Summer Kicks

JB

It's definitely not cool to like Justin Bieber. But I don't care.

- Joel

Justin Bieber feat. Usher - "Somebody to Love"

Song of the Day

Thad Cockrell. Some sunny Nashville pop/county for this Friday. Download the song or watch a performance below.

- Joel

Thad Cockrell - "Rosalyn"

KD

No better superstar in the NBA right now than Kevin Durant. Authentic. Humble. Loyal. He gets it.

- Joel

Let's Colour

Watch the ad for the Let's Colour Project. The campaign seeks to "spread colour all over the world".

- Joel

Best Coast+Kid Cudi+Rostam

What's with company's recruiting from the world of music to drive online traffic and sell things? The latest corporate culprit is Converse with the track "All Summer", a collaboration from Best Coast, Kid Cudi, and Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend). Check out the Converse site to listen/download the song and watch behind the scenes videos. Or just click on the link below.

- Joel

Best Coast/Kid Cudi/Rostam Batmanglij - "All Summer"

Summer Mix

It's summer and The Morning Benders have been kind enough to put together a mix of their favorite summer tunes. Soak up the rays and enjoy some tunes. Tracklist and download link below.

- Joel

1. Steve Martin & Bernadette Peters “Tonight You Belong To Me“
2. Xavier Cugat “Perfidia (Instrumental)“
3. The Avalanches “Since I Left You“
4. The Radio Dept “Where Damage Isn’t Already Done“
5. The Walkmen “There Goes My Baby (The Drifters Cover)“
6. Bibio “Lovers’ Carvings“
7. The Morning Benders “Have One On Me (Joanna Newsom / J Dilla Cover)“
8. Twin Sister “Lady Daydream (Cassette Version)“
9. Arthur Russell “Lucky Cloud“
10. Blur “Caravan“
11. Smokey Robinson and The Miracles “Ooo Baby Baby”

The Morning Benders - Echomix1

Brooklyn Summer

We got the remix. Download below.

- Joel

Jay-Z feat. Lil' Wayne - "Summer in Brooklyn"

Photographer of the Day

train tracks leading to Newell, CA © Kevin Miyazaki

Kevin Miyazaki. Wow.

- Joel

Happy 4th of July

© Joel Thomason

It's been a good day. No better way to finish it off than to listen to my all time favorite 4th of July song, Ray Charles' rendition of "America the Beautiful".

- Joel

Ray Charles - "America The Beautiful"

New Desk

I need a new desk. If I had $375 to blow and lived in Chicago, I'd buy this old science table from Agent Gallery Chicago. I wonder if any stores in Kansas City have anything like this for a little bit less money.

- Joel

Jerry Bywaters

Where The Mountains Meet the Plains, 1939 © Jerry Bywaters

I've thought a lot about Jerry Bywaters lately. Maybe it's because every time I watch a Western film I think of Bywaters' paintings. When I lived in Dallas, the very first event I ran for the O'Donnell Foundation was at the Meadows Museum on the SMU campus. The Meadows happened to be featuring an exhibit from the Bywaters collection at the time. I spent an entire week running hundreds of students through an exhibition entitled "Coming of Age". However, I spent my spare time that week wandering through the Bywaters exhibition over and over again. I love his interpretations of the Southwestern landscape.

- Joel

Rain Storm, Colorado, 1940 © Jerry Bywaters

Ranch Near Tucumcari, 1946 © Jerry Bywaters

Carnival © Jerry Bywaters

Song of the Day

Check out this simple remix. It's Jay-Z rapping "99 Problems" backed by The Dap Kings (of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings). It's been 7 years since The Black Album dropped. Do you think Hova still has 99 problems?

- Joel

Jay-Z - "99 Problems (Dap Kings remix)"

Morning Benders - "Stitches"

What do you get when you put 75 California hipsters in a room? Apparently you get some pretty cool music. Yours Truly recently posted this video from a session recorded last December. If you'd like to download the audio version of the live session, I've put that below as well. Enjoy.

- Joel

The Morning Benders – "Stitches (Yours Truly Session)"

Get Off My Lawn

Thanks to AVS and Trey Kazee for the heads up on this photo zine. Get Off My Lawn features photographers 34 years of age or older. As the Sad Kids blog points out, too often photographers must be younger than 34 to be considered emerging artists. But sometimes people are late bloomers, or their greatness just isn't recognized until a later age. So why not have a zine devoted to the older and wiser photographers? This is the very first zine in this collection, so I made sure to snag it. Now I can collect the whole set if more are to come. I'm still frustrated that I didn't know Allison when her first zine came out. I've got 3 of 4 but wasn't around in time to purchase the first one. I won't let that happen again.

- Joel

Outside of photographs in history books, my experience with the Sistine Chapel has been limited. Then I stumbled upon this interactive website created by the Vatican and now I really know what the fuss is about.

Michelangelo killed it (as if you didn't already know).

- Joel

Interactive Sistine Chapel

Song of the Day

A little remix from Janelle Monae featuring B.o.B. and Lupe Fiasco. Enjoy the video (and the hairdo) and download the "Wondamix" below.

- Joel

Janelle Monae featuring B.o.B. and Lupe Fiasco - "Tightrope (Wondamix)

Mike Huckabee

I found the article on Mike Huckabee in this week's edition of the New Yorker incredibly interesting. Though the magazine and the politician lean in different directions, the author does a good job of toeing the line between the two. Check it out at the link below.

- Joel

"Prodigal Son" by Ariel Levy

Lissie - Pursuit of Happiness

After hearing this song and watching the video, I have a semi-crush on Lissie Maurus. Not really but you gotta love a girl who digs hip hop and can sing like she can. Here she covers the Kid Cudi track "Pursuit of Happiness". I think I like it better than the original version. You can watch the performance and download the live recording below. As with any hip hop, beware of a bit of language.

- Joel

Lissie - "Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover)"

Some people have loved Notorious B.I.G. since back in the day. Other people claimed they had always liked him after hearing Girl Talk layer "Juicy" on top of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer". People in both camps will appreciate this mixtape. San Francisco DJ wait what has put Biggie on top of last year's indie darlings The xx. Biggie spitting on top of indie minimalism makes for a good match. Watch a music video of one of the tracks below and go here to download the album.

- Joel