I'm In UR Radio, Playin All Ur Hitz!

Guess what guys! Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I was asked to be the Blogger of the Week on Break Thru Radio!

Guy's I'm gonna be honest. This is a big deal for me! I never did college radio, and now, looking back, that makes me a Sad Panda. (I guess it's for the best though, when I was 18 @ NYU I probably would have played only ska ska ska... Jamaican ska...) But this is my first time doing radio stuff! So much fun!

Listen Here!

Do I sound cool? I hope so!

Everything is Better in the South! or Whatever Brains and Natural Child rock my world!

Okay guys, it's not secret that I have a weird love affair with Southern culture. I may have been raised an upper middle class liberal New York Jew, but I'd much rather drink Budweiser and watch NASCAR than read the New York Times and pretend to like wheat grass. I made this blingee of my baby Kyle Busch. He didn't make the Chase this year, but I still lurve him!


Anyway, another thing that seems to be always awesome about the South is the music. I love nothing more than a punk band made up of cute Southern boys with a bit of a drawl. I think Thomas Function is my favorite band of all time.

Anyway, I recently have become acquainted with two southern bands that blew me away!

Whatever Brains is from North Carolina. They played at Silent Barn in October and completely blew me away. They were polite, cute, and brought along poppers that they shared with everyone all night. Oh yeah, their garagey punk is pretty good too. Here's a cute band pic of them with an MP3 mysteriously hidden behind it. And yes, those are poppers in that pic.


Natural Child is an adorable band from Nashville that took me by surprise during CMJ. They played an unplanned/unexpected set after The Beets at Don Pedro's for one of the Impose parties. There was no one there, but I still had some beer left, so I figured I might as well stick around for them. It was incredible, the ten or so people that stuck around for them stormed the stage and everyone rocked out together, just chilling with the chillness.
They play one of my favorite kinds of music: Stupid punk- just gross and stupid and kind of sloppy in a way that is super charming. I went to see them the next night at The Charleston for their official CMJ showcase (with a bunch of other awesome Nashville bands including winner of CMJ JEFF the Brotherhood). Out of the whole clusterfuck that was CMJ, Natural Child had the biggest effect on me.
Listen to the sounds that this cute band pic makes:


Can someone please fly me to the South and find me a cute Southern boyfriend who likes punk music and will treat me like a lady?

Thanks!

Tonight! Pop Show at Market Hotel!

Hey y'all, this show is going to be my first show at Market Hotel! There's a lot going on tonight, but this show is not only the most awesome, but also pretty much the only game in town as far as pop pop pop!

Here's the wonderful flier that my old roomie Sheena made:


The line up pretty much rules. Not pretty much- all much!

Darlings have kind of been taking over the world. Last April they were featured in L Magazine's 8 NYC Bands You Need To Hear, and just a couple of weeks ago, Spin Magazine's 25 Must-Hear Artists from the CMJ Festival. They also went to college with me. (Drummer, Matt Solomon was the first NYU Student I ever met... in the elevator on the way up to Gallatin Orientation.

Sundelles rule. Chocolate Bobka saw them and said this:

We saw the Sundelles rock a shabby set of lo-fi three chord doo-wop at Dead Herring Friday night and were pretty impressed by their knack for head bobbing, hip shaking melodies, vocal rave ups and their relentless use of the fuzz box. Simple and straight forward, their brand of loft pop will sound familiar to fans The Muslims (now the Soft Pack) and the Vivian Girls, as well as older heads jonesing for some new Nuggets and Pebbles for the 21st century.

I really like them and hope you do to, when you come tonight, and I give you a hug.

I'm Turning Into is a cool new band on the scene that I have written about before, and so have a lot of other people. For example, sweeeeeet blog Pop Tarts Suck Toasted named I'm Turning Into the sweet Band of the Week at the end of July. They are so weird, so fun, so rocking.


Shark?, the weirdest band name, in a fun way, has also had the honor of being the Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Band of the Week, and deservedly so. They are making some "waves" right now. Tee hee.

Buy The TeePee LP!

When I went down to Miami for So Raw Fest last year, I had the greatest time of my life. That's where I first saw Fluffy Lumbers, but I also got exposed to a bunch of other great bands, including the fabulous TeePee who just released his debut 12" LP on his label "Senzei Records". Below is a link to stream "I Told You", a total jam off of the record...


Go buy this LP, I'm serious.

If you want to stalk me during CMJ week...

So, I was realizing that it would be irresponible of me not to post my picks for CMJ-Week shows. I don't think I'll go to any "official" CMJ shows, but I'm happy that bandz are in town and want 2 play showz.

