I love hip hop; but I generally lean towards rap from the 80’s & early 90’s and the more indie hip hop groups like Heiruspecs, P.O.S. (also performing with Doomtree) and Panacea. I like some artists of today like Outkast, The Roots, Ludacris, Jay-Z, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, but most certainly cannot get with the Lil Wayne’s and T-Paine’s of today.

One of my favorite indie hip hop groups is Doomtree and I just learned they’ll be coming to D.C. I am going to try my best to make it out to see this group. If you don’t know about Doomtree, take a moment to check em out.

Catch Doomtree LIVE!
Venue: Rock N Roll Hotel
Address: 1353 H St. NE
City: Washington DC
State: DC
Phone: 202-388-7625
Doors: 10:00PM
Ages: All Ages
Cost: $10/$12

What indie/underground hip hop groups do you listen to? Share with us…

Press release taken from http://www.nodoubt.com/news/default.aspx?nid=20198

No Doubt Announces 2009 Summer Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 21, 2009

No Doubt Announces 2009 Summer Tour With Special Guest Paramore
The Sounds, Janelle Monae and Bedouin Soundclash To Support on Select Dates

LOS ANGELES, CA – Grammy-winning rock band No Doubt announced plans for their 2009 summer tour today.

The band will launch their highly anticipated tour this May, playing outdoor amphitheaters and arenas throughout the summer.  Singer Gwen Stefani said, “The whole reason for going on this tour was to have fun, try on all our favorite songs again and to get inspired to make new music. It feels good to be all together again.”

No Doubt has selected Paramore as the special guest for the tour.  “What a dream tour! We couldn’t be more excited to kick off 2009 by touring with a band like No Doubt,” said Paramore singer Hayley Williams.

“Get there early…this is going to a be a great night from the moment the lights go down,” said bassist Tony Kanal.

The third act that will open the show will be shared among The Sounds, Janelle Monae and Bedouin Soundclash. Check your local listings for more specific information.

“Now that five years have passed, the excitement level for us is extremely high. We are so fresh and ready!  I feel like a kid again when rehearsing these songs,” said drummer Adrian Young.

The 2009 No Doubt Summer Tour will be produced by Live Nation and will include stops in both the U.S. and Canada.   The band last toured in 2004, co-headlining with Blink 182.

Tour dates and on sale information will be announced soon.  Check www.nodoubt.com for the most up to date tour news.

I love music and I’m always searching for new artists. This week I ran across singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser on emusic.com and I downloaded her latest album titled “Albertine”. WOW!!! What an amazing album. Brooke has a great voice and her song lyrics are thoughtful, strong and beautifully arranged. I can listen to this album from start to finish without even wanting to skip over a song.

However, there are a few songs that really stand out for me:

1. Shadowfeet
2. Love, Where is Your Fire
3. Albertine
4. C.S. Lewis Song
5. Epilogue

This is the video for one of my favorite songs on this album. It’s the title track “Albertine”. This song is really powerful and beautiful. Enjoy!

Here’s an extract of what I listened to last week.

Today I couldn’t get enough of Queen Latifah. Take a listen..

What artists did you listen to last week? Did you discover any new artists?

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We don’t have parking lots like this in Northern Virginia nor in MD or DC. Although I don’t know why we don’t. It sure would make more sense. I just had to take a short little video of my car hoisted up in the air and then being let down in this Brooklyn, NY parking lot.

1. At
Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair
Dryer At Passing Cars.
See
If They Slow Down.

2. Page
Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t
Disguise Your Voice.

3.
Every
Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4.
Put
Your Garbage Can On
Your Desk And Label It ‘In.’

5.
Put
Decaf In The Coffee
Maker For 3 Weeks
.
Once Everyone
has Gotten Over Their Caffeine
Addictions, Switch
to Espresso.

