Alice Smith

I saw Alice Smith perform last night at Highline Ballroom.

In June 2006 I came across Alice Smith on Big Stereo and sought out a couple of her song. March 2007 I met someone else who dug the song "Dream" as much as I did, and had a deja vu experience. "What song is this" I thought, "How do I know her?" Why of course, from my own musical library.

Every so often I encourage people to jump on board with a particular female vocalist. Its not because I have great musical for sight, I just happen to be in the right place at the right time and know what talent is.

Why you'll listen to her:
Alice Smith was honest to goodness one of the best female vocalist I've seen perform live. Ever. In Life. I didn't think it was still possible for someone to produce the sound that came out of her mouth, without theatrics. Yeah. Think Ethel Waters or Bassie Smith singing the blues in 2008. Modern music for modern times of course, but just as moving.

Standing almost stock still on stage, she made it look like it was the easiest thing in the world to produce a sound that even Alicia Keys appears to struggle with. It took me a minute to register, could that girl be making as big and as dynamic a sound such as she was? Yeah. The conversation of course went back to Things We Know. If Amy Winehouse was Billie Holiday, tragic and talented, then Alice Smith was Sarah Vaughn or Ella Fitzgerald. She'd live to be 80 and has more raw talent to boot. Plus, she's absolutely gorgeous with an insane body. Every one was mesmerized.

Why you'll never hear of her:
Live, you almost wonder whats missing from her album. Well. Her. The recorded songs don't do as much to capture her range and talent as they should and leave something to be desired. She's all performer with a record that could be better.

But if you've ever wanted to see a nice souther girl make good and you dig good music: Listen and Listen and Listen.

Nuyorican Poetry Slam Finals

The Nuyorican Poetry Cafe is always a good time and a requisite for anyone living in New York City. Its the place where a lot of the best and the brightest of the city have started their careers and its been a dream of mine forever to read on their stage (it will happen eventually).

I'd love to offer a detailed account of which poets performed and the nature of the poems as well as my opinion on each of them, but I was much to busy enjoying myself, and listening to the message and the words, to focus on pulling out my notebook on the smaller than small tables and trying to scribble while they were introduced.

The guest poet was Amanda Diva of MTV2, Def Poetry and Sirius Radio Fame. I'm hoping that my homeboy jumps on putting his vids of her from the show somewhere online, giving me the opportunity to link in and show instead of tell. (Usually I would take this opportunity to give my opinion on her weakness and strengths, but I'm still tired after a long night. I will say she was dope, in spite of whatever qualities might have eluded her).

She also encouraged everyone to check out her blog.

One of my other favorite poems of the night came from Chad Anderson. Find it on his myspace page titled splitsville (yes us girls were all suckers for his brand of breaking up).

I didn't catch the last name of Adam from Bushwick, the guy I was personally rooting for but if I figure it out I'll amend this post with links to his stuff as well.

Mudita and the Pursuit of Happiness

This past week I met a buddhist writer and the founder of a meditation center, named James Baraz. We talked casually about writing with all the distractions from modern technology and he encouraged me to come to a talk he was giving at the NY Insight Center about "Awakening Joy" a course that he teaches at Berkley. Though I've always been hugely curious about Buddhist practices the new agey title of the seminar made me feel a little wary. I decided to go on a whim, he was standing there gazing at me expectantly with his hippie mustache, how really could I have said no.

I took a few notes while I was there but the idea that captured me the most was Mudita- the buddihist word for rejoicing in another's happiness. The wiki definition is finding pleasure in another person's well-being. It is supposed to be the most difficult of the brahmaviharas (buddhist virtues) to cultivate which I've find generally true in my dealings with people. We, selfishly, may be less happy if for instance, whatever makes someone dear to us joyful simultaneously takes them away from us or if someone does well while we experience misfortune, but Mudita encourages people to connect with a sympathetic sense of joy We meditated on the principal. I think it was my favorite part of the whole experience.

The whole thing strikes me as a bit over the top, but it was moving and cheesy and kind of great. I'm quite glad I met Mr. Baraz and look forward to keeping a regular correspondence with him.

Things

• This weekend, December 1st and 2nd, is the Small Press Book Fair at "The New York Center for Independent Publishing" (formerly the Small Press Center). I went a few years back and hope to go again. Whether I go or not depends on my inherent weekend laziness and how much time I spend with a visiting relative. Either way the line up is great with Ian Mckaye from Fugazi on Saturday speaking on culture and on Sunday Amiri Baraka and Hattie Gossett reading their poetry.
• Although I'm sure tickets to this will be sold out by the time I finish this post, if you happen to be going to PenUltimate Lit on Wednesday(Rick Moody, Wesley Stace and Sufjan Stevens), then I kind of hate you. (I will be scouring Craigslist religiously for the next two days searching for a sucker willing to sell their tickets)
  
• Friday December 7th Bon Iver is playing at the Bowery Ballroom. He's along the ranks of my new favorites. If you live in New York and you're free that Friday, the show will definitely be worth the trek in the cold (and possibly rain).
  
