I've had a history with CMJ.

This morning I forgot that it was the first day of CMJ. When it’s your tenth year in a row attending CMJ and you have grown-up responsibilities like work and school, it becomes much harder to attend panels and see 8 shows in 6 different venues. Unlike most CMJ attendees, I still have to adhere to those life responsibilities. I’d love to tell my Constitutional Law professor that was absent because I got crunk at Angels and Kings. However, that doesn’t fly in the real world.

Every year,  green college radio music directors from flyover states convene in New York City to experience the sort of thing they don’t get back in their hometown –  like seeing gigs nightly and being able to network fairly easily. I’m sure they attend the usual panels talking about college radio and how you can get careers in the music industry.. etc etc. Sometimes I wish I could just enjoy CMJ and experience it the same way they do now. After being around music and radio for nearly half of my life, I don’t see things like they do because I’ve grown cynical. Perhaps it’s a harmful cocktail of growing up in Manhattan and LA and growing up with friends who had access to every show I ever wanted to attend as a kid. Oh, did I mention it’s  my tenth year at CMJ? That’s part of it too.

While most of my peers were  the indie kids listening to the music in their bedroom checking out Pitchfork, I was the one going to shows and networking. Seeing Yeah Yeah Yeahs at a Touch and Go CMJ showcase. Attending the first ever US Wombats Gig… you get the idea. Perhaps I did it a bit pre-maturely – but nothing can change the fact that I’m a bit cynical, hardened, and don’t see the music industry as optimistically as I once did. The first several years of CMJ, I looked at everything through wide eyes. CMJ was all a big party – more like a musicdrunknetworking fest. It’s still the same but it feels radically different for me.

I’ve also recently retired from radio and music and yet I find myself at CMJ. It’s a bit ironic – don’t you think?

However, please DO NOT TWIST my words. I am happy to attend CMJ, especially the CMJ PLAY conference. It’s a no-brainer that music synergystically involved with gaming and interactivity is an industry worth pursuing. CMJ PLAY is something I am actually green for. Shocking, isn’t it?

Irving Plaza's Sign is back to Normal. Thank God.

This was absolutely atrocious.

Unfortunately, I missed most of the day panels due to work and school – but I was able to get my badge and head over to my favourite venue, Irving Plaza, to see Jenny and Johnny. It was lovely to see Irving Plaza’s sign back to the way I’ve always known it. For a while, they called it the Fillmore New York, which was basically an insult to Bill Graham’s legacy. The name Fillmore is ironic to San Francisco like CBGB is to New York. Besides, if they renamed some club in SF “CBGB SF” the music blogs would erupt in laughter. I can already hear it.

Jenny and Johnny.

At Irving Plaza, a more mature-sounding Jenny Lewis with fresh material awaited my presence. Jenny and Johnny do drift a bit away from Rilo Kiley by adding a mix of country and a male voice to Lewis’s new sound. The country guitar twang on “Scissor Runner” was defintely more pronounced when performed live and was appreciated by everyone in attendance. Jenny also dedicated “New York Cartoon” to the people of New York City, which was something I appreciated. I also loved the irony of  ”Big Wave” performed live at CMJ while NYU is the sponsor. If the innuendo is ungraspable, look up NYU’s annual cost of attendance and the lyrics to “Big Wave” to Johnny and Johnny.

Jonathan Rice has been a great addition to Jenny Lewis’s repertoire. Hope there’s more Jenny and Johnny in the future.

After seeing Jenny and Johnny Life,  I think I can finally say I’m Having Fun Now.

I can’t wait for a full day of CMJ tomorrow. I’m hardened but not a cynic quite yet.

Stay tuned. There will be more coverage tomorrow.

Oh, and of course – CMJ is their way of mentoring the next generation of those who often dream of working in the music industry.

This year, Mr. Jason Flom, once known as one of the most powerful A&R execs of Altantic, is giving this year’s keynote. Many of the panels will be about the usual specifics: radio, music lisencing, and where the music industry is going today. Many will include career advice and the usual emphasis on internships.

However, the real party with CMJ happens at night. It’s all about the shows, who’s on the guest list, and all the VIP after parties hosted by the hottest new companies. This year, B-Sides is most excited for Jenny and Johnny, Bear Hands, The Drums, Phoenix, Four Tet, Eisley, Kevin Devine, Alessi’s Ark, and Two Door Cinema Club. B-Sides would also like to emphasize that TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB will probably be really big next year. So see them when they’re hot!

Last year, we predicted the rise of Mumford and Sons and the XX. Click for last year’s coverage.

For CMJ 2010, I, Jeany will give you wonderful updates like last year. After all, I am a certified CMJ veteran having gone many many years in a row. Starting from October 19th, you can read all about my CMJ liasons!

XOXO

Jeany

Every year, the festival has an INSANE LINEUP with Gorillaz, Vampire Weekend, Dizzee rascal, Muse, and  Stevie Wonder headlining fo 2010.

If getting to Worthy Farm in Pilton didn’t cost $3000, I would gladly go.

