Our friend Frosty is one of the founders of this truly eclectic radio station. He started this in 1999 and it’s been going strong and getting stronger since day one. Dublab is about bringing community together for the arts, film, and of course, music. Every time I run into Frosty, there is always something new… it could be a film project that is touring the nation, Friday night music events at the Natural History Museum, Djing at the TED conference, or producing and making records by some of LA’s finest. Frosty and Dublab have got their hands in everything…and, it wouldn’t be what it is without the support of Dublab’s global listeners and fans.

Introducing Creative Cultivation 2012, a dinner-music-party fundraiser for Dublab radio. Frosty has lined up Cut Chemist, Julia Holter, Anenon & Yvette Holzwarth, Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson & Dexter Story. Drinks from Lagunitas Beer, DRY Soda Co., and food from one of our favorite restaurants, Starry Kitchen!

You can support and be part of this event, by buying tickets here. Dublab is a 501(c)(3) creative non profit, so the proceeds go directly to funding their mission and operation…. and of course purchasing a ticket is 100% tax deductible.

More info on the event at Dublab.

I hung out with John and Zach from Portugal, just chilled out over wine and caught up on life. They told me about their tour with the Black Keys, their non-stop globe trotting, and their excitement to step into the studio for their next album. The raddest was that John and Zach actually told me, as we finished the second bottle of red, that the show they played at Poketo was a different vibe, a special one, and personally one of their most memorable. True or not, I’ll take that compliment anytime.

Peep their tour dates coming up for April and May. They are coming to LA! Most likely, they’ll be coming to your city too.

Props to our friend Scott for making this album, for making art and getting it done! We love supporting our friends and fans, here is a short interview with Scott of Hearios, he takes us through the album and shows us, the feel of the music. Go to esomusicart.blogspot.com, you can hear snippets.

You worked with a lot of different collaborators on this album. Tell me about them.

This album has some special guest appearances as well as new additions to the band. Hearios started off with me and Seann Carroll, the best drummer in Hawaii, and I would fill in the gaps with multiple instruments. Now we added James on bass, RaE is singing more solo songs, Anné adding soulful hooks and a very important addition Navid, a very dope emcee with a great flow and voice. Jae-Mi (also from Hawaii) is featured on the title track and it was great working with her style. I am also playing more electric guitar and keys.

It was an honor to have some of my mentors on the album too. DJ Cheapshot is responsible for me getting turntables, a 4-track and sampler way back in the late 90′s. He added some of his trademark scratches to a song on the new album. Aloe Blacc has been a major influence on my music and he’s on the sentimental and catchy song “Hello (It’s Me Again)”. Both of these artists, as well as Exile, have been the reason why I keep making music. I’m never going to give up because they never gave up and I feel like my music has grown so much because of them.

Aloe Blacc, love his work, how did that relationship form?

I met Aloe Blacc when I was down at UC Irvine frequently visiting the Hip Hop college radio show hosted by DJ Cheapshot. Aloe went to USC and I transferred to LMU and we worked on some music for fun. But for me it was more of a learning experience and sharpening my production skills. Then I moved to Hawaii and he came out for a visit and we worked on a few songs for Hearios. I kept on making my music with Hearios while Aloe started to dominate the music scene with his “Good Things” album. It is so great to see his music received all over the world and that gives me motivation to keep on playing.

You’ve been working on this album for some time, tell us about the process, the sweat, the love…

This album took four years to do!! All my songs are very personal and the soundtrack to what’s going on during that year. The songwriting process takes the longest. It took about two years while I was still living in Hawaii to get all the content, write the music and record with the musicians. I moved to Los Angeles, absorbed all the new indie music and then finished editing and engineering the album. That took another two years. The title sums up the theme of the album, “Feelings Are Not Fact”. What you feel one day will change the next so there’s no use to stress out over feelings. I found myself feeling something about the music, or about a girl, and then waking up the next day feeling different. This album is very eclectic not only with the music but with the subject matter. It’s supposed to soundtrack any day, any feeling, anywhere. Lots of time, love and emotion is on this album and when you listen you can hear it.

Any plans on live shows for this album?

We had a tour in Honolulu with the full band and it was very cool to play the songs live. I am trying to make another tour out there sometime this year. For Los Angeles, I am working on getting some shows soon. I am also working on a solo set and then producing an indie-soul record for my friend Kapali Long. Check my blog for tour dates and news and all that good stuff.

BTW, that song “siren song of the city” has a Poketo shoutout!! listen to it carefully (3rd verse).

To hear the album and find out more, go to esomusicart.blogspot.com
Here is another interview we did with Scott last year, prior to this album release.

We saw M.I.A. a few years back at Coachella, I thought it was a great show, other friends walked away mixed about the performance. A few years have past with little activity, but, this video, with over 4 million views in a few days, has changed all of that.

This Portugal album is a new release for 2011… and one of my favorites.

I had been wanting to see Cass McCombs play live for some time now. For one reason or another, things never lined up for me. I thought it was going to be yet another failed attempt as it was a sold out show at The Echo in Los Angeles. I stopped into my favortie record store, Origami Vinyl, to see if Neil there had any tickets left. No tickets, sold out. But, as I asked the question, a gentleman overheard and had an extra ticket to spare. I guess it was meant to be… the show was rad… Cass McCombs and band played in complete darkness except for the light display providing a back light and silhouette of the band. Live, it sounded just like his albums… perfect.

Here are two of my favorite songs…

Our friend, artist Miki Amano shared this video with us… Feist singing with the Sesame Street crew. So much love for Sesame Street here… who wouldn’t love to live in a world of monsters. As you can see in this video, Feist’s vibe is infectious… so fun and down to earth… Feist is just plain rad.

And, here is our friend, Miki… one of the cutest monsters out there.:)

Listening to the radio the other day, KCRW’s The Business interviewed Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer of Elmo. It was a really interesting interview about the behind the scenes of Sesame Street, the creator of Sesame Street, Jim Henson, and the strong community of puppeteers behind this important television show, still running, over forty years strong.

The documentary, Being Elmo is playing in select theaters now. Having received numerous awards already, including the Sundance Special Jury Prize, this documentary looks great and gives us a glimpse of what happens below the screen of one of the most ubiquitous puppets and puppeteers of our time… Elmo, or shall I say Kevin Clash.