Army of One

Click here for more pictures of FAME “Army of One.”

Brave New World

The annual Subzero festival featured an innovative fashion show, telling a post-apocolyptic story. The eye-catching show was brought together seamlessly through the vision of creative stylists Eric Belladonna and Jennifer Thomas along with hair by 5Color Cowboy.

Generations of Change

We teamed up with Goodwill of Silicon Valley to produce the second annual Eco Chic fashion show themed ‘Generations of Change.’ Designs were created specifically for the show, and were auctioned at the end of the night to benefit Goodwill.

Pretty in Pink

This year, we met talented designer Alyssa Nicole, who shared with us her beautiful “Pretty in Pink” Collection as a part of her clothing line Bird by Alyssa Nicole. She was also honored by Women’s Wear Daily for her styling on Chictopia.com

Music Moment

San Jose gave a warm welcoming to Cold War Kids as they performed at the summer series Music in the Park.

Downtown San Jose’s summer music festival Left Coast Live featured artists OK Go and Neon Trees.

The Elemental Issue

Here’s a behind-the scenes look at the moments that made 2010 a successful year.

On set with Vanessa Houle wearing designs by the talented Hector Manuel while shooting for the Revival Fashion Show campaign.

Britteney Reynolds models in a photo shoot we did with Umbrella Salon.

We’d like to thank everyone who have helped make 2010 such a successful year. See you in 2011!

He2: Are you excited for Treasure Island?

WS: Definitely.

He2: Who are you looking forward to seeing perform the most?

WS: That’s tough. I am excited to see Belle and Sebastian. I’ve never seen them play before and I’ve liked them for a long time.  I like a lot of the bands this year. I don’t know, it should be fun. I mean She & Him might be fun.

He2: Do you think you would be able to play together with Belle & Sebastian?

WS: Hopefully, I mean ya that would be cool.  Like you guys said, they hardly ever play out here so who knows.  It is weird when you play music for a long time you start to cross paths with everyone and then you’ll see them again and it’s weird. You know, you start out and you just like music and then you are actually having conversations with these people. It is weird to have that perspective on things, but I dunno. I kind of like not meeting artists to be honest.  I like not having any personality attached to it, so it is just their music and nothing else.

He2: How does it feel to be on the same level?

WS: We are not on the same level, people don’t know who we are.

He2: You’re on the same lineup though.

WS: I know, it’s weird.  This is definitely the biggest show we have ever played.  I think the capacity is like 12,000 people or something crazy.

He2: Are you nervous?

WS: Ya (he laughs)

He2: How was it when they told you they wanted you to perform?

WS: We were surprised.  We are probably the only band on the lineup that isn’t represented.  It was neat and I was surprised. We’re stoked.

He2: So you are playing on Sunday?

WS: Ya, we are the first band.  I think we play at noon. It is always weird to play that early in the day. We are actually playing on Saturday too.  They are doing a Treasure Island night show so we won’t be able to go on Saturday for the festival during the day. Rogue Wave is playing that night as well.

He2: Have you met any of the other bands?

WS: I know the singer of the band Paper Cuts. I have met him a couple of times. He is really nice and he actually used to live in San Jose too. Other than that, no.

He2: Have you ever been to Treasure Island?

WS: Ya, Treasure Island is a man made island. It is completely flat and it is odd. I mean I am sure it will be crazy packed with people on that day, but I have stopped on it on my way over the Bay Bridge and I guess it used to be a military area, but it is all pretty much gone. There are all of these weird barracks and stuff. It is a weird space. I like all of the islands in the Bay Area. I went up to Angel Island. It is a state park with no cars on it. You can take your bike out there on the ferry. It is really cool.

He2: How do you feel having grown up in San Jose influences your band? Did everyone in the band grow up in San Jose?

WS: Ya, we are all from San Jose. It’s hard to say. I feel that it definitely influenced us, but it is hard to say how. I feel that it is awkward I am eating falafel and talking about it (he laughs). It is really hard to say how your environment influences your music.

He2: Do you feel like you are representing San Jose?

WS: In a weird way. I mean people always want to know about San Jose. People are intrigued by San Jose. They either are like, “What? You’re from San Jose?”  or like, “Whoa! San Jose, what’s that place like?”. You know, it gets like one or two reactions

He2: Are you going to be playing in San Jose anytime soon?

WS: We played here twice this summer.  At the Blank club and Left Coast Live.  We are trying not to play too many live shows. We have been playing shows nonstop for five years and we are sort of tired.  So we are just trying to work on songs. We are trying to just only play when we travel because we have been playing around in the Bay Area nonstop for forever so we are sort of trying to not do that right now.

