E-40's Warriors remix of "Choices" and the state of hip hop today

Warning: Some mature content follows. Reader discretion is advised.

So I recently discovered E-40's Golden State Warriors version of "Choices".

Which make me want to rant about the state of hip hop today. I thought things would've changed after people got tired of the crunk/snap music garbage of my junior high/high school years (2003-2009), by whose tail's end the influence of corporate media like MTV and BET gave way to online media (MySpace, HipHopDX, YouTube...) where young people could be exposed to higher quality music of present and past. Look at the mainstream success of newer, quality artists like Macklemore, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole, and veterans Kanye West and Jay-Z continuing to put out music done with care, not hype in mind. But now, it seems that something like 85-90% of songs that get most hype on YouTube or FM radio have this formula:

Beat: DJ Mustard style minimalist beat with drum machine, "hey hey" chants, and the same 3-4 synth chords.

Lyrics: Recycling the same crap from last decade about partying, sexual fantasies, dealing drugs, hustling-for-money-because-I-was-deprived-as-a-child, etc. themes. OK, even "real hip hop" like Notorious BIG or Mobb Deep rapped about that stuff. But at least they put *creativity* in producing their songs (which I'll go over next).

Flow: On one hand, I like how E-40 rewrote his song to pay tribute to the Warriors. On the other, the flow here lacks the punch of his classics like "1-Luv" or "Rapper's Ball" and instead turns to the lazy "talk-n-chant" flow of a song like Big Tymers' "Oh Yeah". At least when DMX rapped in "Ruff Ryders' Anthem", the song works as well without the "what?" at the end of every line because the lyrics have a varied # of syllables/pace per line.

And expanding on a point made earlier. There's a reason why I'll say, when discussing music, that a song like "Trap Queen" is trash while a song like "Survival of the Fittest" by Mobb Deep is art. Compare & contrast the lyrics, first to "Trap Queen":

Seen your pretty ass soon as you came in that door
I just wanna chill, got a sack for us to roll
Married to the money, introduced her to my stove
Showed her how to whip it, now she remixin' for low
She my trap queen, let her hit the bando
We be countin' up, watch how far them bands go
We just set a goal, talkin' matchin' Lambos

Vs. "Survival of the Fittest":

You shook cause ain't no such things as halfway crooks
They never around when the beef cooks in my part of town
It's similar to Vietnam
Now we all grown up and old, and beyond the cop's control
They better have the riot gear ready
Tryin' to bag me and get rocked steady
By the mac one-double, I touch you
And leave you with not much to go home wit'

And the artistry is far different: Fetty Wap sings his song with that dreaded vocal effect, Auto-Tune. Didn't Jay-Z declare "Death to Auto-Tune" back in 2009? Regarding "Trap Queen": Every line has the same structure, same number of syllables. In contrast, Mobb Deep (a duo) vary their flow: some long lines, a short line, another long line, then a series of slightly shorter lines, all while keeping to the beat!

Speaking of beats, "Trap Queen" has, like "Choices", the typical dumbed-down beat of commercial rap, with the drum machine and recycled synth sounds. In contrast, "Survival of the Fittest" doesn't condescend to the listener, as the percussion sounds like real drums (even if created with a drum machine most likely), and the beat has a variety of instrumentation (keyboard, with the occasional brass), which put together with the lyrics grab the listener's attention.

Geez, how bad can things get? Well, "Throw Sum Mo" by Rae Sremmurd featuring Nicki Minaj and Young Thug is basically a melody-less, Auto-Tune-polluted strip club anthem, obviously for teenagers stuck at home at night because they can't legally go to the clubs (and grown-ups too cheap to pay the cover charge).

"Hot N****a" by Bobby Shmurda - this ain't music either, just throwing around "N-word this, B-word that, selling crack there, insert sexually explicit reference elsewhere" to appeal to his brain-dead fans' base instincts. Oh, by buying his music, you're supporting a guy who is "charged with conspiracy to commit murder, multiple weapons possession, and reckless endangerment as part of a 15-person, 69-count indictment that included his brother Javese and fellow GS9 label-mate Rowdy Rebel."

I could go on, but I think I've said my peace.

You want a "party"/upbeat rap song that at least maintains musical integrity and does the crazy thing,  respecting women? Try:

• "Around the Way Girl" by LL Cool J;
• "Going Back to Cali" by LL Cool J;
• "Can't Get Enough" by J. Cole featuring Trey Songz;
• "Ante Up" by M.O.P.

And for "minimalist" music with softer beats AND TALENT:

• "Adorn" by Miguel;
• "Lotus Flower Bomb" by Wale featuring Miguel;
• "Thinkin' Bout You" by Frank Ocean;
• "I Need Love" by LL Cool J.

Look. You can call me an old man yapping from his rocking chair all you want. But if you want to know why "rap music" is associated with hypersexuality, crime, and low quality, I think I've made my case.

Some 90-stalgia: Which hip hop/R&B stars from back in the day have fallen off now?

I'm thinking of such a list because of that new song "Put It Down" by Brandy featuring Chris Brown. I think Brandy was better when she was up-and-coming in the '90s with "I Wanna Be Down" (geez, how many Brandy songs have the word "down"????) and "Baby". Her song with Kanye back in '04 "Talk About Our Love" is mediocre. The aforementioned singles are the only Brandy songs I'd ever keep in my mp3 player. Oh yeah, the talentless hack Ray J (with a terrible singing voice and star of the Kim Kardashian sex tape) is her younger brother (Ray J's real name is William Ray Norwood Jr.).

So I've decided as a new year comes and hip hop progressively gets worse (but at least the fact that Kendrick Lamar's new album Good Kid, MAAD City has outsold 2 Chainz' Based on a TRU Story I have hope...and the new GOOD Music compilation Cruel Summer is also pushing 100k's of units) I wonder how many rappers or R&B singers who were in their prime in the '90s are just stale in the new millennium?

- Usher: I like "You Make Me Wanna" and "Nice & Slow" from his breakout 1997 album My Way. And I just now discovered his debut single recorded when he was just 13, "Call Me a Mack" (from the soundtrack of the 1993 film that starred Tupac and Janet Jackson, Poetic Justice). In his '90s songs, Usher even rapped verses! 8701 (2001) was alright, Confessions (2004) was way overplayed in its time and was a step downward because now I think "Burn" is essentially "U Got It Bad" with more RPM. "Caught Up" is better though. Oh, one time I was listening to Detroit's hip hop/R&B station WJLB on iHeartRadio (another sign I need to go back to Michigan, haven't been there since May 1997) and heard Maxwell's "Fortunate" and that was the first time in my life I realized that "U Got It Bad" interpolated the chorus of "Fortunate". Nowadays Usher always puts out party music as singles, like "Love In This Club" [2008] with a beat ripped off of GarageBand software! Then he hopped on the Auto-Tune bandwagon in 2010 with "OMG" featuring will.i.am and did a super poppy club anthem "DJ Got Us Falling in Love" with Pitbull (a rapper who's a traitor to his genre, but that's a whole 'nother story). And "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)" went far on the raunchy side especially with annoying rapper Plies. I'm not too fond of "What Happened to U", ESPECIALLY since if you were listening to radio the beginning fools you into thinking you're hearing "One More Chance" by the Notorious BIG! "Hot Tottie" (2010) rips off the beat of Jay-Z's "On to the Next One". Usher has had a HUGE creativity issue for the past several years.

- Members of the Wu-Tang Clan: 8 Diagrams (2007) was one hell of a generic album...nothing that Wu-Tang or its members does in the future will ever KO Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993), Wu-Tang Forever (1997), Method Man's Tical (1995), Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995), etc.

