A RUSH OF COLDPLAY TO THE HEAD

More Coldplay pix and their second performance for their song "Lost" from the Tonight Show the other night. I still can't believe I was so freaking close!

GRAND OLE INTERVIEW

Yesterday, musicbleep had the chance to speak with Mike Krechnyak (the base player) from Grand Ole Party. Check out his interview below and get to know GOP a little better; from where it all began to how their music is created.

Pick yourself up a copy of their debut album, HUMANIMALS and check them out in a city near you! I will be hitting their L.A. show on July 31st at the Echo, along with the winning fans that entered our GOP contest.



MUSICBLEEP: I hear that you all went to school up in Santa Cruz, which is very cool, but where are you all originally from and how did you end up in San Diego?

Mike: Well I’m originally from San Diego, and John and Kris are from the Bay Area, Half Moon Bay and the East Bay. After we formed the band, they drove a van around the U.S. looking for a city for us to live in, then ran out of money so we decided on SD, because it was close to L.A., and the music industry, and my family was here, so it was an easy place to end up.

MB: How did you all join forces and start GOP?


Mike: John and Kris were in a band already in Santa Cruz, then their bass player left them, so we started jamming together and have been a band ever since. We all moved up to San Francisco for a year, played around at some gigs, and that’s when we discovered that we had something and wanted to take it further.


MB: Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?


Mike: No, not at all. In high school I was really into computers and programming and sports, so this was the last thing I thought I’d be doing.


MB: If you were not a musician, what would you be doing?


Mike: Something with computers, definitely, maybe something to do with video gaming. I was a philosophy major in Santa Cruz.


MB: Is your songwriting a collaborative effort?


Mike: Generally, yes. We will just jam and groove, and some songs come from there. And then we all will have written songs, or write songs on our own and share them with the rest of the band. So we all take part in the music making process.


MB: Who were your major musical influences growing up?


Mike: My dad turned me onto a lot of music. But Bob Dylan and Bob Marley would have to me my major influences. Oh, and I listened to the Kinks a lot, too.


MB: So tell me how were you “discovered”?


Mike: SD is so close to L.A. and the industry. We started playing a lot of shows in SD then up into L.A. as much as possible. Then one night a friend of Rilo Kiley’s saw us, met us, looked up on myspace. Then he came back to a SD show. Darren started coming to more and more shows. Then Blake, his friend, produced our album, they started a label and here we are.


MB: So you album has been around for about a year now, are you guys writing or recording anything new for us?


Mike: Yes. We are currently and consistently writing new material and recording.

MB: Any artist, live or dead, who would you want to work with?


Mike: Leonardo DaVincci


MB: Favorite food?


Mike: I just love food, so I cannot pick a favorite. I love, love all kinds of food.


MB: Favorite color?

Mike: Green. Purple maybe, but green for sure. A definite classic.


MB: Do you have any pets?


Mike: Well, I don’t really have a home, but while living in the van, I had some ants for a while.


MB: Favorite quote?


Mike: Socrates last words before his death, look it up.


MB: Favorite destination:


Mike: I would love to go to Spain, oh, and Greece.


MB: What is your favorite movie?


Mike: Dead Alive


MB: What is in your CD player or iPod right now, what are you listening too?

Mike: This one song by Paul Simon, and Joe Cocker’s ‘Womans a Woman’.

INTERVIEW BY CORY RADKE

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES

I still can't believe I was at the Tonight Show yesterday watching Coldplay perform like 5 feet away! Here is their performance from last nights show in case you missed it. Also, you can check out the 2nd song they performed at www.nbc.com/tonightshow.

THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH COLDPLAY

First, I gotta give a BIG shout out to my buddy VINCE for hooking me up! He hooked my ass up with a pair of passes to catch Coldplay on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno yesterday. I owe you my life VV - I was sooo freaking close to them! I was so far away at Monday nights show at the Forum, so it was really cool to see them play in a small outdoor venue during the day.

LIVE NATION ONE DAY SALE!

