The Sounds of VTech

After a triumphant return to the stage in London, Courtney Love and Hole will play their first U.S. show in more than a decade at SPIN’s annual SXSW bash at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Texas, on Friday, March 19 brought to you by VTech.

Nobody’s Daughter, the first Hole album since 1998’s Celebrity Skin, was just picked up by Mercury/Island Def Jam for an April 27 release, and Love graces the cover of SPIN’s March issue, hitting newsstands.

Das Racist and Dam-Funk will drop DJ sets between main stage performances.

On the indoor stage, Philly rockers Free Energy (also on the 10 to Watch list) and Austin’s own power popsters Harlem join Goons of Doom and Audible Mainframe.

This event is invite only… BUT if you want a chance to win, enter the SPIN sweepstakes HERE for your chance to win a free trip to Austin, Texas  and passes to SPIN’s Stubb’s party featuring Hole.

“Your entire community is gone…

You can’t go home, it doesn’t exist anymore”

-Jay Electronica

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, Coleman and B+ were invited to New Orleans to screen Brasilintime and to make photos by the folks from Common Ground. Documenting the damages and the obstacles people were faced with to rebuild what was lost. In five days they had made enough images to have a benefit show at Self Help Graphics in LA.

Three years later on Halloween Weekend of 2009, VTech invited Mochilla back to New Orleans again - to attend the Voodoo Festival and to meet with Jay Electronica - New Orleans favorite representative – well, besides the Saints!

This video was shot that weekend. Though Jay proved to be quite elusive during our stay, we managed to get him over to his beloved Magnolia Projects in the Third Ward. His memories of growing up there and what it means to be there now stand as a striking reminder to all those of us lucky enough to escape these kinds of unnatural disasters.

It has taken us a second to bring you this video but the events that have occurred over the past few weeks mean that the message hasn’t lost any of its potency.

Take a minute to remember…

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The Sounds of VTech / jay_elec_3rdward_v5b

VTech and American Rag Present FILTER Magazine’s Showdown at Cedar Street!

The wait is over! FILTER, along with American Rag and VTech are thrilled to announce the lineup for the 2010 FILTER Magazine SXSW showcase - Showdown at Cedar Street: Worlds Converge.

Performers include:

BRMC, The Temper Trap, Miike Snow, Local Natives, Dr. Dog, and many more!

View Full Lineup and click HERE to RSVP

SXSW badges are welcome, but please arrive early as admittance will be first come first serve with a limited guest list. Enjoy free BBQ daily courtesy of our International festival presenters from 11am to 1pm.

If you’re in LA and have no plans this evening, make your way out to Echo Park  to the EchoPlex and celebrate the life and music of James “J Dilla” Yancey. Tonight is not only the fourth anniversary of his passing, but also Act 2 of Songs in the Key of “D.”

J.Rocc, Rhettmatic, Mr. Choc and more will be hosting this event, remembering their good friend. Good music, positive energy and special appearances by Slum Village as well as other special guests will provide you with an evening to remember.

Dilla, we miss you , we love you, and we’ll be there tonight showing you just how much. So, let’s all go down to Nightlife and Turn It UP for Dilla.

Though the weather was wet and cold back in December 2009 in Washington DC, the crowds came early and patiently waited in long serpentine lines throughout the lobby of the National Geographic Grosvenor Auditorium for “Distant Relatives,” a special panel discussion. Some had come to hear Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, others for Nas, several came for Kool Herc and Rakim, and one person in particular came for Jeff Chang with book in hand hoping for an autograph. But no matter who they came for, the purpose of the evening was to learn about the roots of Hip-Hop and Reggae music, spanning the continent of Africa to the sound systems of Jamaica, and onto the streets of America.

This amazing panel which includes guests such as Stephen Marley, DJ Red Alert, Pat McKay, Waterflow, Big Youth, etc., was brought to the global stage by VTech  and was truly a melding of the minds.

They touched on the generational gap of learning and understanding music, the evolution of their industries, their personal experiences, beliefs, and interpretations of what music meant to them and expressed their joys and frustrations.

For those of you who weren’t there, this video gives a look at the magic behind the scenes as well as what happened on stage that night.  Listen, learn, and grow.

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The Sounds of VTech / Distant Relatives at National Geographic

This is a can’t miss for music lovers and Dilla fans….

In what is sure to be one of the year’s most inspiring music/art happenings, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony (WCFSO) on February 6th, 2010 at the Great Hall in the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa will celebrate Black History Month and African-American achievement in orchestral music. Featuring the work of William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and  J Dilla, the evening will combine the art of Cedar Valley artist Gary Kelley and the music of these legends in a unique multimedia presentation.

This event will stretch audience expectations of the typical orchestral concert by featuring arrangements of hip-hop artist J Dilla’s music. Grammy nominated record producer J Dilla (James Yancey) was one of the music industry’s most influential hip-hop artists. He emerged from the mid-1990’s underground hip-hop scene in Detroit and worked for big-name acts like De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common. His rise as a solo artist in the early 2000’s was cut short when he died in 2006, at age 32. The WCFSO will perform selections from Suite for Ma Dukes, arrangements of J Dilla’s music created by composer/arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and featured last year in Los Angeles as part of the Mochilla/VTech Timeless Concert Series that paid tribute to J Dilla and his mother, Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey.

Program for the evening:

William Grant Still: Symphony no. 1, ‘Afro-American’

James Yancey (J Dilla), arr. Miguel Atwood Ferguson: selections from Suite for Ma Dukes

Edward ‘Duke’ Ellington: The Three Black Kings

George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

Concert tickets start at $19 for adults and $9 for students.

For tickets, click here or call 319-273-4TIX or 1-877-549-SHOW or visit www.wcfsymphony.org.