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kemetic-dreams · 4 years ago

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Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961), better known by his stage name Melle Mel (/ˈmɛli mɛl/) and Grandmaster Melle Mel, is an American hip hop recording artist who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Glover began performing in the late 1970s. He may have been the first rapper to call himself MC (master of ceremonies). Other Furious Five members included his brother The Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Scorpio (Eddie Morris), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams) and Cowboy (Keith Wiggins). While a member of the group, Cowboy created the term hip-hop while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five began recording for Enjoy Records and released "Superrappin'" in 1979. They later moved on to Sugar Hill Records and were popular on the R&B charts with party songs like "Freedom" and "The Birthday Party". They released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for "Freedom", and touring. In 1982 Melle Mel began to turn to more socially-aware subject matter, in particular the Reagan administration's economic (Reaganomics) and drug policies, and their effect on the black community.

A song "The Message" became an instant classic and one of the first glimmers of conscious hip-hop. Mel recorded a rap over session musician Duke Bootee's instrumental track "The Jungle". Some of Mel's lyrics on "The Message" were taken directly from "Superrappin'". Other than Melle Mel, no members of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five actually appear on the record. Bootee also contributed vocals (Rahiem was to later lip sync Bootee's parts in the music video).

"The Message" went platinum in less than a month and would later be the first hip-hop record ever to be added to the United States National Archive of Historic Recordings and the first Hip Hop record inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Mel would also go on to write songs about struggling life in New York City ("New York, New York"), and making it through life in general ("Survival (The Message 2)"). Grandmaster Flash split from the group after contract disputes between Melle Mel and their promoter Sylvia Robinson in regard to royalties for "The Message". When Flash filed a lawsuit against Sugar Hill Records, the factions of The Furious Five parted.

Mel became known as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the leader of the Furious Five. The group went on to produce the anti-drug song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)". An unofficial music video starred up-and-coming actor Laurence Fishburne[3] and was directed by then-unknown film student Spike Lee). The record was falsely credited to "Grandmaster + Melle Mel" by Sugar Hill Records in order to fool the public into thinking Grandmaster Flash had participated on the record.

Mel gained greater fame and success after appearing in the movie Beat Street, with a song based on the movie's title. He performed a memorable rap on Chaka Khan's smash hit song "I Feel for You" which introduced hip hop to a wider and more mainstream R&B audience. Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five had further hits with "Step Off", "Pump Me Up", "King of the Streets", "Jesse", and "Vice", the latter being released on the soundtrack to the TV show Miami Vice. "Jesse" was a highly political song which urged people to vote for then presidential candidate Jesse Jackson.

In 1988, after an almost four-year layoff, Mel and Flash reunited and released the album On The Strength, but with up-and-coming new school artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and Big Daddy Kane dominating the hip-hop market, the album failed miserably. Mel performed with The King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew on "King Holiday" aimed at having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday declared a national holiday. Mel also performed with Artists United Against Apartheid on the anti-apartheid song "Sun City" which was aimed at discouraging other artists from performing in South Africa until its government ended its policy of apartheid. Mel ended the decade by winning two Grammy Awards for his work on Quincy Jones' Back On The Block and Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones albums.

In 1995 Duran Duran did a cover version of "White Lines" featuring performances from Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel and released it as the second single from the Duran Duran covers album Thank You':.

In 1996, Mel contributed vocals to the US edition of Cher's hit "One By One". Their version is only available on the maxi CD format.

In 1997, Melle Mel signed to Straight Game Records and released Right Now, an album which features Scorpio (from the Furious Five) and Rondo. This album took more of a harder rap style. It barely sold at all in the US and the UK.

Mel and Ralph McDaniels a.k.a. Uncle Ralph

In 2001, under the name Die Hard, he released the song "On Lock" with Rondo on the soundtrack of the movie Blazin. Die Hard released an album of the same name in 2002 on 7PRecords.

On November 14, 2006, Mel collaborated with author Cricket Casey and released the children's book The Portal In The Park, which comes with a bonus CD of his rapped narration. It also features two songs, "World Family Tree" and "The Fountain of Truth", by a then unknown Lady Gaga performing with Mel. The book was re-released in 2010. Also in 2006, Melle Mel attended professional wrestling school. In 2007 (at age 45), he stated in an interview with allhiphop.com that "I'm going to try to take some of John Cena's money and get with WWE and do my thing".

On January 30, 2007, Mel released his first ever solo album, Muscles. The first single and music video was "M3 – The New Message". On March 12, 2007, Melle Mel and The Furious Five (joined by DJ Grandmaster Flash) became the first rap group ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, Mel implored the recording industry members in attendance to do more to restore hip hop to the culture of music and art that it once was, rather than the culture of violence that it has become. He added, "I've never been shot, I've never been arrested, and I've been doing hip hop all my life. I can't change things all by myself. We need everybody's help, so let's do it and get this thing done."

On October 10, 2008, Mel appeared on Bronx-based culinary adventure show Bronx Flavor alongside host Baron Ambrosia. In the episode "Night at the Bodega", he appears as a spiritual mentor to sway the Baron from his over-indulgent ways and get him on the right path to success.

In April 2011, it was revealed that he would take part in a new hip hop/pro wrestling collaboration, the Urban Wrestling Federation. Its first bout "First Blood" was recorded in June 2011.

Mel also appeared in Ice-T's 2012 hip hop documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.

In August 2015, Mel appeared with Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's song and music video "Downtown".

In May 2016, Mel and Scorpio, performing as Grandmaster's Furious Five ft. Melle Mel & Scorpio, released their single "Some Kind of Sorry"

#melle mel #african #kemetic dreams #grandmaster furious five

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blackkudos · 5 years ago

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Melle Mel

Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961), better known by his stage name Melle Mel and Grandmaster Melle Mel, is an American hip hop recording artist who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Early life

Melvin Glover was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York.