Being from New York, fantasizing over summer music festivals has always been my favourite past time. The #1 Metropolis consistently fails in holding a music festival. San Francisco has Treasure Island and Outside Lands, Chicago has Lollapalooza, and LA has Coachella. Even Austin has Austin City Limits. Seattle has their Bumbershoot and Sasquatch. New York? Nothing. No fun local outdoor festivals this year yet again. Somehow many have failed, like All Points West, Across the Narrows, and Field Day. I’m still waiting for the day an organized festival actually succeeds in NYC.

Somehow I really think this city is cursed. We don’t even have rock music radio festivals! The biggest city in the USA doesn’t have a proper music festival at all. It’s really sad innit?

Maybe one day I can go them all- Summersonic in Japan, Reading and Glatso in the UK, and all the wonderful US music festivals that everyone talks about.

Right now I’m wishing for Glatsonbury and I’m gutted that I won’t be there yet again.

Till next year.. maybe.

Are you in the South Bay?

Are you tired of geeks reeking of Silicon?

Luckily next week, the Valley is going to be filled with a ton of bands to check out.

The Festival runs from June 21 – 26th with the bulk of the music happening next weekend. Headlining the festival are Ok Go, Neon Trees, Northern Son, and Yo LA Tengo. The First three days feature local film premieres of Hype! and Rock the Block: The Story of the Cactus Club.

More information about it can be found here

It’s surely something to check out. If you’re in San Jose or the Santa Clara Valley, it’s NOT TO BE MISSED.

In Nylon Magazine, MIA recently said that Facebook and Google will “fuck you up” in terms of the protection of personal information.

“All governments are connected to Google. Governments can shift their search engines so only what they want you to see comes up. I want kids to be aware of this digital circumstance.” She said.

It’s sad to conclude that MIA believes the rest of the world operates like China. Heck, even Google just recently refused to do business with China.

She added: “Everyone on the internet is like, ‘Oh my God, come and join Facebook!’ They’re all so optimistic… and really, everyone is fucking you up behind the screens. And I don’t like that. It makes it difficult for me to interact with my fans knowing that. Google and Facebook were developed by the CIA, and when you’re on there, you have to know that.”

It looks like MIA is turning into the British Courtney Love with her outrageous remarks. Sigh. Who knows, MIA may be missing in action by the CIA if she’s adamant on her claim.

Hello Vanessa Hudgens! As if you didn't learn your lesson the first time nude photos of you leaked!

Pete Wentz's Hot Dawg. It's probably REALLY small.

The twitter and the internets are abuzz with the picture of Hayley from Paramore’s boobs. High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens experienced a similar fate – not once but TWICE. Perhaps the first scandal that started it all was the incident with a picture of Fallout Boy’s Pete Wentz’s penis in 2006.

Perhaps you may question this: is all this a publicity stunt? It probably is. Once nude photos of any celebrity leak, regular people all flock to google to find the pictures and the latest news on the celebs. In turn, the publications make money from cpm (clicks per minute) and the celeb’s notortiety increases. Negative publicity is stil publicity – and at the end of the day, the so called leakage of lude photos will  increase their profitability. The celebs all say they want to hide under a rock but it dosen’t stop Kim Kardashian from making $$$ from her stupid sex tape or Vanessa Hudgens from increasing her star power as a sex symbol.

However, if one does not want this type of publicity, IF YOU ARE A PUBLIC FIGURE, WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU KEEP NUDE PHOTOS OF YOURSELF ON A PHONE OR COMPUTER? There’s people out there lurking you on the internet googling you and wanting to know about your up-to-the minute actions. And yes, there will be always be some smart-aleck hacker out to get you. Ask Paris Hilton. Someone hacked her Sidekick 5 years ago. At least public figures like Barbara Walters would probably not engage in this sort of debauchery. Believe it or not, she’s a celeb too. Hopefully there will be no nude photos of her anytime soon.

At then end of the day, we shouldn’t feel bad for the stupidity of celebs. Either way, these sort of scandals benefit them and the rest of us just wasted a minute or two googling their name just wanting to know.

Here’s my advice for Hayley Williams. Your band, Paramore, will increase it’s reach 100-fold if you do a Suicide Girl photo shoot. Everyone’s seen your breasts anyway and you might as well use it to your advantage.

Look, its Pattinson as Cobain. Yeesh.

It certainly smells like teen spirit when teenage Twlight heartthrob, Robert Pattinson, has been rumoured to star as Kurt Cobain in an upcoming biopic yet-to-be released. The widowed Courtney Love wants Robert Pattinson to play Kurt Cobain, and apparently was  offered the role.

What’s with Twlight actors getting to play the roles of legendary rock-stars these days? Kristen Stewart was cast last year as Joan Jett in the Runaways movie (out now, btw) and now Robert Pattinson is going to be Nirvana Legend Kurt Cobain? What now? Is Taylor Lautner going to play Dave Grohl for the heck of it?

