Gig of a Lifetime: Vote for Lovebettie!

Photo provided by Alexandra Naples. 

Hey everyone, today's post is really just to ask you to check out the band Lovebettie in hopes that you will vote for them to play at The Grammy's! A friend of mine from Seton Hill is the lead singer and they are currently in the finals to win the Grammy Gig Of A Lifetime hosted by Surface.

It would mean a lot to me (and them, of course!) if you would at least cast your vote for them today and get them one step closer to achieving this goal. You can however, vote up to 50 times every day for the next three days and every vote helps! And only takes a second to select to give them your max amount of votes per day. 

In case you need a little persuasion in why Lovebettie deserves your votes, here's what people are saying about them: 

"Band To Watch" - Rolling Stone

"Pittsburgh's Hottest Band" - Microsoft Windows

"They will soon be headlining at big arenas." - Eat Sleep Breathe Music

"One of the most unique, best indie bands in the United States right now!" - Indie on Air!

And while I, personally, could go on and on about why Lovebettie deserves this "gig of a lifetime" I'll let them speak for themselves through sharing their music and their submission video. Here's the official music video for their song "Stranger," which was shot in Pittsburgh, and a video from the Milwaukee Summerfest, in which they perform my favorite song of theirs, "Your Own Worst Enemy." And with a special treat of this beautifully simple cover of Rihanna's "Stay" that they just posted on their YouTube channel, yesterday. 

Official:  www.lovebettie.com | Facebook:  www.facebook.com/lovebettie | iTunes:  www.itunes.com/lovebettie
Lovebettie's new CD, "RISE", produced by Jim Wirt (Incubus, Live, Fiona Apple) is now available at
www.itunes.com/lovebettie

This is a partnered post, but as always, all opinions are my own.
Thank you in advance for voting!

Bob Your Head & Smile with Donora

All photos property of Donora.

About a month ago, my brother and I were planning on going to Brillobox in Lawrenceville to see one of our favorite local bands, Donora. Naturally, I planned that I would be able to get two blog posts out of the deal, one about my first experience in Brillobox and one about a local band I love. We got there an hour and a half early, knowing that the venue is smaller than most and that they were going to have to push people away. We just didn't expect to be those people. The Donora show was sold out almost two hours before they started and we were headed out of the city to an Eat 'n Park.


Now, why do you need to know this little anecdote about Donora instead of me just diving in to tell you all about them and their new EP? Because for the longest time, I could count the number of people who know who Donora is on one hand, and two of those fingers included myself and my brother. Now, one of their songs is in a Nationwide commercial and they are selling out shows around the city, and you need to know about them before they get too big to mention on this little blog that encourages its readers to go to things and listen to bands before they become too famous to mention. So, here I am, mentioning them and spilling out my love for them, to you my readers, whom I also love, before they become too big to mention. That totally made sense right?

You cannot help but love them - just by looking at them - just wait until you listen to them!

Donora currently has two CD's out and about floating around, being awesome. Their first, a self-titled work of art and the second, "Boyfriends, Girlfriends" which is also amazing. Now, they have this EP called "Play Nice" which is swoon-worthy. My favorite song on it is "Float Away" which, like all of my favorites of theirs make me, 1) Want to dance, 2) Just "smile I can't help it," 3) Randomly quote their lyrics, 4) Bob along with the beat in the car, and 5) Blog about them.


I don't know how to describe Donora without just saying that their lyrics will instantly make you smile and are easy enough for you to learn right away to sing along with and that they have the most infectious beats and floating melodies. You want to listen to them. You want to love them. You will be happier because you did. Yes, that was me doing hypnosis through the Internet. Trust me, they will bring an instant smile to your face and a total What is Love/Night at the Roxbury moment to you, and come on, who doesn't want another reason to do that...in double time? Listen to them here and follow them here.

If I become a hipster, blame my brother.

On Saturday, bright and early, I joined my brother, Eric, for Record Store Day. We bopped all around the city to Dave's Music Mine in the South Side, Eide's in The Strip District, and Sound Cat Records in Bloomfield, to get some totally sweet deals on some exclusive music on that lovely old vinyl.

Record Store Day is a nation-wide day to encourage people to get out and support stand-alone record stores and really to promote local business. Eric, who has always been my music guru, recently has been bit by the vinyl loving bug and is using our dad's old record player. But I have just started to become more interested in the possibility of getting a record player, so I tagged along to start my collection. Guess I need a record player now!

While I have been to Dave's before, Eide's and Sound Cat were new to me and I was actually surprised at their large quantities of music on vinyl and CD. Record Store Day is not just for buying vinyl, you know. Here's a look at the goods Eric and I purchased, at got fo freee! Have a great (Music) Monday, everyone!

Brother Instagramed me while I looked for some goods in Sound Cat Records.

Me & Eric with our finds and free stuff! (I'm so happy, I found Amy Winehouse on HOT PINK vinyl.)