The last word on last weekend’s Corndogorama: squelching heat, phallic food, hot beer, mustache contests, tricycle racing, watermelon tequila shots and fifty indie rock bands.
Check out even more photos.
(Photo by Alan Friedman)
In an era in which blogs have become the breaking — though not altogether credible — source for hip-hop related news, gossip and interviews, Vibe magazine announced today that it’s shutting its doors after 16 years in the business.
Gawker posted the following note from editor-in-chief Danyel Smith:
On behalf the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you.
Danyel Smith
the former Chief Content Officer VIBE Media Group
& Editor in Chief, VIBE
Ironically, I just interviewed Smith two weeks ago, following the announcement that Vibe’s new quarterly urban lifestyle pub The Most was due to hit newsstands with divorced couple Nas and Kelis covering the first issue.
When we talked by phone, Smith was excited because she’d just finished editing Vibe’s upcoming story on the Dungeon Family which was scheduled to run as the August cover story. The photo shoot — which took place in Atlanta about a month ago and brought together the core members of OutKast, Goodie Mob and Organized Noize — had already stirred up blog buzz and anticipation. Even Smith seemed excited, suggesting at the time that the story, written by Linda Hobbs, might need to be stretched out over two consecutive issues. Hopefully, it will still see the light of day in some form or fashion.
In 1993, Quincy Jones and Time Warner gave birth to the general interest music magazine with a focus on hip-hop and R&B. The first issue featured an edgy, emerging artist then known as Snoop Doggy Dogg on the cover.
Stay tuned for my interview with Danyel Smith in which we discuss her two-term tenure as head editor at Vibe, the magazine’s credibility within hip-hop, and some of her favorite interviews over the years.
Gawker also posted a note addressed to staff from Vibe Media CEO Steve Aaron outlining the challenges that took the magazine under: (more…)
Ecstasy, Valium and Xanax seem to be the new drug cocktail of choice these days. Well, at least for lead singer Nathan Williams of Wavves. Is it any wonder he doesn’t even remember what Pitchfork has called, “the most epic onstage meltdown a band of their small size could conjure“?
In his latest Pitchfork interview, he sets the record straight, sort of:
“I can’t fuck up once? If people think that I’m not going to fuck up, there’s no reason to even come and watch me.”
Note to Nathan: Leave the big boy drugs to Motley Crüe and Guns N’ Roses.
From Pine:
Jeffrey Butzer and Midwives
With a solid following that continues to build in Europe, Asia and the US, Jeffrey Butzer is easily one of Atlanta’s new prized musicians with music that is reminiscent of Gainsbourg’s darker days in France, of the thematic explorations of Galt McDermont, and of songs that create the setting of late nights that are experienced but experimentative, the sort of nights we all wished we had more often. Read more about his new CD here. For our July show, Butzer is joined for a special reunion with his original band The Midwives, but will play a short set of songs off his new album. We’re very excited to hear both sets.Tous Les Jours
Tous Les Jours is the psychedelic hypno-drone guitar rock project of Ronney Douglas, who has become a fixture in the rapidly growing Atlanta scene. Originally a guitarist in Ocha La Rocha, he now heads Tous Les Jours, and is also in the improvisational Gringo Star side project Pink Police. Tous les Jours’ original recordings are lovely in their minimalist experimentation, with songs that feature little more than a voice and a stripped down guitar to the more expansive tracks complete with an accordion. His full band however, with two guitarists, bassist and drummer, promises to be a much higher energy version of the Ronney’s original concept. You’ll want to see it.
Free. 9 p.m. Star Bar, 437 Moreland Ave. 404-681-9018. More about the rest of the line-up following the jump.
Michael Jackson made the moonwalk world-famous during his performance in the 1983 TV special, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. But who inspired the King of Pop to make it his signature step? Here’s a glove full of earlier moonwalkers who could have influenced him in one way or another:
Jeffrey Daniel, a dancer/choreographer who worked with him on the “Bad” and “Smooth Criminal” videos, claimed in a recent NPR interview that he taught Jackson the move. Daniel moonwalked in on BBC television’s Top of the Pops in 1982 and says he got it from the Electric Boogaloos.
