Giant Step Blog

Lena Zavaroni sings Going Nowhere, 1981

RCRD LBL is offering a free download. Check it.

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Maybe you remember when I wrote about the Wooster Collective. This also is amazing street art. Check this video:

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

I met Roderick (aka Roddy the Piper) at some random back-alley bar in Athens this summer. He plays House bagpipes, which is pretty much the most gangsta sh*t ever. I think I’ve found my new calling…

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Really loving the production of this one by Brooklyn’s own Hype Williams… some great visual concepts with the use of Kanye’s silhouette over-layed with the Chi-town background. UNIQUE to say the least, and with a great song to boot:

Blender Magazine polled the canidates on their 10 favorite songs, then had Randy Newman and Girl Talk analyze their choices. Now THIS is the way to choose the leader of your country.

BARACK OBAMA
1. Ready or Not Fugees
2. What’s Going On Marvin Gaye
3. I’m On Fire Bruce Spingsteen
4. Gimme Shelter Rolling Stones
5. Sinnerman Nina Simone
6. Touch the Sky Kanye West
7. You’d Be So Easy to Love Frank Sinatra
8. Think Aretha Franklin
9. City of Blinding Lights U2
10. Yes We Can will.i.am

JOHN McCAIN
1. Dancing Queen ABBA
2. Blue Bayou Roy Orbison
3. Take a Chance On Me ABBA
4. If We MakeIt Through December Merle Haggard
5. As Time Goes By Dooley Wilson
6. Good Vibrations The Beach Boys
7. What A Wonderful World Louis Armstrong
8. I’ve Got You Under My Skin Frank Sinatra
9. Sweet Caroline Neil Diamond
10. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes The Platters

By Jon Coplon

Great news:

1: Chuck Palahniuk’s book, “Choke” is going to be a movie, released September 26 in the US. Chuck Palahniuk wrote “Fight Club.” “Choke” is just as awesome and a little dirtier. Read it.

2: Radiohead will be scoring the movie. Originally recruited to create the song for the closing credits, when they saw the movie, they liked it so much, they decided to score the whole thing. Yessssss.

Check out the trailer:

This is Ginuwine’s real name. This, and other hilarious parent-given names, compliments of Mark Edward Nero of About.com’s R&B column.

