Mobile
Opinion
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
News / Opinion / Eric Mullis Wanted: Musicians... but where to find them?
Posted By Eric Mullis on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 3:47 PM
With the help of Charlotte venues and the Carolina Live Music Society my band, Actual Proof, has gotten some steam and has been regularly playing shows in the Southeast. This has us tickled because we’re able to write and perform music for music lovers who celebrate live music.
But it turns out that our keyboard player is leaving the group. He has several reasons for leaving but it boils down to the fact that he’s not feeling it and is getting tired of traveling. It’s a bit like one of those relationships where you’re still in love but the other person doesn’t feel that way anymore and you come to a point where you accept the fact that you can’t force love. Nothing we can do can make him dig performing our music.
So, how to go about finding a replacement for him?
Friday, December 11, 2009
Opinion / Mike McCray / News Hey DJ! Update your set
Posted By Mike McCray on Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 4:13 PM
Some people genuinely live by the policy, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' Problem is, if that person is a DJ and you're in the club, chances are you'll be the one suffering through this guy's once "winning formula."
Attention DJ's! If you haven't updated your set since Jamie Foxx's "Blame It" came out, you're whack. If you still play Ron Browz "Arab Money" or any portion of your set is entirely too auto-tune, excuse my corniness, but you're 2000-late (thanks Fergie).
No one is expecting you to be scouring the streets, hopping the Lynx and digging for records like Q in "Juice" but as a professional iPod playlist, (that's essentially what people think you are), it's kind of your job to be current. Non-vinyl DJ's especially have no excuse for being behind on music.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Opinion / Jeff Hahne / News Please, make Miley Cyrus stop!; Lautner needs clothes
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 1:18 PM
A few quick items to rant about:
Miley Cyrus has announced that she's going to remake Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." Mother of all creatures great and small, someone please make it stop. She's not talented. She's popular because of some show on Disney where little kids who haven't developed musical taste watch TV and think that everything put in front of them is "good music." Leave the '80s hair bands alone and write your own shitty music.
Speaking of which — "Nodding my head like yeah, moving my hips like yeah..." - what in the blue hell does that mean? I understand that if you nod your head, you make the motion like you're saying yeah... but no 16-year-old (she just turned 17) should be singing about moving their hips... and especially not on stage in hot pants. I guess she went to the Brittney Spears school of whoring yourself out. It's only a matter of time before she attacks the paparazzi with an umbrella and shaves her head.
All of this is almost as bad as Rolling Stone magazine putting a 17-year-old guy (Taylor Lautner) in a wet t-shirt on their cover. Anyone else feel a little uncomfortable and creepy about that?
Ranting over... for now.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Opinion / Jeff Hahne / News Should lip-synching singers give notice to fans?
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 12:04 PM
I'll throw the target immediately on to Britney Spears, since she's the most famous lip-syncher of all. Here's the debate — should lip-synching pop stars be forced to tell fans that they will not be singing live at concerts?
I'm not sure it would stop the people who enjoy the concerts, but it would be a nice admission. Last month, fans in Australia walked out of a Spears concert after it became clear that she wasn't singing.
To those fans, I say, "Really?!? You thought she was going to sing live??" What's strange to me is that most artists don't get any heat for it until they're "caught." No one cared that Ashlee Simpson or Milli Vanilli was doing it until their tape skipped/played the wrong song.
Who else does it? It's hard to say, but you can easily put a bet on most pop stars that are doing choreographed dances on stage. The artists are usually so focused on dancing and wearing themselves out that they are too out-of-breath to sing.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Opinion / Jason Younger / News Visiting Mexico Rock City
Posted By Jason Younger on Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 12:36 PM
On a recent business trip to Monterrey, Mexico, I was asking my counterpart Jose’ what the music scene looks like south of the border, where the tacos are cheap, and the Tecate is cheaper.
“There are two types of people in Mexico” he explained, “ones who like U.S. music, and ones who like Nortena. No one likes both.”
What’s Nortena music you ask?
“Nortena is like tex-mex + country + lots of trumpets and a lot of peachy, high pitched voices. People love high pitched voices.”
Since the city is only a couple of hours from the U.S. border, there are lots of American radio stations that can be picked up, hence the U.S. type.
Once you enter the main part of the city, it’s easy to see that music is a BIG deal in Monterrey. There are billboards everywhere for various artists and groups alike. This is because Monterrey has an enormous arena in the middle of downtown that averages two to three concerts per week. Everything from local bands to big stars in Mexico to Madonna.
Monday, November 30, 2009
CD Reviews / Opinion / Mike McCray / News Mixtape review: Lupe Fiasco
Posted By Mike McCray on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Opinion / Jason Younger / News Back in the day, we listened to real music... sorta
Posted By Jason Younger on Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 12:52 PM
A couple of weeks ago, I went to my high school reunion. I have no desire to tell you how old I am so we’ll refer to it as the __th year reunion. If you’ve read many of my weekly posts, you know I occasionally (read: every week) like to rail on the state of pop music and zing the likes of Lady Ga(g) Ga(g), Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers.
I like to think that I know good music when I hear it, and of course make fun of bad music because it’s fun. Fast forward to high school reunion ’09 or as I like to call it – “The Day Bad Music Reigned Supreme”. Let’s just say that when the dj fires up “Pony” by Ginuwine, the night is heading downhill quickly.
