Well it was a hella fun weekend (more details later this week) and so I'm still kind of getting it all together to let you, all three of my readers know what's been going on in La La Land... but since it's Tunesday I thought I'd post a little about some music you should all be checking out...
First in one of the more strange things to find out, my gal Benatar has been singing the latest Jello jingle since this summer and I didn't even know it so check it out here www.kraftfoods.com/jello/explore/channel/ where you can actually hear the song... I think she's gone kookoo but hey that girl has to keep up the maintenance on her Paradise abode in Hawaii...
One of the few things that kept me jumping from the Valley to Hollywood to downtown and back this weekend was a superb little show at the Key Club for Josie Cotton's CD Release party for the uber cool and kooky Invasion of the B-Girls, her long awaited album of cover songs from really bad movies. The set includes such classic theme songs as those from Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls and Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Unfortch, she wasn't able to do her concert stand out - John Waters' "Female Trouble" - it's a bit of a mystery to me why he won't let her record it as she did appear on his A Date with John Waters compilation and he writes the liner notes for B-Girls, but whatever is up his tuchus remains there so she left the song off the new CD, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy the songs she did actually record... check it out and buy it damnit!
As for her performance on Sunday at the Key Club, let's just say the fringe was flying and the gold go go boots were go go-ing, and that's only what I was wearing! I keeed, it was actually Josie and her band of cool kids and go go dancers that had all of us pogoing like it was 1982, particularly when she opened her set with "School Is In" and even included (finally!) "He Could Be The One" which is about the time I almost passed out in sheer delight. I tell you, I never in my life thought I'd get to see Josie Cotton perform live and here it is my fourth show... Of course one of my new pals Marc got us on his guest list even though I had already purchased a couple tix, but hey Josie deserves my money I guess... And to top it all off, the Miss C did show up after show toting a hot new hunk a tattooed man as well... It was pure convertible music and a total night of B-eautiful music and magic and now tomorrow is Halloween! Wooh!
I am sure I will have some stories about that... Until then - head on over to Amazon and buy Josie's new CD - Buy the CD here!
Super-twisted pop made with equal parts blood, tears and sugar. These tracks are memorably sticky like velvet wallpaper applied crookedly on the walls of your brain. Into the Blue is another varied entry into the vast Swivek repetoire, from the power-bop of the original "Flirt" to the electronic space drones of "She is Peace" and the manic "Happy Happy Happy" which is like a rum and Coke spiked with a shot of pure dopamine.The LP is tempered with some mellower moments, like the ultra-catchy modern pop of "Not a Love Song" and the tender "Deep Inside", where Bradley really allows the inner flame of his smoky voice to burn through. All that plus a very random electro take on a Pat Benatar classic. Into the Blue is short, sweet and to the point. Just set your iPod to "repeat".
A few months ago I came from work to find a group of paparazzi standing outside my apartment complex, immediately I noticed they were facing away from my building which just infuriated me as 'hello, I'm over here', but alas I found out they were not there to capture images of alternative front man Bradley at home but rather to look across the street at one of our new neighbors, a certain Claire Bennett from Heroes - and it was little Hayden Panettiere's 18th birthday that night.
As the Leivas and I figured Hayden never did show up and those bastards were there for nothing, but while I was in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Alf informed me that he was driving out of our building when he spotted Hayden walking her two dogs while wearing a floor length gold gown, apparently she was off to some big shindig and figured she should walk her dogs first. The indestructible cheerleader brought her dogs home and wouldn't you know it, walked into the condo across the street, so it appears we do have another celebrity in our midst (me being the first celebrity...)
But the story doesn't end there either, instead The Leivas has now taken it upon himself to protect the cheerleader. Last night we went down to Eleven on Santa Monica Boulevard for the Leivas' birthday dinner and as we were walking back up the hill we noticed a man across the street trying to break into the garage across the street, he was even trying to jump the fence to get into the building.
As we approached our own apartment Alf noticed a leather jacket sitting on our porch. He had also noticed something I didn't about the man, he had a camera bag wrapped around him. Well the Leivas wasn't just going to go into the house and watch TV, he eyeballed the sitch and waited until the guy came back to our side of the street, took his leather jacket, hopped on his motorbike and fled the scene.
