Kai Flanders

Naser Herzallh and his not so yellow cab.; Credit: Kai Flanders

Coachella Cabbies and Their Amazing Stories

Kai Flanders
After the music shuts down each night, thousands flock toward Coachella's taxi-stands, located at the end of the long, winding "yellow path" - a 20 minute walk from the polo fields. (As Jeff Weiss called it: The molly trail of tears.) Once you arrive, the wait can be almost two hours......
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Neil Young Is Coming! This Is His Best Album Ever

Kai Flanders
  When we were good and drunk, we would put Neil Young's American Stars 'n Bars on the record player. It was the fall of 2011 and I was living with two of my best friends in a dilapidated cottage with a huge ranch-style yard in the middle of Los Angeles. Most......
El Komander; Credit: Courtesy Twiins Music Group

Six Best Narcocorrido Albums in History

Kai Flanders
Narcocorridos, or "drug ballads", are songs that soundtrack the world of narcoculutra. Since the Mexican drug war began in 2006, the genre has exploded in popularity and the lyrics have kept pace with the brutal violence unfolding in the streets. While the accordion and horn driven music may be inaccessible......
Buknas de Culiacan; Credit: Courtesy of Cinedigm

The Melody of the Mexican Drug War

Kai Flanders
Narco Cultura opens with three young boys sitting outside the yellow police tape of a drug-related murder scene in Juarez, Mexico. The boys relate how they watched hooded killers unload their pistols before finishing the job with an AK-47. "They shoot randomly and liquidate everyone," one of boys says, in......
Credit: Courtesty of Backbeat Books

The Story of Buck Owens, Told By Buck Owens

Kai Flanders
The recently-published Buck Em'!: The Autobiography of Buck Owens feels like sharing a pint of whiskey with rascal charmer, who had 21 #1 hits and his song "Act Naturally" covered by The Beatles. Owens died in 2006 of a heart attack, but since the 1990s he had been meticulously talking......
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The '60s Were East L.A.'s Golden Era of Rock & Roll

Kai Flanders
"Let's take a trip down Whittier Boulevard," shrieks the record player. Standing over the needle, storied Chicano record collector Gene Aguilera shakes his shoulders as East L.A. rockers Thee Midniters boogie their way through the 1965 hit named after the famous street there. Aguilera adjusts the volume, and sound fills......
Bob Marley; Credit: Eddie Mallin

Bob Marley's Legend Let Me Know My Mom Loved Me

Kai Flanders
When I was in fourth grade my family lived in a small apartment a block from the ocean in Hermosa Beach. At night we kept the windows open and I would often fall asleep to the sound of the ocean crashing softly onshore. One night, however, some music from the......
Full body shot tattoo below; Credit: Joe Forsyth

A Guy Got a Giant Tattoo of Avicii Lyrics

Kai Flanders
A UK club promoter named Joe Forsyth recently had the lyrics to the Swedish megastar Avicii's latest megahit "Wake Me Up" tattooed down the entire side of his body. You can make a case that "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines" are the songs of the summer, but short of someone......
Credit: Courtesy of Whole Foods

Whole Foods Has a Record Store. Oh No?

Kai Flanders
"Pile on that kale salad," sings Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes from the Whole Foods parking lot. The ad-libbed riff on his song "It's A Little Bit of Everything" draws a mannered whoop from the weekend afternoon crowd, who have come to politely welcome Whole Foods into the music curation business......
Chloe Chaidez of Kitten; Credit: Courtesy of Elektra Records

Kitten's Chloe Chaidez Is Already A Pro

Kai Flanders
Kitten is not a cutesy YouTube rapper or a bedroom pop project, but rather an L.A. dance-rock five-piece fronted by 18 year-old Chloe Chaidez. Her massive pipes and commanding stage presence are more reminiscent of Pat Benatar or Karen O than Jenna Marbles. Everyone in the band is fresh out......