- Fat Joe: I can listen to his 90s songs like "The Shit Is Real", "John Blaze", "Flow Joe", "Watch Out", or his parts in songs like "Twinz (Deep Cover '98)" on repeat especially with the heavy, deep, street lyrics and flow with genuine hip hop beats. However, Fat Joe became way too commercial and generic after J.O.S.E. in 2001 especially with getting pop-&-B singers like R. Kelly and Ashanti singing hooks. From that album "My Lifestyle" is a hard track, but "We Thuggin'" is just guilty pleasure even though hearing that song on KMEL back in October 2001 helped me get into hip hop when I was younger. "What's Luv?" wears out as well. Loyalty (2002) was a very low creative point before Fat Joe returned in 2004 for the second Terror Squad album True Story with number-one hit "Lean Back". He went solo again All or Nothing (2005), the lead single featuring Nelly "Get It Poppin" is wack but the album had other harder tracks like "So Much More" or the anti-50 Cent song "My Fofo". Me Myself & I (2006) marked the time when Fat Joe abandoned his NYC roots for the trendy Southern sound in "Make It Rain" featuring Lil Wayne and then doing guest performances on DJ Khaled's album. Even the deeper cuts like "Damn" and "The Profit" were getting more dull. The Elephant in the Room (2008) = rock bottom. I was never into "I Won't Tell", which sounded more like POP MUSIC than hip hop (especially since pop-&-B J. Holiday sang). Even the deeper cuts like "K.A.R" and "The Fugitive" were getting generic and tiresome. And look what the hell Fat Joe is doing now with super-lame party music like "Another Round" with Chris Brown (tell me again WHY he still gets prominent spots after beating Rihanna?) and not even "Pride N Joy" featuring Kanye and a bunch of others like Jadakiss and Mos Def is worth listening. "Instagram That Hoe"? By the title itself that's straight garbage. Fat Joe has been using the same old same old formula for theme and rapping for nearly 7 years now. How many songs about hot women, the club, and luxuries can he do creatively anymore? At age 42 maybe he should think about doing less music.

- Master P or any other artist signed with No Limit Records: I remember hearing "We Like Them  Girls" by Silkk  the Shocker on the radio in 2004 (when I was in 8th grade and basically liking pretty much any crap I heard on Wild 94.9 or 106 KMEL). At that time I'd also discovered "Make Em Say Uhh" by Master P on the compilation album MTV the First 1000 Years: Hip Hop & then thru sites like MSN Music and Amazon.com the other No Limit rappers and other songs they did in the late '90s such as: "Bout It Bout It" by Master P and "I Got the Hook Up" by MP. Thinking back on it, there's a reason why Master P and the other No Limit rappers ended up on Koch Records (which later became E1 Music). I mean, how is Master P's "Them Jeans" (2004) any different from Lil Jon's "Get Low" (2002)?

- Lil Wayne: A rapper since 1993 (when he was just 11), Wayne found his big break in 2008 with Tha Carter III. Sadly in order to achieve such a high-sales album with many Grammys and top singles Wayne abandoned his gangsta rap sound from his earlier career for a more mainstream (and of course the dreaded AUTO TUNE) sound. Examples of Wayne's earlier stuff from Cash Money Records: "The Block Is Hot" (1999),  or go to 0:55 for his part in B.G.'s "Bling Bling" (1999), or 1:00 for his verse in "From Tha 13th to Tha 17th" when he was known as "Baby D" in rap duo The B.G.'z back in 1995 (when Wayne was only 13), or 3:20 at "I Need a Hot Girl" (with his group Hot Boys in 1999). In 2004 Wayne's rapping style became softer and more structured, like in "Bring It Back" and "Go DJ" (both '04) and "Fireman" and "Hustler Musik" (2005). Wayne's career took an interesting turn in 2006. That year he did just mixtapes and guest performances: both on the poppier side ("You" by Lloyd, "Make It Rain" by Fat Joe, the remix of "Gimme That" by Chris Brown) and on the street side (like the anti-George W. Bush mixtape cut "Georgia Bush"). And then in 2007 came The Leak EP with such underground tracks like "I'm Me". Unfortunately in 2008 when I first heard "Lollipop" on the radio with all the auto tune I knew Lil Wayne went beyond selling out. Things only got worse with his fake "rock" album Rebirth in 2009 (STILL with that auto tune), Wayne putting Drake in the spotlight, and the very boring album I Am Not a Human Being  in 2010. These days Lil Wayne is doing far more lame pop music like "How To Love", "Right Above It", or "Mrs. Officer" than tracks where he actually cares about rapping like in "John" or "6 Foot 7 Foot".

- Members of A Tribe Called Quest: Tribe was VERY great when they were together in the 90s. However the solo stuff that Tribe members put out isn't very memorable. "Gettin' Up" by Q-Tip was better than any of the mainstream hip hop overplayed on radio back in '08. But does that stand up to Tribe classics like "Scenario", "Buggin' Out", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo"? NO!

- R. Kelly: Transformed from slow jam soul singer in the early 90s ("Bump n Grind") to mainstream urban contemporary singer in the late 90s ("Home Alone") to straight up baller in the 00s and beyond (his many many guests spots/collabos with rappers). Oh, don't forget that child porn trial too. R. Kelly's attempt at being everything to every audience gave him a whole bunch of repetitive uncreative stereotypical mainstream rap songs..."Supaman High", "That's That", the Jay-Z collaboration albums. "Playas Only", etc.

Any others? Comment below.

The real context of MIA's finger gesture at the super bowl halftime show

If you watched the halftime show of this year's Super Bowl (rather unexciting, more of a carbon copy of the one after the 2007 season) you might've seen rapper M.I.A sticking up her middle finger for a moment. Then the screen suddenly cuts to an aerial view of the field and blurs very quickly. If you were wondering why NBC blurred the whole screen for a second after MIA finished her performance it was because the network realized what MIA did and thought the blur could censor the action on time. It didn't, and I presume that NBC had some sort of tape delay system. But it does confirm the opinion that MIA's action was so quick that many people wouldn't notice exactly which finger she was sticking up. In fact, Time magazine TV critic James Poniewoznik commented: "M.I.A...apparently briefly flipped off the camera in a gesture so shocking that I had no idea she even did it until NBC issued an apology for it." An Associated Press report also quoted a viewer who only realized the next morning what MIA did.

Here's the video.

And here's the official music video for Madonna's "Give Me All Your Luvin'". Go to the 2:39 mark, where MIA's part is. When she raps "I don't give a sh..." she points out her index finger as in mimicking firing a gun. Hmm. So could it be that MIA might've accidentally moved her wrong finger? A possibility. UK tabloid The Sun quotes an anonymous insider: "M.I.A. did nothing similar in rehearsals," and also alleged that Madonna disapproved of MIA's action.

And of course, the good ol' Parents Television Council had to weigh in. (No long-winded column yet about "OOGA BOOGA DECLINING DECENCY STANDARDS IN AMERICA!" by PTC founder/former president/now advisor/continuing columnist Brent Bozell.) Current PTC president Tim Winter was quoted in the same AP source: "Most families would agree that the middle finger aimed directly at them is not appropriate, especially during the most-watched television event of the year."

The PTC's full statement is here, and furthermore Winter stated: "It has been eight years since the Janet Jackson striptease, and both NBC and the NFL knew full well what might happen. They chose a lineup full of performers who have based their careers on shock, profanity and titillation." The performers in this year's halftime show indeed don't lack controversy. Headliner Madonna has been provocative throughout her nearly 30-year pop music career and has especially inflamed the "pro-family" crowd, for example in 1989 soft drink brand Pepsi canceled a planned TV commercial with Madonna because the American Family Association complained about the singer's "Like a Virgin" music video using Christian symbolism and boycotted Pepsi for planning the ad. And as i blogged about earlier Brent Bozell had gripes with co-performer Nicki Minaj, who also had a wardrobe malfunction on a Good Morning America TV performance last year. Cee-Lo had a popular hit with "Fuck You" (on the radio "Forget You"), of course that would inflame Bozell's sensibilities (the golden passage in this column? "Any radio edit is just a lame Band-Aid for a pus-filled boil."). Another Bozell-founded Cultural Guardian, the Culture and Media Institute, also targeted MIA over her song "Lovalot" because its chorus sounded like "I love Allah"...oh no, those evil pop musicians can NOT be singing about ALLAH and MUSLIMS to our precious kids' ears!!!! But other than the performers' controversial backgrounds, what other evidence does Winter have to claim NBC knew another Janet Jackson moment would happen? In fact Winter had nothing to say about the suggestive dancing in the halftime show, and had the middle finger incident not occurred would he even have issued a Monday morning statement? Furthermore, the song selection wasn't highly offensive (unlike the Super Bowl show with Janet Jackson with songs like "Rock Your Body" and "Shake Ya Tailfeather"). From wikipedia: The setlist included "Vogue," a medley of Madonna's "Music" and LMFAO's two largest hits ("Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It,"...), followed by "Give Me All Your Luvin'," "Open Your Heart," "Express Yourself" (in a duet with [Cee-Lo] Green), and the finale, "Like a Prayer"."