Career

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five began recording for Enjoy Records and released "Superrappin'" in 1979. They later moved on to Sugar Hill Records and were popular on the R&B charts with party songs like "Freedom" and "The Birthday Party". They released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for "Freedom," and touring. In 1982 Melle Mel began to turn to more socially-aware subject matter, in particular the Reagan administration's economic (Reaganomics) and drug policies, and their effect on the black community.

Mel became known as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the leader of the Furious Five. The group went on to produce the anti-drug song "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)". An unofficial music video starred up-and-coming actor Laurence Fishburne and was directed by then-unknown film student Spike Lee). The record was falsely credited to "Grandmaster + Melle Mel" by Sugar Hill Records in order to fool the public into thinking Grandmaster Flash had participated on the record.

In 1988, after an almost 4-year layoff, Mel and Flash reunited and released the album On The Strength, but with up-and-coming new school artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and Big Daddy Kane dominating the hip-hop market, the album failed miserably. Mel performed with The King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew on "King Holiday" aimed at having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday declared a national holiday. Mel also performed with Artists United Against Apartheid on the anti-apartheid song "Sun City" which was aimed at discouraging other artists from performing in South Africa until its government ended its policy of apartheid. Mel ended the decade by winning two Grammy Awards for his work on Quincy Jones' Back On The Block and Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones albums.

In 1996, Mel contributed vocals to the US edition of Cher's hit "One By One". Their version is only available on the maxi CD format.

In 2001, under the name Die Hard, he released the song "On Lock" with Rondo on the soundtrack of the movie Blazin. Die Hard released an album of the same name in 2002 on 7PRecords.

In April 2011, it was revealed that he would take part in a new hip hop/pro wrestling collaboration, the Urban Wrestling Federation. Its first bout "First Blood" was recorded in June 2011.

Mel also appeared in Ice-T's 2012 hip hop documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.

In August 2015, Mel appeared with Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz in Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's song and music video "Downtown".

In May 2016, Mel and Scorpio, performing as Grandmaster's Furious Five ft. Melle Mel & Scorpio, released their single "Some Kind of Sorry".

Discography

Albums

1982 The Message (with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1984 Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five (a.k.a. Work Party)

1985 Stepping Off (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1988 On the Strength (with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1989 Piano (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1997 Right Now (as Grandmaster Mele-Mel & Scorpio)

2001 On Lock (Grandmaster Melle Mel & Rondo as Die Hard)

2006 The Portal In The Park (as Grandmaster Mele Mel with appearances by Lady Gaga)

2007 Muscles (as Grandmaster Mele Mel)

2009 Hip Hop Anniversary Europe Tour (as Grandmaster Melle Mel)

Singles

1979 "We Rap More Mellow" (as The Younger Generation)

1979 "Flash to the Beat (as Flash and the Furious 5)

1979 "Superrappin'" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1980 "Freedom" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1980 "The Birthday Party" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1981 "Showdown" (as The Furious Five Meets The Sugarhill Gang)

1981 "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1981 "Scorpio" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1981 "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1982 "The Message" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1982 "Message II (Survival)" (as Melle Mel & Duke Bootee)

1983 "New York New York" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1983 "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" (as Grandmaster & Melle Mel / Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five / Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel)

1984 "Continuous White Lines" (Remix – as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1984 "Jesse" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel)

1984 "Beat Street Breakdown" a.k.a. "Beat Street" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1984 "Step Off" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1984 "We Don't Work for Free" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1984 "World War III" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five / Grandmaster Melle Mel)

1985 "King Of the Streets" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel)

1985 "Pump Me Up" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five)

1985 "Vice" (as Grandmaster Melle Mel)

1985 "The Mega-Melle Mix" (as Melle Mel)

1988 "Gold" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1988 "Magic Carpet Ride" (as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1994 "Sun Don't Shine in the Hood" (Split 12" single with "Da Original" as The Furious Five)

1995 "The Message 95" (Remix – as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

1997 "The Message" (Remix – as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five)

1997 "Mama" (as Grandmaster Mele-Mel & Scorpio)

1997 "Mr. Big Stuff" (as Grandmaster Mele-Mel & Scorpio)

2003 "Where Ya At?" (as Melle Mel)

2007 "M-3" (as Grandmaster Mele Mel)

2011 "Markus Schulz Presents Dakota feat. Grandmaster Mele Mel & Scorpio" – Sleepwalkers

2016 "Some Kind of Sorry" (as Grandmaster's Furious Five Ft. Mele Mel & Scorpio)

Collaborations

1984 "I Feel for You" by Chaka Khan

1986 "MC Story" by MC Chill and Emanon (The Baby Beatbox)

1986 "Susie" by Emanon

1986/87 "Who Do You Think You're Funkin' With" — collaborating with Afrika Bambaataa

1989 "What's the Matter with Your World?" (with Van Silk)

1996 "What Order" (with Keith LeBlanc)

2005 "RSVP" (with Nikkole)

2008 "Hip Hop Fantasy" by Chutzpah - for the track Bizness.

2009 "Electro Soul Satisfaction" — collaborating with Mic Murphy of The System

#05/15

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watusichris · 6 years ago

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“Border Radio”: Where Punk Lived

Some years back, I wrote notes for the Criterion Collection’s edition of Allison Anders’ first feature Border Radio for the Criterion Collection. Tomorrow (June 3), Allison will gab about punk rock with John Doe, Tom DeSavia, and my illegitimate son Keith Morris at the Grammy Museum in L.A. in observance of the publication of the book we’re all in, More Fun in the New World (Da Capo).

