As Bill Hader’s beloved SNL character, nightlife expert Stefon would say, “This Week’s Video Clip has Everything!” Porn Stars and Industrial Music Legends covering what is inarguably among the most iconic songs of the Disco Era is what you get when PIG (aka Raymond Watts) and Sasha Grey deliver their grind-worthy rendition of KC and the Sunshine Band’s “That’s The Way (I Like It).” Babe, oh babe, this clip is all kinds of dark, campy fun. Continue reading Video Clip of The Week: PIG & Sasha Grey, “That’s The Way (I Like It)”
Tag Archives: disco
Video Clip of The Week: Randy Jones, “Hard Times” ( Studio 54 Mix)
As the past is reinvented to serve present needs, ’70s guitar Rock meets Disco’s irresistible call to shake your booty in this week’s Video Clip: “Hard Times” from Randy Jones — best known as the Cowboy from the legendary Village People. With a beat borrowed from Bruno Mars‘ global hit, “Uptown Funk,” this track about beating the blues is lyrically uplifting at a time when we could all use a little encouragement, and harnessed by a rhythm that is virally contagious. Directed by Mikhail Torich, the accompanying visuals are heavy on the glam, delivering sassy back up singers, buff disco boys, mirror balls and everything you need for an immersive club experience. No parking on the dance floor.
The title track from Randy’s brand new album, “Hard Times” is presented here in its super-groovy Studio 54 Mix (courtesy of Mark Saunders). Hard Times is available wherever fine music is procured. Enjoy!
Video Clip of The Week: The Motet, “Fool No More”
If you went out dancing last night, and maybe haven’t quite made it into the bed yet, I’ve got the perfect segue into your unconscious state right here. In anticipation of their new album, Totem, Colorado-based funk outfit, The Motet reveal the official video for track “Fool No More,” which will be the album’s second single.
The video brings alive the artwork from Totem for a funky, psychedelic journey through a tune that I can’t help but say reminds me fondly of the Pablo Cruise hit from way back 1977, “A Place In The Sun.” If you know that song, great. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter. We are just free-associating here.
Totem was produced by Lettuce and Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno and is set for release on July 8th, 2016. Check out The Motet on tour at the dates listed below. Enjoy!
The Motet’s US Tour Dates Through Fall 2016:
6/25 Atlanta, GA Big Bang Block Party
7/2 -3 Quincy, CA High Sierra Music Festival
7/15 Lone Tree, IA Camp Euforia
7/22 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/28 Aspen, CO Belly Up Aspen
7/30 Canton, MA Festival at the Farm
8/4- 6 Thornville, OH The Werk Out Music Festival
8/5 Salt Lake City, UT Sky Bar
8/11-14 Scranton, PA Peach Fest
8/13 Fairfield, CT The Warehouse
8/18-20 Bartow, WV Camp Barefoot
9/4 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival
9/7 Tulsa, OK The Vanguard
9/8 Fayetteville, AR George’s Majestic Lounge
9/9 St. Louis, MO The Ready Room
9/10 Urbana, IL The Canopy Club
9/17 Deadwood Jam Deadwood, SD
10/28–30 Live Oak, FL Suwannee Hulaween
1/20–25 Miami, FL Jam Cruise 15
Big Smoke Burger Opens Flagship Store in Chelsea
All Photos By Gail
Do you like Burgers? I sure do. Burgers have been a bit of a Thing for a while now, so there are many different places competing for your money when you want a red meat fix. There are a few places scattered around the city that I frequent, and each does something special with the simple culinary pleasure that is the hamburger. Now, I am adding a new favorite to that list.
Continue reading Big Smoke Burger Opens Flagship Store in Chelsea
Recommended Listening: American Hustle Soundtrack
Have you seen American Hustle yet? It is the best movie, about a story that happened during my favorite decade: the 1970s. The Seventies were a time of amazing visual stye in everything from furniture design to fashion, but it was also the decade of the best music ever. Just think about it: the worldwide phenomena that was Disco book-ended by The Beatles and Punk Rock. Wow. Mind blowing. It all happened in The Seventies!
It stands to reason then that American Hustle’s Original Motion Picture Soundtrack would be liberally studded with some serious seventies musical gems. There is something for every musical taste on this disc, from big band action courtesy of Duke Ellington’s “Jeep’s Blues” to timeless classic rock (Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”), to an original instrumental track by veteran soundtrack composer, Danny Elfman. There may not be any Beatles’ songs on here, but Paul McCartney (the world’s first Billionaire Rock Star) makes an appearance with his post-Beatle’s band, Wings, delivering the epic spy film theme song, “Live and Let Die.”
Not unexpectedly, revisiting songs that I first heard when I was a pre-teen music snob has inspired me to have a bit of an epiphany. America’s mega-hit from 1972, “A Horse With No Name” was dismissed by me at the time of its release as a Neil Young rip off full of lyrical nonsense. But in a modern day context, the part where the narrator is “looking at a riverbed” and reflecting that, “The story it told / of a river that flowed/ made me sad to think it was dead” is positively sobering. Because remember: he’s in the desert. This song is genius.
Of course, it would not be a full-on 70s experience without some crotch grabbing disco fun, and Music Supervisor Susan Jacobs hits it out of the park by including Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” — a song that says more about the pervasive hedonism of Disco culture with just three words and a wildly hypnotic, insistent electronic beat than any other song ever has. And while I was originally bummed that the included performance of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” is by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes rather that the classic Thelma Houston version, I got over it pretty quickly.
Speaking of covers, I very much enjoy the faithful-to-the-original arrangement of Jefferson Airplane’s classic “White Rabbit” sung in Arabic by vocalist Mayssa Karaa.
But the song which has unarguably received the biggest shot in the arm for its inclusion in the film is Electric Light Orchestra’s prophetic and compelling “10538 Overture,” which has probably been downloaded a hundred times since you started reading this review. I can’t believe I have survived for forty years without having this song at my finger tipis to replay over and over and over again. Seriously, this song is just insane. ELO appear again with “Long Black Road” and vocalist Jeff Lynne also contributes “Stream Of Stars,” a previously unreleased instrumental track that just takes its own little journey to the center of your heart in under three minutes.
Tom Jones, Jack Jones and Chris Stills (son of Stephen Stills, providing the only song not actually written and previously recorded in the seventies) round out this A+ collection of songs that rank as a must own album for any music fan.
American Hustle – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Track Listing:
1. Jeep’s Blues | Duke Ellington
2. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road | Elton John
3. White Rabbit | Mayssa Karaa
4. 10538 Overture | Electric Light Orchestra
5. Live And Let Die | Wings
6. How Can You Mend A Broken Heart | Bee Gees
7. I Feel Love | Donna Summer
8. Don’t Leave Me This Way | Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
9. Delilah | Tom Jones
10. I’ve Got Your Number | Jack Jones
11. Long Black Road | Electric Light Orchestra
12. A Horse With No Name | America
13. Stream Of Stars | Jeff Lynne
14. Live To Live | Chris Stills
15. Irving Montage | Danny Elfman