UPDATE! oh my goodness...i just got back from attending the church of alicia keys and she totally blew me away! although the bass was a bit overpowering at times - i thought she did an exceptional job - when she was playing piano i was in heaven - she did a few songs w/o the piano but she shines best with her trusty piano at her fingertips - i'm so freakin' glad i decided to go - she's the total real deal! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo
hey hey! although i don't really feel like heading out on a monday night - it is 'cinco de mayo' AND alicia keys is playing downtown at staples center - so how could i resist?!? i've been a huge fan of ms. keys for a few years now so it'll be a treat to finally hear & see her play live (plus i have a very decent seat) i'm sure she'll be putting on a kick-ass show (jordin sparks and ne-yo are opening for her) i'll try and update this post with a few quick thoughts when i get home later this evening - popbytes over & out for now...xxoo (btw i have been trying to cut down on my use of exclamation points - i was getting out of control with 'em and they can be kind annoying especially when used all the time)
hey hey! tonight i'm heading out again (after resting & taking it easy all day) this time to finally catch ani difranco kick off her new tour downtown at the orpheum - i've been a fan of hers for at least ten years - and never got the chance to see her play live which i've heard from a number of people is an amazing experience! below is a video of her performing one of my top songs of all-time 32 flavors (the song was also featured in my 'monday .mp3' column back in december of '05!) popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
UPDATE! oh i had an excellent time tonight with ms. orton - plus i met a couple of nice people (hello to the ladies sitting behind me) and i managed to take a decent video of beth singing 'central reservation' - one of my favorite tracks! (i'll upload to my youtube account soon) i'm off to bed and as per usual i intend on sleeping late tomorrow - xxoo!
hey kids! i'm thrilled the work week is now behind us and tonight i'm heading down to el rey theatre to finally see one of my favorite UK singer/songwriters beth orton play live who i have been a huge fan of since 1996 (oh my gosh that's twelve years ago!) when her incredible album trailer park was released! i'll be snapping some pictures and video - if they come out decent i'll be posting them here plus i'll do a quick update when i get home later this evening! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
hey hey! as promised below are a few more pictures along with two videos from the incredible sheryl crow show this past tuesday night - it was amazing to see her play live in such a small and cool venue as el rey theatre...except the lady who deals with the line outside is out of her freakin' mind - don't ever bring gum there because they'll make you spit it out and force you to throw your whole pack away! (there's carpet inside - so i'm sure they don't want that mucking up the floor) but you can bring cameras - woo hoo!
this was one of three nights of a mini-tour ms. crow is doing in support of her kick-ass new album detours (the other two dates were february 6th & 7th at NYC's irving plaza's the fillmore - she'll be doing a larger tour as well) sheryl and her band of eight played for a little over 90 minutes which contained a lot of her new material (her latest album was produced by bill bottrell who also did sheryl's debut album tuesday night music club) mixed with a number of her standards like strong enough, if it makes you happy, leaving las vegas, soak up the sun, everyday is a winding road, my favorite mistake, all i wanna do plus covers of jackson browne's doctor my eyes, led zeppelin's rock and roll and the rolling stones' gimme shelter which she blended with her new track gasoline and was joined on stage by the amazing ben harper (who was in attendance with his wife laura dern - one of my favorite actresses of all-time!)
as soon as she hit the stage i immediately remembered how incredible ms. crow is live - tuesday night was certainly no exception - she's a little older & wiser (and a new mom to wyatt crow) yet seems to only be getting better with age - like a fine wine (tacky cliche alert!) anyways i must also give a quick shout-out to stephanie and anitra who i met at the show and we stood together and made sure to block anyone who tried to get in our way! (we also spotted 90210's ian ziering at the show) as for the videos below...i'll warn you now that the audio isn't the best (strong enough is better than the ben harper clip) but you'll get the general idea of what was going on - i so need to get a better quality small camera that i can take to shows! popbytes over & out for tonight...xxoo!
UPDATE! oh my goodness - sheryl crow totally rocked tonight - she was simply incredible! i had a total blast - plus i managed to snag a few decent pictures along with some video which i will post soon but for now check out one of the pics below...i'm totally beat but it was so worth it! popbytes over & out for tonight...xxoo!
hey hey! so right now i'm totally beside myself with loads of excitement & anticipation for tonight's sheryl crow sold-out show at the lovely el rey theatre down on wilshire blvd! i've been a huge fan of ms. crow's for years now and sadly i haven't seen her play live in quite a long time (the last time i saw her was when she played at the beacon in NYC - i went all three nights!) so i'm just beaming over going to tonight's show! i'll try and snap a few pictures (if i can) i'll also update this post when i get home with some quick thoughts on the show! if you haven't picked up ms. crow's latest 6th studio album detours yet - i highly suggest giving it a listen - i've spent a lot of time listening to it over the past few weeks and it's really great yet pretty much anything she does totally rocks - ms. crow is the real deal! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
good morning! i'm feeling much better than last night (the whole side of my face was hurting from the dental work i had done) and it's friday! anyways this past weekend after seeing robynplay at the troubadour - i headed over to ritual which is fairly close to my apartment - but i had never been there before (it used to be white lotus) the 'supperclub' was one of the stops on ashlee simpson's mini club tour - she's promoting her upcoming new album bittersweet world scheduled for release on april 15th - the first single being outta my head (ay ya ya) (watch the video and purchase on itunes) which i must admit i've totally fallen in love with - it's so catchy (even though it does feel slightly like a gwen stefani rip off...) the scene over there was a complete 180 from robyn's totally queer scene - i was probably one of the only gay people at ritual - plus i think most everyone just happened to be at the club - i was asking a few girls when ms. simpson was supposed to hit the stage - they didn't even know she was due to play!