Wonder why PTC doesn't have a complaint form to the FCC on its front page (even as of right now) unlike back in February 2004 after the Janet Jackson incident? The "Hilicon Valley" blog at TheHill.com explains: "A spokeswoman for the Parents Television Council said the organization won't ask the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fine NBC over the incident, but "we're certain others will do so whether we encourage them to or not."" In fact, if the FCC decides to fine NBC over this incident, MIA is contractually bound to pitch in. It seems by not actively pursuing formal complaints over MIA's middle finger, PTC is silently acknowledging that this is a weaker case than Janet Jackson's breast.

Expect the PTC to go haywire AGAIN.

The NY Times reported: "At VMAs, Young Stars With Fresh Mouths":

This was maybe the most bleeped award show in history, and certainly among the lewdest, from Lady Gaga’s opening monologue, in drag, channeling Andrew “Dice” Clay and Denis Leary, to Cloris Leachman swapping foul talk with the cast of “Jersey Shore,” to Justin Bieber making phallus jokes with his girlfriend Selena Gomez on the pre-show. The falling-flat toilet humor of last year’s host Chelsea Handler had nothing on this.

(...)

Introducing Lil Wayne, Drake gave in to the general mood with a brief speech that required some bleeping, the theme of the night. When Tyler, the Creator, accepted his award, half of his speech couldn’t be made out between the edits. (He was, though, the only artist who appeared genuinely moved to have won.) During the preshow, he’d made unkind gestures with his microphone toward the head of Jim Cantiello, one of the hosts. Mr. Cantiello repaid him later, after announcing that Tyler’s Twitter mentions placed him above Mr. Mars, whom he dislikes: “I can’t wait to hear your homophobic rap about that later,” Mr. Cantiello said.

If you're interested, check out the Parents Television Council's annual VMA-bash from 2008, 2009, and 2010. Thanks NY Times for reporting this so that I don't need to read the PTC's take on it. BTW, I was watching a Raiders preseason game instead of the VMAs, but congratulations Foo Fighters for winning Best Rock Video for "Walk":



Of course the VMAs had to shower Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Lady Gaga with the big awards (respectively: Video of the year, Best Male Video, and Best Female Video.) "ET" that crappy song won TWO awards (also Best Collabo)? And the untalented NICKI MINAJ wins BEST HIP HOP VIDEO for "Super Bass" (an average song at best)??? Oh well it's mainstream stuff. The professional categories I'll check later.

Here's my earlier post criticizing PTC's cable TV reviews. And Brent McKee has another article about the PTC, this time about the PTC opposing NBC's upcoming The Playboy Club.

8 December marks the death of two musical legends

Image courtesy Wikipedia

On 8 December 1980, former Beatles guitarist was shot and killed at his New York City apartment by crazed fan Mark David Chapman, who now remains imprisoned in New York and has been repeatedly denied parole. This is Lennon's 1971 hit "Imagine", from the album of the same name. That song, with its lyrics "Imagine there's no countries/It isn't hard to do/...no religion too" remains a classic anthem for peace and unity among humankind. According to Wikipedia, "Lennon was responsible for 27 Billboard Hot 100 [the American music chart] number one singles as performer, writer or co-writer."



As for his work with the Beatles, who performed together during the 1960s, among the hits that Lennon wrote included "Hey Jude" (1968):


"Hello Goodbye" was part of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour:



Another one of my favourite Magical Mystery songs are "Penny Lane"



This is a clip from The Beatles Anthology of the Beatles performing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (1963). I guess this should be the theme song of me and other single college guys



Another relatable Beatles song, this one from 1964, "It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog..."





The other musical legend who died on this day, also from being shot to death, was "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, guitarist for the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan; he died in 2004 after being shot during a Damageplan concert in Ohio. The shooter, Nathan Gale, was allegedly angry at Dimebag for breaking up Pantera. This is "Cemetery Gates" from Pantera's 1990 debut album Cowboys from Hell:



Another signature American heavy metal masterpiece, this time a lot louder and faster: "Walk" (1992):

Pantera - Headbangers Ball - MTV Shows

Dimebag joined Damageplan in 2003; that band released one album, New Found Power, in 2004. This is "Breathing New Life", the lead single from the album:

Damageplan - Headbangers Ball - MTV Shows

For the 1999 movie Detroit Rock City, Pantera covered Ted Nugent's 1970s hit "Cat Scratch Fever":



RIP, John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell Abbott, two musical legends still revered by many today for their immense, diverse talents.

Shuffle sessions, 21 July

Shuffle #1 (11AM) 5 songs that pretty much reveal the diversity of my playlist.
- Hall & Oates: "Kiss on My List" (Voices, 1980) *1980s, pop, East Coast (Philadelphia)
- Fleetwood Mac: "Landslide" (Fleetwood Mac, 1975) *1970s, acoustic, rock, UK
- The Notorious B.I.G.: "Me & My Bitch" (Ready to Die, 1994) *1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC)
- Alice in Chains: "No Excuses" (Jar of Flies, 1994) *1990s, alt/indie, grunge, West Coast (Seattle)
- The Black Dahlia Murder: "When the Last Grave Has Emptied" (Unhallowed, 2005) *2000s, death metal, Midwest (Waterford/Detroit, MI)

Shuffle #2 (1PM) organized by genre and (!) ethnicity (3 straight songs from African-American artists; then 3 straight rock songs). Two British songs.
- Pink Floyd: "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Pts. 6-11" (Wish You Were Here, 1975) *1970s, progressive rock, UK
- Ray Charles: "What'd I Say" (What'd I Say, 1959) *1950s, jazz, soul, rock, African-American, South (Leesburg, GA)
- Jimi Hendrix: "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" (Electric Ladyland, 1968) *1960s, rock, psychadelic, African-American, UK
- Lil Wayne: "A Milli" (Tha Carter III, 2008) *2000s, hip hop, South (New Orleans), African-American
- She & Him: "I Was Made for You" (Volume One, 2008) *2000s, alt/indie, West Coast (Portland, OR)
- Staind: "Just Go" (Dysfunction, 1999) *1990s, post-grunge, alt metal, East Coast (Springfield, MA)
- Maroon 5: "Makes Me Wonder" (It Won't Be Soon Before Long, 2007) *2000s, rock, West Coast (Los Angeles)

Shuffle #3 (4PM) all but 1 were hip hop, and mostly from the 90s
- Public Enemy: "911 Is a Joke" (Fear of a Black Planet, 1990) *1990s, hip hop, political, East Coast (Philadelphia)
- Steve Miller Band: "Baby's House" (Your Saving Grace, 1969) *1960s, rock, West Coast (San Francisco)
- Public Enemy: "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" (Fear of a Black Planet, 1990) *1990s, hip hop, political, East Coast (Philadelphia)
- Kid Cudi featuring Kanye West and Common: "Make Her Say" (Man in the Moon: The End of Day, 2009) *2000s, hip hop, Midwest (Cleveland; Chicago)
- Nas featuring Dr. Dre: "Nas Is Coming" (It Was Written, 1996) *1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC), West Coast (LA)

Shuffle #4 (5PM) Now all but 1 were metal (from outside US)
- Lacuna Coil: "Our Truth" (Karmacode, 2006) *2000s, goth metal, Italy
- Soulfly: "Back to the Primitive" (Primitive, 2000) *2000s, alt metal, Brazil
- A Tribe Called Quest: "Buggin' Out" (The Low End Theory, 1991) *1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC)
- Kataklysm: "Cripped & Broken" (In the Arms of Devestation, 2006) *2000s, death metal, Canada

