirs. Your drummer may be in eight bands, your bassist may be a painter, your lady vocalist may be a cartoonist, but you won't have time for those things yourself. You have to set up gigs, book tours, cart them around in a van you buy, smooth over arguments between members, try to save money from gigs for recording sessions, mail out promo CDs over your lunchbreak. You're not Syd Barrett; you're a secretary. You're Tiny."

Miss Ess: What was it that got you into music in the first place?

Greg Weeks: I'd have to say radio ... or the Solid Gold dancers. Probably radio.
 
ME: Can you describe the exact moment?

GW: No way! That's like asking what it was like in the womb.
 
ME: What records defined that early period of musical obsession for you?

GW: Ah, well, I had two sound designed LPs of Hansel and Gretel that were very much loved. I wore out the grooves on the bit where the witch burnes alive in the oven. The plate reverb on that part probably had a large impact on future production tastes. I listened a lot to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and the Sean Cassidy LP.

ME: Jumping to the future: any news on the next Espers album?

GW: We're recording it. Slowly but surely. Our drummer is hardly ever around, and that makes it challenging, but we should have a record out in the Fall.

Yes, Otto is fantastic, and consequently high in demand! What projects are you working on currently and what is coming up next for you?

Well, Valerie Project is likely going to be doing several weeks in Summer around Green Man. That will pretty much put the wraps on that project and allow us to get on with the biz of a second installment in the Project Series (though the subject is being kept under wraps). I have a project with Alison from Mellow Candle underway. She wrote a series of songs on dulcimer (with vocals) which I'm arranging for rock band treatment. Recording should begin soon on that.

Wow, I can't wait to hear that! You have your own label, Language of Stone. Is there any commonality between the sound of the artists you have chosen to sign?
 
Well, when you have one person designing the roster there has to be some through line linking the bands. My taste is somewhat diverse but there are commonalities, perhaps indefinable to some degree. It's all subconcious stuff really. Labels are a funny thing. We music fans often think of label signings as being a signifier of status and worth for a band, but in reality small labels are populated by administrators with fickle tatstes who pass up great bands all the time in service of their own whims and agendas. If Ben Goldberg hadn't picked up a copy of [Weeks'] Fire In The Arms Of The Sun for $1 in an Other Music bargain bin, it's likely that Espers, Valerie Project, Language of Stone and Hexham Head wouldn't exist. No other label was interested in that record. So, in a way, Ben Goldberg is a founding father of the psychedelic folk movement.

Thank god for the independent record store in that instance! What past and current labels are you inspired by or are favorites?
 
Dandelion, Harvest, Elektra, Virgin, Philips, Mellow, Si-Wan, really a lot of the re-issue labels and the modern day vinyl only labels.

Your solo album The Hive came out this past year. How do you choose what will go on a solo album vs Espers and how did the creation of the record come about?
 
My solo records are vastly internal affairs. I'm writing for me and largely about me, either specifically, abstractly, or about my feelings regarding the world around me. Espers records will by default have some of that same energy in the mix, but the works are written for larger forces. There is no ego in an Espers tune. We intentionally remove the "I" from our music. We attempt a more universal approach. The music follows suit because it mixes the energies of the three writers with the overall energy of the ensemble. The band in effect erases the individual's imprint to some degree.

You put out an excellent album with Espers, The Weed Tree, that is all covers -- what songs do you still want to cover sometime in your career? How do you decide what songs to cover in general?
 
Man, I always have a running list of songs to cover, and there's a good chance we'll squeeze another covers record out, but I hesitate to name names. People know too much nowadays. The excitement of the unknown needs to be cultivated, so I'll leave it at that. As far as choices ... personally I'm not interested in doing a straight cover rendition, so the tune has to lend itself to an interesting retelling. Manipulating the original intent is always a fun endeavor as well.

You are involved in so much. What aspect of your work within different musical fields is your favorite?
 
Touring would be last on my list. Playing music in front of people is incredible and rewarding ... and probably allows for the most spiritual of experiences, but touring is the least creative aspect of musicianship and the biggest time waster. And physically and psychologically it is very difficult. I most enjoy working with others at this point. Espers is great cuz for me coming up with arrangements to other people's parts is absolutely the most enjoyable aspect of music making. And certainly assisting other talented musicians in reaching their potential ... that's incredibly rewarding. If I could do that full time and make a living I would likely devote myself to it.
 
I read that your song was featured on Weeds! How did that come about and how do you feel about it?
 
