Tuesday Coffee Break: Tip Your Server

As we’ve been discussing this morning, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer made a comment that got some notice over the weekend. After stopping at

the Eagle Street Grille in St. Paul and learning that that some waiters there apparently make 0,000 a year, Emmer proposed cutting minimum wage for employees “making a lot of money.” (in many states other than Minnesota, it’s legal for restaurants to pay servers who earn tips below minimum wage). Emmer says tying base pay to tips will “level playing field so the employers can continue to exist, survive and thrive.” Read more

Kylie – Aphrodite

By time of Kylie Minogue’s eleventh album, 2010’s Aphrodite, she had been releasing records for over 20 years. Most artists who’ve stuck around for that long end up rehashing their past catalogs and/or growing stale, but Kylie manages to avoid these fates by constantly working with new collaborators, keeping up on musical trends without pandering to them, and most importantly, never taking herself too seriously. Sure, she’s serious about making great dance music, but she never confuses her status as a pop icon with a desire to send out a message in her music. Aphrodite rarely strays past sweet love songs or happy dance anthems; its deepest message is “everything is beautiful.”

You have to credit the songwriters (big names like Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters and Calvin Harris, as well as behind-the-scenes people like Sebastian Ingrosso, and Pascal Gabriel) for tailoring the efforts to Kylie’s strengths. Also on board is exec producer Simon Price, who puts it all together, giving the record a focused sound that was lacking on her previous record, X, which touched convincingly on a myriad of styles and influences, but which ended up sounding a little scattered. Here the main sound is the kind of glittery disco pop that really is her strong suit. The various producers keep their eyes on the dancefloor throughout, crafting shiny and sleek tracks that sound custom-built to blast out of huge speaker columns. Read more

Big Band

Big Band refers to a jazz group of ten or more musicians, usually featuring at least three trumpets, two or more trombones, four or more saxophones, and a “rhythm section” of accompanists playing some combination of piano, guitar, bass, and drums. “Big band music” as a concept for music fans is identified most with the swing era, although there were large, jazz-oriented dance bands before the swing era of the 1930s and ’40s, and large jazz-oriented concert bands after the swing era. Read more

A 12 yr old’s Lady GaGa Paparazzi Tribute

Jessi was hunting around youtube the other day and came across the video which sparked quite a sensation the last few days. Greyson Chance performed a live piano version of Lady GaGa’s hit single, “Paparazzi” and it was quite amazing. It has also gained a huge amount of attention. In just a few days the youtube video has had over 2 million views and Greyson appeared on the Ellen Show today where he performed the song as well as chatted with Ellen. Then in a surprise moment Lady GaGa called into the show and spoke with her 12 yr old fan. Here’s a link to view the Ellen clip and enjoy the original video below. Read more