Brooklyn

This week I talked with Somer Bingham, the punk-edged musician whom we got to know last season on Showtime's hit reality TV series The Real L Word. Somer's gutsy performance style and authenticity led to her being cast on the show, where the lesbian community got to know her as relatable and uncompromising. Showtime then chose Somer to create a weekly video blog to accompany the series, calling it Somer Fridays. After 2 million views, its success has exceeded all expectations. Now she's started a new music project, Clinical Trials, inspired by the energy of Nirvana and Patti Smith. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with her wife, Donna, and their two mini-wolves.I talked with Somer about life after The Real L Word and her spin on LGBT issues. When asked about her personal commitment to LGBT equality, Bingham stated:I think just by being out, that's the first step that anyone can take. I happened to be on the show, which was an exposure, and saying I'm a proud, out lesbian. But I actually put on a couple of shows that were just for youth who were questioning, or who were struggling or might have been bullied. There's an organization in Long Island, called Pride for Youth, that I went to one of their charity events, and I'm going back to just hang out with the girls. I want to be exposed, and I want to be out in that way that makes other people feel less lonely.LISTEN: Somer and Clinical Trials will be appearing as part of the "Female-Fronted Music Takeover" night at TT the Bear's Place in Cambridge, Mass., on May 30. Nothing quite compares to a night of incredible bands led by women of rock, and for music fans who also love supporting LGBTQ artists, each band happens to include queer and lesbian-identifying members. The other bands are Sugar Bomb!, a Boston-based alternative/pop-rock band spawned from the brain of frontwoman Kat Hamilton; the blues-influenced grunge band Slothrust; and Licious, largely inspired by Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor and Portishead.For more information on Clinical Trials, visit clinicaltrialsmusic.com.Listen to more interviews with LGBTQ leaders, allies, and celebrities at OUTTAKE VOICES™.Download interviews on iTunes.

Celebrities and social media are a tricky thing. No one really knows whether or not stars like Katy Perry are actually tweeting or if their publicist is. Their Facebook pages don't allow for "friends," but do allow for likes. Social media is merely a method of further promoting their image, and their accounts often feel prescribed. The Knowles sisters, however, besides knowing how to treat designer loans, know how to authentically use the Internet. Last April, Beyoncé started a blog Tumblr, and almost shut down the Internet — we common folk finally caught a glimpse into the mysterious life of Queen B. Everything from her island getaways with Jay to smoking cigars to spur-of-the-moment photo shoots in Louboutin's and museum visits was documented and uploaded. Solange has been on Tumblr, too, since November of 2011. Between pictures of her son and festival romps with B, there's a genuine sense that she's in full control of her comparably different, more hipster, luxe DIY life just as Beyoncé is of her equally polished existence. Each blog captures the respective Knowles sister's aesthetic. Solange is documenting her Brooklyn world through unabashed sharing of music and disposable camera scans. Bey is showing the breadth of her work, and showing off a little bit because, hey, it's Bey. They're refreshing niches of the Internet that make these superstars a little more relatable, but don't go saying they're just like us because, let's be real here, they aren't really. Photo: Courtesy of Tumblr / mydamnblog. Read More

German thrash veterans Exumer have confirmed a New York City show on September 21st, 2013 at The Paper Box in Brooklyn. The show will be the only U.S. appearance in 2013 for Exumer and the band's second visit to the United States. Main support for the evening will be Florida death metal act Malevolent Creation. Vocalist Mem V. Stein comments: "W... Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com

Blood Ties didn’t receive the best response after debuting at Cannes, and that didn’t come as a huge surprise once it was announced that the film wouldn’t compete at the festival. However, that didn’t stop buyers from having interest in the Guillaume Canet film. It’s been reported that Lionsgate bought the distributing rights to Canet’s first English-language film. According to reports Blood Ties made $2 million from Lionsgate for the rights to distribute the film domestically, which is the highest price paid so far at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Despite opening to poor reviews, this seems like a positive spin, and that Lionsgate has faith in its commercial success. Hopefully this means Canet will fix up where he went wrong for a strong release. Blood Ties is based on a novel by Bruno and Michel Papet and takes place in the 1970s. Its central story centers around two brothers who are polar opposites. The two brothers, Frank and Chris Pierzynski lead a life of two very different worlds in Brooklyn. Chris is a cop, while Frank falls in the trappings of a life of crime. Their worlds collide as the NYPD puts heat on the organized crime, which causes an inevitable face off between the two brothers. Billy Crudup and Clive Own are in the leads as the brothers at odds, while the illustrious supporting cast features James Caan, Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Mila Kunis, Zoe Saldana, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Lili Taylor. Although this is Canet’s first English-speaking film, this isn’t his first crime drama. In fact, this is what he knows how to do best, as his 2006 flick Tell No One drew in attention. Hopefully Blood Ties didn’t receive distribution only because of its glitzy cast. Instead for Canet’s sake lets hope Lionsgate will give at least some pointers to the director. So far it’s not known when Lionsgate will release the film, but we’re certain now with a lock on the rights that Canet has time to clean it up. Lionsgate Buys ‘Blood Ties’ Out Of Cannes is a post from: The Inquisitr

