Monday, December 25, 2006

Feliz Navidad!!! Beacause as I love christmas, I love the movie Nightmare Before Christmas, and because I love languages I thought I'd give my readers a gift various singing scenes the movie in different languages!! Hope you are all enjoying your holidays:) Enjoy my gift!!

xoxo Amylu

Making Christmas (Spanish)



What's This? (Japanese)



What's This? (French)



What's This? (Portuguese)



What's This? (German)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Bridging a Language Barrier
These three events used bilingual staffers to make international guests feel at home. by Lisa Cericola

Cristophe Carrere made sure the models looked (and spoke) French at the Longchamp event.
Get Them Talking To drum up excitement for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer, president of the FIFA organization committee, went on a worldwide welcome tour, visiting eight countries in 11 days, including a stop at Gotham Hall last February. The guest list for the New York event was almost as global as the tour itself, so FIFA organizers and destination management company New World Travel asked Elizabeth Frank of Eye5 to handpick models fluent in German, Spanish, French, and Hebrew to work the party. “In international social situations, understanding cultural differences is just as important as knowing the language,” Frank says. “Because the models were not only checking people in and directing them around the event but also socializing with international guests, we only chose models native to another country or who had traveled extensively.” Most of the V.I.P. guests were German, so Frank assigned two German-speaking staffers to serve as their personal hosts. The models translated conversations, mingled, and helped the guests feel comfortable speaking their native language. The German-speaking staffers also proved helpful before and after the event, by translating emails for Frank and interpreting conversations with FIFA organizers.Global Greeting For the opening of Longchamp’s New York flagship store in SoHo in May 2006, the Paris-based clothing retailer wanted sophisticated French flair, right down to the people working the door. Christophe Carrere (pictured), creative director of Reflexgroup, which produced the event, had eight staffers from Soza Models brush up on their conversational French so they could greet guests (including Longchamp president and C.E.O. Philippe Cassegrain and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Lucy Liu) on their way into the store. “It was a great success,” Reflexgroup production manager Carine Bauvey said. “The models only had to speak a few basic phrases, but it gave the event a French touch and added a sense of refinement.”Add Cultural Flavor The Brazilian Gastronomic Food Festival, which markets Brazilian food products to U.S. consumers, drew about 30 Brazilian manufacturers to the Time Hotel in December 2005. To bridge the Portuguese-English language gap, event planner Maria Benvenuti of Benvenuti Public Relations recruited a wide variety of Portuguese-speaking staffers, including document translators, interpreters, and entertainers. Although the Brazilian-born Benvenuti has hired Portuguese-speaking musicians and servers to work at events in the past, she says that New York’s Brazilian consulate was one of her most valuable resources for staffing. “The Brazilian consulate—or any country’s consulate—will provide a list of interpreters who can speak the language you need,” Benvenuti said. “Within the consulate, the Brazilian cultural attaché put me in touch with Brazilian dignitaries and people who do business in Brazil, which helped with the guest list.” The highlight of the weeklong event was a press dinner, where guests dined on a multicourse menu featuring all the Brazilian products. To accommodate both English and Portuguese speakers, Benvenuti hired bilingual servers, interpreters who translated a PowerPoint presentation, and a Brazilian band, which played while everyone dined.
Article from BizBash: http://www.bizbash.com/content/editorial/e7124.php
LET'S GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!
Woohoo! Camera Obscura is coming to NY again! I missed them last time they were here for a show at Knitting Factory but I hope I don't miss the show again. They are one of my fav bands of the Spanish record label, Elefant Records, and I'm fiending for a live show.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Hey Bunkers Fans!

Now you can request "Llueve sobre la ciudad" by Los Bunkers on XM Radio via email.



Viva
[Latin Pop Hits]
Channel 91
viva@xmradio.com


U-Pop
[Inernational Hits]
Channel 29
upop@xmradio.com


The Verge
[Emerging Artists]
Channel 52
theverge@xmradio.com


Ethel
[New Alternative]
Channel 47
ethel@xmradio.com
A Mexican indie rocker and a studio technician from Nashville plan to create the new sound of Mexican pop music.

LAST October a quiet and unassuming 26-year-old musician from Mexico arrived at Nashville International Airport to meet an American record producer he had known only through a few e-mail messages and a phone conversation. Neither had any idea what the other looked like.

Multimedia'Completamente' by Chetes (mp3)
'El Sonido de Tu Voz' by Chetes (mp3)
'Que Me Maten' by Chetes (mp3)
Readers’ Opinions
Forum: Popular Music
Enlarge This Image
The musician was Gerardo Garza, the floppy-haired, dirty-blonde It Boy of the alternative rock scene in Monterrey, Mexico, who goes by his lifelong nickname, Chetes. (It’s Spanish shorthand for “cheeks”; Mr. Garza’s are noticeably pale and round.) The producer was Ken Coomer, a Nashville studio whiz who played drums for the new-school Americanists Wilco and Uncle Tupelo, two bands Mr. Garza had only recently heard.