**********

“You can’t expect other people to create drama for your life—they’re too busy creating it for themselves,” a punk groupie says at the conclusion of Border Radio. And the four reckless characters at the center of the film certainly manage to create plenty of drama for themselves. In the process, they paint a compelling picture of the Los Angeles punk-rock scene of the 1980s: what it was like on the inside—and what it was like inside the musicians’ heads. Border Radio (1987) was the first feature by three UCLA film students: Allison Anders, Kurt Voss, and Dean Lent. The subsequent work of both Anders and Voss would resonate with echoes from Border Radio and its musical milieu. Anders’s Gas Food Lodging (1992), Mi vida loca (1993), Grace of My Heart (1996), Sugar Town (1999), and Things Behind the Sun (2001) all draw to some degree from music and pop culture. (She quotes her mentor Wim Wenders’s remark about making The Scarlet Letter: “There were no jukeboxes. I lost interest.”) Voss, who co-wrote and codirected Sugar Town, also wrote and directed Down & Out with the Dolls (2001), a fictional feature about an all-girl band; and in 2006, he was completing Ghost on the Highway, a documentary about Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the late vocalist for the key L.A. punk group the Gun Club. The three filmmakers met at UCLA in the early eighties, after Anders and Voss had worked as production assistants on Wenders’s Paris, Texas. By that time, Anders and Voss, then a couple, were habitués of the L.A. club milieu; they favored the hard sound of such punk acts as X, the Blasters, the Flesh Eaters, the Gun Club, and Tex & the Horseheads. The neophyte writer-directors, who by 1983 had made a couple of short student films, formulated the idea of building an original script around a group of figures in the L.A. punk demimonde. Border Radio—which takes its title, and no little script inspiration, from a Blasters song (sung on the soundtrack by Rank & File’s Tony Kinman)—was conceived as a straight film noir. Vestiges of that origin can be seen in the finished film. Its lead character bears the name Jeff Bailey, also the name of Robert Mitchum’s doomed character in Jacques Tourneur’s 1947 noir Out of the Past; its Mexican locations also reflect a key setting in that bleak picture. One sequence features a pedal-boat ride around the same Echo Park lagoon where Jack Nicholson’s J. J. Gittes does some surveillance in Roman Polanski’s 1974 neonoir Chinatown; Chinatown itself—a hotbed of L.A. punk action in the late seventies and early eighties—features prominently in another scene. Certainly, Border Radio’s heist-based plot and the multiple betrayals its central foursome inflict upon each other are the stuff of purest noir. But the film diverges from its source in its largely sunlit cinematography and its explosions of punk humor; Anders, Voss, and Lent also abandoned plans to kill off the film’s lead female character. In casting their feature, the filmmakers turned to some able performers who were close at hand. The female lead was taken by Anders’s sister Luanna; her daughter was portrayed by Anders’s daughter Devon. Chris, Jeff’s spoiled, untrustworthy friend and roadie, was played by UCLA theater student Chris Shearer. The directors considered another student for the lead role of the tormented musician, Jeff, but Anders, in an inspired stroke, suggested Chris D. (né Desjardins), whose brooding, feral presence animated the Flesh Eaters. After being approached at a West L.A. club gig and initially expressing surprise at the filmmakers’ desire to cast him, the singer and songwriter signed on, and he helped recruit the other musicians in Border Radio. (A cineaste whose criticism often appeared in the local punk rag Slash, Desjardins would later write an authoritative book on Japanese yakuza films and write and direct the independent vampire film I Pass for Human. He is currently a programmer at the Los Angeles Cinematheque.) John Doe, bassist-vocalist for the celebrated L.A. punk unit X, and Dave Alvin, guitarist and songwriter for the top local roots act the Blasters, had both played with Chris D. in an edition of the Flesh Eaters. Doe—taking the first in a long list of film and TV roles—was cast as the duplicitous, drunken rocker Dean; Alvin makes an entertaining cameo appearance, essentially as himself, and wrote and performed the film’s score.Texacala Jones, frontwoman for the chaotic Tex & the Horseheads, does a hilarious turn as Devon’s addled babysitter. Iris Berry, later a member of the raucous all-female group the Ringling Sisters, portrays the self-absorbed groupie whose observations frame the film. Julie Christensen, Desjardins’ vocal partner in his latter-day group Divine Horsemen (and, for a time, his wife), essays a bit part as a club doorwoman. Seen in walk-ons are such local rockers as Tony Kinman, Flesh Eaters bassist Robyn Jameson, and punk hellion Texas Terri. The Arizona “paisley underground” transplants Green on Red and the local glam-punk outfit Billy Wisdom & the Hee Shees were captured in live performance. Those seeking punk verisimilitude could ask for nothing more. Border Radio had a torturous, piecemeal production history worthy of John Cassavetes. Shooting took place over a four-year period, from 1983 to 1987. Begun with two thousand dollars in seed money, supplied by actor Vic Tayback, the film scraped by on money given to Voss upon his 1984 graduation from UCLA, a loan from Lent’s parents, and cash and film stock cadged here and there. Violating UCLA policy, the filmmakers cut the film at night in the school’s editing bays, where Anders’s two young daughters would sleep on the floor. The film’s lack of a budget forced Anders, Voss, and Lent to shoot entirely on location; this enhanced the work, as far as the filmmakers were concerned, since they sought a naturalistic style and look for the feature. Lent’s Echo Park apartment doubled as Jeff’s home, while Anders and Voss’s trailer in Ensenada served as his Mexican hideout. The storied punk hangout the Hong Kong Café (whose neon sign can be seen fleetingly in Chinatown) was utilized, as were the East Side rehearsal studio Hully Gully, where virtually every local band of note honed their chops, and the music shop Rockaway Records (one of the few punk stores of the day still around). Befitting the work of film students on their maiden directorial voyage, Border Radio evinces the heavy influence of both the French new wave of the sixties and the New German Cinema of the seventies. The confident use of improvisation—the cast is credited with “additional dialogue and scenario”—recalls such early nouvelle vague works as Breathless. The ongoing “interview” device immediately recalls Jean-Pierre Léaud’s face-to-face with “Miss 19” in Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin féminin, while Shearer’s shambling comedic outbursts are reminiscent of the sudden madcap eruptions in François Truffaut’s early films. The work of the Germans is felt most in the great pictorial beauty of Lent’s black-and-white compositions; certain striking moments—a languid, 360-degree pan around Ensenada’s bay; an overhead shot of Chris’s foreign roadster wheeling in circles in a cul-de-sac—summon memories of Wenders’s and Werner Herzog’s most indelible images. (Lent would go on to work as a cinematographer on nearly thirty pictures.) Though the styles and effects of these predecessors are on constant display, Border Radio moves beyond simple imitation, thanks to a sensibility that is uniquely of its time, spawned directly from the scene it depicts so faithfully. Though putatively a “music film,” very little music is actually on view in the picture; mere snatches of two songs are actually performed on-screen. The truest reflection of the period’s punk ethos can be found in the restlessness, anger, self-deception, and anomie of its Reagan-era protagonists. In Border Radio, one can see what punk rock looked like, all the way to the margins of the frame: in the flyers for L.A. bands like the Alley Cats, the Gears, and the Weirdos taped in a club hallway, in the poster for Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and the calendars of L.A. repertory movie houses tacked on apartment walls, in the thrift-store togs and rock-band T-shirts (street clothes, really) worn by the players. But, more importantly, the shifting tragicomic tone of the film, the energy and attitude of its musician performers, and the uneasy rhythms of its characters’ lives present a real sense of the reality of L.A. punkdom in the day. Put into limited theatrical release in 1987, by the company that distributed the popular surf movie Endless Summer—a film that offers a picture of a very different L.A.—Border Radio was not widely seen and later received only an elusive videocassette release through Pacific Arts (the home-video firm founded, ironically enough, by Michael Nesmith of the prefab sixties rock group the Monkees). With this Criterion Collection edition, the film can finally be seen as the overlooked landmark that it is: possibly the only dramatic film to capture the pulse of L.A. punk—not as it played, but as it felt. (Thanks to Allison Anders for her invaluable contributions.)

