My favorite shows are Rockers (banging Reggae weekdays 7-10pm), 88.9@Night (real, commercial-free hip-hop and 10pm-2am) and The Secret Spot (classic soul, R&B and slow jams Saturdays and Sundays 8pm-midnight). Although we all have our iPods its great to hear new, independent music you would never hear on the mainstream radio stations. Variety is essential! And if you’re not in the car, they stream LIVE online, too. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

www.WERS.org 

WERS 88.9 on Facebook

Diego has found several ways to channel his unique approach into the music universe. As a Producer for Spectrasonics, he’s one of the principal sound designers for the multi Award winning virtual instruments Atmosphere™, Stylus™ RMX and the new Power Synth
Omnisphere®. For this epic project, he built several custom instruments and created musically playable sounds out of ordinary objects like light bulbs, pieces of furnitures, a washing machine, a clothes drying rack, a typewriter, and many others imaginative contraptions. Take a look at these videos below. I can’t get enough of this guy. Amazing!

Its amazing how both kids and adults will let loose in a costume store while testing out all the interesting wigs, accessories and suffocating plastic masks. It makes playing “dress up” cool as opposed to what you would look like if you just walked around your house dressed as Harry Potter or Dracula. 

 

-Lori

   
Jenkees’ Youtube videos are equally as notable for his laid-back demeanor and always-friendly introduction, “Hello, YouTubes!” Jenkees typically explains the piece in the video either at the beginning or end of the video a he offers sincere motivational text and tips to others who have a passion for music.

Jenkees’s popularity grew significiantly after he was Dugg on Digg.com in March 2007.  His fans grew in number yet again after he was mentioned in a column by ESPN.com Page 2 writer Bill Simmons.  I guarantee you’re going to love Ronald Jenkees.  Although there’s some speculation that his persona is at least a partical act to gain attention for his music, I don’t pay attention to that.  Maybe his “character” drew me to his music, but I wouldn’t still be a fan if he did not continuously pump out synthetic masterpieces without fail.  Check out Ronald Jenkees.  He’s the man. 

-Lori

Tiffany and I met through Twitter a few months back. We’re both energetic, creative, empowered people but we also share a special bond; we both have Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythmetosus.) That’s actually how I found Tiffany on Twitter, by searching for other people who were talking about life with Lupus. I found out about Lupus a few years ago through my step-mother who also has the disease but its amazing how many people are unaware of what Lupus is and how it affects people. I feel extremely lucky to feel as good as I do because some people suffer daily and even die from Lupus-related complications. Still, when people find out I have Lupus I feel like I need to explain what it is because there is hardly any education about this condition. This is why I love Tiffany and appreciate all of her positive energy she puts out into the world in hopes of educating people about Lupus and raising funds for a cure!

Tiffany is also the founder of “Friends Against Lupus.” If you want to learn more about Lupus, how you can help raise money to find a cure or to simply read some incredibly inspiring words that give you that extra lift we all need throughout the day, add FAL on facebook!

Lupus is what’s known as an “invisible disability” because you can’t tell if someone suffers from it just by looking at them. Odds are, you probably know somebody with Lupus. A BIG thank you to Tiffany and a giant Lupie hug to all the Lucious Lavender Butterflies out there.

-Lori

A few weeks ago I was driving in the car with my little brother and he starts singing the hook to “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” (well, kind of)  What I heard was “Be my incidentally!  Be my incidentally!”  Its funny how kids will sing lyrics that don’t make any sense.  What am I saying…half the lyrics in mainstream music today don’t make much sense.  I remember when I was a little kid I used to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I loved singing, dancing and karate kicking to the theme music.  Problem was, I kept saying “herums in a hap shell” instead of “heroes in a half shell!” 

It got me thinking of all the music we know and love…or think we know.  Sometimes its the lead singer who’s hard to understand.  Case in point: FALL OUT BOY!  When I first saw “Sugar We’re Going Down” on MTV years ago I remember liking the song but really having no idea what the hook was all about.  We’re going down down in an illy around?  Whaaat? This FOB tune is another jam that has some hilarious miscontrued linguistics.

And how about Sean Paul?  I dig Sean Paul, but half the time I can’t make out what he’s saying through his thick accent.  Sometimes half the fun is making up funny lyrics to songs from artists like him.  “Jordee ahn Rebecca!”

What songs have you been slaughtering lately? I still sing the wrong lyrics to Nirvana’s “All Apologies” because its reminds me of being a little kid in the 90’s and listening to Nirvana, RHCP, Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins with my hippie older cousins. “Oh no, ezoweeaahhh!” I don’t care if it IS “All we know is all we are”…I’m singing ezoweeaaahh.

-Lori

But now that we’re all back to the grind, I wanted to share with you an amazing non-profit I just discovered; Sing For Hope. Founded by opera singers with a desire to lift their voices for social change, Sing for Hope is a charitable organization that mobilizes more than 600 professional artists – from classical musicians to photographers to Broadway performers – in volunteer service programs that benefit schools, hospitals, and communities.

Sing for Hope is dedicated to bringing the healing power of art to those who need it most, and in today’s world, that feels more urgent than ever. This is an INCREDIBLE non-profit that CAVATA fully supports and endorses. Keep up the great work!

www.singforhope.org

-Lori

I will say, though, the more pieces there are to a puzzle…the harder it is to put together.  I can’t tell you how many problems I’ve run into since we’ve started- between problems with the screenprinter, the server for the online store and even having a web designer steal hundreds of dollars from us (yep, that happened) it seemed nothing was going right.  However, if you want somethign bad enough, you’ll fight for it even if the odds are stacked against you.  From these mistakes we learned how to do business properly in order to avoid problems, who in the industry not to work with, what to expect with certain projects and (most importantly) how to bounce back when problems do arise.  At the time I was never happy when something went wrong but now I am actually thankful these things happened because it makes our success that much sweeter. 

So, as many of you know we ran into a few snags with the summer line (and I’ve tried to answer all of your email/facebook/myspace/twitter questions so if I missed yours here’s the answer!)  The new tees are dropping THIS MONTH.  I’m on my way out the door to bring the latest shipment to our seamstress who sews on every single custom hem tag by hand.  After that, its photoshoot time!  Sorry for the delay.  CAVATA works HAHDUH (aka harder…if you’re a Bostonian you’ll get it).  Maybe I’ll even put up a discount code to make up for the delay…keep checking  back and thank you for all of your support everyone.

-Lori

In other news, CAVATA is going to be a vendor at 3 events: SOWA, Hyde Park ArtScene and the Open Road Music & Art Festival!

JULY 18th (and future dates TBA)

JULY 11th

SEPTEMBER 4th

-Lori