Easily the best iTunes plugin to come out of the developer wood work since Coverflow (which Apple quickly acquired) is iConcertCal– It’s a completely free plugin that monitors your music library and generates personalized calendars of upcoming concerts in your city. It’s available for both Windows and Mac, and is completely genius. You can click on the show and it takes you to the venue website. My question is how soon until I can just purchase tickets to the event through iTunes with my Apple ID? Via HipMojo

Jason Thielke just dropped me a line about an interesting show coming up at Limited Addiction, a new gallery on Santa Fe Drive in Denver, CO. The Grand Opening Reception: is Feb 17th, 7-10pm. Limited Addiction has a very disappointing website, but they’re located at 825 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO. Full list of artists (it’s huge) that will be showing after the jump!

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I know Valentines Day isn’t for 2 more weeks, but I had to give you a timely heads-up on the new LELO NEA Black Pearl Valentine Edition ($129). LELO is a Swedish company that specializes in luxury, design-forward pleasure objects. These aren’t your everyday vibrators — no sir — they are thoughtfully crafted to provide ergonomic pleasure and are definitely eye candy. The Valentine Edition was designed by Jesper Kouthoofd (from Acne) who chose to “interpret the romanticised aesthetics of an archetypal sweet heart tattoo.” The final product “hints at an age of innocence — vintage 1950 — with undertones of a tender naivety reserved for the realm of pristine love” (sorry to quote so much, but these words are too good). LELO sent me one of these to ‘try,’ and without telling you all of the details, let me just say that LELO will change your mind about these sorts of things; that is, if your mind hasn’t already been changed. The Black Pearl Valentine lasts 7 hours on a 2 hour charge, has LED buttons that guide you through several ’speeds,’ and comes wrapped in a sweet and discreet box. Maybe Valentines Day will actually be fun this year. If you want to see a hands on review of the NEA, check out NOTCOT.

Slated for a March 6th release date, the newest and brightest from Arcade Fire is facilitating a religious experience for me this morning. From what my ears are communicating to my brain, Neon Bible is every bit as prolific as Funeral, which, as you all know, was a huge hit for the Montreal-based band and the entirety of the indie rock world. Neon Bible has that same big and layered sound as Funeral– I guess what you’d expect from that many instruments working in harmony with each other. The new music sounds like, as Win Butler explains it, “standing by the ocean at night, ” and reportedly makes use of a pipe organ, the Hurdy Gurdy, a military choir, and a full Hungarian orchestra. Indio, CA on April 28th is where I’ll want to be to see Arcade Fire make a huge state-side splash with their Neon Bible tour. I saw them at Austin City Limits two years ago, and think they’ll be re-invigorated to rock Coachella with these new songs in their repertoire– this band is impressive on CD, but blows doors in a live setting. As I always tell you when I happen across an album that hasn’t been officially released– go buy it when it comes out! Support the band! Plus, the deluxe CD version is reported to come with two booklets, and will be housed in a box with a lenticular cover that looks like the graphic on the album website (excerpted here).

Chuck Anderson sure does redesign his site often (I think he nailed it with a nice design this time)– luckily for his fans it seems like every time he launches a new iteration of his site, he introduces a new print for sale. This one, playfully titled “Places You Can’t Imagine I” is extra large, 3×2 FT, in an edition of 125, signed and numbered for $50.

Many of you know Upper Playground as the ‘more than a clothing store’ that originated in San Francisco and found a second home in Portland a few months ago. My insiders in both S.F. and Portland have only the best things to say about the UP experience. Lucky for me, I can view from afar on their website. While I’m sure the web surfing tour of UP’s goods doesn’t hold a candle to the live version, I can see enough in a photo to know that I’m in love with their line-up of hoodies. From Cars, to Craps, to Comedy, to Argyle, I would rock all of these things. Suffice to say, the next time I make a trip to S.F. or Portland, I will be going to play in the Upper Playground. Until then, I will be keeping up on what’s going on at UP by reading their blog.

There’s a reason jewelry is often passed down through generations, and it’s not merely because the price tag justifies millennia of use. Whether it’s because some jewelry hangs daringly close to our main means of expression (our faces), or just because so much time and energy can go into the purchase of a beautiful piece, a person’s jewelry represents them way more than, say, whatever jeans spring 2007 asks them to squeeze into. Therefore, my utmost concerns while shopping for ornaments are A.) The uniqueness of the piece, and B.) its quality. Yup, things get personal with jewelry– which is why a line like Alex and Chloe is a mouthful of fresh metal in a world asphyxiating on sterling silver, blue-box vomit. Their latest collection, appropriately titled From My Neck of the Woods, is slightly less rock-and-roll than seasons past (which, I might add, also deserve the highest of high fives; some of the last collections are still available and buckets better than anything I’ve seen elsewhere). Nature runs the show this time around (bones and all), but not without the indie/individualist flair that Alex and Chloe is known for. I’d be especially welcoming of this 14k gold Antler necklace and the pleasantly disgusting Cavity necklace into my family heirloom collection, but suffice to say the entire line would make an incredible and lasting addition to any jewelry box.