Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Black Ice spotted at Wal-Marts across America!
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Rock it out!
Sami
Monday, October 20, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Chinese Democracy is coming out...do you care?
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Rock it out!
Sami
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Beastie Boys are telling you to vote!
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Rock it Out!
Sami
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Presidential playlists and how they affect us
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Rock it out!
Sami
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
There's a Flea at USC!
Oh my God! Someone needs to hit me over the head with a shovel. Rockers I'm so sorry I didn't post yesterday! I was running around all day sending out demo reels to agents and I had to replace my two front tires on my car while continuing to work on other projects and it was all just crazy! However no excuses should be made. I didn't post therefore I'm a bad boy. After posting this blog I'm gonna go sit in the corner and think about what I did while wearing a dunce cap.
Anyways let's catch up on some segments shall we? Being that it's Tuesday it's time for "Bands you should get to know" and this week I'm going with Michael Franti & Spearhead. I talked about these guys back in August when I saw them at the All Points West festival. I recently picked up their album All Rebel Rockers and it is a badass listen. Currently my favorite track is "A Liddle bit of Riddim" but the whole album is a great listen. Mixing rock with reggae and some pretty powerful lyrics, the band is a great listen anytime of the day. So do yourself a favor and click right here after reading this blog and check out some of their stuff. You'll be glad you heard it.
I'll be damned if the rock terrorists aren't back at it again! And they won't stop regardless how awesome the rock star may be. Dave Grohl himself was attacked recently at a show but luckily security got to the terrorist before anything could really happen. The cool part was that Dave was chill about the whole situation. Be careful out there, rock nation, because you never know who might go crazy on your ass.
I thought this was pretty cool. Flea is going back to school. For those of you that attend USC be prepared to possibly catch sightings of the RHCP bassist. He's back so that he can study, of all things, music. He's looking to add to his knowledge by studying the "mathematics of composition". Basically he wants to be a better musician so that his records will continue to progress hence becoming much better therefore allowing us to claim the Chili Peppers as one of the best bands ever. See what happens when you pay attention in class?
Finally it's time for your "Rock query of the (mon)day" Tuesday edition! If there was one band you were allowed to play from now until the day you die, what band would it be? Whose music would you commit your auditory senses to? Which albums would forever be the pride and joy of your record collection because they officially became the only albums in your record collection? Would love to know from you guys.
That being said, punks, I am out to grab me some food and figure out what's the next step in my life. Pretty lofty task for a Tuesday, right?
Rock it out!
Sami
Anyways let's catch up on some segments shall we? Being that it's Tuesday it's time for "Bands you should get to know" and this week I'm going with Michael Franti & Spearhead. I talked about these guys back in August when I saw them at the All Points West festival. I recently picked up their album All Rebel Rockers and it is a badass listen. Currently my favorite track is "A Liddle bit of Riddim" but the whole album is a great listen. Mixing rock with reggae and some pretty powerful lyrics, the band is a great listen anytime of the day. So do yourself a favor and click right here after reading this blog and check out some of their stuff. You'll be glad you heard it.
I'll be damned if the rock terrorists aren't back at it again! And they won't stop regardless how awesome the rock star may be. Dave Grohl himself was attacked recently at a show but luckily security got to the terrorist before anything could really happen. The cool part was that Dave was chill about the whole situation. Be careful out there, rock nation, because you never know who might go crazy on your ass.
I thought this was pretty cool. Flea is going back to school. For those of you that attend USC be prepared to possibly catch sightings of the RHCP bassist. He's back so that he can study, of all things, music. He's looking to add to his knowledge by studying the "mathematics of composition". Basically he wants to be a better musician so that his records will continue to progress hence becoming much better therefore allowing us to claim the Chili Peppers as one of the best bands ever. See what happens when you pay attention in class?
Finally it's time for your "Rock query of the (mon)day" Tuesday edition! If there was one band you were allowed to play from now until the day you die, what band would it be? Whose music would you commit your auditory senses to? Which albums would forever be the pride and joy of your record collection because they officially became the only albums in your record collection? Would love to know from you guys.
That being said, punks, I am out to grab me some food and figure out what's the next step in my life. Pretty lofty task for a Tuesday, right?
Rock it out!
Sami
Friday, September 26, 2008
Weezer Recap...and other stuff
Hey punks! Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. Was quite busy. Had to get into NYC early yesterday for work and literally didn't have the time to sit and write which pissed me off because I hate missing days.
So let's catch up on what I missed.
This is for a comment that Lug D left on the last blog. You're right bro. Been so scatterbrained this week that I forgot "Shut Up, Sit Down and Watch This" on Wednesday's post. So I'll give it to you now. You will sit down, shut up and watch Dexter. Holy shit is this show good! For those that don't know the premise, it's about a serial killer that kills...other killers all while working for the Miami Police Dept. Amazing show that you should have been watching from the beginning. So sit your ass down and watch it on Showtime.
Secondly...it's getting cold man! Like last night I left the bar at 3 am after I finished DJ'ing and it was cold, windy and rainy and I had no jacket or umbrella. WTF?! I hate when seasons transition faster than normal. I know we're only a week away from October but come on! What happened to Indian Summer?
Thirdly. Weezer at MSG Wednesday night was awesome! What amazed me though was that the show wasn't sold out. I mean there were a shitload of people there but as I looked around the arena I noticed some seats still open. Looks like you could have gotten tickets to the show that night if you really wanted to. Anyways they opened the show with "My name is Jonas" which got the crowd fired up right away. After playing perfect situation (three songs in) the band members stripped down from their white jumpsuits into red jumpsuits with the word Weezer on the back. They looked like the Weezer Beerfest team.
They then played "Say it Ain't So" which again re-energized the crowd. They invited Tom from Angels and Airwaves onstage to sing with Rivers on the song "Undone" which I guess was cool. Never been a Tom DeLonge fan but whatever. The rest of the set was basically a greatest hits compilation with new cuts from The Red Album thrown in. You can actually check out pics and the whole set list over here. The coolest part of the night had to be the encores.