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glittergummicandypeach · 4 years ago

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Bad Religion Recall the Rowdy LA Punk Scene in a New Book

One of the problems with being an L.A. punk band in 1980 was there were very few places to play. Part of this was due to bias. If you weren’t a known commodity, it was hard to get people to take you seriously. For instance, Keith Morris literally begged bookers and promoters to let Black Flag play. When his band was finally invited to perform at the venerable Masque, the show was shut down and the venue closed its doors for good. Many of the older punk scenesters from the seventies looked down at hardcore bands and their fans for the negativity they brought to their scene. They were too violent, too reactionary, or just didn’t get it. To their minds, bands like Bad Religion embodied everything that was wrong with the punk scene.

Hardcore bands had to get creative. They realized that by supporting each other they could make their own scene within the scene. One of Bad Religion’s first live shows was with a relatively unknown band from Fullerton called Social Distortion who invited Bad Religion to play with them at a party in Santa Ana.

“I think our first show was at a warehouse,” Bad Religion guitar player Brett Gurewitz recalled, “which was fairly common back then because there weren’t that many venues that would book hardcore punk bands.”

On the day of the gig, bassist Jay Bentley was so anxious he threw up before the show. Steve Soto, a Fullerton native and bass player for the Adolescents, gave Jay a bit of friendly advice.

STEVE SOTO: You’re really nervous.

JAY: I know. I get so nervous before we play.

STEVE SOTO: You should always drink at least a six-pack before you play.

JAY: Okay, I didn’t know.

Lead singer Greg Graffin remembered the audience being particularly hostile because the promise of free beer had not materialized, but they made it through their set unscathed. When they got off the stage, Brett received a boost from a familiar face who’d made the journey from Woodland Hills to Orange County to see them play. “After the show,” Brett recalled, “my friend Tom Clement said to me with great seriousness, ‘Brett, no matter what else you do, just don’t break up. If you guys don’t break up you’re going to be huge—seriously. You guys are really good.’”

A Greek organization at the University of Southern California was having a punk-themed party and naively decided to invite actual punks to perform.

Another early show was even stranger: a frat party opening up for the Circle Jerks, the band Keith Morris started after leaving Black Flag, and one of the most popular L.A. punk acts of the early eighties. A Greek organization at the University of Southern California was having a punk-themed party and naively decided to invite actual punks to perform. Once the gig was confirmed, members of Bad Religion and the Circle Jerks invited their friends and distributed flyers like they would for any other show. The frat boys dressed like punks and the punks behaved like, well, punks.

For Lucky Lehrer, the drummer for the Circle Jerks, “it was a typical funny, bizarre, tragic night I’d come to expect with Greg Hetson, Roger Rogerson, and Keith Morris. At the end of the party, Roger got drunk off several free-flowing beer kegs and tried to fight half of the USC football team’s offensive line. They beat the shit out of him.” Apparently, Roger had it coming because Brett recalled watching him attack the jocks with a pair of nun-chucks while blackout drunk.

Despite the hijinks, it was an important gig for Bad Religion. Punk photographer Gary Leonard documented the show, and the band made a favorable impression on Lucky. “I connected with Bad Religion a little because as we were loading all our gear back into cars and mini-trucks I sensed these ‘kids from the Valley,’ as I called them, were a little less insane than the Circle Jerks.”

