Some tunes, some videos and a lot of stuff about me, my family and my life. It's like my diary but with pretty pictures.
The New Record Newsletter for November 30th (if you haven’t figured it out yet, we’re going to be shooting these out every Wednesday).
A new post filled with intro by Bill talking about 00:02:59 Records (which Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem is a fan of) & Sugar Hill Records, a new editorial piece by Alex, a playlist from Alex as well, Just Added tracks featuring Nick 13, a Deep Cut by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and tons of more stuff. You know, the usual.
The New Records Newsletter
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Make sure you’re following us on any or all sites. Whenever we have new tunes, great news and awesome contests, we post it all on there.
My Editorial in this week’s newsletter for The New Record featuring my Brother, El Big Jim ( one of his latest posts were about sopes so consider yourself warned if you’re currently hungry).
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Share your musical tastes by submitting your Top Records of 2011 as well as your New Record playlists on twitter - @thenewrecord
-Alex
We get inspired on the daily by @Taylor_Sailor’s beautiful words of enthusiasm!
Please spread the message.
YES!
I was in Johnny B’s office today. He was teaching me things. He’s always on the phone. He wants me to name my child Juanny B after him.
Remember this post?
Well, today we were faced with a situation where some Spanish crept into an email discussion. I had replied with “No es bueno” because ANY white person should be able to figure that out. I got a reply of “estos _________ chupar caca hoyo.” Now, I KNOW and SPEAK Spanish and even I was like “What in the name of Santo Domingo were you trying to say?” I was informed that they used Google Translate. I got excited and thought that if they’re using that then maybe this would be a great way for me to incorporate my Spanish speaking that I’ve been ever so dying to use at work.
Boy, was I wrong.
Seriously? POURED?
Me decepcionas, Google.
Brian Fallon and Chuck Ragan performing “Great Expectations” live on German TV Show neoParadise
The Revival Tour has allowed for some great collaborations. Performers include: Chuck Ragan, Brian Fallon, Ian Perkins (The Horrible Crowes), Dave Hause, Daniel Andriano, Joe Gingsberg and Jon Gaunt. With such an eclectic group of musicians, each night has been, without a doubt, a special and unique experience for everyone in attendance. Take a peek at this great rendition of a gem from The Gaslight Anthem’s “The ‘59 Sound” album.
Being a part of a label that puts out music like this here is definitely something special.
This post is not a self-promotion type post to help promote the new project that we’re working on called ‘The New Record.’ It is more a post from one music lover to many others on something neat and about good music.
So, in trying to familiarize myself with The New Record to help with promoting it on tumblr and Facebook, I decided that I should make a playlist and see how that works with sharing and building a nice profile on there. While doing so I was browsing through some tracks/artists that were just added and I came across the Dum Dum Girls. Now, this is the first time I had heard of them (I know, I can already hear some of you “First time?!?!? I’ve been into that band since before they were a band and in diapers”…oh well…sue me) but I can tell that my music obsessive butt is now gonna wanna look into their catalog deeper now.
While listening to “Coming Down” by Dum Dum Girls and REALLY digging it, it hit me that one of the cool things about ‘The New Record’ was that the song/mp3 was there for the taking. As my boss says, it’s like a newsstand for new music. I was already thinking, “I need this on my iPod for good drives,” and one click over the Download button and boom it was mine. All for free. It then hit me how cool this was.
There are lots of cool stuff that I’ve come across like the new Blitzen Trapper, Mister Heavenly, new Dead To Me tracks are up there too, really stoked to have some Daptones Records stuff in there since my friends and I have been into that label for a looooong time now.
The New Record is a new project. It’s a baby still but it has a lot of potential and with many more labels hopefully joining, this thing could be a great tool for people to come nab free mp3s of new music weeks or months in advance. Try it out. Test it out. Use it. Share it with friends. And most importantly, check out the tunes you like and download them. Just like I discovered how awesome Dum Dum Girls are, who knows what you’re going to discover on there. As a music fan, we all know how good the feeling of getting into something new can be.
So maybe I did promote it a little bit only because I was inspired by new music I discovered which is usually the most important part.