For the first encore, Weezer filled the stage with tons of people each with their own instrument. Everything from trumpets to flutes to tambourines to sitars were on the stage as Weezer held one of their "hootenanny's" during a live show. They played two songs with the group. "Island in the Sun" that had a saxophone solo which was awesome and then "Beverly Hills" which had trombones playing the guitar solo and then an improvised trumpet solo followed by some cowbell! After playing with the group of people, everyone left the stage and a record player was left playing the song "Heart Songs" off the new album. Rivers then came onstage and kicked it and the band played Nirvana's "Sliver". And that's when the mosh pits and crowd surfing started. Incredible! They also played another cover earlier in the set of Oasis' "Morning Glory" which was actually pretty good. They ended the night with "Buddy Holly".
All in all I was not disappointed. It was a concert I had a lot of fun at and I have to thank my friend Danielle for hookin me up with a ticket.
Alright then Rock Nation I'm all done for this week. Sorry for missing a day. I will try to make sure it never happens again. Stay warm this weekend...unless you're in a warm state...then I hate you.
Rock it out!
Sami
So let's catch up on what I missed.
This is for a comment that Lug D left on the last blog. You're right bro. Been so scatterbrained this week that I forgot "Shut Up, Sit Down and Watch This" on Wednesday's post. So I'll give it to you now. You will sit down, shut up and watch Dexter. Holy shit is this show good! For those that don't know the premise, it's about a serial killer that kills...other killers all while working for the Miami Police Dept. Amazing show that you should have been watching from the beginning. So sit your ass down and watch it on Showtime.
Secondly...it's getting cold man! Like last night I left the bar at 3 am after I finished DJ'ing and it was cold, windy and rainy and I had no jacket or umbrella. WTF?! I hate when seasons transition faster than normal. I know we're only a week away from October but come on! What happened to Indian Summer?
Thirdly. Weezer at MSG Wednesday night was awesome! What amazed me though was that the show wasn't sold out. I mean there were a shitload of people there but as I looked around the arena I noticed some seats still open. Looks like you could have gotten tickets to the show that night if you really wanted to. Anyways they opened the show with "My name is Jonas" which got the crowd fired up right away. After playing perfect situation (three songs in) the band members stripped down from their white jumpsuits into red jumpsuits with the word Weezer on the back. They looked like the Weezer Beerfest team.
They then played "Say it Ain't So" which again re-energized the crowd. They invited Tom from Angels and Airwaves onstage to sing with Rivers on the song "Undone" which I guess was cool. Never been a Tom DeLonge fan but whatever. The rest of the set was basically a greatest hits compilation with new cuts from The Red Album thrown in. You can actually check out pics and the whole set list over here. The coolest part of the night had to be the encores.
For the first encore, Weezer filled the stage with tons of people each with their own instrument. Everything from trumpets to flutes to tambourines to sitars were on the stage as Weezer held one of their "hootenanny's" during a live show. They played two songs with the group. "Island in the Sun" that had a saxophone solo which was awesome and then "Beverly Hills" which had trombones playing the guitar solo and then an improvised trumpet solo followed by some cowbell! After playing with the group of people, everyone left the stage and a record player was left playing the song "Heart Songs" off the new album. Rivers then came onstage and kicked it and the band played Nirvana's "Sliver". And that's when the mosh pits and crowd surfing started. Incredible! They also played another cover earlier in the set of Oasis' "Morning Glory" which was actually pretty good. They ended the night with "Buddy Holly".
All in all I was not disappointed. It was a concert I had a lot of fun at and I have to thank my friend Danielle for hookin me up with a ticket.
Alright then Rock Nation I'm all done for this week. Sorry for missing a day. I will try to make sure it never happens again. Stay warm this weekend...unless you're in a warm state...then I hate you.
Rock it out!
Sami
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
My wish list of bands
Hey Rockers! Big day for me today because i'm goin to check out Weezer tonight at Madison Square Garden. I'm stoked considering i've never seen them before so it should be good time fun days for all.
Also if you guys want to check this out, I just became a contributing writer for a website called Smells Like Music. They published my first story yesterday about Jonathan Davis's cover of Lil' Wayne's "Got Money". Feel free to check out the site and tell your friends about it.
Today's blog I think is gonna be about bands I wish I got to see or would like to see in honor of popping my Weezer cherry today. Now obviously the list could go on and on and on if I really wanted it to so what I'll do instead is give you the top five bands I would like to see that are still touring. Here we go.
1) Rage Against the Machine - There's no need for me to describe who this band is considering everyone should know the type of show they put on. This is a band that I have been a fan of for years but never got the chance to see live. And for a while I thought I would never get the chance since they split. Now that they're back together though, this is a band I will def be trying my hardest to check out.
2) Foo Fighters - When I tell people I haven't seen these guys, a lot of people give me that weird "why do you look so ill" look. Believe it or not these guys are a hard ticket to get a hold of unless you're going to a huge music festival. Their arena gigs sell out ridiculously fast and unless you're someone in the music industry or faster than the PC processors that run Ticketmaster's website it's next to impossible to grab tix. A must see on my list.
3) Nine Inch Nails - Again very hard show to get tix to. And for good reason. An amazing band with quite the iconic front man that is Trent Reznor. These guys and the Foos actually played in NJ recently and I didn't take advantage of the fact that they were playing 25 mins from my home. A mistake I don't plan on making again.
4) Pearl Jam - My younger brother got the chance to catch these guys at Bonnaroo this year and he raved about the show for days which got me pissed because I wanted to go see them. This is just one of those bands that you go to see and it's almost like going to a Rock Church with a very loud sermon. You're hearing some of the best rock music that almost makes it feel like a religious experience.
5) Rolling Stones - Hey they're still touring and still crankin out the hits. Not to mention they became even more popular this year with the release of their live concert DVD Shine A Light. Plus...they're the fucking Rolling Stones! Enough said!
