I'm In LOVE!

With Mama Roomba's and I don't care who knows. It's on the corner of Eye Street and the Wall Street Alley. I love the chef. I love the owner. I love the bartender and the food? Foodgasm. Totally orgasmic with every mouth watering bite. I love it. Love. It!

That said, Vince Vaughn is hot, hot, hot, hot! (And he's coming to Bakersfield on my baby sister's birthday, Sept. 15. Wonder if he'll bring Jen? Get drunk? Bust up some stuff? ... Sigh ...)


Ay, yi, yi!

Here come the Soulsteppers

Check out the Soulsteppers new 7-inch cover art. Ponder what Mike staring at? Revel in the old school cool? Wonder who tailors AJ's clothes? It's AJ, folks. He's a Soulstepper of many talents.



And here are some more pics of the band taken by Bakersfield blogger y podcaster y photographer Nick Belardes.


Very vintage ...


Very "Belle and Sebastian"...

And for no reason at all ...

... Actor Vince Vaughn is coming to Bakersfield


And when he was good he was very, very good and when he was bad he was down right dirty rotten ...

Dude! Vince Vaughn! I don't even have words. La-La Mole e-mailed me about it and Vallitix confirmed it, Vince is coming to the Fox Theater as part of a stand up comedy show with his friends. He's hosting. The homies are from Punk'd and Comedy Central. Nice to see Vince still wants to help out his home skillets who could use a little "Wedding Crasher" name dropping. Word is Vince will do stand up as well.

I'm totally going to do everything in my journalistic powers to crash Vaughn's entourage for the sake of ... um ... journalism. Yeah. Journalism. Because you need to know, people. You need to know whether he requires top shelf tequila as part of his rider or if he plans on heading over to Trout's after the show to punch out a few locals and sign their bruises. He's so money.

Anyway ... Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show is Sept. 15 with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the show starting at 8.

IN OTHER NEWS: PJ's Nite Club is no more. It's closed from lack of funds ... Carrot Top, whether you want him or not is playing the Kern County Fair ... Less than 100 tickets are left for Rob Thomas's upcoming show at the Fox Theater ... Local soul/reggae act The Soulstepper's 7-inch is finished, it'll be out in stores soon ... Monty Byrom is playing two more shows at Fishlips this Sept. 3 and 17th ... Mama Roomba's on Eye Street and the Wall Street Alley is delicious and I want to marry the chef, the owner and building. I give it mad love in a mad, crazy, Vince Vaughn like way.

And in the spirit of that, here's another picture of Vince Vaughn ...


He's so tall. That's really nice. I like that in a man.

These are the hairstyles of our lives

For four years now my hair has been a great big ball of curly fire, but it wasn't always that way mon cheri. Oh no. It was all sorts of sorts, but primarily long and straight. For the bored, here is a hair retrospective on moi as I debate, yet once again, whether or not to go hacking away at my head or straighting out those curls.

First off ...

The 'fro, the 'fro, burning bright ... burning with its afro light ...



I always wanted to go natural after years of having chemically straightened hair and this is my favorite picture of the 'fro. It's so huge. So shiny. So curly. She's perfect, the 'fro. Plus, I think I was lifting weights around the time of this photo, so it's pretty bad ass all around. But you all know what I look like with a fro. Let's get to the other hairdos.

Everybody do the braid!



Briefly when I was growing out my natural hair I would have it French braided quite a bit and here is a picture of me with braids. This picture was taken at the St. Louis Zoo by my then boyfriend, future ex-husband Sgt. Kabukimann. I'd never wear a Wu Wear shirt of my own volition. This photo is also proof that I used to wear cheap, crappy sunglasses that I bought from kiosks in old malls.

Don't know what to do with myself, just don't know what to do with myself ...



This is me in high school with bangs (why, why do I always try bangs?) And my hair for reasons I can no longer remember is in a spiky ponytail, piled high on top of my head. I believe I'm a senior in this picture and that somewhere I still own that sweater.

It's like money, honey



This picture is from that brief period of 1997-1999 when I thought I was the hottest thing ever. I'd just won a delicious scholarship from NATAS (National Assosiation of Television Arts and Sciences) and I had on an amazing black ball gown. My hair is pulled up in a French twist as it seems I'm a fan of all hairstyles that involve the word "French." God. I just can't get over how good my skin looks in that picture. Right now I've got acne scars that look like someone is buring cigarettes on my face. (They're clearing up though, so my urge to invest in Proactiv has subsided.)