WS: People from Psycho Donuts came up on stage and started throwing donuts at the audience during the Left Coast Live show.

He2: How was that?

WS: It was alright until people started throwing them back onto the stage. We totally stopped and just started eating the donuts. We thought that they were part of the festival or something because they were just like, “Mind if we come up here and say something real quick?” and so we were like, “Okay.” We thought it was some type of professional related announcement and then they started talking about their donuts.  We were like what the hell is going on right now? They were giving out their donuts, starting a donut war.  We were rather baffled by the whole event. I guess I like people who are doing crazy things.

He2: What do you do besides The Mumlers?

WS: Well, I give guitar lessons to an eight year old girl. She is my one student, but she’s learning. And right now I am taking a class on print making at and art school in Oakland.  My girlfriend works at the art school so I get to take free classes.  I just started that today so that is why I am so tired.  At nine in the morning I had a six hour print making class.

He2: Do you like it so far?

WS: It was fun. It was really neat I haven’t done anything like that. I have never really taken art classes. It should be really cool I really like the process and the technology and everything. Hopefully I can handle it, I dunno. I am a night person. I go to sleep really late. I literally slept 2 hours last night.

He2: We love your album covers and fliers. Who does the artwork for them?

WS: The newest album Don’t Throw Me Away was done by this girl Mitsy, who is from San Jose. She is my favorite artist from San Jose. She is incredibly talented. I have never met her before. She is a recluse. She like doesn’t leave her house, but I saw her pictures, her drawings at a local art show and found out she knows Felix, one of the guys from the band.  So, we got in touch with her and talked her into doing it.  We talked to her on the phone a lot. The first album was done by this woman name Lori and she was friends with one guys who owns our record label and she is also a little reclusive as well.  She is a very talented artist.  She does very cool hand drawn animations. She is from out in the Central Valley.  I am a big fan of both of their works.

He2: We noticed that you like to use artwork instead of band photos. Why is that?

WS: Ya we have always hated band photos.  You know, there are all of these dudes trying to look cool. I mean you have to have band photos, but it has never been our thing.

He2: Are you guys close friends?

WS: Ya, I’ve known three of the guys since I was about 12 years old and we all grew up skateboarding and they happen to also be really talented at playing music, and one by one I roped them into helping me record songs.  We are down to five people now. Slowly the band keeps shrinking. We started out with seven. We had a tambourine player who, well everybody gets married, that is what happens. The tambourine player got married and she got a real job and then our bass player got married and got a real job. So we are just five unmarried people without real jobs that are still doing it. But ya, we are all real good friends.

He2: What would you say your genre of music is, it seems to vary?

WS: What do you think?

He2: We couldn’t pinpoint one genre.

WS: I guess we try not to sound like everything else, but we definitely like a lot of different types of music and we don’t try to fit into a category. We just pick what we like and then mash it all together.

He2: What top three genres would you say you integrate into your music?

WS: Well, soul music is really big for me. I love it and I think that really seeps into what we do a lot.  I like song writers. I like people that have really interesting lyrics, so I mean there are people like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan influence me a lot. And then what else seeps in there? I guess you could say abstract? We are pretty nerdy. We like a lot of stuff.  I don’t know we could go on and on, but I don’t like to break it down.

He2: Do you write all of the songs?

WS: Ya I write them, but we arrange them together.  I just sort of come in with the words and the melody and they figure out what instruments they want to play.

He2: Are you in charge of the band’s Facebook Page?

WS: I don’t even have the code.  I am not even allowed on that Facebook page.  Felix is the dictator of that relm.  Felix is the crazy guy on stage.  You will know him in a second on stage. He is probably rolling around and wearing a Raiders poncho. But ya, he likes controlling the Facebook.  I get overwhelmed.  I answer all the emails and everything else pretty much, so heck I am happy I don’t have to touch that.

He2: Is there a new album in the works?

WS: Ya.  We don’t have any dates set or anything to record, but we have been piling up the songs.  Have you guys ever heard of the Black Heart Procession? The Black Heart Procession is one of my favorite bands and it was one of those weird situations where when I was a teenager I was really into them and now t hey are talking about us going on tour with them throughout the country.  We’ve been talking about going down to San Diego with them and doing some recording, but we haven’t really nailed down any dates with them. But, that might be our next project.  Some people don’t like them because they are kinda downer music, but I like them.  They make Bright Eyes look pretty happy.

He2: Is this your favorite place to eat in San Jose?

