showrecentpostswiththumbs({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-23T00:36:01.895-08:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Features"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Where The Right Bands End Up"},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default?alt\u003djson-in-script\u0026start-index\u003d26\u0026max-results\u003d25\u0026orderby\u003dpublished"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"59"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"25"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-7812159093955302721"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-19T05:21:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-19T05:21:00.324-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"the xx"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The XX"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwSd6z-YJBI/AAAAAAAAEVM/ZWykm29M7B0/s1600/thexx.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 398px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwSd6z-YJBI/AAAAAAAAEVM/ZWykm29M7B0/s400/thexx.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405619086461248530\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Steve Sawyer\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eListening to The XX's debut, eponymous, album should be considered substance abuse. And not for any negative consequence that listening to the album may bring, but rather because the music leaves the listener in such a state of euphoria that it's absolutely drug-like. The music has induced such a deep state of unshakable catatonia upon myself that I find I'm unable to escape the rhythmic bass lines, or the haunting echoes of the intricate, and absolutely chilling vocal work. It's so perfect, that it kind of bothers me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTake for example the opening of the album itself. The drone of sound that hits you is tonal hypnotherapy pure and simple, and it could be said that within the first minute, if you aren't hooked you may be one of the few immune to the drug. But for me, and for what I suspect will be the rest of the population, there was an immediate addiction formed. It's funny how I didn't even notice the song \"VCR\" creep up on me after the intro, it's delicate chiming, and soft snare almost lullabied me away. And when Romy's voice hits, it's absolutely out of this world, it hasn't been since I first heard Maynard James Keenan's voice on a Tool album that I've been so simultaneously creeped out, and breathtaken. \"Crystalised\" is as close to a perfect rock song you could get. It's minimalistic brooding approach, and it's refusal to do anything but get under your skin as quickly as possible is captivating in a very terrifying way. By the time the album gets to \"Shelter\" I'm just absolutely awash in the ocean of sound.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe album is a truly inspired collection of songs that encapsulate the experience of living in the modern age. It's strange, but I feel like the music is the perfect soundtrack to the almost cynical society we've created for ourselves. The lyrics are self-deprecating enough to make the music not only relatable, but downright essential. But at no point do they ever loom ideas over your head, or make you stretch for meaning intended or implied. And that radically stripped down approach has made for the single best release of 2009. More prominent bands that keep adding more gloss, sound, and production magic to their equation should take note of the work that's on display on the album. I have a feeling that even older groups that have the advantage of years over the relatively new The XX will learn quite a few things about songwriting after submitting themselves to repeat listens.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnd it's all made that much more perplexing by the fact that they're all only nineteen years old. Not only that, but this is the band's debut. No albums precede this one, and yet they display a level of maturity, and depth that most bands strive to achieve in an entire career. It's so startling to see such young talent being able to accomplish so much with just one release, but they've managed to do it. But what happens when a band is this good this immediately? Have they set the bar impossibly high for themselves, or will they simply make it look easy, when it's time for the next go around? I'm certainly rooting for them, and hoping that they can pull it off, because if this album is any indicator of their future career, the world is going to be their oyster.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt's odd, I typically wax verbally, and semi-philosophically when it comes to talking about music that I love, and for the first time in a very long time, I'm almost completely at a loss for words. I feel like I've said everything that's needed to say about The XX in order for someone to just dive in and enjoy them, but at the same time simply because I'm used to being so wordy, and full of praise for those that I admire, I'm hesitant to draw this to a close. But I'm going to take my own advice, and learn from the example set by The XX. Sometimes simplicity is better. Go buy their album.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-7812159093955302721?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/7812159093955302721/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/xx.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7812159093955302721"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7812159093955302721"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/xx.html","title":"The XX"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwSd6z-YJBI/AAAAAAAAEVM/ZWykm29M7B0/s72-c/thexx.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-4679775208086976701"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-18T14:29:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-18T14:49:42.783-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"the used"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Two Nights of The Used"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR5EkRrcoI/AAAAAAAAET0/xtchM_osW7g/s1600/DSC_0439.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR5EkRrcoI/AAAAAAAAET0/xtchM_osW7g/s400/DSC_0439.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405578572115702402\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Jim Markunas (Editor-In-Chief) and\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJason Coldiron (Rock/Metal Editor)\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePhotos By: Brett Gulbrandson\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eView all of Brett's photos of The Used \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_VqioDCFHm2\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622703867809/\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eJim:\u003c/b\u003e First off... Opening bands... I'm a huge fan of Drive A; they're punk, catchy and a great choice for an opening act. (\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_ZnYrRsY3yr\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/drive-loss-of-desire.html\"\u003echeck out our review of their debut\u003c/a\u003e) The Almost... Yeah, their music was really good, but did their pants have to be so fucking tight? Seriously? I haven't seen that much blatant cock in my face since the last time my friend Paul took me to West Hollywood. I would have given The Almost an A-, but their horrid sense of fashion knocked them down to a C- or D+.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Used were hella cool. They had what I can only describe as the cleanest and most well-organized stage set up in Rock 'n' Roll history. The drums were on a wide square riser that lit up, the amps were the embodiment of perfect symmetrical aesthetic, and the stage was left pretty much bare except for a few half-stacks piled on either side of the drums. The band ended up looking tiny compared to the massive/well-organized stage, but it allowed them a lot of room to move around, which Burt McKracken did with the greatest of ease. Before The Used even walked on stage, a piano intro was played through the house PA and a quick movie was projected across an arena-sized backdrop. This set the stage for one of the greatest rock shows of this month (and I've been to a lot of shows this month). As the band casually strolled on stage, the backdrop changed from a movie to a giant syringe with \"The Used\" over it. Skipping ahead a little bit, the best thing about the backdrop was that it changed graphics digitally throughout their set. Very cool!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eJason:\u003c/b\u003e The following night, the Used moved up the coast to play the Warfield in San Francisco. Chicks with Guns was there as well.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGetting a late start, Drive A took the stage. They were very young, but very mature and poised for their age(s). They seemed to understand their role in this show perfectly. They were there to get the crowd woken up and moving a bit, light a fire and set the stage for The Almost and The Used. The lead singer was great in interacting with the crowd. The band got things going in the right direction. Their punk sound was a perfect lead in to the rest of the sounds of the night.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR5gMuf1UI/AAAAAAAAET8/r-rMAIg8x3s/s1600/DSC_0418.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR5gMuf1UI/AAAAAAAAET8/r-rMAIg8x3s/s400/DSC_0418.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405579046830462274\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003eThe Almost was next to hit the stage. My female friend loved them. Their music didn't really fit their look at all. They rocked though. Their set was great until the end, at which point the lead singer killed the momentum and ended it on a poor note. The last song they played was their big ballad. The song wasn't bad at all, but it should have been played earlier in the set. The singer followed this ballad up by preaching to the audience about God and how He loves us all.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eJim:\u003c/b\u003e I HATE shit like that!!!!! Flyleaf can get away with this kind of thing because their singer is pretty and talented. I’m not sure I’d want to hear football player-wannabe’s with guitars wax poetically on that type of thing at all. God and politics belong at home; shows are meant for rocking… Also, Jason, were their pants any less tight when you saw them. Once again… too much cock in the face!!!!!!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eJason:\u003c/span\u003e It's hard to give a definitive answer on the cock in face issue, due to the lighting in the arena. That said, it was clearly more than any reasonable fan would expect or want from their metal show. Granted, this band is his side project to the Christian rock band he is the drummer in. Granted, he said that if you aren't down with God, that is fine, we can all still get along, etc. That wasn't enough. It was poorly timed. Following the ballad with this just didn't work. If he was going to insist on preaching, he should have done it between songs earlier in their set. Not to mention that it was crucial they end their set with a big, heavy song to lead into The Used. This was a poorly conceived ending to their set. Thankfully, The Used were up next and would soon make us all forget about this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs with the previous night, the Used began with a short film with a piano intro playing. This built the tension and energy in the building to a peak and had the crowd dying for the band to hit the stage. When they finally did, it was on! The band quickly jumped into, “Blood on my Hands” from their latest record, \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_SlxIRjj10N\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/used-artwork.html\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eArtwork\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e and knocked it out of the park. They let loose for the next hour-and-a-half and blew the roof off of the Warfield.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR55KwECWI/AAAAAAAAEUE/C_FJYi1SWxY/s1600/DSC_0276.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR55KwECWI/AAAAAAAAEUE/C_FJYi1SWxY/s400/DSC_0276.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405579475796887906\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003eThey played a great mix of newer and older songs in their catalog. At one point they played four consecutive older songs, including “In love and death,” without stopping between them at all. This was a kind of medley of sorts. It was fantastic. The stage show was amazing. They really utilized the lighting of the arena perfectly. The lights and darks, with shadows, half lit faces and a sense of mystery and awe all worked beautifully. This was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. They closed the set with and encore of, “On my own,” followed by one more rocking tune to end the night. Their rendition of, “On my own” was arguably the highlight of the entire night. It brought the house down and is the single moment I'll remember most from this show.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Used brought it big time on this night. I was blown away. I have to admit that before this show I was a fan, but not a fanatic. After this, I'll be buying their albums and singing their praise. They won me over in a big way.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eJim:\u003c/b\u003e Ok… But… What was it like to hang out with the guys back stage? Were there antics, drinking, etc.? Did you score with groupies? Did you see The Almost in their underwear (I’m assuming they wore ‘whitey-tighties?’) Inquiring minds want to know!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eJason:\u003c/b\u003e Well, technically, we only met Quinn and a few random venue employees back stage. However, on the way in while we were waiting out back to get in for the interview, Bert walked by as he was talking with some of his people. Brett (my photographer, who is a HUGE Used fan) took the opportunity to say hello, shake his hand and tell him what a huge impact he had made on him. A funny thing about this is that there were a couple of hundred fans out front waiting to get in. Meanwhile, Bert and his people were casually hanging out around the side of the building where the buses were, smoking and drinking like there was no care in the world. There was hardly any security there. Any fan who had walked just 20 feet or so down the street would have seen the buses and the band and been able to walk right up to them.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf only they had known how easy it would have been...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eWant More of The Used?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCWG review of \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_MK7CbNarEy\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/used-artwork.html\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eArtwork\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eCWG Review of \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_iyMK7Y0mqh\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/09/drive-loss-of-desire.html\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eLoss Of Desire\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_SKAjhriUb9\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622703867809/\"\u003eView all of Brett's photos of The Used\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_AGM2NaS9pM\" href\u003d\"http://cwgcoldiron.blogspot.com/2009/08/used-dan-whitesides-enters-continuum.html\"\u003eRock/Metal Editor, Jason Coldiron interviews Dan of The Used\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_VezDGh5p9l\" href\u003d\"http://cwgcoldiron.blogspot.com/2009/11/up-close-and-personal-with-quinn-allman.html\"\u003eRock/Metal Editor, Jason Coldiron interviews Quinn of The Used\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-4679775208086976701?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/4679775208086976701/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/two-nights-of-used.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4679775208086976701"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4679775208086976701"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/two-nights-of-used.html","title":"Two Nights of The Used"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwR5EkRrcoI/AAAAAAAAET0/xtchM_osW7g/s72-c/DSC_0439.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-8258740759488450524"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-17T01:34:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-23T00:36:02.087-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"everclear"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"10 Reasons Why Everclear Is Still Relevant"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwJ0Zpocr5I/AAAAAAAAEPs/SvFH251zRYU/s400/Hannigan_CWG_Everclear0020.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwJ0Zpocr5I/AAAAAAAAEPs/SvFH251zRYU/s400/Hannigan_CWG_Everclear0020.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405006372198352098\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Jim Markunas\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e(Editor-In-Chief)\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003ePhotos By: \u003c/span\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_A4vgGvZzej\" href\u003d\"http://www.edwardhanniganphotography.com/\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eEd Hannigan\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eView all of Ed’s Everclear photos \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_ar4GvbYgCs\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622821577946/\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e10. Art Is Cool - \u003c/b\u003e He is, isn’t he? Yes! At 47, Art’s still got it, a rarity in a world of Fleetwood Mac and Eagles reunions that never seem to end when they should. Significantly less gay than Joe Perry, and more fun to watch than Frank Black, Everclear frontman, Art Alexakis makes this band what it is. The world loves a good frontman, and Art is one of the best – Take that Don Henley, you big ass!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e9. Work Ethic - \u003c/b\u003e Everclear has never been a lazy band. They’ve toured incessantly since 1994, and aren’t afraid to start from scratch. Capitol drops them… Who cares? Band mates leave… no problem! Art is a working man, and much like B.B. King, he’ll be doing this until the day he dies.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e8. They Treat Their Fans Well -\u003c/b\u003e Even when they were the biggest band in the world, Everclear always (and still do) made an effort to meet their fans after every show. In their arena days, they even went as far as letting some fans strap on a guitar and play with them. I managed to catch Art Alexakis on his “All By Mice-Elf” solo acoustic tour in 2003, and he actually brought audience members on stage to play various instruments. This quality is priceless - in a world of “we must treat our idols like they jump into their pants in the morning,” Art and Everclear remind us that they put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwJwqJebBOI/AAAAAAAAEPk/Me4rmz-rgyo/s400/Hannigan_CWG_Everclear0013.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwJwqJebBOI/AAAAAAAAEPk/Me4rmz-rgyo/s400/Hannigan_CWG_Everclear0013.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405010486819073938\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cb\u003e7. Street Cred -\u003c/b\u003e Most rock bands, musicians, and rappers get soft in their old age. Can I believe Dr. Dre is still shooting people and running drugs out of his mansion and cushy office at Interscope? Do I believe Bruce Springsteen is still a ‘working man’ suffering through poverty and bad economic times just like the rest of us? Fuck no! These old guys are major paid… and soft! Artists like this have forgotten what hardship feels like. Art, on the other hand, can never catch a break. Yes… This sucks for him, but is great for Everclear fans, as Art never runs out of painful shit to put on wax!  In 1995, Art frequently wrote songs about loss, being poor and drug addiction (stuff he really experienced). In 2009, he’s writing about divorce, being poor once again, and more loss (again, things that he’s REALLY experiencing). “Volvo Driving Soccer Mom” aside, you’ll never catch Art over-using his artistic license for the sake of staying credible – he’s 100% real.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e6. The Hank Williams Syndrome… Or… What’s Bad For Everclear Is Good For American Music -\u003c/b\u003e Once you see what’s happened to Art in his life, suddenly your problems don’t seem all that bad. Yes… Art has had a hard life (like a Hank Williams song on steroids), and he can’t seem to stop living a hard life. Because of this, Everclear will always be the “underdog,” the band we root for. We want to see Everclear succeed, because if they can make their lives and career work despite all the fuck-ups, we everyday folk feel like we can succeed and make our lives work. Remember, if Everclear wins, we all win!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e5. There’s Still Demand -\u003c/b\u003e The Roxy was damn-near sold out last Thursday (\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_2OyhE5mMoX\" href\u003d\"http://cwgliveanddirect.blogspot.com/2009/11/everclear-roxy-111209.html\"\u003esee our review\u003c/a\u003e). People still want to see a band with a track record play live. Can you assume that bands like Papa Roach, Everclear, Dinosaur Jr., The Foo Fighters, etc. will always put on a good show? I’d say it’s a safe assumption. Everclear has a proven track record, and it hold more weight than the next indie/L.A. flavor of the month.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e4. They Change Just Enough -\u003c/b\u003e Critics have busted Everclear’s balls for years on the notion that they sound the same on every album. Yes… Everclear will always sound like Everclear… How is this a bad thing? Someone please explain that to me! When I buy an Everclear album, I expect it to be consistent. Would I like it if Art put out a speed-metal album? Would I like it if he crossed the bullshit, overrated stylings of Sigur Rós with the whininess of Fallout Boy? Fuck no, I wouldn’t!!!! However, Everclear changes just enough from record-to-record to sound fresh. Were \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_hzL1Df0Mlp\" href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs%20from%20an%20American%20Movie%2C%20Vol.%202%3A%20Good%20Time%20for%20a%20Bad%20Attitude\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Movie 1 \u0026amp; 2\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c/i\u003e re-hashes of \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_MYXCMDM5AN\" href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So%20Much%20for%20the%20Afterglow\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eSo Much For The Afterglow\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e? No! They were different enough to be great, just as \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_gxhxKbRIfg\" href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome%20to%20the%20Drama%20Club\"\u003eWelcome To The Drama Club\u003c/a\u003e  is different from \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_AdNrLasfDm\" href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow%20Motion%20Daydream\"\u003eSlow Motion Daydream\u003c/a\u003e . Basically, we expect Everclear to sound like Everclear; I wouldn’t bust Paul McCartney’s balls for sounding like Paul McCartney, would I?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e3. The Nirvana Syndrome… Or… Disenfranchised Youth -\u003c/b\u003e As long as high school, depression, and teenage angst/ennui exist, Everclear will have fans. People need music that makes them feel better about the shitty parts of life – Everclear is the perfect music for that.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e2. Hooks -\u003c/b\u003e Everclear is catchy. Enough said.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003e1. Everclear’s Music is Timeless –\u003c/b\u003e Yes, they have the habit of sometimes sounding a little bit like they walked right out of the 1970s bar scene, but you can’t beat the tried-and-true pop/gunge/alt formula of verse, chorus, verse, bridge, etc., and you can’t beat the catchiness of almost any Everclear song or album. Radio-friendly without being wussy and uninventive, the entire Everclear catalog (with the exception of \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_HxZekT94cA\" href\u003d\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%20of%20Noise\"\u003eWorld Of Noise\u003c/a\u003e ) will never sound ‘dated’ – Art planned for this (he’s the principle songwriter and producer of every Everclear album), and judging by Everclear’s pop sensibility, his plan seems to have worked. I just hope he get’s his publishing rights back sometime in the near future.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eWant more Everclear?\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDownload Everclear’s \"\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_OfhebOdTYB\" href\u003d\"http://everclear.culturejam.com/?\"\u003eHere Comes The Darkness\u003c/a\u003e\"\u003cbr /\u003eEverclear Feature - \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_wUUwBm40DY\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-reasons-why-everclear-is-still.html\"\u003e10 Reasons Why Everclear is Still Relevant\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_s3679X9L2E\" href\u003d\"http://cwgcoldiron.blogspot.com/2009/11/continuum-conversation-with-art.html\"\u003eRock/Metal Editor, Jason Coldiron interviews Art Alexakis\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_cWLmVgiekR\" href\u003d\"http://cwgontour.blogspot.com/2009/11/everclear-new-lineup-new-tour-new-album.html\"\u003eEverclear Tour News\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_CC8EODgtvL\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622693103497/\"\u003eView all of Ed’s Everclear Photos (Roxy)\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_al8auemau2\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622821577946/\"\u003eView All of Ed’s Everclear Photos (House of Blues)\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_2GeCfONn8j\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/everclear-in-different-light.html\"\u003eCWG's review of \u003ci\u003eIn A Different Light\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-8258740759488450524?