A portrait of the young artist as a hoochie



This was back during that same 1997-1999 period where I also realized I could pull off a halter top (if I never sat down.) The man clinging to me is my future frat brother Terry. He's not really that important, but look at my hair, ya'll. Long and straight. Just as I wore it for years and years. Oddly enough, even though I despise the fact that I look cheap in this shot proving that all 19 year olds are prone to bad fashion judgement, this is actually one of my favorite pictures of myself. One: I'm skinny. Two: Despite the hooker get up, I look damn cute in the face.

Keepin' it straight



Random fact: 90 percent of the black men I met found more excuses to hug me in pictures when my hair was straight. Now it's just 75 percent. Hence proving that about 15 percent of my allure is my hair and the rest is all inside the gigantic padonkadonk known as my ass. Oh, and who's this guy? Frat brother. Don't even remember his name, but he did give me a foot massage once and that was sweet. I remember that being a big to-do since my whole sorority at the time thought I was some sort of asexual beast who had no real interest in anyone, male, female or other. So whenever a man showed up in my queue it was like the Pentagon Papers.

Curly color guard



Yes I twirled a flag and I was on drill team. Mind you, our drill team had all the popular black girls on it. I, of course, wasn't one of them, but I still have that stupid jacket hanging in the basement of my mother's house.

The show off



Um ... yeah. 1997-1999. You know the drill ... that's a shadow over my head by the way. I was not rocking the beehive.

D.B. Puffnstuff



I sometimes like to throw up the afro in afro puffs, but this was more like wavy puffs at this sorority function. Did I mention I was a Zeta? Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Z-Phi! OK. That's enough. I'm not really a rah-rah, T-shirt wearer kind of soror. They couldn't barely get me to go to the parties.

That said, I'm kind of missing the straight hair right now, but everyone knows me because of the 'fro. So I'm polling the audience. Curly or straight, people? Which looks best? Sure, if it's straight I'll get 90 percent hugs instead of 75, but remember, I didn't chose some of those hugs. Terry pulled that cling-monster all on his own.

Vote below!

Um ... sorry 'bout that

Folks, your friendly neighborhood entertainment reporter is under the weather hence her absence from this blog. I'm sorry I didn't post an "I'm out of the office" until Monday post, but I was sick and my boss was politely telling me I needed to scat home so I was only able to warn people who call me and e-mail me that I wouldn't be at work.

But the blog readers! The poor readers! All staring at that same picture of Waking Ashland all the time? People who want to read about local acts coming to town, my disdain for how everyone's going to The Save Mart Center, even allegedly The Amazing Disappearing/Reappearing TV show killing, Dave Chappelle (thanks Angela). What about Matildakay? NL? Angela? Big Sis? Vikki? JR? Spiderbaby? Doug? Baketown? My friends and the local actors at all the theaters? The musicians, like The Dalloways? The bar buddies? Ms. M and Monty? Dave? Even Murph! I haven't written one thing worth his steaming vitriol! I'm slacking!

But seriously, to all the folks who read this thing and those who I didn't name, but know this blog better than me, thanks for sticking through it even when I flake out on you, get sick and go ghost for nearly two weeks.

But by Monday I should be tanned (well, I'm sort of permenantly tanned, but I could go darker. DARKER! DAMMIT!), ready and rested. But for now I'm going to tantilize you with little nuggets of news and my life until I'm back to 100 percent of my healthy mental capacity. (Not that I was ever all that well in the head to begin with .)

Look forward to blogs on my cat being shaved and now looking utterly ridiculous; Big Sis returning to Bako for Big Fun; fun at Azul; the new Mama Roombas being one of the flyest spots in town (and it's owner Vince being a friendly cutie); the horror known as The Click Five, the first ever faux hipster/pop punk/80s/fake mod boy band; my adventures with AJ & Mike (The Soulsteppers) and working on an album their putting together (I'm all kinds of fake soul on that shizznit. It's sweet.); Oakland Rhapsody, the musical I wrote that won't die; regular theater folks I ran into (Gwen, you didn't tell me you were heading over to the Spotlight on the regular? Dish! Dish, hon! And someone do a musical so Monique Gomez can be in it. That girl can serve a great burger at the Red Robin, but she seriously needs to be on a stage; Monty's gigs are being extended into September; and my seasonal, August/September mental breakdown.

