Saw Caravan Palace in Downtown Los Angeles Grand Performance

Tonight I just went to a live concert featuring Caravan Palace, a Parisian electronic-swing-house band that was performing in Downtown Los Angeles, courtesy of Grand Performances in the California Plaza.  This was the first time that I had heard of the band, nonetheless witnessed their music. I was pleasantly surprised.

Caravan Palace's music was lively, unique, and totally danceable. So danceable that a 3 to 4 dozen of the crowd jumped into the plaza's water and started dancing to one of their songs... it was quite a sight that brought most of the rest of the audience to their feet.  Sadly, the authorities had brought the dancing in the water to the end due to the bottom of the pool's construction.


The audience consisted of mainly artsy Los Angelinos and the rest of the citizens. Swing dancers were among the most active with stylish straw fedora hats.  I wish I were wearing my dancing shoes and high-water jeans... not to say that I didn't sneak in a couple of moves myself.

Summer is here in Los Angeles!

 I'm so happy that summer is here, although in Los Angeles, it is pretty warm during the day (80 - 90 degrees fahrenheit), however, it cools down pretty chilly at night.

Cello Makers Using a Ball Vise

Contrary to what I usually do, which is play an instrument, the other day, I saw some wood workers making instruments, cellos to be exact. It was really nice to watch because it's such a fine craft that requires such details.

Basically, the wood craftsman carved the body of the cello from raw wood by holding the piece of wood in place held down by a metal clamp type object which they called a ball vise. From there, they carve in the shape of the sketch on the wood.

It's amazing to see such a beautiful instrument take shape - the transformation from raw wood and strings to a deep, rich, warm, sounding musical piece of art just sent shivers down my spine (in a good way).

Why I love the Movie Gattaca

"You wanna know how I did it? This is how I did it. I never saved anything for the swim back."

Gattaca is one of my all time favorite movies. It's about a man, despite his intense passion, intelligence, charm, and stunning good looks, lives in a society where DNA solely determines your rank and place in life. Therefore, he has to go through constant challenging obstacles to fake the system so that he can achieve his life long dream of space travel.



In this scene, Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is confronted by his younger brother, Anton, jealous of Vincent's further success despite Anton's "superior" DNA.

The Best Electronic Chill Dance House DownTempo Songs of The 2000's

The following songs all have an electronic root, some are classified simply as electronic, chill, dance, house, or down tempo. All are super amazing. Listen to them streaming below.






The Autumn Leaves - ATB

2046 - Blu Mar Ten

Wavy Gravy - Sasha

Star Above You - Color Filter

People Among Us - Bliss

Sparks (Murk Downtown Miami Mi - Röyksopp

Deepak Chopra Ft. Demi Moor... - Various Artists

Simple Things - Zero 7

Remind Me (Radio Edit) - Röyksopp

High And Dry - Radiohead

Amber / Sexual (Afterlife Mix)

Only This Moment (Royksopp'... - Royksopp

Atlantic - Keane

Powder Blue - Elbow

Hot Stuff Vs World Hold on ... - Craig David

You Love - Playone

Here With Me (Rollo's Chill... - Dido

Only This Moment - Royksopp

Teach Me How to Fight - Junior Boys


Chillout ambient lounge music

Sexiest R&B Songs Of All Time

R&B is my first love in terms of music genre the following are what I consider the Sexiest R&B Songs of All Time. Artists like R. Kelly, Usher, Keith Sweat, Janet Jackson have so much passion and soul, wreaking of sexual appeal, without a doubt. One of my favorite sexy R&B song is "Bump n Grind" by R. Kelly, which I have posted a video of me playing the song on the piano.

Writing Original Music Takes Real Skills!

I have always had a great appreciation for music writers, producers, and artists, however, my appreciation for them grows even more every time I attempt to write or improve any of my original songs. The process of creating, refining, taking a step back, judging, rewriting, rerefining, redoing, to turn inspiration into something considered art that you and others would like is a major skill and talent. Much props out there to all you musicians.

For the majority of my time, I'll stick to finding and browsing new music that pleases my ears and then playing my own rendition of it on the piano, how's that?