Punk rock kicks?

From the time Run-DMC rapped about "My Adidas," sneaker culture has been more in step with hip-hop than rock. And with Nike's recent glow-in-the-dark Kanye West sneaker, the Air Yeezy, that connection is more prevalent than ever.

But rock fans need not feel left out, because today street fashion mecca Supreme over on Fairfax Avenue releases its limited-edition Vans Sk-8 HI tribute to punk gods Bad Brains.

Although it's just another addition to Vans' hokey "band shoes" category, we can only imagine how cool it would be to run around in these multicolored kicks, while paying homage to one of the greatest punk bands around. Of course you could also wait until May, when Converse drops its Kurt Cobain collection. But we hear people are already snickering at that marketing ploy. And you're on your own if you buy the Liberace kicks.

--Camilo Smith

Photo courtesy Supreme

If you're of a certain age, you can sing the Super Mario Brothers and/or Zelda theme songs on command. So, it's no surprise that musician Laromlab (a.k.a. Brandon Harrod) has turned to chiptunes to craft his blippy, "chasing a mushroom on level three" compositions. What are chiptunes? They're songs composed in a format whereby all the sounds are synthesized in real time by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of a sample-based synthesis. Check him out tonight at Motion Lab, where he is likely to break out his chiptune versions of Daft Punk classics such as "Around the World." It sounds like the Super Mario Brothers commanding the decks at Paris' Respect. Stream his upcoming self-titled album here.

--Margaret Wappler

What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer! Yes, it’s an old joke, but it’s a good one. And there’s this one: How do you get a drummer off the doorstep? Pay for the pizza! Or: What concept do drummers and Einstein agree on? Time is relative! Wait, wait, one more: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless! But seriously folks … We were thinking of drummers because of a really intriguing auction that’s underway on eBay for a good cause. Here’s the description:

"A once in a lifetime experience, visit the Sabian factory in New Brunswick, Canada, take a tour and spend time with the Artisans in the Sabian Vault (up to 1/2 day) selecting a setup. Package includes a 10-cymbal setup with a MSRP of $3,000, round trip airfare (US or Canada only) to New Brunswick, and one night lodging near the factory plus meals. The retail value is $4,000, but the experience is priceless!”

The auction benefits the victims of California wildfires, as does Thursday's show at the Roxy by Perry Farrell and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars, which also includes a raffle and auction. All of it is fun and high-minded, unlike this joke: What’s the last thing a drummer says before he flies out the door of his band’s chartered jet? “Hey guys, I wrote a song!"

-- Geoff Boucher

So which member of the Rolling Stones do you think of when you hear the terms "spooky ancient relic" and "dug up from a shallow grave"? Yeah, us, too. But actually, it turns out Bill Wyman is the right answer. The retired Stones bassist (who just played with his band, the Rhythm Kings, at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London) is quite the amateur archaeologist or, as he describes himself, a "history detective," which we think means he wears a deerstalker cap, puffs on a curved pipe and randomly shouts "Elementary, my dear Jagger!"

Wyman started getting his hands dirty back in 1968 when he bought a house in Suffolk and stumbled on fragments of past cultures on the grounds. Through the years he's dug up more than 300 coins as well as his most precious find, an 18th century ring bearing the seal of John Weniave, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, who, coincidently, was a big fan of the Stones back in their Crawdaddy Club days. Anyway, Wyman has been frustrated through the years with balky (and bulky) metal detectors so he designed his own signed special edition detector, which costs 125 pounds (U.K.). In his sales pitch he says: "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics." Well, who can argue with that?

--Geoff Boucher

Curiosity piqued by the announcement of the Gibson "Robot" Guitar, I headed down to my favorite guitar shop in L.A. on Saturday to check it out myself. I was a little disappointed, frankly.

With a name like "the Robot," I was expecting this six-stringer to jump out of the case unprovoked and run around the room, shouting, "Danger Will Robinson!" or "For those about to rock we salute you!" or "Sarah Connor?" or something. Instead, the Robot just lay in his case, looking like a standard (or, for those of you in the know, a "studio") Les Paul. The only obvious differences were larger tuning pegs and a funky-looking control where one of the standard four volume/tone knobs is usually located. This, I was told, was the "MCK" or "Master Control Knob."

"Now there's the kind of Orwellian 'oh no, the machines have achieved artificial intelligence and have enslaved all carbon-based lifeforms on the planet'-kind of language I was hoping for," I thought.

