These days...who really wants to head out to the store just to find that the presents they had on their pre-made list are GONE. Off the shelves, and in someone else's hands.
Or maybe you're the type of consumer who hits the stores in search of inspiration and never really find that "it" gift.
Well, I'm here to help you holiday shoppers!
For the iphone user you have to buy for...staying in the same vein of keeping warm this winter, check out these awesome GLOVES BY TAVO. They're made with bits of metal on the finger pads (i think) and you're able to keep your fingers warm and use the touch screen of the iPhone at the same time..amazing!
My last suggestion is for the little tikes. Jett Beres from Sister Hazel published a book based on one of the band's tunes. Over at STARFISH LULLABYE dot com you can pick up a book (that comes with a CD of lullabies) and a t-shirt to match..cute.
Well that's it. Since I started my guide early this year look for future installments as the holidays grow closer :)
Lauren Elise Hildebrandt is a triple-threat singer/dancer/actress, based in Los Angeles. Affectionately known as “Hildy”, she is an independent recording artist who’s just released her first pop single, Boyshorts on Red Wallet Records from the upcoming album entitled, Not Really a Waitress, to be released in 2009.
Check out her song "Boy Shorts" HERE
Hildy burst on the dance music scene in 2005 with her single, Burnin Out that she co-wrote with producers Liquid 360. It spent 13 weeks on the Billboard Hot Club charts, peaking at #5, an impressive debut for a new artist. Her music video to Burnin Out was directed by Patricio Ginsela, who directed two of the Black Eyed Peas videos. It is still in rotation in clubs, stores and restaurants and video channels across the world. Burnin Out also was #3 on Canada’s bpm dance station (like MTV), #35 on the worldwide dance charts, #50 on the Hot Brazil charts and #10 on the Bollywood charts in 2005-2006. From August 2006 through May 2007, Hildy toured in the European production of the long-running, hit musical, Grease. She was featured on German TV in the popular show, Soundgarden, and was one of four cast members chosen to appear in Vienna’s Night of 100 Stars. Now back in the States, she is finishing co-writing and recording her debut album. One song on the album will feature a duet with Chip Days, an American Idol Season 2 Semi-Finalist.
In his latest release Crossing Dragon Bridge, veteran singer/songwriter Steve Wynn (formerly of Dream Syndicate) sings about his travels in Slovenia...
Bio:
The days during my three weeks in Ljubljana were pretty simple. I would wake up early and leave my apartment on Trubarjeva Street and cross Dragon Bridge in search of a good cup of coffee which I would sip as I watched the vendors in the open market as they sold cabbage, purses, cheap watches and anything else that might be worth a Euro or two. I’d watch this panorama of commerce and barter and think about which song I would drag into the daily laboratory that was Chris Eckman’s home studio.
I had never made a record like this before. I was in Slovenia, far from my New York City apartment and in a musical world that had shrunk down to just two people—me and Chris, the multi-talented producer (Midnight Choir) and bandleader (Walkabouts, Chris & Carla). He had been wanting to make a record with me for many years and seemed particularly intent on stripping things down to my voice and my acoustic guitar and then building up another universe from there.
No band. No session players (until later). No passing of the baton in this relay race. Even Chris would hesitate when I tried to get him to play something. Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals—if I could do it, I had to do it. And that’s why “Crossing Dragon Bridge” sounds different from other records I’ve done before but also more like the sound inside my head than anything I’ve done before.
But it’s not a record I would have made in New York. Or in Tucson. Or in Los Angeles, Tokyo, Moscow or Mali, It’s not like a record I would make on the moon or on Mars or in New Jersey. It has the sound and the mood and the sights and the overall vibe of Ljubljana. I swallowed the city whole and then waited for the meal to work itself into a digestive hallucination before spitting it out again each day at Chris’ place. And then it was back for a pint of Union beer by the river before starting all over again.
When I left Slovenia a few weeks later both of us knew we had something special. And then we proceeded to add the extra bits that would take the experience further. An eight-piece orchestra was added in Prague to a bunch of the songs and a woman’s choir in Ljubljana was added to others. Linda Pitmon, Kirk Swan, Chris Cacavas and Tim Adams (Teenage Prayers) chimed in from New York, Los Angeles and Germany bringing in elements of familiarity from my past and present.
Finally the whole thing was filtered through the creative and impressionistic mixing skills of Tucker Martine (Decemberists, Laura Veirs) and turned into the record that you hold in your hands. It’s a snapshot, a dream, an acid flashback, a tourist guide, a midnight snack, a morning cup of coffee—it’s the other world that happened around me and inside my head for three weeks last September. I hope you enjoy taking the trip back there with me.