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/8258740759488450524/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-reasons-why-everclear-is-still.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8258740759488450524"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8258740759488450524"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/10-reasons-why-everclear-is-still.html","title":"10 Reasons Why Everclear Is Still Relevant"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SwJ0Zpocr5I/AAAAAAAAEPs/SvFH251zRYU/s72-c/Hannigan_CWG_Everclear0020.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-3765971971333108769"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-09T01:20:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-09T01:31:24.244-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"nico vega"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Rock Out With Nico Vega"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvfhUsD80II/AAAAAAAAEGo/iLUQ0vFOSHc/s1600-h/Hannigan_ClubNokia0043.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvfhUsD80II/AAAAAAAAEGo/iLUQ0vFOSHc/s400/Hannigan_ClubNokia0043.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402034023595561090\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Khadeeja Coonrod\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePhotos By: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.edwardhanniganphotography.com/\"\u003eEd Hannigan\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eView all of Ed's Nico Vega photos \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_MhgH4Xcatg\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622766434674/\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat do you get when you take a hard hitting rock band that's full of three talented musicians? A whole lot of sound that should be thought to have ten people making music. This L.A.  American rock band is Nico Vega, who knows how to turn up the volume. Nico Vega formed in 2005 and has a self-titled album out on Myspace Records, which had Linda Perry and Tim Edgar on production and Tchad Blake mixing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe album starts with \"Burn Burn,\" and the lyrics are telling, \"Even if we tell a lie nobody's gonna know until we fall back, fall back. Even though we're so sharp. Even if we tell a lie nobody's gonna know until we fall back, fall back. I built this house on solid ground. Will you come and stay with me? I'll settle down.\" The guitar riffs speed up and go with the flow of Aja's voice who echos behind in the background. The chorus repeats at the end with both the guitar and drums until they all suddenly all go off in unison. The guitar and drum intro set the album nicely in until you hear the singers voice who is in between singing and wailing but in a beautiful rhythm.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Million Years\" reminds of a song that would be heard in a video game with guns. \"I'll be around for a million years. No matter how hard you try you can't fuck with this,\" a statement about a female being mad after a man tries to play her. The music gets a satanic sound in the background after the flirt lines are revealed.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"So So Fresh\" is as if there's a teasing going on, \"You're so so fresh even when you drop it, you turn like a man. I know you're just a boy but I can hardly tell and no one I really can.\" Aja's voice backgrounds sounds like a chant as her voice teases saying \"Na na na na na na na.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Living Underground\" puts me in the mood to watch a Children of the Corn flick, \"We are in demand of the truth. We are children of the world. We wear all of our scars. We stand up and we fight for what we choose. We are in demand of a name.\" Aja's voice sings in a soft soothing while the guitar and drums come out in an 80's rock form then Aja's voice comes out in a snarl as she belts out the song then the guitar and her voice blend together to go from soft like a whisper, builds up louder, and it ends in a trance like state.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Wooden Dolls\" comes with the soft overtones in this. I could hear Linda Perry's influence on this one as I thought of 4 Non Blondes, What's Up. The voice was simple as all the theatrics were stripped away. Aja's voice was singing like a mother sings to a child. Her voice cuts to the core of the spirit and gets strong only to go back to being soft once again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Iron Man\" is my personal favorite by Nico Vega. \"You are relentless in the way you ask me so many questions of my days in the city. I wish that I could tell you something. I'm a hostage of my pride. I'll take all the heat you're packing. 'Cause I'm an iron man. I'm an iron man. You are relentless in the way that you know me and I'm a sheep when it comes to explaining. I wish that I could keep you happy. I wish that I can could keep you young. Please forgive me for the distance, but I'm an iron man. I'm an iron man. You are relentless in the way that you love me and I'm afraid of the thoughts that you're making. I wish that I could know the difference between your smiles and your frowns. Now I'm buried in the armor 'cause I'm an iron man. I'm an iron man.\"  The mood is a touch of space meets heaven on earth in a labyrinth setting.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOn Nico Vega's Myspace, under influences, this was said, \"Any sort of passion, fire, or interaction between two people, or many people. Any person who has the will to lead people and sacrifice their own needs for the well being of others. Any warrior with a purpose, or a mission, and any artist who is not scared to be great. Anybody that decides to forgive themselves for the mistakes that they have made, and change for the better. We have a lot of musical influences, probably similar to the ones that you like. Oh...and, anybody who is a Lion at heart (support the pack, and be strong without judgement).\" I was struck by how genuine the words are. I had to share that with anyone who didn't know about them before reading this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eNico Vega's band members are: Aja- Singer, Rich- Guitar, Dan- Drums. \u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-3765971971333108769?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/3765971971333108769/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/rock-out-with-nico-vega.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3765971971333108769"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3765971971333108769"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/rock-out-with-nico-vega.html","title":"Rock Out With Nico Vega"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvfhUsD80II/AAAAAAAAEGo/iLUQ0vFOSHc/s72-c/Hannigan_ClubNokia0043.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-508477744225166002"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-08T16:28:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-08T17:06:05.367-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"vampires"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Vampires!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Svdic7YiXkI/AAAAAAAAEE4/2HXqOSA5DsI/s1600-h/vampires+article.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 268px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Svdic7YiXkI/AAAAAAAAEE4/2HXqOSA5DsI/s400/vampires+article.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401894527170666050\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs the time inches closer and closer to the day the new \"Twilight\" movie is released, fans become more and more hungry for pale brooding guys with elongated hair. Though the vampire craze seems strongest now, society has always been fascinated with vampires. Perhaps because they are a monster that is actually human and could appear sexy in that \"you might die but it will feel good first\" type of way. The association that vampires feed or kill during sex is another alluring aspect to various desperate homemakers and young people with their inability to control hormones.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter the recent appearance of the show \"The Vampire Diaries,\" and movies like \"The Vampire's Assistant,\" and of course the raging boner that is the Twilight franchise, I tend to wonder when it will end. Like I said before, society has always been obscenely fascinated with vampires. Early films like \"Nosferatu\" and \"Dracula\" sparked interest and were deemed classics. Especially \"Dracula,\" featuring the now deceased Bela Lugosi. Bela Lugosi's swift suave movement and bulging eyes brought a unique aspect to the vampire image, one altogether different from the one we see today. Bela Lugosi could incite fear with a simple twist of the hand, one clawed gesture, and a deep penetrating stare with his slicked back hair and protruding lips. Though he did have a hypnotizing charm, he was more the image of a father than of a sexy man you'd want ravishing you.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis new wave of vampires makes you wonder, which is more enjoyable? The older frightening and primal vampires or this generation's Bill Compton or Edward Cullen of Trueblood and Twilight fame. Clearly we know who is more frightening, the earlier movies incited fear where today's might seem thrilling to some, the actual origin is left relatively untouched and romance is largely magnified. Certainly Hollywood and the population's majority are set on bringing us more sex, not only with vampires but with everything. I'm always surprised by how sexual everything in America appears while the overall attitude is mostly that of a tattered old prude. I'm still waiting on a show or movie that depicts vampires as brutal instinctual animals who could never be a friend to any human.  I guess that was \"30 Days of Night\" but still, let's get noticed.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAside from the countless vampire movies and TV shows made, there are actually a lot of songs inspired by those mysterious undead Romanians. Concrete Blonde's \"Bloodletting\" (The Vampire Song) was inspired by the Anne Rice novel \"Interview With The Vampire.\" The soundtrack for \"Queen of the Damned\" was partially written by former Oingo Boingo keyboardist Richard Gibbs and Jonathan Davis of Korn. In an unusual teaming up of sister labels Warner Brothers and Reprise Records released the soundtrack on February 19th of 2002. Two singles from the CD were released simultaneously. \"Cold\" by Static X was the more successful single of the two, the other being \"Forsaken,\" featuring the lead singer of Disturbed.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe all know the band Vampire Weekend with their lively tunes and smart lyrics. The band's name comes from a film their lead singer made with the same title. Hopefully it's about vampires but with my questionable journalism skills I am unable to dig up any footage or information about this film other than the title. Punk band Bauhaus has a meaningful origin in the bloodsucking spirit. Their first single, released in 1979, was titled \"Bela Lugosi's Dead.\" The song is a lengthy epic recorded in one take featuring the lyrics \"Bela Lugosi's dead, the bats have left the bell tower, the victims have been bled.\" And later the line \"undead undead undead\" in repetition.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eGodsmack, Slayer and My Chemical Romance have all penned songs about vampires but certain compilations stand out over others. While the Queen of the Damned soundtrack lacked luster, others flourished in all our memories, hopefully. The TV show version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer had a great little soundtrack featuring songs by Nerf Herder, Garbage, Rasputina, and Guided by Voices. Of all vampire-related things, the soundtrack and the movie alike for \"The Lost Boys\" belong in the Vampire Hall of Fame. \"Cry Little Sister\" by Gerald Mcmann, \"People Are Strange\" by Echo and the Bunnymen, and \"Good Times\" by INXS are favorites.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn reference to the new vs. old argument, I'd like to state that I'd take Dracula over Twilight's Edward Cullen anytime. At least Dracula could entertain me. Robert Pattinson's portrayal of a boring and mopey yet handsome character remind me all too well of how easily personality is disregarded. Somehow if someone cares about you and looks good you should just bury your nose in their ass and never leave their fecal fortress? Over anything else I am perplexed and aggravated by people with nothing interesting going on. It seems where Robert Pattinson lacks a personality, his costar Kristen Stewart makes up for it. Even the whiney werewolf character Jacob is more likable in that he at least cares. Oddly, while reading Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn I even feel that author Stephanie Meyer is in some sort of trance when she writes about the character Edward. Everyone in the book is more intriguing than him but somehow he is a main focus of the series. The character is written about in little detail and is described mostly just as \"beautiful.\" Clumsy and pessimistic protagonist Bella somehow falls for his charms and boom, they're in love and she can't part with him. At least her dad has the good sense to dislike him.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnother recent author who writes of vampires is Charlaine Harris, writer of the many books that inspired HBO's \"Trueblood.\" While her concepts and ideas are very interesting and original her actual writing leaves a lot to be desired. I get the impression that she is a person living vicariously through her characters, maybe too much so. Her last few books in the series lacked discipline and character development, so I can only really recommend the first four books with a straight face. The show itself is actually better than the books. Though more than half of the show has nothing to do with the novels, it does follow the same basic story.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI caught a few minutes of the latest CW pooper \"The Vampire Diaries\" and after a few minutes I've concluded that you need not waste your time with that one. As with \"Gossip Girl\" and the remake of \"90210\" this show sifts out all the good parts of \"The O.C.\" and filters in gaudy queens and their fumigated hair extension arm candy otherwise known as Blake Lively and that other one who tries to sing. Leighton Meester! I remember now. But I won't in a few years now will I?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhile Twilight's fangs will never compete in sales with Harry Potter's wand, fans are crazier than ever. I don't envy not being able to walk down the street without cameras flashing at me. While Kristen Stewart is highly criticized for complaining of the downfalls of fame, Robert Pattinson gets nothing but sympathy when he whines about how he can't get a date in real life. Which is funny/sad since he is dating Kristen Stewart. Vampire films have been around since 1909 to now, 2009. All I can do is wait to see if the craze swells or is replaced by something new. How about something less sexy, like the always popular Wolf theme? \"The Wolfman\" starring Benicio Del Toro and Emily Blunt, looks promising but sadly the box office will surely show that vampires are still number one. Perhaps the next monster movie will star Zac Efron as Frankenstein or Brad Pitt as The Mummy? I can only encourage Hollywood to get a little ugly or \"real\" with these ever increasing monster movies.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-508477744225166002?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/508477744225166002/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/vampires.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/508477744225166002"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/508477744225166002"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/vampires.html","title":"Vampires!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Svdic7YiXkI/AAAAAAAAEE4/2HXqOSA5DsI/s72-c/vampires+article.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-6316349401436716971"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-05T01:54:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-05T02:46:43.566-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"after midnight project"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"5 Reasons Why After Midnight Project Is The Next Big Thing"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvKnPlcqeEI/AAAAAAAAD-0/nb2WM7YVI_M/s1600-h/Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0032.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvKnPlcqeEI/AAAAAAAAD-0/nb2WM7YVI_M/s400/Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0032.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400562789362858050\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Jim Markunas\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e(Editor-In-Chief)\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003ePhotos By: \u003c/span\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_3ezhr3hpvT\" href\u003d\"http://www.edwardhanniganphotography.com/\"\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eEd Hannigan\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eView all of Ed’s AMP photos \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_uQHi27uKTv\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickswithgunsmagazine/sets/72157622613838291/\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI find it difficult to call After Midnight Project a “baby band,” as I saw them not only upstage Chevelle at the \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_oKruPO14i8\" href\u003d\"http://maps.google.com/maps?om\u003d0\u0026amp;iwloc\u003daddr\u0026amp;f\u003dq\u0026amp;ll\u003d33.81089%2C-117.918772\u0026amp;hl\u003den\u0026amp;z\u003d16\u0026amp;ie\u003dUTF8\"\u003eHouse of Blues\u003c/a\u003e in Anaheim, but also because I’m 100% convinced that AMP is the future of modern rock. I’d be willing to bet my left testicle that in 2-3 years, this band will be the biggest thing in rock music; bigger than the Chilli Peppers, bigger than Nickelback, hell – maybe even as big as U2.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSome would call their sound marginal and/or derivative, but anyone using that label (a.) hasn’t truly heard “\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_h4ITJd2b8E\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/after-midnight-project-lets-build.html\"\u003eLet’s Build Something To Break\u003c/a\u003e,” and (b.) has obviously never seen this band \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_VACaBzzuNO\" href\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003dGdhDsVhueDk\"\u003elive\u003c/a\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn some ways, After Midnight Project are derivative, but they’re derivative in the same way as U2, The Deftones, or The Chilli Peppers are derivative; in that they’re styles and influences span a lot of familiar, yet respectively different and interesting genres. Part of what makes AMP’s music interesting (which is the same key factor that’s worked for The Deftones and U2 all these years) is that you never know just where they’ll take a song. Yes, they have pop sensibility (i.e., verse, chorus, verse, catchy vocal hooks, good guitar riffs, etc.) but… they’re exceptionally good at bending and meshing genres in a fashion that simply put… works. A great example is “Backlit Medley” this song begins with a balls-out hard rock riff, and flows seamlessly into a Jimmy Eat World/Postal Service-inspired soft-rock opus with slight hints of electronica and a manly vocals that seamlessly flow in and out of uber-feminine Brit-pop falsetto; it’s so seemless, you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThen, there are songs like “Hollywood” that take the played-out Strokes-inspired sound and bend it into something completely new, or the twice-released single “\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_HqVnlRLaDm\" href\u003d\"http://www.imeem.com/artists/after_midnight_project/music/aWvl1ukz/after-midnight-project-take-me-home/\"\u003eTake Me Home\u003c/a\u003e” that merges aspects of Tool with aspects of Jimmy Eat World and Owl City.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eEditor’s Note:\u003c/b\u003e I can wax poetically on this for hours, but my words can’t do this band justice, just buy “\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_m32sA74ATq\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/after-midnight-project-lets-build.html\"\u003eLet’s Build Something to Break\u003c/a\u003e,” or catch them at any live show, and you’ll realize exactly what I’m talking about.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI digress… The top 5 reasons why After Midnight Project is the next big thing:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca style\u003d\"padding: 0px 6px; float: right;\" id\u003d\"aptureLink_UjGR7LDynu\" href\u003d\"http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/00000124c3e0a32cd793f850007f000000000001.Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0008.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg title\u003d\"Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0008\" src\u003d\"http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/00000124c3e0a32cd793f850007f000000000001.Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0008.JPG\" style\u003d\"border: 0px none ;\" height\u003d\"563\" width\u003d\"375\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cb\u003eReason #1 –\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe front man must have made a ‘crossroads’ deal with the devil… or Motown (same thing)\u003c/i\u003e - Singer, \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_uUGyA4AFRa\" href\u003d\"http://cwgrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2009/08/after-midnight-project-interview.html\"\u003eJason Evigan\u003c/a\u003e, is the hands-down best front man of this decade. He’s got swagger, charm, extreme stage presence, and most importantly, excellent vocal chops. Picture what it would sound like if Jim Adkins’ testicles dropped, or if Daniel Johns had stuck with hard rock, and you’ve got Jason – a singer with a vocal range of a few octaves (he hits falsetto as well as Thom Yorke) and has the tonal clarity of Mark McGrath.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eReason #2 -\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003ePop sensibilities\u003c/i\u003e - After Midnight Project understand how to write good songs. Officially, they’re one album deep, but any die hard fan has a copy of their pre-major label EPs. In theory, AMP has two full records worth of material released over a span of about 4 years. On their EPs, they proved that they could write and produce major label-quality songs without the help of a big name producer or a $200,000 budget. At the core, AMP understands that it’s all about making quality songs.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eReason #3 -\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eMainstream, yet completely inventive and original\u003c/i\u003e - After Midnight Project play radio-friendly, mainstream rock… if mainstream rock had multiple drug problems. Their sound, on the surface, is safe, but bends and molds the modern rock genre, breaking it into pieces, and taking it in a completely different, yet logical direction. They adhere to the genre, while simultaneously crafting a style all their own. Answer this… Why do people like Owl City? People like Owl City because what they REALLY want is a new Postal Service record. Would Owl City be as popular if they didn’t sound like The Postal Service? No… They definitely wouldn’t. Same thing with Hinder… People like them because they sound like 3 Doors Down and Creed. My point is that all modern rock is actually “post modern rock,” meaning it’s all been done before, and there’s not much left to do with the genre that hasn’t already done. Some bands attempt to ‘try new things,’ but miss the mark (Interpol, Silversun Pickups, etc.). Not only is After Midnight Project original (no one sounds quite like them, and they don’t sound quite like anybody else), but they’re also masters of styles, able to merge several different genre-specific ideas into one in ways that have truly never been done before; what other band can successfully mix a speed metal opener with a Radiohead-styled verse?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eReason #4 -\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Lenny Kravitz effect\u003c/i\u003e - In short, girls and guys can enjoy this band together. I wouldn’t want my girl to catch me listening to Avril Lavigne, and I wouldn’t want to catch her listening to Pantera; there’s an un-written rule: guys listen to guys music, girls listen to girl’s music. After Midnight Project, much like U2 and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, is the kind of band men and women can both listen to without shame and/or violating any un-written rules.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca style\u003d\"padding: 0px 6px; float: left;\" id\u003d\"aptureLink_NuVLJ9QXAL\" href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v\u003d71649\"\u003e\u003cimg title\u003d\"\" src\u003d\"http://placeholder.apture.com/ph/400x300_Embed/\" style\u003d\"border: 0px none ;\" height\u003d\"300\" width\u003d\"400\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cb\u003eReason #5 -\u003c/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eWork ethic and values\u003c/i\u003e - After Midnight Project is permanently on tour.  They’re willing not only to tour incessantly, but they take every opportunity to meet with their fans  - Every show ends with the band signing autographs and meeting fans at their merch booth (for the sheer talent they possess, they’re an unabashedly humble and down-to-earth group of people).  