Month: February 2011

East Portland’s Own Esperanza Spalding Wins Grammy for Best New Artist

For perhaps the first time in Grammy Award history, the winner of the Best New Artist Grammy is actually an artist. East Portland’s hot, young and talented jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding surprised everyone by beating out Youtube sensation and all around nice guy, Justin Bieber. Immediately after her victory, outraged Bieber fans hacked Esperanza’s Wikipedia …

Multi-layered Charlton Heston Video – “The Future Has Already Been Written”

This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s from BoingBoing.net, which describes it thusly: “An excerpt from transmedia artist Anthony Discenza’s “Charlton Heston: The Future has Already Been Written,” that “fuses Planet of the Apes, Omega Man, and Soylent Green. The 3 films (in their entirety) are visually alternated with each other every 1/10 …

Howlin’ Wolf – Spoonful (Chess 1960, 2:45), by Tom Kipp

Howlin’ Wolf—“Spoonful” (Chess 1960, 2:45) The day before I flew home to Montana from Providence (23 May 1982) I found a very useful, cartoon-jacketed, budget-line blues sampler—America’s Musical Roots—that contained many of the most famous singles ever to appear on Chess Records, this one foremost among them. Nothing about the chundering roar of Cream’s infamous …

Shakira – Sale El Sol

New Shakira out recently. Title translates to “The Sun Comes Out.” Tune starts out slow, swells into a solid, surprisingly trad-rock (given the singer’s success with newer dance music formats), pop tune. I’ll admit that when they modulate on the last bridge (2:48, right before she rips her turtleneck apart. Honest.) it’s the oldest cliche …