Chimaira: Resurrection
Chimaira has returned to release their fourth fulllength CD, Resurrection, which is their best CD yet. Many Chimaira fans have been waiting for this CD, especially since the bands’ original drummer, Andols, has rejoined. Chimaira has also parted ways with Roadrunner Records and is now on the Ferret Record label.
This CD consists of 11 brutal tracks which stay true to Chimaira’s distinct sound. It is obvious that the band has become more developed and pushed the envelope to exceed its fans expectations.
Vocalist Mark Hunter maintains the same anger and aggression in these tracks as he had in his previous albums, but he also experiments with his vocals. “No Reason To Live” is a chilling song in which you can hear the raw emotion in Hunter’s voice. The keyboards/sampling is much more prominent in this CD, but it compliments the rest of the music very well. One of the best tracks on this CD, “Six”, proves that the band has put a lot of hard work into this CD. The drums and riffs are brutal and flawless. The CD also comes with a DVD which shows the making of “Resurrection.” It brings you behind-thescenes to see how the band worked together to overcome struggles to make their masterpiece. Resurrection is definitely a must-have, and the DVD is an added bonus that makes it that much more worth buying.
Snoop Dog: Blue Carpet Treatment
First and foremost, I think it’s obvious that Snoop has cut back on the Chronic! I haven’t heard Snoop flow since he begun. This might be his best album since “Doggy Style.” He really put a lot of effort and time into this release. Not just the special guest lists (George Clinton, Nate Dogg, B Real, The Game, R. Kelly, E- 40, Ice Cube, Akon, Jamie Fox, Dr. Dre and Stevie Wonder) but the songs seem to have deeper meaning to them.
“Crazy” is an instant hit and a song meant to cruise to. “Vato” started controversy before anyone really looked into the meaning. It’s about Hispanic and African Americans struggling to get along peacefully, and that all “sets” bleed red. “Candy” is an all-star flow. “Gang Banging ‘101″ expresses how gang life really is. “Lil’ Crips” is bumping with Bass. “Beat up on your Pads” is about the youth football league Snoop started in his hood to keep the kids out of gangs. It’s a very positive song.
There are a whopping 21 songs that really deliver on this disc. Take my word go out and buy, burn, or steal this album, you won’t be disappointed.
American Idol - Why Do We Watch?
You can’t go anywhere these days without overhearing a conversation about American Idol.
“Did you see Simon kiss Lakisha last night?”
“Did you see Sanjaya’s hair?”
“I can’t believe Gina got sent home!”
Why do countless Americans glue themselves to the TV sets every Tuesday and Wednesday night? Is the show really that good? Or do people just want something to talk about the following day at work or school? Is it a fascination with watching a group of “regular people” quickly find their way into becoming household names?
Yes, I must admit that I also watch the show. We’re all entitled to our own guilty pleasures, right? I was curious as to why so many people have latched on to American Idol craze over the last few years.
“I like to watch the judges get mad at each other,” explains, Debra Sock, an American Idol fan. She is currently rooting for Melinda Doolittle to win the competition.
“It’s hard to say why I watch it,” says Morris Branson, another faithful Idol follower, who happens to keep a running spreadsheet that documents each of the performer’s progress. “It’s kind of like a bad car wreck on the road. You don’t really want to look, but… Eventually you develop a vested interest in the contestants.” Morris doesn’t believe this year’s finalists are as talented as last year’s group. He is also hoping for a Melinda Doolittle victory.
Chris Cason, another dedicated fan, explains, “People get caught up in the process of voting, and being involved in deciding somebody’s fate.”
Speaking of fate, let’s take a look at Sanjaya, probably the most interesting person on the show this year. Admit it, even you know who Sanjaya is. The guy can’t sing, but he did do some interesting things with his hair each week. Was it for that reason alone that he lasted so long on the show, while those with more talent got sent packing? Or was it because he makes little girls cry?
Is American Idol a singing competition? Or is it a popularity contest? Do people vote based on singing talent? The answer to that one is obvious. One word. Sanjaya. This young lad survived countless weeks, thanks to a very large underground following of supporters, Fanjayas, that voted for him in order to spoil the success of the others. So the voting is often based on getting rid of somebody instead of pushing someone forward. In addition, voting is also based on whether or not a contestant is “hot.”