And did anyone see Sheila McClure in a TV commercial the other day on UPN, but since I'm home all day with nothing but daytime TV to keep me company I sure as hell did! Go Sheila! A matter of fact a lot of you theater people are popping up in local TV commericals. Make that money, Bakerinos!

Oh! And my friends Beaux (That's Radio Shack Rhaim to you) and Ahm TOTALLY got married! Beaux looked pimpalicious in his suit and Ahm, girl, you come from an UNNATURALLY good looking family. I mean, damn. Just damn. Your homefolks are gorgeous. Of course you're gorgeous, so it makes sense.

And Doug, Andrew and Danielle R.? Did you know I'm acutally considering buying a copy of "Sin City?" Even though I stand by my belief that DUDE, that movie is disturbingly violent. It got under my skin, man. I loved it. But it still gives my nightmares and fills me on occasion with empty pits of dispair -- like Terry Gilliam's "Brazil."

So now it must be mine. I want the one with Bruce and Jessica Alba on the cover because it's their story line that causes my the most mental anguish.

Look for more bands, more folks, more gossip, more news, more concerts, more reviews, more bar stories, more everthing when I get back. And (wink, wink) maybe even a little podcasting. That'll be different. Also look to the coming weeks when bakersfield.com is going to have a real page for its entertainment section! A home for all my random news! Hey, maybe I can finally just make this a comment blog where I complain about music I don't like, scream about the folks I love and write essays on things like "manties (thanks AJ)" -- also known as "man panties."

I'll get better. You'll find some other stuff to read and we'll all get back together on Monday.

Love,

Danielle

People, places and things to do ...

Waking Ashland

INDIE MUSIC: LA music duo JamisonParker and Waking Ashland are playing a gig together Aug. 19 at La MontGo Plaza. I interviewed the Jamison half of JamisonParker yesterday and you can read the story on-line right now. You can also listen to their song "Best Mistake" here (RealPlayer) or here (WindowsMedia) (Courtesy of Interscope.)

MONTY-PALLOZA: Ms. M reports that bluse/rock musician Monty Byrom packed out the house at Fishlips last week when he kicked off his month-long concert series there. Along with there being excellent people watching (Ms. M spotted plenty of us media types there, including the Shoopster). Byrom got up and jamed with his friend Ed Berghoff and former Big House members, Byrom's brother Tanner Byrom on drums and Ron Mitchell on bass. "Even Sonny California from Big House, showed up to sit in on a few numbers with his blues harmonica," sez Ms. M.


Have you seen this band?

HOT STEPPER: The Soulsteppers (currently consisting of original members AJ and Mike) are threatening to make music again. Well, actually they are making music again, and that's a good thing. Who doesn't love a little soul? A little reggae? Of course they've asked me to sing backing vocals on their latest release. That could go either way. But it's still very fun thing ... It's especially fun when I haven't done any singing since saxophonist Tony O'Brien and I took a break our modern jazz band of revolving characters.


Guess who's back?

AT RANDOM: George Lopez is coming back to town. He's doing a Nov. 25 show at the Rabobank. Tickets go on sale Aug. 27 later this month. You can read all about it here ... Chevelle and the Kottonmouth Kings are both playing fall gigs in Bakersfield. Chevelle will be here Sept. 12 and KK are coming in Oct. 23. ... Christian rock act Fusebox is playing Beach Park Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. as part of "Operation School Bell," a free event to collect school supplies and give them to needy kids ... Country music artist Kevin Sharp is coming to Buck Owens' Crystal Palace Thursday night ...

Gimmie Some Love

C'mon, c'mon ... C'mon to Bako ...



Bands I wish would come to B-town so I can have an excuse to legitmately fawn all over them.

If Prince and Harry Connick Jr. proved anything to me its that dreams really do come true. Sometimes your favorite band/musician/singer/rapper/whatever will look at their agent and say, "Hey, why not Bakersfield?" and swing by. It's not that I don't like writin about the other rock, jazz, punk, whatever acts that roll into town, but we all have our favorites.

Here are some folks that I'm "wishing on a star" that they come to Bako and show us some love.

