Featured Artist: Bitter:Sweet

This week is the 14th annual North Beach Jazz Festival. Performing at the Great American Music Hall tonight was Bitter:Sweet. One of my favorite Jazz bands.



Bitter:Sweet is an Electronic/Jazz-Pop duo from Los Angeles - with Kiran Shahani on guitar and Shana Halligan providing her intoxicating vocals. I stumbled onto this band on Pure Volume back in early 2006, just before the release of their debut album, The Mating Game. Since then, they have won the Best Rock/Pop Album of 2006 at the Independent Music Awards and had their music featured in shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Nip/Tuck, Entourage, Desperate Housewives and Lipstick Jungle. Earlier this month, Shana and Kiran released their sophomore album, Drama.

Thanks Shana, Kiran and Robbie Cope for hooking it up with the free tickets.

High Tension

Lately, I've been stuck on watching Horror and Slasher films on Comcast onDemand. Last night, I watched the French Slasher film, High Tension. During one chase scene, this MUSE song was playing in the background.

MUSE - New Born

Manifesto

I stopped by Manifesto today to pick up a new bike. Owned by Sam and Mackay, Manifesto is a new bicycle shop that just opened in Oakland 3 months ago. I hung out at the store and chatted with Nico and Eric while Sam custom built my bike. Cool people, nice neighborhood. It's definitely the spot to check out. It's also featured in The Oakbook.



Blank matte black 54cm Fuji frame with drop bars, front-rear Shimano brakes, black MKS Stream pedals, black Pake crankset with gold chain, and sealed black Alex R450 wheels wrapped in Vitoria tires. The Alex wheels comes ready with Formula flip-flop rear rub allowing me to switch from fixed gear to freewheel with ease.









Manifesto
421 40th Street
Oakland, CA 94609

Wild International

Front man of Rage Against the Machine, Zach De La Rocha, and ex-drummer of Mars Volta, Jon Theodore, has released their side project.

One Day As A Lion - Wild International

Cookie Jar

I wasn't too sure which way to lean at first, but the background music was so damn catchy that the song was stuck in my head. Check out the track from their upcoming album, The Quilt.

Gym Class Heroes feat. The Dream - Cookie Jar

Jeff Koons

Currently on the Cantor Roof Garden of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is an installation by American artist Jeff Koons. The three piece exhibition includes, "Balloon Dog", "Sacred Heart" and "Coloring Book", bearing strong familiarity with some of his previous aesthetic styles. The exhibition will run through until October 26th.







Exhibition on display through October 26th. Photos by J.Martinez.

Tracking Treasure Down

San Francisco's very own, Josh Gabriel and Dave Dresden came together to form the dynamic duo of Gabriel & Dresden. They were voted as the Best American DJ in 2007 and 2008.

Gabriel & Dresden feat. Molly Bancroft - Tracking Treasure Down

Museum of Man

Inside Balboa Park is an incredible anthropology museum called the Museum of Man. The permanent exhibition explores the Maya, Ancient Egypt, the Kumeyaay Indians of San Diego County, Human Evolution, and the Human Life Cycle, holding over 72,000 artifacts, including hieroglyphics, murals, pottery and skulls.



One room I didn't spend too much time in was Ancient Egypt. There was an ominous feeling as I entered the room. The room was with masks, amulets and even sarcophagus and a real mummy. You could a damp spot from where the fluid is seeping through the bandages. That's when I bolted for the door. It's pretty creepy being alone in a room with a mummy.

Hot Rods

Aboard the U.S.S. Midway

The U.S.S. Midway was the first United States Navy aircraft carrier to be commissioned after the end of World War II. This historic aircraft carrier was active in many operations including the Vietnam War and Operation Desert Storm. The U.S.S. Midway is the only remaining aircraft carrier of the World War II era that is not an Essex-class ship.





In August 1991, Midway departed Yokosuka and returned to Pearl Harbor where Independence replaced Midway as the forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka. Midway then sailed to San Diego where it was decommissioned at Naval Air Station North Island on April 11th, 1992. In January 2004, the ship was moored at its final location at the Broadway Pier in downtown San Diego and opened to public as a museum later that summer.



There were so many turns and corridors, I would have easily gotten lost if not for the chains blocking off rooms and little yellow arrows pointing the directions to go. Each room filled with machines with hundreds of nobs and buttons controlling the massive aircraft carrier.





It's amazing how small each corridor is. The hallways and doors were so narrow, it's hard to imagine the thousands of men living aboard the ship, running to their stations. Their bunk beds were not much bigger than a baby's crib, served double as their lockers. I'm sure some of the crew wished they were serving above deck or in solitary confinement, unless you were the captain or admiral, of course.

Olafur Eliasson Waterfalls

Normally, if New Yorkers wanted to catch a glimpse of a waterfall, they would have to drive upstate to Niagara. Not anymore. Danish-Icelandic artist, Olafur Eliasson, and a team of about two hundred people, worked together to create four towering waterfalls in New York, ranging from 90-120 feet tall.



These waterfalls took over 3 months and approximately $15.5 million dollars to built, pumping out 35,000 gallons of water per minute. Like famous environmental installation artists, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the money was funded by private donors, supported by Public Art Fund. These waterfalls are located at Pier 35 of the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge, Piers 4 and 5 of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, and the north shore of Governors Island.

Installation is up from now through October 13th. Photos by Vincent Laforet. For more info, check out NYC Waterfalls.