• Beatrice has two articles by the author of Matrimony Joshua Henkin relating to characters and the narrative time line. Both are engaging and interesting short essays about the nature of his craft, which are worth a read whether you're a writer or an avid reader.
  

Thats it. Happy Monday.

The Hipster Extravaganza

The live artist I tend to enjoy the most are the ones that I happen to stumble upon, somehow, accidentally. Maybe while wandering into a bar for a drink (how I first heard Ryan Scott or Melody Gardot) or as opening acts for other bands.

On Wednesday my friend and I went to Peter Hadar's "Hipster Extravaganza" (I'm not even sure he knew why he chose to call it that because the crowd, the venue and the artists were anything but hipster) at SOB’s with the slight promise of seeing Janelle Monae perform even though I had to scour the interweb to find even just a small hint that she might be there. There was obliviously as well the pull of seeing Mishal Moore, the youtube chanteuse that has been making her name known through hard work the modern way, figuring out a way to make the most well known video sight her bitch. I'd briefly perused Hadar's Myspace page and found the songs satisfactory, upon a brief listen, with the added benefit of his being the writer for Carl Thompson.

The first artist to go up on the stage was a young rapper, that I'd love to write about but I can't remember anything about him. His face draws a blank, I can't even think of his name. Not to say I didn't think that he wasn't talented at the time, but he did not have the added benefit of having a stage presence and the over all night of talented performers who seemed to have their shows a little more polished and on point just generally overshadowed him all together. I did feel for the guy. He was playing to what at the time was a luke warm crowd.


Mishal Moore came next and I have one word to describe that girl's voice: breathtaking. The beauty with which she sings is enough to arrest your attention in a way that I don't feel many artist can. Its soulful, its gentle, its strong, and it can stand on its own without being overproduced. Hearing her voice feels intimate, making me witsh simultaneously that I was seeing her perform as the headlining act (they only allowed two songs) and that I was in a much smaller venue. She came out, meekly proclaiming herself as a non guitarist and asked the audience "How many of you heard of me through youtube?" and played two of her YouTube hits. "I Put a Spell on You" by Screaming Jay Hawkins has forever been one of my least favorite songs (right up there with "The Little Drummer Boy"), and the fact that its played in televised ice skating showcases repeatedly and at one too many Halloween parties has not ever helped the song ease into something that I might casually enjoy. Not even hearing Nina Simone singing it can save it for me. BUT hearing Moore belt the tune was enough to change my mind, I've been singing her rendition repeatedly for the past two days. From her the song becomes less the annoyingly gimmicky song that it seemed in my youth but an actual plea for love. Her next song was titled "Make Up Sex". I'd heard the song on YouTube but I enjoyed it much more in person. Although I have to agree with my friend upon a better listen there were times that I felt the lyrics lagged, especially when she gets to lines "I will wrap my hands around your neck/ slowly let them fall to your stomach/ the butterflies will make you rise/underneath the sheets all night" But I can honestly say that the rest of the makes me want to over look the small fault for the bigger picture. I wanted suddenly to find a lover to start a fight just so I could potentially make up again. Also, I would definitely recommend that everyone check out her Sunday songs on Youtube, before she gets famous and it’s not free.
I'm definitely a lover of hip-hop when its done right, which everyone knows so often is not the case, but every so often you get a chance to see someone new and fresh at the beginning of their career that you know could potentially change the game. Blitz the Ambassador is one such MC. Fresh, Fresh, Fresh. Listening to Blitz, I wasn't just blown away by the full band, or the innovative crisps rhymes, but it was his clarity. To see an MC for the first time, lacking a certain familiarity with their music its so important to be able to actually understand what they're saying so that the message can actually come through. A dope beat is a dope beat, and someone may sound great and put on a good show, but if you have to strain to understand what they're saying its just not as effective to me. Then to have someone who's voice was so clear and then to find out that they were dope, that they were spitting lyrics that were political and sometimes funny but always true. I would definitely go on to say that he was the most skilled performer at the show (and probably the most well known having opened for KRS-1 this summer at Prospect Park and Slum Village at South Paw he's been making a name for himself) He worked the dead crowd up and even got a little audience participation from the otherwise quiet and small crowd. He performed his song Hypocrisy among others.