Phil Jackson apparently has a lot of different options if he wants to return to the NBA. If he is offered a position, the best decision he could make would be to join the Los Angeles Clippers.While the legendary coach retired at the end of last season, he is not going away any time soon.After Mike Brown was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers five games into the regular season, Jackson was considered for the head coaching job. However, the team decided to hire Mike D'Antoni instead, which Jackson "laughed off" (via Arash Markazi of ESPN).Still, there are plenty of great opportunities around the league for him as a head coach. Most recently, the Brooklyn Nets wanted to give the 11-time NBA champion a chance, but he turned the position down because he is not looking to be on the sidelines, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:However, he did call it a "good situation" and said it was the best offer he received, according to Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.If he thought that Brooklyn was a good situation, he should love what is happening with the Clippers.Los Angeles had the fifth-best record in the NBA this season at 56-26. The squad played good defense under Vinny Del Negro, ranking fourth in the league in points allowed. But the group has the potential to be even better.With young players like Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and others, the team should expect even more improvement in the future. Chris Paul is a free agent, but he might want to stay if Jackson is in the picture.Finally, sticking around the Staples Center would add a revenge factor against the Lakers after they refused to hire him last season. If the Hall of Famer wanted to return as a coach anywhere, the Clippers would be the perfect spot.However, there should be an opportunity for Jackson somewhere in the front office. The organization could seriously use someone with this type of experience and success in the NBA. Considering the franchise has never gotten past the conference semifinals, it needs all the help it can get.Jackson knows what it takes to make a winning team, and he can help bring the necessary pieces to the organization to bring home a title.It would be a great move for both the Clippers and Jackson. The two sides must find a way to come together at some point this offseason.

Notorious B.I.G.’s Daughter T’yanna Wallace is set to pick up where her father left off and start her own clothing line by the name of Notoriouss which becomes her latest clothing project as she continues to rebuild Biggie’s Brooklyn Mint line whilst studying Business & Fashion Design at Penn State. Check out a few of the products below and head over here to purchase anything from the range. @Smithalar The post Notorious B.I.G.’s Daughter T’yanna Wallace Launches Notoriouss Clothing Line appeared first on DDotOmen.

photos by Chris Graham Mavis Staples @ Beale Street Music Fest Earlier this month, soul legend Mavis Staples made her way over to Memphis for the Beale Street Music Festival, which she played day 2 (5/4) of. Pictures and a video of her set are in this post. Mavis has other dates coming up this year, including a free Celebrate! Brooklyn show on June 14 at Prospect Park with Cody Chestnutt. Then the next day (6/15) she heads a bit north for the Clearwater Festival in Croton, NY, which she plays along with Antibalas, Judy Collins, Hot Tuna, Nicole Atkins, Sharon Jones, and more. Tickets for that festival are still available. Mavis is also working on a new album, One True Vine, which is due out on June 25 via Anti-, and being produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. You can listen to the track "I Like The Things About Me" from that album below (via Complex). Mavis isn't the only living legend Jeff Tweedy is hanging with this year. As mentioned, Wilco is touring as a support act for Bob Dylan, and that tour hits the NYC-area for a few shows in July (some with My Morning Jacket, one with Beck). All upcoming Mavis Staples dates are listed, along with the song stream and more pictures and video from Beale St., below... Continue reading "Mavis Staples played Beale St, playing Prospect Park before Clearwater, releasing Jeff Tweedy-produced LP (pics, dates)" at brooklynvegan

Man City is scattered around New York City For the club’s trip to the States (and the announcement of NYC FC), 85 Man City-themed posters designed by Luke Barclay were just put up across Manhattan and Brooklyn. A few have already been found, but the real kicker in this is that tweeting posters that are found to @KICKTV is the ticket to two seats at Yankee Stadium for Man City-Chelsea this Saturday. By the way, on a somewhat related note, we were recently sent to fan-made videos of gameday experiences with MLS clubs. One, capturing an away day to Columbus with the New York Red Bulls, was made by Nathen McVittie. The other, focusing on a night with the Galaxy in Los Angeles, is by Luis Sanchez. Both are brilliant additions to the #WhereIsFootball project. Check ‘em out, and go searching for footy in your surroundings.

Meet The Teen Age: Brooklyn's doo wop-garage quintet. What's that they always say about Brooklyn 20-somethings? (Yep -- here's the "hot button" and there's our finger pressing it.) If you ask the New York Times (on second thought, please don't ask them), they'll probably describe your 20s as a "second adolescence" or an "emerging adulthood." Basically, those gosh-darned millennials are holding too tightly to adolescent activities, like Instagramming themselves to death and dating without cementing the faintest hope of a relationship. And for goodness sake, please don't even mention the phrase "full-time job." (Er, and you'll excuse me if I don't even mention the Times' last visit to Brooklyn.) But speaking of Brooklyn and all of its artsy 20-somethings, if anyone's going to embrace the adolescence-into-post-adolescence double decade, we're happy it's NYC's melodic indie/garage act The Teen Age. Listen to The Teen Age after the jump. Purposefully vague about their names (the band is simply Digo, Micah, Bill, John -- no last names), The Teen Age formed a little over a year ago in a Brooklyn basement (where NYC bands go in lieu of garages). The Teen Age don't have much material yet, but what they do have is a distinctly memorable single called "Ventura" -- a satisfying crunch of Strokes-meets-Wavves garage guitars, Pulp-era-Jarvis Cocker vocals, and a dance party-ready chorus. "Ventura" also comes with a DIY-chic video, featuring grainy black-and-white footage of the troupe rocking out in -- what else? -- a basement. Gritter still, The Teen Age's first-ever single, "Evil," doesn't sound anything like Interpol's slick song of the same name. Instead, the fuzzy, distortion-packed track features the band's lead singer growling, "She was only 19/ But she had a way with words" and "Am I evil/ Or just in love?" Hmmm, we're guessing those two took the less adolescent/"second-adolescent" route and didn't meet on OKCupid. Rediscover (or hold on to, as the case may be) your youth at The Teen Age's next show on June 16 at Muchmore's in Brooklyn. + Listen to The Teen Age. + Watch The Teen Age's "Ventura" video. Photo credit: The Teen Age's Facebook

Here's how Barneys does #Brooklyn: