The Shins Live in Manhattan
March 8, 2012
In association with NPR Music, The Shins played a private show at le Poisson Rouge last night to promote their upcoming album Port Of Morrow which drops March 20th. I know, I’ve been posting mad Shins shit, but fuck it. This is my favorite band, and them coming out with a new album after a five year hiatus is a big deal here at Westcheddar. Last night, the show streamed live on the NPR Music iPad app (which is free and super dope), and I tuned in happily, enjoying every minute as they played the perfect mix of classics and new tracks from POM. It was a pleasant alternative to watching the Knicks stink it up for a second night in a row. And now, the entire show is available to watch on the NPR Music website! Yes!
The Shins Live at le Poisson Rouge, March 7th, 2012 | NPR Music
By the way, I was sent a copy of the new Shins album this week, and I really like it. At first, it’s hard to hear songs that I was introduced to originally through live recordings and YouTube footage. But the production is great, and it’s totally my speed, so I’m slowly but surely starting to prefer the album versions to the live ones I previously had in heavy rotation. Def go get it when it comes out. Peace.
The Check-In with Jadakiss
February 29, 2012
Harrison meets Yonkers as the Rosenthal brothers from ItsTheReal interview Jadakiss over NBA All-Star Weekend in Orlando. This is a true Westcheddar connection…
via MTV
More NBA All-Star Weekend The Check-In interviews with everyone from Dwight Howard to comedian Kevin Hart HERE. And for those missed it, peep my Westcheddar interview with the Rosenthals, and my Complex interview feature with Jadakiss. Ahaa!
Mercer Lounge
February 29, 2012
The Shins’ frontman James Mercer has been on a radio tour supporting their upcoming fourth album Port of Morrow, due out March 20th. As all my loyal readers know, Mercer is my G, so I gotta post some highlights from his on-air acoustic sets. I blessed you a couple weeks ago with an exclusive live clip of “It’s Only Life,” a POM album cut that has yet to be released. Now, here are a couple more recent performances. First, one of my all time favorite Shins tunes, “Young Pilgrims” off Chutes Too Narrow. Then, the beautiful “September,” which is on the new album. And finally, live from WFUV at Fordam University in New York, a very cool acoustic rendition of Wincing The Night Away‘s “Australia.” Enjoy…
“Young Pilgrims” Live at 101.9 KINK.FM in Portland, Oregon
“September” Live at 107.7 The End in Seattle, Washington
“Australia” Live at 90.7 WFUV in the Bronx, New York
To hear the entire hour long James Mercer appearance on WFUV’s Words and Music, click HERE. Nice interview, and a couple more live songs too. Can’t wait to hear this album!
*BONUS*
The Spin Interview: James Mercer
*UPDATE*
Mercer brings his band along to perform “Bait and Switch” off Port Of Morrow live from some sort of music den in Portland, Oregon. I remember when they debuted this song live a couple years ago. Super sick.
Matisyahu Takes Tarrytown
February 20, 2012
Matis put on a very special performance in Tarrytown last week in support of Westhab (run by his father), gathering his homeboys Moshe, Aaron, and Rob onstage for semi-stripped down set. Matis rocked most of the show on a stool, and sounded better than ever. But the highlight of the night was when he invited a young kid, Luke Weber, on stage to sing “One Day.” Luke, who you can tell from his bald head is going through some tough times, brought the house down. It was quite a moment. Watch the video above. And oh yeah, I made an appearance too. I must say Luke was a tough act to follow though. But spitting “Let’s Walk” with Moshe on drums is always a winner. Felt good to be back on stage with the mic. Doesn’t happen that often anymore. Check a little iPhone crowd footage snippet below for proof…
Thanks to Matis for pulling your old pal on stage, and for hooking up my BGC kids with free tickets. Get well soon Luke! We’re all rooting for you!
Bronx Tales
December 10, 2011
My latest Complex Magazine 25 Essential Songs online feature is with none other than Bronx legend Fat Joe, one of my favorite rappers of all time. He spits hard, has plenty of charisma, and he knows how to make hits. And he had plenty of great stories to tell about working with guys like Big Pun, Nas, Kool G. Rap, Big L, and Eminem, and even had me cracking up on the phone a few times too! Plus, he got on speaker phone when the interview was over to say what’s up to a few of my middle school kids at the BGC and show them some love. Here’s the link to the feature. Enjoy…
Fat Joe Breaks Down his 25 Essential Songs
And here’s a clip of Fat Joe I dug up (that he referred to in the interview) backstage at The Fever on Video Music Box with Ralph McDaniels before his first album dropped. And everybody is in the building with him! KRS-One, Kool DJ Red Alert, Dres from Black Sheep, Showbiz and A.G., Lord Finesse, DJ Premier, Sadat X, etc. Pretty ill…
Thanks to Macho and the god Fat Joe for making the interview happen. And special shout to my boy Kam down in Miami for the connection. Cheah!
All The Way Live with Black Moon
August 29, 2011
My latest All The Way Live piece for Charged.FM features legendary Brooklyn rap group Black Moon, who recently performed their classic debut album Enta Da Stage in its entirety with a live band at Southpaw in Park Slope. The show itself was excellent, as were opening performances by their Duck Down brethren Smif N Wessun and Sean Price, and I had the pleasure of interviewing Black Moon’s lead MC, Buckshot, before their set backstage (see pic below). We talked about his past performance experiences, rocking with a live band, memories of a classic cipher with Nas and Kool G. Rap, and being in the studio with Biggie. Check the link under the pic for the full review of the show, and the interview with pics and video from the night too, courtesy of Charged.FM…
All The Way Live with Black Moon
And here’s the video for Black Moon “I Got Cha Opin (RMX),” a song that instantly brings me back to my high school years. I remember thumping this in our limo on the way to the prom!
Big thanks to Duck Down generals DruHa and his brother NoHa from White Plains for helping to hook up the interview (and their publicist Matt). I’ve known those dudes for years, and DruHa actually let me open up for Smif N Wessun at The Knitting Factory back in 2005, something I will never forget. Good people. And big props to Black Moon and the rest of the Duck Down crew for putting on a great show! Real hip hop lives!
All The Way Live with Jones Street Station
August 16, 2011
My latest All The Way Live feature for Charged.FM is with Jones Street Station, a very talented and cool folk rock band out of Brooklyn. I had the pleasure of interviewing them backstage before their show on August 4th at Bowery Ballroom, and the write up includes my sit down discussion with them about their past and present performance experiences, a review of their set, and pictures and video from the show. Check out the link below, and also a video clip from Bowery Ballroom of their wonderful cover of country singer John Hartford’s “Tall Buildings,” which was their closing number….
All The Way Live with Jones Street Station
For more on Jones Street Station, including a free download of a new song from their upcoming album, click HERE. Peace out.
Pearl Jam In Yonkers ’91
August 9, 2011
This is pretty fucking incredible. In 1991, Pearl Jam played an in-store acoustic set at the old Tower Records in Yonkers on Central Avenue during their promotional tour of Ten. I never knew about this until last week, when my boy Tommy Dee (PJ fanatic) told me about it, and said the video was on YouTube. Turns out there’s actually some decent footage of their whole set. This is as Westcheddar as it gets people. Enjoy these vintage 914 clips from one of the greatest bands of all time…
“Alive”
“Black”
“Wash”
I still have never seen PJ live. Definitely near the top of my bucket list. Later dudes.
Dear Amy
July 27, 2011
Dear Amy,
I first was introduced to your music by my wife around the time Back to Black came out. We just started dating, and she heard “You Know I’m No Good” on Hot 97, the version with Ghostface Killah rapping on it, and asked me to find it for her. From there, we copped the album, and fell in love, literally. My memories of falling in love with my wife coincide with listening to Back to Black, which is ironic because that album is made up mostly of songs that vividly describe the painful experiences you were having with your man. But it truly was a staple in our early times together. We listened to it constantly in the car and the crib. And as I do with all artists I’m into, I went searching for rarities and unreleased songs of yours, and found a couple gems to add to heavy rotation.
Pretty instantly, Back to Black made its way into my desert island Top Five Albums. I mean, the songwriting and production style is just amazing. And your voice, holy cow, it’s one of a kind. I became obsessed with watching these live videos of you performing your songs unplugged (like the one posted below), and I was in awe of your natural ability. You would just kill it to the point where I’d have to rewind certain moments in the song because I was so impressed with how effortlessly you were going in. And the fact that you were Jewish blew my mind! I felt a deep connection to you as a fellow Jew with soul. Pardon the corniness, but it’s true. I used to love to hear you in interviews say how you felt like a little black boy trapped in a white girl’s body.
On New Year’s Eve of 2009, about eight months after our wedding, my pregnant wife and I invited some friends over to celebrate the new decade. After the ball dropped, we all danced along to your live DVD, mimicking your background dancers and singing all your lyrics. It was the perfect way to start 2010. Five months later, our first son was born, and we would play your music around the house all the time, making memories to your songs.