I had more Spanish speaking people I dealt with at work. My co-workers are rad and they’re awesome people to work with but sometimes I need to use some Spanish slang you know? For example:
Email comes in with some really good news:
Hit reply all with “No maaaaaaames, que chingon. I’ll let people at radio know about esta madre.”
Email comes in with bad news:
Hit reply all with “Nombre, que par de mamones esos gueyes.”
Sending an email about lunch:
“Ya tragaron? Tengo hambre. Pinches tripas no me dejan trabajar. How does Vegan House sound?
Email requiring me to confirm something:
Reply all with “A huevo.”
Unfortunately I’m stuck with speaking Spanish with all the delivery dudes that come and pick up stuff. I take advantage of them and talk it up a little bit just to kind of get it out of my system. Usually they’re old dudes so it’s very entertaining to hear them complain and get that silly little smirk when they realize I speak Spanish and that I’m “one of them.” My favorite is the guy from Rainbo Records who delivers stuff and every once in a while asks me, “Y no tiene mas promociones de Monster que me regale?” We get like 10 cases of Monster energy drinks every month so I give that foo some when he asks for it.
Anyways…next time we hiring someone new, my vote is for a Latino/a. Affirmative action, ese.
I had the opportunity to take my first band into a radio station for an interview last Thursday since I’ve taken over radio duties at SideOneDummy. After weeks of planning, I had the honor of taking in The Horrible Crowes into KCSN for an interview with Sky Daniels. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to set this up but with a little help (from my friends) it got done. After getting approval from management and scheduling with Sky, we were all set and all I needed to do was pick up the band and take them down there Thursday morning.
Along with Johnny B, we picked up the band (Brian Fallon and Ian Perkins) and their manager and loaded up my whip to head down to Cal State Northridge. After a little bit of trouble finding the place we met up with Sky. The offices were clean and everything looked new, kind of like what I imagined a radio station should look like. After a couple of introductions with the staff of KCSN we all entered the studio where the interview was going to take place.
The interview was a success. I always heard nightmare stories about bands cringing at the questions being asked and being stuck with a DJ who wasn’t knowledgeable about the band they were interviewing. I didn’t have to worry about any of this today as Sky was nothing but a professional in the way he conducted the interview with Brian and Ian. I felt proud and excited all at the same time as I witnessed the interview. Proud because I had helped coordinate this and excited because first and foremost I’m a fan of music and The Horrible Crowes’ album “Elsie” has easily crept into my Top Albums of 2011 list. Easy.
The band had an in-store at Fingerprints in Long Beach that night so after a quick stop at Norman’s Rare Guitars Shop in Tarzana we were on our way to the LBC. The in-store was amazing. The band played the whole album as well as their Katy Perry “Teenage Dream” and INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” covers. Even though setting up in-stores is not my gig here at SideOneDummy, I loved the fact that it happened at one of my favorite record stores.
One of my earliest and favorite music memories involves Fingerprints years ago when I was in high school. I used to ditch to Long Beach to meet my girlfriend at the time and since I got there really early and had plenty of hours to kill, I’d always end up at Fingerprints browsing every section of the store. One of the albums I remember buying back in those days was the Rites of Spring “End on End” record. I had seen that record in some list in AP magazine and I was in the mood to take a chance on an album of a band I had never heard of so I bought it. After plenty of listens, I regretted buying that record because I just wasn’t feeling it at all. It was definitely the odd ball in my collection at the time so no matter how I had my CDs organized, I’m pretty sure you would always spot it at the bottom of the stack. Years later, it’s one of my favorite records and Fingerprints was the place where I later on bought one of my most precious records, Pavement’s “Slanted and Enchanted.” You can still find me in Long Beach often and I’m always convincing Lissette that we should walk off our lunch/dinner by talking a walk on 2nd street (the store has moved to 4th Street now towards Downtown LB) and my feet always tend to point into the direction of the record store.
So back to Thursday…the day was a success. I drove home tired, exhausted but happy that I was able to hang out with Brian and Ian and the rest of the band. A little Horrible Crowes interesting fact: the drummer Steve Sidelnyk was in Massive Attack at one point and was the drummer used for the “Mezzanine” demos. Pretty neat huh? I’m sure the owner of Fingerprints as well as my co-workers and I had one of those moments where you kinda stand back and think, “And THIS is why I love what I do.” I don’t think any of us take moments like that for granted.