Since their inception, After Midnight Project have been all about their fans, and even have a special \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_NyTSTqwJOa\" href\u003d\"http://myspace.com/aftermidnightproject\"\u003ephone number\u003c/a\u003e for their fans to call and bug them. (P.S. They return \u003cu\u003eevery\u003c/u\u003e phone call they receive.)  This type of approach, which is completely genuine, has worked for other bands in the past (Everclear, Deftones, etc.), and it works especially well for After Midnight Project, who pride themselves on their accessibility.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNo disrespect to Chevelle they were great too!!!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cb\u003eOther AMP Articles:\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_mjkFRGqkbN\" href\u003d\"http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/after-midnight-project-lets-build.html\"\u003eReview of “Let’s Build Something To Break”  \u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_3NK499LFuX\" href\u003d\"http://cwgrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2009/08/after-midnight-project-interview.html\"\u003eInterview With Jason Evigan\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-6316349401436716971?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/6316349401436716971/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-reasons-why-after-midnight-project-is.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/6316349401436716971"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/6316349401436716971"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/5-reasons-why-after-midnight-project-is.html","title":"5 Reasons Why After Midnight Project Is The Next Big Thing"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvKnPlcqeEI/AAAAAAAAD-0/nb2WM7YVI_M/s72-c/Hannigan_AfterMidnightProject0032.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-5817914736834308330"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-04T12:05:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-04T12:26:31.382-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"victoria hill"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"My Conversation With Mark Bego"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvHjZkfkRUI/AAAAAAAAD-U/jErNSEH4pqw/s1600-h/markbego-gallery.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvHjZkfkRUI/AAAAAAAAD-U/jErNSEH4pqw/s400/markbego-gallery.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5400347456626246978\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Victoria Hill\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(Urban/Pop Editor)\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had the pleasure of spending a Saturday morning talking to a truly interesting man- Mark Bego, a best-selling celebrity autobiographer.  Mark Bego started writing in high school and college and had the opportunity to go to New York to meet and write about some of the biggest stars of the day like Barry Manilow, Steely Dan, \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_PtFTsfZo2x\" href\u003d\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597776327?tag\u003dapture-20\"\u003eElton John\u003c/a\u003e and Three Dog Night.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMark has written about \u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_9eRIhNjo3J\" href\u003d\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597776327?tag\u003dapture-20\"\u003eElton John\u003c/a\u003e, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Martha Reeves of Martha \u0026amp; The Vandellas, just to name a few, and what I took away from our conversion was the love Mark has for music.  Mark grew up listening to his parents’ record collection and now has made a career of his first love.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe first thing he does in the morning is turn on the stereo; he spends his day studying music, trends, and who is going to be the next big thing -  It's a talent that Mark has had all his life.  In the early 80s, a large publisher asked Mark who he thought would be the next big thing in music.\u003cbr /\u003e\"Madonna and Michael Jackson,\" had been Mark's reply. He turned out to be right!\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMark was the first writer to champion and write books about Michael Jackson and Madonna.  Mark even traveled with Michael and his brothers on the 'Victory' tour and wrote the book “\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_pvXogY9sIe\" href\u003d\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0523423403?tag\u003dchiwitgunmag-20\u0026amp;camp\u003d0\u0026amp;creative\u003d0\u0026amp;linkCode\u003das1\u0026amp;creativeASIN\u003d0523423403\u0026amp;adid\u003d0FFNCXRJJZX86T7CRDYK\u0026amp;\"\u003eOn The Road With Michael!\u003c/a\u003e”  Mark admitted that sometimes not all the stars he has written about are still successful, and some have died young, like Michael Jackson.  Mark said it was strange to see people he's written about starting to pass away.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe talked about the difference between Elton John and Whitney Houston (Mark has written about both).  Both have had issues with drugs and both are currently drug free, Mark and I noticed how much drugs can affect a career.  Elton was lucky, drugs didn't affect his voice or writing ability, but Whitney has lost some of her vocal ability due to her flagrant drug abuse.  Mark said he was happy to see Whitney back, but sad at the same time because her gift is somewhat gone.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThroughout our conversation, Mark shared great stories about meeting his heroes.  Mark told a great story about seeing a young Pat Benatar singing a reggae version of “Stairway To Heaven” in a NY club, and while writing “\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_C6ALNSjQp2\" href\u003d\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786880945?tag\u003dapture-20\"\u003eDancing In The Street: Confessions Of A Motown Diva\u003c/a\u003e” with Martha Reeves, Mark told me about the time when Martha was living in his Tucson, AZ home. He came into the kitchen one day to find Martha cooking soul food and singing to The Beatles.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHow Mark got his house in Tucson was another story in-and-of-itself. While  Mark was living in New York, Jimmy Greenspoon (of Three Dog Night) stopped by Mark’s apartment and commented on how small it was.  Jimmy asked what Mark was paying for it. Mark told him the rent, and Jimmy said, “You could get a house in Tucson for that price.” Soon after that, Jimmy helped Mark find a great house in Tucson.  The rest is history.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMark has had a great year; five of his books have been released this year, including one about Ruth Mueller, who escaped from Nazi Germany and came to America with no money, but by the 1980’s was the president of her own corporation.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMark is in no way just resting on his laurels. In addition to being a writer, he's also an actor (he's working with Angela Bowie (David Bowie’s ex wife) on the film “Bureaucratic Assassin.”)  I asked Mark if he would ever retire, and he said, \"No, because music and writing is my love and you can not retire from something you love.\"  I admire this quality. How many people can say they're doing what they love?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt's always great to talk to people who love music and love their career, and talking to Mark was a great experience. As an up-and-coming editor, starting out in my writing career, it was refreshing to see the opportunities available; just makes me want to work harder!!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-5817914736834308330?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/5817914736834308330/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-conversation-with-mark-bego.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/5817914736834308330"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/5817914736834308330"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-conversation-with-mark-bego.html","title":"My Conversation With Mark Bego"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SvHjZkfkRUI/AAAAAAAAD-U/jErNSEH4pqw/s72-c/markbego-gallery.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-4649749346777457682"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-03T03:53:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-03T03:53:00.314-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"erik rader"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Diary of a Fading Rockstar, Part VII"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9xY8aELRI/AAAAAAAAD8c/QJH-jPg7epM/s1600-h/DrJimmy.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 312px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9xY8aELRI/AAAAAAAAD8c/QJH-jPg7epM/s400/DrJimmy.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399659151586766098\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhen Did The Midnight-To-Six Become Six-To-Midnight? Or: How The Real World Ruined My Breakfast\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By Erik Rader\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere’s a cliche I think we’re all familiar with that a rockstar’s alarm clock is usually set for noon, but he/she tends to like sleeping in a little past that.  I think the whole concept of brunch was invented by a rockstar, or whoever provided that person with food.  Since I generally provide my own food, my stomach is more or less my alarm clock these days, beyond the predictable mayhem caused by various small two and four-legged mammals parading about the house.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen we went out and got day jobs (or went back out and got back our day jobs, or whatever order it came in for you) we pretty much had to let go of the rockstar brunch.  Maybe it really was a luxury.  But in all truthfulness we had a full-time job with weird hours - all day most weekdays for songwriting, arranging, rehearsing, interviews, photo shoots, driving to the next gig, and night shift on the weekends - the gigs themselves, and all that low-rent spec time between paying customers at the big shot recording studio.  Plus the fact that we were always expected to take our work home with us.  And that’s just the work - there’s all the socializing you’re asked to do on top of that.  Let’s see you get up bright and early after a night tossing back brandies at an awards ceremony.  Unless there are hairs of the proverbial canine involved, it’s just not a reasonable expectation.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThese days I do well with a structured work schedule - I usually get to work early and leave late; sometimes I even get asked to please stick to my scheduled hours.  To get out on time, I’ve established a routine whereby I start a series of specific tasks around 5:00 PM, cycling through different areas of my responsibility each hour.  It may sound anal, but it helps me not miss details.  I’m not really a detail-oriented person, as the friendly credit card company representative reminded me over the phone today.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOn unstructured time (you normal people call them “days off” I guess) there was always other activities you could do that were more or less set by the culture.  If you weren’t writing, rehearsing, recording or playing a gig, you were supposed to be buying and listening to records, seeing somebody else’s band play, doing “research” on some sort of mind-altering substance, or showing up at some protest rally or other.  Oh, and then there’s putting in the necessary “girlfriend time”, which in their minds was usually about 37 hours a day.  This involved going to their parents’ house to eat meals in stony silence, or paying nail-biting visits to a doctor’s office to make sure the home pregnancy test was a false alarm, or listening to them talk about what a bitch their best friend is.  There were nights when you’d feel torn three ways - having your parental landlords expecting you to be at home in bed before dawn, while having your girlfriend expecting you at her place even sooner, and your band mates expecting you to sleep it off on the rehearsal space carpet with them.  It’s no wonder that many musicians burn out from taking too many stimulants and avoiding sleep altogether.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eActual “free time” is hard to find for anyone, especially if like me you have a propensity for making promises.  Finding that zone in which one has no responsibilities to anyone or anything, where nothing is due, or overdue, actually requires a focus of mind and effort that takes years to develop.  Avoiding responsibility is hard work; most of us fall into responsibility without looking for it or choosing it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen you are the lead singer of a rock and roll band, this is actually your most important job, second only to actually singing in a rock and roll band.  Everybody has something to do at soundcheck except you; and in the studio, you are always the last person to be recorded.  You’re expected to stand there and look cool, but not too distracting, during the solos; and interviewers are always more interested in what the guitar player has to say, because they think you’re an idiot.  Many people project onto you what has been termed “the soft bigotry of low expectations” - in other words, the popular perception of you is being about as connected to the daily realities of life as a spoiled housecat.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut you’re the focal point for the audience.  Like Jesus Christ, no one may enter the Kingdom of Heaven except through you.  You are the doorman at the Gates of Delirium.  You are the tribal shaman, your community’s channel for mystical forces.  You are expected to be toothless, insane, and needing to be fed.  If you exceed these expectations, you are liable to have someone come up to you and say “Excuse me - are you the manager?”  (This in and of itself is not so bad, as there is actually a narrow chance that somebody might unintentionally give you the money.)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt’s hard work playing an instrument, and no mistake.  You have to stay in your room and play scales all day while other kids are playing stickball, going out on dates or getting high.  You have to sit around sucking on a reed, or checking your pockets for guitar picks, or super-gluing your calluses.  It’s especially hard being a drummer because you have to drive everybody around in the vehicle you bought to drive your gear around.  Then the lead singer sits on your pedal by accident and breaks the strap, and you have to borrow a pedal from that asshole in the opening band.  If you’re the bass player it’s even worse, because you have to pick up the guitar player at his girlfriend’s house, and he’s always late because, well, you know, and plus you have the most cripplingly heavy and unwieldy piece of equipment in the band:  The Dreaded Bass Cabinet.  Consequently, it is also the most dropped piece of equipment in the band.  So is it any wonder that 2/3rds of all technical difficulties on stage are bass-related?  But I digress.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt’s hardest of all being the lead singer, because your instrument is your body.  You can set fire to your guitar or put explosive charges in your snare drum, but if you do either of those to yourself you’re liable to get killed, or wish you had.  If a roadie drops a box of drum hardware, the most likely thing to get damaged is his foot; if he drops you, you’re the one who’s damaged (not even mentioning the fact that you were pretty damaged in the first place, which is why he’s carrying you).  Band members can hang around backstage playing with their instruments; the singer can only play with him/herself.  Vocal chords are dreadfully susceptible to extremes of temperature, atmospheric contaminants, or bad vibes.  You can play guitar when you’re in a bad mood, but when you’re the singer the bad mood affects your instrument directly.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnother thing that sucks about being in a group of instrumental musicians is that they don’t think you play an instrument.  You’re as functional as a coat rack in their eyes.  They’ll stand there at parties blandly telling you that you should  “take up an instrument”, as if using your own body as an instrument onstage is somehow lazy.  You’re the lowest priority in the house mix, the monitor mix, even the studio mix.  Every show for your first few years on the road will culminate in at least three people saying “You looked great, I wish I could hear you!” or “I wish I could tell what you were singing.  Was your microphone even on?”  It doesn’t matter how much presence you get in your mix during sound check; fill the house with people, and fill the sound man with cocaine, pot, PCP and Bushmill’s, and all of a sudden the lead guitar is louder than the thoughts inside your own head, followed close second by the drums and bass, and maybe the trombone after that.  The trombone player is your hero, because he will never under any circumstances NOT be heard, not if they cut his mike, not if they stick a sock in his trombone, not even if they shoot him and bury him six feet under the stage.  If they do that, a flaming trombone from hell will play Dixieland jazz straight up their asses.  I think the trombone is an outstanding and often unsung instrument in the rock and roll pantheon.  People latch onto the sax because it’s got a certain amount of built-in attitude in its sound, but the trombone wins because there’s no subtlety or pretension about it.  Trombone is raw moonshine to the sax’s fancy wine.  Trombone steps past the sharpshooter precision of the sax and pulls out a sawed-off shotgun.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI learned some things about being a rockstar from the trombone player.  He never, ever, ever took himself seriously onstage or off; when he acted like he did, he was fucking with you.  The trombone player made no enemies, was threatened by no one, and was ready with a smile in almost every situation.  The trombone player was all about confidence, easiness and humor.  If anything the trombone player said or did pissed you off, you knew you were probably being an asshole and should get off your high horse.  The trombone player never sulked; it was almost impossible to hurt his feelings, and heaven knows I tried.  The trombone player was the first to laugh if a practical joke was played on him; but his revenge was always swift and merciless, and the rest of the horn section were always there to back him up.  The trombone player never gave a shit about what anyone else thought; he was only in it for his own entertainment, every minute he was in it.  When he was done, he went to college and got himself a real job.  He’ll probably be the one who pays for the lead singer’s funeral.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBut more importantly, no one ever questioned whether the trombone player was “living in the real world” or not.  (Okay, there was that time during his freshman year in college, but everyone’s freshman year is like that.)  The trombone player, today, is as much a representative of “the real world” as anyone the lead singer has ever known.  And yet he is still, and will always be, the trombone player.  His spirit comes and goes across the face of creation with that sound forever following in his wake.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe trombone player represents something pure and eternal about the whole rockstar trip.  Something that perhaps used that trip as a springboard to transcend all the shallowness and waste.  The trombone player doesn’t have any regrets.  The trombone player presents a lesson for us all:  Play loud.  Be heard.  Wear whatever you want.  Don’t be afraid to look ridiculous.  And don’t bother having enemies - it’s just not worth the effort.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe trombone player understands brunch - that it’s a necessity, and not a luxury, of life.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRead the other part of the series:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_tkf9Y2L1id\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/07/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-i-what.html\"\u003ePart 1\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_iHOUDgWwm5\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/07/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-ii.html\"\u003ePart 2\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_ccV2Y4m5YT\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/08/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-iii.html\"\u003ePart 3\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_HG51GEdwRG\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/08/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-iv-jimmy.html\"\u003ePart 4\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_hp7gXaRQ3i\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-v-teenage.html\"\u003ePart 5\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca id\u003d\"aptureLink_O7gZyjWJob\" href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-vi.html\"\u003ePart 6\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-4649749346777457682?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/4649749346777457682/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-vii.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4649749346777457682"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4649749346777457682"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-vii.html","title":"Diary of a Fading Rockstar, Part VII"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9xY8aELRI/AAAAAAAAD8c/QJH-jPg7epM/s72-c/DrJimmy.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-164997465055149660"},"published":{"$t":"2009-11-02T15:25:00.000-08:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-11-02T15:30:20.901-08:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"treos"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"TREOS"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9rfEo8YwI/AAAAAAAAD8E/3Kwi18ZXEno/s1600-h/TREOS.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9rfEo8YwI/AAAAAAAAD8E/3Kwi18ZXEno/s400/TREOS.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399652659806102274\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Steve Sawyer\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm going to do two things at once, expose you to a band, and disappoint you. But you'll be better off for it. I promise.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you've never heard of The Receiving End of Sirens, don't worry I don't blame you. Not a whole lot of people have. But strange this time, that it isn't because their music is so obtuse, or in a genre so obscure that only the musical elite who dare to bin dive in the local record store would come across them. It's just because the band doesn't exist anymore. Which is made even more confounding by the fact that they only ever put out two albums in the duration of their musical career, which loosely spanned over five years. During those five years, the band didn't exactly explode in mainstream popularity, and they only ever really achieved the same level of musical courtesy that is extended to most no name artists to fill out festival bills. But why?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe group released their first album \"Between the Heart and the Synapse\" in 2005. A completely straight-ahead rock album, with some emo leanings, and an affinity for electronic effects yielded the band a decent following. And their sound was familiar, and distinct enough to separate themselves from the crowd, and opened opportunities to be put onto larger bills like Warped Tour, and as support for 30 Seconds To Mars. So when their then singer Casey Crescenzo decided to leave to pursue his project The Dear Hunter, things looked grim. Most bands have an immensely difficult time recalibrating themselves to cope with the departure of any member of their group, let alone the lead vocalist. So rather than face the prospect of finding a replacement, the band decided to add a keyboardist and another guitar to the mix in the form of Brian Southall, and simply changed their vocal lineup to make their bassist Brendan Brown the lead, and adjusted the vocal lineup around him.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIt worked. Brilliantly. Their second album \"The Earth Sing Mi Fa Mi\" is an almost perfect album in every respect, and far surpasses their first. From the beautiful layered vocal work that showcased that Brendan Brown was clearly capable of replacing Casey, to the truly compassionate and in-arguably honest lyrics. The album immediately differentiated itself from \"Heart and the Synapse\" with the opening track \"Swallow People Whole\", it showed a band that had greatly expanded and matured their sound, and stepped away from Casey's panicked vocal style, and seemed more intent on setting a mood and pace for the rest of the album to follow. And it's true that you got to see those flickers of their old selves for moments on more straight ahead tracks like \"Oubliette\". But even those moments seemed far more controlled, and deliberate, and didn't fall into the same genre traps that the previous album was guilty of getting caught in. No in fact, it's quite obvious on songs like \"Smoke and Mirrors\" that there is a conscious effort to restrain the vocalists from ever feeling the need to scream a single line, a trend that continues seamlessly into the next track \"A Realization of the Ear\" and the rest of the album. It's one of those rare instances where I can safely say that there isn't a song that doesn't belong, and more than that... the album is arranged in such a way that if you listened to it out of order, you would definitely be depriving yourself of an experience.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSo with all that being said, it would seem elementary that the band would sweep the nation and take everyone by storm right? Absolutely, and it sure did seem that way immediately after the release of \"The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi\" in August of 2007. The band bolstered up its touring schedule, and began to play larger and larger shows in more and more places. And with a reputation for a live show that flawlessly replicated their sound note for note, they quickly gained fans in exponential numbers. So it was something of a shock when in May of 2008 TREOS announced that they would no longer continue on as a band.