The F Yeah Fest, curated by Sean Carlson and Keith Morris, might be the younger, more precocious sibling to Silver Lake's Sunset Junction, but it has its own buoyant charm. Only at F Yeah can one watch Austin, Texas’ Best Fwends while standing next to cheery Matt Johnson of Brooklyn’s Matt and Kim, and later, mosh with Jonathan Gray of L.A.’s The Mae Shi. Although this year’s festival suffered a huge setback when a financial backer pulled out at the last minute, Carlson and the crew -- now more than $15,000 in debt -- decided to press on, booking a wealth of musical acts into the Echo, the "F Yeah Fest Annex" and Echoplex.
Since Sunday, Las Vegas has been filled with clothing designers, hip-hop musicians and clothing buyers from around the world for the second in the twice-a-year fashion trade show known as MAGIC.
For the first time, however, rock star designer Christian Audigier took his quickly expanding empire out of the usual trade show environment at the Las Vegas Convention Center and created his own elaborate star-studded event just a few miles down the road at Caesar's Palace, taking over the casino's entire convention space and featuring performances from Macy Gray, T.I., Dave Stewart and Snoop Dogg, all of whom have their own signature lines under Audigier's lifestyle umbrella.
T.I.'s Tuesday afternoon performance, staged inside a boxing ring, had all the energy of a prize fight. T.I.'s general rawkus behavior, as he ran through a quick set of his most recent hits, caused the crowd to bounce and bob their heads. The self-proclaimed "King of the South," whose well-publicized court trouble and house arrest took no sting out of his lively stage presence, thrilled the crowd of young models, wholesale clothing buyers and guys with mohawks. Hits like "Big Things Poppin (Do It)," and "What You Know," were greeted with serious woots and hollers from the crowd. T.I. closed the promo set with a couple tracks off of his upcoming "Paper Trail" album, including the groovy Jim Jonsin-produced ode to the ladies, "Whatever You Like."
On the eve of this year's F Yeah Fest, the L.A. Weekly has a really thorough rundown of an alleged altercation between fest founder Sean Carlson (in the background of this photo, with fest co-organizer Keith Morris) and the security detail working the Hollywood Bowl at Monday's Radiohead show. In short, Carlson alleges that promoter Phil Hoelting, videographer Michael Reich and he were passing out F Yeah Fest fliers outside the Bowl when Reich videotaped the Bowl's security contractors roughly detaining a concertgoer. Carlson said the security officers then chased them down Highland Avenue through traffic in pursuit of the tape, which was confiscated by the guards.
Robin Thicke's recent conversation in Billboard touched on some hot topics: racism; his struggle to shake the shadow of his parents, actors Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring, and find his own place in the pop world; and the ever-problematic category of "blue-eyed soul." I also had a chance to chat with Thicke not long ago, and when we connected, he talked mostly about music. Which is sensible, because "Something Else," Thicke's third album (out Sept. 30 on Star Trak/Interscope) presents his musical vision more coherently and cohesively than anything else he's done.
Here's what Thicke had to say about the sound and creative soul expressed on "Something Else."
-- Ann Powers
AP: The new album is more assertive, to my ears, than anything else you've done. Tell me about the motivation behind it.
RT: After coming off the road for so long, we really wanted the new album to be entertaining as much as soulful. I was trying to find some good grooves and bring back the sounds of Michael Jackson, Gamble and Huff, Motown....
AP: What does Michael Jackson's music mean to you?
RT: When I was 7, he was the biggest singer in the world. No one had done what he had done before. I was just inspired by his music and his dance moves, and then I went over to Prince, and after that I got into rap and gospel music and R&B.
Brian Wilson’s relationship over the years with his legacy as the driving musical force in the Beach Boys has been tumultuous at best. Internal squabbles that contributed to his withdrawal from the band, and effectively from life for many years, didn’t make the prospect of equanimity toward his past seem very likely.
