Oh, for a few more days of being under the influence and along-side the influencers.

This weekend, I made my way to the greater Baltimore area for what was predicted to be a very rainy, muddy Virgin Mobile Free Fest. Upon arriving at the airport, though, my driver (Yakov!!! I love you!!) pointed out that: “Is because you here, the sun come out!” And out it stayed! You’re welcome, Free Fest attendees!

After getting cleaned up, my friends and I headed towards DC (on a yellow schoolbus) for a little dinner and dancing, courtesy of the beautiful Mekanism team. The setting was the 9:30 Club, where we were supposed to have dinner and then watch Peter, Bjorn, and John play. But something happened and part of PB&J were injured, which isn’t funny, but is, because A) It’s Peter Bjorn and John..what were THEY doing to get injured? and B) Because PB&J. So, instead of getting a sensitive, light pop show, we got a fucking scorching ECLECTIC METHOD DJ set, rich with mind-warping video mash-up and altogether madness. This was my first EM experience, so forgive a n00b.
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Enjoy last night’s rendition of ‘E-Bow The Letter’ (at Carnegie Hall) below.

MP3: R.E.M. – Losing My Religion

The deets are as follows:

25th Annual Roots Of America Festival
(Oranized By Lincoln Center)
Damrosch Park
August 24th

Visit Patti on MySpace.

MP3: Patti Smith – Pastime Paradise

He shares the following quote on his MySpace blog: *”Patti and I will be making some music together very soon. On Monday she taught me a melody she wrote about a three legged dog. We have still to work the song out to full completion. Soon we will be recording a little moment for the next album. I’m very excited about getting to the end of the three legged dog song though too. She told me that we have a good future together and how can I not agree?”*

MP3: P. Wolf – The Magic Position (Spike Mix)

Patti tells Spinner: “I always wanted to do a covers album, but I didn’t really feel I had the range to do the kind of album I wanted to do… As the project evolved, a lot of the songs on the [original] list didn’t make the final cut, and a lot of songs that I didn’t plan on doing wound up being the ones I chose. They’re all special to me for different reasons. But Nirvana was the most emotional experience.”

See below for the official video of her take on ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Is it better or worse than Tori’s version? In case you forgot, last month we gave Patti’s cover of The Decemberists’ ‘Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect’ the slutty seal of approval.

And it’s surprisingly fabulous!

While the tune didn’t make the final cut for Patti’s upcoming covers LP entitled Twelve (more info on that release here), it will appear on the accompanying 7″ vinyl EP, available exclusively with purchase of Twelve at select record shops across the country. Hear both the original and the cover of ‘Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect’ below.

Nice job, Patti!

MP3s: The Decemberists – Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect + Patti Smith – Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect