Pink Rock Candy – Top fashion trends, news and shopping of 2010

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Over the weekend, I had a mini adventure with my cerebral-twin, whom I’ve lovingly and ironically dubbed Smiles. We went to Park Slope, Brooklyn— a place, though quite cool, is forever away from Manhattan and a hell of a pain to get to when in 4 1/2-inch heels— to see another friend’s band called Cedric Needs Us.

When we arrived, there was what I can only described as a faux-Chaplin, cowboy hipster who sang songs that were unequivocally ordinary. In fact, there was one song about how he had two shoes. His southern twang was as false as his Charlie Chaplin-esque stache, but there was something entertaining about the entire situation.

Finally after about 45 minutes of the hipster Johnny Cash, Cedric Needs Us, a 5-piece band including a clarinetist and a pianist— that’s a clarinet player and a piano player— squeezed onto the 5×7-foot stage and wowed.

I’d only heard one song, “Silvi,” which can be heard on their MySpace page, and was hoping I didn’t have to grin an bare it as I tried to be a nice person, but I can officially say I’m a Cedric Needs Us fan and will hopefully be at their next concert on February 13, 2010 at Kenny’s Castaways (157 Bleecker Street, NYC). If you’re in the tri-state area, you should totally come too!

p.s. Cedric Needs Us is on Facebook too!

It’s almost my birthday! Actually, THAT’S A BIG LIE because my birthday’s in November, but it feels like it’s almost my birthday. Why? Because in four days Viva la Vida comes out, and once again, the world will be perfect. I think I’m going to throw my own personal Viva La Vida dance party in my bedroom on Tuesday morning (now that I think about it, Tuesday’s actually my mom’s birthday). Its seems to me like the world, and not just my world, is revolving around Coldplay, and I’m ready to be a lemming and follow the trend— that is unless the album’s terrible, though that’s doubtful.

First of all, my favorite Sirius satellite radio station, Alt. Nation, station #21 for those of you who care, is having Coldplay take over the station for the next 10 days starting at 6PM EST today. That means it will be all their picks all the time!

Then, there’s the fact that everyone in my family is excited for this album which is a rarity. Our musical tastes vary from Coltrane to Soulja Boi, so for all of us to agree on one band is an accomplishment. My brother walks around the house singing “Viva La Vida” and my dad blares the stereo every time he hears “Violet Hill” on the radio. I love it all, and I’m a bit obsessed with their military jackets, though it is a bit reminiscent of My Chemical Romance’s marching band jackets for The Black Parade.

Oh, and has anyone seen that Apple commercial with Coldplay. I’m sure you have because it’s on TV ever five seconds, and you’re probably inadvertently humming, “I used to rule the world/ Seas that rise when I gave the word, Now in the morning I sweep alone/ Sweep the streets I used to own,” or is that just me?

Among all these great Coldplay achievements, though I’m not sure if they really care about my family’s taste in music, there’s THIS…

Chris Martin and Will Champion were being interviewed by BBC and Mr. Martin decided he wasn’t comfortable with the interview and walked off the stage. Part of me sympathizes with him because I know interviews can be monotonous and many reporters are rude and ask idiotic questions— yes, there is a such thing— but there are better ways to handle that than walking off the stage. Some of my favorite interviews occur when a musician is fed up. Sometimes sarcasm is a better defense than abstinence. So, next time, Chris, just make the interviewer look like an idiot and the people who are your fans will laugh and those who aren’t don’t matter to you anyway.

In other, non-Coldplay news, Vampire Weekend is playing at Central Park tomorrow and if I don’t have to work, I’m totally going. I suggest you go to if you’re anywhere close to NYC. Get the details here.

Photo Credit: Coldplay’s myspace

Sorry to anyone who was planning on catching The White Stripes and Cold War Kids on tour in the US. All of the US dates have been canceled, and the upcoming UK dates in late-October and early-November are still up in the air.

Unfortunately, the tour is being canceled because of “health issues”. The White Stripes released a statement saying, “Meg White is suffering from acute anxiety and is unable to travel at this time,” they went on to apologize, “We hate to let people down and are very sorry.”
Here are the dates being canceled:

9/13/07 Albuquerque, NM @ Kiva Auditorium
9/15/07 Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
9/16/07 Austin, TX @ Stubbs Bar-B-Q
9/18/07 San Diego, CA @ Coors Amphitheatre
9/19/07 Inglewood, CA @ The Forum
9/21/07 Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre
9/24/07 Anchorage, AK @ George M. Sullivan Sports Arena
9/26/07 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Ballroom
9/27/07 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Ballroom
9/28/07 Boise, ID @ Idaho Center Theater
9/29/07 Salt Lake City, UT @ The E Center
9/30/07 Jackson Hole, WY @ Snowking Center
10/2/07 Rapid City, SD @ Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
10/3/07 Fargo, ND @ Fargo Civic Auditorium
10/4/07 Lincoln, NE @ Pershing Center Auditorium
10/6/07 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
10/7/07 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
10/10/07 Honolulu, HI @ Neal S. Blaisdell Center

NOTE: Muse will be playing in The White Stripes place on Sept. 16 at Stubbs in Austin, TX.

I’ve been a Justin Timberlake fan since his N’SYNC days. I learned all the lyrics and dance moves, and was jealous of Britney Spears when I found out they were dating. Now he’s all grown up and dating God nows who, but I’m still as giddy about tonight’s Future Sex/Love Show on HBO as I was when I went to go see N’SYNC in concert years ago.

I’ve been looking forward to this show for at least a month, and am fully prepared to sit in front of the TV at 9pm to ooh and aah over everything JT. I even bought popcorn and intend to wear an Old School N’SYNC tee!

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to catch Justin in concert lately, but he is always a great performer and he’s quite the looker. Oh, and did I mention he can sing his ass off? I personally hope he sings “Cry me a River” because its one of my favorite songs. I also hope he does a couple of raunchy dance moves to make all the girls swoon a bit, but I think that’s a given.

We Wanna Know: Will you be tuning in to watch JT bring sexy back on HBO?

I love when musicians cover each others songs. One song that I think has been covered about a billion times since it came out is “Umbrella” by Rihanna. If you haven’t heard it then you’ve been living under a rock. I’ve gotten fairly tired of hearing everybody cover “Umbrella”, but when I heard Gerard Way from My Chemical Romance does a cover of it on the Projekt Revolution Tour I had to hear it. I didn’t expect much, but it was actually really good. Gerard has an interesting voice that one might not think would work with the song but it does in this strange way (no pun intended).

While I’m in the spirit of sharing strange but totally rad covers, I found a video of Patrick Stump (the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, for those not in the know) singing a sweet version of Akon’s “Don’t Matter’ and R. Kelly’s “Ignition”.

Patrick’s voice always makes me swoon!