Alright, let's get this shit STARTED!

Tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day: Pop Tarts Suck Toasted Kickoff Day Show @ Cake Shop

I took the entire week off from work, mainly so I could drink too much and sleep in, but ALSO so I could hit the day shows. This one will truly rule. Mostly because it features PopJew favorite cute band Surfer Blood but also because it features some other bands. Also it's free and will be funnnnnnnnnnn. I like things thrown by bloggers because it makes me feel like blogs are "important" and not just a waste of my time while I fuck around and avoid getting a real career. Ah life. The best/worst.

Night: Chocolate Bobka killer chiller show @ Monkey Town

Okay, this show isn't just Chocolate Bobka. It's also my two favorite nice-core bros: Underwater Peeps, and Olde English Spelling Bee. It also features PopJew obsession Fluffy Lumbers and really cool Ridgewood dude Julian Lynch who can play a mean clarinet. The flyer features the phrase "Straight Chilling" which is really close to (but not quite) my favorite phrase: str8 chillin' (it's much more chill tat way). I also hear the food at Monkey Town rulez.

Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day: Pianos or Cake Shop?
To be honest, nothing really jumps out at me for during the day, but I might hit up Pianos to watch Surfer Blood and Real Estate (also These United States, Holopaw, Stricken City, Grooms, Seven Saturdays) or Cake Shop to see Darlings (also The Black Hollies, Warpaint, ZAZA, Silver Starling, Turbo Fruits, Tempo No Tempo).

Night: Happy Birthday, Male Bonding, German Measles, Unnatural Helpers, Uzi Rash @ Silent Barn

I think I've said enough about this show, it's gonna rule... and I'll be there because I'm working so I need to be. You know the drill.

Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's not much I want to do during the day on Thursday, I might stumble into Bruar Falls and check it out, but that night...

Impose Party @ Don Pedro's!

Even though the WNYU even at Market Hotel that night will probably be pretty fantastic, I'm gonna ditch out on that to go to this Impose Party. First of all: the men will be more age appropriate for me. Second of all: Ummmm did you see this lineup? I haven't seen The Beets since they've been back from tour, I love Smith Westerns oh so much, and Dream Diary, and Beach Fossils and yay.

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, no interesting day showz on Friday (and I won't go see the xx at all, thank you very much) but I'm very much looking forward to....

Bruar Falls awesome Clusterfuck @ Bruar Falls

Ummmmm.... Duh.

Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day: People Chillaxing Under The Sea "Afternoon Delight" @ Cameo

Which will rule, but will unfortunately force me to leave early to curate my awesome Let's Wrestle, A Classic Education, My Teenage Stride, Slang Chickens, Jacques Detergent Show @ Silent Barn.

See you there I hope?

xoxo

PopJew's NON CMJ Shows!

Hey y'all. CMJ usually pretty much pisses me off. It's in the Lower East (LAME) Side, it overcrowds the city with college indie kids and lots of shitty bands come to town and life is really stressful for a week. Suxxxxx. But hey, that doesn't mean I'm not going to exploit it to throw some awesome shows!

Even though many of my favorite bands will be at Budget Rock in San Francisco, some truly incredible bands will be kickin' East Coast style that week. I have two shows at Silent Barn that week. You should come! They will be super chill with super sweet music and super good booze!

Wednesday Oct 21st:
Everyone's favorite bro King Tuff has a new band that is going to take over the world, probably. They are only playing one show during CMJ week in New York! They're called Happy Birthday and I don't think there's anyway they won't rule.

Also on the bill: Brooklyn legends German Measles who will get drunk and fight you and then wow you with their charming, simple, stupid (in a good way), sloppy punk rawk; SubPop darlings out of the UK Male Bonding; cuties out of Seattle Unnatural Helpers and Brooklyn dinosaur faced garage rockstars Uzi Rash!

This is a show truly not to be missed.


Saturday Oct 24th:
This show will be incredible. It features bands from everywhere: Italy, England, LA, and the most important part of the world: Brooklyn.
Let's Wrestle is reppin' the UK and they totally rule. Poppy jamz that blow my mind every time I dare to listen. Also from "across the sea" (said Weezer), is A Classic Education from Italy. They come at you hard with a big band and pretty poppy fuzzy sound. Reppin' the West Coast (let's fucking wrestle 'em) is Slang Chickens and they fucking rule. Seriously. Think Surfer Blood meets Thomas Function. Yes, it's that good. Finally, holding it down for Brooklyn are jangly pop legends My Teenage Stride and electrojammypoppy cuties Jacques Detergent.