This Friday (tomorrow) get your ass over to LIVENATION.COM and pick yourself up some $10.00 tickets to over 40 local show! Lets all support LIVE NATION - they are our FUTURE.

FAN APPRECIATION DAY!Featuring $10 tickets at your favorite Southern California venues.
In light of the escalating transportation costs our fans are experiencing during the summer, this Friday only, over 40 shows at eleven of Los Angeles and San Diego favorite concert venues will have $10 tickets available! Participating artists include Rod Stewart, Maroon 5 and Counting Crows, Santana, ZZ Top & Brooks and Dunn, Alejandro Fernandez, Steel Pulse, and many, many more! Tickets will be available while supplies last on Friday, July 18 from 10am to midnight. Get out and support live music in Los Angeles and San Diego.

IN CASE YOU MISSED EM...

I just now caught Katy Perry on FNMTV from last Friday. She's smoken!

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BUMBERSHOOT FEST LINEUP 2008

The 38th annual Bumbershoot: Seattle's Music & Arts Festival, Presented by Samsung Mobile announces the full 2008 lineup!

Make this summer a memorable one and take a trek to Seattle over Labor Day weekend for an unforgettable getaway and the largest urban music and arts festivals in North America. Bumbershoot takes place over the 3-day holiday weekend (August 30 – September 1) at the 74-acre Seattle Center, located in downtown Seattle beneath the city's iconic Space Needle. The Festival's 20 indoor and outdoor venues provide a massive array of arts including live music, comedy, theatre, dance, film, spectacle, urban crafts, literary arts and visual arts.

The 2008 Bumbershoot music lineup includes Beck, Stone Temple Pilots, Death Cab For Cutie, T.I., The Offspring, Keyshia Cole, Lucinda Williams, Paramore, Neko Case, Band of Horses, The Black Keys, Superchunk, Nada Surf, Ingrid Michaelson, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Jakob Dylan, !!!, Mike Doughty, Old 97's, Xavier Rudd, Anti-Flag, Minus the Bear, M. Ward, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Man Man, Joe Bonamassa, Saul Willliams, Brother Ali, Battles, Aiden, The Walkmen, Kid Sister, Estelle, Unearth, Tapes ‘n Tapes, The Weakerthans, Sons and Daughters, Asylum Street Spankers, Dan Deacon, Two Gallants, Blitzen Trapper, Sondre Lerche, Bedouin Soundclash, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Tim Finn, Cheb I Sabbah & 1002 Nights featuring Riffat Sultana, Dale Watson, The Whigs, John Vanderslice, Flobots, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Final Fantasy, Adele, The Fall of Troy, Orgone, Langhorne Slim & The War Eagles, Forro in the Dark, These Arms Are Snakes, The Blakes, Sweet Water, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Pacifika, Arthur & Yu, Darondo & Nino Moschella, Vicci Martinez, Ian Moore, Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands, Barcelona, Kinski, Throw Me The Statue, J-Boogie's Dubtronic Science, Tyrone Wells, Howlin Rain, Monotonix, Black Eye & Neckties, The Shackeltons, West Indian Girl and many more.

But Bumbershoot is much more than music… the Festival also features three stages of comedy such as Zach Galifianakis, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Behrendt, Doug Benson, PRI's "The Sound of Young America" Live with host Jesse Thorn, and MTV's "Human Giant" stars (Aziz Ansari, Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel) will bring the popular show to the stage with a little help from their friends, just to name a few.

Beyond music and comedy, the Festival offers up a world of arts to make every fan's schedule full (SO full, in fact, that you might wanna put to use Bumbershoot's handy interactive schedule to create and save your own personalized plans and share them with friends!)

The complete lineup includes everything from sci-fi legend William Gibson to Australia's Strange Fruit, The Seattle-Tehran Poster Show to The Post-It Note Reading Series, the 1 Reel Film Festival to Pacific Northwest Ballet, and much, much more.