1. Rilo Kiley, featuring that girl who was sometimes on "Rosanne."



Rilo Kiley went on tour this spring and they went to Fresno and they went to Santa Barbara and LA to promote their latest release "More Adventurous," which I already own, along with their best album to date "The Execution of All Things." I even own the "This Christmas Too" compilation which contains the most depressing holiday song ever written ("Xmas Cake") performed by Rilo Kiley. I love the band because of Jenny Lewis's honey-sweet vocals and the band's retro-alt.country-rock-80s-pop-kitchen sink craftsmanship. That and they sing some of the most depressing songs in an infectious, upbeat manner. They're like a happy soundtrack to a suicide. I couldn't tell you what my favorite Rilo Kiley song is since even the songs I don't like I always eventually end up liking later on, so ... um, here's some links to free downloads of "The Execution of All Things" and "With Arms Outstreched." (From Saddlecreek.)

2. The Von Bondies, Detroit Rock City at its finest



I, personally, like my rock with a beat that you can dance to. Which is why I love Franz Ferdinand, Louis XIV, the French Kicks and all the other New Wave-ish sounding acts out that aren't The Strokes. God, I'm so over The Strokes. The Von Bondies are a bunch of recycled power cords from the midwest, thus endearing them even more to me. (Yeah, midwest!) If you know any song by the Von Bondies it's probably "C'mon C'mon" which was used in a summer Olympic's promo TV ad in 2004. The Von Bondies, aside from puting on a kick-ass live show, were blessed by Detroit's own resident rock God Jack White of The White Stripes, who I also love and would go bananas over if they ever rolled into town. White produced their first full length LP "Lack of Communication" gave the Bondies an excellent assist by taking them on tour with the Stripes back in 2001.

3. Joshua Redman, jazz man



I've liked jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman ever since he first came out as some kind of child prodigy genuis back in the 1990s. He got woefully overexposed and people griped about him not being the second coming of whatever. But whatever, I adore him. On his 1998 release "Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)" he does a great cover of a Prince song, "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore?" And you all know how I feel about Prince. Redman, Terenece Blanchard, Brandford Marsalis and Wynton Marsalis are my favorite modern jazz musicians. (Mostly because they all sound like throwbacks). He's doing some tour dates with M'Shelle N'Dgeochello and I would keel over and f-ing die if they came here and set PJ's on fire one night. I saw him live about five or six years ago back in St. Louis with Sgt. Kabukimann. He gave such an exciting, wonderful show. Of course Sgt. Kabukimann fell asleep, as that's what he did at the time. Fall asleep at the front table of St. Louis jazz bistros when a living legend is on stage blowing your mind.

4. Hall & Oates, don't you judge me!



Yeah. I like Hall & Oates. So what? I like them so much I own 1970s Hall & Oates, their first album "Abandoned Luncheonette" which features their first hit, "She's Gone." And I like blue-eyed soul. Big deal. It makes me happy. H&O were supposed to come to Bakersfield last year for a World Records show, but a family emergency kept them out of town. I still want them back, World Records! I want them back bad. As for me not loving the H&O, I can't go for that. No can do.

5. Kanye West, because I still like rap music ... to an extent.



As someone who came to love hip hop during the 80s and 90s, I like all other hip hop old fogies at the rip old age of 27 hate most new hip hop. No offense new hip hop. Like my mother who likes blues, but not present-day R&B, I'm just not feeling you. I'm sure that Lil' Jon is some kind of wonderful. Just don't expect ME to listen to it. That said, while I sometimes talk like all good hip hop died the day they shot Tupac n' Biggie, I do enjoy some present-day artists, like Kanye West. I find Kayne West highly satisfying. He brags as much as any schooler (as being arrogant and boastful are requirements of any old school rhymer ... see "LL Cool J."), yet creates interesting beats you can both think and dance to. And, yes, "The College Dropout" was one of the best, weirdest, mainstream hip hop albums made last year. Subversive and commercial all at the same time. Just like "Chappelle's Show."

Kanye's just interesting enough that he might buck the trend and, gasp, put on a rap show that it's dull as hell. You know? He might have a costume change or dare I say it? A backdrop that's something other than a black curtain. Give the kids a show for their money like D'Angelo used to during the "Voodoo" tour before D'Angelo got all fat and became a drug addict.

Plus, "Diamonds From Sierra Leone" is pretty tight and steals an excellent Shirley Bassey/James Bond sample.

In conclusion ...


Stop pretending to be British and a children's author and just go on tour again already ...

