Naomi Reiter

Tea Party for Tolerance

Political party affiliation is a personal choice, but some parties seem to be significantly less tolerant than others, especially the Tea Party (or as Bill Maher refers to its members, the "Tea Baggers"). According to Wikipedia, "82% [of Tea Party members] do not believe that gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to marry, and that about 52% believed that 'lesbians and gays have too much
political power.'"

That's pretty frightening to ALL Americans when you consider that marriage is a civil right. After all, denying civil rights to ANY group of Americans is a nasty slippery slope that our beautiful country doesn't want to slide down (again). And to think that a group of Americans identified strictly by their lifestyle has "too much political power" indicates some personal fear, which leads to intolerance, hate, and violence.

What's interesting is that Tea Party members may not realize that a "Tea Party" (a.k.a. a Tea Dance) is actually an afternoon outdoor social enjoyed by the gay and transgender community. That's right Tea Baggers, you named your intolerant political party after an extremely tolerant, fun, positive, hard body, outdoor
dance party. 

In the spirit of tolerance, I say we hold a Tea Party for Tolerance! Who's with me?

Halos Brings SoCal Dreaming to U.K., Scotland with Help from Circa Survive

In less than one month, Southern California's Halos will hit the U.K. with sold out shows, backing Circa Survive—whose third album, Blue Sky Noise, recently debuted at number 11 on Billboard 200. (Check them out on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.)

The U.K. and Scotland will be Halos's first international tour, which they point out is pretty damn hard to make happen with no booking agency nor record label support. 

“But we were lucky enough to be friends with Circa and they've been supporting our music for a long time,” says Halos guitarist Zak Freedman. “Good music prevails and bands like us get to go out and do things like this because other artists still support music they like.”

Halos's music is an alchemy of California dreams being dashed on the cliffs of reality, only to reemerge stronger and wiser. And Halos is ready to share that journey with a new audience—with a little help from their friends in Circa Survive.

“I think it's really cool that can still happen and bands can still move forward and grow while the record industry shrivels and dies,” says Freedman.

Circa Survive and Halos will open the tour at Cardiff's Clwb Ifor Bach July 12, moving on July 13 to Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, then on to Underworld in London July 14, with further tour dates scheduled.

SoCal Band 'Halos' Emerges From Fabled Sound City Studios Lean, Mean and Ready for Stardom

There is a certain alchemy that yields musical stardom—the kind that puts a Grammy on your mantel. Look at any hot, new act receiving an industry nod these days and you'll see that part of that recipe includes hard work (the sweat and tears kind), strong collaboration with industry vets (like maybe working with Greg Richling of the Wallflowers fame at L.A.'s fabled Sound City Studios) and providing the world with a fresh, unique sound (the kind that packs L.A. venues with discriminating ticket buyers).

Rock band Halos is mixing those elements and serving them up as tight, heart-thumping songs that make you want to memorize their lyrics and learn their guitar riffs. Here, OC Weekly's Nate Jackson checks in with these wonder boys—while he still can:

 

Facebook, Please Don't Invite Myspace to the Party

I used to love Myspace back when, as a non-developer, I thought it was cool to populate my profile with music, images and other bells and whistles. I'd "pimp" (read: personalize) my friends' profiles for them and I loved reconnecting with long lost everybody. Then, two things happened:

1) I went to law school and discovered Facebook via the recent college grads in my class, and

2) Myspace developed an embarrassing addiction to porn, with which it chose to spam me daily.

Not all relationships are meant to last forever, and I ended mine with Myspace this year when I simply couldn't take it any more ("OMG my high school English teacher sent me a message! Nope, just more porn.")

Now, I get that musicians still use Myspace for its band pages function. My cousin Zak Freedman's band, Halos, uses it to showcase their amazing music (not biased at all). But, as a social network, Myspace is out. (You're either in, or you're out--right, Heidi Klume?)

That's why I'm a tad alarmed about news that Facebook and Myspace may partner to share information. Listen, Facebook, if you want to access Myspace's music profiles, that's one thing; but if you're planning on exchanging my user info with that porn-loving party crasher, you may be on the outs with me, as well.

