Violin Goddess

The other day I was at a wedding reception where a violinist roamed the party and played the violin over various rap and R&B tracks. It was interesting and unique- and not something I expected from a wedding for a bunch of rednecks! Welcome to Nebraska! :)

But in that vein is a remix of "Living" by violinist Hanne-Berit and it is pretty cool. Check it out, and I want to thank Kel Arroyo for sending this my way. From the "It's a Small World" department I should have the opportunity to meet Kel as he will be working on the upcoming Public Enemy tour when they play in Lincoln, Nebraska on December 7th (the same venue that AD recently played). So if PE stops in your town make sure you go check them out on the Hip Hop Gods Tourfest Revue. For more details go here. So how cool is that?

The Grades Are In....

I thought this was a nice little collage of some of the articles written about AD over their recent tour.  Check it out here on the AD site.

Ticketmaster Reviews

Hey all, here's something that may be of interest: reviews of the group in concert from fans on Ticketmaster.  There's only 6 reviews, but they are interesting perspectives on the crew. Yes, this was the best I could come up with knowing that I needed to get something up! October was a busy month and there's been a little less news this month- forgive me!

http://reviews.ticketmaster.com/7171/865277/arrested-development-reviews/reviews.htm

Here's a highlight from one (unedited):
When you see Arrested Development, you are in for positive vibes and intelligent lyrics. They are a performing machine, offering a one-of-a-kind mix of Hip-Hop, R&B/Soul, funk, with a dash of rock. They band is on point and the vocals are perfect. Afterall, they've been doing this for over 20 years now. Both times I've seen them, they've hung out afterwards and were happy to meet and greet, sign AD items, take pix, etc. AD is truly one of those groups that nearly everyone will love. The first time I saw them I took a friend who was too young to remember their 90's commercial hay day. This time I took my cousin so is a fan of rock and 90's grunge. Both of them LOVED the show and have started following their music. I highly recommend checking them out if you are given the chance!

Happy Birthday Speech!

On Rapstation.com they have a cool little segment called "This Day in Hip Hop and Rap History" as read by Chuck D.  Today's segment is dedicated to Speech- check it out here!  And thanks to Kel for sending this my way, which reminds me- you should check out his show on the same site here.  He always plays great stuff, both new and classic, hence the name All School Sessions.

And while we're at it, happy 44th birthday to Speech!

Tennessee Live

If you believe that you can never have too much of a good thing, then I have some good news for you.  As in, I have another live version of "Tennessee" for you!  This one comes from the Concert 2 Cure album done for the American Cancer Society and I think it was originally released around 2002.  Anyway, it represents one of 21 different versions of "Tennessee" that I have in Itunes- pretty crazy- and I'm pretty sure that it's the only one that features a wedding proposal at the end!

http://www.mediafire.com/?pf9fuh4exelbszd

Never Mind the Buzzkills

I think I've found a new favorite blog.  Here's some links to some great Speech/AD content.  I will warn there is a bit of cussing on the site, if that offends you- no biggie to me but just sharing. 

Anyway, some awesome stuff here.  First, a really well done positive review of Standing at the Crossroads.  Then a review of "Living".  And lastly, a review of "I'ma Fight Back Right Now."  Good stuff here so check it out!

Recent AD Links

I wanted to point out some cool links that have popped up recently with "the true blue crew you knew you could cling to" out on tour and making news in city after city.

If you didn't care for my "review" of the recent AD show I attended, or even if you did, here's one from the next show in St. Louis from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A really nice writeup here from a site called Stash.

And finally, here's a little interview with Speech with a local-to-me newspaper called the Daily Nebraskan.

Check these out if you get a chance- awesome to see them getting good publicity.

AD Concert Thoughts

Three bands and then a dinner menu.

You know, writer's block just isn't much fun.  I'm not the best writer under normal circumstances (though that's not stopping me from trying to write a novel!) but to really find the words to express the concert I saw last Thursday has been nearly impossible.

Well, that's not true- in my drive home from Lincoln, about an hour drive to where I live in Omaha, I had arranged my thoughts and felt like I was on a good track to write something decent.  But, seeing as I needed to go to sleep that night, when I woke up, everything that sounded so good the night before was gone.  Vamoosh!  So on that note, I'm just going to throw out a few things and whatever comes out is what comes out.

First off, the opening band, a little seven-man crew called Funktion.  Really good opening act and there's some definite talent there.  Hope they go far.

Someone forgot their real camera!

Moving on to the show itself.  The venue, called the Bourbon Theater, was perfect, what they call an "intimate gathering" and it truly was not like any other hop hop show I've been to before.  There weren't a bunch of freaks there looking to show out, or guys wearing muscle shirts trying to impress those freaks, or people looking to do anything but have a good time.  It was a good mix of young and old, black and white, hardcores and casual fans.  Just a real chill crowd.

October 15: Music Lounge - Arrested Development

October 15: Music Lounge - Arrested Development

Arrested Development was live on WGN Chicago yesterday in the WGN-TV Music Lounge to promote their show that night.  Above you'll find a link to part one, and to find links to part two click here and part three click here.  Always good to see the group live on TV!  The first song is Living, the second song is People Everyday (way too little of this one shown!), and the third is basically the end of Tennessee. 

I will be seeing them live in two days- as you can imagine, I'm a little excited!

United Front Live on Letterman

You know, blog contributor Christian LeBlanc posted this nearly two years ago and I don't recall ever posting it.  Not sure how I missed it.  Anyway, here's a cool video of the group performing United We Stand on Letterman, so check it out!  And nice work Christian.