PIGEON JOHN - LOUIS LOGIC - ONE BLOCK RADIUS - Wed, Feb 8th

[spectrum]

PIGEON JOHN bio:

It all started in the early 90's at the Good Life, home of the West Coast underground hip hop scene. The boot camp for artists like Freestyle Fellowship, Kurupt, The Pharcyde, and Black Eyed Peas. Every Thursday night, a young cat by the name of Pigeon John would come out form the quiet streets of Hawthorne, CA to showcase his songs and skills. For the next several years, he grew and learned how to truly rock any crowd, whether it be hip hop or punk rock, he would adapt and relate to them with honesty. He was booed, he was praised and he was honed to become one of the most prolific MCs of his time.

In the recent years, he's been a part of the groups, Brainwash Projects and L.A. Symphony, whose albums, "The Rise and Fall of..." and "Composition # 1", have been named classic by the underground. He's been featured on many compilations and has been shone brightly on countless guest appearances. Pigeon John has also toured the U.S. eight times over, as a soloist and with L.A. Symphony. He continued to make moves with LAS by becoming a featured artist on the Yahoo.com/NBA summer tour, appearing in a two page Levi's adds in Spin magazine, and scoring a featured song in the movie "Get Over It", starring Kristen Dunst and Sisqo. Along with 6 LAS songs, Pigeon John's song, "Identity
Crisis" can be heard on the XBOX games, "Project Gotham" and "NBA Inside Drive 2002". His independent debut album, "Pigeon John is Clueless" has sold over 11,000 copies out the trunk so far.

Now, in 2003, the future is here! PJ's 2nd solo album, "Pigeon John is Dating Your Sister" is making it's way to stores nationwide. In this project, he blends melody with rhythm, heartbreak with hip hop, and washes away stereotypes. His songs tie the ear down and enrapture the audience from start to finish. With influences from De La Soul to the Beatles, Pigeon John opens up a brand new sound that will relate to all. His lyrics come from the heart, his beats come from the crates as he connects with backpackers, cheerleaders, and punk rockers alike, with ease. His shows are stripped down and legendary, melding energy and humor- he is uncut, raw, and hilariously honest. He is defining his generation and is making music that is present, now, and destined to become the soundtrack to many lives. He is spearheading a new genre...stay tuned!


LOUIS LOGIC bio

It is rumored that he was born trapped inside a beer bottle at an exclusive clinic, the lovechild of a pickled 70's starlet knocked up by a rock star passing through town. Some people say his stomach is coated in stainless steel, and his liver, made of barroom dartboard cork. Still, the most mysterious of his attributes is his uncanny ability to pen an endless number of odes to both alcohol, and the wanton lifestyle that so often accompanies its usage. They call him the Dragon, and the menacing shriek of his song can be heard throughout the expanse of this earthly world.

Somewhere between the crack of the aluminum ring at the top of the very first can of Budweiser he’d ever drank, and the light hissing sound emitted by the carbonation, Louis Logic was introduced to both alcohol, and the U.T.F.O. hit, “Roxanne, Roxanne", at the delicate age of 11. By no means a natural at anything, really, he struggled to retrain his voice, having been raised in a very Italian home and neighborhood, to sound as he put it, “less white”. After years of practice and several bad demo tapes, the burgeoning rap failure found his voice and total disaster was averted. It was just one year after the completion of his bachelor’s at Penn State University, that he recorded his first release “Logistics 101”, which ultimately served as the B-side of his first 12”: “Planet Rock” featuring L-Fudge. With the help of L-Fudge’s popularity as an underground MC, Louis networked the release of this record in conjunction with Superegular Recordings, and Jedi Mind Tricks frontman, Vinnie Paz. Then, in a succession of beloved, yet offensive 12" singles including "General Principal" featuring J-Treds (with the widely favored B-side, "Factotum"), "Loudmouth" and "Guilty As Charged", Louis carved his name in the great barstool of rap. He spawned an impressive discography of collaborations with a cadre of underground rap's most respected artists, including indie rap favorites, Jedi Mind Tricks, J-Zone, Celph Titled, and recent Atlantic Records signee, Apathy, as well as extracurricular group associations - The Odd Couple, and the Brews Brothers.

