WIN TICKETS TO SEE THE GIFT IN NYC!

Officially A Yuppie and Girlie Action are teaming up again to give YOU a pair of tickets to see Portugal's THE GIFT in NYC!

The Gift along with Xylos will be performing on June 14 at 9pm at Bowery Ballroom!

All you have to do is this, very simple - "Like" us on Facebook and / or Follow us on Twitter (@yuppieblog) and one winner will be randomly selected!

Already Follow us on Twitter? Or "Like" us on Facebook? No worries, just give us a thumbs up, retweet, comment or mention about this contest and you are in the running.

Subject Rules: This contest is only open to New York Tri-state area residents only. One Winner Will be Notified By Us. Contest runs 6/5 to Midnight 6/10. Transportation in NOT Included!

WIN TICKETS TO SEE COMPANY OF THIEVES!

Officially A Yuppie are teaming up with the awesome Girlie Action to give YOU a pair of tickets to see Chicago's COMPANY OF THIEVES!

Company of Thieves along with Locksley and Etyan and The Embassy on June 13 at BOWERY BALLROOM IN NYC!

All you have to do is this, very simple - "Like" us on Facebook and / or Follow us on Twitter (@yuppieblog) and one winner will be randomly selected!

Already Follow us on Twitter? Or "Like" us on Facebook? No worries, just give us a thumbs up, retweet, comment or mention about this contest and you are in the running.

Subject Rules: This contest is only open to New York Tri-state area residents only. One Winner Will be Notified By Us. Contest runs 6/5 to Midnight 6/10. Transportation in NOT Included!

Live Review - Portugal. The Man @ Webster Hall

New York City was invaded with residents of Wasilla, Alaska this week. As Donald Trump ate pizza with a fork with the Palin's in Times Square, the real treasure of Wasilla, Portugal. The Man invaded the Lower East Side (and probably ate real pizza too) and wowed a sold out audience Friday night at the legendary Webster Hall. The Alaskan band, which is now based in Portland, Oregon, or in a tour bus really due to their constant tour schedule, returned to New York after over a year where they last sold out the 500 capacity Highline Ballroom in March 2010. Performing to their biggest headline crowd to date, Portugal. The Man displayed and proved that they are the most interesting, creative, organic and original band in America right now. As they ready the release of their sixth album and Atlantic records debut, In the Mountain, In the Cloud next month, they have been touring (as they normally do) to generate a buzz for the forthcoming record.

Before they arrived on stage, it was apparent that this was going to be a full on mutlimedia experience rather than a concert. A backdrop of psychedelic imagines that represent the artwork to In the Mountain, In the Cloud covered the back wall, while a projector screen was erected to display a short film which featured new music from the band and was clearly shot in their native Alaska. While the ten minute short film created by the band of a man hunting in Alaska and accidentally taking his own life, as the final frame came into play, smoke filled the stage and the band walked on to a thunderous applause and began cranking away to a bewildered yet excited audience. With a thunderous jam that drove them right into "Guns and Dogs," "Do You," "Dead Dog," Portugal. The Man were displaying something so strong and so powerful it was as if they were taking the audience to another planet and showing them something new. The band can be classified as psychedelic and / or prog rock but they are so much more than that, they are students of great music, as singer John Baldwin Gourley told me in a 2009 interview he is influenced by "The Beatles, Wu-Tang Clan and Oasis," he and the rest of his band are students to great music. They are a band that do not sound like anyone around, you can say they are reminiscent of Radiohead or Flaming Lips but they then change that theory immediately. They take sounds and bend them, they take their own songs and change them, they take what you know about them and throw it out the window and rewrite their songs and book live on stage. You can see Portugal. The Man 100 nights in a row with the same setlist each night and it will be 100 different concerts. This is the band America needs to put great American music back on the map. Accompanied by a brilliant light show to go in accordance with the feast for the eyes they were already giving the audience, they hardly spoke or took a break and just kept on performing. In many ways it is a microcosm to what the band has become, a non-stop touring and working outfit, they have released an album a year since 2006 and each record keeps outdoing the other. After nearly ninety minutes on stage, they said goodbye with smiles on their faces and their heads held high. It is rare that I am at a loss for words at the end of a concert, but my jaw is still on the ground. This is a band that needs to be seen in order to gain the full experience. There is a reason why they are now signed to the great and legendary Atlantic Records, the labels late, forward thinking founder Ahmet Ertegün wanted new artists that rewrote the rules to conventional music, I firmly believe Ahmet is smiling down on his staff for signing this band and seeing his legacy live on in the music and shows of Portugal. The Man.