He doesn’t shy from playing the group’s hits at his own concerts nowadays, but when I spoke with him recently, whenever I’d ask a question about “his music,” he’d quickly make the distinction: “Do you mean the Beach Boys' or my music?”
So the surprise, even though Wilson has been sued in recent years by his cousin and former songwriting partner Mike Love — Love lost — and despite cautioning me at the outset of our talk that he wouldn’t field any questions about the Beach Boys, he spoke warmly about the group on his own from time to time.
Rufus Wainwright and the Metropolitan Opera have parted ways over the singer-songwriter’s new work that the Met had commissioned from him, over both the language and timing of the piece, his publicist said Thursday.
Wainwright, who is French Canadian on his mother’s side, insisted on writing his first opera in French, while Met officials wanted this and other new works it commissioned recently to be in English to appeal to the largest possible American audience. In addition Met officials said they wouldn’t be able to premiere Wainwright’s “Prima Donna” earlier than the 2014 season, while Wainwright said he wants it to be staged as soon as possible.
He now plans introduce “Prima Donna,” about a day in the life of an opera singer, next summer at the Manchester International Festival in England.
Brad Meltzer’s hot thriller "The Book of Lies" is being published on Tuesday with a unique companion soundtrack. Because a key element in the book is Meltzer’s theory about the origins of Superman, the music on the CD includes several pop songs that have referenced the Man of Steel, including R.E.M.’s “Superman,” Five for Fighting’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.”
Kal-el and his earthly alter-ego, Clark Kent, have been popular topics for pop, rock, R&B, blues and hip-hop artists, and just as cinematic treatments of Superdude have evolved over time, so have the musical invocations.
In the '60s, Donovan found extraordinary strength in flower-power, R&B-funk musician Johnny "Guitar" Watson took the idea straight into the bedroom in the '70s, while emo rockers such as Five for Fighting whimper about how hard it is to live up to super ideals.
“The Book of Lies” CD just scratches the surface--and it includes Joey Scarbury’s milquetoast Theme from “Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not).” Superman fans deserve better, so we’ve assembled a highly subjective and opinionated list of the best pop songs more worthy of a super hearing. Check them out on the Hero Complex blog.
-- Randy Lewis
*(Update: An earlier version of this post misidentified Brad Meltzer’s book as "Body of Lies.")
Beck is keeping it all in the family next month, when his father, arranger-conductor David Campbell, will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Strings as they accompany the "Devil's Haircut" singer live on stage. The Sept. 20th engagement at the Hollywood Bowl, which is sold out, marks the first time the two music-minded men have performed on stage together.
Campbell's work has earned him multiple Grammy awards, and a pair of Oscars. His arrangements appear on records from artists such as Neil Diamond, the Rolling Stones and (not surprisingly) Beck. Speaking of Beck, the fresh-from-the Outside Lands festival performer announced an intimate gig at San Francisco's Independent in an email blast yesterday to fans. The gig is already sold out, according to the SF Weekly.
After rapper Jay-Z opens the renovated Hollywood Palladium on Oct. 15, the 68-year-old venue will rejoin the Southern California concert scene with an inaugural lineup heavy on alt-rock and hard-rock music, with splashes of hip-hop, reggaeton and rock en español.
Gym Class Heroes and the Roots will team up for an Oct. 17 show, followed by Flogging Molly (Oct. 25 -- pictured), the Kooks (Oct. 28), Rise Against (Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2), Dragonforce (Nov. 7) and La Fabrika del Reggaeton (Nov. 8).
Bookings continue with Mudvayne (Nov. 11), OneRepublic (Nov. 15), Alejandra Guzmán (Nov. 21), Of Montreal (Nov. 22) and Slightly Stoopid (Dec. 6). Tickets for the Rise Against shows are on sale now, Jay-Z tickets will be available Sept. 5 and the other shows go on sale Sept. 13 at Live Nation’s web site.
Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.
Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.
On the eve of this year's 
Robin Thicke's 
