It’s summertime in Los Angeles (and everywhere else in the northern hemisphere for that matter). Time to hit the beach and The Bowl and spend quality outdoor time with great friends across L.A. County’s 4,000 square miles, from Lancaster to Long Beach. I’ve covered lots of ground already as 2012 is already well on its way to being, yet again, the best summer ever.

But this is the first summer of Adler Integrated. Yes, myself and a dream team consisting of some of my best friends came together and started a company in January. More on that in my next post (or, uh, we do have a blog). I’m basically doing the same type of work I’ve been doing for some years now, only bigger, better and with more support and collaboration. It’s awesome.

I promised to share monthly playlists of what’s playing on our office Sonos speaker system and to date I’ve been way more consistent than I have with keeping up on blogging. Below, find my July 2012 playlist, a mix of old and new summertime jams to kick up to 11 (find the other playlists here).

Someone’s pool, barnsdall park and downtown los angeles from griffith park, June 24, 2012.

Click here to create a customized Spotify Play embed code.

In other news from the opening keynote: To date there have been:
* 100M Android activations
* 400,000 daily activations on 215 carriers
* 200,000 available apps on Market

It took:
* 2 years to 1 billion app installs
* 5 more months to 2 billion
* now 4.5 billion app installs from Android Market

Honeycomb 3.1 coming soon to all devices
USB output
Ice Cream Sandwich – new Android OS – 2.4 – coming soon

…and all 5,000 attendees at Google I/O are receiving the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet (a special-edition model, a month before it hits stores)!

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]
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See my photos from past years at SXSW

The trip began with an amazing takeoff directly into the fading sun over the Pacific. This would be the last time the sun set before Daylight Savings time kicked in. Got in to Austin and met up with Jory, provider of a fine crash pad for the duration of my stay. Then began a serious of meetups, events, and parties: All Hat III, which was a priceless opportunity to visit with many of the folks I most admire in the interactive space who happen to share a passion and commitment to do-gooding.

Here’s a photo Geoff Livingston took of his partners at Zoetica Media. I was standing right next to them. No really. You won’t see me in any of my photos posted here (and I’m not sure who hijacked my camera and interviewed Jonathan Grubb of RVIPLounge – see at bottom). But as always happens, the aftermath of SXSW will carry on to Facebook and Twitter and into another season of opportunity and new connections.

I created a truly ridiculous agenda of all things I RSVP’d for or intended to go to. It’s included at the bottom of this post to give you a taste of just how extensively big corporations and smaller startups catered to SXSW Interactive attendees this year.

Among the highlights was the CNN Grill, which took over a restaurant two blocks from the convention center and turned it into a CNN Disneyland with free food and drink service throughout the afternoon and late night for industry folk and others lucky enough to have a pass.

That’s Percy von Lipinski in the video above. I was seated at his table on my first visit to #CNNGrill soon after he was presented with an award for CNN iReporter Original Reporting Award and naturally, had to stick my flip cam in his face.

I did not have a SXSW Interactive badge this year as I had in the past since I failed to apply as press by the deadline. I thought, maybe I could take a year off (ha!). But the other special badges, VIP treatment, and access I was offered for taking such menial steps as RSVP-ing via Eventbrite more than made up for it.

CNN — they must be made of money — ensured that everyone would be happy with their grill (at other times known as MAX’s Wine Dive). Everything on the prepared-to-order menu (food and drink) was gratis and there was WiFi and two power strips at every table. But even the service and hosts were gracious — imported from NYC via Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group — and there were live performances throughout the day. I showed up at the perfect time (according to my particular tastes) and caught a 40 minute or so acoustic set from Wisconsin-based awesomeband Locksley, and then a set from The Civil Wars (see video above), who barely managed to get away from me and onto the next before I could – natch – stick my flip cam in their faces. The CNN Grill was apparently first conceived for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. But man, what good buzz they built by hosting the mad swarms of geeks and mediaites at SXSW.

Video from the RVIPLounge below. I recommend checking out this one as well — from the inside (same night).

Click “show earlier events” and scroll up to view my March 13-17 agenda. Click on any event to expand details

That’s all I’ve got time for now with extra special thanks for making things happen to theMIX agency, SMC, Wine Library product and crew, The Force Agency (of which I’m now a card-carrying part of), Gowalla & Foursquare (I adore both equally but in comparison to the SXSW deluge of use checking in now feels relatively pointless), Nicole and all the great Summit Series rockers at dinner at Lambert’s. And as always, thank you Google for helping me to never get lost and for Android. Now I’m getting sentimental. Where’s my award already?

Was lucky to hit a few fantastic live events over the past week and want to share some highlights / video / photos in a post.

Last Tuesday was my first visit to the venue formerly known as Spaceland, now called The Satellite, and for all practical purposes same as it ever was.

But it was like the British Invasion 3.0 all over again. The Vaccines, stopping in LA for a one-off after a quickie in NYC, rocked me every bit as much as I hoped. I felt transported to the early days of Franz Ferdinand or The Hives when they’d pop into Empty Bottle on a Tuesday night riding a bunch of buzz. Though I originally feared that Justin Young’s vocal approach was in the faux-Interpol vein, which fully annoys me in its unoriginality, it was apparent live that he wasn’t trying too hard to be pretty while leading a quartet that motored through their short catalog (debut LP What Did You Expect from The Vaccines is due out in late March) like a Ramones-lite or early Replacements (if they were tight and composed on stage).

I returned to The Satellite the following night to catch Typhoon — an eleven-member Portland-based band that sings, claps, and plays various instruments as a backdrop to the oft-epic compositions of Kyle Morton. If this band ever comes near your town on tour, do what you can to catch them. It’s always a wonder to see a large band pull it off on a small stage, given the inevitably muddled sound coming from their monitors.