More adventures in shuffling

Shuffle #1 (around 11AM): bounced between the '90s and '00s and all from the Eastern or Southern US
- Death: "Symbolic" (Symbolic, 1995) *1990s, death metal, South (Orlando)
- Anti-Flag: "The Project for a New American Century" (For Blood and Empire, 2006) *2000s, punk, East Coast (Pittsburgh)
- The Notorious B.I.G.: "Unbelievable" (Ready to Die, 1994) *1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC)
- Shadows Fall: "Destroyer of Senses" (The Art of Balance, 2002) *2000s, thrash metal, East Coast (Springfield, MA)
- Eminem featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent: "Encore" (Encore, 2004) *2000s, hip hop, Midwest (Detroit), East Coast (NYC), West Coast (LA)
- Wale featuring Weensey and Gucci Mane: "Pretty Girls" (Attention Deficit, 2009) *2000s, hip hop, East Coast (DC), South (Atlanta)

Shuffle #2 (lunchtime): majority being 2000s; bounced between rock and hip hop for a while; all from West Coast/East Coast/Midwest
- Game featuring Bilal: "Cali Sunshine" (LAX, 2008) *2000s, hip hop, West Coast (Los Angeles)
- Bruce Springsteen: "Devils and Dust" (Devils and Dust, 2005) *2000s, rock, acoustic, East Coast (New Jersey near NYC)
- Jay-Z featuring Drake and Timbaland: "Off That" (The Blueprint 3, 2009) *2000s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC), Canada
- System of a Down: "Prison Song" (Toxicity, 2001) *2000s, alt metal, West Coast (LA), political
- Alice in Chains: "Rooster" (Dirt, 1992) *1990s, grunge, West Coast (Seattle), political
- Nas: "Sly Fox" (Untitled, 2008) *2000s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC), political
- Nine Inch Nails: "Survivalism" (Year Zero, 2007) *2000s, alt metal, Midwest (Cleveland), political
- Santana: "Black Magic Woman" (Abraxas, 1970) *1970s, rock, psychadelic, West Coast (San Francisco)
- Smashing Pumpkins: "Cherub Rock" (Siamese Dream, 1993) *1990s, alt/indie, grunge, Midwest (Chicago)

Shuffle #3 (afternoon ride home):
- Jay-Z featuring UGK: "Big Pimpin'" (Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter, 1999) *1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC), South (Houston)
- Chops featuring Raekwon: "What's Fuckin' Wit' Us" (Virtuosity, 2004): *2000s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC)
- Snoop Dogg featuring B-Real: "Vato" (Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, 2006): *2000s, hip hop, West Coast (LA)
- The Beatles: "Yesterday" (Help!, 1965): 1960s, rock, acoustic, UK
- The Black Dahlia Murder: "A Vulgar Picture" (Miasma, 2005): 2000s, death metal, Midwest (Waterford/Detroit, MI)
- Foxy Brown featuring Jay-Z: "I'll Be" (Ill Na Na, 1996): 1990s, hip hop, East Coast (NYC)
- Hall & Oates: "Kiss on My List" (Voices, 1980): 1980s, pop, East Coast (Philadelphia)

Shuffle degrees of separation

On my way home today on the bus I was listening to my Sansa e250 MP3 player on shuffle. These songs all have some sort of genre/generational organisation. Tags for categories follow titles.

- Snoop Dogg featuring Dr. Dre and D'Angelo: "Imagine" (Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, 2006) *2000s
- In Flames: "Leeches" (Come Clarity, 2006) *2000s, international (Sweden)
- The Beatles: "The Fool on the Hill" (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967) *1960s, oldies, international (UK)
- The Doors: "Touch Me" (The Soft Parade, 1969) *1960s, oldies, West Coast
- Game featuring 50 Cent: "Westside Story" (The Documentary, 2005) *2000s hip hop
- Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys: "Empire State of Mind" (The Blueprint 3, 2009) *2000s hip hop
- Rage Against the Machine: "Freedom" (Rage Against the Machine, 1992) *1990s alternative rock, hip hop, West Coast
- Alice in Chains: "Heaven Beside You" (MTV Unplugged, 1996; originally from Alice in Chains, 1995) *1990s alternative rock, West Coast
- Pink Floyd: "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" (Wish You Were Here, 1975) *rock
- Fat Joe: "Success (DJ Premier remix)" (Jealous One's Envy, 1995) *1990s hip hop, East Coast
- The Notorious B.I.G.: "Big Poppa" (Ready to Die, 1994) *1990s hip hop, East Coast
- She & Him: "Change Is Hard" (Volume One, 2008) *2000s, alt/indie, female vocalist
- Duffy: "Mercy" (Rockferry, 2008) *2000s, alt/indie, female vocalist, international (UK)
- The Guess Who: "No Time" (American Woman, 1970) *oldies, international (Canada)
- The Beatles: "Penny Lane" (Magical Mystery Tour, 1967) *oldies, international (UK)
- Death Cab for Cutie: "I Will Follow You Into the Dark" (Plans, 2005) *alt/indie
- Rage Against the Machine: "Know Your Enemy" (Rage Against the Machine, 1992) *alt/indie
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience: "All Along the Watchtower" (Electric Ladyland, 1968) *oldies
- Mos Def: "Beef" (Rawkus Records: Best of Decade I 1995-2005, 2005) *2000s, hip hop
- Lamb of God: "Laid to Rest" (Ashes in the Wake, 2003) *2000s, metal

The PTC flip-flop on Adam Lambert

In December 2005, Parents Television Council "Culture Watch" columnist Christopher Gildemeister responded to an allegation of homophobia by Simon Dumenco in Dumenco's Advertising Age magazine column:

Mr. Dumenco flatly states, without corroborating evidence, that the PTC is "very very afraid of gay TV characters." This is a lie. The PTC is not homophobic. It simply opposes sexual references or innuendo (of any variety, hetero, homo or other) aired where children might be exposed to them.

Flash forward 4 years minus one month, and this year's American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert (who's also openly gay) performs his single "For Your Entertainment" with many sexually-charged elements (such as S&M and simulation of oral sex and Lambert kissing his male keyboard player). It happens toward the very end of ABC's live broadcast of the 2009 American Music Awards, which ran from 8-11PM Eastern and Pacific time. Lambert's performance reportedly aired at 11PM, or 10PM Central/Mountain. Federal law prohibits broadcast of indecency between 6AM-10PM local time. (The oral sex mock was edited out of the West Coast broadcast.) Then PTC raises a stink over Lambert's performance! From its press release:

While the costumes and profanity throughout the broadcast were enough to alarm any reasonable parent, the final performance by Adam Lambert of “American Idol” fame included everything from S&M bondage with the singer leading leather-clad male performers around on leashes to another dancer simulating oral sex on Lambert. The show aired live at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT and was given a TV-14 L rating. The oral sex scene was edited out of the West Coast broadcast.

“American teenagers – and especially teenaged girls – are literally under siege by the entertainment media. It is outrageous that children today cannot watch a televised awards program for an industry that is built squarely on their backs. Teens comprise a huge portion of music sales, yet this is how they are treated? It is beyond contemptible,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“Last night’s ‘American Music Awards’ broadcast was nothing short of tasteless and vulgar. Adam Lambert, the second-place finisher in last season’s ‘American Idol’ competition, chose to treat American families to simulated oral sex and other demeaning behavior. ABC and Dick Clark Productions had every reason to know what to expect, as Lambert himself proclaimed that his performance would be ‘very sexy’ and would include leather and chains. But the producers and the network chose to bury their heads in the sand.

So apparently S&M and oral sex, with a homosexual twist, was enough to make Lambert's performance stand out, way out, way way way out, from mentioning, let's say:
- Janet Jackson's opening act, where she reportedly grabbed a male dancer's crotch;
- Lady Gaga smashing whiskey bottles, and her dancers having costumes that look revealing (that was during her performance of her new single "Bad Romance"; I saw part of it on Sunday night while breaking from studying for Monday's calculus test);
- Eminem boasting about an extensive criminal record of his stage alter ego "Slim Shady" before performing "Crack a Bottle" and his verse from Drake's "Forever";
- and Carrie Underwood's suggestive outfit and choreography.