Now i'm interested in what you have to say. Who are the bands that you have never seen but would absolutely love to? Who would you lose your mind for? Who would you sell an organ for to be willing to get a seat inside that venue? I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say punks so don't hesitate to let me know.
Anyways i'm gonna get ready to make my way into the NYC so I will make sure to hit you guys back tomorrow with a review of the show and some pics.
Rock it out!
Sami
Also if you guys want to check this out, I just became a contributing writer for a website called Smells Like Music. They published my first story yesterday about Jonathan Davis's cover of Lil' Wayne's "Got Money". Feel free to check out the site and tell your friends about it.
Today's blog I think is gonna be about bands I wish I got to see or would like to see in honor of popping my Weezer cherry today. Now obviously the list could go on and on and on if I really wanted it to so what I'll do instead is give you the top five bands I would like to see that are still touring. Here we go.
1) Rage Against the Machine - There's no need for me to describe who this band is considering everyone should know the type of show they put on. This is a band that I have been a fan of for years but never got the chance to see live. And for a while I thought I would never get the chance since they split. Now that they're back together though, this is a band I will def be trying my hardest to check out.
2) Foo Fighters - When I tell people I haven't seen these guys, a lot of people give me that weird "why do you look so ill" look. Believe it or not these guys are a hard ticket to get a hold of unless you're going to a huge music festival. Their arena gigs sell out ridiculously fast and unless you're someone in the music industry or faster than the PC processors that run Ticketmaster's website it's next to impossible to grab tix. A must see on my list.
3) Nine Inch Nails - Again very hard show to get tix to. And for good reason. An amazing band with quite the iconic front man that is Trent Reznor. These guys and the Foos actually played in NJ recently and I didn't take advantage of the fact that they were playing 25 mins from my home. A mistake I don't plan on making again.
4) Pearl Jam - My younger brother got the chance to catch these guys at Bonnaroo this year and he raved about the show for days which got me pissed because I wanted to go see them. This is just one of those bands that you go to see and it's almost like going to a Rock Church with a very loud sermon. You're hearing some of the best rock music that almost makes it feel like a religious experience.
5) Rolling Stones - Hey they're still touring and still crankin out the hits. Not to mention they became even more popular this year with the release of their live concert DVD Shine A Light. Plus...they're the fucking Rolling Stones! Enough said!
Now i'm interested in what you have to say. Who are the bands that you have never seen but would absolutely love to? Who would you lose your mind for? Who would you sell an organ for to be willing to get a seat inside that venue? I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say punks so don't hesitate to let me know.
Anyways i'm gonna get ready to make my way into the NYC so I will make sure to hit you guys back tomorrow with a review of the show and some pics.
Rock it out!
Sami
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Just a lil bit of Girl Talk
So Rock nation we finally figured out who replaced me on No. 1 Countdown Rock. It's Juliya formerly of Uranium fame. I can't blame them. She's definitely got the cred and the better looks so all the best to her. Actually go to her myspace page and wish her all the best. I would appreciate it.
Alright then punks onto my segment called "Bands you need to get to know". And actually today's band is one man. His name is Gregg Gillis but his stage name is Girl Talk. His instrument? A laptop. His music? The most badass mash-ups you'll ever hear in yo life!
I downloaded his album over a month ago but I never got around to listening to it until very recently. Man am I glad I put this album on the iPod. When I tell you guys that this album blew my mind I literally mean I'm still cleaning brain fragments from the floor of my car. His album seamlessly combines amazing samples of rock and dance music while laying hip-hop lyrics over them. It's a 50 minute dance party that you don't want to end anytime soon. He hits you with everything from Radiohead samples underneath Jay-Z lyrics to Kool and The Gang and Earth, Wind and Fire.
You can actually download his entire album right over here. It's a pay what you want album. You're allowed to pay nothing but there are special deals if you pay certain dollar amounts so choose wisely R.N.
Actually I would be very interested in hearing some mashups of yours. I tell ya what. I'll make a mashup track and post it for you guys later this week and then next week i'll hopefully get the chance to hear all of your mashups as well. Maybe I'll hold a lil contest and give a prize away to the winner. Get to workin on them mashups!
Speakin of mash-ups, Jonathan Davis has recorded a cover of Lil Wayne's "Got Money" for his new solo album with Jim Root of Slipknot. Wanna know what it sounds like? Hmmmm? Do you? Alright then go over here and give that bitch a listen. Then proceed to send me hateful comments for making you listen to that song. OK i'm always down for rap/rock collaborations. Sometimes they make for the best songs. And sometimes those punk covers of rap songs work well because the band gets clever about it. But this song? Oh sweet lord why? Why would you allow this music to be made?! I just....(sigh)...I have nothing else to say. Just hear for yourself.
On a better note, Mudvayne uploaded three new songs onto their myspace page. Be sure to listen to those to get the Jonathan Davis sound out of your ears.
Alright then freaks I'm outta here to go work on that mashup. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow!
Rock it out!
Sami
Alright then punks onto my segment called "Bands you need to get to know". And actually today's band is one man. His name is Gregg Gillis but his stage name is Girl Talk. His instrument? A laptop. His music? The most badass mash-ups you'll ever hear in yo life!
I downloaded his album over a month ago but I never got around to listening to it until very recently. Man am I glad I put this album on the iPod. When I tell you guys that this album blew my mind I literally mean I'm still cleaning brain fragments from the floor of my car. His album seamlessly combines amazing samples of rock and dance music while laying hip-hop lyrics over them. It's a 50 minute dance party that you don't want to end anytime soon. He hits you with everything from Radiohead samples underneath Jay-Z lyrics to Kool and The Gang and Earth, Wind and Fire.
You can actually download his entire album right over here. It's a pay what you want album. You're allowed to pay nothing but there are special deals if you pay certain dollar amounts so choose wisely R.N.