The plan for the next month was simple, if not somewhat comical: the two would hole up in a studio with local musicians and technicians — none of whom spoke a word of Spanish — and create the new sound of Mexican pop music. [read the whole article here]

Saturday, December 16, 2006

WOOHOO! Feel free to take this banner and add it to your websites, blogs, myspace pages:)
XOXO Amylu



Friday, December 15, 2006

I love when my readers write me. I love when they share what other music they are listening to so I learn more!!! This is a post from my last blog entry about Xmas music...


Wow, dancing babies definitely means a successful gig!
I have mixed freelings about Xmas music. My workplace has been playing this goddawful satellite radio "holidays" programming, and it sounds like Satan himself picked the songs -- Nothing soulful, or kitchy, rockin' or quirky or fun, no Bing or even Nat "King" Cole -- just whitebread horse shit pablum that you could imagine even senior citizens in old age homes complaining that it's too damn boring and awful & makes them lose the will to live.
On the other hand, there's all this wonderful & cool stuff out there -- seems like every singer & group put out at least one Xmas 45 back in the day. I play that Augie Rios song every single year! Luv it. Believe me, I could go on and on about the great (mostly older) Xmas songs I really enjoy.
I need to get my hands on that Petty Booka Xmas release -- I love them! They recently got on myspace (finally!) & you can hear their Xmas songs on their site. Also I think "petty booka-loo" is a GREAT song! Some might be sad they put down their uke's, but the song has this great '60's "mod" feel to it and it really rocks out -- you can find the original video for the song on Youtube, it's really cool.
that's it for me -- feliz navidad from florida!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Christmas comes only once a year...

I wrote a super long blog entry about Christmas music and how I luv it and then my computer crashed and I didn't get to save what I wrote. So, yeah, I love Christmas music and it makes me happy:) I love hot coca with mini marshmallows and decorating the tree with lights and sparkly things! I love the classics of oldies xmas songs along with the non traditional ones like Merry Christmas (I dont' want to Fight Tonight) by the Ramones and Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses.

Last Saturday morning, I guest djed at the Bust magazine Craftacular at Warsaw and I dared to play xmas music. I decided to take a chance and see what would happen to the shoppers. Well, I was pretty please with my choice because the whole crowd light up like a frickin' christmas tree! They were smiling and bouncing on their toes and singing along to the songs. Little babies were dancing on stage in front on me too, haha! I posted my whole xmas set all in order before my computer crashed so now I've only listed some songs that are all out of order...

Songs I spun at the BUST magazine Craftacular
Christmas Dont' be Late - The Chipmunks
Merry Christmas (I don't want to Fight Tonight)
Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
Winter Wonderland - Bing Crosby
Rockin' Are the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jackson 5
Nuttin' for Christmas - Barry Gordon
Jingle Belly Rock - Bobby Helms
Feliz Navidad - Moderatto (originally by Jose Feliciano)
Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus? - Augie Rios

Since we're on the subject of xmas songs there is one created by world famous Ukulelel-playing Chorus duo, Petty and Booka from Tokyo (on the label BENTEN from Tokyo).


1. Christmas Coming (Traditional)
2. Christmas Island (Lyle Moraine)
3. Christmas in Prison (John Prine)
4.I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (tommie Connor)
5. My Two Front Teeth (Don Gardner)
6. Colorado Christmas (Steve Goodman)
7. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks)
8. Mele Kalikimaka (R. Alex Anderson)
9. Jingle Bells (Traditional)

You can see more of their discography here. Just a little tid bit: Their first origila song "Petty Booka Loo" was made by Keitaro Takanami from ex: Piccicato Five.
*Noel vengeance*
Lio, the talented europop "lolita" from Europe has a new song posted on myspace (available to download for free). The song is called "Noel (christmas)" by Jacques Duvall and Jay Alanski. It was the "Zip a doo wah" b. side, from 1983. "Noel" is about Lio getting dumped the day before xmas, but she takes her revenge and offers him a last present: "Un éternel joyeux noel" (An eternal merry Christmas). Enjoy!!

Lio on myspace

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

A word from Elefant Records...

NEW FEATURES ON OUR PAGE / NOVEDADES EN NUESTRA PÁGINA
1 - ENGLISH
2 - ESPAÑOL

1 - Since we started Elefant Records page on Myspace (only half an year ago), thousands of people have added us or have joined our growing list of virtual friends. There is no single day that we don't have more and more people getting interested on the label and its artists, and we want to react to this interest with a special care for all our visitors and friends.

This is why we have renewed once more the page's contents:
* we have added two new songs "Un día de furia" by COOPER and "Tu perrito librepensador" by SINGLE so everyone can listen to them whilst surfing the net. Along with them, we keep for the moment on our player "Let's get out of this country" by CAMERA OBSCURA and "Una cosa o dos", the advance from the next album by LA CASA AZUL.