WS: It is definitely up there. I miss this place, banana shake and falafel.  This is my jam right here.

He2: Can you tell us about growing up in San Jose?

WS: I used to work at Camera, the movie theaters, a long time ago, I was a projectionist. I loved it. I got to see so many movies. I love movies. I mean, the only thing that sucked was it hardly paid, but being a projectionist was nice because I got to hide out in the projection room. I didn’t have to shovel popcorn or take tickets or anything like that.  Actually I got to do a lot of music while I was working because I would start all of the movies and then I wouldn’t have anything to do.  It’s been years since I’ve worked there.

He2: Can you recall a certain song that was written there?

WS: Ya, that Red River Hustle one on the first record was written in the projection room. Parts of a bunch of the first album were written there.

He2: How do you normally go about writing songs?

WS: Usually I will have a lot of ideas for songs.  I’ll write down the ideas and then I’ll come back and try to make them into something longer when I have the time.  I get stuff done when I have a lot of time to myself. I stay up all night to work on things.  It is actually really hard for me to write songs because I am always bothering people because I am loud and I get really self conscience. The last house I lived in in San Jose I lived with 10 other people and everybody could hear me anytime I did any music. A lot of times I get the most done when I go house sit for my mom. My mom lives in Oregon and that is when I will write a lot of stuff at once.

He2: Any other popular music that you are particularly liking right now?

WS: I like that band Beach House. I know they are doing really well right now.  Our good friends The Morning Benders as well. I like their stuff a lot. They were a tiny band, but they are getting bigger. I like that band Dr. Doll, they are good. I really honestly like mostly old music. What do you guys like?

He2: What is a normal band practice like for the Mumlers?

WS: We are pretty unorganized.  We actually need to practice this Sunday because just playing for fun is what we do all the time. We just get together and mess around. Most of the time we will just start playing some crazy techno song and then all of sudden, four hours later, we are still playing the same techno song.  I am just kidding.  Well, actually no not really, it sorta does turn into that.

He2: Do you see The Mumlers making it big time in the future?

WS: I would love to be making a living from it somehow.  It is not like I don’t take it seriously. When we record, we record well. But, I go in waves with that. I get really gung-ho sometimes and then I lose all hope (he laughs) and assume I will be broke forever. So I don’t know. Sometimes I feel really encouraged, sometimes I feel people are really response to it and we are doing well in terms of our realm of things, but other times I just feel like we are too non-pop, too non-everything else. I really don’t know.  I think all of us will always make music. Who knows if we will always make music together and what happens will happen.

As Will finished his falafel, he informed us that he was headed to play solo at a festival in Nevada City.  He had to go drop his sister’s dog off however, and drive up to Oakland before the show that night. For a busy guy, he didn’t seem to find squeezing in an interview to be an inconvenience. We like that. After we parted ways we ran into each other again at Mill Cottons, a sporting goods store minutes late. A strange coincidence, in which Will responded, “Do you know if they sell badminton birdies here?”

By: Jenn Elias and Calli Perez

Beach House, a Baltimore-based band opened for the indie-rockers.  The stage went psychedelic with light-up pyramids, and a starry backdrop of white lights. While the stage filled with smoke to set a misty mood, the band doled out husky vocals and 70s-infused beats, which spoke to the crowd on an intimate level.

To hype the crowd back up again, Vampire Weekend started their show with Holiday from their new album Contra and kept the night going with hits from both of their two albums, as well as a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s  ”I’m Going Down”.

Bowties adorned the collars of the crowd as they danced and crowd surfaced to the preppy tunes. Their songs “Campus” and “Oxford Comma” spoke to the audience appropriately on the UC Berkeley Campus.

Enzra Koenig’s voice reached incredible heights as he serenaded the crowd. Every note, dance move, and word spoken was done so with conviction and charm by Koenig.

Bassist Chris Baio, Helium’s new-found crush,  seemed to be having so much fun onstage with his unique dance moves to the beat of his own bass, which he traded for a cello during “Taxi Cab”. The crowd joined in Baio’s dance party, particularly when “A-Punk” blared from the stage. I have never seen so many oxfords jump around quite like that.

Chris Tomson’s drums, with Rostam Batmanglij adding counterpoint melodies on an array of keyboards or guitar completed the bona fide rock show.

After the encore the boys of Vampire Weekend came back out to play four last songs including “Mansard Roof” which they invited fans to raise their hands in the air and sing along.

I am unsure when they will be back in what Koenig called, “The Area”, better know as the Bay Area again, but  I recommend for all to catch this fun part dance party, part rock concert that Vampire Weekend delivers.