Lambert's performance seemed strongly sleazy enough to be the centerpoint of PTC's campaign. On it's "Take Action" page that provides outraged viewers/members to write letters of complaint to ABC, sponsors, or the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the title states: " American Music Awards Assaults Viewers with Simulated Sex Acts, S&M Themes, and Non-Stop Expletives", but the page doesn't even mention the examples I posted here. In her column (to be published on Friday's print edition), New York Times TV critic Alessandra Stanley also pointed out Jackson, Gaga, and Eminem as other examples of supposedly indecent performers at the AMA this year.

Taking a look at the facts and what PTC wants viewers to complain about, it seems that PTC is defeating itself in the process. Its automated, pre-written "Letter to ABC and Dick Clark Productions" template opens:

Dear Sir or Madam:

For years, the American Music Awards was a wholesome alternative to other trashy awards shows that used cheap gimmicks and sleazy, tabloid-baiting stunts to build a following. The AMAs were different, focusing instead on talent and love of music, so, like many Americans, I felt comfortable watching with my family. No longer. Last night ABC and Dick Clark Productions forever tarnished their hard-earned brands and violated the established trust of millions of parents by allowing S&M and bondage themes and explicit simulated oral sex to be broadcast into our homes, through our publicly-owned broadcast airwaves.

This opening passage seems to contrast the American Music Awards with other shows like the MTV Video Music Awards (and we all know the moral rivalry between PTC and MTV). The Video Music Awards has had its controversial moments like Madonna and Britney Spears kissing and this year, when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. However, the PTC mentioned in its press release that the awards show was rated "TV-14-L", which in TV Parental Guidelines official lingo means "contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age" because of "strong coarse language". Given the rating, which as procedural ABC shows at the beginning of the program and after every commercial break, why would it be so surprising that the American Music Awards was so un-friendly to a general family audience? Oh, if you want an awards show that focuses on "talent and love of music", try the Grammy Awards, which will be shown on CBS next February.

Although Lambert performed just a few minutes before or just at the start of the 10PM hour in the Central Time Zone, PTC felt it wasn't good enough, so it allows just the Central Time Zone residents to file complaints with the FCC.

And now for today's latest developments.

Yesterday, ABC cancelled Lambert's scheduled performance for today's Good Morning America.

"Given his controversial live performance on the AMAs, we were concerned about airing a similar concert so early in the morning," an ABC News rep said.

However, CBS intervened and invited Lambert to perform on its morning program The Early Show instead. CBS apparently feared more retaliation from PTC or other moral guardian orgs, so the network decided to blur images of Lambert's kiss and sex simulation. "The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated and, for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences," reported the Los Angeles Times quoting a CBS representative.

In response to ABC's disinvitation, PTC's Dan Isett stated:

"I do think it’s a little bit unfortunate... The idea that he should be scrubbed from TV completely is not where we’re going. It may be a bit of an overreaction on ABC’s part."

And Isett insists his organisation was simply upset because the powers that be didn't censor Lambert's AMAs live performance, which was heavily edited when it aired three hours later on America's west coast.

What a surprise. I thought that PTC was going to share ABC's concern that Lambert would've repeated his sleazy choreography on Good Morning America and call on ABC also to ax Lambert's performance. It seems that PTC indirectly intimidated ABC into doing so though.

This controversy brings up a whole bunch of double standards. The one homosexually suggestive performance that began very late in the evening generated the most controversy out of all the performances from earlier in the evening that had elements some would find sexually offensive. If PTC is going to highlight Lambert's performance constantly in its campaign for tougher sanctions against broadcast indecency, it's certainly got a weak one. If the FCC finds that the indecent elements of the performance were broadcast after 10PM Central Time, then the PTC will suffer some public relations struggles.

In his Early Show interview, Lambert claims to be a victim of a double standard against gay males. This is his side of the story.

I suppose I can understand why (parents are) upset. And, honestly, it didn't cross my mind, children. It was almost 11:00. It was a nighttime show. I was there in the audience full of mostly adults. Sometimes, I forget, 'Oh, there's a camera on.' I come from the theater. And I'm programmed to kind of look at who's in the live audience, and that's kind of where I come from. So, I was looking out in the crowd and saw some of my favorite pop stars and thought, 'I want to let loose.' And it just kind of got the best of me. And I had a great time. Unfortunately, there were people upset, but I think there are also people who really enjoyed it. So, like 'Idol,' I guess I have a tendency to divide people -- apples and oranges -- you either like it or you don't.

He also stated that it's ultimately the parent's responsibility to monitor children's TV viewing:

He also said he's "not a babysitter, I'm a performer" when asked if he wanted to apologize to parents of any kids who might have been watching. "I think it's up to the parents to discern what their child's watching on television," Lambert said at one point. Later he observed, "I think it's up to a parent to watch the television. It was almost 11:00 at night. If they're concerned with certain material maybe Tivo it and preview it before your small child is watching it."

Right. And the show was rated "TV-14", for crying out loud! When will the PTC members ever realize that TV is not a baby-sitter?

And finally, for some humor, get your dirty mind on and ponder PTC president Tim Winter's statement "It is outrageous that children today cannot watch a televised awards program for an industry that is built squarely on their backs." Hmm, given the PTC's obsession with pointing out all the graphic sex acts on TV that'll turn your sons into pimps or serial rapists or your daughters into sluts or welfare queens, why not find the underlying message in Winter's statement? Maybe he's trying to get attention with a dirty metaphor referring to anal sex or rape while at the same time opposing references to these in entertainment?

This year's American Music Awards was the most-watched since 2002, second most-watched program of the week among adults 18-49, and ninth most-watched out of the top 25 programs watched by viewers of all ages.

I murdered my MP3 Player today...

...after it just refused to start up. After formatting it based on a blog suggestion I ended up losing a lot of my favourite music since I use my Sansa E250 MP3 Player as primary backup since I was trying to save disk space on my slowing-down computer. Here's a random list I could pull out of my head tonight--and it'll just keep getting bigger--of albums/songs I need to re-download:
* Freedom Writers soundtrack (it has some great old school hip hop cuts, trust me)
* The Game - Doctor's Advocate
* Nas - Illmatic; It Was Written
* Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero; The Slip
* The Roots - Game Theory; Phrenology; "Distortion 2 Static" (from Do You Want More?!); "Don't Say Nuthin'" (from The Tipping Point);
* Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Some follow-ups from the last time

Band has improved a far shot from the Friday tragedy! Thank you everybody for your cooperation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, regarding the NACAC's report on the SAT that urged colleges to put less emphasis on such tests, that story was also reported on Monday's edition of ABC World News.

Symphonic band on strike?

Today was a pretty good end of the week, with an easy calculus quiz on integration by parts, followed by the usual 15-minute break, where I got to wish my friend Rachel a happy 17th birthday. All went well until the next period, which was Symphonic Band. The ensemble rehearsed two pieces out of four to be played this 11 December for the school band concert and had been playing them since the week of Labor Day. Most of the days since then, the band has been practicing around an average level, with certain mistakes or anamolies making the conductor stop the band and advise on corrections, which turn out to be usually simple. "That's all you gotta do," he'd say.

But today, 19 September, the ensemble sunk to a new low. Guess what kind of errors happened today? Trombone players were nearly a measure behind, trumpets played too slow, drums were off-beat, and soon the whole ensemble "falls asleep" and literally slows down to ritardando when they are not supposed to. All when I, a mallet player, am keeping my eyes between the conductor and my score and waiting for my turn on the music, having done a competent job all along. Those parts of today's rehearsal sounded so disorganized and chaotic that Soulja Boy's annoying, ubitiquous "Crank That" song even sounds more musical than a high school symphonic band!

So the conductor stops the band and furiously wants to know what has happened with them. He felt that the players were on "last day of school" mode rather than September & "excited for school/concert" mode. Wow. We're really supposed to be superior to the average dumb high school students. Given how much bull$#!7 I had to suffer today thanks to the other morons who were supposed to be concentrating together as an ensemble - two people even lost some of their musical sheets - I feel compelled to turn up Weezer's new song "Troublemaker".

