Leveraging frustration with rising gasoline prices, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has placed a billboard campaign anyone at the gas pump can identify with.
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]]>Dance parties let hipsters go `buck wild' on the cheap | Chicago Tribune
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Dance parties let hipsters go `buck wild' on the cheap
By Jessica Hopper
Special to the Tribune
Published December 15, 2006
"If you are our age and going to some posh dance club for a good time, you are a dork," says Curt Cameruci, 24, whose nom de turntables is DJ Autobot. Along with his deejaying partner, J2K (nee Josh Young) the two are known for their joint venture, Flosstradamus, which is the name of their duo and their monthly dance party.
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By Jessica Hopper
Special to the Tribune
Published December 15, 2006
"If you are our age and going to some posh dance club for a good time, you are a dork," says Curt Cameruci, 24, whose nom de turntables is DJ Autobot. Along with his deejaying partner, J2K (nee Josh Young) the two are known for their joint venture, Flosstradamus, which is the name of their duo and their monthly dance party.
This tandem is hot on the heels of the of the well-established dance-punk trend, which spawned hugely successful monthly sets in New York, Philadelphia and L.A., frequented by art-school kids and hip-hop heads who otherwise wouldn't be caught dead on the dance floor of a conventional night club.
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In recent months, Flosstradamus has become synonymous with sweaty, thumping bounce-fests that don't stop until last call.
In the 13 months it has been in existence here, the Flosstradamus party, held the third week of every month at the micro-size Town Hall Pub, has become the dance party in town.
Flosstradamus' diverse attack has hip-hop as the foundation, mixed with juke house, classic techno, dance rock and party favorites via a 3-turntable, 2-laptop set up. An appearance in Urb Magazine's "next 100 to watch" in 2006 seemed prescient, and the Chicago episode of MTV's "My Block" featured their club night alongside mentions for Kanye West, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
Young and Cameruci credit their success not to ultra-slick technique, but rather an audience that wants to drink and dance for cheap.
"Who wants to spend a bunch of money going to some bourgeois club?" asks Young. "At our nights, people can get buck-wild for $2."
Their achievement is not something you can engineer, says Nick Barat, assistant editor at New York-based culture magazine The Fader. "You can flier all you want, but dance parties only become successful through word of mouth. It's happening for Flosstradamus because they know what they are doing. They have the acumen."
Though Chicago has had decidedly un-club parties with dedicated followings in the past, it's been a long dry season since Deadly Dragon Soundsystem's mid-'90s era at the Empty Bottle, or since deejay Tommie Sunshine departed for New York.
In the last 18 months, owing largely to the mainstreaming of new wave and dance punk--more local nights have sprung up. Other monthly parties such as Dark Wave Disco (at Sonotheque) and Life During Wartime ( at The Hideout) also are booming.
Greg Corner, the bassist for Kill Hannah and one of the promoters of Dark Wave Disco, now in its second year, says that even though they're based in a night club, they concentrate on keeping an informal party atmosphere.
"Clubs now are about bottle service, `hotties' and cocaine," Corner says disdainfully. "Our primary aim ... is to make it be about the music."
Life During Wartime, a deejay cabal comprised of Metro talent buyer Chris Baroner, Flosstradamus' J2K and Chess Hubbard (a.k.a. Mother Hubbard), maintains its monthly set at The Hideout, where the wood-paneled walls and strings of Christmas lights are more like grandma's bridge club than crunk club. While LDW spin in pairs at trendy bars and at benefits all over the city, their heart belongs to that rag-tag, North Side neighborhood joint, even as things have moved from 50 people a night to an all-night-long queue for admittance.
"There are plenty of clubs in town people can go if they want Top 40 or hip-hop or New Wave all night, but that's not what we or our audience want," says Baroner. "What we are doing is about community. We have regulars now--and they aren't even people we know."
Flosstradamus
When: 9 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Town Hall Pub, 3340 N. Halsted St.
Price: $2 (21+); 773-472-4405
Life During Wartime
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia St.
Price: $8 before the bands, $5 after; 312-227-4433
Dark Wave Disco
When: 9 p.m. Dec. 22
Where: Sonotheque, 1444 W. Chicago Ave.
Price: TBA; 312-226-3700
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]]>Some highlights include:
http://www.iodalliance.com/how_it_works.php
Digital music is a complicated and confusing world, made up of advanced technologies, confusing rights issues and legislation, pirates and thieves, lawyers and geeks. What does it mean to the independent artist or label?
Digital download services such as Apple's iTunes Store are proving that independents can make money and increase exposure in the digital music space. This guide gives a broad overview of the digital music landscape today and what it means to independent rightsholders—the labels, musicians, and songwriters of the independent music community—who control the sound recording and composition copyrights embodied in every song they create.
Leveraging frustration with rising gasoline prices, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has placed a billboard campaign anyone at the gas pump can identify with.
Three U.C. Berkeley students are carrying out this work in San Francisco Bay Area cafés. They hope that PlaceSite, and projects inspired by PlaceSite, will form an open platform that will enhance community gathering places around the world.
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I like this guy's style. we need more of this.
pretty cool collaborative blog.
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Subject: Cell Phones and Driving
I don't know if you've heard, but starting Jan 1, 2006, in many states, you will no longer be able to use a cell phone while driving unless you have a "hands free" adapter.
I went to Circuit City and they wanted $50 for a headset with a boom microphone for my cell phone.
Having a friend in the cell phone business, I talked with him and was able to come up with an alternative, working through Office Depot.
These kits are compatible with any mobile phone and one size fits all. I paid $0.08 each because! he bought in quantity. I tried them out on Nokia, Erickson, Motorola, Samsung and Kyocera cell phones and they worked perfectly.
Take a look and let me know if you want one, and forward this to anyone you know who may want one. As of today, I have about 150 left.
A photo is included.
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