About ten minutes later, we heard the sound of the motorbike again, and the Leivas grabbed his cell phone and keys and ran out the door. He found the guy sitting on the front steps. I heard a motorbike leave again and the Leivas came walking in, all pert, perky and cocky. It seems the Leivas had walked outside and said to the guy, "Are you stalking my neighbor across the street?"
"What?" asked the hooligan....
"I saw you trying to break into the building across the street, do I have to call the cops on you?," said the Big Guy I love.
"No, I'll go," and the motorbike paparazzo was gone.
It seems while I had thought the motorbike dude was just trying to get into the building to confront a bad relationship, the Leivas knew he was a camera toting paparazzi and wouldn't give the man the satisfaction of knowing a) the girl did live there and b) stalking the poor girl just cause she's a tad famous.. it is with great honor, Miss Panettiere that I tell you and all your fans, my man has your back and he will save the cheerleader and I presume the world.
The coolest thing to happen to me since the Leivas - new frickin' Josie Cotton in all her wicked glory...
and interesting enough the Leivas and his pals used to follow Josie and her band around back in the early 80's and I happened to have met the goddess J a few times and today just happens to be the Leivas' birthday - so you see how the whole world goes round and round yet always leads us to the place we're supposed to be.
and for anyone in LA - Josie is having a CD release party on October 28th at the Key Club - you know I am so there!
As you wait in crazed anticipation for the new Swivek album to be released next week, I have some very cool news - the latest and greatest Flexible Records Halloween compilation is now up and ready to download for free! Featuring some very scary, exciting and exclusive tracks from Flexible Records artists all over the world Musik fur Spinnen contains an all new Swivek track! An electronic rendering of an old folky tale of marriage proposals gone wrong and twisted sick murder - "Banks Of The Ohio", a song recorded by the likes of Olivia Newton-John, Kristen Hersh, Johnny Cash and now us! So head on over to Flexible Records and download Musik fur Spinnen - it'll get your creepy crawlies crawling and creeping.
It's that time of the week - the day to look at a few CDs I have been listening to. Luckily for you all, I survived a trip back to the Northwoods of Wisconsin and one of the first things I did was hit the Sunset Strip and head over to Rainbow Bar & Grill where we watched a real site to behold, the WeHo indie synthy pop goodness known as Shitting Glitter...
and thanks to the powers of the Glitter I got my little digits on a copy of their latest EP, the fun titled Sidesaddle which features such electro-y classics as "Slut Buffet" and "Mustache Ride 5c" - every single song on here is a little dose of fun and excitement, and I can't stop singing them out loud right along with Amy Crosby - the guitar crunchy riffs of Brandon Glen mesh with Devin Tait's synth programming, it's dancey, groovy and dirty - just the way I like it. Plus they're some of the coolest people I've met in LA - that's right, I know them, I've hung with them, that's how I roll here in La La Land...
Check out the video here - Or buy the CD at http://cdbaby.com/cd/shittingglitter2 and the official website at http://www.shittingglitter.com/ and if you're in the We Ho area, the band seems to be getting a lot of gigs around - and if you get to see them live you get the added bonus of seeing the dancing styles of Angela Diamond, who I have dubbed the new Cyndi Lauper and Coco Ono who flexes and shakes with boobs and boots fully intact...
And then there's a little CD release by a gal I like to call Deborah Harry - that's right I said it, my girl has released her first CD in 14 years and I can't get enough. Truth be told, I had a bootleg copy a few months ago so I knew all the songs before today's release but come on, I had to have the artwork. Not to mention it's Debbie Harry so if she releases something you buy it, no questions asked, she does have to pay for dog food for her little Chi Chi...
So today comes Necessary Evil, a hybrid of all things Debbie - the poppy confections found in the single "Two Times Blue", the sentimental ballads like "If I Had You", the hardcore punkette found in "School For Scandal" and "Whiteout" - this is Debbie and Blondie in full force. Mostly produced by Super Buddah, with a few drops in by Chris Stein and Bill Ware, this CD has yet to be more than 2" away from the CD player at all times. If you haven't got it yet, get your ass up and out to the store ...
and did I mention I've also met the Queen known as Debbie - if you've forgotten here's a special musical treat for you:
That's right I'm whoring myself - run back over to Flexible Records and you can download the entire Swivek single"Debbie Doesn't" from 2004 -
or you can download the album version right here - listen to the horrors and humor as I tell the tale of how I met the idol of idols:
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