Lucky wasn’t being condescending. They were teenagers who despite their intelligence and ambition had very little experience in the ways of the world. “That was the first time I ever witnessed a beer bong,” Bad Religion drummer Jay Ziskrout said of the party.

Keith Morris also had fond memories of the show. When the beer ran out at the punk-themed party, Keith went searching for more, and discovered he wasn’t the only one on a reconnaissance mission.

“My favorite part of the night wasn’t playing with the Circle Jerks or watching Bad Religion,” Keith said. “My favorite part of the night was scamming on as much keg beer as I could possibly glug down. We played fraternity or sorority row and every house had some kind of thing raging. Directly across the street was a party with a country theme. They had all these bales of hay stacked randomly in the front yard. I went to go check it out and there’s this big, tall, blonde-haired surfer dude in a USC frat jacket who turned out to be Ricky Nelson’s son hanging out with Darby Crash.”

The presence of Darby Crash and Pat Smear of the Germs did not escape Brett’s attention. Brett, who idolized Darby, was astonished. “The first hardcore band that I ever saw and fell in love with was the Germs. It was distinctly separate from the punk I had been listening to. It was not the Buzzcocks or the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, who had this very accessible power pop sound, almost like it came from the fifties. The Germs were dark and felt more dangerous.”

The show signaled the start of a long association between Bad Religion and the Circle Jerks, with Bad Religion being one of what Keith Morris referred to as “baby brother bands.”

“The scenario with Bad Religion and the Circle Jerks,” Keith explained, “was that we appreciated each other’s music. There weren’t any assholes in the group. There were no dicks. Everybody was cool. We wanted to go to the party and bust the punk rock piñata. The situation was because of our friendship with Bad Religion they started playing shows with us.”

But that night at USC, Bad Religion learned that the Circle Jerks were going to be interviewed live on KROQ during Rodney Bingenheimer’s show, Rodney on the ROQ. Rodney was one of the few L.A. scenesters who was connected to the music business and understood the importance of punk rock. (Greg Shaw of Bomp! Records was another.) He was an eclectic figure who’d had his own nightclub in the early seventies called Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco. He ate lunch at the same Denny’s in Hollywood every day. People in the music industry would drop off records, and musicians would try to get an audience with the “Mayor of Sunset Strip.”

During his show he would often play music by local punk bands. For early enthusiasts it was the best way to find out about the latest music in the scene. Kids would record Rodney’s show and exchange the tapes with other punks at school. As strange as it sounds in today’s era of corporate commercial radio, in 1980 you could turn on Rodney on the ROQ and hear the Adolescents, the Circle Jerks, and the Germs. In fact, the Adolescents’ song “Amoeba” broke through into KROQ’s regular rotation and became an underground hit.

Brett understood Rodney’s importance to the scene. “He was a guy who prided himself on knowing who the cool new bands were because he went to shows. Rodney had a radio show that started at midnight. He’d play imports from England that we couldn’t get and local bands that were hard to find, but the bands would give him their tapes to play on the radio.”

Rodney’s show made Greg’s dream of making music seem more attainable. The music Rodney played on his show included crude demos. This sparked the realization that you didn’t have to be signed to a major label to get on the radio. All you had to do was do it.

For Ziskrout, Rodney’s radio show was a crucial link to the Hollywood punk scene. “In those days KROQ had a really weak signal. We were out in West San Fernando Valley and we couldn’t get KROQ at my house most of the time. I used to go to Brett’s house because he lived up on a hill. There were times when someone would have to hold up a wire so the signal would come in clearly.”

The Circle Jerks brought Bad Religion’s demo tape to the radio station. (Both Hetson and Lucky have taken credit for delivering the tape.) Keith introduced the band and Rodney played the song “Politics” on the radio. Even though Ziskrout was aware that it might happen, he wasn’t prepared for how he’d feel when it did. “The thrill of hearing yourself on the radio for the first time can’t be put into words. There’s nothing else like it.”

“Rodney really championed us. He liked the song. He felt we were good. That got us known because kids would tape the show. It was a way people could hear our songs before they were even on a record.”

Rodney’s listeners were enthusiastic about the new band from the San Fernando Valley. They wanted more, and Rodney gave it to them. “That was really the start of the band getting popular in L.A.,” Brett said. “Rodney really championed us. He liked the song. He felt we were good. That got us known because kids would tape the show. It was a way people could hear our songs before they were even on a record.”

[By year’s end] they’d made a popular demo, played some shows, and recorded an EP. They’d accomplished more in their first year than many bands manage in their entire careers. That two of their earliest shows were with Social Distortion and the Circle Jerks and attended by people like Darby Crash suggested they were well connected.

They weren’t. While punk was more popular than ever in L.A., there were very few places to play, so people would come out from all over greater Los Angeles and beyond to attend backyard parties and warehouse shows. On the flip side, punk bands were always looking for like-minded bands that were hungry to play and could be counted on to show up—even if it meant hauling their gear to someone’s house or a rented hall in Oxnard, East L.A., or San Pedro. That was Bad Religion.

“The scene was fairly small,” Jay said, “so you kept seeing the same people over and over again. You’d go to a show and watch a band play. You’d go to a show and you’d be the band playing.”

In those days, a punk kid who’d never set foot in Hollywood could go to a show and stand alongside one of his heroes. Of course, the feeling of admiration wasn’t always mutual. Jay’s first interaction with John Doe of X was when the bass guitar player gruffly said, “Move, kid.”

“He was probably twenty-one,” Jay recalled, “and I was fifteen. He probably thought I was ruining his scene, and he was right.”