• Akon - Aliuane Badara Thiam. He’s claimed in
  the past that his full name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, however this has never been independently verified. (More info about Akon.)
• Alicia Keys - Alicia Cook. She’s said in interviews that she chose the name ‘Keys’ to represent her piano keys.
• Angie Stone - Angela Brown. FYI, she was known Angie B. back in the 1980s when she was in the singing group The Sequence. (More about Angie Stone.)
• Babyface - Kenneth “Kenny” Edmonds. (Read About R&B’s Q&A with Babyface.)
• Billy Ocean - Leslie Sebastian Charles.
• Bobby Valentino (aka Bobby V.) - Robert Wilson. He was born around Valentine’s Day, hence the stage name.
• Chaka Khan - Chaka was born Yvette Marie Stevens, but adopted the first name Chaka during the Black Power Movement in the 1970s. She took the surname Khan after marrying bassist Hassan Khan.
• Donna Summer - LaDonna Gaines. She adopted her stage name after marrying Helmuth Sommer, an Austrian actor.
• Dwele - Andwele Gardner. (More about Dwele.)
• Erykah Badu - Erica Wright. She changed the spelling of her first name as a girl. Badu in Arabic means truth and light. (More about Erykah Badu.)
• Ginuwine - Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, Jr. (More about Ginuwine.)
• India.Arie - India Arie Simpson. (More about India.Arie.)
• J. Holiday - Nahum Grymes. It’s a biblical name - his mother’s a preacher.
• John Legend - John Stephens. (More about John Legend.)
• Joss Stone - Jocelyn Stoker. (More about Joss Stone.)
• Kelis - Kelis Rogers. After marrying the rapper Nas (Nasir Jones), she legally changed her name to Kelis Rogers-Jones. (More about Kelis.)
• Macy Gray - Natalie McIntyre.
• Marvin Gaye - Marvin Gay Jr, with no ‘e’ on the end.
• Maxwell - Maxwell Rivera.
• Ne-Yo - Shaffer Smith.
• Nokio (of Dru Hill) - Tamir Ruffin. (The real names of all Dru Hill’s members.)
• Omarion - Omari Grandberry. (More about Omarion.)
• Patti LaBelle - Patricia “Patsy” Holte. She was given the name Patti LaBelle by Blue Note Records when her former group, the Bluebelles (whose name later became Labelle) signed with the label.
• Prince - Prince Rogers Nelson. He was named after jazz pianist Prince Rogers of the Prince Rogers Trio.
• R. Kelly - Robert Kelly. (More about R. Kelly.)
• Raphael Saadiq - Charlie Ray Wiggins. (More about Raphael Saadiq.)
• Rick James - James Johnson, Jr.
• Sade Adu - Helen Folasade Adu.
• Seal - Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, also known as Sealhenry Olumide Samuel.
• Sly Stone - Sylvester Stewart. He took his stage name as an alias during the mid-1960s when he was AWOL from the military.
• Smokey Robinson - William Robinson, Jr. As a kid, he was nicknamed “Smokey Joe” by an uncle because he loved cowboy movies. Eventually the name evolved to just Smokey.
• Sisqó (of Dru Hill) - Mark Andrews. (The real names of all Dru Hill’s members.)
• Stevie Wonder - He was born Stevland Judkins, but his last name was legally changed to Morris after he joined Motown Records when he was 12.
• Tammi Terrell - Thomasina Montgomery. (R.I.P. Tammi.)
• Tank - Durrell Babbs. (More about Tank.)
• The-Dream - Terius Nash.
• Tina Turner - Anna Mae Bullock. She was given her stage name by her one-time husband, singer-musician Ike Turner.
• Trey Songz - Tremaine Neverson. (More about Trey Songz.)
• Tweet - Charlene Keys. Tweet was her nickname growing up, long before she used the name professionally. (More about Tweet.)
• Usher - Usher Raymond IV. (More about Usher.)

Don’t get distracted by GBH.TV’s hilarious commentary on the video. They are only half right. But out of all the things to call out on, they didn’t even bring up the Samsung endorsement.

And still a bit scary. Scary and awesome.

Grace Jones’s forthcoming album, Hurricane (Wall of Sound) will be released in October 2008. Expect collaborations on the album with Tricky, Sly and Robbie, Brian Eno, Wally Badarou, Uzziah ‘Sticky’ Thompson, and more.

Something to do after Little Jackie at Steven on Thursday. I’ve been in a disco swirl the past couple weeks after seeing Mike Simonetti (label head of Italians Do It Better and Troubleman Unlimited) turn out jams (for only a half hour!) like Don Ray’s Standing In The Rain and Harold Melvin & Bluenotes’ Don’t Leave Me This Way (the only one I knew). There were about 3 other ones of note, but the lyrics I saved in my cell didn’t help me track them down. (Yes, I’m a nerd - not as bad as photographing records, though).

To satisfy my craving, I’ve had Horse Meat Disco (a modern day London revival of the NY disco scene) radio shows on repeat, including a recent broadcast they did for Beats In Space. …And I do realize I probably have to dive into the bottomless pit of Larry Levan, Mancuso, Siano (who has a new Sunday party at Santos Playhouse) etc at some point now. But I hope to get a little more insight into the New York of old on Thursday.

I first saw Sparlha Swa at the New Museum when I was there to check out beatbox extraordinaire, Adam Matta. The stories this guy can tell just by making sounds with his mouth are incredible. Performing with him was the lovely, Sparlha Swa. On an acoustic guitar and singing along with his sounds blew me away. Her voice is velvety, unique, reaching, and great to sing along to. She recently came out with a new album, Live From NYC. Definitely looking forward to checking out this album.

myspace.com/sparlhaswa