A Cause Worth Fighting For

Recently I went out and purchased War Child's latest effort to fund money for kids at war. A $10 CD that I think that everybody should go BUY or PURCHASE from Itunes. It's a pretty solid CD and a great concept. War Child asked 15 of the most well known artists from decades ago to pick 15 new artists to re-create one of their famous songs. It turned out great! The best part about this is War Child gets every cent that is made off of these CD's (minus applicable taxes of course). Here's the lineup, I hope this inspires you to do a little bit for these poor kids.

(Covering artist first, original in brackets)

Beck - Leopard Skin Pill-Box Hat (Bob Dylan)

The Kooks - Victoria (The Kinks)

The Hold Steady - Atlantic City (Bruce Springsteen)

Hot Chip - Transmission (Joy Division)

Lilly Allen Feat Mick Jones - Straight To Hell (The Clash)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (The Ramones)

Franz Ferdinand - Call Me (Blondie)

Duffy - Live and Let Die (Paul McCartney)

Estelle - Superstition (Stevie Wonder)

Rufus Wainwright - Wonderful & Song For Children (Brian Wilson)

Scissor Sisters - Do The Strand (Roxy Music)

Peaches - Search And Destroy (Iggy Pop)

Adam Cohen - Take This Waltz (Leonard Cohen)

Elbow - Running to Stand Still (U2)

The Like - You Belong To Me (Elvis Costello)

TV On The Radio - Heroes (David Bowie)

Cute Shit

Thank you I Can Read.

HEY! Check These Guys Out

That is if you haven't already. They are The Rifles, from Chingford London and came out with their first CD "No Love Lost" in 2006 and have come out with 3 since. The band is made up of Joel Stoker (Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Luke Crowther (Lead Guitar), Robert Pyne (Bass/Backup Vocals) and Grant Marsh (Drums). I'm having a tough time trying to group them in with another artist to give you an idea of what they sound like. Their music parents would have to be like if Franz Ferdinand (who's CD Tonight I am totally infatuated with and it's pretty much constantly on in my mind), The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and Razorlight all had an orgie and a baby was created it would be The Rifles. Even in some of their songs there's a pinch of Kings of Leon. It's amazing, I'm having an eargasm right now just listening to them. And BY THE WAY their music parents are all pretty much some of my all time fav bands (minus Razorlight because I've only recently come to love them). So I suggest you take a gander at these english blokes.
My top 5 favorite Rifles songs (for your downloading convenience to get a good taste):
1. Robin Hood
2. Waterside
3. Repeated Offender
4. She's Got Standards
5. Holiday In The Sun (Has kind of an old school english punk vibe, LOVIN IT! London Falling mixed with Anarchy In the UK but more chill)

I hope you enjoy, I know I do. Happy listening!

I Am So Happy This Is Happening

If you have been wondering what has been going up downtown on the Eastside at the site of the old Woodwards building, check it out. Art-chitect Gregory Henriques has designed a multi-purposed giant of a building to inhabit some of the space. "The project is an exciting attempt to, in a single stroke, remake a depressed community"- Globe and Mail. This is truly a vision of how to start cleaning up Vancouvers most troubled streets, in my oppinion.

The building is home to 536 suites. So here's the breakdown; 40% of those suites are going to non-market housing! Basically that means that in this building there will be a vast mix of "classes". . . . a true social expirament. This building will also house SFU's new Centre for the Contemporary Arts, the National Film Board, a Nesters market, the first bank to move back into the downtown east side, and non-profit organizations. Best of all, it won't be a flop. All of the units sold out in the short time of 8 hours! I don't know of anything like this happening before and I think it is absolutely wonderful. There was a lineup around the block the night before the sales office opened. This is the first time EVER that there has been such beautiful real-estate mixed with low income housing. I am so excited for Gregory Henriques, this really is a one of a kind idea and the perfect time to have it moving in. The project will be up and running sometime between May and June and the students will move in months later. I suggest you go check this sustainable building out. Thumbs up Gregory!

".....This is as good a project, program and site and client group that I could ever imagine having. If this is the end of my career then I'm okay with it. I've done more than I ever thought I could do in one life." - Gregory Henriques

ART ATTACK!

Motoi Yamamoto, another great gift from BOOOOOOM! Though I don't have much to tell you about this amazingly unique artist as I can't find anything about him online really. Basically he uses salt to make these large pieces of floor art. He's pretty much nuts, I'll keep trying to put in more research time to update you on his installments. As well, it reminds me of those Art Attacks! That would happen on tv sometimes and it was short, a british guy would take random things and make a giant picture on a field or something of the sort, same idea but these are way more intricate.

In Memoriam

While reading The Onion today, I noticed this story entitled "Tree Featured In 'The Deer Hunter' Dies" and obviously was intrigued. The Onion is pretty much my favorite news source considering it's quite witty.

This tree, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains and is one of the most publicized Hemlocks ever. The tree was planted in 1722, had been featured in 40 films and died of a mixture of lightening and adelgid beetles.

"[The tree] was a consummate professional that truly lived for its work," said filmmaker and friend Michael Mann, who cast the 98-foot-tall plant in its acclaimed role as an Adirondack black spruce in the background of 1992's The Last Of The Mohicans. "On Mohicans we would sometimes do 30 or 40 takes, and each time it gave us something totally different and interesting. This is a sad day for cinema."

Just one of the quotes from the article, which I suggest you read more of.

Reminder

FUCKING RIGHTS! Saw this on I Can Read about 30 seconds ago. Figured it needed to be shown across the universe. Pretty much the key to life.