Brian and Ian during their interview at KCSN.
Soundcheck for the Fingerprints In-Store.
Panoramic view during the performance. The app is called ‘Photosynth.’
Fingerprints made these in-store only posters for the show. I wasn’t even aware that Alex Rosamilia knew about “El Diablo” but it’s cool that people are still keeping that memory of what happens when Alex gets really drunk alive. The last in-store we had at Fingerprints was for Chuck Ragan and he wrote on it “Thanks for all the help.” Pretty sweet that this one has a little something special as well. “Good Luck With The Baby!”
Support your local independent record store!
Last email before I leave work. Yes, indeed. Have a great weekend everybody. 3 days much needed for me. Tomorrow is FYF Fest. Blah blah blah blah…College football…blah blah…I need sleep…Horrible Crowes preorder is officially done. Zzzzzzzz…
I’m currently experiencing what it may or may not feel like to be a zombie. No feelings. No thoughts. Just work. All work. Nothing but work. By this time next week, I would have shipped off 3,500+ Horrible Crowes “Elsie” records out the door. Keep in mind that over 1K of those are shipped individually as in online orders that ship 1 or 2 at a time and require tons of other tiny procedures before they ship. I’m a record packaging and shipping machine right now. But it’s all worth it when the stuff you’re getting out there is amazing stuff.
A taste of some of the towers that I’ll be building on Monday.
All this work makes it worth it when the stuff you’re getting out there in the hands of fans, music lovers, radio DJs, friends, other artists, reviewers, editors, etc starts to get noticed because things like this are always nice to be a part of…
Thanks to Taylor, Patricio and Jenn for all your hard work in the warehouse this week. Bring on September 6th.
P.S. I haven’t been entirely honest. There has been one big thing on my mind but that in itself deserves it’s own proper post which I’ll get around too soon. Might be one of the most important posts I’ll ever make.
The Horrible Crowes ~ “Elsie” on Blood Red vinyl
Lately I’ve been wanting to head down to Amoeba and buy like $100-200 worth of records but my wallet just ain’t feeling it. So I just add vinyl from work to my collection. This one not only looks good but sounds better.
My list of things to do tomorrow is gonna make me feel pretty awesome if I accomplish it all. Might even throw in there “Fight a bear and/or a Hollywood bum. Same shit and just as dangerous.”
I needed a little makeover at work so I took down some stuff that I was tired of staring at and put up new things to stare at. My favorites: the Rocky poster, my Marvin Gaye computer wallpaper and the portrait of me drawn by my Nappy’ed Lissette right in the middle of everything. I’m diggin’ my new scene.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.] 
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Sad Tomorrows / Marvin Gaye / What's Going On
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Marvin Gaye - Sad Tomorrows
I’ve been so busy these days that I haven’t had a chance to catch up on my blog. Not only do I try to keep my friends/followers up to date but family members as well as myself. I’ve mentioned over and over again that I like reflecting on where I was mentally at specific times in my life.
In all honesty, I blame work for keeping me away for this long. But it’s a good thing. For starters, at least you all know that I’m still employed. I’m very much so employed as a matter of fact working my butt off to make sure that I’m holding my own in a company where we’re about to release two of the most anticipated records in the independent music scene. In September we will be releasing new albums by The Horrible Crowes and Chuck Ragan. I’m still working radio and warehouse duties at SideOneDummy which is not an easy task but if it’s one thing I’ve learned in my 6 years there is that there’s no room for complaining at work. You do what you gotta do, hopefully it’s your best and you push on forward until the next project comes along. I’m excited about these two records. Having spent plenty of time dealing with releases that have become personal favorites and some that I really can’t understand why we put out, this Horrible Crowes record I think is very special. As a music fan and a big believer in music enhancing one’s life, I can’t wait to have this in the hands of anyone that is willing to listen to it with open ears and an open mind.