Showtime contacted me through Myspace. Simple as that. I'm all for music licensing. It's one of only a few ways to make money from music. An artist needs to be selective, of course, but there isn't much out there that I wouldn't go for if offered. I live in this society. Every day within it I feed almost every aspect of its structure, good and bad, by default. If a car commercial asks me for a tune, I'm likely gonna give them a "yes." I drive a car. I'd be a hypocrite to hold out for moral reasons. If some throwaway Hollywood crap film wanted a song I'd likely say "yes." I slum bad Hollywood movies on tv all the time. But I'd have no trouble turning down $1,000.000.00 if offered by the US military or Haliburton or McDonald's or some such company that I am patently opposed to and resist supporting. With Weeds it was a perfect fit. Showtime hardly pays anything so I don't have any pressures to flee my destitute lifestyle and change my artistic orientation, and pot needs to be legalised, so I feel I'm supporting a just cause I firmly believe in by helping pot gain more mainstream appeal.

What is your most prized piece of music gear and why?
 
Oh, I would off the cuff say my Mellotron, but in reality its likely my '78 Gibson Les Paul Custom, the only electric guitar I've ever owned. I bought it for $400 in 1986 and despite its backbreaking weight I will own and use it till I become fertilizer for some grower's pot patch.

What is the musical scene like right now in Philadelphia and what makes it different than scenes in other major cities?
 
The scene is vibrant and ever expanding, so much so that even Magnet did a story on Philadelphia! I can't even keep track of the people who keep arriving, friends and strangers. I imagine the climate is much like that of Seattle in the early 90s with one exception; there is no major label cash influx to challenge the scene's foundations. Philadelphia is the last artistically viable big city on the East Coast that remains affordable. New York is untennable, as is Brooklyn. DC is dead, atomised into small loft scenes that are very strong individually but aren't able or interested in creating a unified scene. Baltimore is an amazing city with a lot of great people and a very healthy electronic scene, but it's too small and disparate yet to cultivate a unified scene able to support outsiders. And south of DC ... good luck. Like the midwest, there simply is no suitable infrastructure. It's like mainland Europe without the government interference.

Speaking of scenes, now that the "New Folk" movement has been around for several years, how does it feel to you now and how do you feel about the labeling of it that has gone on?
 
The labels exist for the simple reason that we need symbols to help us easily understand what we're discussing. New Folk, New Weird America, Freak Folk, Psych Folk ... none of it means what it pretends to say. I've always said that it's a movement based on personal politics. That the unifying factors are rebellion against what the megacorps project as being the mainstream: music megacorps, clothing megacorps, produce megacorps, lifestyle megacorps ... anything faceless and huge and not represented by the common man/woman. This music, in all its wide varieties, grew out of a network of individuals who slowly came together with a shared desire to create a world they believed ought to exist. It may seem relegated to a microcosm of indie music but the evidence shows it's part of a widescale sea change in attitudes. Or more so, a change in momentum wherein everyday people have found the inner strength to resist what is force fed them. We're seeing it in the natural foods revolution, the global economic meltdown, US political regime change, the crafts revolution and all sorts of things that, while [also] embracing new technologies, are taking us back to what was good about the world on the cusp of the industrial revolution. Music is a huge force for change, despite the fact that musicians are the most ghettoised of artists. Music has to a very great extent supported youth (those 40 and under) in this current movement towards change.
 
What has been the musical highlight of your life thus far?
 
The first Valerie Project performance ... my first solo performance at VPRO's Amstel Fest. Those would be the two highest ranking experiences on my list.

What have you been listening to lately?
 
Ys by Joanna Newsom. The first side of that record is one of the great works of art of the 21st century. Funnily enough, when I play it for the uninitiated, the first reaction is always "it sounds like a little girl singing." "Violence Grows" by The Fatal Microbes (thanks to Jeremy's Christmas cd smapler). A German gal by the name of Haruko. Frumpy's video for "How The Gypsy Was Born." There's an Austrian band by the name Graumahd that I really dig. And there's an ellusive Brit who makes the most incredible and melancholic music (available only on Myspace and YouTube) by the name of Chevalier of the Brazen Serpent. I wish someone would convince him to let me put out a record of his.

 
Anything by Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes.

Do you have any musical guilty pleasures?
 
Er ... anything that a person enjoys hearing shouldn't really be considered a guilty pleasure. Though I guess enjoying an M.O.D. album should make me feel guilty.

