Music

Oy! What a crazy week it has been.  Sorry for leaving up the heinous photo of Cinco de Mayo jello shots as your first glimpse on the site.  Ya’ll deserve some pretty so I’m gifting you some Beyonce “Why Don’t You Love Me?”-Video-Vintage-Feel-Goodness for the weekend.  I’m off to a charity event tonight but I’ll be back with a few great surprises next week especially for all my Santa Barbara Campus Confidants.
xoxo, Vanesa

I had the best time at Coachella last year but due to my overwhelming workload I just don’t have the time, energy, or gusto to make it out this year.  I remember it being a long hot day and the appropriate outfit is imperative for survival.  Here are a few of my favorite Coachella outfits found at Elle.com.  To see their entire album click here.

You can’t go wrong with a sweet and breezy long dress to cover your legs while rolling around in the grass.

This girl must have gotten to the festival later in the day.  There is no way a white dress would survive on me during Coachella. Two hours in the dress would be covered in remnants of margarita slushie, ketchup, and pretzel salt.  I’d do my best attempt to pretend it was some type of Pucci-inspired number.

The floppy hat and indigenous accessories take the classic black and white from the club to the desert.

Somewhere out there is a J.Crew catalogue missing a model.

Somewhere out there that High School Musical kid is looking for his girlfriend.

F-I-E-R-C-E!!!!!!  Bold use of color and a total 60′s vibe.  I want to put on Peter Paul and Mary’s “If I had a Hammer” and jam out.  Love this girl.

xoxo,

Vanesa

Don’t judge me.  But yes, I watch American Idol.  In fact I LOVE IT.  I especially loved the showdown between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert.  Adam was everyone’s favorite and of course he got my full support (I can’t deny guyliner and musical theatrics…we’ll get to my love of Simon and Seacrest another time).  But now that Kris Allen has released his debut album I can really see how talented the guy is.  I’ve been jamming out to this song and every word he sings rings louder each time.  Take the time to read the lyrics and see how you can apply it to your life.

Sometimes we fall down and can’t get back up
We’re hiding behind skin that’s too tough
How come we don’t say I love you enough
Till it’s to late, it’s not too late

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we’re all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would’ve done

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution
There’ll no one on the line

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh – like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live – like we’re dying

We never know a good thing till it’s gone
You never see a crash until it’s head on
All those people right when we’re dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it’s gone

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start livin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh – like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying
Live like we’re dying

xoxo,

Vanesa

On Friday night the “Hope For Haiti Now” Telethon raised a record breaking $58 million.  Like the millions of others that tuned in, seeing the images of Haiti brought me to tears.  I loved seeing all of the performances by so many talented artists and hearing stars like Julia Roberts connect with callers on a real, emotional level.  I made my donation online because I knew that if I got patched through to Reese Witherspoon it would take every ounce of me not to ask what really happened between her and Jake.   Besides the haunting images that were shown I could not get Christina Aguiler’s performance out of my mind this weekend.  I have re-played her performance on YouTube over and over and continue to rave about it to anyone who will listen.  Her voice and passion sent chills down my spine and I am moved every time.  Here it is for all of you to enjoy.  If you didn’t get a chance to donate on Friday you can still do so on the Hope For Haiti Now Website.

Sending all of you peace and love….

xoxo, Vanesa

I heard of this event and instantly loved it!  Two of my favorite things mixed together into a cocktail of fun, food and film, or as ArtPower at UCSD has appropriately named their event, FOOVIES: Lust+Passion+Desire. Wow, this just got a whole lot spicier   The event being held at The Loft tonight will serve up music and food from 7:30-8pm then a showing of the film Dinner Rush at 8 pm.  Now I haven’t seen Dinner Rush so I can’t give you a sales pitch on why you should go out and see it.  But I do know it stars John Corbett and I’m sure there’s some type of “Carrie Bradshaw broke Aiden’s heart twice” obligation that makes me always want to support him.  Also, he charms me over and over again in My Big Fat Greek Wedding every….single….time.  Here’s a breakdown of the film from ArtPower’s site:

When the “star chef” son of proprietor and bookmaker Louis Cropa decides to make changes in the menu of Louis’ hugely popular Italian restaurant, a frenetic evening of comedy is served up to a local police detective, rival gangsters from Queens, and a renowned food nymph. Some things don’t go down so well; other things come up that shouldn’t as the evening boils over with mayhem.
[2001, UK, 98 min.]

My tummy gets all sorts of happy when I read the menu they have planned:

MENU Entrée:Penne with Shrimp and Spicy Tomato Sauce; Antipasto Salad; and Trio of Dips with Assorted Breads. Desserts: Meyer Lemon Pine Nut Tart with Citrus Mascarpone and Ricciarelli Cookies. Wine Choice: An assortment of Italian and Californian wines. Menu subject to change.