I recently attended the Warped Tour. I go every year because I usually need to drop off Warped Comps to our guy, Jon Cheese (nice pic, Emily), who’s out there selling the records for us on the whole tour. After having glanced over the list of bands playing, there weren’t any other bands aside from any SideOneDummy bands (Big D and the Kids Table, Brothers of Brazil and The Black Pacific) that I wanted to check out other than Lucero and Against Me! I checked out all of those bands but I caught a few glimpses of other bands. One of them in particular was a band called ‘Blood On The Dance Floor.’ I was not fond of their music at all. The nice person in me wants to say that they’ve done a great job of fooling tons of kids to give into their “joke.” The mean person in me wants to say that it is the most bullshit piece of shit music I’ve ever heard/seen in my life and it saddens me that they had a big group of young kids just stoked to be witnessing their cringing onstage performance. For those of you who have never heard this band you can check this and this out and I dare you to do so without uttering the words, “What the fuck?” It’s damn near impossible. This is the kind of music that makes people stupid for listening to it. When people refer to bad music rotting the brain, this is the perfect example of that. I was talking to a co-worker of mine about this and he told me that I sounded like “old-back-in-my-days” guy and while that is true, it’s really hard to ignore what kinds of things are getting kids ecstatic about these days. It saddens me, it really does. Anybody see that video of girls in Mexico sobbing over Justin Bieber tickets being sold out? It’s funny right? But when you’re done laughing, doesn’t it just make you a tiny bit sad that that’s the shit that is “devastating” our youth these days? Some bubble gum pop teenager singer that no one will care about in a few years. Yeah, I know The Beatles were stirring up crowds in such fashion many years ago, but you come find me in about 20-30 years and tell me if these Justin Beiber records are still holding up.
It’s a sad world we’re living in today, folks. Economy is a bust. War is never ending. Riots in London. Lately, in all the local news, there have been some crazy just inhumane type killings going on. Some of the stuff I read about happening around us in unreal. And it’s happening everyday, all around us whether the media is covering it or not.
Music and family are my saviors. Music like this Marvin Gaye song here. I was listening to KCSN 88.5 the other day and the DJ, Jim Nelson, wrapped up his set with “Inner City Blues” from the album ‘What’s Going On?’ It put me in a Marvin mood the rest of the day. I had been working on a project with Jim so I emailed him and asked him what he thought was a better record: “What’s Going On?” or “Let’s Get It On”? (Lets make peace Marvin or let’s make love Marvin). He replied that ‘What’s Going On?’ ends with “Inner City Blues” so that seals the deal right there. Another conversation I had was one in which I discussed with another one of our clients my love for the song “Objects In The Rearview Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are” by Meatloaf. Now, I’m not sure exactly what I meant to prove by mentioning these two scenarios other than pointing out the importance of having great discussions about solid good heartfelt music. Music that matters. Music that moves you. You know, music that enhances you. Music that makes you a better person. Music that goes beyond a physical attraction the artist. Music that makes you seek more of the same type of music. Most importantly, music that gives you hopes. Music that’s so good that you want to pass along and even if that person doesn’t get it, at least you brought it to their attention. I encourage you to pass along beautiful music to those who you feel will appreciate it. It’s just as good as buying someone a gift but you know, don’t let it replace an actual gift depending on the situation. An mp3 is not a suitable gift for let’s say a baby shower, right?
It’s getting late and finding a clever way to wrap this post up is going to probably take up another 45 minutes or 3-4 more paragraphs and I ain’t got that much time. So just listen to the song. Marvin Gaye gave this song as gift to the world, and if you haven’t had a chance to unwrap this one yet, I’m helping you do just that.
Good Night!
When I was a young teenager, my brother and my father used to do something that irritated the hell out of me. It wasn’t anything that would make me throw a fit and tell them anything about it, it was merely something I observed from a distance and let it bug me. I laugh now at how silly it was and more importantly I feel like an idiot because I completely understand them now. I understand them because now, at 28 years of age, I’m guilty of it. What both my brother and father used to do was eat food cold.