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen upset fans pressed for an explanation, Brendan Brown offered one in the form of this message that was posted to the bands MySpace.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"I, Brendan, must admit that I am the main reason why TREOS is ending. My choice to no longer continue on with The Receiving End of Sirens has nothing to do with a lack of love for my band, and/or band members. It has nothing to do with a lack of passion for our music, or any music for that matter. My decision is due mostly in part to a huge rearranging of priorities in my life, and the unquestionable responsibility that comes along with becoming a father. January 15 my wife and I welcomed Parker Brown, our first child, into the world. Since then everything has changed. The happiness and joy I gained from being part of this band can't ever be taken away from me, but to be honest, I have lived a long time thinking that specific joy was as good as it got. Since Parker's birth I have realized my joy is a great thing, in and of itself, but the happiness I receive from his happiness is exponentially greater than anything I could muster on my own. The thought of leaving him to tour for months at a time is something I just can't stomach. I can't stand to miss another thing. I realize how important I am to my band, and how important our band is to some people, but I am far more elemental in the growth and happiness of my child, than I am anything else in this world.\" - Brendan Brown\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe reaction to the news was just like anything in the bands career. Unexpected. Not only were they amazingly supportive of his decision, some of them even offered parenting tips, and to babysit. I suppose it shouldn't have been hard to figure out that the same guy that wrote the lyrics for songs like \"Pale Blue Dot\" who's main hook is the repeat \"There's no place like home.\" would value his family life more than his music, but it's definitely not something you hear about too often in an industry that's notoriously motivated by money, and the pursuit of fame. And that's really too bad. It's far too often we hear of groups falling apart because someone is plagued with a horrendous drug problem, or because a member of the band decides their greed far outweighs the responsibility of basic civility. Quite honestly, those are the kind of stories I could stand to hear less of. But one of my favorite bands broke up because their lead singer wants to be a terrific father to his son? Yeah, that's good stuff.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eAs of 2008\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Receiving End of Sirens lineup was\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e          Brendan Brown - Vocals, Bass guitar\u003cbr /\u003eAlex Bars - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals\u003cbr /\u003eNate Patterson - Lead Guitar\u003cbr /\u003eAndrew Cook - Drums\u003cbr /\u003eBrian Southall - Guitar, Keyboard\u003cbr /\u003e      Former Members\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBen Potrykus - Lead Vocals\u003cbr /\u003eCasey Crescenzo - Vocals, Guitar, Keys\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-164997465055149660?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/164997465055149660/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/treos.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/164997465055149660"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/164997465055149660"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/11/treos.html","title":"TREOS"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Su9rfEo8YwI/AAAAAAAAD8E/3Kwi18ZXEno/s72-c/TREOS.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-8202588104857224464"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-29T16:16:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-29T16:17:47.846-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hallie madenski"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Metric, Emily Haines and the Canadian Bacon Effect"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuoijkgZqkI/AAAAAAAAD58/ZZ_Q-Hefm60/s1600-h/canadian+baconnnn.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 344px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuoijkgZqkI/AAAAAAAAD58/ZZ_Q-Hefm60/s400/canadian+baconnnn.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398165097847302722\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI refer to a certain phenomenon as the \"Canadian Bacon Effect.\" One of my favorite things about living in the Pacific Northwest and America in general is all the juicy fat that trickles into our music scene from Canada. Canadians love Oregon because for most of them it has a similar but less icy feel to their beloved territories to the North. Tegan and Sara recorded their previous album \"The Con\" in Portland with Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie fame.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMusic from Canada doesn't sound any different from music here, or does it? As I put this thought on the spin cycle for a moment I start to question this theory. Is it me or does the intelligence of the people as a whole seep into some of the indie music of the syrup drinking, hockey-watching country, with its lessened population and good health insurance,The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Tim Horton's, the largest mall in North America and of course the country's demonized wintery touch? All these attributes are things to be considered when thinking of the country, where to me, one thing is clearer than Clearly Canadian.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs a music lover first and a person second, I think of music when I think of Canada. Tied for first place as my favorite band, a certain group casts a silvery shadow in my eyelids.  A band I want to listen to when I'm working out in the afternoon and then later when I'm trying to banish my neurosis and finally fall asleep. One to relax and to energize. One band to rule them all. Metric.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNamed after a system America has never been able to fully convert to, the band is akin in this way. I've always felt that Metric never got what they deserve in terms of acknowledgment. A recognized band, but not a stadium band. Always at festivals but never quite top-billed. The difference between Metric and the actual metric system is that others have fully converted to the metric system. While Canada is more aware of the genius of frontwoman Emily Haines, I'm positive that neither country has heard enough of the angelic melodies and inarguably poetic lyrics of the band.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFans tend to scoff when fame gets out of control. I find myself scoffing at Green Day and The Killers for their over-the-top portrayal of superstars. Well, not portrayal, they are superstars in their own right. There's something fishy about this though. To me announcing yourself as \"the best\" instantly drops you from my respect radar. When I saw a Green Day show in 2005 they referred to themselves as \"the best punk band ever.\" There's so much wrong with declaring yourself as best band let alone best punk band, not only an extinct genre but a degrading and pompous comment that isn't even true. \"Wake Me Up When September Ends\" was one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard. The Killers \"Hot Fuss\" is one of my top favorite 30 CDs and so is Green Day's \"Dookie\" but when I see these bands now I feel bad for ever thinking so highly of them. I wonder whether the old synth-happy Killers will ever be back. Or do I have to hear the lyrics \"are we human, or are we dancer\" one more time? By the way, Mr. Flowers, most of us can tell when someone is stringing random words together to sound intelligent because we do it often ourselves.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don't Metric to turn into snobs, so I fear their fame. The concerns of a selfish fan plague me. I want to treasure them and pretend that I discovered them when in reality I only started to listen to them in 2005 though they had been around since 2001. You know the agony of listening to a band before they become big? Your friends and random comrades start mentioning them, boasting of a new great band they found out about. Your teeth start to clench and your fists ball up. Actually, that might just be my own personal mania and ridiculous vendetta against others. Regardless, there's a monstrous frustration that comes with being concerned about music. I baby it. I rock it back and forth in my arms. I'm the delusional girl that thinks all the pieces in the bowl of candy belong to her, when in fact they are in the open and plainly there to be enjoyed by everyone. Metric is not my own personal piece of candy, and neither is your favorite band.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe blonde leading lady genius of Emily Haines and perfect pieces of the puzzle that are her band, released their most recent CD in April of this year. \"Fantasies,\" Metric's fourth full length album, is the creme brulee of music. A hard shell of synth-rock danceable music on the top, with a substantially rich lyrical center. Listen to \"Satellite Mind\" and \"Gold Guns Girls\" then tone it down with \"Twilight Galaxy.\" To be honest you cannot go wrong with any track from this delectable masterpiece. Like Garbage, they are a band incapable of making a bad CD. I'm now certain of that. I would watch Emily Haines in a movie, I would read her book and I would certainly listen to anything she composed even if it was wordless and created with only a hurdy gurdy.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAnother band from Canada are the unmistakable identical twins mentioned earlier. Tegan and Sara, who just released their latest CD \"Sainthood,\" are another anomaly. More famous than Metric but still struggling for America's full attention, certain audiences tend to linger more than others. With a massive lesbian/calm person following, they may not be your type of thing if you're, well, not into folk music with a faint drum beat and a forceful unplugged guitar.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHonorable mentions must go to now defunct Edmonton-based Pursuit of Happiness whose classic CD \"Love Junk\" should be rediscovered by today's generation as it is a great CD to age with. Artificial Joy Club's one and only release, \"Melt,\" is a grungy classic. The Clik's \"Snakehouse\" is a brutal masterpiece similar to Metric's \"Fantasies\" in that it can pump you up or help you sleep depending on what track you venture towards. Hot Hot Heat used to be good and Feist is worth checking out. Acclaimed bag of poo, The Arcade Fire, are always buzzed about even though I've never gotten it, I keep listening hoping my ears will change. The copycat Gwen Stefani vocals of The Vincent Black Shadow are catchy pop infestations. Heavily tattooed Bif Naked deserves a nod as does the forlorn Alanis Morrisette, queen of the breakup CD. Broken Social Scene is moody and fitting for a listen while you take a bubble bath. Last but not least Quebec's Islands are a favorite, check out the bubbly \"Rough Gem.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNow for a playlist, titled \"Songs for a Moose.\" This mixed array of Canadian tunes might make you envious of \"America's Hat.\" If Canada is a hat to America, America is a poorly dressed retard who drastically needs a stylish hat to add flare to their horribly bland outfit. America is Canada's soiled underwear. And NO I'm not French, and YES I'm mostly joking.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003etrack 01 - \"Wet Blanket\" by Metric\u003cbr /\u003etrack 02 - \"Don't Rush\" by Tegan and Sara\u003cbr /\u003etrack 03 - \"Twitch\" by Bif Naked\u003cbr /\u003etrack 04 - \"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm\" by Crash Test Dummies\u003cbr /\u003etrack 05 - \"Love and Death\" by The Stills\u003cbr /\u003etrack 06 - \"Silent Seven\" by Controller.Controller\u003cbr /\u003etrack 07 - \"The Constant Lover\" by Magneta Lane\u003cbr /\u003etrack 08 - \"Creeper\" by Islands\u003cbr /\u003etrack 09 - \"I Wear My Sunglasses at Night\" by Corey Hart\u003cbr /\u003etrack 10 - \"Metro\" by The Vincent Black Shadow\u003cbr /\u003etrack 11 - \"Hangover Days\" by Jason Collett Featuring Emily Haines\u003cbr /\u003etrack 13 - \"Needy Girl\" by Chromeo\u003cbr /\u003etrack 14 - \"Video Kid\" by The Birthday Massacre\u003cbr /\u003etrack 15 - \"Elevator Love Letter\" by Stars\u003cbr /\u003etrack 16 - \"Sick and Beautiful\" by Artificial Joy Club\u003cbr /\u003etrack 17 - \"Monday Monday Monday\" by Tegan and Sara\u003cbr /\u003etrack 18 - \"Goodnight Goodnight\" by Hot Hot Heat\u003cbr /\u003etrack 19 - \"Lay Down\" by Priestess\u003cbr /\u003etrack 20 - \"Stopwatch Hearts\" By Broken Social Scene\u003cbr /\u003etrack 21 - \"Gold Guns Girls\" by Metric\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-8202588104857224464?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/8202588104857224464/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/metric-emily-haines-and-canadian-bacon.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8202588104857224464"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8202588104857224464"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/metric-emily-haines-and-canadian-bacon.html","title":"Metric, Emily Haines and the Canadian Bacon Effect"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuoijkgZqkI/AAAAAAAAD58/ZZ_Q-Hefm60/s72-c/canadian+baconnnn.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-2223846914218415612"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-23T17:27:20.440-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Khadeeja Coonrod"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A Moment With Hydropoetic"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca style\u003d\"padding: 0px 6px; float: left;\" id\u003d\"aptureLink_WtGMrdxfAg\" href\u003d\"http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/0000012483ecbf4de1a1b903007f000000000001.hydropoetic.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg title\u003d\"hydropoetic\" src\u003d\"http://apture.s3.amazonaws.com/0000012483ecbf4de1a1b903007f000000000001.hydropoetic.jpg\" style\u003d\"border: 0px none ;\" height\u003d\"451\" width\u003d\"300\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Khadeeja Coonrod\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf anyone is in need of inspiring music that you can move to then look no further than Hydropoetic. Sabree is his name. He's currently located in the Bay Area, California. Hydropoetic comes with beats that\u003cbr /\u003eflow like water and rhymes that hit you hard. This Hip-Hop artist will be a future influence for a good mood once his music comes out of your speakers. His lyrics capture the soul with nourishment until you're full with contentment.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHydropoetic has written on topics that may relate to us in an unexpected way. Aerosol, a song about being a graffiti artist, is a close personal favorite for Hydropoetic. A personal favorite of mine by him would be the song, Beautiful because of the message it brings about seeing existence as a beautiful thing that's to be appreciated and cherished. The chorus lines from the song are, \"Third planet from\u003cbr /\u003ethe Sun and yes, I exist. I thank God for the way that I spit and yes, it's so beautiful, yes I'm so beautiful yes you're so beautiful, yeah it sounds beautiful.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI asked Hydropoetic if he could give me a few details of his name, how he got started in music, what inspires him when it comes to music, information about his upcoming album.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003eSabree, what's your last name?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy full name is Hirshee Sabree Hassan. Sabree is my middle name.\u003cbr /\u003eSabree Hydropoetic is my personality with a pen and pad; and or a mic.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003eWhere do you perform?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI won't offer any performances until I have a solid release date for the EP.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003eCan you tell me where you grew up?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was born in Oakland, CA and grew up in both Oakland and San Francisco, CA.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003ePlease, tell me what inspires you about music; what keeps you to\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003econtinue to create it.\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat inspires my music is life, my life, the way I see and understand it. I'm constantly growing as a human being and so I always have things to write about. I just try to come up with creative ways to express it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003eHow did you get started in music?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy introduction to Hip-Hop started as a very young graffiti artist. This lead to breakin' which then lead to the music aspect of the elements. In fact, flirting with becoming a DJ was the only thing I didn't do. Graffiti is my first love for Hip-Hop and 'till this day I sketch my pieces... don't think I can paint any more but I still sketch pieces. As far as the music aspect of it, I heard so many artists that I would break to like, all of the pioneers. I started at a very, very young age... but it wasn't 'till I heard Rakim and Big Daddy Kane when I wanted to emcee. I'm not a Hip-Hop \"purist\" due to the fact the potential progression of the culture can be misunderstood... and therefore, change can sometimes face rejection. Hip-Hop music is a collage of different types of music that should be celebrated; so to me, in the music elementals of Hip-Hop, it would not\u003cbr /\u003ebe fair to be a purist. Pure to creativity is priority if anything.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0); font-weight: bold;\"\u003eCan you tell me something about the album you're working on?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm working on an EP now with my man Kurisoul who's producing all of the tracks. If you heard the song Beautiful then you should kinda know what soundscape to expect. He's a very very talented producer and his future is projects brilliance in Hip-Hop.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-2223846914218415612?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/2223846914218415612/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/moment-with-hydropoetic.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/2223846914218415612"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/2223846914218415612"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/moment-with-hydropoetic.html","title":"A Moment With Hydropoetic"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-8718395971836043675"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-22T00:58:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-22T01:03:57.751-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hallie madenski"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"7 Best Things About Halloween"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuAR4gMUZnI/AAAAAAAAD0Q/YnTQWn2YVVQ/s1600-h/halloween+article.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 370px; height: 360px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuAR4gMUZnI/AAAAAAAAD0Q/YnTQWn2YVVQ/s400/halloween+article.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395332016001803890\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHalloween is one of my least favorite holidays besides New Years. I refer to these two dates as \"slut holidays.\" For anyone between the ages of 16 and 30, Halloween becomes a giddy excuse to dress up like a nurse, partially-nude zombie or Marilyn Monroe, but with more cleavage. With all my prude old lady attitudes, I still understand why Halloween is fun for some people.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI do love candy, but that is really the children's aspect of it isn't it? Trick-or-treating up and down the neighborhood is for kids. Once you get beyond childhood, you realize you have to either be a social butterfly on Halloween, or hide in your house and hand out goodies. Lucky for me there is something I love about Halloween. Horror movies! And of course candy, and even though dressing up isn't for me, I could mention some ideas for costumes as I'm much more of a spectator.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e1. Candy.\u003c/span\u003e  Bow Wow Wow! Put it all in perspective, I want candy, and who doesn't? Whether you're a future diabetic like me or a occasional craver, we all have a driving desire to eat sweets. Candy is pretty subjective. So whatever you prefer, no one can condemn you, unless you like those liquid nipple-bottles full of corn syrup, then you're going to hell.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy personal choices for deliciousness are as follows. Brach's Candy Corn, Haribo Gold-Bears, Trolli Sour Brite Gummy Worms, Red Vines, Peanut Butter M\u0026amp;M's, Lemonheads and Runts. Mmmmmmm. Remember when old ladies used to give you quarters or raisins for Halloween to teach you a lesson about money and health? Don't follow in their footsteps, give out candy that you would actually eat. Kids will respect you and if there is any left you can shamefully gobble it up later on in the dead of night.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e2. Horror Movies.\u003c/span\u003e \"Rocky Horror Picture Show\" is a novelty and a great movie for audience participation if you're into having rice stuck to you. (I'm sure there's a website for that)\u003cbr /\u003eThere's novelty and then there's pure horror. My favorite horror movies are mostly classics like \"Halloween\" - 1 and 2, and \"Texas Chainsaw Massacre.\" \"Friday the 13th,\" \"Nightmare on Elm Street\" and of course \"The Exorcist.\" A few less-ancient movies that I loved included \"The Descent,\" \"Saw\" 1 and 2, \"Dead Silence,\" \"Wolf Creek,\" \"The Orphanage,\" \"Audition,\" \"May,\" \"The Ring,\" \"The Devil's Rejects,\" \"The Hills Have Eyes,\" \"Hostel II\" and \"The Strangers.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI have to say \"May\" is one of the best movies out there that sort of fits this genre. It's kind of more of a dark comedy than a true slasher flick but it definitely has elements that sway most people to put it in the horror section. Look for a hilariously horny aloof lezbo Anna Faris early on in her career. \"Dead Silence\" and \"Audition\" are two other little known movies that deserve a nod. \"Audition\" being a Japanese film about a man whose wife dies and years later holds a fake movie audition in search of a girlfriend. Classically, he gets a little more than he bargained for. This movie features one of the strangest scenes ever, without giving too much away I'll say, there's a bag involved, and a man, sort of.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"Dead Silence\" terrifies me, but it's not for everyone. A movie about a dead ventriloquist and her collection of dummies. The acting is questionable but the story is pretty damn good. This movie has more twists than Bolivia's Death Road. Also, I'm afraid of Ventriloquist dummies, and vengeful supernatural old ladies. Since I like to be a bit scared, it's kind of a win win situation for me. See \"The Orphanage\" for a more sophisticated horror movie, see \"Dead Silence\" if you are feeling young, or are young, and want to jump a little. My definition of scary is different, as is everyone's. But I can say for certain that if you don't like \"May\" or \"The Orphanage\" then you have no business even participating in the viewing of cinema.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you're into total gore and shock my number one pick is the remake for \"The Hills Have Eyes.\" French people really know what they're doing when it comes to horror.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDirector Alexandre Aja manages to have you caring about the characters within 5 minutes. The hugest mistake of most new horror movies is that they don't make likable characters. For some reason directors think they should make characters with varying degrees of annoying. The most annoying character always dies first. Usually it's the scantily-clad cheerleader and her sex-crazed boyfriend. It's either one girl who lives at the end or a guy and a girl who just met, somehow the least annoying of the cast but still obnoxiously one-sided. The reason for this is production time and carelessness. Aja, and the guy who directed \"The Descent,\" Neil Marshall, really know what they're doing. They give every character a personality you could relate to. You end up feeling sympathy for even the most aggravating character, like the short-haired loud mouth extremist in \"The Descent.\" Or the intellectually challenged eye candy sister in \"The Hills Have Eyes.\" There is a scene in a trailer that makes me want to turn the movie off. The scene is more vomit-inducing than the famous hillbilly scene in \"Deliverance.\" \"Last House on The Left\" ties for disturbing scene though I must say. Overall Alexandre Aja's movie is more shocking than Eli Roth's \"Hostel\" or Rob Zombie's \"Devil's Rejects.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo me the classic is still John Carpenter's \"Halloween.\" The way Michael Myers appears in windows out of nowhere or behind a tree still scares me. I grew up in the woods in a house with a lot of windows so this and \"Texas Chainsaw Massacre\" always really got to me. I am really quite peeved that the classic ideas of Leatherface and Michael Myers have now been skewed so horribly by remakes. Though I did enjoy the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake I was disturbed by the fact that he is now depicted as some sort of giant wrestler with a breathing problem. Michael Myers and Jason as well. All wrestlers now. Huge, wielding their weapon of choice. Setting traps and shooting arrows and being cunning? Michael Myers was never that strong, just kind of invincible. But he wouldn't lift up a car, Rob Zombie. Leatherface was always a stumbling tie-wearing sort of tranny looking thing before the remake showed him as huge and strong and able to start his Chainsaw on the first try. A note to future directors, don't remake any more movies unless you're kind of going to try to do the first one justice.