Free Show For Those With Nothing Better To Do Tonight

Do you live in LA? Are you bored? Have you no friends?

Good!

Head over to the 3rd St Promenade tonight in Santa Monica and see Links live at the Apple Store. Por libre! Free! No cost.

I've actually seen a band live at an Apple Store and it's a fun time. Go. Please. Make friends, listen to indie dance music, have a ball. We are your friends. You'll never be alone again, so come on.

E

Giveaway Winner!

Yeah, I wish I had a better title than that, but I don't. You guys remember the giveaway I had going last week? Well now it's over! And we have a winner!

In case you have amnesia or are retarded, here is a rundown of the contest rules and regulations: think of a super epic band name. That's is. Yeah, it was that easy. And let me say, you guys are amazingly talented when it comes to naming bands. Record labels across the world need to be hiring you guys, stat!

That said, I had to enlist the help of superhuman wonder girl V to make this decision. (I guess it wasn't smart for an indecisive person to have a contest) And the winner is........

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Noriah! With the awesome sauce name: She Bangs!

That means Noriah wins the Chester French single, and uh, whatever else I have lying around here. I didn't really put a gift bag together. My b.

Noriah, your fabulosity goes in the mail on Friday! Congrats! And thanks to everyone who entered! It was really sweet that you guys like me that much...oh wait, no, you just like free shit. Those are my favorite kind of girls!

And since I have some kind of uncanny ability to befriend people who work in the music industry, hopefully more giveaways will be possible in the future. Ole!

Deuces,
Erika

Old New Music One Stop Shops

People (ie my bf and occasionally a friend) are always (sometimes) asking me, "Erika, where do you find all this great music?" Because, let's not lie here you guys, I have impeccable taste in music. And you all do too. It's what separates us from the girls who buy the HSM soundtrack.

Anyway, so I tell people I get it from the internet. I mean, I buy albums too, but they're getting more and more expensive these days, and until I can afford one of those fancy record players that converts records into mp3 files, it's easier to just get things in a format I can already use.

So then they ask me, "Where on the internet?" I am not surprised if bit torrent is failing them in terms of musical selection. Mostly because it sucks. But I have friends who would sell their souls for bit torrent, so I don't say anything to them. I do however tell them about some amazing music sites where the music is not only free, legal, and good, but free, legal, and good. Like how I did that? So did I. And now I think the time is right to share them with you. But if you guys have any awesome sites of your own, feel free to let me know, because I could always use new music. I mean, who couldn't? Except for the Music Nazi, but he's no fun.

1. Music.Download.com: This website was my Ground Zero. Not in the 9/11 way. So, okay, forget that. It was my Square One. I found this site while browsing through Google to find some mp3s of Dead Blonde Girlfriend. And it's, um, amazing. The site is organized by musical genre, country, and even city. So if your friend tells you about this band but all you remember is that they're from Philly, you can still find them. Once I started looking through it, I couldn't stop. I spent hours a day after school on this website, discovering music I never knew existed...bands like The Goldstars, Faux Jean, WinterKids, Rye Coalition, The Natural History, The Trivs, Oxford Collapse, Social Studies, and many more! My music library grew like 200 fold daily. And, as it happens, the regular Download.com has a ton of computer programs you can download for free! It's where I got the audio editing software I used in my internship as well as the program I used when, ahem, I made my own DJ mixes. Ahem.

2. Daytrotter.com: If you are not aware of Daytrotter's existence, you must not like indie music. And that's okay. But almost every indie band has done a session for these guys. Basically, you go to the site, pick a band, and then you get to read a very, VERY well written interview about the band, and then at the end, you get to download tracks from the band's albums, which they re-recorded just for Daytrotter! And fo' free! Gratis!

3. Spinner.com: Spinner is like Blender, or Spin, but with more focus on indie music and less douchebaggery. They update their site with a new free mp3 daily, and on top of that they have a ton of cool things to look at. Just go, now. It's neat. Dope.

4. Label websites: Come on kiddies, label sites are probably the most untapped well of music-y goodness around! And it's super easy too. Here, I'll walk you through it: Pick an indie label. Don't go with anything big because Def Jam, Island, or Sony BMG, whathaveyou, aren't gonna be giving away mp3s for free. But smaller ones, like Matador and Team Love have a ton of music ripe for the picking! Suicide Squeeze used to have a ton of free mp3s too, but I don't know what happened, because they don't anymore. Still, dig around and see what you find. The thrill is in the hunt, right?

Um, now go find yourself some music. Vamanos, vamanos! And then maybe one day we'll meet up and compare collections. Just like Pokemon battling, but with audio files. And yes, I should be working for a music magazine. Soon enough...soon enough.

Deuces,
Erika

Shit!

I love to swear. I try to incorporate "curse words" into my daily vocab as much as possible. I swear in my dreams, on paper, out loud, and in my thoughts. Nothing feels as satisfying as a good, well deserved "Shut The Fuck Up!" It's awesome. Mostly because I think it's sort of interesting and humorous that a few choice four letter words can make some people so uncomfortable. Honestly, with all the other words created to make people wriggle in their seats (enema, cum, cunt, bulge, squelch, and my personal issue word, juggernaut), why take offense to ones that sound so silly? Have you ever heard a toddler swear? It's fucking adorable!