What does this mean? We all like bad music at some point in our lives. And we all like to think the songs we heard and listened to over and over and over again back in high school were great and meaningful and world changing. I mean “Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm” by Crash Test Dummies should be the song they play in the background for all those starving kid commercials right? It’s a DEEP song!! Maybe not.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Opinion / Mike McCray / News Who's Taylor Swift?
Posted By Mike McCray on Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 4:42 PM
WARNING: Sweeping generalizations about the musical tastes of black people will be made in this post…I’m black soooo, it’s cool.
I hate being put in a position to express the views and opinions of my race. This time, I think I’ll take a stab at speaking for “my people.”
Following the American Music Awards on Twitter, not only did I get into an argument with a zealous Michael Jackson fan, but I also further realized that black people, for the most part, don’t keep up with white pop stars.
Tweets like “ Damn you Kanye...ain’t nobody know who this skeeza was before the VMA’s now they riding with her like Seabiscuit to the finish line" lead black people to be convinced that Taylor Swift was a nobody before Kanye West embarrassed her on the MTV Video Music Awards, thus throwing her in the spotlight and that’s because, for the most part, we have no idea who these white pop stars are.
Sure there’s Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus (I’ve seen Hannah Montana backpacks in the projects for Christ’s sake), Lady Gaga and other artists are just big everywhere but you’d be hard pressed to find a black person who can name a Taylor Swift song let alone own the album.
Then she beat Michael Jackson for awards and people were looking for the digital Dr. King to start marching against her, when as one of my followers so nicely put, MJ is great but he didn’t do much this year but die. (The subsequent retweet is what started my “debates” with MJ fans).
Then Adam Lambert gets on stage and the confusion mixed with homophobia nearly made my Blackberry explode. Truth is, I don’t know many black people that have followed American Idol since the Ruben, Fantasia days and that was what...? 5 years ago?
The point of this? Really isn’t one. Just a cultural observation. The same way I had to Google white actresses not named Anne Hathaway because they all kind of look alike to me is probably the same reason “my people” aren’t aware of the millions of albums Taylor Swift sold this year and really think Kanye West catapulted her to stardom.
Hey, if you want us to know, play it on Power 98.
It’s a black thing.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Opinion / Mike McCray / News The saga of missing BlackBerry music
Posted By Mike McCray on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Joy was an understatement when I pulled a poorly taped together package out of the mail Thursday.
Inside that box and literally wrapped up in a napkin was my missing BlackBerry I thought I'd never see again but that euphoria quickly subsided as I began to take inventory on what I'd received in the mail from a small North Carolina town.
All my pictures, ringtones and most importantly, music, were gone! Not just wiped from the system but replaced!
What kind-hearted monster would do this? Have the decency to give my BlackBerry back that they attained under unknown circumstances but send it back as a shell of it's former self.
Gone were the entire discographies of Nas, Outkast, Jay-Z and The Roots, in was The Spinners, Mtune, Dionne Warwick and Aaron Neville?
I'm all for "Juicy Fruit," and the subsequent hit "Juicy" by Biggie sampled from the same song, but damn! Surprisingly intact, the A&T fight song.
I have nothing against Peabo, Atlantic Starr, Natalie Cole, "big" Luther or the Chi-Lites, but I'd rather hear the The Cool Kids or Dilla beats when I'm wandering around the grocery store.
What makes things weirder are the songs that surprisingly survived the mass destruction. What music head makes an effort to leave Gucci Mane and Wacka Flocka Flame's mixtapes intact but adds gospel like Donnie McClurkin and Fred Hammond to the mix? Were you going to put "Bricks" on a playlist right next to "Never Would've Made It?"
I'm not knocking his choice in music just the fact that dude deleted my gems for it. Whether it was mixtapes or tracks from local artists and producers, unfinished beat sketches by people trying to get my opinion on them or underground albums I can't get my hands on anymore and that's what sucks the most.
But hey, at least Moms just got a whole lot of new music to compliment that Prince on her iTunes.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Opinion / News Video review: 'Video Phone' by Beyonce, featuring Lady Gaga
Posted By Carlton Hargro on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:34 AM
The Deal: Beyonce's long-awaited (well, by somebody) music video version of the song "Video Phone" — from her still-kicking album I Am ... Sasha Fierce — debuted on MTV this morning.
The Good: I know, I know: Beyonce is a substance-less pop star. True. But, damn, the woman sure does look good. And in this video, she does more poppin' and shakin' than almost anything else I've ever seen her do. Not exactly a step forward for mankind, but — still — nice to look at. Just sayin.' This time around, Beyonce also decided to trade in her nearly trademarked leg-baring leotards (see "Single Ladies," "Diva," "Halo," etc.) to sport a daring, African-inspired (?) two-piece number. But, don't fret — the leotards are there ... in multiple colors, too. Oh, and I thought it was interesting the way men were somewhat objectified by being shown, for the most part, as faceless/headless bodies.
The Bad: Why exactly was Lady Gaga in this video? Her voice adds nothing to what was actually a pretty mediocre song. And the dance sequence with Beyonce and Lady Gaga? Hey, Gaga can't keep up with Beyonce's poppin' and shakin.' (But, then, who can?!) On top of that, Gaga looks a little emaciated next to the more athletic B. Regarding other aspects of the video, what's up with all the guns? Not sure what that has to do with a video phone.
The Verdict: Hey ... if you like looking at Beyonce, you'll dig it.