Quick News

As they have begun their triumphant reunion, Pulp will re-release their first three albums inAugust. The Britpop icons will reissue 1983's It, 1987's Freaks and 1992's Separations, all three albums will feature new liner notes and commentary by rock critic Everett True.

Vocal powerhouse Adele has been forced to cancel the rest of her North American tour after coming down with lyrengitis. The singer and her people are looking into rescheduling the dates.

After 22 years, Grace Jones will release her first album in the US. The album, which was released in 2008 never had an actual physical release and format in United States and now after three years, fans of the icon will get to taste Hurricane, her album, for the first time, which features guests such as Brian Eno, Tricky, and Sly & Robbie. Take a look at the cover below:

CSS Cover & Track Listing

Brazilian hyper art-rockers CSS will return on August 22 with their latest, La Liberacion. Take a look at the cover and track listing below:

I Love You
Hits me like A Rock
City Grrrl
Echo of love
You Could Have It All
La Liberación
Partners In Crime
Ruby Eyes
Rhythm To The Rebels
Red Alert
Fuck Everything

Underrated Classic - Townes Van Zandt - "Live at the Old Quarter"

Townes Van Zandt, Live at the Old Quarter
By Raf Richardson-Carillo*

In all likelihood, the only thing you know Townes Van Zandt for is his cover of
the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers,” which plays over the closing credits of The
Big Lebowski. You might not even have known that was him, and that’s perfectly
understandable. Outside of a small circle of prominent country musicians that
includes Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark, Van Zandt is virtually
unknown. Inside that circle, however, he is a demigod. Earle once called Van
Zandt “the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee
table in my cowboy boots and say that.” Upon hearing this, Van Zandt, ever the
shirker of fame and bloated statements, said, “I’ve met Bob Dylan, and I don’t think
Steve Earle could get past his security.”

You should not listen to Live at the Old Quarter if you want to hear flawless, highly
produced music. You should listen to this album if you want to hear thoughtful,
highly personal songs played in their simplest forms. It is just a man and his guitar,
strumming and singing over the sounds of beer mugs and audience hoots in a small
club in Texas. It is poignant, funny, sad, and above all imperfect. In an age when
anybody can sit down in front of their MacBook and make a polished album using
the GarageBand feature, it is worth it once in a while to hear something flawed,
something that reminds us of our shared quality, our humanity.

*Raf Richardson- Carillo is a contributing write for Officially A Yuppie. This is his first article.

Live Review - The Front Bottoms @ Piano's

As everyone in New York City was recovering from the three to four day hangover that is Memorial Day weekend, the official unofficial kickoff to summer, a three piece band from Jersey pulled into the Lower East Side that looked like earlier in the day they were surfing at LBI rather than practicing for their gig. That band is The Front Bottoms, a catchy little pop-punk band from the Garden State that are ready to make some waves and judging by the packed crowd and response they were getting, they probably will. Singer Brian Sella plays a beat up acoustic guitar and has a voice that is a hybrid of Ben Folds and Tom Delong of Blink 182, as the band cranks out songs that will have everyone in the room dancing (and they did), it is instant that there is indeed a major Blink 182 homage to their sound and style and they have no shame in it. Drummer Matt Uychich is a savage beast on his kit, much like Travis Barker is but again, their is something a bit different than what the 90's pop-punkers once had and that is life lessons. Sure the music of The Front Bottoms is catchy as hell, sure it will have you enjoy the time seeing them, but you can tell straight away that Sella has gone through some times in his young years as he sings about beating up his father, wishing he didn't go through so many one night stands to get over his true love and wishing his true love (whoever it maybe) would come back to him as he sings about drowning at the bottom of his pool. The Front Bottoms are a band that will have you think as you dance along.