In 2003, louis released his crowning achievement to date the “Sin-A-Matic” LP, which was hailed as debut of the year by a number of critics and print and online publications. The album was lead by the single “Street Smarts” and heated b-side scorcher, “Diablos” featuring Celph Titled, which even broke into BBC1 commercial radio in the UK. The second single, perhaps the critic and listener favorite “Idiot Gear” continues to console wayward men everywhere who are foolish enough to delve to deeply into their loved one’s past sex lives in 2004.
louis' intoxicated stylings have taken him to the Scandinavian wonderlands of Denmark, Sweden and Iceland, and on cross country U.S. and cross continental European escapades, the likes of which parallel the wandering Beat anecdotes of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity, Jack Kerouac's most celebrated nomads. With plans to undertake more than 4 months of U.S. and European touring in 2004, louis is set to release his first collaborative LP, The Odd Couple starring Jay Love and louis logic, "Alcohol/Ism". The album, featuring beats by the Avid Record Collector and J.J. Brown, with appearances by J-Zone and Celph Titled, is expected to hit stores in late summer. Keep your eyes out for the first single, "Between Your Legs" b/w "Double Fisted", and other releases from the Drunken Dragon, as well as a traveling circus of live hip-hop, heroic binge drinking, and other such acts of depravity.


One Block Radius Bio
In today's hectic world, it's often hard to remember to make time to have fun and unwind. Many of us would love to be able to turn to an album that forces us to have a good time, encourages us to laugh your worries away and makes us groove to the group's infectious sounds. Like that of the Pharcyde a decade before them, California-based One Block Radius' energetic, lighthearted brand of humorous and insightful hip-hop does just that.

Made up of writer, producer and singer Marty James (formerly of Scapegoat Wax), nimble Hieroglyphics-affiliated rapper Z-Man and fellow Scapegoat Wax alumni and turntable maestro MDA who backs up Marty on vocals, One Block Radius have created an exciting new musical movement with its adventurous debut album, Long Story Short. The spunky collection features a batch of lively, creative beats that stretch hip-hop's sonic boundaries to deliver something distinctively different. It's a fresh style of music that endears, entertains and melts stress away as it takes a good-natured look at life's complications.

'We want to open peoples' minds up a bit, says Marty, a rare talent who can deliver high quality songs at every stage of the recording process, from writing to rapping to singing to production. He also often sings in an appealing falsetto. "The album has a bunch of different creative forces that went into making it" Marty continues. "I hope the album sparks people's creative sides. I want us to keep progressing in the fashion of an OutKast where you have the first record and it just grows and when it's fully developed, it's a beautiful thing. We are dudes that want to push the boundaries creatively."

For evidence, check 'Wake Up Tomorrow,' the trio's funny take on getting too drunk for your own good; "Black Mercedes," a surprisingly charming tale of an unfaithful girl that includes a nod to R&B singer Oran "Juice" Jones; and "I Like Him," where Z-Man recounts a surprising encounter at a recording session with actor-singer Jennifer Love Hewitt. These charming cuts display the group's winning comedic bent and its imaginative songwriting, which knows no limits. "We're not trying to fit a mold," MDA says. 'We're not trying to look at certain groups and try to copy them. We're just ourselves.'

The creative energy extends to the funky, old school feel of 'Not Enuff,' a clever love song that sounds as if Rick James and Prince put it together. "We were all pumped on the beat but we couldn't come up with a subject," Marty recalls. 'We just started talking about our relationship with girls and the next thing you know we had a whole song going.'

The group shifts sonic gears on the reflective "Alone." It's a compassionate solo cut from Marty that deals with the inner emotions people wrestle with when loved ones are no longer present. A testament to One Block Radius' uplifting outlook, the song sounds more optimistic and hopeful than wistful and depressed.