My Saturday began in a mellow tone, catching up with one of my fave poets and hip-hoppers from my Chicago days, Idris Goodwin (good friends will remember the Eye Spy disc I often played in my car circa 2004). Turns out now he’s [literally] chillin’ in another of my old ZIPs, Iowa City. Picked up a copy of his new book and better yet got to hear him read some hits from it. Watch those below:

I made it home around 10 and was all set for an early night when I got the word that I was on the FYF list for the Peter, Bjorn, & John “secret show” which conveniently happened to be downtown. The trio sounded tight and the sound wasn’t too bad considering the makeshift setup in a walkup loftspace. I dug the feel of their new songs — reminiscent of late 70’s garage. Gimme Some is out in late March and the kids’ll dig it.

I streamed parts of the show live on my phone… so please excuse the sound if you wish to check out the video.

Out with January. And live music season has yet to truly begin. It’s gonna be a great year!

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Originally posted at LAist.com

Then I heard about how full bore Waters was going with the production — recreating the spectacle of The Wall on its 30th anniversary and then some — on this Sound Opinions podcast in October. Yeah, I can dig it.

Only top top bands with a serious legacy can truly demand $250 and up for a top ticket and still manage to fill arenas nationwide (often for multi-night runs). But there sure as hell better be some spectacular video / light show / side show to go along with the tired greatest hits nonsense. Regardless, Waters will have absolutely no reason to work again after galavanting around the world for 10 months on the strength of his 30-year old magnum opus. Look for his name near the top of the next weekly Pollstar Top 20 Concerts list.

In this case there was amazing video — the wall featured a steady stream of motion graphics and video, many from the original The Wall, projected onto a huge wall — about 240 feet wide and 33 feet tall. The story of The Wall holds up very well, all the way to The Trial, even if it can get a little tiresome looking at Waters parading in front of the wall alone in love with himself as the lead character in the story as his presumed alter ego, Pink Floyd. A 12-piece band including horns and a childrens choir comprised of kids from the Heart of Los Angeles after-school program took the stage for the cockneyed refrain on “Another Brick in the Wall” and probably the most elaborate and crisp sound I’ve heard in an arena. There were monster speakers in teh back of the house and from the floor, you could literally feel the helicopters closing in from all sides at some points. Holiday season — maybe I was feeling sentimental, but I got major chills a few times.

I definitely recommend seeing this show if you can, tickets were going for below face value for the Staples Center (I got lucky and was whisked in on a friend’s last-minute extra ticket, thanks Gretchen!). The remaining U.S. tour dates are listed below along with a clip from “Hey You” which opened up the second part of the show from behind The Wall.

Dec 03, Oracle Arena Oakland, CA
Dec 05 Staples Center Los Angeles, CA
Dec 07 HP Pavilion San Jose, CA
Dec 08 HP Pavilion San Jose, CA
Dec 10 Rogers Arena Vancouver, BC
Dec 11 Tacoma Dome Tacoma, WA
Dec 13 Honda Center Anaheim, CA
Dec 14 Honda Center Anaheim, CA
then to Mexico and off to Europe for the entire first half of 2011.

“…I know y’all fresher than North Hollywood,” Common freestyled from a stage set up in the Grant High Lancers’ gym.

Los Angeles was the ninth stop on Get Schooled’s National Challenge and Tour, a program funded in part by MTV and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In each city, a top school is chosen by the district but the details and location of the school are kept under wraps to maximize the surprise. In L.A. Get Schooled is encouraging students to not just stay in school but to be proactive and take advantage of LAUSD programs such as City of Angels, to help those who are still a few credits shy of a diploma and the Green Dot Public Schools. The comprehensive website is loaded with resources and tips for students of all ages as well as volunteer opportunities, such as City Year. Everyone is encouraged to step up!

We caught up with Common and Sway to discuss the importance of programs such as Get Schooled. Watch the videos below!

Interview with Sway:

Student asks Common what the best advice he ever received was:

Common freestyles:

Grant High Principal Ibach on the event:

Listen to the crowd react as Black Francis prefaces the set by recognizing the need celebrate this day and adding, “so we’re going to play 33 songs tonight….”

Can’t possibly dream up a more timely (or easier to write) press release for someone in music PR:

The band’s scheduled performance happened to fall on the very night that the 33 miners were dramatically rescued from 69 unimaginable days trapped 2000 feet below the surface of the earth.

I’m doubly envious as I felt a bit short-shrift by the last Pixies show I saw (at the Palladium this year) especially compared to a 33-song set (plus two-song encore).

“We were so moved by this story,” said Pixies’ Black Francis, “by how many lives had been affected by this, and how the Chilean people banded together to support what can only be described as a miracle. We wanted to do something to show how affected we were by this, so we played a special set at tonight’s show, 33 songs for the 33 miners, the longest set we’ve ever played as a band. We found out five minutes before we went on stage that all of the miners had safely reached the surface. This was definitely one of the most meaningful show we’ve ever played.”

The Pixies’ special 33 Songs for 33 Miners set (plus two encore songs) consisted of:

Cecilia Ann
Rock Muswic
Bone Machine
Crackity Jones
River Euphrates
Debaser
Wave of Mutilation
Monkey Gone to Heaven
I Bleed
Caribou
Cactus
Broken Face
Something Against You
Isla de Encanta
Tame
Sad Punk
Hey
#13 Baby
Gouge Away
Is She Weird
Dead
U Mass
Break My Body
Velouria
Dig For Fire
Allison
Ed is Dead
Mr. Grieves
Winter Long
Here Comes Your Man
Head On
Holiday Song
Vamos

ENCORE:
Where Is My Mind
Gigantic