In the wake of the death of British neo-soul singer Amy Winehouse many fans, celebrities and organizations went to Twitter to express condolences for the fallen artist. Most of the tweets were sympathetic to loss of the young talent at only age 27.
However, some rather high profile tweets warranted apologies and retractions. READ ON for a look at these controversial tweets…
Gathering of the Vibes at Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT – July 21-24
Words: Carla Danca
Photos: Jeremy Gordon
Outside of a few questions that aren’t suitable for print, “So how many have you been to?” is probably the most asked question around Gathering of the Vibes. Sixteen years after its humble beginnings as Deadhead Heaven – A Gathering of the Tribe on the campus of SUNY Purchase, Vibes has become one of the Northeast’s largest annual festivals and one of the oldest as well. In a year when many “newer” festivals celebrate their tenth anniversary, GOTV is well into is second decade. Each summer, friends – many of whom only see each other for four days each July – meet up at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT to spend a weekend together. With the heat at record highs over the weekend (103°F on Friday) more than ever it was the people, both Vibes veterans and newcomers, who made this year’s event memorable.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
Sticking to its roots as a celebration of the Grateful Dead, five different members of the band played at some point during the weekend. Dark Star Orchestra brought Donna Jean Godchaux to the stage on Thursday, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s Furthur headlined on Friday, while Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann’s Rhythm Devils held court on Sunday. While many other festivals have recently been adding more electronic and popular acts – sometimes to the dismay of their core audience – Gathering of the Vibes has always stayed true to its roots. If the crowd on the field for Furthur was any indication, it seems that GOTV knows their audience as trying to snake your way out of the concert field was all but impossible with a patchwork of singing, swaying fans.
READ ON for more on Gathering of the Vibes 2011…
While straightforward dance pop is hardly standard Hidden Track fare, an emerging pop sensation by the name of Emii recently caught our attention, as her history doesn’t read anything like that of your typical rising starlet. In fact, despite being rather easy on the eyes, she really couldn’t fit the mold of the budding celebrity any less. Before moving out to Los Angeles to record her first E.P., Emii actually fronted a metal band, worked at a comic book store in New York City and was an avid martial artist. Plus, she’s only two singles into her career and already has a collaboration with Snoop under her belt.
Interestingly, since her music career ramped up, the fascination for comic books and martial arts has not waned in the least. Rather, Emii remains a proud comic book/gamer nerd. So much so in fact that her last video, Mr. Romeo, which featured Snoop Dogg, was actually designed to look like the Final Fantasy video game series and she still makes a point to hit up the comic book shops whenever she comes to town.
“We were just talking about going to Forbidden Planet before we head back to L.A.,” Emii jokes. “And the last time I was here, I got to do a tour of Marvel Headquarters. My publicist said to me afterwards, ‘This is highlight of your existence isn’t it?’ They let me cart around the Thor hammer; I was like a little kid in a candy store. It’s sad though, the comic book store I used to work at in New York is no longer there, but it’s alright, because we have Forbidden Planet and Midtown Comics. So, I can still go and find a safe haven when I’m in New York.”
READ ON for more on the adorable pop star Emii…
At long last, Pearl Jam unveiled the official trailer to their eagerly anticipated Cameron Crowe-directed documentary, PJ20. With over 1,200 hours of rare archival footage at his disposal and a
The Prodigy have always had the sound of a band that should be captured live; they radiate an angry energy, wielding music seeping a hint of dangerous power. Their new live double DVD, World’s on Fire, filmed mostly at the Warrior's Dance festival, would seem to prove that those who haven’t seen The Prodigy live are missing the fulfillment of that livid promise.
The same year Tapestry appeared Carole King recorded a concert at Carnegie Hall, but it wasn’t released until 1996, when it came out on CD. Mobile Fidelity has now put out a remastered 2-LP version of the concert on 180-gram vinyl. As audiophile releases go, this is the flip side of such sonic spectaculars as Dark Side of the Moon, Sgt. Pepper’s or Close to the Edge.
For an evening teeming with humor, reflection and aesthetic exploration, Neko Case and her band kept the audience rapt with their superlative set. It’s further evidence that Case is unequivocally a significant voice in music today, deserving of her success, yet still looking to the future to investigate increasingly the depths of the human heart and mind.
Deep inside an electronic jungle there lies a creature with a personality that is characterized by the unique sounds that it spews into the atmosphere. It’s those individualities that make up the sound of Swedish electro-jazz-pop quartet Little Dragon and the subtleties that keep their sound ever evolving within itself. The band, whose identity was discovered through creative frustration, returns with their third album on Peacefrog Records titled Ritual Union, an album that works within the structure of diverse beats, yet explores beyond those boundaries extensively.