Don't worry, my fellow Symphonic Bandmembers. I've been through your kind of trouble before when I joined the ensemble last year to make up for a lack of performing arts class for my college entrance requirement (both the University of California and California State University systems require "at least one year" of Performing/visual arts type of class) I made a lot of effort to learn how to grip mallet sticks properly and follow the conducting. A year has passed, and I've become a welcome member of the family. But now we need to sink so low as to THIS crappy level - which as I mentioned earlier sounds even WORSE than the most annoying pop punk/emo/pop rap/bubblegum MTV corporate radio pop/MMMBop/Britney/NSYNC/Backstreet Boys/Simple Plan/Good Charlotte/Soulja Boy/Fall Out Boy/Limp Bizkit songs out there?!?!?!?! Maybe now it's OK for Michael Savage to trash-talk about Muslims and the mentally disabled. I think I'll just quit life and start smoking all the marijuana and drinking all the beer/alcoholic drinks I want and fail all my classes and eventually end up homeless/single/still a virgin after high school and spend the rest of my life in who knows where. College sounds worthless. Finding a job sounds meaningless. Everyone is an idiot. My local school district is a run by a mob of brainless drunken bastards for failing to fix a dying softball field at one school yet fixing other stuff everywhere else. MY school does things even worse by denying the right of one of my best friends to attend Calculus BC after having passed the Calculus AB exam

Back to the main topic. For this weekend, we all need to rethink this stupid situation and redeem ourselves and prove that we are all TRUE students and authentically-trained musicians and wanting to be among the best students out there. A CHANGE IS GONNA COME. If not, I might probably start ditching band class and later put the blame on whoever is causing me the most problems there, Barack Obama might lose the election simply because we weren't willing to accept change for the better, the world will decompose into a violent anarchy...OK sorry enough with the insane doomsday predictions right there. But seriously. You and I ALL NEED TO F\/|
PS: I thank all members of the Wind Ensemble, the highest level of band at school, for their hard work and making class "fun" for my other friend Jamie, who advised me on the state of that ensemble today after 6th period ended today. I guess that means that the WE was actually being cooperative unlike the Symphonic knuckleheads.

SAT's, The Eagles, and my Secretarial Run

So now I've finished my AP exams, and received my SAT score - my first attempt I got a 1990, particularly due to a poor score on the Critical Reading section and the Writing section Essay. I plan on retaking the SAT in October after revamping my Reading skills over this summer. Other upcoming exams I have include finals for Calculus and Spanish next week, and projects for the AP classes US history and English literature.

Anyway, in other matters, a web feature I read regularly is the "VH1 Rock Clock", a listing of certain events in music history that happened on a certain day over the 20th century. For May 31 (that's tomorrow), in 1975, "The Eagles release their single "One of These Nights."".

After I read that, I went to Windows Media Player and began playing several Eagles songs, beginning with "Nights". I've enjoyed listening to the Eagles since discovering their song "Hotel California" in 2005 (from a commercial for local soft rock station 96.5 KOIT) Their music is a pretty darn good combination of classic rock and country, but at least it ain't as cheesy as most of the garbage you can hear locally on 95.3 or 95.7...sorry I'm not like a 40-year-old white guy living in the Midwest, so I definitely ain't in the country music target audience. My favorite Eagles songs include "Hotel California", "New Kid in Town", "Take it Easy", "Lying Eyes", and "The Long Run". I credit local rock station 104.5/97.7 KFOG for introducing me to "Long Run".

It's amazing how the legacy of the Eagles has carried on over the years. According to William Ruhlmann of All Music Guide: the Eagles albums Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California (both released 1976) "ranked among the ten best-selling albums ever, according to the certifications of the Record Industry Association of America." And in October 2007 their ninth album Long Road Out of Eden was released! I don't recall listening to any songs from that album (maybe I did from 107.7 a while back), but I feel eager in listening to it, as the Eagles don't require as much energy as Metallica do in playing music and thus won't sound like retirement-home people trying to hard to sound "hard". (If any Metallica fans remember that silly 2003 effort of theirs, St. Anger, then you'll know what I mean.)

And finally, I'd like to thank all EVHS students, ESPECIALLY those of the Class of 2009, for supporting me in my run for Class of 2009 secretary. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for praising my great speeches at the Wednesday lunchtime Q&A and Thursday morning announcements. You and me can all agree that I can win or at least gather a lot of votes. If I do win I promise to perform my assigned job with all due respect and good attitude and to respond to as many of the students' requests as I can. Once again, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and wish me good luck in all my future endeavors!

Until next time,

Andrew

When I was gone...

So this is pretty much my first blog I've written since August 2007. New year of 2008 has come, with only 10 more months of the wicked presidency of George W. Bush and the predicted entry of good old Barack Obama, the first semester passing me by with sand and fog, the writer's strike coming and going, the death of Benazir Bhutto, the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in my beloved Beijing, China (I have extended family there), the sequel to Virginia Tech over at Northern Illinois University, the winter storms in China, and loads and loads of other things I could write a lot of blogs a day about that I don't want to include here.

In the past week weird things have come up on my cell. For some odd reasons I've been getting odd calls on my cell phone. I went on google to look 'em up. One of 'em was from a Vietnamese woman living in Milpitas who dialed the wrong number I guess.

But things get worse. I've been getting calls from places like Phoenix, AZ and Newton, MA about "car warranty expiration" when hell, I don't even own a car! Google this. Found a site 800Notes.com that led me to this. Look up suspicious phone numbers there.

The reason why I haven't been able to blog? Due to the fact that I take 3 AP classes...as I've repeatedly mentioned ( I guess in my humble memory) Calculus AB, English Literature, and US History. So far I think I am dong better in them, after a pretty unstable first semester. Lately I've been getting tutoring for Calc AB after struggling with Applications of Differentiation, and since then my grades have improved. I will take the SAT test in May 2007, a couple weeks or so before the AP exams. I have also gotten tutoring in that class, specifically for the writing section and speculatively in the critical reading. I just took a practice SAT today and got 2050. Some genius I am! :) My goal is at least 2200, or if I kick a lot of ass, then as far as 2400 I can go. Well all I can say for myself is to be more careful with the problems and make sure I check every single damn word they say.

I know that the SAT has been criticized a lot due to it's "anti-intellectual" attitude and lack of scope within the brain...that's why some American liberal arts colleges have dropped it in favor of bigger and better things (a.k.a. Your Brain). As far as the Essays go, Massachusetts Instituete of Tech writing diretor Les Perelman has claimed that common "cheating" techniques to get a high scores on the essays like 10 or 12 (the scale is 12) include making your essays uber LONG. Plus, Perelman has a valid point that the writing in the SAT essay pretty much defeats "good" writing you do in AP English classes or wherever that makes you polish it like a shiny new car. But I defend the SAT essay, while I do agree that it ain't as great as, say your AP Lit analyitical essay, at least it tests your ability to make a good argument, through good evidence and structure and proof. I think I'll be able to do well on it, since my tutor recently commented that my writing has greatly improved since the first time we met back in January 2008.

In coming months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, microseconds, and specks of dust, here's a list of topics I will be writing about:
- Politics as I hear from the liberally biased news media...from both the Democratic/Republican sides of course...or at least i HOPE i stay balanced.
- The upcoming agenda from moronic self-appointed "morality" groups like the Parents Television Council and American Family Association to destroy the first amendment in the name of fundamental 1960s family values that many of us can think beyond. You'll be seeing in the coming times how cranky and foolish these hypocrites are, with the EVIDENCE of course (I promise not to spin)
- Of course, my own life, including my dreams, favorite TV, books, movies, friends, school, and the whatnot.

Now excuse me when I go back to watching PBS' presentation of the BBC's adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"...

A sad sign of Corporate America gone wrong

Regarding the "Rock the Bells" hip-hop concert tour with a sold-out San Francisco show this saturday the 18th:
"Sunday - August 19th - Sacramento, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre - Cancelled
Refunds available at original point of purchase.

The Rock the Bells Festival date scheduled for Sunday, August 19 at the Sleep Train Pavilion near Sacramento, CA has unfortunately been cancelled due to slow ticket sales. Fans will be able to receive full refunds at their original point of purchase. The tour will be in the Northern California area on Saturday, August 18 for a sojavascript:void(0)
Publish Postld out show at McCovey’s Cove in San Francisco.

Festival founder Chang Weisberg from promoter Guerilla Union adds, 'I am disappointed that we weren't able to sell enough tickets to bring the full Rock The Bells experience to Sacramento this year. Unfortunately our San Francisco show was too popular. We know that over 4,000 people are coming from the Sacramento area based on our online ticket sales info. We kinda hurt ourselves with our own ambition to play Sacramento this year. We hope to bring Rock The Bells back to this area very soon.'"