- STEVE WYNN
TRACK LISTING:
1. Slovenian Rhapsody I
2. Manhattan Fault Line
3. Love Me Anyway
4. She Came
5. When We Talk About Forever.
6. Annie & Me
7. Wait Until You Get To Know Me
8. Punching Holes In The Sky
9. Bring The Magic
10 God Doesn't Like It
11. Believe In Yourself
12. I Don't Deserve This
13. Slovenian Rhapsody II
Free Streaming Audio-
"MANHATTAN FAULT LINE" - http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/steve_manhattan.wma
“LOVE ME ANYWAY” - http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/steve_love.wma
www.rockridgemusic.com
www.stevewynn.net
16 year old PATRICK DRONEY has become one of America’s phenomenal young
guitar players and talented young songwriters. Winning the Robert Johnson
Star Award in 2006 as one of the country’s most promising young musicians,
he has been turning heads since picking up the guitar at the age of 7.
Patrick has graced the stages of The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Whiskey
A-Go-Go, BB King’s Blues Clubs (LA and NYC), The Bamboozle Music Festival,
and House of Blues, just to name a few. His band (in 2006) was even the
youngest to play the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, according to Vintage
Guitar Magazine. He has been the support band for such legends as BB King
and the late James Brown and recently (October 2007) performed at the Taj
Mahal in Atlantic City as part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience Tour, sharing
the stage with Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Billy Cox (bass), the same Jimi
Hendrix Experience rhythm section that played behind Hendrix at Woodstock.
Critics have compared his talent to one that fuses elements of Stevie Raye
Vaughan, Robert Johnson and John Mayer while adding his own original style.
Patrick posses a textural smoothness and warm fluidity that connotes a
visceral connection between his fingers and the fret board, belying his
age. Blues Matters Magazine dubbed him “The New Generation”, The 2007 SXSW
Festival Must-See list called him “one of the best young guitarists alive
today.”
Tween vocalist Alessandra Guercio is ready for her
close up. A Brooklyn-bred girl with a big heart and even bigger smile has huge
dreams of wowing the world with her bright, full-of-life voice. The 13-year-old
budding pop star known as "Alle" by her friends exudes a vibrant personality
and a natural stage persona much like the Disney Channel¹s Selena Gomez and Demi
Lovato, and Nickolodeon¹s iCarly starlet Miranda Cosgrove. When she¹s not
singing and perfecting her skills as a dancer, Alessandra spends time with her
friends, hanging out at Coney Island or ice skating at the local sports and
recreation center, the Aviator. School is also important to Alessandra, for
keeping straight-As is a top priority.
Check out her website at www.allerocks.com
ALESSANDRA GUERCIO - "EYE CONTACT": http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak/alle_eye.wma
ALESSANDRA GUERCIO - EPK: http://www.jbproductionstudio.com/jbp/Alle_Camplified_2008.html
She's humble, thoughtful, and not one for mindless chatter. She'd sooner talk about her favorite bands and songwriters, about football and films, than about her¬self.
But put Amy Macdonald on stage with a guitar in her hands, let loose her rich, bell-clear voice on a brace of superb original songs-and the self-effacing 20-year-old with the pale skin and wide blue eyes is revealed as a compelling performer possessed of formidable musical gifts.
Her Decca Universal debut album, This Is The Life, is equally impressive. On each of its eleven tracks, Amy's own acoustic guitar patterns form the foundation for the beautifully de¬tailed arrangements created by producer Pete Wilkinson and mixed to perfection by Bob Clearmountain. The result is a seamless set of contemporary folk-flavored pop-rock with a warmly natural sound and free of hip-hop affectations. Amy's melodies are incredibly catchy-the quality that has made "Run," "This Is The Life," and "Mr. Rock & Roll" into international radio favorites-but her lyrics sometimes hint at a darker, edgier under¬current.
"Footballer's Wife" ponders the devaluation of celebrity, from James Dean and Marilyn Monroe to today's reality-show wanna-bes; "Poison Prince" is a sharp-eyed 'look at the high-wire act of Pete Doherty (of Libertines and Babyshambles), one of Amy's earliest and most important musical inspirations. "Youth of Today" is a challenge to older gen¬erations, firm and clear-eyed without being self-righteous-Amy's version of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" or "My Generation."
This Is The Life began moving up the British chart soon after its initial release in July 2007. The album reached Number One on January 13, 2008, knocking Radiohead's In Rainbows out of the top slot. To date, This Is The Life has sold more than 700,000 copies in the UK (double platinum) and over one million worldwide, mak¬ing Amy Macdonald the biggest-selling female British artist to emerge last year. Thus far, her album has reached Number One in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands and cracked the Top 20 in Germany, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Greece.
Back in the USA, the excitement has proven contagious. In April 2008, Amy arrived in the States for debut club appearances in Boston and New York. Her 4/28 performance at Great Scott in Boston prompted The Boston Globe to hail Amy Macdonald as "a 20-year-old lass with a guitar, a strong will, thick eyeliner, and a voice that snaps you to attention.We give her a year before she's headlining the Orpheum [Theater]."
LISTEN NOW! Amy Macdonald - "Mr. Rock & Roll"
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