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOne last thing about movies, in June of 2008 makeup and special effects genius Stan Winston died at the age of 62. He was involved in numerous classics including all four Terminator movies and the first \"Alien\" movie. Also credited with makeup and/or special effects in \"Edward Scissorhands,\" \"Iron man,\" \"Wrong Turn,\" \"Predator,\" \"Jurassic Park,\" \"Congo,\" and \"Interview With The Vampire.\" Think of him as you are applying your fake blood and plastic fangs, and what a better job he'd be doing.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e3. Costumes.\u003c/span\u003e Now, I know you all have urges to go as either regular Michael Jackson, zombie Thriller Michael Jackson or Bella and Edward from \"Twilight.\" I'm just begging you, if you're a woman go as Lady Gaga, and if you're a man, well, go as Lady Gaga. All you need is a big nose, leggings, a bright blonde wig and a bizarre leotard or poofy dress of some sort. If you don't have a big nose but you have the leggings and wig, go as Madonna. Once my brother won a Halloween costume contest by putting a planting pot on his head and declaring himself a pothead. Simplicity is key. Oh, and if you insist on going the vampire route be more original than \"Twilight\" and try out characters from HBO's \"Trueblood.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e4. Decorations.\u003c/span\u003e  There are four levels of decorating your porch or house on Halloween. The first, and laziest is putting a miniature pumpkin on your porch. The second is putting a full-sized but uncarved pumpkin out. The third is actually carving a pumpkin, putting a candle in it and setting it outside for trick or treaters and neighbors to enjoy. The fourth is to go all out and carve several pumpkins and buy crazy skeleton and witch decorations that cackle and hoot at passersby. This sometimes seems like more of a ploy to keep trick or treaters away, especially with all the rampant anxiety, imagination and jumpy horse-like symptoms that come with being young. I suppose only the brave suffice.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI have never been willing to fork out my dragon gold for seemingly unnecessary decorations that will only be used once a year. Instead I fall somewhere in with either carving pumpkins or leaving them on my porch. It's my way of getting into without looking like I tried. Kind of like a hipster. It might sound pretentious, but hey, that's me. Also, I fully applaud people who do go all out with decorations, it gives me a reason to drive around and stare at people's houses with an excuse that makes me not sound like a serial killer/stalker.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e5. Haunted Houses.\u003c/span\u003e  I live in Oregon, so I can only really recommend places locally though I hear the USS Nightmare in Kentucky is pretty great. Located on a real, supposedly haunted steamboat on the Ohio river. Anyway, in Oregon there is really only one unique concept and two other fairly decent haunted houses. Due to my anxiety ridden life, I have only been to one haunted house. The unique option though here is a corn maze that supposedly takes at least an hour to find your way out of. During Halloween they fill the maze with frightening characters such as Leatherface to confuse and chase you around the maze. It's a little too much for me, as I almost died in the Oak's Park haunted house.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eConsidered wimpy and for teenagers, I shrieked nonstop, my friend jumped onto my back in shock and my boyfriend screamed like an old man falling down the stairs. Girls half my age began laughing at us as they walked through the haunted house trying to scare themselves with seemingly fake yelps of joy/terror. I've heard that the most terrifying option in Oregon is The Thirteenth Door, a confusing haunted house where you have to find your way out as you are trapped in rooms with zombie-clad actors who are mainly concerned with making you pee yourself in horror. No thanks.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e6. Books.\u003c/span\u003e Stephen King's \"It\" and \"Needful Things\" should do the trick. Also check out Chuck Palahniuk's \"Haunted.\" I've never read it but I've heard \"The Ruins\" by Scott Smith is one of the most terrifying books ever. Although I doubt that, I still need to read it so I can feel better about recommending it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e7. Music.\u003c/span\u003e Last but not least, Halloween music can be the most comforting and easiest thing about the holiday. There's always \"Monster Mash...\" yeah yeah graveyard smash and whatnot, but then there's the other staples of Halloween music. I consider Danny Elfman to be the most talented horror-oriented composer. With his \"Nightmare Before Christmas\" soundtrack and his countless amazing Oingo Boingo hits such as \"No Spill Blood,\" \"Dead Man's Party,\" Weird Science,\" \"Hour of the Wolf\" and \"When the Lights Go Out.\" My Halloween mixed tape would be comprised of the following tunes:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003etrack 01 - \"Monster Mash\" by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett\u003cbr /\u003etrack 02 - \"This is Halloween\" by Marilyn Manson\u003cbr /\u003etrack 03 - \"More Human Than Human\" by White Zombie\u003cbr /\u003etrack 04 - \"Translyvania Terror Train\" by Captain Clegg \u0026amp; The Night Creatures\u003cbr /\u003etrack 05 - \"Jack's Lament\" by Danny Elfman\u003cbr /\u003etrack 06 - \"Thriller\" by Michael Jackson\u003cbr /\u003etrack 07 -  \"Every Day is Halloween\" by Ministry\u003cbr /\u003etrack 08 - \"Halloween\" by Siouxsie And The Banshees\u003cbr /\u003etrack 09 - \"Living Dead Girl\" by Rob Zombie\u003cbr /\u003etrack 10 -  \"Somebody's Watching Me\" by Rockwell\u003cbr /\u003etrack 11 - \"Halloween Girl\" by Ghosts on the Radio\u003cbr /\u003etrack 13 - \"Hour of the Wolf\" by Oingo Boingo\u003cbr /\u003etrack 14 - \"Feed my Frankenstein\" by Alice Cooper\u003cbr /\u003etrack 15 - \"This Could Be Love\" by Alkaline Trio\u003cbr /\u003etrack 16 - \"Dig Up Her Bones\" by Misfits\u003cbr /\u003etrack 17 - \"Ballroom Blitz\" by Sweet\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAlright so, lessons learned? Go out dressed as Lady Gaga. If eating candy turns your teeth black and/or makes them fall out it will just go more with the spirit of Halloween. Watch \"May\" while you carve a pumpkin or at least draw on one. Be brave and go to a haunted house, just bring lots of friends to pick you up when you have a seizure. And lastly, listen to Danny Elfman or Oingo Boingo. Actually any of the above songs will suffice. Do the dance to \"Thriller\" and light that candle in your pumpkin in the sweet memory of Michael Jackson and Stan Winston.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-8718395971836043675?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/8718395971836043675/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/7-best-things-about-halloween.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8718395971836043675"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8718395971836043675"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/7-best-things-about-halloween.html","title":"7 Best Things About Halloween"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SuAR4gMUZnI/AAAAAAAAD0Q/YnTQWn2YVVQ/s72-c/halloween+article.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-3628804992057051364"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-21T14:13:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-21T14:16:00.888-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Daniel Alcantara"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Desert"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/St96AOYYISI/AAAAAAAADzA/q3BF7TfBw1U/s1600-h/Daniel.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/St96AOYYISI/AAAAAAAADzA/q3BF7TfBw1U/s400/Daniel.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5395165022892073250\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Daniel Alcantara\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePhoto Courtesy of\u003c/span\u003e \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/deepblue66/2221540296/\"\u003ehiro008\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI’ve been writing either stories or songs or articles like this one since I was a child. It used to be that I wrote when I felt like it and that felt often enough but here I find myself completely without any material whatsoever. I’ve been here before and it’s usually when I start to take in all manner of content trying to get inspired and influenced. I saw a movie that changed my life but here I sit not able to write about it. Believe me, I tried. But how do you really write about going to see a movie? There’s no material there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI tried writing about how I’ve begun to play my Gretsch guitar again after a long period of silence from it because I could only play through headphones. Now I’ve got an amp and have started to write music again but I can’t write music for an article. You don’t want a 500-word song, trust me.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI took in a lot of music while my wife and I were on vacation, a vacation that included about 6 or 7 hours of driving from home to the location and back home again. I still don’t have anything to say about that. And it hurts. I can usually fake something until it works but not this time. As I type this, Iron \u0026amp; Wine is coming from my computer’s speakers and while this used to be the perfect writing music for me, all that is coming is this long-winded whine-session about how I can’t write anything. My kitchen is a mess and I’d rather be cleaning it than writing this.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHow did I get to this point? How do I get out? Those two questions are racing through my head and maybe writing this is my way of getting out. I don’t even know if this is worth sending in, but I’m going to anyway. It’s words and it’s got a bit of a story. Any creative person has been in this exact same place many times before and no matter how many times it happens, it never gets easier. The creative process is so organic and so natural at times when others, it feels like you’re trying to grow a farm in the desert. No matter how much water you pour on it, nothing can grow there. And that is the struggle of anyone that tries to make being creative their way to make a living.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat do you do when there’s nothing left in the soil that you’ve been working? That soil that’s rewarded you so many times before with the most amazing surprises? Some might stay there and wallow and take the dirt and make it shine. Others move on to a new patch of ground to see what might be in the soil. Is either method better than the other? I’d have to say that the former is much more commendable. It forces you to be even more creative before you’re sure that you’ve exhausted every possible avenue available to you. And that’s what I’ve found myself doing as I’ve been writing this article. I’m trying to make the dirt in this creative desert into something that I can use. Something that you can use. There isn’t much here, but I hope that it finds someone that is struggling to make something work when everyone else has moved on to greener lands. Hold out, something good will come. You just have to work for it.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-3628804992057051364?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/3628804992057051364/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/desert.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3628804992057051364"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3628804992057051364"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/desert.html","title":"The Desert"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/St96AOYYISI/AAAAAAAADzA/q3BF7TfBw1U/s72-c/Daniel.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-1569365062390572537"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-18T03:29:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-18T03:37:46.513-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"elton john"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Elton John: The Bitch Is Back by Mark Bego"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Strvr2idSnI/AAAAAAAADtw/5-367PmGZEc/s1600-h/Elton+John.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Strvr2idSnI/AAAAAAAADtw/5-367PmGZEc/s400/Elton+John.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393887040383044210\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Victoria Hill \u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e(Urban/Pop Editor)\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eFor almost 50 years, Elton John has been a constant entertainer.  More than a mere 'piano man,' Elton moved from playing smoky, dreary pubs to become one of the biggest icons of our time. His music has become the soundtrack of our lives, and his live performances are truly theatrical.  Mark Bego, a best-selling biographer, takes you on a journey of the lavish, outrageous life that could only be lived by Elton himself.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe journey from Middlesex, England to the bright lights of Vegas, Broadway and the world was not easy for Reginald Kenneth Dwight, but he was driven to be more than a blue-collar worker living in a counsel house.  Music was a salvation to the lonely boy who would become Elton John.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“Elton John: The Bitch Is Back” is an outstanding book which shows all the aspects of Elton’s life (addiction, weight gain, eating disorders, hair loss, affairs to living a clean, happy, healthy life with his partner David Furnish) without judging Elton.  Mark’s writing makes you feel like you are experiencing Elton’s life first hand, which for me as a fan, is exciting.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ciframe src\u003d\"http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1\u003d_blank\u0026amp;bc1\u003d000000\u0026amp;IS2\u003d1\u0026amp;bg1\u003d999999\u0026amp;fc1\u003dFFFFFF\u0026amp;lc1\u003dFF3300\u0026amp;t\u003dchiwitgunmag-20\u0026amp;o\u003d1\u0026amp;p\u003d8\u0026amp;l\u003das1\u0026amp;m\u003damazon\u0026amp;f\u003difr\u0026amp;asins\u003d1597776327\" style\u003d\"float: right; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" marginwidth\u003d\"0\" marginheight\u003d\"0\" frameborder\u003d\"0\" scrolling\u003d\"no\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003eMark said \"I specifically wanted to talk to people who personally know Elton, and who are not usually interviewed for Elton John books.  These people's insights into Elton make this quite exciting. Researching this book I interviewed Alice Cooper, Billy Wyman of The Rolling Stones, Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Angela Bowie, Sarah Dash of LaBelle, Randy Jones of the Village People, Duncan Faure of The Bay City Rollers, and Gary Brooker of Procol Harum. I also received some great stories from Danny Hutton and Jimmy Greenspoon of Three Dog Night. A lot of people don't realize that it was Three Dog Night who recorded the song that became America's first exposure to Elton's music, via their recording of 'Lady Samantha.' One of my most fun interviews was with the totally colorful and outrageous RuPaul. And, those are just some of the rock \u0026amp; roll figures quoted in the book! There are many more.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“Elton John: The Bitch Is Back” is a must-have for any Elton fan.  In an industry where music and artists are here today and gone tomorrow, this book shows that Elton is a true artist demonstrating class and showmanship.  Personally, they don’t make them like Elton anymore.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRating: 3 Guns\u003c/span\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-1569365062390572537?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/1569365062390572537/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/elton-john-bitch-is-back-by-mark-bego.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/1569365062390572537"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/1569365062390572537"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/elton-john-bitch-is-back-by-mark-bego.html","title":"Elton John: The Bitch Is Back by Mark Bego"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Strvr2idSnI/AAAAAAAADtw/5-367PmGZEc/s72-c/Elton+John.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-7318623003253566834"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-13T14:22:00.001-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-15T14:10:06.297-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hallie madenski"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"10 Shows And Movies To Watch"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTvtaY0ImI/AAAAAAAADhY/Olls_yWrplM/s1600-h/amovieshows+cwg.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 299px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTvtaY0ImI/AAAAAAAADhY/Olls_yWrplM/s400/amovieshows+cwg.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392198217325879906\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI watch too much TV and I go see too many movies. I can use my technology addiction to an advantage by telling others what to avoid and what not to. Shows not worth watching? How about \"Two and a Half Men,\" \"CSI: Miami,\" \"The Cleveland Show,\" \"Heroes,\" \"90210,\" \"Real Chance of Love\" and \"Dancing With The Stars?\" On the other hand, here is a list of things not to avoid...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e10.  \"Paranormal Activity\": \u003c/span\u003eMy friend and I went to see this movie hoping to be terrified and we simply were not. In fact I found the reactions of the mortified audience to be hysterically funny. This being said, it's still a good movie. Entertaining, suspenseful and well-acted. If you happen to be gullible you may be scared, but the \"horror\" aspect of the movie really didn't strike me in the way the director intended. Worth watching despite my bitterness toward all the comparisons to actual scary movies such as \"The Exorcist.\" (How dare they!)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e9. \"Modern Family\":\u003c/span\u003e This show brings back family comedies in their purest form. Tune in to ABC Wednesdays at 9/8c.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e8.  \"Police Women of Broward County\":\u003c/span\u003e TLC's wonderful reality show about lady cops provides the humor I always wanted from \"Cops.\" While Cops had its moments it was never high enough quality or quite humorous enough to keep me interested in more than a few minutes, possibly one episode if I was feeling bloated. Police Women of Broward County has its serious moments, especially since one of the cops is a sex crimes detective. Some non-serious moments include a woman who claims marijuana was blown into her bra by the wind. Also, a group of people who put their own hair in their food to try to get out of paying their restaurant bill. And let's not forget the fearful woman who hides drugs in her vagina. This show is \"Cops\" with less brutality, more comedy and just as much reality. Tune in Thursdays at 9 PM Eastern time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e7.  \"Capitalism: A Love Story\":\u003c/span\u003e The saddest of all the Michael Moore films is still worth watching. Moore has somehow managed to retaini humor while covering topics such as school shootings, terrorism and the decline of health care. This movie has its moments in the humor department but mostly it's just depressing. Not that I expect Farrely Brothers style humor from Michael Moore. His in-your-face approach to filmmaking has always been prevalent. Showing America at its worst and reminding us that even though our movie-going, semi-intellectual lives seem fine, others are suffering. This movie is, of course, about Capitalism. The taking and giving of things, mostly taking. Taking people's homes and selling them for a profit. The crashing stock market. The tears of lower and middle class America. While this movie ranks last on my list of favorite Michael Moore movies, it is still worth seeing and is by no means bad. Be prepared to become emotional. And please, don't call Michael Moore unpatriotic. Nothing gets under my skin more than people who can't handle the criticism of their own flawed country. Pointing out those flaws does not make someone a crazy extremist flag-burning fool. (And no, I'm not French)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e6. \"Jennifer's Body\":\u003c/span\u003e Megan Fox is remembered for her role in Transformers. To me she has been in two bad movies and one good one prior to \"Jennifer's Body,\" The two bad films are Transformers 1 and 2, the good film is \"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.\" Let's say Jennifer's Body is the movie to equal it all out. Now you need to really understand that this movie is a satire, that it is not to be taken seriously. You need to understand that Megan Fox is a less than mediocre actress with a more than angelic face, making it all well worth while. The movie takes the dialogue of Writer Diablo Cody's \"Juno\" to another level. Spike the punch, roll out the carpet and say hello to a hilarious faux horror movie co-starring budding starlet Amanda Seyfried of \"Mean Girls\" and \"Mama Mia\" fame. Other amusing roles go to J.K. Simmons (Juno's dad), talented face maker Amy Sedaris and sly guy-in-a-band Adam Brody. Adam Brody, who played an attractive nerd on The O.C., does a perfect job of capturing the attitude of guys who are in pop bands that masquerade as rock bands. Eyeliner and all, he asks the question, \"Do you want to be rich and famous like that dude from Maroon 5?\" While Adam Brody is off playing a cliche, Megan Fox is saying things like, \"PMS isn't real, ... it was invented by the boy-run media to make us seem like we're crazy.\" Also coining the phrase \"wetty\" as a term for a female woody. While Diablo Cody hit the nail on the head with \"Juno,\" she may have confused her core fans in making this gory comedy. Hopefully she earned some new fans in the process of releasing this film, using her revolving door of strangely charming wit.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e5. \"Hung\":\u003c/span\u003e  Hung is an intriguing heartfelt show about a man struggling to make money after his house burns down. He turns to the obvious profession, being a gigolo. Now this may sound tired and ridiculous, but it somehow isn't. The way the show weaves together comedy and human nature is refreshing and sweet. The characters are realistic and while sometimes obnoxious, they are also lovable. The shows protagonist, Ray Dreckler, is played by the previously boring Thomas Jane. Playing a man with a big penis could potentially be difficult to convey without seeming literally cocky but somehow he does it wonderfully. He is supported by a great cast, especially his \"pimp\" who is played by Jane Adams.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e4.  \"Nurse Jackie\":\u003c/span\u003e The season of this Showtime show, as well as HBO's Hung, is already over. That doesn't mean it's not worth mentioning. Rent it yourself for the dramatic comedy of a feisty, pill popping, affair-having nurse. Played by the talented and severely underrated Edie Falco of \"Sopranos\" fame. Her acting chops are up to par with Toni Collette of the wonderfully quirky Showtime show \"United States of Tara.'\" Catch up on the first season so you can tune in next year.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e3.  \"Zombieland\":\u003c/span\u003e Woody Harrelson is a badass. Need I say more? Actually I feel like I should say more since I don't think the advertisements for this film did it justice. 13 year old Abigail Breslin has a substantial role in the movie and isn't even really shown in the previews. Jonah Hill's alcohol-seeking love interest in \"Superbad,\" the lovely Emma Stone, is good in the movie even when she lisps. Her crackling voice reminiscent of an equally smoky Lindsey Lohan. Big-haired Jesse Eisenberg of the future cult classic \"Adventureland\" is always charming, and even Bill Murray makes an appearance as Woody and company seek shelter in his home. Woody Harrelson plays a loner hellbent on finding his all time favorite treat, Twinkies. They have been all but wiped out on zombie-infested earth. It's also funny hearing Woody Harrelson describe this movie in interviews because he is actually a peaceful vegan hippie who doesn't eat Twinkies. Apparently, during filming, special vegan Twinkies were concocted just for his consumption. Look out for a standoff between his character \"Tallahassee\" and about 40 blood thirsty zombies. Like the entire movie, this scene isn't one you can forget. This movie is the opposite of a porn star, it's unpredictable and the climax is real.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e2. \"Bored to Death\":\u003c/span\u003e  Airs Sunday nights at 9:30 Eastern time on HBO. Surprisingly, this show has received mixed reviews. Its dry humor may not be for everyone but I am certain anyone who enjoys Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm or early seasons of 30 Rock could probably get on board with this show. Starring subtle nerd Jason Shwartzman, an eccentric pot-smoking Ted Danson and bearded \"Hangover\" sidekick Zach Galifianakis. The cast is genius, the script is genius. Just tune in. We can only pray this show doesn't get cancelled like so many other comedy masterpieces of its kind. (Rest in peace Lucky Louie)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e1. \"Anvil: The Story of Anvil\":\u003c/span\u003e This Documentary follows the Canadian metal band Anvil on their journey to and away from fame. A band that started out strong in the 80's but never reached their full potential due to bad marketing. You don't have to like metal to like this movie. Original band members Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner struggle with their lack of success and their relationship as bandmates all throughout this film. They now both maintain regular jobs in Canada to support themselves. They allow a misguided fan to manage a tour in Europe for them and when they arrive they find they are playing to crowds of around 200 on average. One venue's owner even refuses to pay them, offering them a serving of Goulash instead. The reality of it all can be too much. Lead singer Steve Kudlow is like a real life Mickey Rourke in \"The Wrestler.