"It's about missing someone and just trying to figure out how to deal and move on with your life when you lose someone or something," Marty says. "It's about when I lost my grandmother when I was 10. She was a real big influence and helped raise me when I was a kid."

Marty also references his grandmother on the bouncy, piano-propelled "Loud & Clear." This song, a layered look at life in a stress-filled city, features one of Marty's most infectious beats. "That piano in there had me just hypnotized," Z-Man says of the cut, which was one of the first the group recorded for Long Story Short. Marty came with an idea and the chorus made me think of some stuff. It just kind of popped up and it gave us a good start. We were like, "OK, if we can do this kind of stuff right off the bat, then we can make a whole record.''

That creative energy and excitement made recording Long Story Short especially rewarding for Marty. 'It was my favorite experience recording a record because it was just us in the studio,' he says. 'There was no real A&R dude chirping at us, no producer trying to whip us into shape. When I had this idea, I wanted to keep it real raw and have the album have a real gritty sound.'

And once Marty, Z-Man and MDA started working together, they were amazed by how everything was so close to their studio ' hence the name One Block Radius. 'We thought about where we recorded everything and how we formed and everything seemed to be real communal as far as everything was in walking distance,' MDA recalls. 'That's how we grew up, on a block where everything was in walking distance and all of our friends were around the corner.'

It wasn't always that way, though. Each of the group members comes from dramatically different backgrounds. Marty grew up in rural Chico, California, north of the Bay Area, while Z-Man was born and raised in San Francisco. Then there's MDA, who was raised in Indiana.

Marty formed with MDA Scapegoat Wax, which was signed to the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal Records, while Z-Man became a member of the Hieroglyphics rhyme family. After the dissolution of Scapegoat Wax, Marty wanted to collaborate with the witty Z-Man, whose sly and inventive underground material impressed the equally innovative Marty.

Now, as One Block Radius, Marty, Z-Man and MDA are thankful to be living their dreams of making and performing music that reflects their playful personalities. "We're humble cats," MDA says. "We're just having fun doing our music and performing. When we perform, we just want everybody to have a good time. We're not all about trying to be stars. We're real lighthearted about it, but at the same time we know we're putting it down."

To make a Long Story Short.

[Goodfellow]

sick sick! i'm sure i'll find some peeps to go to that one

[scue]

Is this 19+?

[dave mcnasty]

FUCK YEAH

i thought Louis Logic was never gonna come here!!

and i just started listenin to Pigeon John recently and he's dope too

this'll be a fuckin sick show

[spectrum]

Originally Posted by rdsml

Is this 19+?

yes

19+

only 5 days away!

[dave mcnasty]

spectrum bring Lord Finesse and his D.I.T.C homies to vancouver!!

[spectrum]

tomorrow!

[spectrum]

tonite!

[dave mcnasty]

YEEAH

will there be tickets at the door? i got some friends tht mite wanna go

[spectrum]

Originally Posted by McNasty

YEEAH

will there be tickets at the door? i got some friends tht mite wanna go

yep - we're releasing a batch of tix at the door

do remember...its an early event

doors at 9
1am curfew

[dave mcnasty]

ight cool

[Skyles]

that was fucking rad.

[dave mcnasty]

LOUIS LOGIC !!

the show was sick......

Louis Logic killed it......such a good performer....drinking on stage and doin his own djiing with his ipod lol......he did some new songs which was sweet too......i talked to him for a bit and got a couple pics...and a signed vinyl.....dope guy....he told me he's got a song on his new album called "classy mcnasty" which was wicked

One Block Radius was cool....i never knew them before this but they were definately talented....i heard some songs i liked

Pigeon John rocked a good show....personally I dont like him as much as Louis Logic but he's still really dope.....brought a totally different vibe to the stage and got the crowed BOUNCIN

wicked show....i like how Louis Logic and One Block Radius were dancing in the crowd for Pigeon John too

Louis Logic said he'll be comin back in like April and I'll be there for suuuuure