April 30, 2006

DJ A-Trak

Walnut Room, Sun., April 30, 8pm.

On Philadelphia: "I've been through Philly, I think twice, on some of the Kanye tours, but I never really got to go around much. I really want to come and spend a couple days just to get to know it. There's so much music here. Growing up I was heavily influenced by Jazzy Jeff. When I started to scratch I was, like, 13, and I happened to have some Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince tapes. And now I'm cool with him and everything. That generation had a big impact on the whole DJ world. In the last few years there's been a whole other scene of DJing out of here-eclectic party-rocking, thanks to the Hollertronix guys, and Cosmo Baker too."

DJ A-Trak was in Philly as part of his solo Sunglasses Is a Must tour. He also tours with Kanye West.

Posted by jfusco at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2006

Chen Kaige, Film Director

Four Seasons Hotel, April 19, 10am.

On Philadelphia: "I was here 20 years ago. I went to South Street, and at that time you could still see a lot of punk people there. First time I've been back since then. When you've been to a place just once, you remember it better. This is the biggest budget Chinese-speaking film ever made. We did a little Q&A after the movie screening, and I was very pleased. It was a very mixed audience. I don't think this movie is only for Asian people who live in the United States. In Philadelphia I think people enjoy the cozy life. You can see the forest in the center of the city. There are a lot of trees, and I love trees. This is sort of a garden city. I wish I had more time to be here."

The Promise, directed by Chen Kaige, will be released May 5.

Posted by jfusco at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

April 11, 2006

Hiromi Uehara, Jazz Pianist

Warwick Hotel, Sun., April 1, 11am.

On Philadelphia: "I come here every year to play. I've played the Art Museum once and Zanzibar Blue, which is where I'm playing this time, twice. I like playing Zanzibar so much. They have the best food in the whole United States for a jazz club. The food is just ridiculously good. Mainly I get seafood. Food is such an important thing to get energy from. My music's all about energy, and I always get great energy from the food there. And the people who work there are heartwarming people. When Zanzibar crowds hear something good, they just react to it. Right after I play people always ask me, 'When are you coming back next?' I think that's a good sign. I play improvisational music, so sometimes people are a bit more shy, sometimes people go crazy. There's no good or bad-it just is."

Hiromi Uehara's third album Spiral was released in January 2006.

Posted by jfusco at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 07, 2006

Rhett Miller, Musician

Theater of Living Arts, Fri., April 7, 5:30pm.

On Philadelphia: "It's one of the best cities for me to play. There's no industry here so it's like, L.A. and New York can be really cool, but they're overrun with people on cell phones. Here it's just cool people who love music. Philly's always had a weird, cool underground thing happening. I like Burning Brides-they're a good live band. I love the TLA because of South Street. I always end up going to Jim's and having a cheesesteak. I've heard people say there are better cheesesteaks or whatever, but dude, I don't know. To me they're great and they're right there. I was here the week the Eagles signed T.O. and I remember thinking, 'Oh no, this isn't going to work out well.' And of course it didn't. And now he plays for my hometown Cowboys, which is really awful. He's a locker room cancer. It's worse than when Deion Sanders signed with the Cowboys because we ended up kind of liking him. We were like, 'All right, now that he's on my team, he's good. I like him.' I don't know if we'll ever end up liking T.O."

Rhett Miller's latest album The Believer was released in February.

Posted by jfusco at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)

Larry Clark, Director

The Bridge: Cinema de Lux, Fri., April 7, 4pm.

On Philadelphia: "I was here three years ago for Ken Park, my last film, which showed at the Film Festival. It was the best audience ever. This year, when I showed Wassup Rockers, it was a great audience too. They laughed; they were rockin' and rollin'. There's something about Philly's audiences, and I've seen audiences all over the world. Yesterday I walked from Broad and Walnut down to Second Street. I was looking at the statues and stuff and I found myself reading the signs. There was a big park, and in the park was a burning flame for the people in the Navy who had died for our freedom. I reflected on our country and the freedom I have to make my films. Most of my films wouldn't get made in a lot of countries. In fact, in a lot of countries I'd be just taken out and shot. So I'm very sensitive to Philadelphia being the cradle of freedom. I mean that sincerely."

Wassup Rockers opens in Philadelphia in June.

Posted by jfusco at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)