It's interesting how often pockets of great music come out of one particular place and within one particular time period. Is there a musical scene, a particular place and time that you would like to go back to and insert yourself in?
 
I'd happily insert myself in Bearsville [NY in the late 60s/early 70s] right now! Europe in the early 70s was amazing straight across the board. Late 60s early 70s Italy would have been insane. Biglietto Per L'Inferno, Osanna, New Trolls, Saint Just, Mauro Pelosi, Dalton ... the list goes on.

What song best describes your life right now?
 
"If" by Bread and "Jesahel" by Delirium.


If you could create your dream bill, made of any bands/artists irregardless of time and space, with Espers as the headliners, who would you choose?
 
Supersister would have to be on there. Aside from that, a multimedia affair with artists largely drawn from the list of Favorites on the Language of Stone YouTube page would be a good start.

I've heard that you also are interested in making films. Have you had a chance to make one yet? What is it about and what was its inspiration?
 
I have long been wanting to make a film series dealing with modern day stone cults and centering largely around the push and pull between nature and humankind; how each side attempts to reclaim what the other has taken away. The problem is finances. All the participants and the creative team are lined up, but I'm not good at raising money, I don't want to cede creative control to investors and I want to shoot it all on 16mm. Any suggestions?

Since the economy is as bad as it is these days, I would say definitely don't put it on your credit card, even if that's what so many indie filmmakers have done in the past! Any idea when you will be back on the road touring?
 
Solo stuff, I don't know ... I'm not sure if there's an audience for me live in the US. I've never been in the position to gauge it. Espers will definitely be out there to support the next record.

Thanks so much for your time!

Whilst werewolves have been the subjects of films at least as early as 1913's The Werewolf, werewolf movies has always played second fiddle to vampire movies. Heck, maybe even third fiddle, with zombies probably having overtaken them. Werewolf films are therefore like the Dr. Pepper to Zombies' Pepsi and Vampires' Coke. The Rodney Dangerfield of monsters. And yet werewolves' history, both in cinema and reality, is indelibly intertwined with other, more popular monsters. Historically, werewolves were even viewed as likely candidates for vampirism after death. And in films they have a long history of grudge matches with their undead enemies. In the past, it was usually Dracula himself vs. The Wolf Man in a series of B-movies. Now, vampires and werewolves are often depicted as members of different races of beings with ancient hatreds that play out less in the horror genre than the fantasy.
 

Why don't werewolves get more love? Where did it all go wrong? Maybe it's just because, for the most part, great werewolf films are few and far between -- most of the early ones, which may be the genre's Vampyr or Nosferatu, are lost. Maybe it's because werewolf films are always introducing more and more mythology to the canon, shaping and shifting our perceptions of werewolves as cunning and secretive in the silent era, to rampaging maniacs in the '40s, to Vampire hating proles in modern, dark fantasy. Beyond film, vampires have captured the black hearts of the dispossessed and pasty goth subculture in a way werewolves never have. I mean, Peter Murphy didn't sing, "Lon Chaney Jr.'s Dead." I, for one, have always identified with werewolves more than any other monster. I'm not sure why, but I think there's more to it than them being the underdogs... or wolves as it were. Plus, once (after going to bed in upstairs), I awoke in the early morning on the ground outdoors... unclothed... with bloody bits of skin under my nails and no memory of how I got there.
 

don't miss this unique occasion as we welcome a warm change of pace
with the Brazilian stylings of the Funky President.


If you haven't caught on to SOUL IN THE PARK at Footsie's yet,
imagine a small local dive bar with a reputable sound system.


A room full of open-minded music lovers,
J.
Rocc sharing yet another side of his repertoire,
worldly sounds in this intimate setting --
something to be a part of.





SOUL IN THE PARK 13

- WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28 -

a special Brazilian set by


J. ROCC of THE BEAT JUNKIES

resident selector


RANI D.

FOOTSIE'S BAR 2640 N. FIGUEROA ST.
HIGHLAND PARK, CA 90065
2nd and 4th wednesday // FREE // 10pm-2am

don't miss out...

*SOUL IN THE PARK*

I was doing some research for my next deejay set (can't talk about it or I'll jinx it, me thinks) when I stumbled on this gem of gems. It's Johnny "Guitar" Watson covering Grover Washington Jr.'s monster hit, "Mr. Magic." Watson just destroys the original easy funk version. Don't get me wrong, I love the original, but Watson trumps the o.g. version. The band is hot as well. They play tight, dress sharp and follow every move Watson makes. If I were Grover and I saw this performance, I would have said, "Damn!!!" and hoped to never to share a bill with Watson.