The best thing about cuss words is that they have characters of their own. If some badass chick with a badass attitude said, "Aw, hell naw!" it would pass as acceptable. People would nod or shake their heads in agreement. But if some squeaky clean, penny loafer wearing Brady Bunch extra type girl was to say it, you know everyone would say "Shut up" or just give her the side eye. I find swears fascinating. Up until I was about 7, I thought "shoot" was a cuss word too. I would hesitate when people said "shoot the ball" or when I wanted to ask them something and they said "shoot!"

But once I hit middle school, language in all its forms was free game. And I haven't washed this mouth out with soap since. I love Rated R movies because they swear so much. I watch things on FX because there's less censoring. When I meet a man who can use "fuck" casually and effortlessly, I melt a little. That's what I like so much about V. Anyone heard her speak in real life? That girl's got quite the potty mouth and I love it!

My fave swear is "shit." It's so useful! Like, "oh shit!" or "shit is going down!" or "everything's gone to shit!" When I'm around my mother I have to sub "crap" in, but mentally I'm using "shit." But "bitch" is a promising runner-up. Unless it's used in contempt, the word is pretty much perfect. Ever been called a bitch during sex? It's really hawt! When I see my friends, I go "what up bitches?!" A lot of women seem to get offended by the use of bitch in common everyday settings, although I don't see why. Isn't this another one of those taking the word back from "the man" type sitches? Whatev.

Swear a lot world. I like to hear it!

Catch you bitches later and shit,
Erika

OMG OMG OMG

So I got my mail today and what did I find in the box...?

The Missbehave x Nails Did collab shirt!

If you don't remember, Missbehave was giving these babies out for free, with just one string attached: send them a mixtape.

Well I did, and mine was weekend themed so it had "Ignition" by R. Kelly, "Friday I'm In Love" by the Cure, "Friday Night" by Lily Allen, and even a Flight of the Conchords song. So it was pretty much bangin'. Did you guys send one in?

Anyway, I tore open the package and put my shirt on right then and there. Oh Christ...this thing is super comfy and long enough for me to just wear with some leggings...it's perfect. I'm so happy!

Did anyone else get one?

Deuces,
Erika

Surround Sound Tomorrow Night!

Hey yous guys! Thursday really does equal party!!! It's been a slow day for V and I, so I thought I would clue you in on this heavy clam bake! (Anyone get that Clueless reference??)

Stereogum and MyOpenBar.com present Surround Sound, with Quinn Walker, folk man and YYY's bestie Imaad Wasif, and San Fran's Girls. You can RSVP for the show here to pay $7, or you can be a douche and pay $10 at the door. Your call.

Market Hotel
1142 Myrtle Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
9 pm - 1 am

I don't know if it's 21+, though it prolly is, but if not, it's at least 18+.

UPDATE!!! THIS SHOW IS ALL AGES!!! Find out more here!!

Have fun stupid freaking New Yorkers, who get to have all the fun. I still hate you.

Love ya, mean it!

Deuces,
Erika

Happy Birthday, Erika

Oh...shhhh...listen to that sound...it's me screaming in the distance. Why?

BECAUSE IT'S MY BIRTHDAY BITCHESSSS!!!

If I said I was not waiting twelve months for this single moment in time to happen, I would be lying. I don't know what time it says this post went up, but in Atlanta, it's currently 12:18 am. My boyfriend and I are gonna take out the grill, the beer, da birfday cake, and the fun to the rooftop of these lofts in Downtown Atlanta for a combined 4th of July/Erika's birthday bash spectacular. Equation as follows:

Erika+birthday+fireworks+midnight madness=Sooo much fun!

If you live in the Atlanta area, are not SUPER creepy, are available all night on July 4th, like to hang out with black people and white people that wish they were black, and like free drinks, hit me up and come celebrate the madness with me!

Presents are mandatory. Those who are not in ATL can send them in the mail. I also accept direct faxes of your credit card info. Thx.

Bringing the bashes to the masses!

Deuces,
Erika

UPDATE: I found this rad video on Youtube. It's to a different Erika, obvi, but I'd like to pretend it was made for me.

Stay Fresh With A Mixtape

No, not like a Muxtape, which is just something little hipster douches make so they can stay on the up and up. Myflashfetish is the convenient website that allows you to make an mp3 playlist for your blog page, fo' free, with just about any song you can imagine. There's no limit on how many songs you can add. All you do is type in the artist or song, hit search, and then post it up.

At the end you get a code to paste it into your blog. Yeah, you have to be a member, but membership is free and takes two seconds, promise. It's awesome. My mp3 playlist is in the form of a cute little mixtape.

You can also get Myspace shite, music videos, and streaming television for your site. Fresh!

And if you like mixtapes, you can get the kind for your computer right here!

Deuces,
Erika