Admission price ($26) includes the music, food, and the movie.  Now go on and purchase your ticket here, there will be plenty of nights for you to eat Dominoe’s Delivery.  And while you’re in the Italian spirit go on and play this:

Second, if you’re not old enough to enjoy a glass of vino you can drink some of this:

Vignette Wine Country Soda – Rose’ ($28.50-12pack)

xoxo, Vanesa

The lineup for the Coachella Music Festival was announced today and includes my personal hero, Jay-Z, along with some other favorites of mine—MGMT, She&Him, Gossip, DJ Z Trip, Coheed and Cambria, Thom Yorke and Yo La Tengo!  The blogosphere is a buzz saying the lineup is too much of a mixed bag but I say “who wants a bag full of the same ol stuff?!?!”  Last time I checked, every time I got to take a trip to the Sweet Factory store at the mall my bag always had a feisty variety of Very Cherry Jelly Beans, Sour Patch Kids, German Rasberries, Candy Corn and chocolate-covered gummy bears.

If you plan on going you’ll need to start planning as soon as possible.  Tickets ($269) go on sale January 22nd at 10 am and can be purchased at the Coachella site here. Or you can stop into any of the following locations:

GLASSHOUSE (Record Store)
248 W 2nd St., Pomona, CA
CASH ONLY
- Must purchase IN PERSON
3-Day pass – $285
While supplies last

FINGERPRINTS
4612 E 2nd St, Long Beach, CA
- Must purchase IN PERSON
3-Day pass – $285
While supplies last

EL REY THEATRE
(next door at Cowboys & Turbans)
5515 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA
- Must purchase IN PERSON
3-Day pass – $285
While supplies last

The TICKETS page of the Coachella site also has information on Tents and RVs but if you’re like me, I’m not really one for camping.  A lot of the bigger hotels sell out fast so check out my post on Palm Springs mini-vacay on a budget. I outlined a lot of great places to stay, eat and shop out in the desert in this post from a few months ago.

Last year when I attended Coachella I had a raucous good time.  It started with a trek down the 10 Freeway which I had actually never driven down, a stop into an Inland Empire El Pollo Loco (where the locals looked at my friend Kate and me as if we were the queens straight out of Too Wong Foo ahem, “Little Latin boy in drag why are you crying?”), a major spillage of a caramel Frappucino all over my dress and check-in to a teeny tiny motel that I could have monkey bar climbed onto the 10 from.  The rest of my Coachella adventure can be explained in a triple-dog-dare that I took on captured in digital photo glory here:

There’s not a lot I can say about that photo.  It explains itself…a lifetime of shame and memories…

xoxo, Vanesa

If you haven’t heard of it yet, The Hype Machine is one of the most efficient and enjoyable music sites on the web.  According to their site here’s what they do, “To put it simply, the Hype Machine keeps track of what music bloggers write about. We handpick a set of kickass music blogs and then present what they discuss for easy analysis, consumption and discovery. This way, your odds of stumbling into awesome music or awesome blogs are high.” My favorite part about the site is that they stream all of the mp3s making your online music experience that much more diverse and user-friendly.  I’ve been able to discover wonderful new music through this site before deciding which albums to actually purchase with my hard-earned dollar.  Last week, The Hype Machine posted their Top 50 Albums of 2009.  The top ten of this list of 50 are as follows:

10. Girls - Album

9. Fever Ray - Fever Ray

8. Antlers - Hospice

7. Passion Pit - Manners

6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! (My personal favorite.)

5. The XX - XX

4. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

2. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

You can see the entire TOP 50 listing here on The Hype Machine where for every single album you can stream THE ENTIRE THING.  AMAAAAAAAAAZING!!!! Love love love The Hype Machine.

xoxo, Vanesa

Earlier this year a friend of mine in the music industry forwarded me a link to download Doctor Rosen Rosen’s remix of the entire Lily Allen album “It’s Not Me It’s You,” which the doctor appropriately renamed, “It’s Not Me, It’s Doctor Rosen Rosen.” Lily’s snappy lyrics to poppy beats fill me with all sorts of euphoria.  Her lyrics are those of your alter-ego, or your outspoken BFF.  Y’know, the BFF you met at a party, had a good laugh with over beer pong, started spotting at Starbucks and became legitimate friends, gossiped over ex-boyfriends and their stupid new girlfriends with, took a couple Yoga classes with, then caught her in a compromising position in the bathroom of a bar one night, started to feel awkward around, then stopped returning her text messages, then started completely distancing yourself from and changing the way she can view your Facebook profile page, but still have a really good place in your heart for.  Yeah…that kind of BFF.

When I heard Doctor Rosen Rosen’s remix of her entire album I was blown away.  The beats are as haunting as the lyrics forcing the songs to metamorphosize into a completely new and complex being.  So needless to say I was filled with glee when I opened my inbox today to find an email from camp Doctor Rosen Rosen offering more of his remixes FREE to download on his site.  Jump here to his site to stream, download and enjoy all of the doctor’s glory.

xoxo, Vanesa