Music Buildings Blog

When the City of Santa Monica called us a month ago to tell us about an all-night art event they were planning and asked if we would participate, we were IN. I mean, we love free events that we can invite our listeners to. Little did we know that the event they expected 15,000 people to attend would draw closer to 100,000.

The crowd was as diverse as any I’ve ever seen and I think that may be the biggest success of the night. Unfortunately, having that many people in one place also had its problems. When Garth Trinidad kicked off his DJ set at 10pm, there was already a group of dancing folks pressed up against the barricade. By the time his set ended at midnight, there were bodies as far as I could see (from behind the DJ booth) and people partying it up in the sand below. (some camped out in the middle of our logo, see photo by Beth Topping).

Raul Campos took over after midnight with an old-school house set and the crowd was really digging it. Sadly, the cops pulled the plug a little after 1am, much to our dismay. (as Raul said, you know it’s a good party when the cops have to shut it down. He was having a blast.) We knew the crowd was full of listeners who heard about GLOW through us and we hated the idea of letting people down. Jeremy Sole’s records never even got to touch the turntables.

The good news is one word – possibility. Los Angeles has a lot of public space (particularly, Santa Monica has a lot of sand) that is not utilized for events like this. I love that tons of people came to Santa Monica from across Los Angeles for an art/music event. I think there are ideas for the future floating around in a lot of people’s heads. 

Thanks sincerely to everyone who came out. (more photos below)
RR

p.s. Did anyone actually see the grunion run?

 

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You will be hearing Mario Cotto at midnight on Mondays, starting tonight!  Mario has been a revolving host of The Lab and also hosts a show on our 24/7 online music channel from 8 to 10pm on weekends.  He has described his show as “night music for teenage werewolves and robots trapped in a psychedelic apocalypse.” If you want to hear what it REALLY sounds like, tune in tonight.

Also, as Mario exits the Lab, Anthony Valadez enters. Anthony is a familiar name on the Westside with residencies at Zanzibar and Temple Bar, as well as Little Temple in Silver Lake and Footises in Highland Park. Anthony has opened for everyone from Ben Harper and Van Hunt to Meshell N’degeocello and Nikka Costa. He’s been in the Marines and studied theater. He’s an interesting guy with great taste in music and we’re excited to have him here! You can hear The Lab on Sunday mornings from 3 to 6am.

RR
 
 

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Ixia, a leading company in IP performance testing, announced a competitive upgrade program today as part of its "Switch to Ixia" campaign.

The program will last through the end of September 2008. During this time, new and existing customers from all over the world can trade equipment from Ixia's ...

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I first saw married duo Mates of State at a day party during SXSW in 06. I really enjoyed watching Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel on stage together. They were facing each other with a keyboard and set up drums between them and it was really intense and wonderful. For their MBE set today, the couple brought a cellist and violin player to round out the band and their baby was hanging out in the control room during the show. (Their 4-year-old sat this trip out.)  “Re-Arranger” is a clear favorite for me and it’s off their new album. Check out the whole set here

RR

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Sunday’s salute to “women in rock” at the bowl was dominated by the powerhouse that is Sharon Jones. Her cover of James Brown’s “"It's a Man's Man's Man's World" brought the house down. It was the highlight of my night, although her dance moves (with and without heels) were a close second.

As far as visual imagery goes, Feist has some of the most interesting artistic backdrops I have ever seen. They were being created real time by two women, a projector, and an array of finger paint and props. My eyes were glued to that screen for a good part of the night. It was magical and something I have never seen before. One thing I learned about Feist is that she is an excellent guitar player. Watching her rock out on guitar during “1,2,3,4” made me proud to be a woman. “I Feel it All” is my personal fave and I loved sharing that moment with thousands of other people. That song just makes me happy.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Sharon Jones’ band the Dap Kings, you might have heard their soulful funk on a little album called “Back to Black” by an artist named Amy Winehouse. If you’re a soul fan, you HAVE to check out artists on Daptone Records. Everything they put out is full of heart and soul and played by incredible musicians – I’m a big fan of Budos Band and The Sugarman 3, myself.

RR

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Filed under: Photo of the Day

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