For the complete Festival lineup and to start creating your personalized daily schedule, visit bumbershoot.org.

TICKETS
Three-day Festival passes and single day-specific tickets are available NOW at bumbershoot.org, Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Three-day passes are $80 through August 15, and $100 thereafter. Single day-specific tickets are $35 through August 15, and $40 thereafter. For more ticket information, visit bumbershoot.org/tickets.htm.

VIDEO PREMIERE

Radiohead is back with a brand new video for their single "House of Cards". The laser-made video wasn't created using conventional cameras, two different camera-less technologies were used to create the video.

The band will make all the data compiled to create the images available to fans, allowing Radiohead fans who know how to manipulate such information to make their own versions of the "In Rainbows" song.

Check out this RAD video below and then get a peek at the making of the video as well.

N.E.R.D VIDEO PREMIERE

Here is the new video for N.E.R.D's "Spaz".

A RUSH OF COLDPLAY TO THE HEAD

The Viva La Vida tour kicked off at the Forum in Los Angeles last night. "I can tell it's gonna be a good one," Chris Martin shouted after the first song. Chris and the gang played to a SOLD OUT house packed with screaming fans. Unfortunately, I didn't have the closest seats (see pictures above), however, I was still able to experience the force that is Coldplay. To even get to experience a Coldplay show was good enough for me - I was impressed!

They belted out hits old and new; favorites like “Clocks”, “The Scientist”, “Fix You” and “Violet Hill”. Also, these giant lights (balls) come down from the ceiling and were used as projectors. At one point a news clip of Bill O’Riley talking about the plagiarizing controversy Coldplay recently encountered with another band was splashed across the screen balls/lights. Bill barked that Chris wasn’t man enough to come on the show to defend the band, in which the entire arena erupted in boos!

My favorite part of the night was towards the end of the show, the guys run through the crowd, winding up high in the "nose bleed" section of the arena, where they sang an acoustic version of “Yellow”. "Sometimes you gotta visit the cheap seats," Martin said. The drummer, Will Champion was also able to spotlight his lead vocals on the just-released FREE DOWNLOAD “Death Will Never Conquer.”

Thanks to my friend who gave me these tickets for my birthday! What a way to end my week of celebrations - This has been the best b-day EVER!!

Set List: Life in Technicolor / Violet Hill / Clocks / In My Place / Viva la Vida / 42 / Yes / The Scientist / Chinese Sleep Chant / God Put a Smile Upon Your Face / Square One / Speed of Sound / Trouble / Lost! / Strawberry Swing / Yellow / Death Will Never Conquer / Fix You / Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love Encore: Death and All His Friends

FIRST NIGHT, FREE DOWNLOAD

Coldplay kicks off the first night of the Viva La Vida world tour, in LA. To celebrate, the band is giving away a brand new track via the official site. GO DOWNLOAD!

Also, I will be there tonight and will have a full report tomorrow!

http://www.coldplay.com/

ANOTHER NEW VIDEO PREMIERE

I hope you don't mind, but because I'm still recovering I've decided to just be lazy and post new videos today. I'll be back in business tomorrow! New We Are Scientist vid for their single "After Hours". ENJOY!

VIDEO PREMIERE

I don't want to do anything but watch videos today.  Check out Death Cab For Cutie's new video for "Narrow Stairs"! It features actor, Lukas Haas.

TGIM????

Ok, so I never thought I'd say this, but I'm am sooo glad it's Monday!  DID I JUST SAY THAT?  I think my new age has already gone to my head. I am so FN exhausted from all of my birthday events that began last Thursday.  Only in LA does one day turn in to a 4 day celebration.  No complaints here, I'm just tired and need another 4 days to recoup. Anyway, thanks so much to everyone that was involved!  This was truly one of the most amazing Birthdays I have ever had and it's all because of the great people that are in my life.  

Ok moving on... She & Him just premiered their brand new video for "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here"!  Zooey is so adorable!  I really hope her music career takes off, cuz she is one Actress/Singer that actually has some talent.