MidTones Movie Night “Still Bill” Bill Withers Documentary
on April 7th, MidTones presents the 1st official Movie Night featuring a B-Side Entertainment film “Still Bill” with Bill Withers. “STILL BILL is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Grandma’s Hands,” and “Just the Two of Us.” With his soulful delivery and warm, heartfelt sincerity, Withers has written the songs that have – and always will – resonate deeply within the fabric of our times.”
this is a FREE event and open to public. after the screening, the jam session will commence immediately paying tribute to Withers’ music. please RSVP (not required) your spot at the movie website, email, or simply reply to this post here for seating might be limited.
Also check out MidTones page on Yelp!
32nd Annual Firecracker Chinese New Year Celebration
Thanx all for coming out to the 3 shows on my Birthday Week – I got to see so many of my friends and made NEW friends. BIG THANX to Leela Grant and the band, and Jon Hershfield of IsGoodMusic.com!
The next BIG night(s) for me is The 3rd Annual Nite N Day Arts Festival Weekend, presented by the 32nd Annual Los Angeles Chinatown Firecracker Run and Chinatown Business Improvement District, happening the last weekend of Feb – where I’ll be doing a set of original materials (with the help of Geoff Haba on drums AND MidTone Madeleines) on Feb 27nd SAT at 7pm, AND with MidTone Arkestra which features the cream of the crop from MidTones; an Eclectic Open Jam, on Feb 28th at 2pm! so many talented artists are on the bill for this event, such as The Fighting Cocks, David Applesauce Tran, Sue Jin and Dawen. it’s gonna be a great weekend of music for sure! there’s more info on Facebook Event page!
Pretty Viscious @ Junglerush, Feb 5th OPEN BAR
Good man Jon Hershfield at IsGoodMusic.com hooked me up with a cool event called Pretty Vicious on Feb 5th (FRI) at Junglerush. I’m premiering a few new tracks from the upcoming album with the help of Geoff Haba of Los Desnudos and MidTone Madeleines.
“PRETTY VICIOUS is a collaboration between Edgar Varela (EVFA), Melissa Krook (GlamScene Entertainment) and Erin Gunnette (Shotgun Mary Photography, GSE). We’re providing you with the BEST tunes to dance to, live bands to entertain you, and photography to document it all EVERY first Friday!”
JUNGLERUSH>>
542 S Alameda St. (& Palmetto)
Downtown LA, CA 90013
10 pm – 3 am
$10 before 11pm/$15 after
OPEN BAR!
Hard Times
are all over the world right now; needless to mention the situation in Haiti – by the way I heard that some of that “Text to xxxxx to donate to Haiti” things is a SCAM…so watch out and only donate to the foundation you know.
I had a privilege to perform, along with Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman, Boots Riley and the Legendary Wayne Kramer of MC5, for Cort Guitar Workers ACTION event on Jan 13 in Koreatown. Following is an excerpt from their website;
“For more than a 1000 days, Korean guitar workers and their supporters have protested against their illegal mass firing by Cort/ Cor-tek Guitars, a guitar manufacturer based in South Korea and founded in 1973.
After dedicating decades of their labor in unventilated rooms full of fumes and solvent, enduring forced overtime and below-minimum wage pay, incurring injuries and lung diseases, and undergoing the abuse of their managers, these workers unionized to finally get minimum wage.
Only a short time later, they found themselves padlocked out of their factories and were forced to sign resignation papers, . It turned out that Cort had moved its operations overseas, for much cheaper and non-unionized labor in Chinese and Indonesian factories.”
Some of these workers came to LA in time for NAMM show to protest; and I plan to attend their gathering TOMORROW afternoon right outside of Anaheim Convention Center. I’m not sure if their voice would reach the money-mongering CEO, but they (and I) want those who play guitars to know that what they have in their hands come from the people who are proud of what they do and yet do NOT receive the treatment they deserve. and with so many here in the US losing their jobs, I believe this hits close to home for a lot of folks out there who don’t really care about guitars at all.
Please spread the word around.
SK
KUFU “Chili, This One’s for You” FREE DOWNLOAD
the recordings of KUFU, the brainchild of the late great Chili Charles
are officially OUT NOW, produced by our own Evan Calbi aka Basil Savage,
and mixed/mastered by Mosaic Recordings / Glenn Suravech.
This was a project that I was privileged enough to be a part of since its inception.
Especially after Chili’s unexpected passing in ‘05, this became a tribute to
his talent, life and the memories we shared in a tiny house in Echo Park,
memories which I remember vividly.
the album “Chili, This One’s For You” features the recordings we managed
to squeeze out of an old Roland VS digital multi-tracker (remember those?)
a handful of microphones and Chili’s kids-size drum set (w/ his log on the bass drum head)
including original compositions by Chili, a few jazz standards,
and the recordings of the people from his birthplace, Trinidad, where Evan traveled twice,
plus the addition of talents such as Michael Fortunato (tp) and Michael Dubin (dr/perc)
go check it out at kufu.bandcamp.com/ – it’s a FREE DOWNLOAD!
Shin is alive and well.
Hi folks, I’m alive and well – just a little busy while I’m mixing my solo album AND new Los Desnudos record…haven’t had enough time to update the website is all. still hosting MidTones; an Eclectic Open Jam on 1st and 3rd Wednesday @ Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown. anyway, thanx for trying to find me online and stuff – you can find out more about what I’m up to on the following sites;
or you can email me directly @ contact@shinkawasaki.com
talk to ya soon,
SK
