Photo by Shervin Lainez

Since last year’s breakthrough release We Brave Bee Stings and All, Thao Nguyen has kept busy recording new music, this time the melancholic and joyous songs of Know Better Learn Faster, which features some of her strongest work and guest appearances by Andrew Bird, Tune-Yards and Blitzen Trapper. From her San Francisco home, Thao spoke over the phone about her adoptive city, the “economy of words,” teaching young girls and working with talented friends. →

Thao with the Get Down Stay Down
Kill Rock Stars
(2009)
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The cover image of Know Better Learn Faster features Thao Nguyen gazing at what looks to be a bleeding heart pinata, a stream of confetti blanketing the singer and a crowd of happy spectators cheering on the partially blind-folded Thao. This is an odd arrangement for any break-up record, but after listening to the album, the tableau makes perfect sense. →

Photo Source: Pete Souza (Official White House Photostream)

As blogs challenge traditional media and conventional tools of journalism, newspapers have reduced print circulation and  the number of staff due to financial difficulties. Some have also faced financial difficulties due to the downturn of the U.S. economy. During an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade President Obama praised the news industry and addressed the blogosphere.  →

For over 20 years, Ian Schneller’s world-renowned company, Specimen Products, has been known for building superior custom guitars, tube amplifiers and horn speakers. The Little Horn Speakers is the newest sculptural form The Chicago School of Guitar Making has come up with. They are a pair of high-fidelty horns in bookshelf format that is compact and comes in →

Emcee Buff1 accompanied by producer 14KT on the turntables will join Mayer Hawthorne and The County on the Lonely Hearts Club Tour this Fall. Over the years that they have worked together, the members of the Ann Arbor supergroup, which includes Athletic Mic League, Buff1, 14KT and Mayer Hawthorne aka DJ Haircut, have unmistakably built a brotherly chemistry whether at the crib, in the studio or on the stage. This 25 city tour can be expected to be the perfect complement to Mayer Hawthorne’s silky soul. →

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The 87 Stick Up Kids and DJ Troublemaker have been getting down in the cave on some remixes for a second, but this is their first original track together.Along with Hollyrock teammate Tatelarock, they went rough, rugged and raw on this one, and the SK87 emcees The Deacon and Nashville came correct. →

Fun Fun Fun Fest
Austin, Texas
11/07/09 – 11/09/09
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Two weeks after the 2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest lineup was announced on September 9th, Early Bird tickets and the much coveted Early Bird P.I.P. passes, both offered initially at a discounted price, have completely sold out thanks to Transmission Entertainment. That can only mean most fans are wasting no time in securing their entry into this fall’s fun-filled fiesta of indie, punk, hip-hop, and comedy artists at Waterloo Park on November 7th and 8th. If you missed out on the fun, you can still →

An English-language remake of Theo Van Gogh’s award winning 1996 Dutch film, BLIND DATE is the story of an estranged couple (Stanley Tucci, starring and directing, and Patricia Clarkson) who are desperately trying to reconcile after the tragic death of their daughter. Unable to face either their grief or each other, they go a series of “blind dates”, each placing personal ads in the paper and pretending to be strangers when they meet. They do this over and over again, playing a series of different roles, in an attempt to overcome the pain and rebuild their shattered relationship. When controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and killed in cold blood in 2004 by a religious fundamentalist angered over the portrayal of Islam in one of his short films, the idea to remake three of his favorite films in English, with Hollywood stars, was born. This is the second film in said trilogy, after Steve Buscemi’s INTERVIEW.

One Night Only with Revolutionary Soul Icon, Gil Scott Heron
The El Rey – Los Angeles, CA
10/4/09
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With songs like “The Bottle” and of course “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” GIL SCOTT HERON was one of the biggest influences to the Hip Hop generation.  As a prolific revolutionary poet and Soul/Jazz musician, and author, Heron, brings his legendary so(ul)cial-political, afro-spiritual legacy to The El Rey Theatre for one night only!  Also on the bill is ORGONE (Funk/Soul/Afrobeat) and DJ JEREMY SOLE (89.9 KCRW/Afro Funke’/Musaics).  Please don’t miss out on this special event starring the man who brilliantly refined political activism through music.  →