October 20, 2008

Exposure Tonight @ White Room

Click to see it bigger.

Ah, one of my favorite parties. Too bad I'm freezing my ass off in Chicago right now (I got hardcore hailed on Friday night on the way to a party)! The great usual DJs will be going crazy in the red room at White Room (1306 N. Miami Ave.) tonight on the 1 and 2 for the weekly Exposure party. Don't show up if you don't like dancing, seriously. Go and meet yourself some cute electro hipster girls, get your 2-4-1 drank on and be sure to say hey to my girl Krystle for me!

RSVP for the event via Facebook.

October 19, 2008

Pictures From Last Night


Check out the Miami New Times site for more of Justin Namon's documentation of last night's Spin The Vote party at White Room!

October 18, 2008

Spin the Vote Tonight!

Click to see it bigger!If you're in Miami this weekend and are savvy about getting the democratic vote out (Obama '08!), then you really should hit up Poplife's Spin The Vote event tonight at White Room (1306 N. Miami Ave)! DJ Arthur Baker (best known for his work with artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, Al Green etc.) will be making an appearance to spin a special electro set for the night with John Robie. Resident DJ Aramis and DJ Induce will also be there dropping hot tracks while reps from Obama's campaign and congressman Robert Wexler get you hyped about the upcoming election. Make sure you go! There's no cover and a 2-4-1 drink deal before midnight.

If you haven't registered to vote, do it! No joking around, get on that shit.



Chicago: If you haven't bought your >Yelle tickets yet, do it now. The show's on Tuesday at Logan Square Auditorium (2539 N Kedzie Blvd).

October 13, 2008

NARS Releases 2 New Sexy Kits

The Safer Set is available on sephora.com for $37.

Earlier this month, the high-end cosmetic brand, NARS, whose best-selling blush color is called "Orgasm" comes The Safer Set. Along with the cream stick multiple in the "Orgasm" shade come two branded condoms and a little black book of ways to say 'no' so you can let the cute-but-not-THAT-cute boy know you're not down to get down without getting any blood on your hands. I'm semi-obsessed with NARS, so I'll be planning on getting this for it's limited-edition value.

No kids, it's not just a ha-ha -- a portion of the sale benefits Amfar programs to promote global safe sex education initiatives. Cheers to the man behind the brand, Francois Nars!

Also, if you guys don't have me added on MySpace yet, do it! I love friends.

October 11, 2008

Chicago's Street System Explained

You know how when you get off of the CTA you see the signs that would say for example, "Addison 3600N 940W"? If you're not a local (or maybe you are and just never bothered to decipher it), this can be ridiculously confusing. Sure you're on Addison Street, but what the fuck are all these numbers? I mean, what do you care?

So I've figured it out.

Chicago's gridded street system was originally laid out by the Chicago Board of Alderman in 1908. All addresses in the city are numbered from the center point intersection of State Street (which runs North and South) and Madison Avenue (which runs east and west) in The Loop area. For every 1 mile outward in any direction there are 8 city blocks. Henceforth, every 800 in numbers is a mile according the the "hundreds" block system. That's why you might hear directions that sound like, "about two thousand north on Western" or "twenty-four hundred west on Augusta" which both describe locations near the intersection of Western Avenue (2400 W) and Augusta Boulevard (1000 N).

That's pretty much the main idea with the grid system. Obviously it's near impossible to memorize the order of the streets by name, so here are some references that you may want to look into. Look around 24-hour diners or call 1 (800) 326-5399 for Turner's Expanded Chicagoland Street Guide, a staple piece of bound matter for anyone looking to get around with ease in the city. You can also take a look at the Chicago Neighborhoods and City Street Guide to get a better bearing on the "hundreds" grid system.

If all else fails and you can't figure it out, go to the nearest CTA employee manned next to the turnstiles at a train entrance and bug them about it, they're supposedly schooled to the teeth about the area. Good luck finding your way to the club and enjoy your Saturday night!

October 9, 2008

YELLE'S American Tour!

There's definitely no reason for you not to see the French electro cutie superstar, Yelle, in Miami! She's on her "C'est Amerique" tour and will be rocking the Polish American Club (1250 NW 22nd Ave) tomorrow. It's all ages and only $15. Buy your last minute tickets here. Yelle will also be coming to Chicago on the 21st -- I'll be there, you can count on it!




"Ce Jeu" (Check out the Nerf bullet-adorned sunglasses!)


"Je Veux Te Voir"


C'est Amerique tour dates are as follows:

Sat 10/11 : Orlando, FL @ The Social
Mon 10/13 : Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Tue 10/14 : New York, NY @ Webster Hall
Wed 10/15 : Boston, MA @ The Roxy
Tue 10/21 : Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium
Wed 10/22 : Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
Fri 10/24 : Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Sat 10/25 : Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Mon 10/27 : Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Tue 10/28 : Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Wed 10/29: Portland, OR @ Berbati's
Fri 10/31 : San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
Sat 11/01 : Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
Sun 11/02: San Diego, CA @ Beauty Bar

P.S. Now when you search the acronymn "UMCB" in Google, uppermiddleclassbitch shows up on the first page! It may be last on the list, but still!! Keep visiting the site, tell your friends, and show some love! There will also be a drawing for a free giveaway when the visitor count reaches 2,000. Sign up on the mailing list (on the left under my picture) to double your chances of winning. Tell your friends about the site and keep checking back! Love you guys!