Tap dancer Bill Bailey, brother of singer Pearl Bailey, was the first to moonwalk on film, which he called “backslide,” in the 1943 classic Cabin in the Sky. Bailey can also be seen doing it at the end of a tap routine in 1955.
French mimes had a similar traditional move for “walking in place.” Marcel Marceau’s teacher, Jean-Louis Barrault did it with moving scenery in the 1945 French film Children of Paradise (“Les Enfants du paradis”).
This week’s CL cover story, “The Life & Times of Bobby Ubangi: How Atlanta’s garage rock mascot saved himself before dying,” chronicles local music fixture B Jay Womack’s battle with cancer. The video montage was created by We Fun director Matthew Robison and Zack Wilson.
The following mp3s cover musical output from the Lids on up to some of his most recent songs that appear on Inside the Mind of Bobby Ubangi.
The phone call interrupts dinner around 6 p.m. on a Thursday. It’s my girlfriend’s birthday and our meals have just been served up at her favorite Italian restaurant. Normally, I wouldn’t answer at a time like this, not even for my own mother. But the picture of B Jay pops up on my phone’s screen, his arms outstretched like Mr. Bill when he’s about to get squashed. I have to answer.
For the last nine months, Benjamin Jay Womack has been soldiering through terminal lung cancer that has spread to his brain, liver and God knows where else — at the age of 34. I answer, expecting to hear his voice on the other end asking for a ride to get something to eat or a pack of cigarettes. But it’s his roommate Jessica. “I had to put B Jay into hospice care today,” she deadpans. “His hips gave out and he’s having a hard time walking. We’re filling out paperwork with a social worker right now and B Jay wants to know if he can put you down for power of attorney.” I answer yes, envisioning the worst-case scenario as a wave of denial sweeps over me.
One year ago, the man best known by his stage name Bobby Ubangi was a rebel without a pause, partying like a rock star and working as the grouchy door guy at the Drunken Unicorn off Ponce de Leon Avenue. Long considered a mascot of sorts for the Atlanta music scene that nurtured such bands as Deerhunter, Black Lips and Gentleman Jesse, B Jay was a founding member of Carbonas before he got kicked out because he didn’t like to practice. He went on to play guitar and sing in such local garage-punk outfits as the Lids, the Gaye Blades, and Bobby and the Soft Spots. “B Jay is omnipresent around here,” says Jared Swilley of the Black Lips. “He’s been around forever.”
Continue reading “The life and times of Bobby Ubangi”
(Photo by Chad Radford)
A rather peculiar blog war has broken out in recent weeks. Hip hop writers are taking sides. Although no fatalities have been reported, there’s been some serious name calling.
At the crux of the dispute is Gucci Mane’s merit as a rapper. His populist appeal is not in doubt, but bloggers like Noz and Brandon Soderberg insist that he’s underappreciated by hip hop tastemakers. A couple of weeks ago Soderberg wrote a well-considered treatise on what writers talk about when they talk about Gucci, although Soderberg goes a bit far in my opinion when he claims that white people can’t properly evaluate the emcee’s merits.
…it’s only a matter of time before the mixed metaphor of bloggers/white writers as colonialists wanders into the debate or accusations of flat-out racism get tossed around when someone like Gucci’s given a good critical look-over, part of the debate really is Black and White. Not “Black vs. White” but rather, Gucci’s cultural context switches in a way that’s simply not available to white or essentially, non-black listeners.
The whole thing is made weirder by the fact that Soderberg is white himself. Not surprisingly, this proved irresistable for We Are Respectable Negroes blogger dissertation-style treatment by breaking down its lyrics.