You will leave the venue dancing, smiling, and just wanting more Vampire Weekend.

The band made their debut in 2004 with “Funeral,” followed by “Neon Bible” in 2007. Both albums discuss the need to escape as a child, but in “The Suburbs” they are returning to their places of upbringing. This third installment aims higher than past albums with an intense exploration on the topic of suburbia through 16 like-themed tracks.

Arcade Fire has a miraculous method of transforming intimate conversations into rock anthems with an epic backdrop of pounding drums, guitar strings and piano keys.

It is clear that Butler and the rest of the band looked to their roots amid creating “The Suburbs,” however their thoughts on the subject can be contradictory throughout the tracks.

At points the band seems to be merely criticizing suburban life and the sprawl of strip malls that America has become. But then there is a point where Butler opens up and sees suburban family life from possibly his parents’ perspectives, ditching the adolescent escapism he sings about in the band’s first two albums.

Throughout this album, Butler reflects on old-fashioned times of hand-written letters and criticizes the modern kid, claiming that he lives in a city with no children in it.

He sings of his trouble trusting people, whether it be a businessman, a millionaire, or even kids with whom he had an art class with once upon a time. He makes the realization that maybe he does not trust anyone nor has he found his true identity yet.

This lost identity is portrayed calmly, as something far from a crisis, and brings up the idea that finding one’s identity may be the main struggle in life, but a struggle that can be overcome.

Meanings aside, “The Suburbs” is a beautiful collection of melodies that is unsurprisingly among the top-25 albums on iTunes and has transformed Arcade Fire into one of the top alternative bands of this generation.

Silicon Valley fans can catch Arcade Fire on tour, in Berkeley at the Greek Theatre on Oct. 2 and 3.

by Calli Perez

Art & Sole is a charity event that was created last year to showcase talent of local artists and to establish a network of fundraising events for charities.  These local artists will transform blank shoes into works of art as if they were their canvas.  This year’s beneficiary is San Jose Downtown Association’s (SJDA) Downtown Doors, which is a youth art competition and exhibit that brings together talented high school artists and property owners, resulting in public art displays that enhance downtown San Jose’s urban landscape.

The event starts at 6 o’ clock pm and includes a silent shoe auction, live art by featured local artists, live performance by singer Amy Serrata, music by DJ Sig-O, and give aways.

Featured artists for this year’s Art & Sole are:

Orly Locquiao

Colin Baker

Erikka Hugger

Mike Aveno

Jorynn Villar

So come out and see for yourself all of the talent that is in the Silicon Valley.  The $10 admission charge, silent auction, and donations will all go to charity.  Also, each donator will receive a free raffle ticket.  Should be a great night!

Fashion Art Music Exhibition, F.A.M.E. brought a dynamic collaboration of live music, artists, and models to the Women’s Club in downtown San Jose last weekend.

The venue was filled with local venders and boutiques showing unique products and creations. From bow ties and cupcakes, the Women’s Club contained wall-to-wall street-inspired designs.

Live music included master mixes and beats from performers DJ ThuyVu,
DJ Quantum,
DJ Snare, and
TradeMark Krew.

Treatbot, a karaoke ice cream truck, made an appearance outside of the building, where gourmet ice cream was served to those who wanted a sweet break.

Outside of the building, sunshine and summer-like weather greeted painters and onlookers viewing the artist’s developing creations. Alongside the artists was another deejay playing as people of all ages went freestyle and break dancing.

Umbrella Salon was the official hair salon of the night, creating looks for the runway models and prize packages.

As the night neared the end, everyone’s attention veered to the F.A.M.E. finale as models walked the runway in new and recycled clothing by retailer Crossroads Trading Company from Blossom Hill.

Several beautiful models sported spring’s biggest trends of floral prints, stripes, cropped tops, overalls, oversized sun hats, and bright makeup.

F.A.M.E. S/S ‘10 not only shares this unique experience with the general public but also the opportunity to take home a piece of it.

DATE
Saturday, March 20, 2010

TIME
6:00PM to 10:00PM

LOCATION
San Jose Woman’s Club
75 South 11th Street
San Jose, CA 95112

ADMISSION
Tickets can be purchased at the door at the day of the show
General // $10
Pre-Sale // {Please sign-up for the mailing list}

$1 from each ticket sale will benefit the Lupus Foundation of America, Inc.

Check Bobbivie.com for updates and the list of OVER 40 ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS that will be exhibiting at the event!

Make sure you get their early. The Facebook Event already has a huge attending list.