Celebrate 420: MC Flow Invites You To The Dispensary

I try to steer clear of 420 cliches, but my friend Abby, aka MC Flow, sent me this video last week and to be honest, I can't get the tune out of my head. She's got a new EP dropping today and will be appearing at the inaugural Bayked Festival going down this afternoon at Embarcadero Marina Park South. Flow's press release is after the jump. Click here for tickets and info to Bayked.

New Video: MC Flow- "Pot In The Latkes"

I'm not sure if you were listening to the Local 94/9 last night, but it was quite a party to celebrate the one year anniversary of TJ as the host. There was amazing food from Big Front Door (with Pork Loin and Smoked Salmon that must have crack in it because I couldn't stop shoveling it into my mouf), lots of friends in the room, and I even got to pick three songs to close out the show. I knew that MC Flow was dropping a new song today and reached out in an attempt to make it one of my picks last night, but she was in NY and didn't get my message until a few hours later, so I just decided to wait until it released today, and the song is so good, it warrants its own post.

So here you go, a little holiday message from your old friend, MC Flow.

Transfer & AVicious - Ruby Room 2/28 - VIDEO!

I must confess that I have honestly never met Seth Combs whose birthday we were on hand to celebrate when we drove down to San Diego Saturday for the Ruby Room show. In fact I don't even think I met him that night. So I will take this chance to wish him a very happy birthday and to thank him for having an event designed to protest the most inhumane prop h8. Charity usually means that you drink a little more than you would during regular shows. That combined with so many good friends and so little will power equates to a VJ set with a bit more improv than normal. Good thing it worked. We had such a great time at this event. Meeting Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra was eye opening and I would put them on the MUST SEE list. Only Pauly from Rocky IV had a better relationship with his robot. McFlow was definitely good but how bout a round for the VJ's who lit up your set on the fly? Well, maybe next time. Ruby Room staff - big ups as they say for helping us so much at load in and throughout the night!

Here are videos from the show - Transfer, Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra & McFlow (subscribe to our YouTube - it's classy):

YouTube: MC Flow Against Prop H8TE

This is a couple weeks old and I kept meaning to post it but better late than never, right? MC Flow did a song against Prop 8 and like all of her music has a great message.

Street Scene 2007 Recap & Photos Day 2

By the time my ride arrived to pick me up on Sunday, I'd already missed some of the bands I'd hope to catch. I was also pretty bummed that I chose to wear shoes that ended up giving me blisters on both of my feet within the first hour of being at Street Scene. My friends and I headed to the 5 stage to catch People Under The Stairs for a while.




We were kinda unsure what kind of access we'd have for Sunday, but my friend Pete had arrived and told me he got me passes with Z-Trip so I headed back toward the entrance and caught a glimpse of Brett Dennen.


I went out of the venue only to find the tickets were en route. I ran into Steve from Dynamite Walls and Chris from Augustana, so we hung out at the will call until our passes arrived. At that point Natalie sent me a text that we had photo passes for The Album Leaf. After waiting about a half hour, the passes arrived and we entered through the artist entrance.

After hanging in the artist area for a while, Natalie and I mosied to the Album Leaf stage.






The sound on their stage was perfectly crisp though I didn't want to clutter up the photo pit for too long so I watched from a ways back for the majority of their set. I wanted to catch Paolo Nutini, so I headed back to the main stage to catch a few of his songs as well. "These Streets" sounded so amazing on that huge stage.


I had separated from Kristian so I met he and the rest of our friends in the electronica tent for Simian Mobile Disco. They were great, but it was a dj set so I didn't hang for long. At this point the moleskin the first aid guys gave me for my blisters had gotten dusty from the tent and I had forgotten my earplugs, so I took a couple pics but then was on my way.




Sexy and single...Kristian, Dave and Chris

In the tent I ran into the most famous bald head in San Diego, Mr. Tim Pyles.

I was running all over the place for most of the day. From the electronica tent, I went to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for a few songs but this was my roughest point of the day...lack of earplugs, not enough sleep, blisters on my feet and I didn't hang at the stage for long.

I also had to catch Z-Trip for part of his set. It was familiar and felt like the same set he did at SoCo, but I knew he had a long set (an hour and a half) so I left to catch Spoon.


Britt and crew sounded awesome. I guess I've now seen them equally on small and large stages and I like both equally. I appreciate that the band is flexible and can pull off both quite well.

I then ran to see a couple songs by the Sweet and Tender Hooligans and I seriously think there are so many diehard fans of Morrissey and The Smiths, that I wouldn't doubt if the couple hundred people were at Street Scene only to see the Sweet and Tender Hooligans who really do the covers spot on.


Since Pete got me my passes, however, I had to make sure I arrived back at the electronic stage to catch his portion of the Z-Trip set. He blew it up yet again. The guy is amazing. I've mentioned before he's drumming for Z-Trip at the moment, but has also has played with Cake and Mike Doughty in the past. He blows me away everytime I see him.

After that, back to the artist tent for some tequila shots, a couple beers and a burrito before heading to catch Louis XIV on the main stage. Anya Marina came out to sing during "Finding Out True Love Is Blind" and Ray Suen has been playing violin with the band. He's definitely upping his demand by bands because he's absolutely amazing.

I spent the remainder of the night in the artist area. It was really fun back there, complete with a foosball table and an air hockey table, couches, and tv's to watch the acts.

Natalie and I had our geek out superfan moment backstage when we got the balls to approach Britt Daniels and get him to pose for some pics with us. He was really nice and didn't seem to mind us gushing like little schoolgirls.

Here's some more random backstage photos:

MC Flow & Crew

The one person I really wanted to meet was Joe Escalante of the Sweet & Tender Hooligans, The Vandals, and The Last of the Famous International Morning Show on Indie 103.1, but apparently he left as soon as their set ended because he has to get up early for his morning show. Bummer. I did talk to Jose for a while and he was really, really nice.

Jose, Sweet & Tender Hooligans

As things go, people were leaving and extra passes showed up, so we got The Roman Spring back in the artist area with us. Here's a pic of Joe.

Sean "Har Mar Superstar", Sean Na Na

All in all it was another amazing day at Street Scene. I am glad I took a chance and kept the faith about the event, and I know that no matter what form it takes next year, if it continues, I will be there. I hear the numbers didn't meet the expectations of LiveNation, but I enjoyed the space, the layout worked well, and the music was great. I guess the lawn stage suffered a bit from the Editors sound checking early which was lame, but as far as I could tell, the event went off without a hitch minus the usual complaints about charging for parking (when there is no alternative) and overpriced beer, but whatever. Those are pretty standard complaints about most shows.

I'm taking a night off from rock n roll and I'll try to get my things to do list up soon. Huge thanks to Dynamite Walls, Jason Burkhart, Conrado, Jake, The Album Leaf, Pete McNeal, Z-Trip, Kristian, Dave and especially to Chris for being my designated driver, and everyone else who was instrumental in making this an amazing weekend.

Saturday Recap: Sessions Fest

I have no recap for Friday night. I was sure I had bought a ticket to Wolf Parade when I apparently hadn't. I would've loved to see the band again, but really, truth be told, I'm not in any rush to catch another show at Cane's, so instead, I stayed home and rested up for what ended up being a big Saturday.

I got to Sessions Fest a little later than I planned after realizing I'd left the house without my phone. Co-dependency at its finest. The crowd slowly gathered at the park and I didn't hesitate to hit the Karl Strauss Stargazer IPA in the beer garden. I came stocked with my two-seater beach chair and a blanket and was happy to set up my post in the beer garden, where I pretty much stayed throughout the entire day.

We couldn't have asked for a nicer day, the cops and security were really cool and supportive of the event, and the music at the festival was also great, but the real highlight for me were the people who showed up. So many people came throughout the day, and though I had nothing to do with the event's preparation, to have so many people say such nice things throughout the day both about the event and about this blog was really nice. I ended up helping on the kegs for some of the afternoon, so thanks to anyone who bought beer and was patient with us as we tried to get the kegs right and allowed my cup to cup pours, it was my pleasure to serve you. The whole day made me really feel part of an amazing and supportive community.

When I take pictures, I usually only upload a few, but just this once, I've uploaded all of them, viewable here.

Most important, I can't stress enough that this event was put on by Sophie. Throughout the day, people asked me questions about the event and people seemed to be under the impression that "the city" had something to do with it. Not so. Sophie got the sponsors (Karl Strauss & SESAC), booked the bands, went through all the city's hoops for permitting (which, incidentally, make it easier to just not do an event because there are A LOT of hoops), hired the security, rented the port-a-potties, paid the insurance, paid the keg deposit, and paid for those cops to be there all day. On top of that, there's the stage, the soundboard, the sound engineers, the lighting, the amps, etc. While I'm sad Sophie has made the decision not to have Sessions Fest again, she really deserves some massive credit for the amazing event, and hopefully the community steps up and takes the reins on similar events in the future. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And to Scott, Josh, and everyone else involved, it was a pleasure.


God, the Emmy Awards are making this post sound like a goddamn acceptance speech. Enough of all that, here are the pictures.


The Corvinas

Free SESAC nuts

Wild Weekend

Nick, Fifty On Their Heels

The Punkboard was represented, too

Red Pony Clock

Al Guerra, 91X Loudspeaker Host

May*Star

Andrew, Swedish Models

Some punk rock poseur (Just kidding. Happy Birthday, Adam!)

MC Flow

Flow's "Incredible" Fans

The Atoms

Fifty on Their Heels

Sadly, when Habitat Sound System and Pizza! (formerly the New Motherfuckers) played, we were busiest in the garden, so I didn't get the chance to take pics of them but they sounded great from behind the taps.

The night ended right around 10 pm and the cops and security were kind to allow us to give out the remainder of the beers and go a little past 10. I stayed a bit but headed off to my next destination- to see The Vision of A Dying World at the Beauty Bar.

Incidentally, I lost my ring. It's silver with tiny little sapphires in it. It was a birthday present from my dad and means more to me sentimentally than it could to anyone else monetarily, so if anyone happened to find it, please let me know.

Review: Casbah After Christmas Party

If you were not at the Casbah last night, you have some ‘xplaining to do. Mr. Pyles put together quite a night, once again. The night started with MC Flow. If you know me, you know hip hop isn’t my thing, but MC Flow seriously earns her name. Not only do her rhymes flow, but her lyrics are smart and in your face, though her delivery softens the fact that she is blasting you. I saw Lady Sovereign on Jimmy Kimmel the other night (barf) and let me be the first to say that Flow kills that poseur. Plus, her backup dancer did not stop moving in her jazzercise outfit, which was quite impressive even if taken completely out of the hip hop context. Bad Credit came out next and chased CatDirt and CDW away, but I liked them. They kinda remind me of the skaters I hung out with in high school who would throw together some hip hop even though they were the whitest kids in the hood. The funk basslines keep the music moving and the Casbah was packed during their performance. Mr. Tube was much more mellow than I expected but I wasn’t giving all of my attention to the stage by that point of the evening. Bring Society! down a notch and you’d have Mr. Tube. Last up was Addiquit who I watched for about 4 minutes because I was told that she was hammered. And hammered she was. I didn’t even pay attention to what she was saying so much as watched her stagger around the stage and in front of it.


Mostly, though, it was a night about friends hanging out and reconvening after probably too much time with their families. It was also local who’s who roll call- Tim Pyles, Troy Johnson, Scott & Patrick of Fox Rox, Bart Mendoza, Morgan Young, Mitch of No Knife/The Focus Group (who don’t expect to play until Spring!), Jordan of the Bloody Hollies, Porter of AM Vibe (playing this weekend at the Ken Club), Matt of Vinyl Radio, John Paul of GOP (who played sax for Mr. Tube), Kevin of Ex-Friends, Mike of Jezebel, Joe of Bull and Train, and on and on. It was a fun time and great to see everyone out. Local music continues to support local music and that’s a beautiful thing.