Like many of your fans did, I’d constantly wonder when we were going to hear some new music from you. Eventually, it became more common to see you in the tabloids than to hear you on the radio, and that worried me. But I continued to root for you, because I believed in you and knew there was a beautiful person beneath all the rubbish, and hoped that you would be well enough one day to give us another batch of classic songs. Unfortunately, you passed away before you were able to.
I’m still uncertain about what happens when humans die, but I’d like to think that you are now an angel, free from stress, addiction, and heartache, spending your days singing and laughing and smiling with other angels who care about you. My hope is that somewhere there is a vault filled with songs of yours we have never heard, and that someone will be kind enough to open it up and share them with us one day. But regardless, you are immortalized by the timeless music you already gave us.
Thank you for everything you contributed to our world. You will never be forgotten. RIP.
ip
Best Of Westchester Top 5 Tables 2011
July 21, 2011
Westcheddar correspondent Billy Henderson was back on the scene last night at Westchester Magazine’s Best of Westchester 2011 party to scope out the restaurants with tables serving the tastiest free food. Check the resume…
It’s that time of the year again all. Thanks to Uncle Ralph for another great night. A little hot this year but that’s always better than rain. I stepped into this year’s party with a right hand that had a second degree burn and within an hour I had another issue. Upstairs I came across a French restaurant that was serving a little cup with shrimp and a pretentious coconut foam. As I got close to see what what was in the cup besides shrimp, some Frenchman attempted to “foam” my cup. A second or two into this “foaming”, the foam gun exploded into my left eye. After an emergency trip to the bathroom to clean my eye, I convinced myself that strangling some French guy is probably a bad idea. I returned to the same table to many apologies and I stood a few feet away as they “foamed” me a second time. Apparently coconut foam is more important than salt. Maybe next year Frenchie. So now I have one hand, one eye and a Bronx palate. Let’s get into it.
1. Crabtree Kittle House
11 Kittle Road
Chappaqua, NY 10514-1800
www.kittlehouse.com
914.666.8044
This place shows up with one chef, an attractive young lady to serve, and some suit to serve and bullshit. There is one dish. One great dish as opposed to three embarrassing ones. A slice of cherry wood smoked Duck breast, over a toasted fennel/cabbage slaw paired with a pickled cherry. Lights out. Amateur hour is now over. Put away your foam blasters and step your duck game up.
2. Mt. Kisco Seafood
477 Lexington Avenue
Mt. Kisco, NY 10549
www.mtkiscoseafood.com
914.241.3113
Not a restaurant but they do cater. The setup was a simple one; a table full of shaved ice that was covered with Connecticut Clams and Oysters from Virginia. Both were shucked in front of you and were described as “candy from Virginia and Connecticut.” Couldn’t have said it better.
3. F.A.B.
222 EAST MAIN STREET
MT KISCO, NY 10549
www.fabbistro.com
914.864.1661
These guys are in the running for me every year. The first dish was fresh Tuna salad on a homemade bun that was a size of a quarter. The second was a perfectly cooked scallop over a fresh corn relish with a roasted shallot aioli. Two strong dishes from a French place. No french foam or chefs involved at this table. Go figure.
4. Sushi Mike’s
146 Main Street.
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
www.sushimikes.com
914.591.0054
Sushi Mike’s is always great. I overheard Sushi Mike telling another chef that he made 5,000 pieces of Sushi this year. Apparently 5,000 pieces of Sushi is just enough to let you run around the place, get drunk and flirt with rich white women. We’re gonna need a few thousand more pieces next year playboy. Just sayin’.
5. X2O
71 Water Grant Street
Yonkers, NY 10701
www.xaviars.com
914.965.1111
Chef Peter Kelly was on hand to personally serve his tuna seviche in a plastic cone. Fresh Tuna, watermelon, pineapple, dicon, poblano pepper and some source of acid. Tasty, clean and refreshing. Had to use the handle of my plastic fork to loosen the pieces jammed at the bottom of my cone. A much smaller pain in the ass than digging coconut foam out of your eye.
Shout to Westcheddar for being the best blog in Westchester. You gotta year to get a babysitter Stanley. See ya next year. Get there early. That’s my list. If you don’t agree, I really don’t care. Gracias.
Nice work Billy! Always an entertaining breakdown, and I love to see Mt. Kisco taking home three of the top five tables, you know your boy is well rooted in that community. I’ll def try to make it out next year. Stay cool Westcheddar!