Slow Fade or Seven Year Itch: Where to Go When You Can’t Get In

I remember back then, back in the days when time was either sunshine or night, when music was our pied piper and we were weary but never tired. Fourteen years later, I’m exhausted. The thought of starting my night at 11 p.m. is laughable and I’m cranky when things are loud. Cultivating a curmudgeonly outlook isn’t always the problem when it comes to keeping up with the dance music scene. Maybe you work nine-to-five, have a mortgage, kids, can’t get in. Whatever derailed your It Boy or Girl status, a digital life raft has been thrown your way.

London-based Be At TV—or b@—is a virtual clubbing Web site with a two-pronged approach: divas-turned-mommies, reformed club kids and anyone whose mad money has turned into fodder for budget balancing in the downturn can keep abreast of the latest bedroom tracks and epic sets across the globe; and DJs can use b@ as a powerful viral marketing tool to spread their version of the gospel of the dance floor.

“Almost every DJ has our films on their Myspace page,” says co-founder Ray Smith.

iPod Seeder Offers Affordable Ambience

Forget the Milkman

It used to be that working stiffs were nervous about the milkman sowing his seeds of love. These days—at least in NYC—it's Johnny iPodseed (a.k.a. Alex Mynatt) who is spreading the love. But it's not bored housewives he's catering to, but upscale boutiques, salons, restaurants and nightlife venues.

With Seldom Seen Music NYC, Mynatt is using his nearly 20 years in the music scene to offer affordable playlists to businesses that have a stake in creating cutting-edge ambience to their clientele. And it's not just House or Trip hop. Sample songs on the Seldom Seen Web site include tracks from James Brown and Buena Vista Social Club, as well as Fela Kuti and Gary Davis. "Business owners don't have time to search for music," says Mynatt. "Much less load playlists."

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Mynatt does channel the milkman in one respect: much like the milk bottle exchange program that brought the milkman door-to-door, Mynatt brings fully-loaded iPod nanos—filled with hours of relevant music—to his clients. When they want a change, he brings another loaded nano and exchanges it for the last one he left. No piles of scratched CDs, no waste.

For more information, call (646) 217-2608 or ping.

From ZZ Top to Steve McQueen: Cool Gets Cooler

Rabbit feet, lucky coins, worry stones—carrying talismans is nothing new. They are often sentimental in some way, and always special to their owners. ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons wears Steve McQueen’s bottle opener on a chain around his neck, exponentially increasing his cool factor. Not that Gibbons isn’t cool in his own right—the blues rock legend moonlights as an actor on Fox’s Bones (said bottle opener was spotted last night at Fox hangout Bull and Bear in New York’s Waldorf Astoria). But Steve McQueen had more cool in his little bottle opener than most of us manage to cultivate in a lifetime.

WMC Meets Digital Party With Site Launch

Gen X ravers, German DJs, club kids posing as party promoters and other nocturnal creatures blinked at the South Beach sunshine for the 24th year this week to kick off the Winter Music Conference (WMC). They come to network, party and worship at the altar of cutting-edge dance music. They lounge in French swimwear, earbuds in place, sipping champagne as night bleeds into morning over the course of the weekend. They are the target audience for Be At TV, a virtual clubbing site, because, let’s face it, they’re not all really jet setting and constantly fabulous. Whether it’s because of kids, an empty wallet or flagging stamina (36% of 2008 attendees were aged 36 to 45), music lovers just can’t be everywhere at once.

Check back next week to hear from the Be At TV founders and for feedback on the site from the people who live it (and hopefully some dirty snippets from behind the velvet rope).

Elliott Wilson: "No One is Really Holding Anyone to Task"

Urban Media Maven to Serve as Gatekeeper

After serving as Editor-in-Chief of XXL magazine, founding editor of xxlmag.com, co-authoring two hot books, and producing hit VH-1 shows including ego trip's Miss Rap Supreme, no one would blame Elliott Wilson for resting on his laurels. At the very least, with a resume like that he could pick a project that lets him relax a bit.

A dual passion for hip hop culture and journalistic integrity is compelling Wilson to go in the opposite direction and reinvent himself yet again in one of media's most labour-intensive platforms: blogging. Why? "Celebrity journalism and the quick score are becoming the norm," he said. "No one is really holding anyone to task. I'm going to serve as a sort of gatekeeper."

While Wilson has long embraced new media, he sees a generation of writers who need some direction in terms of maintaining honor in reporting news. He plans to cultivate a new crop of journalists steeped with good research and reporting habits--and he plans to lead by example.