Next up was Shae Fiol from Portland Oregon. God, this girl went up on the stage alone following what was at the time the best performance of the night thus far and worked it as well. Now, I know if you've been reading this long you're beginning to think, well you just liked everyone but I'd definitely invite you to take a listen to her music and believe it for yourself. I wasn't quite expecting her to be so awesome when she walked out in her "Hipster Extravaganza" socks. I only say that because I was so moved by the entire performance of Blitz that he seemed like a hard act to follow. Fiol held herown beautifully. She likewise kept the crowds energy up with her folky jazzy songs. Her voice is sort of like a better version of Esthero. Her last song: Catch a Ride is the type of song I wish I'd had on repeat all summer.

After that was 8th W1 and Peter Hadar, who performed separately but with the same band. First off, I can't begin to talk about their performances without first acknowledging the talented band, a better than average funk/jazz quartet. They stole the show during 8th W1's performance.

First off let me start by saying that I might have been slightly put off by 8th W1 due to the fact that he was standing behind me during Fiol's performance talking and cajoling much louder than necessary, so my opinion of him prior to his getting on stage was not to high. That being said, his performance seemed lackluster. From Moore to Blitz to Fiol the roster seemed to be a group of incredibly talented, if not eclectic group of performers. So I'm not saying that I didn't feel that he was talented, I think he was, but I just didn't feel he was the most talented of the bunch. And his cocky attitude did not particularly help, if you want to have an ego like Mr. West, then you sure had better have his talent to back it up. I've gone to his myspace to listen to a few of his songs, and I enjoyed the two that were there, but his lack of stage presence killed it for me, that and the fact that half the time I missed most of his lyrics into the mike, it was easy just to focus simply on the band as they place their jazz hooks.


Finally I wanted most of all to be impressed by Peter Hadar. I check out his myspace page briefly preceding the show, which I liked all the time. And he'd assembled a wonderful line-up of artist's in an event as the headliner so I wanted him to bring it. Again, Hadar didn't live up to the rest of gang that followed him. I strained to stay interested in his average voice, to songs that I thought could possibly been above average had they been sang by someone else. His voice was merely average considering the wealth of talent that is on the airwaves in the R and B category. I definitely hate saying harsh things about someone just at the beginning of their career, but while he looked good on stage and seemed really to get into the songs his lack of vocal dexterity quickly made me lose interest. I wanted him to be as good as all the names under the roster of singers he's worked for. I have to commend him on the other hand for assembling a mostly sick show. He definitely has an ear for talent. Tried though we might, we actually ended up leaving before he finished his last few songs.

All and all it was a wonderful night. One worth writing about, had a great time and found some new music in the process as well.

*the gift bags contained clear rolling papers
**photos courtesy of brandon king

Gladwell Talks: Go

The Newman Lecture: Malcolm Gladwel is the author of two bestsellers: The Tipping Point, which revolutionized our understanding of how and why change happens; and Blink, which analyzes snap judgments and explores the power of successful decision-making. Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker. In 2005, Time named him one of its 100 Most Influential People. He discusses what he has been up to lately, and given his wide-ranging curiosity and breakthrough ideas, the possibilities could lead nearly anywhere.

Date & Time: Mon, Dec 10, 2007, 8:00pm
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street Directions
Venue: Kaufmann Concert Hall Seating Chart
Price: $26.00 All Sections

Fall Things

• Brooklyn Book Festival: I'd actually intended to go last year , but I believe I was stuck in the suck hole that is Bay Ridge and waiting for someone to come with me. This year I might just go it alone. The line up includes poet Staceyann Chin, Hip writer John Leland, comedian Michael Ian Black and Reverend Run (no explanation needed). All of the events are free and take place Sunday September 16,2007.



• New Yorker Festival: I've been scouring the internet for details about the line up. So far I've found conversations with Steve Carrell, Steve Martin and Bill nighy, performers Fiona Apple, Yo La Tengo and Sigur Ros (via appetizer); Sasha Frere-Jones giving a talk about Hip Hop (via music slut); and couplings of authors Miranda July and AM Homes, Salman Rushdie and Orhan Pamuk, and Martin Amis and Norman Mailer (via galleycat). The line up is always great and exciting AND they'll usually screen a few of the fall movies. The official line up will be on newstands September 10th. (I also missed this last year because I waited to long to get tickets you either have to purchase it the day tickets go on sale [September 15th] or buy them on craigslist, where you may or may not get lucky.)



• NY Mag Fall Preview: I'm pretty sure you don't have to link to big sights like this since everyone in New york is checking them or reading the mag anyway but that won't stop me. But NY Mag fall preivew is always a good place to find some interesting going ons in the city once the weather starts to cool down. I'm particularly excited about the Kara Walker exhibit at the Whitney, but check out their list for a run down of all thats fun and exciting when its below 60 degrees.

Thats all I got.