But alas, the master control knob just controls the Robot's auto-tuning mechanism. It's pretty neat, I'll admit. You pull out the knob, spin the top dial to one of several tuning-configuration presets (standard, "drop d," open-tuning, etc.), tap the top, strum the strings, wait for the tuning pegs to auto-jiggy into position, and voila--push the knob back in and your Les Paul has an alternate tuning.

For the overwhelming majority of guitar players who play in standard tuning, what are the advantages? Well, for about $1000 more than what you'd spend on a regular Les Paul, you can keep your axe in really, really, really good tune.

So who is the real market for Gibson's Robot Guitar? Wealthy guitar players who need to constantly and radically alter their tuning. If that's not you, buy a chromatic tuner and save the Robot Guitar for Joni Mitchell.

--Liam Gowing

Laromlab plays tonight at Motion Lab

If you're of a certain age, you can sing the Super Mario Brothers and/or Zelda theme songs on command. So, it's no surprise that musician Laromlab (a.k.a. Brandon Harrod) has turned to chiptunes to craft his blippy, "chasing a mushroom on level three" compositions. What are chiptunes? They're songs composed in a format whereby all the sounds are synthesized in real time by a computer or video game console sound chip, instead of a sample-based synthesis. Check him out tonight at Motion Lab, where he is likely to break out his chiptune versions of Daft Punk classics such as "Around the World." It sounds like the Super Mario Brothers commanding the decks at Paris' Respect. Stream his upcoming self-titled album here.

--Margaret Wappler

What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer! Yes, it’s an old joke, but it’s a good one. And there’s this one: How do you get a drummer off the doorstep? Pay for the pizza! Or: What concept do drummers and Einstein agree on? Time is relative! Wait, wait, one more: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless! But seriously folks … We were thinking of drummers because of a really intriguing auction that’s underway on eBay for a good cause. Here’s the description:

"A once in a lifetime experience, visit the Sabian factory in New Brunswick, Canada, take a tour and spend time with the Artisans in the Sabian Vault (up to 1/2 day) selecting a setup. Package includes a 10-cymbal setup with a MSRP of $3,000, round trip airfare (US or Canada only) to New Brunswick, and one night lodging near the factory plus meals. The retail value is $4,000, but the experience is priceless!”

The auction benefits the victims of California wildfires, as does Thursday's show at the Roxy by Perry Farrell and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars, which also includes a raffle and auction. All of it is fun and high-minded, unlike this joke: What’s the last thing a drummer says before he flies out the door of his band’s chartered jet? “Hey guys, I wrote a song!"

-- Geoff Boucher

So which member of the Rolling Stones do you think of when you hear the terms "spooky ancient relic" and "dug up from a shallow grave"? Yeah, us, too. But actually, it turns out Bill Wyman is the right answer. The retired Stones bassist (who just played with his band, the Rhythm Kings, at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London) is quite the amateur archaeologist or, as he describes himself, a "history detective," which we think means he wears a deerstalker cap, puffs on a curved pipe and randomly shouts "Elementary, my dear Jagger!"

Wyman started getting his hands dirty back in 1968 when he bought a house in Suffolk and stumbled on fragments of past cultures on the grounds. Through the years he's dug up more than 300 coins as well as his most precious find, an 18th century ring bearing the seal of John Weniave, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, who, coincidently, was a big fan of the Stones back in their Crawdaddy Club days. Anyway, Wyman has been frustrated through the years with balky (and bulky) metal detectors so he designed his own signed special edition detector, which costs 125 pounds (U.K.). In his sales pitch he says: "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics." Well, who can argue with that?

--Geoff Boucher

Curiosity piqued by the announcement of the Gibson "Robot" Guitar, I headed down to my favorite guitar shop in L.A. on Saturday to check it out myself. I was a little disappointed, frankly.

With a name like "the Robot," I was expecting this six-stringer to jump out of the case unprovoked and run around the room, shouting, "Danger Will Robinson!" or "For those about to rock we salute you!" or "Sarah Connor?" or something. Instead, the Robot just lay in his case, looking like a standard (or, for those of you in the know, a "studio") Les Paul. The only obvious differences were larger tuning pegs and a funky-looking control where one of the standard four volume/tone knobs is usually located. This, I was told, was the "MCK" or "Master Control Knob."

"Now there's the kind of Orwellian 'oh no, the machines have achieved artificial intelligence and have enslaved all carbon-based lifeforms on the planet'-kind of language I was hoping for," I thought.