October 7, 2008

Interview with The Fire and Reason's Bella Saona!


Many a Saturday night ago at Poplife (every Saturday at White Room), I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with the gorgeous Bella and Steve of the New York electro-rock band, The Fire and Reason (TFaR).

If you're down with catchy rifts, pretty vocals and good clean dancing music (who isn't?), check them out! Give 'em some love on their MySpace! If you're in Chicago, the Kinetic Playground is located at 1113 W. Lawrence -- only steps away from the CTA Red Line 'Lawrence' stop!

Download their sampler here. (.zip format)

Miss Lix
:
So how did you first become interested in making music?

Bella Saona: I've been singing all my life. I went to performing arts school for voice. Music is my salvation!

Miss Lix: What performing arts school did you go to?

Bella Saona: Laguardia School of Performing Arts. The school the 80s show "FAME" was based on, hahaha.

Miss Lix: Did you meet the other members of TFaR at school?

Bella Saona: Nope... I went to a show with my sister and Steve was singing with his old band, Radiate. He was the lead singer and the guitarist mastermind. I walked up to him after the show and said "Hi, I'm Bella. I'm a singer too..." He gave me a CD and a T-shirt when I signed their mailing list, and we started e-mailing, working on music together -- So thats how I met steve. Lee, our other band member has known Steve since they were five. They had played in a bunch of bands together.

Miss Lix: That's cool, so you all have a background in music. So with all of you guys' previous musical talent, what do you think influenced TFaR's sound?

Bella Saona: Everything I think -- music, art, fashion, movies, life, love, sex. We wanted to meld a bunch of different genres like rock, dance, pop, and electro to make something thats fun, hot, and dancey!

Miss Lix: Yeah, I totally get that from the "Shut Up, Dance!" EP. I noticed that you have a couple songs on there that have Spanish lyrics, what's up with that?

Bella Saona: We also have a few baile funk songs in Portuguese. I am Brazilian/Italian, so I speak Spanish and Portuguese. I listen to a lot of singers like Shakira, Marc Anthony etc. so it was never a question of not singing in Spanish. My music is an extension of me so its natural for me to sing in those languages.

Miss Lix: Are Steve and Lee fluent in Spanish?

Bella Saona: Steve is, not Lee. He's Ecuadorian. We are both proud of our Latino roots, and have played a lot of Latin-based parties and stuff. The show we are doing in Chicago is a Latin/electro night.

Miss Lix: Oh, awesome. I'll totally be there! Now for a kind of fun random question... tell me about the craziest crowd you've had.

Bella Saona: Easy. We played an all ages show in the bronx with about 250 kids. It was in the auditorium of a church with no A/C. These kids were going nuts and stage diving the WHOLE SHOW! I even stage-dove twice, hahaha. We were all dripping sweat. It was insane. There were even little 12- and 13-year-old kids hitting on me! It was a trip.

Miss Lix: Haha, speaking of which, how old are all of you guys?

Bella Saona: I'm 19, and both Steve and Lee are 28.

Miss Lix: Talk about an age gap! Do you feel like they overshadow your experience at all?

Bella Saona: Haha, not really. I write the lyrics and melodies that make the songs hot!

Miss Lix: That's impressive. What's the process for lyric-writing for you? Like, are any of these songs about real-life experiences?

Bella Saona: Steve writes a beat, we listen to it in the car, I start coming up with lyrics and melodies, and then we demo it in our studio. Some of the songs are based on personal experience. Some are just fun party songs.

Miss Lix: Well I love the entire EP! Thanks for your time, Bella! Anything you wanna say to the readers of uppermiddleclassbitch?

Bella Saona: Yes, come to our show when we come to Chicago on December 6th at the Kinetic Playground! We wanna ROCK YOU! Thanks babe, you rock!

October 3, 2008

Sign Up For The Chicago UMCB Mailing List!


Sign up on the uppermiddleclassbitch. mailing list for Chicago event flyers, reviews, blog updates and contests (want the Miami newsletter)?

Comment on this post with your name, location and e-mail address. Only I will be able to see it. I promise I won't junk up your mailbox/sell your information.

XOXO
Miss Lix

Sign Up For The Miami UMCB Mailing List!


Sign up on the uppermiddleclassbitch. mailing list for Miami event flyers, reviews, blog updates and contests (want the Chicago newsletter)?

Comment on this post with your name, location and e-mail address. Only I will be able to see it. I promise I won't junk up your mailbox/sell your information.

XOXO
Miss Lix

October 1, 2008

I am, You are, We are Uncle Karl.

Karl Lagerfeld does it again for his Spring/Summer 2009 collection in the motherland of courture during Fashion Week. Here are a few highlights from the show:




And my personal favorite... I hope the darlings on Canal Street get their contacts in China to do this one.

All photos by Flynet Pictures.


And free music for you! This is my current favorite track.
Santogold - You'll Find A Way (Switch & Sinden Remix)