I realized as the band was playing that this is not just another band trying to break it in New York City, Piano's is a legendary place, bands like The Bravery, Airborne Toxic Event, Yeah Yeah Yeah's all got their start there and as The Front Bottoms were three songs in, a girl tapped my arms and asked "Did they play 'Maps'?" My response, "I have no idea, they are only three in." She smiled and said "awesome, I haven't missed it!" She was hoping they would play her song, how could she have a song from a band so young, well, the answer is simple, their fans are looking at them as cult figures. As the tiny place got smaller with the amount of people packing in, it was certain this maybe their first Piano's show, but it also maybe their last.

Rising Artist - Reptar

Athens, Georgia. The town that gave us REM and B52's and more recently Danger Mouse. Athens is about to be put on the map again thanks to a little band called Reptar. Now anyone who grew up in the 90's knows Reptar as the fictional dinosaur from the Rugrats cartoon, well, get ready to fall in love with a different kind of Reptar like animal. The band, who took SXSW this year by storm, have drum up a tremendous amount of buzz in the south and all the way to England as NME just named them a Radar "Band to Watch." Reptar will be touring all summer, including a stop at Lollapalooza and with their catchy and furious sound, they are worth seeing and paying attention to.

Quick News

For the 2012 version of the Coachella Festival, event organizers are having a six day (two weekend) festival over the course of two weeks next year. Due to the famous festival selling out in record time and many tickets and passes being scalped, the organizers are hoping that a two weekend fest with the same lineup will do the trick for everyone who wants to go.

After being together for near 20 years, Silverchair are calling it quits. The band, who were trying to work on new material while going on hiatus after 2008 are now going on what they call "indefinite hibernation." Simply, they cannot work together anymore. Silverchair's last record, the brilliant 2007 release, Young Modern.

After taking a bit of a break, The Kooks are set to return in September with a new record. The band's third album, Junk of the Heart is due on September 12.

Brian Fallon of Gaslight Anthem has been working hard on his two man side project Horrible Crows. The band has given a name to their debut, Elsie and it will be out in September.

Billy Joe Armstrong took to twitter over the weekend to discuss Green Day's upcoming recording process, Armstrong said "There's a ton of new songs. The direction is fresh and hi energy. Feels great." No word as to when a new album will be released.

Former Green Day tour mates and friends, Saves the Day announced that their latest record, Daybreak will be released September 13. So far the fall is shaping up nicely.

Movie of the Month - Quiz Show

There are few films that come around and collectively receive such high praise from both audience and critics and for a period of time are considered the "it" films or sometimes known as "Oscar films," 1994's Quiz Show is one of those films. Directed by Robert Redford the film, which features an all star cast of John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes, Hank Azaria and many more including a cameo by Martin Scorsese, the film is about the quiz show scandals of the 1950's. Take yourself back to the nightly viewing and eye gluing years when Who Wants to be A Millionaire first ran on TV in the late 90's, that excitement of the first person who would reach a million dollars. For Quiz Show, it tackles that same energy as a charismatic man, who is being fed the answers and told what to study to the popular 21 show goes on a hot streak or so the audience thinks. While a man, who is not as charming or good looking legitimately knows the answers but finds a hard time staying on TV. With what ensues inside the story and how the Federal Court system got involved, it makes for fine movie viewing. This epic film will only leave you wanting more and take you back to a time of innocence being corrupt in front of our very own eyes.