:(

Well, I feel sorry for all the fans of good hip-hop residing in the Central Valley who have to drive another 90 minutes just to get to cold San Francisco. The Bay Area is big enough that there's actually "nonconformist" hip-hop fans like me who can look beyond the corporate monsters of Wild 94.9, BET, and MTV to listen to underrated hip-hop MC's who don't get much media exposure. Well, you have exceptions like Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco, but we can't totally rely on big corporate media to give us the new stuff from talented MC's like Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Redman, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, etc. We have to suffer all the terrible derivative mindless pop-rap from G-Unot, Ugly Ricky, DTP, etc on the corporate media. The cancellation of the Rock the Bells show in Sacramento due to poor sales shows just how corporate America with its media consolidation can affect "smaller" markets like Sacramento and silence the voices of new and upcoming artists.

Media consolidation has been a big issue among the Creative Voices of America since the Telecommunications Act of 1996 relaxed rules on media consolidation. Nowadays, we have only a few big media corporations giving us what we hear on radio, responsible for influencing music sales, so let's have a look at how the radio is owned, shall we??
Clear Channel Communications owns these radio stations locally, in the San Francisco Bay Area:
- KSJO-FM "92.3 La Preciosa" (Mexican oldies)
- KYLD-FM "Wild 94.9" (hip-hop)
- KUFX "98.5 KFOX" (classic rock)
- KIOI 101.3 (pop)
- KDON 102.5 (hip-hop)
- KKSF 103.7 (jazz)
- KCNL 104.9 (alternative rock)
- KMEL 106.1 (hip-hop, with a more "open-to-the-underground" playlist than 94.9)
- KNEW-AM 910 (conservative talk)
- KKGN-AM 960 (liberal talk)
Empire broadcasting owns these local stations:
- KRTY 95.3 (country)
- KLIV-AM 1590 (news)
CBS Corporation:
- KITS 105.3 "Live 105" (alternative rock, but their playlist is more open to indie acts than does the over-corporate KCNL)
- KCBS-AM 740 (news)
Cumulus broadcasting:
- KFFG 97.7 (San Jose)/KFOG 104.5 (San Francisco) - adult album alternative
- KSAN-FM "107.7 the Bone" (hard rock)
- KNBR-AM 680/KTCT-AM 1050 (both stations run under "KNBR" banner, sports format)
The Walt Disney Company:
- KSFO-AM "Hot Talk 560" (conservative talk)
- KGO-AM "News Talk 810" (news & talk)
- KMKY-AM 1310 "Radio Disney" (children's)
Bonneville:
- KOIT 96.5 (light pop)
- KDFC 102.1 (classical)
Now, these are perhaps the most well-known stations in the area! The rest of the stations are owned by smaller companies, NPR, or local colleges. (Don't even get me started on "pirate" radio!) Luckily, because San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose is a big, profitable market, while there is room for the "conformist" music fans who get their music & information off the radio, there's also room for the "nonconformist" listeners who get their music off Live 105 or indie outlets or their news off the "alternative press". I fit somewhere between these two categories: While I get not all of my music and news off the radio, I do not consider myself 100% "anti-mainstream". Thus, the only music stations I really listen to are 104.5, 105.3, 106.1, and 107.7, as most bands I feel have true talent do not get much media exposure. (Look at my Last.fm and you'll see. Luckily, the programmers at local college radio stations 90.1 (KZSU, Stanford), 90.5 (KSJS, San Jose State), and 103.3 (KSCU, Santa Clara U.), are brave enough to play "indie" rap and rock that seldom get played on my fave corporate stations.

This story is easy enough to be viable in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Unfortunately, in the smaller Sacramento market, even a higher percentage of well-known radio stations are corporatized! Now, here's the logic: smaller market + larger corporate media ownership = less room for "unknown" talent to be heard. According to Wikipedia's list of Sacramento-area stations, Entercom, Clear Channel, CBS, Entravision, etc. have stakes on numerous FM stations, leaving less room for "indie" radio like KDEE 97.7 or KXJZ or whatever. I've been to Sacramento before, in 2005 when I was still a "corporate-possessed music junkie", to attend a clasical music concert, and the radio stations there are oh so corporate now that I know the dangers of media consolidation! So the conclusion?

Big media caused Rock the Bells, a concert tour with mostly unknown hip-hop acts, to be cancelled in Sacramento.

This is just one of the consequences of big media. Tomorrow or soon, I shall explore the dangers of media consolidation on TV.-

ozzfest 2007 in mountain view is SOLD OUT

damn.

A busy Saturday out of town, Live Earth, concert tix

Friday, July 6
Woke up at 9AM to go to school to pick up my American History textbook. Why it wasn't available before the last day was beyond me. Then I went home, took a little siesta, played piano, and did math homework. In the evening, I tried getting Ozzfest tickets, but the Live Nation site still doesn't have 'em available, and now they're still not available! Grr! And now Rock the Bells tix to San Francisco are all sold out! So I'm out of luck going to the best concerts I was anticipating this summer.

Saturday, July 7 - the lucky "777" day
In the morning, I returned some library books and Went to a bar mitzvah of a family friend over in Fremont, then had lunch there. Then I went boating and walking at Central Park in Fremont. Went to FYE at Fremont's Newpark Mall and sampled hip-hop and metal music while my parents wandered around the mall. Then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and got home to watch Live Earth on NBC.

NBC included the Black Eyed Peas' performance of "Where is the Love" in their coverage. The original version featured (cough urrgh) JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE...but the Live Earth performance had female BEP member Fergie (known for such boring songs like "London Bridge", "Fergalicious", "Glamorous", and "Big Girls Don't Cry") singing the hook. Well, I'd like to move on, but first a warning. IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! If you want to read the rest, skip the rest of this bolded text. I REPEAT, IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! And for a third time, IF YOU ARE A JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FAN, MOST PARTS OF THE REST OF THIS POST MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EYES. PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE MOVING ON. STARTING RIGHT NOW, THIS AIN'T JT-FRIENDLY TERRITORY!!!!!! OK...here we go now...

You see, Justin Timberlake is a very greedy, rich white man. From 1998 to 2002 he sold millions and millions of records and attracted millions of screaming teenage girls when he performed with the fake, bubblegum pop boy band N'Sync (seriously, how the heck do they spell their name?) Then after the band broke up, he got attention for his affairs with Britney Spears and a solo album in 2003, "Unjustified". In early 2004, as you might recall, you might've known that JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE was the man who during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show tore off part of co-performer Janet Jackson's wardrobe to expose her right breast for 2 seconds. That led to a national debate over decency, so the FCC fined Super Bowl broadcaster CBS over half a million $$$, began the era of "Not-so-quite-live" TV (in plain English, all live broadcast TV shows must have a 5-15 second delay to prevent the broadcast of any obscenities), and led "moral panic" to lead the conservative Christian voters of America to vote for the worst excuse for an American president, GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Conclusion? Justin Timberlake supports President Bush!! What a cockface!

Then, you might've known that Timberlake is a bestselling singer despite the fact that his only "talent" is singing with an annoyingly high voice that rips off other TOLERABLE "high-pitched" singers like Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden), Ronnie James Dio (1980s-era Black Sabbath, Dio), Prince, Michael Jackson (yes I can stand MJ despite the "child molesting" thing), Axl Rose (Guns n' Roses), you name it. In 2006, his music polluted the national music scene once against with "SexyBack", "My Love", etc. on his NEW Cd, "Future Sex and Love Sounds". The album was a #1 album with several #1 hits, while after the Super Bowl thing Janet Jackson was treated like the SUSPECT (although it was really Justin's fault) so Jackson's sales faultered, despite the fact she's actually tolerable. So, while misogynistic, greedy ol' Timberlake gets nonstop radio and MTV airplay, you actually have to go BUY Janet Jackson's new CD's (post-"Damita Jo") just to even HEAR them...new Janet Jackson gets as much airplay on terrestrial radio as Howard Stern. (And do you know where "The Howard Stern Show" is broadcast now? XM Sattelite Radio!) So what's our lesson here? Misogyny (defamation of women) is acceptable! In fact, on "Entertainment Tonight" the day after the Super Bowl halftime show or so, JT said that the exposure was "fun". FUN? Excuse me? When mainstream music is filled with rappers overuseing the words "b-tch" and "h-" and girls are having unprotected sex? So Justin Timberlake is teaching America that is it totally acceptable to disrespect women.