How much ‘unh’ can one girl take
How many cakes can one man bake?In this context, “unh” refers to penis. For Gucci, this rhetorical question is not a macho sexual boast; it is a nod to radical lesbian feminist awakening. Another way of framing the question is, how much rapacious male sexuality must a woman endure before she rebels against hegemonic patriarchy and becomes a fully realized, liberated human being?
>>The recent meltdown of lead singer Nathan Williams of Wavves continues to gather commentary from everyone. To refresh your memory, Ohmpark gives an interesting chronicle of the event and aftermath.
A few weeks ago, Wavves had a meltdown on stage at a big music festival in Spain which Pitchfork called “the most epic onstage meltdown a band of their small size could conjure”
>>Last year Matador teamed up with True Panther Sounds record label to help put out Girls’ debut 7″. The band is back at it again with a target release of September 22.
We are proud to announce the September 22 release of the debut full-length from Girls, entitled Album. The record will be released by True Panther Sounds, the label that released Girls’ debut 7?, “Lust For Life,” last year, in conjunction with Matador.
>>Shining Path, the Balkans and the Trashcans show is still creating quite the buzz amongst fans. 7″ Atlanta does a good job describing the show and an even better job of making you feel guilty for missing out.
The Trashcans shared the bill Friday at the Watch Yr Head House with a couple of awesome young bands.
The house is located off Memorial and has a basement in which the bands play and a barn-style garage for chilling in between sets.
>>If I had the money, I still wouldn’t carry a Gucci man-purse — no matter what Crunk and Disorderly says:
Titty Boi and Dolla Boy [collectivly known as Playaz Circle] were two of the more fashionable acts to perform at Birthday Bash this past weekend. And yes, that’s a fork dangling on Dolla’s chest. Tell mama the first thing that comes to your mind.
On Fri., July 3 the student voice of Georgia State 88.5 FM/WRAS will host its summer fundraiser concert, with performances from Zoroaster tapping into the raw power of the stoned cosmos while the Spooks rattle their garage rock chains from beyond the grave. Thy Mighty Contract plays terse and chiming post-hardcore and Danger Woman, the crime fighting super hero who’s disabled, but able to rock will round out the bill. $10. 7 p.m. Eyedrum. 404-522-0655.
(Photo courtesy of the Spooks)
Brooklyn couple Matt Johnson and Kim Schifino are dance-punk duo Matt & Kim, a highly touted act often described as “cute.” Though that description annoys them, it’s hard to deny; their enthusiastic personalities and contrasting physical features make one want to draw them into a bear hug. He’s tall and pale and wears Asics, she’s short and olive-complexioned and wears big hoop earrings. Even when they disagree it’s adorable.
“Matt’s pretty good at convincing me to do shit I don’t want to do,” imparts Kim, the duo’s drummer. “In the ‘Yea Yeah’ video he was like, ‘We’re going to have food thrown at us.’ I was like, ‘That does not sound fun.’” (Rest assured that watching the pair splattered with cream pies, pizza and ketchup was fun for the viewer, however.)
Continue reading “Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim don’t need gimmicks, but they use them anyway”
(Photo courtesy Cornerstone Productions)
Van Hunt doesn’t sound like himself.
Last year, he admits, he was devastated after Blue Note/EMI decided against releasing his untamed third album, Popular. In hindsight, however, Hunt suggests that given the opportunity to do it over, he would’ve tempered the characteristic defiance that’s come to define his bitches brew.
“I think I would have made a different record,” he says. “I don’t think I understood that they wanted a particular sound. It wasn’t like it was a foreign sound to my artistry. It was just one part of what I do. I think I could have made a record that would have made them more comfortable doing what they do — which is sell records.”
Continue reading “Van Hunt takes the Emergency exit after Blue Note’s blowjob”
(Photo by Big Hassle)
Spotted at Lavish Life Social Club.
Looks like the rapper formerly known as B.o.B. is serious about taking his music to the next level.
Last Wednesday, Bobby Ray performed an acoustic set in celebration of his newly released mixtape B.o.B. vs. Bobby Ray. Zach Wolfe shot footage at Striver’s Row, the new men’s fashion boutique co-owned by Jason Geter of Grand Hustle (T.I.’s record label).