\" A little unhinged, working hard to make a comeback, trying to turn nothing into something. Straining every piece of his heart and soul in the process. The band lays it all out on the line. As a fan of music and of film I give this movie an A+ for combining the two in such a delightful manner.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-7318623003253566834?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/7318623003253566834/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/10-shows-and-movies-to-watch.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7318623003253566834"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7318623003253566834"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/10-shows-and-movies-to-watch.html","title":"10 Shows And Movies To Watch"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTvtaY0ImI/AAAAAAAADhY/Olls_yWrplM/s72-c/amovieshows+cwg.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-8660362206145065452"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-13T14:16:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-13T15:21:30.263-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"horse the band"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"HORSE The Band"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTupHrNw2I/AAAAAAAADhQ/YJjYDUG9N3g/s1600-h/htbchina.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTupHrNw2I/AAAAAAAADhQ/YJjYDUG9N3g/s400/htbchina.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392197044071678818\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Steve Sawyer\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHorse The Band. Just the name itself conjures up images of a group of good for nothings slapping and banging at various instruments, in a manner that could only be described as manic. And in fact it's not very far from the truth. Horse The Band started in that magical time known as 1999 in Lake Forest CA. And by 2002, not only had they self produced and recorded 2 EPs and a full length, but they also managed to book their own tour and carve out a comfortable niche in a number of musical scenes, yielding them a ravenous over caffeinated fan base.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOften credited with coining the phrase \"Nintendocore\" Horse The Bands defining feature of their sound is easily the inclusion of Nintendo and game boy sound effects due to their use of the LSDJ synthesizer kit. Blending these sound effects with a mixture of punk, grind, heavy metal, and electronica has definitely yielded one of the most interesting sounds in music in recent memory. And the familiar sound effects essentially all but guaranteed Horse The Band would maintain a special place in the hearts of every nerd that ever owned a Nintendo Entertainment System. But what solidified their place in music was their incredibly dedicated ability to promote themselves, and constantly push their own sound into new unexplored territory.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTheir first major release \"R. Borlax\" did just that. It put on display a band that had discovered, and defined a sound, and was now fine tuning it into something deadly. One Part Locusts, two parts Super Mario Brothers, and a pint or two of crazy, it's not very hard to pin down what makes the band special when listening to the album. Almost immediately you're greeted by an audible assault on reason. It's absurd, it's loud, and it's invariably unpredictable, but for all it's excesses, it puts a great big smile on your face. That might have been the reason it was so easy for Horse The Band to translate all of that musical energy into increasingly complex tours, both in size and scope.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBy 2004 the band had managed to book a world tour that included 85 shows in 90 days, spanning 7 countries throughout North America and Europe, and was in the process of recording their follow up to \"R. Borlax\", which came in the form of \"The Mechanical Hand\". And while \"Mechanical Hand\" wasn't as avant garde as their previous efforts, it tightened up their sound, and came with a heavy coat of production polish. The added gloss helped to bring in even more fans than before, and enabled Horse to hit the road again. It was during one of these self promoted jaunts through our great nation that Horse stumbled upon Lou Malnati's in Chicago, where they were served a deep dish pizza that would forever change their lives and career. It is at this point that it becomes necessary to quote the band, because to put it in my own words, would do it no justice...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"We left that tour because we ate really, really, really good pizza in Lou Malnati's in Chicago with Dave's grandparents. The pizza was such that we were inspired by God to write music of the kind not heard in this world since Mozart was fed his first currywurst. A copy of Nietzsche's 'The Gay Science' was on hand and for 2 days we struggled with the question posed in 'The Greatest Weight' passage, which follows. In essence, it asks the reader to examine their every action if they had to repeat their lives exactly for all eternity, begging the question in each and every thing, 'Do you desire this once more, and innumerable times more?'\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe couldn't decide if we should stay in Chicago and keep eating pizza for the rest of our lives. But after two days of rigorous theory, we realized we had to write divine music about the pizza. We decided to drive home immediately and write and record a 5-song EP called \"Pizza\" before Sounds of the Underground and Warped Tour started. God was there.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe \"Pizza\" EP gave Horse a booster shot of creativity, and fan support, and provided them with a renewed sense of purpose, and a wellspring of energy. Their sound again sounding fresh, and with fans clamoring for another album, Horse The Band started an unprecedented cycle of self promoting, in anticipation of their album \"A Natural Death\". And when the album finally hit. It landed with a loud resonating boom. The album showed a band that had not only pushed their sound again, but a band that had managed to mature in the short time between releases. Another concept album, \"A Natural Death\" was about the pursuit and futility of human life in the totality of existence. Heavy stuff, for sure, but it showed a very different side of a band that had previously been thought of as impossible to take seriously.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn 2009 after embarking on another self booked, and self promoted world tour that took them to over 45 countries, Horse settled back in to record their next full length \"Desperate Living\". And life has never looked better for the band. While it's still not right to call them accessible, they are closer to that word than they have ever been. With songs like \"Shapeshift\" and \"Horse The Song\" it's an almost infectious pleasure, and much like a skin disease, soon you just can't shake it. It doesn't hurt that they've recruited the crooning Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu to produce, and guest on one of the tracks, as it adds a depth of humanity, and heart that may have been lacking from earlier releases. But more incredible than anything is Horse's ability to again take a sound that they essentially created, and not only contribute to it, but redefine it, and put it in fresh new packaging for everyone to consume. Something tells me it tastes just a little like Pizza.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eHorse The Band is:\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e* Nathan Winneke – vocals (1999-present)\u003cbr /\u003e* David Isen – guitar (1999-present)\u003cbr /\u003e* Erik Engstrom – synthesizer/LSDJ (1999-present)\u003cbr /\u003e* Daniel Pouliot - drums (2009-present)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTheir New Album \"Desperate Living\" is \u003ca href\u003d\"http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id\u003dQB3FFWKj8JU\u0026amp;offerid\u003d146261\u0026amp;type\u003d3\u0026amp;subid\u003d0\u0026amp;tmpid\u003d1826\u0026amp;RD_PARM1\u003dhttp%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewAlbum%253Fi%253D333337706%2526id%253D333337628%2526s%253D143441%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30\"\u003eavailable\u003c/a\u003e through Vagrant Records now.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-8660362206145065452?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/8660362206145065452/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/horse-band.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8660362206145065452"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8660362206145065452"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/horse-band.html","title":"HORSE The Band"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/StTupHrNw2I/AAAAAAAADhQ/YJjYDUG9N3g/s72-c/htbchina.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-5268849498999042638"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-12T04:11:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-12T04:11:00.723-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"santigold"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Santigold, Santagold"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5yCtAvatI/AAAAAAAADdU/x2-xaki1PNE/s1600-h/santigold.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5yCtAvatI/AAAAAAAADdU/x2-xaki1PNE/s400/santigold.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390371194777070290\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Khadeeja Coonrod\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSantigold's (formerly known as Santogold) voice sounds like M.I.A. and Gwen Stefani combined but her music is as if she just arrived on earth with instrumentals that will blow you away into outerspace. Once you give her a try, you will never turn back because her voice will haunt you.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eHer debut album, Santagold, was released April 29, 2008 in the United States. This American artist has a UK sound. It's Mars in the 80's. Santogold was placed at number 6 by Rolling Stone on the best 50 albums of 2008 list.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRolling Stone also put the song, L.E.S. Artistes at number 2 on the 100 best singles list of 2008. With moving words that the song has, it's easy to see why; \"What I'm searching for to tell it straight, I'm trying to build a wall. Walking by myself down avenues that reek of time to kill. If you see me keep going, be a pass by waver. Build me up, bring me down. Just leave me out, you name dropper. Stop trying to catch my eye. I see you good, you forced faker. Just make it easy. You're my enemy, you fast talker. I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up. If I could stand up mean for the things that I believe.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"The cool thing is that I was able to work with all these genres that are typically sub-cultural, like dub or punk or something, and then, by writing in a way that had hooks, made it accessible to everyone.\"- Santigold discussing the Santagold album\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo fall in love with Santigold is an understatement. To name it the album of the year means you better be able to back up the statement which I personally will back it up with all I got.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTo discover Santigold with you own ears, go to: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.myspace.com/santigold\"\u003ehttp://www.myspace.com/santigold\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-5268849498999042638?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/5268849498999042638/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/santigold-santagold.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/5268849498999042638"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/5268849498999042638"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/santigold-santagold.html","title":"Santigold, Santagold"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5yCtAvatI/AAAAAAAADdU/x2-xaki1PNE/s72-c/santigold.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-3648084118137174220"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-08T14:40:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-13T01:19:39.041-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"The Kominas"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Kominas - Taqwacore from Lahore to Boston"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5cegbZqYI/AAAAAAAADcc/RMp9Fw_X4I8/s1600-h/basimsilverfactory.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5cegbZqYI/AAAAAAAADcc/RMp9Fw_X4I8/s400/basimsilverfactory.jpg\" alt\u003d\"The Kominas\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390347483179755906\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Natalie Hamingson\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAt the end of this summer, Boston Taqwacore band, The Kominas, wrapped their second tour of the United States. Since catching them during their stop in my hometown of Los Angeles August 5th, their debut album, “Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay” has not left my CD player.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe word “Taqwacore,” a combination of the arabic word “taqwa,” meaning “God consciousness” and the suffix for the punk subgenre “hardcore,” comes from Michael Muhammad Knights’ novel, “The Taqwacores.” Though the book was about fictional Muslim punks, calling referring to the musical genre that it was a catalyst for as “Muslim punk” is somewhat inaccurate, since not everyone involved is Muslim.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs Kominas’ guitarist Shajehan Khan explains, “It doesn’t really account for the fact that some of us might not think of ourselves as Muslim anymore.” Guitarist Arjun Ray, who isn’t Muslim, said the band is trying to focus on taqwacore more as “post-colonial music that channels that type of anger from people who were colonized. That [definition] fits all of the bands we like to play with, and it doesn’t really leave people out in the way the media definition of ‘Muslim punk’ tends to do.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough the tracks on “Wild Nights” discuss Muslim American experiences, as Ray emphasized, “You don’t need to be Muslim to get into it.” Usmani adds, “The thing that unifies all of us is that we chose music.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe album’s lyrics accompany aggressive riffs that embody the catharsis that I love about punk music, but the songs avoid punk’s tendency to be too loyal to the fast, three-power chord standard. “Wild Nights” begins with “Sharia Law in the USA,” a song that starts out with heavy guitars before launching into a snappy, ridiculously catchy verse mocking Islamohobia, “I am an Islamist, I am the anti-christ. Most squares can’t make most wanted lists, but my, my, how I stay in style.” The tempo stays fast through “Chaku,” the ska-ish “Ayesha,” and “Dishoom Bebe,” then slows down at “Par Desi,” a track about getting beat up (“Boots crush on my shoulder, where angels chose not to remain.”). Lead vocalist and bassist Basim Usmani showcases his vocal range as he wails on the love song “Layla,” before returning to his gravely rasp on “Rabyah,” which leads into the also hilariously catchy “I Want a Handjob.” The album closes with the most hip-hop influenced track, “Suicide Bomb the Gap.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Kominas were formed five years ago by Usmani and guitarist Khan, after the two met in college. Usmani who cites The Clash, TSOL, and Public Enemy as his biggest influences, introduced Khan to punk rock with a sort of “Punk 101” mix tape. Before that, Khan’s taste had leaned more toward Rage Against the Machine and classic rock like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. They hooked up with Ray, who has a background in jazz, after a mutual friend suggested him as a drummer. Though Ray recommended his brother, Karna, instead, Khan said they could use another guitarist, as well. Ray says his induction into The Kominas was also his introduction to punk.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe band was put on hold when Basim decided to pursue journalism after blogging about his experience as a volunteer after the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. He says of moving to Lahore to take a job as a crime reporter, “I just realized it was a really awesome thing to go out and do crazy things and write about it…If you ask me, it’s ‘the life.’” (Currently, Usmani writes for The Guardian.) While in Pakistan, he formed the short-lived homage to The Dead Kennedys, The Dead Bhuttos, with current Kominas’ drummer Imran Malik. The band never had a show, and only recorded one song, “Terri Assi Ki Tassi.” (Urdu for “Screw you”)\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBasim’s next project was the Punjabi punk band Noble Drew, formed with Shajehan after convincing him to come to Pakistan. Since, as Shajehan explained, “rock music and western music is sort of seen as for the rich kids” in Pakistan, their first show attracted a somewhat “elitist” crowd. As Basim describes it, “We were playing punk rock, [trying to start] a mosh pit, and people were sitting cross-legged, smoking hash.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eTheir gig on a restaurant rooftop in Old Lahore was more of a success. In addition to bringing in a more working class crowd, the audience actually moved to the music. Usmani describes it, “People were moshing, people were doing somersaults in the air…That showed me that there’s an audience for that type of music there. It’s just that you have to build it up, which we couldn’t do.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThough they were able to put on the show with help from the budget of Omar Majeed’s upcoming documentary, “Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam,” it wasn’t an event they could repeat. After Majeed’s film crew left, Khan was robbed at gunpoint, and another festival he and Basim were playing was bombed, so it seemed like the right time to come home. They decided to come back to the States after getting a call to play South by Southwest.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eNow that the band are off the road until spring of next year, they’ve been playing a few gigs on the East Coast, including the book launch of Kim Badawi’s book of photographs, “The Taqwacores: Muslim Punk in the U.S.A,” and working on a few individual projects. Khan just finished voice-overs for the audio-book version of “The Taqwacores,” while Malik has been contributing drums for taqwacore peers Sarmust.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThey’ve also begun work on songs for a new album, and the band are looking to expand their ideas beyond the more direct songs on “Wild Nights.” Khan says, “The Muslim stuff that we write about is important to us, but we had to get that out of ourselves in order to progress as human beings…You can only make that kind of statement once…You can’t do the same thing again.” Malik adds, “Now that the attention’s been grabbed, we can explore new ideas, and take it to a whole new place.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAs for taqwacore, Ray says, “We would love to see kids who really have to deal with these issues, and have still got all those hormones, and anger, and ‘fuck you’ in them to do something about it [so that it] maybe becomes a scene, instead of like, four or five bands hundreds of miles apart…which is what it is right now.”\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-3648084118137174220?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/3648084118137174220/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/kominas-taqwacore-from-lahore-to-boston.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3648084118137174220"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3648084118137174220"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/kominas-taqwacore-from-lahore-to-boston.html","title":"The Kominas - Taqwacore from Lahore to Boston"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss5cegbZqYI/AAAAAAAADcc/RMp9Fw_X4I8/s72-c/basimsilverfactory.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-4124397572460509325"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-08T01:32:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-08T01:33:51.231-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"paul losada"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Glory of Sight \u0026 Sound"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2j34bvJ4I/AAAAAAAADbY/3Deh8JRiLcQ/s1600-h/reservoir-dogs_l.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2j34bvJ4I/AAAAAAAADbY/3Deh8JRiLcQ/s400/reservoir-dogs_l.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390144509469206402\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Paul Losada\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI'm feeling as hazy and scattered as a writer cliche gets just two hours before deadline, but what keeps me going is recalling the semi-religious feeling I had last night watching the opening credits to what is sure to go down as the party movie of the year: \u003ci\u003eZombieland\u003c/i\u003e.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIts use of Metallica's \"For Whom The Bell Tolls\" over slo-mo, hyper-violent visuals of zombies and gore made me feel, appropriately enough, more alive than I had all week.  Judging by the rest of the rowdy crowd reaction at the Vista theater, something universal was attained in the marriage of sight and sound.  \u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMusic has its place in every facet of life, and improves most if not all situations whether it be screaming at you from an epic performance at the Forum, or distorting from the shitty car radio you couldn't afford to upgrade after converting your Mercedes-Benz to run on vege oil.  But when music covers a scene in a film successfully, its power to get the heart racing while you, essentially, sit and do nothing is remarkable for its own reasons all together.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMetallica didn't just set a tone for the film, but also for the audience.  I'm willing to bet 9.5 people out of 10 heard \"For Whom The Bell Tolls\" before and already loved it, but hearing the song with a wholly original visual revitalized it, gave it new meaning, and created the adrenaline rush one needs to watch almost two hours worth of flying blood and guts.  Oddly, it was like hearing the song for the first time, yet it's familiarity helped stir an already positive feeling.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere's at least 9,781,347,201,239 other examples of stellar film soundtrack decisions throughout history (what I still think of as the most influential amongst the independently-minded is pictured above), but what I'm getting at here is the utter beauty of witnessing and experiencing \u003ci\u003esomebody else's \u003c/i\u003e visual interpretation of a song.  We may not come to understand somebody else on a personal level because of how they imagine a song to look like (who knows and who cares if Quentin Tarantino fantasizes about cutting off somebody's ear to Stealers Wheel, for example) but we can have a  shared, collective experience that is entirely meaningful nonetheless.  Obviously, a filmmaker's goals extend beyond titilizing an audience with music, but sitting down in a theater and allowing music to affect us in such a way is an experience that doesn't necessarily come first to mind for such an aural art form--but I'm willing to argue that it's equally important,\u003cbr /\u003eand will probably become more so given the evolving visual mediums of video games and new media.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI really hope nobody dismisses zombie movies as anti-intellectual.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-4124397572460509325?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/4124397572460509325/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/glory-of-sight-sound.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4124397572460509325"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4124397572460509325"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/glory-of-sight-sound.html","title":"The Glory of Sight \u0026 Sound"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2j34bvJ4I/AAAAAAAADbY/3Deh8JRiLcQ/s72-c/reservoir-dogs_l.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-7130598590391885006"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-08T00:29:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-08T01:14:21.850-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"erik rader"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"DIARY OF A FADING ROCKSTAR PART VI"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2VJDp6F-I/AAAAAAAADaQ/pR3wU3C3WM8/s1600-h/80s_rader.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 265px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2VJDp6F-I/AAAAAAAADaQ/pR3wU3C3WM8/s400/80s_rader.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390128311864793058\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ci\u003eLong Gone Lonesome Blues\u003c/i\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWritten By: Erik Rader\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e“Sometimes, you don’t know what you have until you walk away from it.”\u003cbr /\u003e____________________\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe number of projects - musical, literary or otherwise - that I’ve embarked upon with an initial burst of intense energy, which have subsequently flopped, fizzled, faded, been f***ed up or fumbled, is rather large.  