And how many times have you heard Justin Timberlake participating in any humanitarian work or efforts to reform the world? None, compared to actions by Michael Jackson, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Sum 41, Jay-Z, and even gangsta rappers like David Banner and T.I.! But what was JT doing all that time? Well, Justin Timberlake was wallowing in all his riches he got from NSync and "Unjustified" and "Future Sex and Love Sounds", while jerking off to his archived video of his performance at the Super Bowl 2004 halftime show with Janet Jackson's exposed breast. So, with little justification, I go to a school where intelligent teenage girls who claim to be "moral" supporting a man who supports an incompetent president, misogyny, and materialism, just because he's "cute". Wow. Well this is all the truth about why I loathe JT and wish he should be shot. Why didn't the UK car bombers target the Justin Timberlake concerts that were taking place in the UK this week? Geez, what dumbasses. If you're a JT fan who read all this, be shocked and prepared to destroy all your NSYNC/JT garbage.

And finally for my fellow anti-JT people, here's some fuel for your laughs:

- MTV, Video Music Awards, 2003: this year's host Chris Rock, known for his profane comedic routine that included monologues like "N__gas vs. Black People", mentioned Timberlake in his intro monologue:


- CBS, The Late Show with David Letterman, 2/8/2007 - Christina Aguilera was reading the Top Ten list tonight. Watch for item #6 for Timberlake. Also, #7 is pretty funny, but it's not JT-related. Watch on Real Player
- CBS, The Late Show with David Letterman, 2/9/2007: Another top ten list. Watch for #2 for your anti-JT joke. Watch on RealPlayer

Math analysis and other stuff

So far I've been takin' the Precalculus and Trigonometry math courses at Evergreen Valley College four days a week, four hours a day. So far I'm getting A's in both classes, haveing gotten A's in all exams taken in those clases so far. In those classes, I get to see my friends from evhs Tom, Jamie, and Jagbir. I also got to see some girls I knew from Chaboya back in 8th grade, they went to Silver Creek or otherplaces. In my Precalculus class, Kunal drops in to socialize, even though he doesn't take class at that time. Wow.

Also, I've seen a few of the Japanese acts from Live Earth, courtesy streaming coverage from CFTO 9 (CTV affiliate of Toronto, Canada and MSN. On CTV, I got to see only part of the set by Japanese metal band Rize before they switched to the Sydney, Australia concert with all these light pop bands I could care less for. Thus, I switched to MSN, where I heard Ayaka and Ai Otsuka. I enjoyed them.

However, tommorrow I've got to go to a friend's bar mitzvah, so I'll be asleep the rest of the Asian concerts (That includes Tokyo, Shanghai, and Kyoto). Also, I'll miss the Hamburg concert, where Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden) and Snoop Dogg will perform, and since I'll be gone tomorrow from 10 A.M. to the afternoon I suppose, I'll have to watch tape-delayed coverage on NBC from 8P.M. to 11P.M. that day.

Also, this morning, I picked up my AP United States History textbook. That reminds me: Start notes on the first 5 chapters. Given that I took AP World History last school year, those notes shouldn't be too much trouble, compared to the AP English Lit and Calculus homework. Ooh...

Live Earth

On Saturday, July 7, a series of concerts is to be held around the world called Live Earth to raise awareness of global warming, continuing the trend of mass media awareness of global warming spurred by the Al Gore documentary film from 2006, "An Inconvenient Truth". It will be held in pretty much every continent except Antarctica. The event will be held for 24 hours from a single time-zone point of view, given that the globe has 24 time zones. I went to liveearth.msn.com to find out who'd be playing each country. Thank goodness there's no Justin Timberlake! Ha, that must mean Justin Timberlake enjoys polluting teenage girls' minds AND the enviornment with his polluting lyrics and concerts! :p

As far as watching the event goes, the only way I personally can watch it is through condensed coverage on NBC on the evening of July 7 because I don't have cable TV. Zap2It.com reports for NBC's coverage: "Scheduled performances include Madonna, the Police, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Melissa Etheridge, Faith Hill, Fall Out Boy, Enrique Iglesias and the Red Hot Chili Peppers." Hmm, I'd tune in to watch RHCP and Clarkson. If I'm lucky, NBC might televise other American acts playing LE like Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, the Police, AFI, Roger Waters (formerly of the Who), Kanye West, and Alicia Keys. If not, then I'm sure some local radio stations will carry the event live with these artists.

And then I hope that NBC might carry some performances from outside the U.S., as some of my fave artists are playing internationally. For example, in Germany, the two American acts there will be Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden) and rapper Snoop Dogg. Other American acts will perform in the UK: Beastie Boys, Black Eyed Peas, Foo Fighters, John Legend, and...let's hope they can still play well after that horrible "St. Anger" CD from 2003...METALLICA!!! RHCP and Madonna are playing the UK, so I see that NBC will televise a few international performances.

However, since I'm Chinese and enjoy Asian cultures very much, I've taken to finding streaming TV and radio stations from outside the USA that'll carry the Chinese and Japanese legs of the Live Earth event. I've seen the 12 Girls Band, who'll play Live Earth from Shanghai, on PBS before, and look forward to finding out more about them. Given that I've been a fan of Asian music since 2004, I will keep trying to find out if there's any streaming Asian TV channels that can carry Live Earth online. Or at least if not TV, then streaming radio. And then, there's Youtube, and possibly I can find LE on DVD/CD later on.

Finally, I've looked over the Australian and South African performance lists for Live Earth, and I've decided not to waste my time watching live performances from a jumbo of international musicians I've never heard of. I have more important things to get to like my summer homework and stuff like that.

And finally, Justin Timberlake doesn't care about the environment, just as Kanye West asserted after Hurricane Katrina that "George [W.] Bush doesn't care about black people".

Summer so far

So far, summer has been relaxing, but the relaxation will slowly wear away as I proceed to do the following activities this summer, among others:
1. From now until 7/27 I take summer math classes at Evergreen Valley College- Precalculus and Trigonometry - to advance to AP Calculus AB in my junior year. Passing those courses means another AP exam to study for in junior year.
2. For AP English Literature class, I will have to do analyses on selections from the Chrisitian Holy Bible and Aristotle's Poetics, as well as the novels Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and East of Eden by John Steinbeck. This will take up the majority of my summer work. All those works look pretty darn hard to me.
3. On Monday, July 2, I will go to the school bookroom to pick up my AP United States History textbook. I don't see why we didn't get to pick it up before the last day of school. That will be also the day I'll start U.S. History notings.
4. Other things to do in summer include piano, basketball, fitness, voluntterring, SAT, college research, and other stuff to enhance my college transcript.

The last week of school was a blast. I got a lot of signatures in my yearbook, especially from the class of 2007, Ruby, and Tina. Also, I had photos taken with Ruby and Tina! Now, lately I've been asking around for those photos, and I'm not gonna be so cynical as to think they've been destroyed. Oh well, there's always next year & the dances & junior prom. But schoolwork & my brain come first.

In addition, I'm enjoying summer math classes so far, but I predict they'll get harder every day. But I had gotten A's in both semester of Algebra II last year, so I predict I will not "bomb" the class, but I'll at least get grades acceptable enough to advance to APCAB in September if I study hard enough and pay attention. So far, I've been paying attention and taking notes everyday. My clases take place Monday-Thursday, with the Trigonometry course from 8:15-10:15AM and Precalculus 10:25AM-12:25PM - those two classes combined equal one year of Math Analysis @ EVHS, so I advance to AP Calculus AB passing those two classes.

I've almost finished my weekend math assignments. In the meantime, today, I had piano lessons, then came home for math, the computer, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, West Side Story, Mobb Deep, and Depeche Mode.

Tomorrow: Finish math assignments, study math, practice piano, watch Steamboy, analyse the Bible for AP English, and more.