Ryan Star - Sink or Swim/Losing My Religion - Webster Hall, NYC 1.18.11

Just when I don't think Ryan Star can surprise me any more, he goes and does it again. At his NYC concert at Webster Hall earlier this week, he pulled out an old favorite off his first album Songs From the Eye of an Elephant - Sink or Swim for the encore. But he threw in a cover of REM's Losing My Religion, which I believe he hasn't sung live since he was on Rockstar Supernova! I ended up missing this show as I couldn't make the logistics work for me this time around - needless to say that I am eternally grateful to stacyr311 for capturing this for us all to enjoy! Check out her other videos from that night on her channel as well!

Jimmy Gnecco - Maxwell's, Hoboken, NJ 12/19/10

This was my last show of 2010 and I almost didn't make it! The show had originally been announced back in October, and I had made tentative plans to go, provided the weather cooperated. The week before the show, the weather had been calling for a major snowstorm that Sunday into Monday. I'd been bumming out and praying the storm went out to sea so I could go - and that was what happened. Friday night before the show, it was confirmed the storm was going out to sea, and I made my plans to go. I arrived late afternoon on Sunday and hung out for awhile before I got ready to go and left, thinking I'd arrive in plenty of time. Boy was I wrong! The show was uncharacteristically early, and what should have taken about 15 minutes to get to Maxwells took almost 45, thanks to traffic from the Giants game. But I arrived about 5 minutes before doors opened and met up with some friends before heading into the venue.

Artist Profile: Mike Robins

Growing up in a musical family, Mike Robins's love of music started early. "Music was a huge part of my early life, my dad was a drummer and mom was a pianist. It was always around at home," he explains. Originally calling Thornhill, Ontario home, Robins is now living in LA working on his solo EP, which he plans to release mid-january, and touring with Hope, a singer-songwriter on Atlantic records. I caught up with him after a show in Cambridge, MA.

How long have you been playing music?
Since high school. I played in a few bands until I finally just put together the Mike Robins band. A little while later the guitarist and I started an acoustic duo called Robins and Stokes. That did well for a while and we released an independent EP which sold well in Ontario. However eventually that ended, but once I got to University, I started a band called Two Foot Falls. This was the band I was playing in right up until I went out to Los Angeles