Various Venues – NYC
Live Review: 10/20/12

11 PM – Cameo Gallery
12:30 AM – 92y Tribeca
2:30 AM – Arelene’s Groceries

Above the stage at the Cameo Gallery is a sweeping fixture. A cluster of white strips dangle from the ceiling, refracting light and color from the LED system. The artist can control the pace of the colors from the floor.

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Rockwood Music Hall – NYC
Live Review: 10/19/12

11:45 PM —  After three days of coverage, and a barrage of endlessly motley acts, cursing, screaming, rap nonsense, CMJ 2012 coverage was starting to give Emily and I a music hangover.

Throughout the course of the night at Rockwood Music Hall, what was a night of dazzling technical guitar work, powerfully soulful vocals and overall highly musically talented artists, was sometimes marred by unnecessary comparisons to the previous night night at S.O.B.’s.

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S.O.B.’s – San Francisco, CA
Live Review: 10/18/12

12:00 AM — S.O.B’s. - Emily told me to meet her at the venue where we “saw Paris Jones.” She was over at the East Village in New York City’s Nor Cal bar, Finnerty’s, watching the Niners, Seahawks game. When we arrived next at the S.O.B., someone outside the bar yelled, “5 dollar cover…get yer wallet out” and I realized it was my fate to be here.

In my defense, we “saw Paris Jones” at both spots.

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Drum & Bowery Ballroom – NYC
Live Review: 10/17/12

1:30 PM Drum & 12:30 AM Bowery Ballroom - A crowd that wants nothing but 2 Chainz is simultaneously booing and cheering as the song “Riot” gets unceremoniously cut. Kilo Kish takes stage.

“I know you guys wanted some 2 Chainz, but I’m going to bum you out for a bit.”

She’s got an afro going two different ways. Her long, wild hair is her presence. Her white shirt covers her pants, if she’s even wearing any that is, and she’s got long leggings covering her knees, completing a very L.A. look.

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Webster Hall – NYC
Live Review: 10/16/12

11:00 P.M. – LED lights emanate from the stage; where this light shines the brightest, they dance the hardest.  In the center is a head banger ball following the ecstatic demeanor of the DJ. Those standing in the darkness outside the realm of the LED are listening quietly without much of a groove.

There are people of all walks of life on hand at Webster Hall in the East Village for the first night of the 2012 CMJ Music Festival. The venue is ubiquitous amongst NYU and the general underage population as the go-to under-21 spot.

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