Song of the Day - Feist/Ben Gibbard

OK I am tired, so I will post my stalking of the actual Oscars pics up tomorrow, but for now listen to a collaboration with Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab) and Feist (from Feist). It's pretty good. Very typical Feist song.

Train Song - Ben Gibbard, Feis...

Stalking An Oscar Party

Last week, Diane Lane and Josh Brolin were having an Oscar party a block away from my work, so clearly I had to go and stalk it out. I saw stars, but they were pretty far away. Marissa Tomei was there and her hair looked a little crazy. Charlize Theron was tall and beautiful. And Elizabeth Banks was there in an interesting Cheetah getup. I did not see any of the rest of the people and it was a little hard to get good pictures because I was a little far. But I did get a picture of the girl who was standing there, crazily stalking with me. Except she might be a little more crazy than I am.


She gets celebrities to sign her body and then she goes and gets them tattooed on herself. She was very interesting. She had no job so I wonder how she affords to get the tattoos. She already had Josh Brolin, so she was very anxious to get Diane Lane, so she could have the pair. She tried to get Charlize, but she wasn't having any of that. I wonder if one day she will sell her skin for money.

I met a TMZ photographer and some other paparazzi guy who was explained that the pap industry is really suffering in this economy and they are lucky if they make $4000 a month. However, it doesn't really have to do with the economy; it has to do with the fact that no celebrities are acting like drunken idiots like in the hay day of Britney & Paris. They used to make about $12000 a month then. Poor paps - only $4000 a month. That's what I used to make when I had a real job as a consultant, so I don't really feel bad for those guys.

When I left my stalker friends were surprised and asked Why I was leaving because they thought I wanted an autograph. I said no, I just wanted to check it out, I saw some stars I am ready to go. They were kind of shocked and said again, you're not waiting? I think they didn't understand that I was just there to see the sights and not make money off of celebrities. And that mentality is one thing that makes LA different from normal people.

The Standard Hotel

I have a million things I want to post up here but I have been too lazy to upload my pictures - so it is all coming up at once.
Last week I met up with a friend of a mutual friend at the The Standard Hotel. The Standard Hotel calls itself that cause it tried to not be standard. It was very nice and the Chicken Quesadilla appetizer was good. The bathroom had a cool world in it.



But my favorite part of it, was the discovery of my new favorite job.
Different chicks just lay in the glass and read or watch TV. And they get paid. The only thing that would make that job better is if they paid you to do it in your own house and they served you unlimited frozen drinks. Pina Colada for me please.

Song of Yeah Day - Zero -Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The first single from the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album. Its a little more poppy and electronic than previous Yeah Yeah Yeah's songs. I like it though. I like them broadening their horizons, but I hope they don't go too poppy on us.

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Oscar Predictions

Now that I have seen every Oscar nominated movie I am prepared to make my predictions. It seems like every category is already wrapped up, so I hope I am wrong and there will be some surprises.

Best Picture -
Will Win - Slumdog Millionare
Should Win - The Reader

Best Actor -
Will Win - Sean Penn
Should Win - Frank Langella

Best Actress -
Will Win - Kate Winslett
Should Win - Kate Winslett

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win - Heath Ledger
Should Win - Heath Ledger

Best Supporting Actress -
Will Win - Viola Davis
Should Win - Amy Adams

I Got Soul, But I'm Not A Soldier

The Brit Awards were the other night and Coldplay and the Killers put on a charity concert after the show. At the end of Coldplay's set, The Killers came out along with Bono and they performed the Killers song "All These Things I've Done". This video is OK, you can't really hear them that well, because naturally the crowd is going insane. But I imagine it was awesome. I like the Killers and Coldplay is one of my favorite bands, but I am wondering how the egos of Chris Martin and Brandon Flowers both fit on that stage.

I am a Hollywood ASST

This is my life as a hollywood assistant, except a lot less glamorous, unfortunately.


Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

I pretty much was in tears watching this.

Brooke Shields in Playground Tales from Brooke Shields

Brooklyn Again

Here we have another Brooklyn band, Motel Motel. It seems all good indie rock comes from Brooklyn these days. These guys actually have more of a country sound, they sound a little bit like a Fleet Foxes or My Morning Jacket. They describe themselves as Shwag rock, whatever that means. I love this song though, this song really reminds me of an O.A.R song, its good toe tapping fun. Tap away. They will be down at SXSW this year so maybe they will be able to get signed while their down there. Good lucks.

Coffee - Motel Motel

Song Most Likely to Sound Like Eminem - Asher Roth

Basically this video is a documentary of me and my friends during college. I love the Miller Lite shout out. It probably seems so familiar because the guy is from Morrisville, PA which is 30 miles from Philly and he went to West Chester University where many of my friends attended. You can even see West Chester gear in the video.
Asher Roth put some songs up on his MySpace page, requested the friendship of a music promoter in Hotlanta, a week later he flew to Atlanta and now he has a record deal. The refrain pretty much sounds exactly like Eminem, and Asher says he is flattered by the comparison, but thinks they are very different. Either way it is a fun song. They are already playing out here in LA and I am going to take a gamble and say it will be the college party anthem of 2009. His video is on MTV, Kanye has endorsed him and he's already making the late night talk show rounds. His album drops (ha ha) at the end of April.
DO SOMETHING CRAZY!!!!!!!



Asher performing live at Kildare's in West Chester -


Random fact - one of his band mates was the guy who tackled the terrorist who made the bomb threat on a plane in the beginning of January.

All I can say is that I am really excited that YouTube was not really around while I was in school. I did enough stupid things, they did not need to be recorded for prosperity. Except of course those few VHS tapes that Amanda has.

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - The Like

Upon hearing about Mark Ronson and Tennessee Thomas getting together it reminded me of my obsession with The Like. If you don't know who Mark Ronson is - look him up - he is amazing. Tennessee Thomas is drummer for the three girl band The Like.



I have liked the Like since their one and only album - "Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?" which came out in 2005 and it's one of my favorite albums. I love every song on it. The Like is an indie rock/pop band hailing from LA and they all have fathers that are music industry heavyweights. Tennessee's dad is the drummer for Elvis Costello. The bassist, Charlotte Froom's dad is a producer who has produced Crowded House, Pearl Jam and Sheryl Crow album. Oh, and her step mom used to be Suzanne Vega. The lead singer Z Berg's dad works at Geffen. Which coincidentally is their label.

They are all musically trained childhood friends who formed the band when they were all around 16. The name "The Like" comes from the word - like, and how many, mostly generation x & y kids (and valley girls) throw that word needlessly in sentences, myself included. They recorded an album in London in the fall of 2007, but I don't know what's up with it, there is still no talk of a release date. That leads me to believe they are having label issues. I guess time will tell. I hope something happens with it soon though.

I saw them last May in a really small and very expensive lounge (miller lites were like $8 dollars) and they tried some new stuff and played some old. It seemed like they had a lot of friends there and they were having a really good time. I was super impressed by them and it kind of made me want to be a rock star. I guess I would compare them to a The Pretenders or Rilo Kiley type sound, maybe a not so hard Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't know listen for yourself:

June Gloom (Video)


Release Me (Live on Indie 103.1 - RIP, This isn't released yet)


Bridge to Nowhere -

Bridge To Nowhere - The Like

Song of The Day - Dan Auerbach

This gentleman is one half of the Black Keys which is a band that I don't particularly love. But I really like the singer and guitarist from that band when he's on his own. Dan Auerbach is a little less aggressive and alot more bluesy than his band. I really like the whole album, but this song's opening guitar riff reminds me of Crimson and Clover which is one of my favorite songs.

Heartbroken, In Disrepair - Da...

Perez is an Idiot

Don't get me wrong I go to that site every day. He has angered me today though. He talked trash on LOST and he was completely uninformed. "Guess this means the Lost won't be picked up past its scheduled ending date in 2010."
It's not supposed to JACKASS!!!! That was the point of the contracted end date. Luckily noone in Hollywood takes him seriously. It is the most DVRed show and the most downloaded on iTunes. The traditional ratings system is so messed up anyway and in need of a revamp. OK I am done my rant.

You Guys Can't Film Your Movie Here - The Movie

This is hilarious, but I wish the store owners would have freaked out more.

You Guys Can't Film Your Movie Here- THE MOVIE - watch more funny videos

Song of Your Old School Rap Day

My favorite rap song ever.
Pharcyde - Passin me By

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

I went to LACMA last weekend because I wanted to see the Vanity Fair magazine exhibit before it went away. It is a history of Vanity Fair with alot of the magazines and original pictures. It spanned 1913 through to today. It was really cool. There was a ton a Annie Leibovitz photos, who I love. They had another really good photography exhibit as well, which I feel is lacking in alot of art museums. The place was huge, and I definitely did not have time to see everything. So I will definitely be going back.
Here are some pictures. I took it with my phone, so they are not awesome -

Outside of the museum.


I thought this was cool.


This reminded me of an album cover, but I can't remember which one.


This is a cool BMW from the 30's.


This was just a cool VW I saw out in Hollywood later.

Brandi Carlile

And one of my favorite songs by Brandi -

Song of Thee Day

In honor of Coachella announcing its lineup and me really wanting to go, but not being sure if I can make it, I give you - The Gaslight Anthem from New Jersey. They will be at Coachella with an awesome lineup of artists. Click here to check out that lineup.
This song is "The 59 Sound". Its a fun rock and roll song. You can definitely hear the Bruce influence up in here. The song also kind of reminds me of "And We Danced" by the Hooters who are right across the river in Philly from Gaslight.

Song of Your British Day

Does she need an introduction except that she is awesome. Lily Allen's, The Fear, from the upcoming album - It's Not You It's Me