I would say that the number of bands I’ve tried to start is only matched by the number of jobs I’ve had or careers I’ve tried to launch and the number of novels I’ve never finished (I could probably fill a library with those).  Usually these projects are preceded by periods of deep depression and malaise, followed by a sudden plunge into a pit of despair and anxiety - just as suddenly followed by a soaring feeling of elation, an explosion of fully-formed complex ideas and concepts for new work, and even concrete beginnings.  Rather than actually end, these bursts of energy have arcs that peak and then plummet with a noticeable rhythm.  Goethe adjured us to just begin, and claimed that magic would ensue.  I’ve had lots of magical beginnings.  My problem is finishing.  Maybe it’s a fear of endings as a metaphor for death, who knows.  To the artist, nothing is ever really finished, at least not satisfactorily - rather, the process is interrupted by choice.  So how do we choose when to fade out?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMy friends with a mental health background will point out this emotional see-saw has a resemblance to bipolar manic depression, but every professional psychiatric screen I’ve been given over the years points to major depression instead, which is not as sexy a disorder, is somewhat rarer and less understood.  Basically, the kind of depression I am under treatment for is the kind you have your whole life and just find ways to work around.  I honestly am not aware of having delusions of grandeur, other than the one I had as a teenager that I was going to be the next Bono or Peter Gabriel and that soon hundreds of thousands would look upon me as a channel to the Next Higher Level of Consciousness or whatever.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOkay, that was pretty f***in’ grandiose!  But it was just a feeling.  I didn’t believe any untrue facts, such as believing that Michael Stipe and I were long lost brothers or that Natalie Merchant lived in my basement or that the ghost of Jimi Hendrix was teaching me how to play guitar.  I didn’t change my name to Stingo or Jalapeno or Rapier or Space Robot 666.  I didn’t buy an expensive motorcycle and drive it off a cliff.  I didn’t get my picture in the paper frolicking with drag queens.  I just tried to do my job as best I could - my job being to remain inspired, keep up my chops, and stay focused.  When those things more or less stopped happening, I made an executive decision - and probably my first adult one - to pack up, leave town, and try to achieve those things again somewhere else.  I’m told that alcoholics in recovery refer to this as “pulling a geographic”, and it is usually seen as a way of avoiding the problem.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI broke up with a fantastic girlfriend who really dug me, dumped my best friend on a Post-It, got rid of almost everything I owned (which wasn’t much), and rode off into the sunset on the Green Tortoise hippie bus.  My plan was to head on up to my favorite aunt and uncle’s farm in southwestern Washington, where they offered to have me stay with them a few weeks to detox from my crazy social life back home and come up with a plan for my next move.  During my stay, I took long walks on roads miles from any lamp post, under a clear sky crowded with stars the likes of which it is impossible to see with today’s air pollution and light pollution.  It was a little bit like floating in a sensory deprivation tank or doing a spacewalk, with my cassette Walkman playing Incredible String Band, Van Morrison, Yes, Television, Ralph Vaughn-Williams, R.E.M., Lightnin’ Hopkins, Tom Waits and Hank Williams.  Needless to say I tripped hard on those walks.  I got so far out of my head I actually thought the lyrics in all the songs were secret coded messages intended especially for me.  After about a month of this I decided I had spent enough time in my hermitage and was ready to rejoin the human race, if they’d have me.  I rode Amtrak across the midwest and down the Mississippi.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIn New Orleans, I didn’t get a damn thing done except drink, eat, work as a bus boy, watch the cockroaches and rats rule their kingdoms, and sit at the feet of people who fancied themselves the next William Faulkner or Brian Eno.  I did managed to throw up on some of their living room floors.  That was fun.  When the winter holiday season came around, and the canned music at the restaurant started to include Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmastime Is Here”, I got nostalgic for a place that might be more...christmasy.  I thought about it in that non-factual, illogical, emotionally-driven way that sensitive poet types in their early 20’s are given to.  I thought about the part of the country where I was born - New England - and the fact that I hadn’t been back since being born there, and maybe it was time to check in.  See some snow, smell scented candles in the stores, drink some hot cider and sing carols.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI don’t know why it seemed as if New England would be more 'Christmasy' than the South, but as I said I wasn’t applying logic to the equation.  All I knew was, I had a nice pawnshop Gibson acoustic with a narrow electric-style neck but nobody to play with.  I got on Amtrak and headed East.  My first stop was Boston, the place where I was conceived.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe Winter of 1986 was one of the coldest on record up until that point.  I kept hearing about homeless people freezing to death in doorways, and was glad that the guy in charge of the International Youth Hostel was breaking the rules by letting me and a few other guys stay there longer than three days in exchange for janitorial labor.  During the day I would busk down on the MBTA underground platform playing a couple of psychedelic pop songs I’d written that had no more than 3 chords, sometimes just 3 augmentations of the same chord; and whatever song I remembered at least half the words to that I could actually play, like “Heart of Gold” by Neil Young.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eBecause I was a Berkeley High School alumnus, I naturally had several classmates of the brainiac variety who’d been admitted to various ivy league universities in the area.  I slept on some of their couches for a few weeks for as long as I could push my luck before wearing out my welcome.  I briefly worked at a delicatessen not far from the State House, but couldn’t quite hack the abrasive personalities of my middle-aged, thickly accented co-workers.  Finally I got a job as a temp with Kelly Services, working as an office assistant for a well-known and respected public figure who happened to be an administrator at Boston University.  I was a stand-in for the Admin Assistant who had slipped on an icy driveway and broken her leg.  I wrote a lot of letters to friends and slept next to the phone for most of that job.  When the AA came back, I got moved to another placement at Northeastern University as the supply cabinet guy for the English Department.  By this point I’d got an apartment with some MIT geeks in Somerville, and was actually saving some money.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAround about this time I met some guys who answered an ad I had put up in a guitar shop.  I basically wrote down all the punk, post-punk, prog, avant-garde and assorted other types of bands I was into, and said “I’d like to sing for a band with these same influences.”  A couple of guys who were the mid-80’s equivalent of indy rock hipsters - at that time it was pea coats and Doc Martens - answered my ad and invited me over to their rehearsal space.  For a lot of the audition we shouted out the names of bands we were into and wrote them down on the white erasable marker board.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePretty soon there were more than a hundred band names scrawled up there.  Then we tried to lurch through “I Found That Essence Rare” by Gang of Four.  We had all the cool ideas, all the conceivable “right influences” and more, we had a couple of not so bad looking young dudes, some obvious talent in the room.  There was also zero magic.  We all felt it, we all knew it, even though we wouldn’t say it out loud.  There was an awkward “We’ll call you” moment; the guitar player had some Doc Martens he didn’t want any more, and he gave them to me.  So at least I got some boots out of it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI found out my mom’s cousin lived in a nearby suburb, and I went to visit her family.  She had a husband who was a sarcastic and condescending old-school conservative dude who worked as some sort of executive in public transportation (he died of cancer not long ago, so I’ll try not to speak ill of the dead).  He had a depressed son who lived in his basement and worked at a chain restaurant.  I guess I looked at the son and had a “Holy s**t there but for the grace of God go I” moment.  While I was staying with them they also drove me out to the town in which I was born, a small, somewhat remote and economically depressed New England backwater that resembled nothing so much as a setting for an H. P. Lovecraft story about frog-like worshippers of the Great Old Ones performing human sacrifices in the swamp.  I decided it was a good thing my parents didn’t stay there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had a good job, a place to live, and was saving some money - and I was also drinking alone a lot.  As in, drinking a lot, usually alone.  For various reasons I won’t go into here, I got it in mind that a change of scenery was called for.  So, I pulled another geographic and got back on the train - this time to Providence, to stay with the friend of a friend who was a Brown student.  I got a Kelly job there, and kept my head above water, but I got no work done, in terms of The Work.  My stay in Providence was even shorter.  I moved again, this time to West Philadelphia, where I crashed on the floor of a spare room in a house full of other friends of the same friend, some of whom were musicians.  One of the people who hung out a lot at the house had a viola, and liked Metallica.  We jammed out on a chord change I was working on, which eventually became the song \"\u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.blindwatchmakers.com/sounds/weather.mp3\"\u003eWeather\u003c/a\u003e.\"  She was also kind of hot, but as per usual, I did not pursue any assignation with her, as she was available, while the in-my-mind perfect and inaccessible object of my affections was safely not.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI got a chance to see a show in Philly that was one of those shows you remember the rest of your life - Wire, in some club that could accommodate maybe a couple hundred people on the dance floor, shouting out “Map Reference!” and “12XU!”  Instead what they got was “The Queen of Ur and the King of Um,” the poor bastards.  But the real milestone was not the band, but the fact that my legs suddenly gave out under me and I collapsed.  Thinking I was drunk, the bouncers almost ejected me, but I pleaded with them not to, saying I had the flu.  They grudgingly allowed me to go to the john to compose myself.  It turns out that what was wrong with me was that I had spent innumerable hours in the kitchen of those friends-of-a-friend, sitting in a chair, smoking cadged Merits, alternating between tea and cheap bottles of National Bohemian, and staring off into space.  My blood pressure was dangerously low, and I had some sort of sciatica-like situation going on with my back and legs.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eShortly afterwards - possibly even that week, I’m not sure - I found myself sitting in that same kitchen one night in the dark, drinking tea and smoking and listening to “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry)” from R.E.M.’s second full album ‘Reckoning’.  Suddenly I started to bawl like a baby.  I can’t explain why the confluence of these factors led to this emotional breakdown, but perhaps you can get a vague sense of it.  The next day I called up my parents and begged them for money for a plane ticket back home.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhile staying with my parents after my failed attempt at reliving Kerouac’s “On The Road,” I went mildly insane (mildly for me anyway - maybe not for others).  I proceeded to look up every female friend who wouldn’t hang up on me when I called, and hit on every one of them.  The last one of these attempts got me a date at a pretentious jazz bistro, too much chartreuse (which is the lame-ass’s excuse for absinthe), a drunken kiss goodnight (the closest thing to scoring I’d experienced in over a year), and a staggering walk home listening to Charles Mingus’ “Mingus Ah Um” on my Sony Walkman before being half-brained with baseball bats by young thugs being initiated into a gang.  Five stitches and a mild concussion later, I decided to shave my head.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eA few days later, walking up Cedar Street in a daze, I was mugged again - this time by my erstwhile band mates.  Screeching to a halt and bundling out of their beat-up economy car, they half tackled me on the sidewalk with boyish enthusiasm almost as if the ugly break-up had never happened, and invited me to do a walk-on cameo appearance during one of their encores at their next gig, some time around Halloween.  I allowed myself to be sold on the idea, possibly because of the concussion.  I played a demo of my new song for them and received a lukewarm response - I’m sure it was nothing personal, just indicative of how far in different directions we’d traveled in such a short period of time.  What the hell, I thought - I’d been all around the country, seen and done a fair amount of things, been hit over the head in my own home town - why not let bygones be bygones, get up and do my thing?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI had major second thoughts about it after I’d committed myself.  On the blessed day I met my future wife (which is a whole other story unto itself), I mentioned that I was doing the gig, but didn’t give her any details because quite frankly I didn’t want her to see me in that context.  When the night of the gig finally arrived, it was really weird, like a surreal dream (and resembling many dreams I had for years afterward).  They asked me to get up on stage and sing one of our “hits” from the one record we made.  I got up there, the eight piece band with horns sprung into action, and I.........forgot the words.  The words I had written and sung hundreds of times in front of thousands of people.  I winged it as best I could, but it was basically - to put it kindly as possible - a fucking disaster.  Later, a review of the show in the local paper raved about how great the band was, and then made a brief throwaway comment in passing about “some guy who looked like Uncle Fester” appearing briefly onstage for no apparent reason.  Thus did I cement my legacy for posterity.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAfter all of my clumsiness with women that year I had decided to swear off relationships forever, and it was exactly then that I fell in love with this wonderful, beautiful girl who would one day consent to marry me.  The universe always seems to have other plans that supersede mine.  She was so adorable I didn’t want to leave her side for an instant.  Of course, me being the person that I was, I therefore logically decided to stick to my plan to leave town as soon as possible with my brother and try to start a new band on the East Coast.  I am hoping that an emergent pattern is evident here.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI didn’t get a damn thing done this time either, as far as starting a band is concerned.  My brother and I got bogged down in stupid depressing day jobs, and whenever we got together with his guitar and my lyrics, we just sort of sat there staring at each other waiting for something to happen.  Now my brother and I really do have musical magic together; as a producer no one has understood my musical ideas better than he does.  I can say to him something like “I want this section to have a certain sort of, I don’t know, Pete Townshend meets Roger McGuinn meets George Harrison feel to it, but with a little Pete Shelly meets Neil Young on the distortion,” and he will not only know exactly what I meant, he will get it to sound exactly right.  But that winter, it seemed like some sort of pall had settled over us, stifling our Lennon-McCartney vibe.  Perhaps it was simply due to the fact that we unconsciously realized what a dumb move we had made going out there.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSomething did come of our trip to the East Coast though.  I finally finished something, something memorable.  I finished drinking.  I finished the casually cruel behaviors I indulged in while drunk, the blackouts, the lapses of responsibility (okay, maybe not, but two out of three ain’t bad).  I also finally wrote some lyrics to \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.blindwatchmakers.com/lyrics/weather.htm\"\u003ethat song\u003c/a\u003e I had started in Philadelphia.  It was a love song about only realizing someone was your home after you had left.  As I mentioned in the last chapter, it was a little oblique and took some explaining.  But it was a finished piece of work - my first that year.  Having got those two little details out of the way, we decided we were finished with the East Coast.  It was time to go home.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eView Erik's Past Articles:\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/07/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-i-what.html\"\u003ePart I\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/07/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-ii.html\"\u003ePart II\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/08/diary-of-fading-rockstar-episode-iii.html\"\u003ePart III\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/08/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-iv-jimmy.html\"\u003ePart IV\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003ca href\u003d\"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-v-teenage.html\"\u003ePart V\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-7130598590391885006?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/7130598590391885006/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-vi.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7130598590391885006"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/7130598590391885006"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/diary-of-fading-rockstar-part-vi.html","title":"DIARY OF A FADING ROCKSTAR PART VI"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/Ss2VJDp6F-I/AAAAAAAADaQ/pR3wU3C3WM8/s72-c/80s_rader.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-3126217206172162270"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-06T04:23:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-06T04:23:00.617-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Daniel Alcantara"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Album That Changed My Life"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsqAQMUdeYI/AAAAAAAADX8/gb9zAmjRHiI/s1600-h/daniel.png\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 216px;\" src\u003d\"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsqAQMUdeYI/AAAAAAAADX8/gb9zAmjRHiI/s400/daniel.png\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389260919775525250\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Daniel Alcantara\u003c/span\u003e \u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePhoto By: \u003ca href\u003d\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/\"\u003eUnhindered_By_Talent\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eSomething like four years ago, I was sixteen years old and discovering a whole new circle of friends. It was a great time for music as well. Death Cab For Cutie hadn’t released Plans quite yet, and many wish they hadn’t. I had just begun to start listening to music that was unknown to much of general society at that point.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eA process I have come close to completing as I have no idea who is famous or who’s one a Grammy or who is on the radio anymore. Sure, I listen to the radio every day at work but that is against my will. But that’s a whole other conversation that I’d rather just not have right now. The point is, I had just begun to listen to really, really good music. Eisley was a new band to me and I had decided I was in love with them. I had also begun to work quite hard on writing songs.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOne day, I was hanging out with Andrew, a friend I made through a mutual appreciation of Radiohead. He played the guitar and we decided to try and record some songs at his house. It was one of the great unproductive nights of my life, with the exception of one event. We ended up listening to songs on iTunes while still holding our silent guitars. I showed him The Decemberists and he showed me Pedro The Lion. That was the turning point in the night, though I did not know it until I was driving home. He burned me a few CDs and I listened to them while I drove. I couldn’t get passed a certain one though. It was called Achilles Heel. Something about the album was utterly magnificent. I had never heard songs that moved someone like that, especially when they were simply well-told stories set to music.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe songs were melancholy but not depressing, that is until I reached The Poison, the album’s final track. I found a bit of identity with the characters in the songs and with the questions they asked about things. Something in David Bazan’s voice made you feel the songs as he sang them. I felt something change that night. I had discovered a way for music to move someone without being spiritual in any way except that it was a beautiful, well-crafted piece of music. As I dug deeper into the Pedro The Lion collection, I found a wealth of really amazing songs about people dying or being murdered by their spouse because they were unfaithful. It was new territory for me, coming from a church-raised family that didn’t allow “un-Christian” music until I could pay for it myself through means other than allowance. I had been sheltered ever-so slightly to what really went on in the Bible. But again, a sidenote and very long conversation.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI found myself beginning to attempt writing murder-mystery songs and chase scenes. That was the year I began to write a concept album. The whole idea of which had somehow escaped my attention previously. I listened to music differently, I still do. It gave me standards for songwriting. I had learned not to just take what’s put in front of me but to prod it, question it, test it and find it true and good before accepting it. I’ve kept that with me. It’s become a part of who I am and has made me who I am. Not necessarily skeptical or cynical, just... cautious to accept anything that is said to be good as actually good. Achilles Heel by Pedro The Lion gave me a complete intolerance for bad art and for that, I am grateful.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-3126217206172162270?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/3126217206172162270/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/album-that-changed-my-life.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3126217206172162270"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/3126217206172162270"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/album-that-changed-my-life.html","title":"The Album That Changed My Life"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsqAQMUdeYI/AAAAAAAADX8/gb9zAmjRHiI/s72-c/daniel.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-4936003809529402127"},"published":{"$t":"2009-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-10-05T14:57:08.461-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hallie madenski"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Michael Jackson, Roman Polanski, and John Phillips Allegations"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsprQsNqo1I/AAAAAAAADW0/FNjugm7DMzA/s1600-h/Abuse_is_bad.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsprQsNqo1I/AAAAAAAADW0/FNjugm7DMzA/s400/Abuse_is_bad.jpg\" alt\u003d\"michael jackson roman polanski john phillips\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389237838592779090\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRoman Polanski, the late John Phillips and the late great Michael Jackson have all been in the spotlight for the same reason. Michael Jackson not as recently, but his death did bring up an interesting question. The question was quickly answered. Will people forgive someone who allegedly molests children? Yes they will.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThis is a very sensitive subject and not one I wish to wrongly clarify. When someone with as great a musical talent as Michael Jackson is accused of child molestation people become upset, they don't want to believe it or they acquire an instant hatred. Is it because of their morals or intelligence? What about someone whose opinion rests somewhere in the middle?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhat if I said I personally believe Michael Jackson was guilty of those charges and that I in no way condone what he did? Every time I think of him I think of those charges as well as the fact that he was a musical genius. Should someone be able to do something terrible and still be considered a genius? The lines are blurred. Since I never met Michael Jackson I can only say that I enjoy his music but that he led a very crazy life.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eRoman Polanski is a talented filmmaker. He wrote the screenplay for the horror classic \"Rosemary's Baby\" and he directed Jack Nicholson in \"Chinatown.\"  He is not, to my understanding a good person. He was quoted as saying this in 1979 in response to allegations that he'd raped a 13 year old girl:\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But... fucking you see, and the young girls. Judges want to fuck young girls. Juries want to fuck young girls. Everyone wants to fuck young girls!