The subculture distrusted outsiders and protected its own, even nerdy punks like Bad Religion. Going to a show where you didn’t know anyone and they didn’t know you could be dangerous.

One of the things about Bad Religion’s early shows that stood out to the band members was how many kids knew the words to their songs—and their EP hadn’t even been released yet. When people in the audience sang along with the band at their shows, it made them realize that this weird thing they did together after school in Greg’s mom’s garage had made an impact beyond their immediate circle of friends. It also reinforced the idea that what they were doing was important and had value. The realization slowly took hold that perhaps these kids memorized their lyrics because they had something meaningful to say.

With an audience made up of their heroes and peers, Jay found it hard not to be critical of his performance. “I remember always thinking, That was a good song. That was a good one. Oh, that one sucked.”

Jay wasn’t the only one who struggled with nerves. Brett also admitted to feeling uneasy onstage but credits Greg’s charisma for winning over the crowd. “I feel like Greg was a real performer from the get-go, and I think that was a big part of Bad Religion’s success. A charismatic singer is very important to a punk band, and Greg was always a great performer while I didn’t feel like I was until many years later.”

Greg may have appeared confident, but inside he was just as nervous as everyone else. “It was really nerve-wracking but I had a lot of confidence in the music. My view was, We’re all in this together, so I’ll do my part, but if I’d been up there alone I’d be shitting bricks. And I’ve felt that every concert since. A big part of my confidence comes from the guys behind me.”

It also didn’t hurt that the three performers standing at the front of the stage were all well over six feet tall. With his dyed hair, motorcycle boots, and leather jacket Greg looked the part of a punk rock front man. Brett stayed out of the spotlight but exuded a don’t-fuck-with-me aura. While Jay, the tallest member of the group at six foot four, focused on his guitar, his face a mask of intense concentration.

Brett, who was always a self-described “nerdy kid,” was surprised to learn that simply being in a band deterred people from starting trouble with him. “I remember when we were starting to get popular, more than once tough punk kids would be very menacing to me. Then someone would say, ‘Aren’t you in Bad Religion?’” When Brett told the aggressor he was, that usually ended it.

The subculture distrusted outsiders and protected its own, even nerdy punks like Bad Religion. Going to a show where you didn’t know anyone and they didn’t know you could be dangerous. For Brett, encounters like these were part of his punk initiation. “What attracted me to the punk scene was it felt like a tribe of outsiders. I felt like a person who chronically didn’t fit in. So, joining the punk scene was a way of making that a choice rather than having it inflicted on me.”

Skyler Barberio

Each of the members of Bad Religion had attended punk rock shows and had witnessed things that were difficult to understand or even explain. That’s how the media was able to hijack punk and advertise it as a violent free-for-all that attracted people who were drawn to such behavior. It was violent, at times shamefully so.

At the first punk rock show that Jay attended, Black Flag and the Circle Jerks at the Hideaway, someone crashed a car into the warehouse where the show was being held and drove through the gate. Brett recalled a show attended by Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L. who brought a friend whom Jack kept on the end of a leash. Jack would introduce his friend to strangers and tell them they had to fight his “dog.” If they declined, they had to fight Jack, who stood six foot five and reveled in violence. For Jay, the early Bad Religion shows were “exciting and terrifying and cathartic.” Punk bands whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and when the audience gave that energy back, unpredictable things happened. Bad Religion tapped into that energy in places that were unsanctioned, unsupervised, and unsafe.

Many if not most punk rockers used drugs and alcohol to rise to the occasion and/or deal with the emotions the experience generated. For some punk bands, like the Circle Jerks, the party was their whole reason for being. But Bad Religion wasn’t a party band, nor where they interested in writing confrontational lyrics for the sake of being obnoxious. They had a higher purpose in mind.

“There’s a reason we called ourselves Bad Religion,” Brett explained. “Greg and I were attempting to be intellectuals. On our debut EP I wrote a song called ‘Oligarchy’ and Greg wrote a song called ‘Politics.’ We weren’t writing joke punk or funny punk. We were teenagers, still naive and quite immature, but we were trying.”

For all their intelligence, there was no getting around the fact that they were suburban kids who didn’t know what they were doing or what they were getting into. As fans, they were outsiders, but participating as performers didn’t make things any less baffling.

“I felt like we were in an adult world that we didn’t understand,” Jay explained. “There were other people dealing with the business side of things that I didn’t want to know about. I just wanted to play and leave. It wasn’t business and it wasn’t a party.

There was this feeling that this was important without knowing why. Maybe that was just youth and not having a grasp on things, but the party thing wasn’t really for me. I think part of that was from our discussions in Greg’s garage: ‘What do we want to be as a band? What do we want to say? How do we want to present ourselves?’ I don’t know what other bands talk about when they’re forming. I just know that we had that discussion. We didn’t want to just be up there screaming, ‘Fuck the cops!’ or ‘I hate my parents!’ There had to be something more meaningful than that. That was how we felt about the band. It wasn’t a vehicle for drugs. It wasn’t a vehicle for money. It was a vehicle for us to say the things that we felt. That was more important than anything else.”

This content was originally published here.

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quite-contrary · 8 years ago

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My Perfect Playlists

These are my personal favorites – I hope you enjoy if you listen to them!