Whether you dig where Bobby Ray’s headed or not, it’s cool to see an MC signed to a major label (Rebel Rock/Grand Hustle/Atlantic) put his artistic evolution out on front street for all to critique. If anything, it proves the state of the industry is in total flux right now. Usually this is the kind of experimentation that goes on behind closed doors, and the end result is either shipped (yay) or shelved (nay) by the record label. Guess they’re taking a wait-and-see approach, too.
Either that, or they’re already sold on the end result and want to make sure the public is, so they’re spoon-feeding us. Experiment away I say, as long as there are no instructional dance songs in the works.
BET premiered the Anthony Mandler-directed video for Jay-Z’s new song “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” after the airing of the BET Awards last night (where he also performed it live). That’s Warner Music Group CEO Lyor Cohen chauffeuring Hov in the beginning of the video. The two were long time business associates during the Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam days. Now that Jay-Z’s upcoming album Blueprint 3 will be released by WMG subsidiary Atlantic, the cameo is fitting.
Harvey Keitel and Lebron James are also featured.
The highlight comes four and a half minutes in when Jay finally gets his overgrown sheepskin fro shorn in the barber’s chair. He’s been catching hell about that unkempt ’do for months. Some things, not even multi-millions can excuse.
Athens band Modern Skirts headlined day 1 of the Corndogorama on Saturday night. The heat was brutal during the day and didn’t let off much after the sun went down, and a brief spell of rain made everything soggy, then humid. Still, the vibe was mellow, and the chunk of real estate upon which this year’s Cornodog landed is spacious. Although it never felt crowded, it wasn’t empty by any means, at least by the end of the night.
The new location feels right, but needs more places to hide from the heat. It is June in Georgia after all. Sitting in the summer heat and sweating for the sake of a good time and good music is one thing, but when you add the grease and girth of a steady intake of corndogs staggered throughout the day, washed down by however many hot PBRs it takes to get the job done, the body moves in slow motion. Such was the case for many who were willing to suffer for their music at Corndogorama XII.
At the end of the night, best estimates put it at somewhere just over 1,000 people had attended from beginning to end. When asked if it was success? David Railey laughed, “I think so, but I don’t know. Ask me tomorrow.”
NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: THE BEST PLACE TO GET YOUR CONCERT PHOTO FIX IS clatl.com/photos.
We know you’ve been thinking to yourself, “CL should create a space for all the awesome photos they shoot.” And if you weren’t thinking that, then all the visual desires you never even knew you had have just been fulfilled.
We now have a spot where you can access all the latest galleries shot each week, a new Photo of the Day posted (you guessed it!) every day, and new videos going up every week. You can also check out the thousands of images uploaded by your fellow Atlantans to the CL Flickr feed or read up on what the deal was with each week’s Time and Place photo.
There’s international photo and video news, tidbits and gear updates, along with info on upcoming Atlanta photo community meet-ups and shoot-outs.
Missed the TV On the Radio concert? We’ve got the photos to make you feel just a little better about it.
Wondering how the hell they get all that sand out of the Decatur Square after the Decatur Beach Party? We’ve got the lowdown on that through video interviews.
Check it out at clatl.com/photos_video.
Of course, we want to hear your feedback. So give us your joys, your grievances, your Atlanta photo knowledge! Send it all our way to photos@cln.com.
(Photo by Perry Julien)
When T.I.’s long-time friend and personal assistant Philant Johnson was killed in 2006, the Atlanta rapper was distraught to say the least.
T.I. — now serving a 366 day sentence in Arkansas — and his entourage, including Johnson, were involved in a shooting after leaving a nightclub in Cincinnati in early May 2006.
Padron Thomas, the man who drove the vehicle from which the deadly shots were fired, has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
From the Associated Press:
Forty-one-year-old Padron Thomas told a judge he’s a “knucklehead” and wishes he could take back what he did. He was sentenced Wednesday on gun charges and unrelated federal drug charges.