Who cares about talent, right? If you’ve got something people will buy, then you’re in! Another Idol fan, Tanya Egly, stated, “I like watching the artists develop. Then I get hooked on their individual personalities and style.” No, she never voted for Sanjaya. The only contestant she has ever voted for was Jordin Sparks.
The best reason for watching the show comes from another viewer, Dan Bocinski. “I watch it mainly because my kids watch it.” Yeah, right, Dan. I’m sure your “kids” watch America’s Next Top Model too. Admit it. You love it.
The show has brought success to a handful of talented individuals, while other past popular contestants have faded back into obscurity. Kelly Clarkson has achieved stardom, Clay Aiken played himself on an episode of Days of Our Lives (don’t ask me how I know that), and Carrie Underwood is quite the country starlet these days. I even understand that Ms. Pickler eats sushi now, and got some new shoes. But what about the “Chicken Little” kid from last year? What happened to him? And why did he last so long in the first place? Or Ace Young, who thought it was cool to only tuck in the front of his shirt?
Now we must give credit for the real reason for the show’s success. Give it up for Randy Jackson! “What up, dawg? You did your thing, dawg, you did your thing!” Don’t forget Paula Abdul! Who do you suppose she has the hots for this season? And last, but certainly not least, Mr. Simon Cowell, the only judge brave enough to tell it like it is. If you perform horribly, you better be prepared to be told so. His often harsh criticisms, I believe, are what initially hook so many people on the show.
So who is going to win this year? Blake? Would you really rush out and buy a CD filled with mouth sounds? Melinda? She has talent, but is her voice truly unique enough to seal her victory?
What do you think? You can get back to me … right after the break.
There are many reasons for watching American Idol. Millions watch and vote each week, so they’ve got to be doing something right, right?
At the very least, it gives us all something to talk about every week. And if it gets more people into music, that’s fantastic!
The Skinny On Cortes & The Fat Amigos
Stephanie Cortes, lead vocals / rhythm guitar
In a sleepy suburban ghetto on the south side of San Francisco, a pretty Latin girl waits by the window. She smiles cheerfully out into the late afternoon sun as she waits for her band members to arrive. She walks back across the orange carpet and sits down on the silky vintage green flower couch and strums her guitar. Soon she hears the patter of feet clonking up the marble steps to her home.
“Dave,” she shouts as she opens the door and lets her band mate in. He walks in with his large guitar and they sit across from each other in her living room. Standing next to the computer of the tiny pink and orange room is Charley Gerritsen, vocalist and pianist. Next to him stands Stuart Braddock, bassist. Dave begins to strum his guitar and Charley, Stuart and Steph follow suit. The beats of music begin to come together as Steph catches onto Dave’s timing and Charley and Stuart join in. A melodic voice fills the room and somehow brings the lyrics and notes together.
Stephanie Cortes is the vocalist for San Francisco based rock band, “Cortes and the Fat Amigos.” “I just thought it was a funny name,” says band founder and leading amigo, Dave Hart. He began the band because he loves to play guitar and write songs.
Before Cortes joined the band they classified themselves as rock-a-billy, or rock with a bit of a country twang. Cortes noted that most of the songs were about real life and thus more “rock” than “a- billy.” Currently on the band’s Myspace page they describe their sound as ” A happy mash of Elliott Smith, My Bloody Valentine, Beatles and Johnny Cash…. or just some folky type rock stuff. Fast at time, slower when it needs to be.” Cortes began to embrace her love for music and the Beatles when she was 19-yearsold and found a guitar with in her grasp.
Steph even handed down her love of music to her younger sister.
Steph handed her sister, Sarah, who had just turned 17, a giant wrapped box.
“What is it,” her sister asked looking up at her with wide brown eyes.
“Open it!” Sarah sighed and pulled the box open. Inside she found a sleek black guitar. Steph looked at her sister longingly as she watched her hold the guitar and strum the chords. She remembered looking at the guitar on the shelf in Gelb music store and longing to play it.
