Quirky NY Chick: On Random: Hanne, Rufus, Mika, Hanson & Le Bon

Thursday, April 15, 2010

On Random: Hanne, Rufus, Mika, Hanson & Le Bon

3:11 PM | Posted by Quirky NY Chick

It's April 15, tax day for those of us in this part of the world ... time to crank up "Taxman" and grumble about the IRS trying to squeeze blood from a turnip or something. It's also time for some random bits and bobs from the world of QNYC ... well, from my inbox.

Hanne Hukkelberg is playing tomorrow night ... the pertinent deets are below. The word "roof" is mentioned too many times in the info for my liking and I'm not all that fond of heights. But, I'm sure it'll be great.

Special Screening
Friday, April 16
Rooftop Films and Sweden's Music Doc Festival Present Cool & Crazy On The Roof at Open Road Rooftop

VENUE: Open Road Rooftop above New Design High
ADDRESS: 350 Grand Street (at Essex)
7:30 PM: Doors Open
8:00 PM: Live music by Hanne Hukkelberg
8.30 PM: Fever Ray - Keep the Streets Empty For Me (music video)
8:45 PM: Cool & Crazy
Presented with Music Doc
TICKETS: $10 online or at the door

www.myspace.com/hannehukkelberg

Rufus Wainwright has a new record coming out. His All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu hits th

e streets on April 20. Check out Douglas Gordon's tour visual film that was designed to accompany the record HERE. The clip, “Sonnet 10,” is one of 12 that will be projected behind Wainwright as he performs on tour. Oh yeah, he's going on tour in the UK ... the closest he's coming to the States, for now, is a show on July 11 in Westhampton Beach, NY. At any rate, the video is beautiful, albeit kind of creepy. Okay, perhaps the creepiness is just an issue I have. Two things that in general creep me out ... loose hairs and eyes and there's an abundance of the latter. I just know at any minute I could see a stray eyelash and go into some overly dramatic fit of hysteria.

This is the record cover. Sorry Rufus, as stunningly magnificent as you are, the whole eye thing is just creeping me out!

www.rufuswainwright.com
www.myspace.com/rufuswainwright

Someone whose music taste I generally respect once recommended I give Mika a good listen to, that I might actually like him. Well, I only ended up listenin

g to a few songs because well, shit happens and I never got around to going back and listening to more! Why are we talking about Mika? Well, he's releasing a new song as part of the Kick Ass soundtrack. The song, aptly titled "Kick Ass," is the first new Mika song since the release of his The Boy Who Knew Too Much record in late'ish 2009. Yeah, I know, that wasn't really that long ago, but if you're a fan then it's nice to get a new song without waiting for the next album to show up. At any rate, the single will be released on May 3.

I was going to show you the video but, the folks over at UMG don't want you to see it! Yeah I know, evil corporate monkeys. Normally, I wouldn't call folks evil or monkeys, okay, maybe I'd call them evil but I don't make a practice of calling folks monkeys as it's generally an insult to the world monkey population ... anyway, moving right along. I got a lovely email from a lovely PR type with all of the pertinent deets and a nice little YouTube link. Oh sure, I got the email almost two weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to it, sue me, I was busy. Anyway, when you go to watch the video you get this lovely message "This video contains content from UMG. It is no longer available." For the love of music gods, when you go over to Mika's official YouTube page, you get that same message. Really? Seriously, UMG? Seriously?! Are you seriously telling me that Mika can't even hawk a video of his own song?! Wow. So there you have it, this weeks Evil Corporate Monkey award goes to UMG. Congratulations, come collect your award and put the damn video back up!

www.mikasounds.com

So, many moons ago, I knew a young lady who liked Hanson. This was back when the adorable litt

le moppets were making squealing messes out of little girls worldwide with their sugary, sunshiny "MMMBop." I thought she's such a nice girl but, she might well be a little off, off, in a good way ... the don't mind my little sister, it's just a phase kind of way. I mean after all, we had gathered at her house and were sleeping on her floor to converge all bright and early on some festival or another to see The Black Crowes. Well, I'm woman enough to admit that back then I may have kinda sorta definitely wrongly mis-assessed Hanson and their music. Whether you like them or not, they have crafted some rather good pop songs in their career.

Well, they're back (not that they actually ever left) with their fifth studio album. Shout It Out, will hit the streets on June 8 while the single "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" will be available on April 27. They will also play 5 sold-out nights here in NYC at Gramercy Theatre. They'll be playing Shout It Out in its entirety on the fifth night. In case you wondered, they'll be playing the previous four albums the other four nights, one would assume in order or release.

Check out the video for "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" where the brothers go all Jake and Elwood. Check it out below.

The music video for "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" is HANSON's recreation of a scene from The Blues Brothers, where soul music incited a huge impromptu crowd to dance in the streets. HANSON took to the streets of their hometown of Tulsa, OK, with more than 300 extras, including two of Taylor's children, 60 local dancers and hundreds of loyal fans who traveled from far and wide to participate. To top it off, 'Weird Al' Yankovic made an unforgettable guest appearance.

www.hanson.net

So, earlier my video watching day was marred by evil corporate monkeys. B

ut, Cate Le Bon has single handedly erased the corporate stench. How? She laid an egg! Oh sure the above video of the Hanson brothers bustin' a move brought sunshine to my day but none of them laid an egg! There's a lot going on in this clip. Check out "Hollow Trees House Hounds" below.

Also, Le Bon's debut album Me Oh My will see it's release, physically, in the US on May 4. It's already available via digital outlets so if you can't wait, get out your digital shopping carts and start shopping. You can download "Shoeing The Bones" from the album in the MP3 Grab at the bottom of the post.