I was thinking about James Blood Ulmer, who is one of my favorite guitar players. As great as musicians John Coltrane and Miles Davis were (and still are), they have many legions of imitators who sound just like them. I love Ulmer for the same reason I love Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy; The minute you hear Dolphy, you know it's Dolphy. No one can copy their style. It's both out and in, rooted in church blues, structured in classical music and improvisational all at the same time.

I was already a fan of James Blood Ulmer a few years back as I was playing legendary organist John Patton's album, Accent On The Blues. The song was a breezy soul jazz piece that suddenly came to life with a crazy guitar solo. I didn't even have to read the credits to know it was Ulmer, but I checked anyway. Sure enough, it was him.

I didn't know much about James Blood Ulmer's work with Ornette Coleman. I searching the internet and stumbled upon this video.The song is called "Theme from a Symphony from Dancing in Your Head." The band is Ornette on soprano sax, Blood Ulmer on guitar, Norris Sirone Jones on bass, and the late great Billy Higgins on drums. It's from 1974. I love the way the song starts. It sounds like Blood Ulmer is playing a Velvet Underground song under Ornette's sax line. Together, both musicians compliment each other as they are both heavily rooted in the blues. It is as beautiful as it is abstract. I love it!


Today James Blood Ulmer's music is less jazz and more funk/blues oriented and that great tone as morphed a bit. He sounds what I'd imagine Hendrix would have sounded like now if he was still alive. Check out some of his newer tracks on his myspace page.

1) Q-Tip The Renaissance (Motown/Universal)

2) Common Universal Mind Control (Geffen)

3) 88 Keys The Death of Adam (Decon)

4) E40 The Ball Street Journal (Sic Wid It/Warner)

5) Atmosphere God Loves Ugly (Rhymesayers Entertainment)

Thanks to Inti at Amoeba Music Berkeley for supplying this week's Hip-Hop Top FIve chart of the best selling albums of the week. As with both other Amoeba stores, the current Q-Tip and Common albums are both still selling steadily. So too are 88 Keys and the "Ambassador of the Yay Area," E40. In addition to the former Jive Records artist's first release through Warner, E40 is also one of the 40 odd artists featured on the fantastic new hip-hop rooted but musically diverse compilation N.A.S.A. The Spirit of Apollo on Anti (more on this release later). Not on this chart but still selling well at Amoeba Berkeley, as well as elsewhere, and coming in at a close number 6, is Kayne West's 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella Records). "I really like that album," said Inti from Amoeba, adding that, "It's a concept album and I always appreciate concept albums. And people are loving it and buying it."
 
This week's Top Five's newest chart entry, Atmosphere's God Loves Ugly, is in fact a reissue of the relatively slept-on 2002 release by the superb Minneapolis, Minnesota duo comprised of Slug (emcee) and Ant (beats). Atmosphere's stellar last album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold (Rhymesayers) was the top selling hip-hop album at Amoeba Music for 2008. As time goes on and mainstream hip-hop gets more redundant and repetitive, it seems unique voices like Slug's (an intelligent, insightful emcee with a real gift for storytelling and flipping the script in a truly original way) over the dense innovative beats of Ant, rise to the top to get the attention they rightfully deserve.

This Week At The New Beverly!

Peter Bogdanovich guest programs
the New Beverly Cinema January 21-31!

The New Bev is extremely honored to have legendary director/ writer/ actor PETER BOGDANOVICH as a guest programmer for the period of Jan. 21-31, 2009. On Jan. 21-24, we will screen 5 of Mr. Bogdanovich's best films, and on Jan. 25-31, we will screen 3 double bills of other American classics selected by Mr. Bogdanovich.



Sunday, Monday & Tuesday January 25, 26 & 27

Peter Bogdanovich Programs The New Bev

North By Northwest (1959)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/
dir. Alfred Hitchcock, written by Ernest Lehman, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Sun: 3:00 & 7:30; Mon/Tue: 7:30, Watch The Trailer!


To Have And Have Not (1944)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0037382/
dir. Howard Hawks, written by Jules Furthman & William Faulkner based on the Ernest Hemingway novel, starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall
Sun: 5:30 & 10:00; Mon/Tue: 10:00

Continue reading...