“I looked at it, sitting there in the room, and it was calling to me,” Steph says nostalgically about the guitar. “I went to go make sure Sarah was gone and then I picked it up for the first time. I got the Beatles cover book and I tried to put my fingers on the chords and strum along, it didn’t really sound too good at first,” she says with a laugh. Cortes says that she grew up surrounded by music, first with her mom signing around the house and later at her parent’s music at their Saturday night ‘Canasta and Lasagna’ parties. She taught herself to play the guitar when she was 19-years-old and then began to write songs to express emotions.
“I love the Beatles, but at that time I had a boyfriend who hated the Beatles and he wouldn’t let me play the guitar, so I went one year without Beatles music until I couldn’t stand him anymore and we broke up. Then I played the guitar everyday after that,” she says. From Cortes’ broken relationship she developed the song, “flaws” and also began to embrace her singing talent. A few years later she met her band mate, Charley, and sang for the first time in public.
Her memory of her first performance starts with a tall blond man waiting for his singing partner to enter the chapel at the San Francisco Mormon church. She walks in and they practice the hymn, they are supposed to sing together, “Nearer my god to thee.” A few people walk in and watch them for a few minutes. They both nervously glance at each other.
“You ready for this Steph,” the man asks her. “I guess so, Charley.” The chapel begins to fill with hundreds of people. Steph can feel her heart begin to race as she looks down at the podium, then back to Charley as the music begins. She closes her eyes, pulls the Mic towards her and begins to sing. The notes of the hymn are powered by her angelic voice and the crowd is silent as they watch her and her band mate sing. A piano solo comes along and she glances at her hands, knowing that she will choke if she looks into the crowd. She closes her eye lids yet again and finds the courage to finish the song. A round of applause is accompanied by a rush of cool relief all over her body. She quickly walks off the stage and sits next to a friend whispering, “I can’t believe I just did that.”
Cortes and the Fat Amigos plan their debut to be sometime late this year, but for now they are content in their pursuit to sound like Belle and Sebastian, who happen to be the best band ever according to Cortes and Hart.
With This Mic, I Thee Manage…
Managing a band while being in that band is a double edged sword. You’re in charge of stuff, and you have to keep all of the other members in your band satisfied with the decisions you make. Some times it feels as if you’re married to 3 people.
The job of managing usually falls on the person who didn’t call “OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE” when the initial discussion came up. It’s 9 times out of 10 the singer. Some bands have each member handle what they’re best at.
As the singer and the only female in the band that crown fell on my head in the bands I’ve been in. I blame my take charge attitude, my organization skills and my drive to succeed; in other words my anal retentiveness.
I’ve been doing the managing for going on 7 years now. I book shows, design and make flyers and ads, network with bookers, promoters, managers, and bands, I promote our shows on the net, design and make stickers and all our merch, manage the band’s finances and handle the web sites. I’m patting myself on the back right now, thanks.
It’s a pretty steep cliff and at times it feels like I’m holding on by a thread. With everything else on my plate, it gets to be daunting, especially when something goes awry. Sometimes shows don’t go as planned. Sometimes booker’s decide they don’t want to pay you. Sometimes merch doesn’t get printed to the other guy’s standards but it’s too late because we already paid for it.
At the end of March I booked a last minute show at a popular all ages club in Roseville. Our band filled a spot that another band had backed out of at the last minute.
The other bands were much younger than us and a lot newer in the scene. One band, I was told, were only sophomores in high school.
The club was full of young kids and our friends/ fans the twenty-some things. Walking in you could instantly see the separation between the two groups. It was the first time in my life I felt OLD. O.L.D the three letters that hit you like a truck the first time you see someone younger than you doing, or wearing something you just don’t get.
For me it’s the guys wearing girl pants and eyeliner, the girls with their hair resembling porcupine butts, and the hard-core dancing.
Our band felt old as well when we played and half the club stood there like they didn’t get it. Like the music we were playing was beyond recognition to the generation gap. Our friends/fans the twentysome things. Loved it and praised us on our performance. As the manager I decided we NOT play any all ages clubs that don’t have bars. Alcohol = more of our friends/fans coming to our shows and enjoying our music. The guys concurred.