Am I kidding? Fuck no. This show is actually happening.


I don't want to brag or anything, but these might be the best shows ever. See you there!

xoxo

I <3 Animalz

A friend of mine from high school asked me to post this encounter she had at Fugetaboutit, the head shop in Williamsburg on Grand st. Here is her story:

This is a message to everyone in the Williamsburg community to please NEVER give business to "Fugetabouit," the smoke shop located on Grand Street at the corner of Roebling. I had a VERY disturbing experience there recently. When I walked in, the owner was surly and rude from the get go, but I chose to ignore it, because some people just don't know the meaning of "customer service." However, the owner has a very sweet, very friendly bulldog who immediately approached my friends and I to say hello and get us to rub her belly. The dog looked very dirty, unhealthy, and neglected. She was missing patches of hair in places and was having trouble breathing. However, the kicker came as we were about to make a purchase and we witnessed the store owner hit the dog in front of all the customers. The first time, he gave it a hard spank, and the second time, he raised his arm up in a closed fist and lunged at the dog -- not actually hitting him but making very clear that he would have no problem doing so. If he does things like that in front of customers, I can only imagine what he does in the privacy of his own home. I promptly left, saying I would never give my money to someone who abuses an animal, at which point he followed us out the store and began screaming at us down the street. First he told us "Sometimes they need a little discipline." When I responded by explaining that animal abuse is illegal, he got extremely aggressive and scary, and his final line that he called out at us from a block away was "Sometimes women need a good smack, too!"

This man is an animal abuser, and a violent misogynist, and has no place is our community. Please, never ever do business there. In addition, if you've ever witnessed this guy abusing his dog, please email this blog so that you can get my contact info -- I have already reported this incident to the ASPCA, but any more facts that we can get will help the case, so that we can get this poor sweet dog out of the hands of this lunatic.

Hey y'all, be kewl and save some animals! =^o^=

Rock 'n Roll Couple! Congrats!

I just want to take this time to formally congratulate cute couple Tina Junker (UnderAurora Booking, Party Blog) and Kevin Failure (Pink Reason) on their recent engagement! Here's pic of the two of them from Tina's Party Blog:


The wedding will be in Wisconsin next summer and will most likely feature a party/show of epic proportions. Rumor is Drunkdriver will play. Gonna rule! So happy for you guys!

xoxo

Yeah Buddy! Liquor Store is Ridin' Dirty!

"They see me rollin/They hatin'"- Aaron Lefkove

So, on a scale of 1 to Free Pizza, how much do you love Liquor Store? I'd say I love them about a Rut's Hut Hotdog.

Liquor Store is a really great old-fashioned hardcore band that beats you over the head with New Jersey-ness. They play with up to 7 guitars on any given night and just party and cause a scene and make people nuttttz. They feature members of LiveFastDie, Indian Casino & Jail Hippies and Home Blitz. Here's something I wrote about them on Facebook last November that really sums up my feelings:

friends and family,
this is the most important facebook note you will ever read. I don't know if you have plans already, but LIQUOR STORE is playing at Cake Shop on Friday, with other good bands.
but seriously, i don't think you understand. a LIQUOR STORE show is the most amazing experience of your life. They are from new jersey. They crack jokes. They are punk rock. Most importantly? THEY HAVE FIVE FUCKING GUITARS AND TWO DRUM SETS AND THEY WRECK SHIT UP.
I really think you would love them. Everyone does. There is nothing not to like. Read this interview Margherite did with them on Yo-Ster.

That's right... Liquor Store thinks that the only thing better than free pizza is FREE PIZZA WITH WEED ON IT.

RAWK

But anyway, to get to the point, Liquor Store played at Don Pedro's last week with Human Eye and Terrible Twos. All three bands were amazing, as always, but... Liquor Store really stole the show before it even started by pulling up in a fucking convertible, looking stylish as all hell:

Yeah, those boys know how to bring it. And, as always, here are some DirtBerry pixx of Terrible Twos and Human Eye:






Also, a video of Sarim being Sarim:

Show! Thursday Oct 8th: PC Worship, Whatever Brains, I'm Turning Into, The Men

PC Worship (Brooklyn)
Whatever Brains (North Carolina)
I'm Turning Into (Brooklyn via Virginia)
The Men (Brooklyn)

Silent Barn. 8pm. $7. Funnnnnnn.
915 Wyckoff Ave. L to Halsey, J to Myrtle/Wyckoff

xoxo

Flier by Courtney.