Actually I would be very interested in hearing some mashups of yours. I tell ya what. I'll make a mashup track and post it for you guys later this week and then next week i'll hopefully get the chance to hear all of your mashups as well. Maybe I'll hold a lil contest and give a prize away to the winner. Get to workin on them mashups!
Speakin of mash-ups, Jonathan Davis has recorded a cover of Lil Wayne's "Got Money" for his new solo album with Jim Root of Slipknot. Wanna know what it sounds like? Hmmmm? Do you? Alright then go over here and give that bitch a listen. Then proceed to send me hateful comments for making you listen to that song. OK i'm always down for rap/rock collaborations. Sometimes they make for the best songs. And sometimes those punk covers of rap songs work well because the band gets clever about it. But this song? Oh sweet lord why? Why would you allow this music to be made?! I just....(sigh)...I have nothing else to say. Just hear for yourself.
On a better note, Mudvayne uploaded three new songs onto their myspace page. Be sure to listen to those to get the Jonathan Davis sound out of your ears.
Alright then freaks I'm outta here to go work on that mashup. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow!
Rock it out!
Sami
Monday, September 22, 2008
Plane crashes suck
Even before we start today, rock nation, I would like to thank the Chicago Cubs for kicking some serious ass this year...because the Bears aren't doing it at all! They should be 3-0 right now but due to the fact that the team can't close out a game without allowing double digit comebacks they're sitting pretty in last place at 1-2. I'll always love em til I die but dammit they gotta wake up cause they're starting to aggrevate me a bit.
Anyways what's goin on everybody? I'm a lil excited today being that No. 1 Countdown Rock on Fuse debuts with a new host today. I'm anxious to see who they replaced me with and I hope she does a kickass job.
In other news, which is pretty big news btw, DJ AM and Travis Barker were in a plane crash and were the only ones who survived. They were flying in a lear jet back from a performance with four other people on the plane when it crashed. The crazy part is that the other four people all died while Travis and AM (aka Adam Goldberg) managed to climb out of the plane before being taken to a hospital. They're listed in critical but stable condition. I wish them the best and my prayers are with their families and the families of those who lost their lives. Having seen DJ AM spin a few times it would have been horrible to see a talent like that die so young and I hope that he and Travis end up being okay.
Who should go to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame? The nominees were announced and the big names for this year are Run-DMC, Metallica and The Stooges. Man this is a toss up. All of these names are huge and all deserve their place in the H.O.F. I'm sure if some of them don't make it this year then their time will come very soon. My money is on either The Stooges or Run-DMC being that Metallica is only in its second year of eligibility to enter the H.O.F. and they look like they've still got plenty of stuff they wanna do so they'll probably make it later on down the line.
So record collections and CD collections may finally be a thing of the past being that a few music companies and majore retailers are pushing for music to be released via memory cards. It's called slotMusic and basically the memory cards will alow you to upload the albums onto mp3 players and cell phones and evern your computer via a USB input. The cards will hold about 1GB of information meaning an album plus the cover art and liner notes as well. The price, however, will remain the same as if you were buying a CD. It's a brave new world we're entering, punks.
Alright guys that's what I got for you today. I'll hit you back tomorrow though. And make sure to watch No. 1 Countdown Rock! It should be good.
Rock it out!
Sami
Anyways what's goin on everybody? I'm a lil excited today being that No. 1 Countdown Rock on Fuse debuts with a new host today. I'm anxious to see who they replaced me with and I hope she does a kickass job.
In other news, which is pretty big news btw, DJ AM and Travis Barker were in a plane crash and were the only ones who survived. They were flying in a lear jet back from a performance with four other people on the plane when it crashed. The crazy part is that the other four people all died while Travis and AM (aka Adam Goldberg) managed to climb out of the plane before being taken to a hospital. They're listed in critical but stable condition. I wish them the best and my prayers are with their families and the families of those who lost their lives. Having seen DJ AM spin a few times it would have been horrible to see a talent like that die so young and I hope that he and Travis end up being okay.
Who should go to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame? The nominees were announced and the big names for this year are Run-DMC, Metallica and The Stooges. Man this is a toss up. All of these names are huge and all deserve their place in the H.O.F. I'm sure if some of them don't make it this year then their time will come very soon. My money is on either The Stooges or Run-DMC being that Metallica is only in its second year of eligibility to enter the H.O.F. and they look like they've still got plenty of stuff they wanna do so they'll probably make it later on down the line.
So record collections and CD collections may finally be a thing of the past being that a few music companies and majore retailers are pushing for music to be released via memory cards. It's called slotMusic and basically the memory cards will alow you to upload the albums onto mp3 players and cell phones and evern your computer via a USB input. The cards will hold about 1GB of information meaning an album plus the cover art and liner notes as well. The price, however, will remain the same as if you were buying a CD. It's a brave new world we're entering, punks.
Alright guys that's what I got for you today. I'll hit you back tomorrow though. And make sure to watch No. 1 Countdown Rock! It should be good.
Rock it out!
Sami
Friday, September 19, 2008
A Rock Conspiracy Theory?
Attention everyone! I have a very important message to relay to all of you. It concerns a certain former TV host and his well being.
Last night...I got me some booty. And man did I need it.
OK now that we done got that out of the way time to go back to the usual stuff. Here we go.
Hey rock nation! It's friday which means your weekend has hopefully already started and it's off to a good start. SO check this out...could there be a foul plot afoot? And don't smell your feet to see if it's you because that's just gross. Alot of fans are complaining about the sound quality of Death Magnetic. Plus they're also saying that the album sounds better on Guitar Hero as opposed to the actual album!
Now here's where my conspiracy theory comes in. I have a feeling that Metallica boosted the levels on the album on purpose so people could go out and buy GH and download the better album there. Why? Well obviously Metallica gets a cut from every GH game sold being their whole album is on the game...and the game is definitely going to sell more copies than their album so why not put the better version on the game instead? Has Metallica gone video game corporate? Could this be a shady rock deal that has been brewing for the past few months? I mean even the engineer who mastered the album said on a message board that the sound quality was shite. Could this be a true conspiracy in the making? I'm not one for theories but when an album comes out and sounds like shit but another version that you can only download after buying a game sounds better...somethin don't sound right to me. Maybe i'm just being a paranoid android.
BTW if you want to read an interesting article on sound compression in albums and how they've gotten worse over the years click this link and learn somethin.
We got us some cool downloads for you now. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder has written a song for his (and my) beloved Chicago Cubs. You can get the song right over on their website. It only costs you .99 cents and you get the chance to jump on the bandwagon and be a Cubs fan as well. This is our year baby! 100 years in the making but it's our time now!
Also be on the lookout for some brand new Hendrix material. That's right. Jimi Hendrix himself. You thought you had all his stuff didn't ya? Turns out there are some unheard songs, a feature film and even a cartoon of Hendrix drawn by Jimi himself. See how excited you're starting to get as you read this paragraph? It's ok...im excited and i'm the one who typed it.
Ben Folds Five reunited recently and played The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in its entirety at a show in Chapel Hill, NC. This is a band that I unfortunately never fully got into. I mean obviously everyone knows the song "Brick" but I honestly never gave them a real listen. Perhaps I should go ahead and do that so I can have more music to appreciate. Now I feel like I'm behind.
BTW punks sorry this week's blogs didn't have any of the normal segments as per usual but I wanted to try some new things and talk about personal thoughts as opposed to the usual "this is what's going on in rock music" routine. But hopefully through those rants and raves you guys got a chance to see my true feelings on certain aspects of music and how they impact my life. I'll def try from now on to stick to the usual stuff but don't hate me if I decide to go off on a tangent one day and start spewing forth thoughts about how no one respects bands like Gang of Four or stuff like that.
That being said have yourselves a great weekend. As for me I gotta start getting my career back on track. Hopefully it's not too long of a road this time. I love ya, rock nation.
Rock it out!
Sami
Last night...I got me some booty. And man did I need it.
OK now that we done got that out of the way time to go back to the usual stuff. Here we go.
Hey rock nation! It's friday which means your weekend has hopefully already started and it's off to a good start. SO check this out...could there be a foul plot afoot? And don't smell your feet to see if it's you because that's just gross. Alot of fans are complaining about the sound quality of Death Magnetic. Plus they're also saying that the album sounds better on Guitar Hero as opposed to the actual album!
Now here's where my conspiracy theory comes in. I have a feeling that Metallica boosted the levels on the album on purpose so people could go out and buy GH and download the better album there. Why? Well obviously Metallica gets a cut from every GH game sold being their whole album is on the game...and the game is definitely going to sell more copies than their album so why not put the better version on the game instead? Has Metallica gone video game corporate? Could this be a shady rock deal that has been brewing for the past few months? I mean even the engineer who mastered the album said on a message board that the sound quality was shite. Could this be a true conspiracy in the making? I'm not one for theories but when an album comes out and sounds like shit but another version that you can only download after buying a game sounds better...somethin don't sound right to me. Maybe i'm just being a paranoid android.
BTW if you want to read an interesting article on sound compression in albums and how they've gotten worse over the years click this link and learn somethin.
We got us some cool downloads for you now. Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder has written a song for his (and my) beloved Chicago Cubs. You can get the song right over on their website. It only costs you .99 cents and you get the chance to jump on the bandwagon and be a Cubs fan as well. This is our year baby! 100 years in the making but it's our time now!
Also be on the lookout for some brand new Hendrix material. That's right. Jimi Hendrix himself. You thought you had all his stuff didn't ya? Turns out there are some unheard songs, a feature film and even a cartoon of Hendrix drawn by Jimi himself. See how excited you're starting to get as you read this paragraph? It's ok...im excited and i'm the one who typed it.
Ben Folds Five reunited recently and played The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner in its entirety at a show in Chapel Hill, NC. This is a band that I unfortunately never fully got into. I mean obviously everyone knows the song "Brick" but I honestly never gave them a real listen. Perhaps I should go ahead and do that so I can have more music to appreciate. Now I feel like I'm behind.
BTW punks sorry this week's blogs didn't have any of the normal segments as per usual but I wanted to try some new things and talk about personal thoughts as opposed to the usual "this is what's going on in rock music" routine. But hopefully through those rants and raves you guys got a chance to see my true feelings on certain aspects of music and how they impact my life. I'll def try from now on to stick to the usual stuff but don't hate me if I decide to go off on a tangent one day and start spewing forth thoughts about how no one respects bands like Gang of Four or stuff like that.
That being said have yourselves a great weekend. As for me I gotta start getting my career back on track. Hopefully it's not too long of a road this time. I love ya, rock nation.
Rock it out!
Sami
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The locals always seem to get it right
Rock nation! What up punks? I just went and got me a haircut 'cause my quaff was getting a bit rambunctious so I had to take care of it. So now i'm all cleaned up and ready to type words in this lil corner of the internet.
I'm actually pretty stoked about my evening tonight because I get to go see a show. And no it's not a major rock show like the two i'm going to next week...it's a little intimate show at 169 Bar here in NYC. A buddy of mine by the name of Shayfer James is playing his first show and man is he fuckin good. He's got himself a great voice and plays a mean piano.
And come to think of it, it's been a while since I've been to a local show. I mean aside from the shows I've played with my band. I have only been frequenting bigger shows as of late being I was always given the opportunity because of my previous status as a rock tv show host. But i've forgotten how awesome small shows really are.
You really get the sense that the artist is actually playing for you. Almost like a one on one session. That band/artist is doing everything in their power to convince you that coming to see them was the best move you could have ever made. Now i'm not saying megabands don't feel the same way but they already have it made and are guaranteed to sell out concerts without worry. But the up and comers are the ones that are really hungry for it. Even if they get only one person to come to a show, that's still one more person they can get to like what they have to offer.
Not to mention the venues themselves. I don't know how many of you have been to NYC bars that have live music. They're usually not very big. In fact getting 20 people to come see you in a city bar almost looks like you sold out the show at times. But that's the best part. The audience is literally right next to the band. They almost get to share in the experience that the band is feeling because they're right up there. I mean the drinks are expensive as hell but who doesn't complain about drink prices? There are times when you can even talk to the band when they're onstage and get to know their personality a bit. You get to know the type of band you came to see. It makes you appreciate an artist a bit more.
And then there's the discovery aspect. You can discover new music and new bands every single day! Just going into a local bar that has bands playing = possible new favorite band. And then if they strike it big, you get the opportunity to say "Yeah I remember them when they played..." and you get your own little memory to plug away at while sounding like a music buff to all your friends because you were into the band's "older stuff...you know before they sold out." Haha. I hate that phrase.
I want to hear your stories. Are there any bands or venues you went to that you absolutely loved? Did you happen to stumble upon a band that maybe later had some success? Or maybe they just became your faves?
It's little things like this that make me appreciate music. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people play it and make it everyday and it's all there for me to find out about. It's like my own little daily treasure hunt and i'm guaranteed to find gold!
You know somethin? It's thursday so tonight there should be bands playing in your town somewhere. Go see them. Doesn't matter if you know them or not. Just go do some discovering and see what you find. You could be pleasantly surprised.
Rock it out!
Sami
I'm actually pretty stoked about my evening tonight because I get to go see a show. And no it's not a major rock show like the two i'm going to next week...it's a little intimate show at 169 Bar here in NYC. A buddy of mine by the name of Shayfer James is playing his first show and man is he fuckin good. He's got himself a great voice and plays a mean piano.
And come to think of it, it's been a while since I've been to a local show. I mean aside from the shows I've played with my band. I have only been frequenting bigger shows as of late being I was always given the opportunity because of my previous status as a rock tv show host. But i've forgotten how awesome small shows really are.
You really get the sense that the artist is actually playing for you. Almost like a one on one session. That band/artist is doing everything in their power to convince you that coming to see them was the best move you could have ever made. Now i'm not saying megabands don't feel the same way but they already have it made and are guaranteed to sell out concerts without worry. But the up and comers are the ones that are really hungry for it. Even if they get only one person to come to a show, that's still one more person they can get to like what they have to offer.
Not to mention the venues themselves. I don't know how many of you have been to NYC bars that have live music. They're usually not very big. In fact getting 20 people to come see you in a city bar almost looks like you sold out the show at times. But that's the best part. The audience is literally right next to the band. They almost get to share in the experience that the band is feeling because they're right up there. I mean the drinks are expensive as hell but who doesn't complain about drink prices? There are times when you can even talk to the band when they're onstage and get to know their personality a bit. You get to know the type of band you came to see. It makes you appreciate an artist a bit more.
And then there's the discovery aspect. You can discover new music and new bands every single day! Just going into a local bar that has bands playing = possible new favorite band. And then if they strike it big, you get the opportunity to say "Yeah I remember them when they played..." and you get your own little memory to plug away at while sounding like a music buff to all your friends because you were into the band's "older stuff...you know before they sold out." Haha. I hate that phrase.
I want to hear your stories. Are there any bands or venues you went to that you absolutely loved? Did you happen to stumble upon a band that maybe later had some success? Or maybe they just became your faves?
It's little things like this that make me appreciate music. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people play it and make it everyday and it's all there for me to find out about. It's like my own little daily treasure hunt and i'm guaranteed to find gold!
You know somethin? It's thursday so tonight there should be bands playing in your town somewhere. Go see them. Doesn't matter if you know them or not. Just go do some discovering and see what you find. You could be pleasantly surprised.
Rock it out!
Sami
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Have we lost our love for music?
Hey punks! What is the word? How's everybody doin? Glad to see you're still checkin out the new blog and hopefully spreading the word to all your friends. Something had me laughing yesterday. I watched my show on Fuse and I kept thinking I was gonna head into Fuse this week to shoot the next show. I guess once you fall into a routine you have to learn how to break out of it when you don't have to do it anymore. Had me crackin up a bit.
Anyways onto more important things like rock n' roll! Well as I figured (as I'm sure we all did) Metallica's new album Death Magnetic was number one in album sales last week selling close to 500,000 copies. Apparently people no longer want to care about older metal gods when you can have the Jonas Brothers instead. Yes it's true...the Jonas Bros. sold more albums in their first week than Metallica.
What the Fark?!
OK maybe it's just me being biased because "bands" like Jonas Bros. aren't real bands and appeal to wider demographics being that their fanbase runs anywhere from 8-16 years old. Yet Metallica's fanbase is anywhere from 18-45 years old. Here's the problem though. The download. Yup that's what it is. Downloading has simply made us stop buying albums altogether (even online). But why is it that even though younger kids probably downloaded the Jonas Bros, their album still sold more than one of the biggest bands in the world?
Think about it for a second. The younger demographic buy the albums and the merchandise because they honestly feel a connection to the band. Even though younger kids these days still download music in vast quantities, when a band comes along that they all can rock out to they get up and help that band out by buying everything that the band makes. What bothers me, though, is the fact that that feeling you had when you were younger eventually goes away.
We get older and we realize that we have new things to pay for like food, rent, insurance...things that are absolute necessities. But then when it comes to things like music we tend to put it in the back of our minds and just download it. Now i'm not saying downloading is bad. I actually think it's great for music because you get to discover more. But when we download, we lose that special feeling of going to get that new album from our favorite band and uploading that record into our iPods and getting that kick of listening to new music.
Essentially what I'm saying is this. Don't stop downloading but don't stop supporting your fav bands. I still buy albums to this day for a few reasons.
1) I like having a record collection.
2) I still enjoy getting that feeling of opening a new CD and getting new music.
3) I try to support these musicians as much as I can.
In the end, it is us that decides whether bands stick around or go away. We are in charge of their careers based on the concert tickets, albums and merch that we buy. When those numbers start to drop then that's when a band either has to step it up and capture our interest again or fade into the background.
Start getting excited again. Try to re-kindle that feeling you had when you were younger and your number one band was coming out with new music. They make it easy for you now by simply going to iTunes or Rhapsody or wherever and just clicking a button to buy the album. You don't even have to go to the record store anymore. And don't gripe to me or anyone else about the price of albums. Yes I know the prices are higher and yes it sucks...but would it really set you back that much if you spend 11-16 dollars every so often on something that makes you happy?
Sorry Rock Nation but when I read stories like "Jonas Brothers sell more than Metallica" it gets me frustrated and makes me want to talk about things like this. But I think i'm on to something here.
Don't lose your love for music or for your band. They've been there for you. Help them out a little bit.
Rock it out!
Sami
Anyways onto more important things like rock n' roll! Well as I figured (as I'm sure we all did) Metallica's new album Death Magnetic was number one in album sales last week selling close to 500,000 copies. Apparently people no longer want to care about older metal gods when you can have the Jonas Brothers instead. Yes it's true...the Jonas Bros. sold more albums in their first week than Metallica.
What the Fark?!
OK maybe it's just me being biased because "bands" like Jonas Bros. aren't real bands and appeal to wider demographics being that their fanbase runs anywhere from 8-16 years old. Yet Metallica's fanbase is anywhere from 18-45 years old. Here's the problem though. The download. Yup that's what it is. Downloading has simply made us stop buying albums altogether (even online). But why is it that even though younger kids probably downloaded the Jonas Bros, their album still sold more than one of the biggest bands in the world?
Think about it for a second. The younger demographic buy the albums and the merchandise because they honestly feel a connection to the band. Even though younger kids these days still download music in vast quantities, when a band comes along that they all can rock out to they get up and help that band out by buying everything that the band makes. What bothers me, though, is the fact that that feeling you had when you were younger eventually goes away.
We get older and we realize that we have new things to pay for like food, rent, insurance...things that are absolute necessities. But then when it comes to things like music we tend to put it in the back of our minds and just download it. Now i'm not saying downloading is bad. I actually think it's great for music because you get to discover more. But when we download, we lose that special feeling of going to get that new album from our favorite band and uploading that record into our iPods and getting that kick of listening to new music.
Essentially what I'm saying is this. Don't stop downloading but don't stop supporting your fav bands. I still buy albums to this day for a few reasons.
1) I like having a record collection.
2) I still enjoy getting that feeling of opening a new CD and getting new music.
3) I try to support these musicians as much as I can.
In the end, it is us that decides whether bands stick around or go away. We are in charge of their careers based on the concert tickets, albums and merch that we buy. When those numbers start to drop then that's when a band either has to step it up and capture our interest again or fade into the background.
Start getting excited again. Try to re-kindle that feeling you had when you were younger and your number one band was coming out with new music. They make it easy for you now by simply going to iTunes or Rhapsody or wherever and just clicking a button to buy the album. You don't even have to go to the record store anymore. And don't gripe to me or anyone else about the price of albums. Yes I know the prices are higher and yes it sucks...but would it really set you back that much if you spend 11-16 dollars every so often on something that makes you happy?
Sorry Rock Nation but when I read stories like "Jonas Brothers sell more than Metallica" it gets me frustrated and makes me want to talk about things like this. But I think i'm on to something here.
Don't lose your love for music or for your band. They've been there for you. Help them out a little bit.
Rock it out!
Sami
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
TRL is gone...it's about time!
Rock nation! What is goin on everybody? OK so the first story that I wanna talk about is something I really couldn't discuss at the time being that I worked for Fuse and we try not to glorify the competition regardless of what the story might be. But now that I'm on my own I can talk about what I want. And so I'm talking about TRL on MTV. It is officially over and done with.
Now am I surprised by this? Yeah in one respect...that it took so long for them to cancel that debacle of a show. Does anyone remember what TRL actually stood for? It stood for Total Request Live. Emphasis on Request. The show started as a video request show where people could comment on what music videos the show should play. But see this was back in the day when MTV actually played music...and videos. The show evolved into a pop culture phenomenon, however, mainly because of its location in NYC.
If you've ever been to New York and stopped by the TRL studios you know what I'm talking about. It's in the middle of Times Square aka tourist central and they would shoot in the middle of the day when everyone was out and about. There was always a large crowd underneath the huge windows that opened up into the studio where you could see the guest that was there. As a marketing tool it was brilliant. Give everyone the chance to see their favorite celebrity simply by standing outside a window? Sounds like a good plan to me. But you slowly started to see less of one thing. Videos. The main reason of the show was fading into the background. Now if they changed the name of the show to something that didn't allude to playing videos then that would have been ok. Instead they decided to be lazy and just turn the title into an acronym.
As the years trudged on, the channel itself moved faster than the show. All programming became reality-based with no focus on music at all. TRL suddenly became a remnant of old times. "You mean there's still a show that plays music? But that cuts into my time watching The Hills marathon!" Pathetic. And it even got to a point where they would only shoot the show live two days out of the week and pre-tape other episodes. So finally they said the show would be put to rest.
See this is the beauty of channels like Fuse. They play music...and they play a lot of it! It would be easy for the channel to simply go to all reality-based programs but they said nay. We will play music because that's what we are. Music Television. Now there are shows on Fuse like Rock and Roll Acid Test, You Rock, Let's Roll and there are new shows coming soon to the channel but they all focus on music. Music is what they specialize in and they will bring music to you regardless of the show. As far as I'm concerned they're the only channel on TV that does music...even VH1 has gone reality!
MTV has now officially solidified its place in TV as the channel that goes against everything it stands for. And don't say that show FNMTV brings back the music. It's on at nights on friday. Who is at home watching TV on friday night? Exactly.
Anyways, R.N., sorry about the crazy rant but I've been wanting to get this off of my chest for a while. And then this doesn't help either.
Rick Wright, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, died yesterday. He was 65 years old. Shit. This is for Rick.
Rock it out!
Sami
Now am I surprised by this? Yeah in one respect...that it took so long for them to cancel that debacle of a show. Does anyone remember what TRL actually stood for? It stood for Total Request Live. Emphasis on Request. The show started as a video request show where people could comment on what music videos the show should play. But see this was back in the day when MTV actually played music...and videos. The show evolved into a pop culture phenomenon, however, mainly because of its location in NYC.
If you've ever been to New York and stopped by the TRL studios you know what I'm talking about. It's in the middle of Times Square aka tourist central and they would shoot in the middle of the day when everyone was out and about. There was always a large crowd underneath the huge windows that opened up into the studio where you could see the guest that was there. As a marketing tool it was brilliant. Give everyone the chance to see their favorite celebrity simply by standing outside a window? Sounds like a good plan to me. But you slowly started to see less of one thing. Videos. The main reason of the show was fading into the background. Now if they changed the name of the show to something that didn't allude to playing videos then that would have been ok. Instead they decided to be lazy and just turn the title into an acronym.
As the years trudged on, the channel itself moved faster than the show. All programming became reality-based with no focus on music at all. TRL suddenly became a remnant of old times. "You mean there's still a show that plays music? But that cuts into my time watching The Hills marathon!" Pathetic. And it even got to a point where they would only shoot the show live two days out of the week and pre-tape other episodes. So finally they said the show would be put to rest.
See this is the beauty of channels like Fuse. They play music...and they play a lot of it! It would be easy for the channel to simply go to all reality-based programs but they said nay. We will play music because that's what we are. Music Television. Now there are shows on Fuse like Rock and Roll Acid Test, You Rock, Let's Roll and there are new shows coming soon to the channel but they all focus on music. Music is what they specialize in and they will bring music to you regardless of the show. As far as I'm concerned they're the only channel on TV that does music...even VH1 has gone reality!
MTV has now officially solidified its place in TV as the channel that goes against everything it stands for. And don't say that show FNMTV brings back the music. It's on at nights on friday. Who is at home watching TV on friday night? Exactly.
Anyways, R.N., sorry about the crazy rant but I've been wanting to get this off of my chest for a while. And then this doesn't help either.
Rick Wright, one of the founding members of Pink Floyd, died yesterday. He was 65 years old. Shit. This is for Rick.
Rock it out!
Sami
Monday, September 15, 2008
The new face of the Rock it out blog
Rock nation! Welcome to my new home. Yeah it's still a little empty but i'm still moving in but it'll look great soon once I get the TV working and the curtains up.
So what's goin on guys? Well as we all know by now I no longer work at Fuse. But it's all good! No bad blood, no grudges held. Again I wish the new host all the success in the world. Meanwhile I am back looking for my next job.
And I'll be upfront with you. It kinda blows. Especially in this business where everyone wants to try doing what I do. Who doesn't want to be on TV talking to rock bands and talking about music? It's a dream job! So the competition is a bit stiff to say the least.
So the first thing I gotta do is try to find me an agent or something. I gotta have someone throw me out to the masses and say "hey look at this kid! he knows what he's doin...and he's kinda cute too." I'll be honest with you R.N. I still don't know a lot when it comes to TV. I don't know who to get in contact with, who to speak to or anything along those lines when it comes to getting jobs. So this first week is gonna be an interesting one. I get to see what agents are really like. Wouldn't it be cool though if I got me an agent like Ari from Entourage? That would rock! Anybody wanna be in my entourage, btw?
But listen guys I again want to thank all of you for the support you showed me while I was on the show. Just know that i'm gonna do everything I can to make sure I get my ass back on the tube or on radio or somewhere so I can keep giving you the best in rock music, pop culture or whatever it may be. And also be sure to keep tabs on this blog every monday through friday where i'll be giving you all the same stuff you loved on the first blog and much more. Be sure to tell your friends about the blog and let's spread this thing out and turn it into our own little rock revolution.
Alright then punks I gotta go and get to work on restarting my career. But I will talk to you guys tomorrow ok? Hopefully by then i'll have the curtains up.
Rock it out!
Sami
So what's goin on guys? Well as we all know by now I no longer work at Fuse. But it's all good! No bad blood, no grudges held. Again I wish the new host all the success in the world. Meanwhile I am back looking for my next job.
And I'll be upfront with you. It kinda blows. Especially in this business where everyone wants to try doing what I do. Who doesn't want to be on TV talking to rock bands and talking about music? It's a dream job! So the competition is a bit stiff to say the least.
So the first thing I gotta do is try to find me an agent or something. I gotta have someone throw me out to the masses and say "hey look at this kid! he knows what he's doin...and he's kinda cute too." I'll be honest with you R.N. I still don't know a lot when it comes to TV. I don't know who to get in contact with, who to speak to or anything along those lines when it comes to getting jobs. So this first week is gonna be an interesting one. I get to see what agents are really like. Wouldn't it be cool though if I got me an agent like Ari from Entourage? That would rock! Anybody wanna be in my entourage, btw?
But listen guys I again want to thank all of you for the support you showed me while I was on the show. Just know that i'm gonna do everything I can to make sure I get my ass back on the tube or on radio or somewhere so I can keep giving you the best in rock music, pop culture or whatever it may be. And also be sure to keep tabs on this blog every monday through friday where i'll be giving you all the same stuff you loved on the first blog and much more. Be sure to tell your friends about the blog and let's spread this thing out and turn it into our own little rock revolution.
Alright then punks I gotta go and get to work on restarting my career. But I will talk to you guys tomorrow ok? Hopefully by then i'll have the curtains up.
Rock it out!
Sami
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