Swag, Swag, Swag, Swag

via Swagger360

'Nuff said.

Hard Headed Woman

73 year old Wanda (which also happens to be my grandma's name) Jackson just put out a new album.

Artists don't usually put out good albums when they're well into their seventies, but it's pretty effing amazing she's still going strong at her age. Clearly the woman's passion hasn't left her, and I can only hope I'm as passionate about something, as she is about music, when I'm 70.

Wanda was a music pioneer, and still the 'Queen of Rockabilly.

Here she is performing "Hard Headed Woman."



Also, I can't get over how ahead of her time and edgy her voice is even today.

Plus Wanda was pretty hot back in the day too.

City nights, new friends, and Louisiana Fried Chicken

I know it's like February, but I figured I'd post some of my NYE pics.

It was a fucking frigid wet evening, but it was also so much fun to be out with such good people. My good friends Ricky and Rita, were there, as well as my new co-workers--and now close friends--Mike and Carolyn. Drinking and dancing were in abundance, and our evening went several places that we will remember for some time.

If NYE is a precursor to a new year, then mine will be unpredictable.

And hopefully it will take me to places I never thought I'd be.

Lovers sharing a bottle.


Cab living.


Death Cab for New Years.


Mike and Max.


Angelina is a habitual drunk face licker.


Ricky Bravo. Est. friend since 2004.


Mike and Carolyn=great people.


Carolyn and Margarita hailing a cab.


Mike thinking something is hilarious, and Carolyn freezing her ass off.


Of course with new friends, come new experiences right?

Mike is like a big food person. He's the type of guy to throw garlic, and garlic and butter rice, into a bowl of clam chowder and somehow know that it will taste good. One of the things he first told me when I was just getting to know him was that he made a damn good quiche. And guess what, it's amazing!

So when Mike told me that some of the best fried chicken (and its already established how much I love fried chicken) he's ever had was from a place called Louisiana Fried Chicken, it became an instant necessity to visit this place. Luckily for us there's one in the City, and this one happens to be lodged simultaneously in a donut shop called Donut World. Please note: donuts and chicken are two of my all time favorite foods so yes we've been twice in the last three weeks. Join us next time if you'd like.

Here are some pics of Louisiana, Donut World, and Haight St. late at night.


Donut World


3 piece combo w/ breast, leg, wing, biscuit....


and collard greens! <3


Mike is in chicken bliss.


Hot sauce.


Desert, coffee and maple custard filled donut.


Candid photography by Mike Ortiz.


Late night young love.


United Farm Workers of America T-Shirt. Si se puede!


Parting shot.

Emo all day

A friend of mine recently tweeted about going to a Dashboard Confessional show, and being stunned by its epicness.

Chris Carraba's painstaking, heartfelt, wail soundtracked my teenage love life, and to be quite honest I'll probably never forget DC's music.

Here's a Dashboard Confessional performing "The Best Deceptions" on MTV's Unplugged in like 2001. I was a sophomore and I was speechless.

COACHELLA!

It's officially time to stop eating, or just start eating terrible foods.

Maybe ramen everyday, all day.

I have to save $300+ for Coachella--check out this lineup.

Fucking next level shietttt!!!!!!!!!!!

This pimp is...

Love that the Sartorialist is in Seoul, South Korea.

It's the city of my birth, and yet I've never returned. Someday I'm going to explore the city, and perhaps take shots of my fellow countrymen like this one.

"This pimp is...at the top of Mt. Olympus!"-Kanye West.

Just FYI: Koreans are taking over the globe. We got Korean fusion foods--like those super delic' Korean BBQ taco trucks--we're all in movies now, (Harold in Kumar, Nick and Norah, Ninja Assasin, and coming soon The Green Hornet) and we're obviously quite stylish! You guys better get with it ASAP!

My top 10 alums of 2010

Happy New Years to my small group of followers.

Personally, 2010 was nowhere near 2009 in terms of music, so it was harder than imagined to really put this list together. But of course there were a select number of stellar works.

10. Zola Jesus-Stridulum

A haunting EP with some gnarly sounds, Zola Jesus is supremely young and talented. Her massive wail is super reminiscent of Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees.



9. Beach House-Teen Dream

Sort of psychedelic, sort of pop, but really good. Each tune is thoughtful with carefully crafted lyrics, and "Teen Dream" puts you into a realm of heartfelt emotions.



8. Lady Gaga-Fame Monster

If you like music, tell me you didn't thoroughly enjoy this EP from start to finish? So damn catchy, if a bar, club, dance party, etc... dropped a Gaga track in 2010 everybody was on the dance floor. Lady Gaga uses all the tools of being a musician to push her vision to its fullest--the song, the video, the performance--and that may be the highest compliment you can give an artist. She kills everything.



7. Dom Kennedy-From the Westside with Love

Ssmmmooootthh as hell!!!! '90s old school hip-hop beats, and a nice flow, put this mixtape head and shoulders above what so many other rappers put out in 2010. Some rappers have good beats, but a bad flow with shitty content. Some rappers have good flow and good content, but with shitty beats. Dom has good content, a good flow, and them beats issss soooo ssmmoooottthhhh.



6. Caribou-Swim


This is the type of music you can dance to, or drive to, or relax to, or work to, and that makes it damn good music. You can't say that about a lot of music, but you sure as hell can say that about "Swim."



5. Best Coast-Crazy for You

Pop perfection. "Crazy for You" just makes you warm when you listen to it. Surf rock made a huge comeback this year, and Best Coast continues reviving the glory of the '60s by reminding us that an album can just be simple and catchy.



4. Fang Island-Fang Island

Pop punk is back--sort of. This album combines the speedy drums/guitars of say Blink-182, but uses a wider arsenal of instruments/sounds, and much more harmonized vocals, to craft a massively fun album. "Fang Island" makes you feel happy as hell when you listen to it. A lot of albums this year were filled with morose, but not many of them were better.



3. Francis and the Lights-It'll be Better

Phil Collins? Peter Gabriel? Genesis? I don't know, but this is damn fine indie pop music. This seems like the kind of music that college kids are going to love, and the type of music that you may hear in a romantic comedy montage in three years. Those could both turn into bad things, but right now it's simply saying that "It'll be Better" is full of super lovable jams, and songs that people are going to want a piece of. This is the type of album that you hear, and you just want to keep hearing. Also frontman Francis Starlite, is all about dancing his ass off!




2. Arcade Fire-The Suburbs

Arcade Fire continues to establish themselves as our generations seminal band. Nobody's sound drives at you like AF's does. They're music is so relentless, and it stays in your soul long after you've stopped listening to it. "The Suburbs" examines our "adult" lives that we so strive for, and begs us to re-think it.



1. Kanye West-My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

It's Kanye West, and every other rapper.

Kanye's album is dark and honest, and whether you like the content or Kanye himself, you can't deny it's brilliance. No other rapper expertly expresses himself lyrically and sonically like Yeezy does. What Kanye has done in this album is not easily done in the hip-hop genre, and never has it been done with such breadth. He takes you into his emotions/fantasies/thoughts with his flow and his beats. This album isn't about making hits, it's about personal expression. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" expands what hip-hop can be, and even though all of the albums on this list are good, this album is the only one you can say evolves a genre.