But alas, the master control knob just controls the Robot's auto-tuning mechanism. It's pretty neat, I'll admit. You pull out the knob, spin the top dial to one of several tuning-configuration presets (standard, "drop d," open-tuning, etc.), tap the top, strum the strings, wait for the tuning pegs to auto-jiggy into position, and voila--push the knob back in and your Les Paul has an alternate tuning.

For the overwhelming majority of guitar players who play in standard tuning, what are the advantages? Well, for about $1000 more than what you'd spend on a regular Les Paul, you can keep your axe in really, really, really good tune.

So who is the real market for Gibson's Robot Guitar? Wealthy guitar players who need to constantly and radically alter their tuning. If that's not you, buy a chromatic tuner and save the Robot Guitar for Joni Mitchell.

--Liam Gowing

Drumming up money for victims of the California wildfires

What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer! Yes, it’s an old joke, but it’s a good one. And there’s this one: How do you get a drummer off the doorstep? Pay for the pizza! Or: What concept do drummers and Einstein agree on? Time is relative! Wait, wait, one more: What do you call a drummer without a girlfriend? Homeless! But seriously folks … We were thinking of drummers because of a really intriguing auction that’s underway on eBay for a good cause. Here’s the description:

"A once in a lifetime experience, visit the Sabian factory in New Brunswick, Canada, take a tour and spend time with the Artisans in the Sabian Vault (up to 1/2 day) selecting a setup. Package includes a 10-cymbal setup with a MSRP of $3,000, round trip airfare (US or Canada only) to New Brunswick, and one night lodging near the factory plus meals. The retail value is $4,000, but the experience is priceless!”

The auction benefits the victims of California wildfires, as does Thursday's show at the Roxy by Perry Farrell and the Paul Green School of Rock All-Stars, which also includes a raffle and auction. All of it is fun and high-minded, unlike this joke: What’s the last thing a drummer says before he flies out the door of his band’s chartered jet? “Hey guys, I wrote a song!"

-- Geoff Boucher

So which member of the Rolling Stones do you think of when you hear the terms "spooky ancient relic" and "dug up from a shallow grave"? Yeah, us, too. But actually, it turns out Bill Wyman is the right answer. The retired Stones bassist (who just played with his band, the Rhythm Kings, at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London) is quite the amateur archaeologist or, as he describes himself, a "history detective," which we think means he wears a deerstalker cap, puffs on a curved pipe and randomly shouts "Elementary, my dear Jagger!"

Wyman started getting his hands dirty back in 1968 when he bought a house in Suffolk and stumbled on fragments of past cultures on the grounds. Through the years he's dug up more than 300 coins as well as his most precious find, an 18th century ring bearing the seal of John Weniave, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, who, coincidently, was a big fan of the Stones back in their Crawdaddy Club days. Anyway, Wyman has been frustrated through the years with balky (and bulky) metal detectors so he designed his own signed special edition detector, which costs 125 pounds (U.K.). In his sales pitch he says: "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics." Well, who can argue with that?

--Geoff Boucher

Curiosity piqued by the announcement of the Gibson "Robot" Guitar, I headed down to my favorite guitar shop in L.A. on Saturday to check it out myself. I was a little disappointed, frankly.

With a name like "the Robot," I was expecting this six-stringer to jump out of the case unprovoked and run around the room, shouting, "Danger Will Robinson!" or "For those about to rock we salute you!" or "Sarah Connor?" or something. Instead, the Robot just lay in his case, looking like a standard (or, for those of you in the know, a "studio") Les Paul. The only obvious differences were larger tuning pegs and a funky-looking control where one of the standard four volume/tone knobs is usually located. This, I was told, was the "MCK" or "Master Control Knob."

"Now there's the kind of Orwellian 'oh no, the machines have achieved artificial intelligence and have enslaved all carbon-based lifeforms on the planet'-kind of language I was hoping for," I thought.

But alas, the master control knob just controls the Robot's auto-tuning mechanism. It's pretty neat, I'll admit. You pull out the knob, spin the top dial to one of several tuning-configuration presets (standard, "drop d," open-tuning, etc.), tap the top, strum the strings, wait for the tuning pegs to auto-jiggy into position, and voila--push the knob back in and your Les Paul has an alternate tuning.

For the overwhelming majority of guitar players who play in standard tuning, what are the advantages? Well, for about $1000 more than what you'd spend on a regular Les Paul, you can keep your axe in really, really, really good tune.

So who is the real market for Gibson's Robot Guitar? Wealthy guitar players who need to constantly and radically alter their tuning. If that's not you, buy a chromatic tuner and save the Robot Guitar for Joni Mitchell.