Doesn’t seem like a big deal right? But back then it used to just work my nerves. I didn’t understand what was so hard about heating up their damn food. That’s what microwaves are for. Take the food, pop it in a plate and punch in a 3 and a 0 and next thing you know, BOOM! Hot food in 30 seconds. Fuck it, skip the plate part, just put a napkin under it. Or better yet, leave it right on the glass plate there and stain it, who cares, as long as that chicken taquito is at least warm. Not these two. It was almost like they were allergic to hot food at random times.
Now though, as I think about it all, it all makes sense. Let me paint you a picture.
My brother, from 1996-2000, was attending CSULB (Go Beach!) and he was a full time student and interning/working the whole time. Never a slacker, this kid was taking care of business. No doubt about that. His schedule was busy. When he would get home from a long day of work, from what I remember, it was a Lakers basketball game, homework or sleep to do it all over again the next day. That’s really how I remember it. We messed around and had our brotherly/family moments but during his college years he had his game face on. So when it came to grubbing after a long day of work and school, this dude would settle into our room (we shared a room for a looooong time) and head straight to the kitchen to eat. My brother loved rice and my mom knew this so she’d make it a lot. So what my brother would do is just hover over the stove, see what was there and if there was rice, he’d take a fork and go at it. No plate. Just open the pot, fork in hand and attack. If I happen to catch him in the act, I’d just think to myself “Damn, man. Can’t he just fuckin get a… blah blah blah.” Sometimes I would voice my opinion when my mom was around and give my speech of like “If I gotta put all my food in a plate why can’t he do the same?” My mom wouldn’t side with either one of us she’d just try to calm us down and told me “Dejalo. Ya va agarrar un plato. Perate.”
I was jerk. I admit it. My brother was hungry. Tired. He would, if he felt he wanted to pimp his meal out, serve himself a nice plate of warm food but there wasn’t always too much time for all that business. He just needed to put something in his stomach to fill the void of a skipped lunch or dinner because he was just too busy during the day that maybe a Snickers bar and an Arizona iced tea is all he could power at school or work. Who was I to judge his eating habits? I came home from school and did nothing all day and had all the time in the world to set up a plate of food and work on unnecessary seconds and/or thirds sometimes because I had nothing else better to do.
My father did the same thing. He’d come home from a long day of working and just go after anything that was in the kitchen that was begging not to be stored in Tupperware. Like a caveman, he’d observe, see something he wanted and it’d be on. He was the king of “noming” before all the nom nom bullshit got popular. This dude would crunch and munch and slurp soup, tacos, pupusas, empanadas, lasagna all cold and he didn’t care it was all the same to him. Now, don’t get me wrong. My mom did this man good. He had a hot plate of delicious food waiting for him if he happened to get home on time but if it was past the late hours of the evening my dad knew what he’d be coming home to. Some cold ass noodles and hardened slices of “peeksa.” I’d walk by him while he did this and see the sides of his mouth just full of food residue and be thinking “Damn, dude. Straight up looking like a savage. Chill out, pops.” I wouldn’t say anything to him. What I should have said was “Wipe your mouth, dad” but no one did. Our father had a strong presence back then and unless he was in telling jokes mood or we needed money for something, we didn’t really bug him much.
I sit here typing this because earlier today, after a long day at work, I was greeted with two cold ass corn on the cobs that had been grilled probably hours before I arrived. Without hesitation, without any corn on the cob handle thingamajigs and without even considering for one second to pop them in the microwave, I grabbed and started munching on ‘em. It happened almost damn near instantly after my yes and the kernels made eye contact. The other day, I was called out for taking a fork to a big bowl of pasta salad. “Why don’t you put some on a plate?” I was told. And on many other a night, I’ve come home and took all but one glance at some plates in a dark kitchen and started munching on some tieso looking taquitos. Tortillas with texture like leather don’t phase me anymore. I enjoy cold food. Cold rice is my friend. Unheated cold carne asada is my homie. Cold food and I get along just great. And most importantly, I know now why my brother and father did what they did. They took on those odd habits because they were hardworking people and still are. They still munching on cold food probably. I don’t want to brag but this week I’ve been working my butt off and you know what? The cold ass corn and punk ass peanut butter and jelly sandwich I had for dinner today was the BOMBizzle! I’m glad to have finally joined in on the eating habits of the Cornejo elite.