It’s seems as if casting directors are looking to find a way to reach the current generation by handing current teen idols as the roles of young angsty of rock stars past. Perhaps these days it’s the only way to get Generation Y to start consuming classic punk and grunge. Not a bad selling point.

Perhaps Robert Pattinson and  Kristen Stewart are multivariable actors who can act as vampires and rock stars!

Honestly, I don’t know if Pattinson can pull it off as Cobain; we shall wait and see. Conversely, Stewart’s depiction of Joan Jett isn’t half bad in The Runaways: The Movie. It’s currently in theaters now, plus Dakota Fanning plays Cherie Currie.

UPDATE: in a quick turnaround, Courtney’s management firmly denied the rumors, as Jonathan Daniel stated to SPIN, “that’s an amazing story, and the first I’ve heard of any of this. They manage to fit pretty much everyone in Hollywood into an article without one fact check and include a ‘My First Photoshop’ job as a ‘mock up’ to boot!”

Okereke has titled his debut ‘The Boxer’ and is planned for release on June 21. ‘Tenderoni’ will be the first single release which will be released on June 14.

This album was produced in NYC with producer XXXchange and will be inspired by the singer’s sudden liking to dance music.

“I’ve been into clubbing for years,” Okereke stated. “I’ve said from the beginning I’m into dance, it gets me excited and I think this record is going to go some way to prove that to people, hopefully.”

The tracklisting of ‘The Boxer’ is:

‘Walk Tall’

‘On The Lam’

‘Tenderoni’

‘The Other Side’

‘Everything You Wanted’

‘New Rules’

‘Unholy Thoughts’

‘Rise’

‘All The Things I Could Never Say’

‘Yesterday’s Gone’

Bloc Party hasn’t been on tour in a year so it is safe to assume they are on hiatus. Hopefully it won’t be as long as No Doubt’s!

In 2002, emo was the hottest thing for kids since snap-on bracelets. Angsty teenagers craving music  flocked to find solace in bands like Taking Back Sunday, Brand New,My Chemical Romance, and Thursday. After all, this music was “theirs”. Back then, these four bands from Long Island and New Jersey respectively, weren’t the cult arena superstar rock bands that most know of today.

And in all that, Taking Back Sunday was the band with the most drama. They had little feuds with Brand New and lyrical interpretation of “There’s No I in Team”, Brand New’s “70 times 7″ and “The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot” were riddled across numerous message boards for the world to read. This time period sealed the infamy of John Nolan’s reputation which surely peaked interest for Straylight Run. His actions as a best friend and protective big brother – without a doubt- gave Nolan inspiration to form Straylight Run, a band of his very own (with his sister Michelle of course). To Nolan’s credit, Straylight Run became fairly successful in terms of ticket and album sales.

Now it’s 2010- eight years after the birth of what is known as “emo-core”. Many of the fans who once loved all those bands and obsessed over the next Drive-Thru band have either moved on or occasionally hold nostalgic value for their teenage emo period.

However, there is no doubt that if it weren’t for the actions of John Nolan back then, the message boards wouldn’t be admist the speculation of a TBS reunion. Both Matts of TBS left earlier this week and confirmation of the reunion did not surface until the band posted a video on their youtube channel.

Does the reunion really hold any value? Perhaps it would hold more stock if the band added a gimmick to only perform songs from “Tell All Your Friends”. After all, how can John Nolan handle Fred’s vocal parts?

The reunion holds more value for younger fans  and those who have never seen TBS in its original inception and not so much for those who fondly remember seeing them in a room of 400 people back in 2002.

Because we all know its probably all for the almighty dollar and to cash in on nostalgia. TBS is the only band of the 4 original millenial emo-core bands that has had the most dramatic of lineup changes. Adam Lazzara and Eddie Reyes are the only two members of Taking Back Sunday who have been through every TBS inception.

So would you see TBS on their reunion tour? Let us know!

In support of 21 Century Breakdown, Green Day is set to go on a full out summer tour with AFI as their opening act. Oddly enough, NO BAY AREA DATE has been announced for the tour as of yet. It’s a  bit strange considering a Green Day / AFI concert would sell out Shoreline in Mountain View very easily. Tickets for selected dates will go on sale 3/26.

Here are the  Green Day tour dates:

8/3, Camden, NJ (Susquehanna Bank Center)
8/5, Buffalo, NY (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)
8/9, Alpharetta, GA (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
8/11, Washington, DC (Jiffy Lube Live)
8/12, Hartford, CT (Comcast Theater)
8/14, Holmdel, NJ (PNC)
8/16, Boston, MA (Comcast Center)
8/18, Toronto, ONT (Molson Canadian Amphitheatre)
8/23, Detroit, MI (DTE Energy Music Theater)
8/26, Dallas, TX (Superpages.com Center)
8/28, Denver, CO (Comfort Dental Amphitheater)
8/30, Phoenix, AZ (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
8/31, Los Angeles, CA (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater)
9/2, Chula Vista, CA (Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre)

In the meantime, the American Idiot Broadway Play is set for it’s limited engagement debut this April at St. James Theater on 44th / Broadway in Times Square.