--Liam Gowing

Bill Wyman’s love of silver and gold

So which member of the Rolling Stones do you think of when you hear the terms "spooky ancient relic" and "dug up from a shallow grave"? Yeah, us, too. But actually, it turns out Bill Wyman is the right answer. The retired Stones bassist (who just played with his band, the Rhythm Kings, at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London) is quite the amateur archaeologist or, as he describes himself, a "history detective," which we think means he wears a deerstalker cap, puffs on a curved pipe and randomly shouts "Elementary, my dear Jagger!"

Wyman started getting his hands dirty back in 1968 when he bought a house in Suffolk and stumbled on fragments of past cultures on the grounds. Through the years he's dug up more than 300 coins as well as his most precious find, an 18th century ring bearing the seal of John Weniave, the High Sheriff of Suffolk, who, coincidently, was a big fan of the Stones back in their Crawdaddy Club days. Anyway, Wyman has been frustrated through the years with balky (and bulky) metal detectors so he designed his own signed special edition detector, which costs 125 pounds (U.K.). In his sales pitch he says: "Metal detecting is not just for anoraks or eccentrics." Well, who can argue with that?

--Geoff Boucher

Curiosity piqued by the announcement of the Gibson "Robot" Guitar, I headed down to my favorite guitar shop in L.A. on Saturday to check it out myself. I was a little disappointed, frankly.

With a name like "the Robot," I was expecting this six-stringer to jump out of the case unprovoked and run around the room, shouting, "Danger Will Robinson!" or "For those about to rock we salute you!" or "Sarah Connor?" or something. Instead, the Robot just lay in his case, looking like a standard (or, for those of you in the know, a "studio") Les Paul. The only obvious differences were larger tuning pegs and a funky-looking control where one of the standard four volume/tone knobs is usually located. This, I was told, was the "MCK" or "Master Control Knob."

"Now there's the kind of Orwellian 'oh no, the machines have achieved artificial intelligence and have enslaved all carbon-based lifeforms on the planet'-kind of language I was hoping for," I thought.

But alas, the master control knob just controls the Robot's auto-tuning mechanism. It's pretty neat, I'll admit. You pull out the knob, spin the top dial to one of several tuning-configuration presets (standard, "drop d," open-tuning, etc.), tap the top, strum the strings, wait for the tuning pegs to auto-jiggy into position, and voila--push the knob back in and your Les Paul has an alternate tuning.

For the overwhelming majority of guitar players who play in standard tuning, what are the advantages? Well, for about $1000 more than what you'd spend on a regular Les Paul, you can keep your axe in really, really, really good tune.

So who is the real market for Gibson's Robot Guitar? Wealthy guitar players who need to constantly and radically alter their tuning. If that's not you, buy a chromatic tuner and save the Robot Guitar for Joni Mitchell.

--Liam Gowing

Playing the Robot

Curiosity piqued by the announcement of the Gibson "Robot" Guitar, I headed down to my favorite guitar shop in L.A. on Saturday to check it out myself. I was a little disappointed, frankly.

With a name like "the Robot," I was expecting this six-stringer to jump out of the case unprovoked and run around the room, shouting, "Danger Will Robinson!" or "For those about to rock we salute you!" or "Sarah Connor?" or something. Instead, the Robot just lay in his case, looking like a standard (or, for those of you in the know, a "studio") Les Paul. The only obvious differences were larger tuning pegs and a funky-looking control where one of the standard four volume/tone knobs is usually located. This, I was told, was the "MCK" or "Master Control Knob."

"Now there's the kind of Orwellian 'oh no, the machines have achieved artificial intelligence and have enslaved all carbon-based lifeforms on the planet'-kind of language I was hoping for," I thought.

But alas, the master control knob just controls the Robot's auto-tuning mechanism. It's pretty neat, I'll admit. You pull out the knob, spin the top dial to one of several tuning-configuration presets (standard, "drop d," open-tuning, etc.), tap the top, strum the strings, wait for the tuning pegs to auto-jiggy into position, and voila--push the knob back in and your Les Paul has an alternate tuning.

For the overwhelming majority of guitar players who play in standard tuning, what are the advantages? Well, for about $1000 more than what you'd spend on a regular Les Paul, you can keep your axe in really, really, really good tune.

So who is the real market for Gibson's Robot Guitar? Wealthy guitar players who need to constantly and radically alter their tuning. If that's not you, buy a chromatic tuner and save the Robot Guitar for Joni Mitchell.

--Liam Gowing