HOMEWORK/CHILL

ROS - Mac Miller

Saw You In a Dream - The Japanese House

My Kind of Woman - Mac Demarco

Million Reasons - Lady Gaga

Sweet Creature - Harry Styles

Child’s Play - SZA (ft. Chance the Rapper)

Dust In the Wind - Kansas

literally anything by John Mayer

CAR JAMS

DNA. - Kendrick Lamar

Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Bonfire - Childish Gambino

Congratulations - Post Malone (ft. Quavo)

That’s What I Like - Bruno Mars

M.O.N.E.Y. - The 1975

Heart Out - The 1975

Antidote - Travis Scott

Cabaret - Azizi Gibson

Army - Ellie Goulding

Caroline - Aminé

Eye In the Sky - The Alan Parsons Project

Carry On My Wayward Son - Kansas

Tear In My Heart - twenty one pilots

Trouble - Never Shout Never

Adore You - Miley Cyrus

Mercy - Shawn Mendes

SUMMER (warning: most of these are country songs)

Better Man - Little Big Down

Catch Girl - Matt Chase

Die a Happy Man - Thomas Rhett

Follow Me - Uncle Kracker

Like the Way - Aer

Merry Go ‘Round - Kacey Musgraves

My Church - Maren Morris

Nine In the Afternoon - Panic! At the Disco

Songbird - Aer

Stay - Zedd & Alessia Cara

Kiwi - Harry Styles

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks

Blue Ain’t Your Color - Keith Urban

IN-BETWEEN DAYS

Body - Wet

City of Stars - Ryan Gosling & Emma Stone

If I Could Fly - One Direction

Landslide - Dixie Chicks

Lost Boy - Ruth B.

Medicine - The 1975

Sick of Losing Soulmates - dodie

Sign of the Times - Harry Styles

Robbers - The 1975

Weak - Wet

Location - Khalid

Supermodel - SZA

Because - The Beatles

If I Believe You - The 1975

Redbone - Childish Gambino

WORKOUT

Into You (Alex Ghenea remix) - Ariana Grande

Big Rings - Drake & Future

Bounce Back - Big Sean

Envy - 116

Shabba - A$AP Ferg (ft. A$AP Rocky)

15th and the 1st - Gucci Mane & Waka Flocka Flame (ft. YG Hootie)

No Shopping - French Montana (ft. Drake)

Gucci Please - Gucci Mane

XXX. - Kendrick Lamar (ft. U2)

THROWBACK SONGS

I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic! At the Disco

One Time - Justin Bieber

The Motto - Drake (ft. Lil Wayne)

Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice

About You Now - Miranda Cosgrove

Bad Romance - Lady Gaga

Because of You - Kelly Clarkson

Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood

Boyfriend - Justin Bieber

Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz

Replay - Iyaz

Burnin’ Up - Jonas Brothers

Everything About You - One Direction

Fire Burning - Sean Kingston

Should’ve Said No - Taylor Swift

My Humps - The Black Eyed Peas

Oops!… I Did It Again - Britney Spears

We R Who We R - Ke$ha

WORSHIP

Christ In Me - Jeremy Camp

Rise - Danny Gokey

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) - Hillsong UNITED

The Very Next Thing - Casting Crows

Here I Am to Worship

DISNEY

I’ll Make A Man Out of You - Mulan

Part of Your World - The Little Mermaid

Kiss The Girl - The Little Mermaid

When You Wish Upon a Star - Pinocchio

Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast

You’ll Be in My Heart - Tarzan

A Whole New World - Aladdin

Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid

Hakuna Matata - The Lion King

Friends on the Other Side - The Princess and the Frog

I Won’t Say (I’m in Love) - Hercules

The Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book

You’ve Got a Friend in Me - Toy Story

I See the Light - Tangled

Love Is an Open Door - Frozen

Be Our Guest - Beauty and the Beast

Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid

How Far I’ll Go - Moana

Tulou Tagaloa - Moana

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newagesispage · 4 years ago

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JUNE 2021

The Rib Page

Head out for the dates on the final tour of The Monkees that we still have left. Mike and Micky are saying bye bye, bye bye, bye bye.

*****

Days of our Lives has been renewed for 2 more seasons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****

The last CONAN will be on TBS on June 24. We’ll be waiting to see ya on HBO MAX.

*****

Condom sales are up 24%.** They are saying it is the start of slutty summer??**There are reports that STD’s are on the rise in certain counties.

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Hemp Hemp Hurray!- Tommy Chong

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An old species of a giant tortoise on the Galapagos was found. Tests match a tortoise not seen since 1906. Scientists are now looking for a mate for the female to revive the species.

*****

Black-ish will end after season 8** Ellen is calling it quits and will end her show next year.** Thursdays will be Wolf night. With the addition of Law and Order: For the defense, NBC will have an entire L&O night! A friend said, “It’s almost as if the shows are made to lull the elderly to sleep.” I see it every day with the elderly: Law and Order on all day as they nap.

*****

American Housewife and Rebel have been cancelled.

*****

Bill Maher tested positive for Covid as did most of the Yankees. They were fully vaccinated.** Gov. Newsom was in the Kimmel audience talking about the lottery in California for those who were vaccinated.

*****

Ewan McGregor was so WOW! as Halston!!

*****

Illinois may be getting about 110 new pot shops.

*****

Breeders got picked up for season 3.

*****

The Piglet, Nick Lachey won the 5th season of The Masked Singer.

*****

Can’t wait for Val, the doc about Val Kilmer.

*****

John Dickerson will leave 60 minutes and concentrate more on the Morning shows. He has been promoted to chief political analyst and senior national correspondent.

*****

In Texas there are more barriers to riding a motorcycle than wearing a gun. They seem to encourage people to have guns on them with no training and no license.

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Why do we still have to hear anything about Meghan McCain? She tries to shame Kamala Harris for her “long weekend” comment as she is out gambling and partying for the Memorial day weekend. What does that have to do with honoring the fallen?

*****

Bill Hader was given the Masters of Comedy award at the USC Comedy Fest.

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Cellmate secrets is coming to Lifetime on June 4 with host, Angie Harmon.

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JP Morgan Chase collected about 1.5 billion in overdraft fees in 2020.