Oh ... and I wouldn't mind if, you know, some giant, mega-musical acts came to town. Like OutKast or if Madonna had felt we'd been fitting to grace us with her presence; the aformentioned Kanye West; Jay-Z (we couldn't get any kind of love, eh?); even Dave Matthews or, dare I say it, John Frickin' Mayer, who I wouldn't go see, but feel that other people who love him should be able to endulge in that sort of thing, if they see fit. And I wish more R&B acts would find us worthy of their presence. I'd kill for some Sade right about now. Can't you get, like, Boyz II Men for five dollars and a stick of chewing gum now? Some promoter in town ought to hook that up. Heck. I'll take Boyz II Men knock off Shai right about now. If we can't get Eminem are we good enough for Bubba Sparks? Inquiring minds want to know.


* * *
Who do you wish would come to Bako and give us some love? Gimmie yer comments!

Real reporting keeps reporter from blogging

By DANIELLE C. BELTON
Californian staff writer
e-mail: dbelton@bakersfield.com

Bakersfield Californian blogger Danielle Belton has not updated her blog since last Wednesday. Why? Her real job as the entertainment reporter for The Californian keeps getting in the way.

While turning around stories on bands, back to school fashions and even covering a funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq, Belton found herself shirking from her blog duties. She promises new, fresh bloggy goodness on the Belton Blog as early as Tuesday and as late as Wednesday.

Belton encourages readers, if they wish, to spend their valuable times either reading other blogs or using the comment thread to tell Belton what clubs/bars she should review, what concerts/shows she should write about or to discuss how the protestors totally punked out (as they should have) on picketing the funeral.

"Back in the day a bigot wasn't afraid to catch a beat down for their offensive beliefs," Belton said. "Perhaps the fact that every biker in Bakersfield showed up was the Kern County equivelent of nuclear deterrence. Those motorcycle enthusists, all leathered up, riding up and down the street, Harleys gleeming in the sun, were Bako's way of saying to the world — we have the bomb, crazy bigots. And we aren't afraid to use it!"

Ain't Nothin' But Music

The fellows from Gatsby's American Dream.

Land of Confusion: I'm totally confused. A month ago indie rock band Gatsby's American Dream's press folks sent me a little e-mail about their upcoming show at Jerry's Pizza, so I interviewed the band. But now the Aug. 9 show is apparently now on at the MontGo with Allister, Plain White Tee's and Down To Earth Approach. Whatever. In our interview Gatsby's bassist Kirk Huffman without realizing it explained to me why I liked their last album so much.

It was the heavy Jon Brion influence. Jon Brion of film scores ("Punch-Drunk Love," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Magnolia") and Fiona Apple fame.

I love Jon Brion.

"When we recorded our EP we were listeng to a lot of Aimee Mann records, Fiona Apple, a lot of records Jon Brion produced. We wanted to make a Jon Brion sounding record. For Volcano (their new album) we wanted big rock sounding record," said Huffman.

"We're shooting video in LA. It's pretty insane because I've never shot a video. I don't know what to expect. It's been a wild year. We've been doing this for three years, playing shows with mainly 50 kids. We did the Warped Tour this year. It's all happeneing really fast. It's exciting but strange at the same time. We're all feeling fortunate right now to be doing this."

Wanna take a listen to their new release or download a track? Click here. (From Purevolume)

Also playing next week ...


Seattle, Wash. dirty pop band Mon Frere!

You can read my interview with them, Disturbed and Pattern Is Movement in tomorrow's Californian.

The Art of Sloth

Four delicious chances to have a gay time! (From Elyse Sewell's LJ)

I was off yesterday. Stayed at home doing nothing but watching movies and engaging in some serious sloth. I'm still pretty sleepy and having one of those moments where I can't seem to put together the brain matter to write anything.

So here. Have some free crap.

Free Music: Pharaoh Jones has an upcoming gig with Dagny's Coffee Co. on Friday. Here, have a free song by them. This track, "Made," will appear on the Krabland Bands Vol. 1 CD and will be on the band's forthcoming, self-titled release. It's getting a little mention in WOTS this week as I really like the song. It's about being a broke artist and trying to make it anywhere. It's very catchy. I'm still trying to decide who the vocals remind me of. (Download "Made" here.)

Giant free pictures of Chris Isaak: Someday my e-mail will be recovered and I'll be able to finally publish my delightfully indepth Q&A with singer/songwriter Chris Isaak. For now we will have to console ourselves with these giant, pretty pictures of him. Make yourself some killer wallpaper ...