6.
In
The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ‘
For
Smuggling
Diamonds’

7.
Finish
All Your sentences with
‘In
Accordance With The Prophecy.’

8.
Don’t
use any punctuation

9.
As
Often As Possible, Skip
Rather
Than Walk.

10.
Order
a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with
a serious face.

11.
Specify
That Your Drive-through Order Is’To
Go.’

12. Sing
Along At The Opera.

13.
Go
To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why
The Poems Don’t Rhyme?

14.
Put
Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And
Play
tropical Sounds All Day.

15.
Five
Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because
You’re Not
In The Mood.

16.
Have
Your Co-workers Address You By Your
Wrestling Name, Rock
Bottom.

17.
When
The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream ‘I
Won!,
I Won!’

18.
When
Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The
Parking lot, Yelling ‘Run
For Your Lives,
They’re
Loose!!’

19.
Tell
Your Children Over Dinner.
‘Due
To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.’

20.
And
The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of
Insanity…….

DIRT is definitely one of my favorite shows and is on my Top 5 list of must see shows. I don’t have FX, so I had to rent Season 1 on DVD. Totally watched it in its entirety in one setting. Courtney Cox is so manipulative, cunning, vain and hardcore in this show. I LOVE IT!!!!! She always has these celebrities on DIRT by the balls. It’s crazy. I also love the guy that plays her best friend Don who is her freelance photographer. On the show, he’s the one that always gets ‘the shot’ for DIRT magazine. He is a functioning schizophrenic, but a super talented photographer. I love this show. If you haven’t taken time to watch an episode, I suggest you check it out.

Other shows I consider must-see tv:
Weeds
inTreatment
The Riches
Big Love

In case you missed today’s speech given by Barack Obama – here it is…

Catch Jill Scott on BBC One in a new drama: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, which premiers Sunday 23 March 2008, 9pm – 10.45pm. This drama is a story chronicling the adventures of Mma Ramotswe. Jill is certainly doing her thing. Doing more acting and of course laying down some of the smoothest grooves on this planet. I’ll be sure to check her out in this drama. Gotta give Jill my support. Besides, everyone knows I love me some Jilly from Philly and that I want to seek her out and be her best friend… Jill, are you listening….

I am sure everyone has heard about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who was put on BLAST after being caught on a federal wiretap where he was heard arranging a meetup with a high-priced prostitute (high-priced/low-priced; a hooker is a hooker) at a Washington hotel last month. This is all according to a law enforcement official and a person briefed on the investigation. Funny being as though Gov. Spitzer gained noted popularity by being relentless in pursuing the wrongdoings of Wall Street (huh, is this a pot/kettle/black situation – I’d say so).

Anyway, here’s the thing that truly bugs me and just makes me want to pull out a can-of-whoop ass. Why is it that every time a politician cheats on his wife and/or betrays his family in some way; he has to give a public speech of apology with his wife standing by his side?????? Hasn’t the wife suffered enough? I see no point in the wife enduring additional embarrassment and humiliation because her husband couldn’t keep his pecker in his pants. Who was it that decided the wife needs to ’stand by her man’ in these types of situations? Does it really make you think any better of the person who screwed up? Does it all of a sudden wash away what he did? Does it make you forget that he was a high ranking official who was stupid enough to get involved with prostitutes although his entire life is pretty much under constant scrutiny? HELL NO. For me; it doesn’t make me look at the wife as being strong or even supportive; it makes me look at him and think he’s a complete butthole for allowing his wife to go through more pain, agony, embarrassment and humiliation.

NOW, if this is something his wife chose to do – I can say no more (well I could say more, but it isn’t pretty, nor is it nice), but if she was pressured by his PR people to do this because this is just what’s been done in the past, then my heart goes out to her (to a certain extent. sometimes you have to put on your big girl panties and say HELL NO I’m not doing that). One things for sure, it wouldn’t have been me. I would have stayed home that night. While he was giving his pathetic speech I would have been kindly packing up his crap and changing the locks……….But that’s just me………