ashlee was to come on at midnight but she didn't show up until around 1am - with two guitarists and DJ at her side - she played about five songs including l.o.v.e and a few new tracks - fortunately there was no lip syncing involved! i know a lot of people aren't fans of ashlee but i must say i thought she did an excellent job - she was dancing and singing her little heart out - and the stage was fairly small so i managed to get pretty close and snap a few pictures along with a bit of video which you'll find posted below - plus check out the last picture where you can see ashlee's hottie boyfriend pete wentz - i didn't see him that night but when i was going through the pics i spotted him!
i probably didn't notice him because i was a bit of a drunk wreck - i even tripped and fell flat on the floor when i headed to the restroom! (how embarassing!) yet i did manage to have a lot of fun - everyone was friendly - and i ended up dancing with a few girls who were surrounding me (hi carly!) many thanks to jamie for hooking a blog up - i had a blast! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo! (also check out a new interview w/ ashlee over on buzznet)
hey y'all! this past weekend i had the pleasure of seeing swedish pop sensation robyn play live at the troubadour - which i believe happened to be her first show here in los angeles! the energy level was insane - she has a huge gay following and we were all out in full force that night! her set lasted a little over an hour - and she handled each track with ferocious energy - she's a tiny little thing - but damn - girlfriend was unstoppable! you might remember her hit from back in '97 show me love - she did a great stripped down version on saturday night (there's video posted below - the quality isn't super but you'll get the idea!) she also recently released an EP here in the states called the rakomonie which i highly suggest picking up on itunes - which includes an acoustic version of her smash UK hit with every heartbeat (catch the video below - it's a kick-ass song!) i also love handle me (that video is below as well)
it's amazing to see someone come from a manufactured pop background - to becoming a unique & individual artist with an incredible style all her own ten years later! right after robyn's show ended i happened to see one other blogger there - ugh - i won't name names but i'm sure many of you know who i'm talking about...then i headed straight over to catch ashlee simpson which just like i suspected was a totally different scene - i'll be posting on that soon! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
PS have a listen to DJ paul v.'s interview w/ robyn on indie 103.1's neon noise! (scroll down inside the player for the last file, click on it to play!)
UPDATE! oh my word i had so much fun last night but i paid for it today - i was super hung over - it was so not cute! i slept until almost 5pm - and was getting sick most of the day - not good times! right now i'm chilling and watching the grammy award red carpet arrivals - i'll update later with the winners - i hope amy winehouse wins all 6 awards that she's nominated for! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
hey kids! tonight is a double header for me - first up is swedish pop sensation robyn who is playing over at the troubadour which i'm super excited for (it's her first LA show!) i heard great things about her recent show in NYC which is making me extra stoked to see her play live - then right after that i'm heading over to ritual to catch ashlee simpson on her mini club tour (supposedly she's set to take the stage at midnight) i've never been a huge fan of ms. simpson but i really love her single 'outta my head (ay ya ya)' - hopefully both shows will prove to be a good time - i think the two ladies will be in sharp contrast to each other - so i think it will be an interesting night out on the town! it will probably be quite late when i get home - so i'll catch up with you all tomorrrow! popbytes over & out for tonight...xxoo!
good morning everybody! last night i had the privilege to attend idina menzel's showcase in hollywood to kick-off the release of her debut album i stand due in stores january 29th - you might know her from playing maureen in rent (a tony nominated performance!) and elphaba in wicked (a tony winning performance!) plus she stars in enchanted and sang the closing song for beowulf! she is a total knock your socks off singer - the album was produced by glen ballard who idina mentioned was on the top of her list of people to work with - she was so adorable and way humble (and very appreciative she was given the opportunity to make an album) plus her hubby hottie taye diggs was in the audience and it just so happened that it was their 5th wedding anniversary (they've been together for twelve years in total - ms. menzel mentioned taye was the first guy she was able to use the toilet in front of - it was a really funny aside!)
right after she mentioned it was their special day - idina sat down and sang a track called where do i begin? and she got all teary eyed - it was such a beautiful & romantic song - i got chills down my spine - right after she finished mr. diggs hopped up on stage to give his lady a big hug and kiss - so sweet! in total she sang about 6-7 songs - all of them she knocked out of the park - it was so amazing to be so close and hear her sing like she does - for sure i'll be mentioning ms. menzel again here on popbytes - also make sure to check out her youtube channel! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo!
UPDATE! oh my gosh - i had another stellar time tonight seeing ms. björk - she was incredible - it felt like a rave at some points - and i met some way cool people plus the craziest part of the evening was running into an old friend from high school (hi eve) who i hadn't seen in like sixteen years - it was so random - i couldn't believe it! this coming sunday i'm heading back to the same venue to see my tori amos - who i can't wait to see although at this point i have very mixed feelings about the show - it's a long story but i'm almost ready to spill the beans on how i really feel about this particular show - so please stay tuned to hear about how it all pans out - i'm getting so freakin' sick of being the 'nice' blogger in town (fuck all this w00t & deets shit - i'm sure some of you know what (or who) i'm referring to...) popbytes over & out for tonight - xxoo!
oh my goodness - i've been waiting for tonight like forever - i'm so super freakin' excited to go see björk perform tonight down at nokia live! i know it'll be the perfect venue to see her brilliant musical eccentricity unfold on stage - she's so darn kooky but one of the smartest & thoughtful musicians i've ever encountered! as per usual i'll do a quick update to this post when i return home! popbytes over & out for now...xxoo! (i've also posted my favorite video of hers below - for the track bachelorette directed by the incrediblemichel gondry - enjoy!)