Now, another member (a new addition) has stepped forward to help me out, which is totally appreciated. Even though he’s having a hard time prying the reins from my hands I will not have a problem sharing the blame for future situations.
The Coup Kills At Coachella
Frontman Boots Riley Performs with Tom Morello and Perry Farrell, Plots New Album; Confirms Rock The Bells Festival Appearances
Bay Area hip/hop icons The Coup have drawn rave reviews for their explosive Coachella Festival performance. Heralded by a number of U.S.
daily newspapers, The Coup - who are currently at work on the follow up to 2006’s critical smash Pick A Bigger Weapon - “killed” according to The O.C. Register’s Ben Wener.
Wener writes of the group’s April 30th performance, “After this tremendous breakthrough set, I can’t imagine The Coup will remain hip-hop’s best kept secret anymore.”
Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times wrote, “Rage wasn’t the only rebel act to play Coachella’s closing day. The Coup, the Oakland-based hip-hop crew led by the acerbically brilliant MC Boots Riley, delivered its ribald, acutely observed critiques over a powerful funk-rock groove.”
In addition, The Coup’s Boots (alongside Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell) played with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello during his solo set as the Nightwatchman the night before. Of the collaborative performance of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” USA Today asserted, “The revolutionary spirit of the full version of Guthrie’s anthem resonated.”
Elsewhere, The Chicago Tribune proclaimed Boots’ guest appearance Coachella’s “Best Cameo.” “Focusing on the song’s lesser- known protest verses,” it added, “they transformed the song from a declaration into a challenge, one that questions just whose land it really is, and why.” Boots Riley will be giving a keynote speech at UC Berkeley Black graduation on May, 12. The Coup will perform at the Rage Against The Machine/Wu-Tang Clan-headlining Rock The Bells Festivals this summer.
Find out more about the group at: www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
Ring Of Fire
Man, I hate shopping for condoms. It has nothing to do with principle, as I am 100% the empowered single woman enforcing the condom rule: It’s the woman’s responsibility to have them and insist on using them because dude will never want to use them but will play it off like ‘of course I will wrap myself up’ if you hand him one. So I try to always have them. And there’s no central storage area for my army of Trojans and Durex’s either…the soldiers are very strategically placed in every corner of my hidden personal space, both in my home and mobile, too. Ever find a condom in your silverware drawer in your kitchen? Yeah, that’s me. Some nights I go to such extremes as tucking that sucker deep into my jeans back pocket because if I drink too much and meet Mr. Sex, and I happen to lose my purse and everything else during the night, at least I’ll still have that.
It’s actually shopping for the damn things that is so freaking uncomfortable! What is it about the American drug stores’ common merchandising policy of having their entire condom display: A. Directly in front of the store’s pharmacy, so not only can the entire pharmacy staff monitor the duration of your condom-box reading, but every customer picking up and waiting for their meds also get to examine which brand you prefer and then probably imagining what kind of sex life you have.
B. All mixed in with totally gross and socially “shameful” products such as: douche bags (is this even the p.c. term for them?), vaginal creams, yeast infection medication, birth control tests, and my very favorite, the incontinence pads, for those poor souls who struggle with every day bladder control issues. Now I know this sounds harsh, but people wearing these things can’t be getting laid!
For the love of God, put the damn condoms and lube in their own exclusive area, somewhere in a corner, like at the end of the beer and liquor aisle, across from the frozen bags of ice! I’m sick of feeling like a damn criminal shopping for my condoms, getting judged because I’m stocking up with five boxes so I must be a rampant whore, or that’s all I’m buying today so I must be preparing for a raging orgy party. It’s not my fault they make so many incredible varieties! The packaging looks like candy wrappers, in dazzling lime green, vibrant pink, and metallic blue; and the actual condoms come flavored (still trying to figure out why they invented these), colored, and in assortments like, ribbed, studded, for her pleasure, performax, ultimate feeling, intense sensation, and the French tickler!