He testified in December against his younger brother, who was sentenced to 66 years in prison for shooting Philant Johnson in May 2006 after a T.I. concert in Cincinnati.
Three others were injured in the shooting. The Grammy-winning Atlanta rapper wasn’t hurt.
In exchange for his testimony, Thomas received a reduced sentence for his involvement in a drug ring that shipped marijuana from California to Cincinnati.
(Photo by Crickontour/Flickr)
Rank of Atlanta rapper Soulja Boy Tell ’Em’s Twitter page on a list of “businesses” with the highest number of Twitter followers: 9
Rank of CNN: 1
Total number of Twitterers following Soulja Boy: 892,491
Total number of “tweets” the rapper — or his handlers — have posted on his Twitter site: 4,412
Estimated number of tweets worldwide that were related to the Iran protests, following the country’s June 12 election: 79,000
Estimated percentage of tweets that referenced Michael Jackson in the two hours following the king of pop’s death: 30
Total number of Twitter members worldwide: 37 million
Number of other major social-networking sites that have grown faster than Twitter over the past year: 0
Number of jobs that MySpace was forced to cut following stiff competition from Twitter and Facebook: 300
Sources: Twibs.com, twitter.com/souljaboytellem, WashingtonPost.com, ColumbusDispatch.com, Mashable.com, NYTimes.com
Read more from CL’s Fresh Loaf blog.
Upon checking out Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones from the library three weeks ago, the first page I flipped to was chapter 28: “Thriller.”
Maybe it was Michael Jackson’s recent announcement that he planned to perform 50 concerts at the O2 arena in London, but for some reason his collaborations with Quincy Jones [Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987)] had been heavy on my mind. If ever he was desperate to make a comeback — as critics were suggesting the scheduled string of concerts proved — all MJ really needed to do was head back to the studio with Q one last time and do it again.
Not to take anything from the other producers he worked with post-Thriller — such as Teddy Riley who oversaw production on Dangerous (1991), or Rodney Jerkins who contributed significant production to Invincible (2001) — but when you look at MJ’s solo discography nothing stacks up to the Quincy Jones years. They made magic together.
In the following excerpt from his 2001 autobiography published by Doubleday, Jones talks about some of the collaborators who made Thriller the greatest selling album of all-time and reveals how Michael Jackson earned the well-deserved nickname “Smelly.”
The making of Thriller in a little more than two months was like riding a rocket. Everything about it was done at hyperspeed. Rod Temperton, who also co-wrote several of the album’s songs, and I listened to nearly 600 songs before picking out a dozen we liked. Rod would then submit to me about thirty-three of his own songs on totally complete demos with bass lines, counter lines, and all, recorded on the Temperton high-tech system of bouncing the sound of two cassette recordings between ghetto blasters, and ten to twenty-five alternate titles for each song, with the beginnings of lyric schemes. He was absolutely the best to work with—always totally prepared, not one drop of b.s. We have always kept it very real with each other, exchanging strong opinions and comments without ever “throwing a wobbly”—British slang for “losing it.” He’s the kind of warrior you want at your side on the battlefield.
Michael was also writing music like a machine. He could really crank it up. In the time I worked with him he wrote three of the songs on Off the Wall, four on Thriller, and six on Bad. At this point on Thriller I’d been bugging him for months to write a Michael Jackson version of “My Sharona.” One day I went to his house and said, “Smelly, give it up. The train is leaving the station.” He said, “Quincy, I got this thing I want you to hear, but it’s not finished yet. I don’t have any vocals on it.”
I called Michael “Smelly” because when he liked a piece of music or a certain beat, instead of calling it funky, he’d call it “smelly jelly.” When it was really good, he’d say, “That’s some smelly jelly.” I said, “Smelly, it’s getting late. Let’s do it.”
I took him to the studio inside his house. He called his engineer and we stacked the vocals on then and there. Michael sang his heart out. The song was “Beat It.” (more…)