\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYuck. The second most disturbing thing about this is that he has actual supporters, famous ones too. Some of them say the media is causing an undeserved frenzy. Why is Hollywood willing to ignore these things? I know Michael Jackson was a very sad twisted individual but that he probably never understood the harm he was causing. I feel like Polanski does understand. He's been hiding out in France for years until recently where he now faces extradition. His current supporters include Penelope Cruz, Tilda Swinton and Monica Belluci. Three women, all defending someone who raped and sodomized a 13 year old girl. Kirstie Alley is one who is not defending the director writing on Twitter \"JUST FOR THE RECORD....RAPE IS RAPE...this is one HOLLYWOOD STAR who does not CELEBRATE or DEFEND Roman Polanski..his ART did not RAPE her.\"\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003ePete Townshend of 'The Who' is now on the national registry for sex offenders for paying to access a child pornography site in 1999. He has since claimed that he may have been molested as a child and that he hoped the images would help jog his memory of such an incident. Try hypnotherapy Pete. There is no excuse for looking at child porn.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMackenzie Phillips recently wrote a book about her life that claims her father, musician John Phillips of 'Mamas and the Papas' fame molested her at a very young age. She was also quoted as saying, \"I don't hate him. I understand that he was a very tortured man and passed that torture down to me.\" She went on to urge others to not hate him for what he did. I have a hard time not hating a man who had sex with his own daughter. Hate should be revised though, I hate how society works. I know there are reasons for everything and that people are tortured and miserable. Some people have hedonistic views and simply don't see the wrong in what they are doing. It doesn't make the action any worse, no matter your views. John Phillips ruined his daughter's mind. She became confused and started acting out in any way she could. We've seen this time and time again.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOprah Winfrey has admitted to being repeatedly sexually abused by members of her family. She is a great exception to this rule. The rule of the inevitable demise of the human soul in response to abuse. Someone who is touched inappropriately or beaten or even emotionally battered for any amount of time could simply never recover. Others go on to live happy lives who draw strength from their negative experiences. Who knows what separates these two types of people. It is not a weakness to not be able to recover from such tragedy. But it certainly is a strength if you do somehow manage.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI just want to convey that just because someone is famous does not mean they should not be treated as if they are your next-door neighbor. If you saw your neighbor on the news you'd be frightened. So be frightened when you turn on your TV and see the next celebrity pleading guilty or not guilty to these crimes. Their indiscretions WILL continue to seep out of the woodwork. Don't be so blinded by talent. Victims of molestation often grow up with so much hatred and confusion they end up molesting others. It is the same with people who are physically abused at a young age. The majority of men who beat their wives were beaten themselves and so on.  Do not turn a blind eye to this. On another note, don't accuse people without being certain. Most of society considers pedophiles to be the worst kind of criminals. Pointing a finger at someone without proof can be devastating to their future.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eDonations for helping the cause of victims of rape and incest can be made at this website - \u003ca href\u003d\"https://donate.rainn.org/\"\u003ehttps://donate.rainn.org\u003c/a\u003e\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-4936003809529402127?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/4936003809529402127/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/michael-jackson-roman-polanski-and-john.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4936003809529402127"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/4936003809529402127"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/10/michael-jackson-roman-polanski-and-john.html","title":"Michael Jackson, Roman Polanski, and John Phillips Allegations"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsprQsNqo1I/AAAAAAAADW0/FNjugm7DMzA/s72-c/Abuse_is_bad.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-8837737812753516195"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-30T00:06:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-30T00:40:34.178-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"hallie madenski"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"10 Worst Music Videos Of All Time And The Decline Of MTV"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsMDxXtB-WI/AAAAAAAADSw/N0o9iokTjIs/s1600-h/I-want-my-mtv.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 338px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsMDxXtB-WI/AAAAAAAADSw/N0o9iokTjIs/s400/I-want-my-mtv.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387153725976607074\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Hallie Madenski\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMost people don't even watch music videos anymore and there are two main reasons for this. One is that they are hard to find on TV - as of late, MTV and VH1 only show music videos late at night or in the morning.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOther channels that play them are not free and therefore inaccessible to the average person. Another reason for the lack of viewing is that music videos are not as valid anymore. Mainstream music videos usually don't tell much of a story these days, not one you'd care about if you had a wit of sense.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe videos of today seem to be oozing primordial sex appeal. It's practically cavemen beating women over the head. Beating them over the head with poisoned vocoder vocals and the same old 'boom boom' beats.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWe all know MTV used to be a music channel, and now they are specialists in partially-scripted reality TV train-wrecks. Same with MTV's counterpart, VH1. As early as the mid 90's, MTV was criticized by the public, as well as the artists themselves, for not playing as many videos. By 1997 MTV had gotten wind of this and actually cared enough to do something about it. They incorporated  the shows MTV Live, Total Request, Say What?, and 12 Angry Viewers. Total Request soon merged with MTV Live to form the popular video countdown show Total Request Live also known as TRL. Punk'd and Jackass aired in 1999 taking yet another plunge towards reality TV programming. This was seemingly harmless at the time.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e2007 was a dark time for music videos, video programming was scaled down and reality was scaled up even more. Shows like My Super Sweet 16, Next, Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County, The Real World and The Hills had permanently polluted MTV's image. Taking the lives of rich people and making them seem dramatic and difficult proved unrealistic. My Super 16 is a show solely about spoiled girls getting what they want for their birthday. The formula was always the same. Child wants nicer car than parent originally wants to buy. Parent is urged to reconsider and eventually caves to child's horrid needs. End of show features surprise visit by mildly famous rapper.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eAll this leaves a wretched taste in my mouth, I want to spit at my TV and mash my eyeballs out with eggbeaters. A need to avoid MTV at all costs had washed over me. I do fall prey to some bad reality shows. Flavor of Love, I Love New York and Rock of Love all proved themselves as number one guilty pleasures but otherwise I was disenchanted with these so-called music television channels.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThere was a time I craved MTV like a diabetic craves Peanut Butter Cups. I didn't grow up with TV, and it wasn't until 1998 that I really got to enjoy music videos through friends that had cable. TRL was my crack; all the bad pop stars and real rock musicians mixed together, as opposed to emo, pop and the penis-head crooning of Daughtry and similar artists.  The few videos that do see the light of television are mostly vomit-inducing. I've watched some lately and I've concluded that these are some of the worst I've seen in the past few years...\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e10. Britney Spears - Break The Ice.\u003c/span\u003e Using anime to fill in for Britney when she was clearly too crazy to appear in this video was smart. Having it not relate at all to the song... not so smart.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e9. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling.\u003c/span\u003e Satire? I wish.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e8. Bon Jovi featuring Leanne Rimes - Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore. \u003c/span\u003eFeaturing the wonderful line \"Make love to me baby till we ain't strangers anymore.\" It's going to take a long time for these two to make love until they don't feel like strangers. Their chemistry is almost as non-existant  as this video's budget.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e7.  Greenday - 21 Guns.\u003c/span\u003e The incredible shrinking man, Billy Joe Armstrong, fails to live up to past glory. Another video with things breaking and falling apart? Really?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e6. Jay Sean featuring Lil' Wayne - Down.\u003c/span\u003e This video is so 'one-dimensional' it makes a piece of paper feel like a 3-D movie.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e5. The Killers - Human.\u003c/span\u003e Brandon Flowers wearing feathery shoulder pads? Eagles soaring symbolically? Tigers in the desert? Need I say more?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e4. Miley Cyrus - The Climb.\u003c/span\u003e I didn't know Alvin and the Chipmunks had a new CD.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e3. The Click Five - Catch Your Wave.\u003c/span\u003e Rabid fans chasing an obscure boy band? Did I get sent back to 1998 when I fell asleep watching the Miley Cyrus video?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e2. New Kids On The Block - Summertime.\u003c/span\u003e OMG! LOL! WTF?!?\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e1. Jonas Brothers - Burnin' Up.\u003c/span\u003e OK... I could have picked any Jonas Brothers video, but this was the first that came up on Youtube. It might not even be their worst video, but I'm not willing to watch more. It features the late great David Carradine, future stripper Selena Gomez and usual badass Danny Trejo. Making a mockery of 007? Leave that to Daniel Craig.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eOnce I'd listed the worst recent videos, I wanted to emphasize that there are still a lot of \u003cspan style\u003d\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003egood\u003c/span\u003e videos out there. Check out \"Mojo\" by Peeping Tom, \"Monster Hospital\" by Metric, \"Perfect Situation\" by Weezer, \"Lovegame\" by Lady Gaga, \"Oscar Wilde\" by Company of Thieves, \"Sex is Not the Enemy\" by Garbage and \"Empire\" by Kasabian. Madonna's video for \"Celebration\" is pretty classy as well, using sex appeal in the way that is so obvious and hilarious it isn't insulting to my intelligence.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-8837737812753516195?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/8837737812753516195/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/10-worst-music-videos-of-all-time-and.html#comment-form","title":"13 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8837737812753516195"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/8837737812753516195"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/10-worst-music-videos-of-all-time-and.html","title":"10 Worst Music Videos Of All Time And The Decline Of MTV"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsMDxXtB-WI/AAAAAAAADSw/N0o9iokTjIs/s72-c/I-want-my-mtv.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"13"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-17127035950522769"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-29T00:09:00.000-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-29T00:14:56.373-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Khadeeja Coonrod"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Introducing, Yusuf, the Starlight Rocker"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsGz0HRteLI/AAAAAAAADP4/ysNoxEPnpSU/s1600-h/reggae.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;\" src\u003d\"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsGz0HRteLI/AAAAAAAADP4/ysNoxEPnpSU/s400/reggae.jpg\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386784337199724722\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: Khadeeja Coonrod\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\"The Repenters Reggae Band is not just a musical entity, but a revolution! The hope of our music is for you to experience the transformation of a CONTRITE spirit, which gives you the keys to a\u003cbr /\u003elife of peace within your own heart, towards the world around you, and towards the God of your own understanding. The hope of our music is also for you to simply kick back and chill off our vibes for awhile, we see these two hopes as equally important. As we travel on this road together, enjoy our melodies and rhythms. Let your heart rejoice. Let your heart be healed. Let peace be renewed and restored.... through the process of a repentant and contrite heart!!!  \"- Yusuf and The Repenters Reggae Band\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you saw him walking down the street the first thing that may come to mind is that of a Rude Boy. Yusuf, lead singer of Washington D.C. based reggae band, would smile at you in return and give a thumbs up while inviting you to a show with his band. They performed at the 2008 D.C. Reggae Awards. Their style of music would consist of having Doo-Wop, Reggae, Roots, and a Rockers feel to it. The band was formed in 2007. Yusuf is one of the most recognizable faces in D.C.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYusuf and The Renters members are: Yusuf the Starlight Rocker- Lead Vocals, Rickey 'Sucker-Free' Payton Jr.- Producer/ Drummer, CJ Diachenko- Keys/ Marley Girl Back-up Randy Rebel- Funky Bass on Demand Gem 'Annika' Thompson- Marley Girl Back-up/ Music Techy, Leanna Gold- Operations.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eI was able to catch up with Yusuf Abdul-Azim (otherwise known as, the Starlight Rocker) for a little Q and A time. He came up with the name for the band that he felt best suited how he wants to be a repenter, one who would make a change for the better. He's written most of the groups songs and has come up with melodies for the tunes. He joined the group during a time in his life when he felt as though he was at a crossroads; an event in which most everyone can relate.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYusuf's favorite song from their first album is called Stereotyping. This was a song that Yusuf could most relate to ladies and gentlemen anywhere because the world is full of stereotypes that have yet to be broken. This interview explains about what he's mentioning in his lastest music nowadays.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: Why reggae?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYusuf: Because Reggae is, in my book, the genre that is like a soup.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: Was the fact that your father, Mark Greene of The Moments, who's also a singer have anything to do with you wanting to sing? \u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf:\u003c/span\u003e Nah... but it let me know that it is in my blood if i try it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: What's the definition of stardom mean to you?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eStardom to me is when you are touching people in a positive way and\u003cbr /\u003ethey love you for it.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: Name the number one person who's had influence on your music the most and why.\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eProbably Bob Marley because Marley sparked me in a tune when he said, \"which man can save his brothers soul?' I wanted to be one of those kind of men; a good guy type rebel.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: What's the best music advice given to you that you'd like to pass on to the next person who's starting out?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eIf you're gonna rock remember if you benefit the listener you will last forever; if not, you will be forgotten.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: Is there any message you hope your audience will incorporate into their lives after seeing you perform or listening to you sing?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eMainly, the end of good is good. The end of evil is evil.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: What's the name of your newest album and which song do you recommend to be listened to first and why?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eOriginal Rockers is the name of the newest album. First tune I recommend is: the Wrecking Ball because it's a brief summary of what took place in my world up to the event of the show about to be presented.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eKC: What's the concept of your newest album and how did the idea steam?\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(255, 102, 0);\"\u003eYusuf: \u003c/span\u003eThe concept is about a host of different realistic topics like Laws of the jungle and Concentrate; kind of like lessons that should have been taught in school but aren't. The concept was to make smash hits that are timeless and beneficial to our generation. The generation of older people and the next generations to follow after. It steamed from when I was a teen... the word in the underground was righteousness.\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-17127035950522769?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/17127035950522769/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/introducing-yusuf-starlight-rocker.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/17127035950522769"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/17127035950522769"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/introducing-yusuf-starlight-rocker.html","title":"Introducing, Yusuf, the Starlight Rocker"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SsGz0HRteLI/AAAAAAAADP4/ysNoxEPnpSU/s72-c/reggae.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3292921601412263106.post-6691018987349767109"},"published":{"$t":"2009-09-24T16:36:00.001-07:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2009-09-24T16:59:42.053-07:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"chicks with guns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"features"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"swollen members"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Swollen Members: Back to Square One"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003ca onblur\u003d\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SrwDkZrPwjI/AAAAAAAADMk/6rJW56QD7og/s1600-h/Swollenmembers.JPG\"\u003e\u003cimg style\u003d\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;\" src\u003d\"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SrwDkZrPwjI/AAAAAAAADMk/6rJW56QD7og/s400/Swollenmembers.JPG\" alt\u003d\"\" id\u003d\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5385183178330718770\" border\u003d\"0\" /\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cspan style\u003d\"color: rgb(102, 102, 102);\"\u003eWritten By: David Carr\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eIf you are serious about your indie/underground hip-hop then you know about Swollen Members.  Swollen Members have been the hard hitting ambassadors of indie hip-hop from across the Canadian boarder.  The group combines hip-hop sensibilities with a heavy rock attitude.  “I think we freak out a lot of hip-hop groups backstage…before we go on to get pumped up, we listen to AC/DC, Nirvana…we just listen to a lot of different stuff”, says mc Mad Child.  This openness to music makes Swollen Members one of the few hip-hop groups able to tour with Nelly Furtado, Ghostface Killiah and Nickelback (yeah I know…maybe it was a contractual agreement).  The group has been off the grid due to some personal and professional issues but they are getting ready to drop a new disc this fall, (Armed to the Teeth) they have added a new member to their “Swollen Army” (Trey Nice) and they will also be touring to support the new disc.\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eYou can’t help but hear and feel the excitement in mc Mad Child’s voice as he talks about the group’s new disc.  “I think this disc is the best work of our career!  For our long time fans it might be a little tough to take at first.  This disc is a little grimier.  It’s a bit more street.”  When asked if the tougher sound has anything to do with the issues that surfaced during their off period, Mad Child simply replies, “Our record label Battle Axe is still around in spirit, it just began to take on a lot of serious issues.  When the group and record company started I was around all the time.  Once I had to go on the road, we had to leave other folks in charge…they were good people but they just made some decisions that I would not have made.  I ended up calling some folks at Suburban Noize and we decided to go with them.  It has been great.  They have been a great fit for us so far…Battle Axe just went into a different direction.  That plus the advent of downloading really hit Battle Axe hard.  For now, Suburban Noize is where we need to be.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eThe record company woes were not the only thing that has kept the “Members” from recording and touring.  Mad Child makes not bones about the other complication that has kept his group off the radar.  “What can I say; OxyContin is a hell of a drug!”  Mad Child laughs at his own exhortation and then becomes a bit more serious as he explains, “I was a walking zombie for a couple of years.  I had some success, I had some money…I wanted to party, I wanted to have fun.  I started taking percoset.  I had no idea what this stuff even was, but what I did know, is that I could party hard on it and still go about my day the next day…it just became a daily habit.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWhen asked how we was able to beat back this addiction and get the help he needed, Mad Child laments, “I was up to 20 percosets a day.  I detoxed a couple of times and I was miserable.  I stopped doing percoset but then I discovered OxyContin and that’s when things got very dark for me…I put on a ton of weight, I just sat in the movie theater of my place…I didn’t deal with anyone…my life really began to fall apart.  Once I really had a sense that things were bad with my life and my career I decided to get the help I needed…the thing about being an addict is, if you are not ready to be helped you won’t get the help you need.  People around me tried to help me but I was not ready.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eWith the recent death of DJ AM the question of how one can remain sober comes into play.  Many believe once an addict, always an addict and most doctors are quick to back up that claim.    Mad Child’s voice begins to exude confidence when he explains, “I know what I am.  I am an opiate addict.  My therapy for keeping sober and staying away from that stuff is my work…it’s my group.  The guys in Swollen Members are very supportive. I mean when I put myself on hold the group was on hold…they have gone through this with me…I am dealing with some personal trauma and I am on some medication to help me deal with this…I also have my friends and family with me.”\u003cbr /\u003e\u003cbr /\u003eMad Child seems to be in good spirits on his road to recovery and he is indeed back to work.  The group has a three week tour schedule with label mates the Kottonmouth Kings and they will be making an appearance at the Cypress Hill Smokeout.  Mad Child states, “I am excited to get back on the road again.  I love touring in the states!  We will also be hitting Europe too”.  Mad Child’s exuberance truly is infectious and one can’t help rooting for him.  I hope he can do what it takes to stay clean and sober.  Swollen Members still has a lot to say and much to prove but without a doubt, the hip-hop world is a much better place now that they are back and ready to rock the mike and various stages again.  Catch Swollen Members this fall.  Square one will be the place to be when Swollen Members take the stage again!\u003cdiv class\u003d\"blogger-post-footer\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d'1' height\u003d'1' src\u003d'https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3292921601412263106-6691018987349767109?l\u003dcwgfeatures.blogspot.com' alt\u003d'' /\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/feeds/6691018987349767109/comments/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/swollen-members-back-to-square-one.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/6691018987349767109"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http://www.blogger.com/feeds/3292921601412263106/posts/default/6691018987349767109"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http://cwgfeatures.blogspot.com/2009/09/swollen-members-back-to-square-one.html","title":"Swollen Members: Back to Square One"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"CWG, Inc."},"uri":{"$t":"http://www.blogger.com/profile/08167826987284190998"},"email":{"$t":"editor@cwgmagazine.com"},"gd$extendedProperty":{"xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","name":"OpenSocialUserId","value":"12156025679189771024"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8G41dtS7j8Y/SrwDkZrPwjI/AAAAAAAADMk/6rJW56QD7og/s72-c/Swollenmembers.JPG","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","$t":"0"}}]}});