We have also uploaded the four new videoclips by our bands: by clicking on http://www.myspace.com/elefantrecords you can watch right now the new videoclips by CAMERA OBSCURA ("If looks could kill"), SINGLE ("Tu perrito librepensador"), MIRAFIORI ("Agujeros en la arena") and COOPER ("Un día de furia"). Come up and visit our space! www.elefant.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 - Desde que abrimos la página de Elefant Records en Myspace (hace tan sólo medio año), miles de personas nos han agregado o se han unido a nuestro listado de amigos virtuales. No pasa ningún día sin que más y más gente se interese por el sello y por nuestros artistas, y nosotros queremos responder a ese interés con un cuidado especial para todos nuestros amigos y visitantes.

Es por ello que hemos renovado una vez más los contenidos de la página: hemos añadido dos nuevas canciones "Un día de furia" de COOPER, y "Tu perrito librepensador" de SINGLE para que todo el mundo pueda escucharlas mientras navega por la red. Junto a ellas, mantenemos por el momento el "Let's get out of this country" de CAMERA OBSCURA y "Una cosa o dos", el apetitoso avance del próximo disco de LA CASA AZUL.

También hemos colgado los cuatro nuevos vídeos que han realizado nuestros grupos: pinchando en http://www.myspace.com/elefantrecords puedes ver desde ya mismo los nuevos videoclips de CAMERA OBSCURA ("If looks could kill"), SINGLE ("Tu perrito librepensador"), MIRAFIORI ("Agujeros en la arena") y COOPER ("Un día de furia"). ¡Ven a verlos y visita nuestro espacio en la red!

Ah, the rad people at Minty Fresh Records saw my post about Prototypes and suggested I direct you all to their website for a special treat! They are giving away some free music of Prototypes for a little while at mintyfresh.com. Just go to the section that says Stimulie - Free mp3s. They are planning on doing a US tour starting in March so keep any eye out for their shows. I know I definitely will...

xo Amylu

Fresa Slavaje!!!
Wednesday, December 13th
Miercoles 13 de Diciembre
9 pm at Lucky Cat
245 Grand [entre Driggs y Roebling]
williamsburg, Brooklyn
L to Bedford
Free!!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Last night I went to Perla's house for a party where the playlist consisted of a mix between 80's American hits along with Spanish and Mexican hits from the 80's, 70's, 60's, etc. It was so much fun but oh does my head hurt from all that tequila! Halfway through the night we noticed that Gael Garcia was at the party and danced his heart out all night. He's just as handsome in person as he is in the movies, haha... Perla did some fun lip sync performances while standing up on her couch with a mic in her hand that was attached to a mini boom box. Too bad Gael didn't do one himself like in the movie La Mala Educacion!

Today I'd like to introduce you to two of the cutest anime videos from Japan. One is about eggs and one is about bread. They are so fun and cute you'll just want to eat em' up, haha! Just watch em' and you'll see what I'm talking about.



Saturday, December 09, 2006

So I keep seeing this iPod shuffle commercial on TV that just makes me so happy every time I see it cause the song for the whole commercial is in FRENCH! Actually, it's in English and French but it makes me happy every time! This is what Me, Melody Nelson, Sheila B, and Andy Shaw have been doing for over a year now at our party, Le One Night Stand. Getting the word out about the goodies (old and new) of foreign music!

I searched and searched for the band that sang in the iPod song and where did I end up finding the name? I just happened to read the lovely Melody Nelson's blog and she too was ranting about them! The group is call the Prototypes and apparently they are France's up and coming electro-pop band. Check out the Prototypes on myspace here: prototypes

I recommend you go download some Prototypes, Yelle, Terry Poison, and Pr4vd4 this weekend and dance your heart out:)


Links:
Yelle on myspace
Terry Poison on myspace
Pr4vd4 on myspace

Friday, December 08, 2006

Gil (Kinky) @ Nacotheque - Kinky Afterparty


Zemmoa - Fashion Victims @ Nacotheque vs Fresa Salvaje


La Prohibida - Amor Electrico @ Nacotheque vs Fresa Salvaje


Fresa Salvaje presenta su Posada Navideña!

Miércoles Diciembre 13 a las 9 PM
Wednesday December 13th at 9 PM

Beats Latinos electrónicos, Mambos, Cumbias, Rancheras, Pop, New Wave,
Sonideras y la música más nueva de México y sus alrededores.....

Presentando a Sonido Discoyoacan
El cuero de Brooklyn DJ PAPICHULO
e invitado sorpresa!
visuales por: Juan Luna-Avin

Lucky Cat 245 Grand ST [entre Driggs y Roebling]
Williamsburg Brooklyn
L to Bedford/ J,M,Z to Marcy
Free!

Pasen la voz!!!! Visit Fresa Slavaje on myspace

Estaremos regalando playeras de NACO [usanaco.com] y bolsas de mercado de Fresa Salvaje!! para los mejores portados/as.

Monday, December 04, 2006

There's a new demo song from Paul Avion, "Stand Up, Be a Man."

It's a free download. Hope you enjoy it!

"Stand Up, Be a Man" (demo) - MP3

Friday, December 01, 2006


I know this has nothing to do with music directly, but I think this would totally be the bestest thing would especially be cool for gals who go to outdoor shows with only those nasty porta-potties for bathrooms.Women can finally stand up to pee! haha:) Read this, it's silly...