But one day my rigorous need to examine every condom make and model paid off… I found something on the top shelf that I now refer to as, the Ring of Fire, the greatest sex accessory the woman will ever experience, and the greatest partner for any condom. The one and only, Vibrating Ring.
This magnificent little sex toy has a built-in, battery- powered, vibrating motor attached to a latex ring that dude wears either with or without a condom during sex. The initial sensation had me squealing with excitement, and men, don’t lie, its fun for you, too. My partner exclaimed quite profoundly, “It’s making my whole thing vibrate!!”
Yeah, well, it’s a vibrating mechanism and it does the trick that every woman imagines the penis being able to do if only God had added that one special feature in his final design. It’s quite possible for a woman to enjoy the two distant-cousin orgasms simultaneously, both via penetration and clitoral arousal, as long as he’s equipped with the raw power of the vibrating ring. It dies after twenty minutes, but seriously, she won’t need more than twenty minutes, trust me.
Better yet, Trojan has introduced its “Magnum” sized ring and the motor on this thing looks big enough to take off and fly. I have one waiting to be used, and I kiss it good night before I turn out my lights for sleep.
So screw all of the fickle judgment you sense as a woman buying these safety tools, and toys, at the drug store in the mid-afternoon! They want us to practice safe sex but they don’t want to know who’s practicing it! I can shrug off the shame for sake of self-protection and a new kind of orgasm. I’m just like the dude in line waiting to purchase a box of tampons and a bottle of Midol; his head hung low with humiliation. Once you leave the store, who really cares anyway?
May 2007
GONE DADDY GONE
Ken Kutaragi is known as “the father of the PlayStation,” but his youngest offspring, the struggling PlayStation 3, has turned out to be a problem child. The PS3’s woes led Sony to shake up its video-game division in November, and now Kutaragi has announced he’ll be retiring in June.
After June 19, Kutagari will be honorary chairman of the entertainment division and will serve as Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer’s senior technology adviser. Kazuo Hirai, who is now president and chief operating officer of the games division, will take over as Sony Computer Entertainment’s chairman and group chief executive. Kutaragi “has been considering this decision for some time,” Sony Computer Entertainment America spokeswoman Kimberly Otzman said, but the PS3’s sluggish sales have undoubtedly accelerated his departure. Sony seems to have dealt with the issues that held up the console’s launch, but now it needs to start delivering compelling, exclusive software that will drive gamers to buy the thing.
WAITING FOR WII
Nintendo still doesn’t have enough hardware to keep everyone happy. Those lines you saw at Best Buy and Target last Sunday were, believe it or not, made up mostly of people who are still trying to buy a Wii nearly six months after its debut.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata apologized and promised that the company was increasing production.
“We must do our best to fix this abnormal lack of stock,” he told reporters in Tokyo. “We have not been able to properly foresee demand.”
The demand has taken just about everyone by surprise. Nintendo has sold 5.84 million Wii consoles worldwide since November, compared with 1.84 million PS3s sold by Sony. Overall, Nintendo’s profits jumped 77 percent in the fiscal year that ended March 31.
ELITE FORCE
Not everyone who was shopping this weekend was looking for a Wii. Some were trying to find the Xbox 360 Elite, which went on sale Sunday. The buzz surrounding the Elite has been fairly low-key; its main features, HDMI output and a bigger hard drive, aren’t so sexy that 360 owners will be compelled to upgrade immediately. Instead, Microsoft has been pitching the sleek black box at gamers who don’t already have a 360. And it remains to be seen how well the $480 Elite will sell. Most of the stores I checked with on launch day told me they were sold out, but it was still easier to find an Elite than a Wii.
TAP DANCING
For a few years now, developers have been talking about the promise of “episodic gaming,” in which serialized adventures would be doled out in short chunks every few months. With the final installment of the six-episode “Sam & Max” online now, Telltale Games and Turner Broadcasting System’s GameTap network have delivered on that promise.
“Sticking to our release dates got people hooked,” said GameTap general manager Stuart Snyder. “The audience kept building every month.” Original titles like “Sam & Max” and “Myst Online: Uru Live” have drawn players to the online service, which now hosts more than 800 classic electronic games.