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Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch will come out on October 22. The film stars Bill Murray, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Timothee Chalomet, Owen Wilson, Angelica Huston, Jeffrey Wright, Saorse Ronan, Tilda Swinton and Benecio del Toro.

*****

Billboard awards giving tribute to Pink as a “legend.” What? Nothing against Pink or any of the other people that are honored too young in the award shows but… really?? There are so many mature legends that get forgotten that deserve some love for their well lived talent. It seems way too obvious that they just want the promo of someone still quite popular for the ratings.

*****

Did ya know that St. Chad’s church in Shropshire has the real tombstone of the fake Ebeneezer Scrooge?

*****

Politics is war without bloodshed, war is politics with bloodshed. –Huey Newton** The Black Panthers had it right in so many ways. I would love to see buildings and programs again named in memory of the slain victims of police violence.

*****

Kroger paid its CEO $22mil, but can’t find the $ to give its essential workers hazard pay during a pandemic? Disgusting! –Robert Reich

*****

Ariana Grande married Dalton Gomez.

*****

25% of Americans think Trump is really President, 25% of Germans supported Hitler.

*****

People in this country have to be told not to put gasoline in baggies? India is begging for more vaccines and many in this country have to be bribed to get a shot to help themselves and their fellow man?? I love U America but there are some really selfish, stupid people here.** But, we also must remember that the poor may be a little fearful of the vaccine. Many cannot believe that they can get something for nothing. Free vaccine? Many hard working poor never get a break and have to wonder what the catch is.

*****

Days alert: Xander gets better and better. Thank you writers for his lines like when he spoke of birds of a feather as he was in an intimate moment, “Why not flock?”** Ken Corday said he was “on my knees, begging” for Days renewal. Jackee’ Harry (Paulina) and Robert Scott Johnson (Ben) have signed new contracts. Shatner congratulated them on Twitter.** Gwen and Xander both living in the old Horton house? Will he find out her secret? Oh my.. not them together??** EJ is on his way back and will be played by Dan Feuerrlegel on June 9.** Eric is on the way back. It looks like Jonny Dimera is all grown up and will join his sister. ** Word is that Paulina will live at 227. Chloe and Philip may get together yet.** Will a dead body wash up in Salem??

*****

So $10 billion for a Jeff Bezos space firm bailout?? Is that true??

*****

From 1980-1993, the Israeli government prohibited artists from using the colors of the Palestinian flag in their work.

*****

Chevron got into trouble for their pollution problems. Steven Donziger who helped take them down has been on house arrest for 2 years. Why? He is begging to be prosecuted.

*****

I am really routing for Naomi Osaka. Nobody should be forced to respond to ridiculous questions from reporters. I get that it is part of their job but if one is willing to pay the fine, who cares?? I can’t imagine being exhausted and putting up with the nonsense. It reminds me of running up to victims of a tragedy and getting in their face. We can communicate by social media now. I am all about writers but use your heads. Much like Marshawn Lynch, it is time to stand up!! Protect your mental health!!** Well, this updated just before June. Officials warned her that she would be expelled so she left the French open. She was honest about her anxiety. I see this every day. When will people be allowed to truly be themselves with no penalty?? I think this when I see a restaurant worker forced to wear a humiliating costume or a cashier with a giant name tag with ridiculous advertising slogans. Yes, a company or event is paying you so they should have their promotion but put yourself in their shoes. These are all varying degrees of the same problem. Why must we be pushed into the same lane all the time??

*****

It costs about 2 mil to remove 4 statues due to litigation and safety for the removers.

*****

Hooray for the Texas Dems who walked out to block the outrageous voting bill there. I mean, amongst other things, the GOP want to make it EASIER for a judge to throw out votes based on ALLEGATIONS. They say the removal of hours for Sunday voting was just a “mistake.” There is talk of not paying the Dems but I don’t think they can do that. The GOP claims there are hundreds of incidents of voter fraud and they will prove it when the time is right. Um…..

*****

Bruce Dern, Olivia Munn and Keith David will star in The Gateway.

*****

The complete story of the Gettysburg address is in post- production. Look for voice work from David Strathairn, Cary Elwes, Sam Elliott, Michael C. Hall, Dermot Mulroney, Keith David, Matthew Broderick, Lili Taylor, Victor Garber, Ed Asner, Jason Alexander and Lois Smith.

*****

Was anyone surprised when the Son of Sam doc on Netflix wound around to Manson? I guess it depends on the books that you have read.

*****

Oh Andrew Yang, I have become so disillusioned with you.

*****

A Colorado man charged with murdering his wife submitted her absentee ballot in the 2020 election. He thought, “other guys” were cheating so he would give Trump another vote. –Reid Wilson

*****

The commonwealth of Kentucky has never elected a black person to federal office. –Charles Booker

*****

Have ya seen Woke with LaMorne Morris and J.B. Smoove?

*****

M. Night Shyamalan is back with Old.

*****

The Friends had their reunion.** China cut about 6 minutes out of the broadcast.

*****

Matthew Modine is running for SAG President again with his running mate, Joely Fisher.

*****

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. –Blaise Pascal Pensees** Are you sick of hearing about the angry white men on shooting rampages. It is alarming how we always hear about how everyone knew of their anger or that they had been looked at before and just left to go on their merry way. C’mon law enforcement, stop picking on minorities and old women and concentrate on the real threat.

*****

Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, Jon Hamm, David Harbour, Benecio del Toro, Ray Liotta, Don Cheadle and Kieran Culkin will star in No Sudden Move on July 1.

*****

Can’t wait for the release of the 3 LP vinyl collection, Jonathon Winters: Unearthed. Look for it on Record Store Day, June 12.

*****

Concerning Marjorie Taylor Greene’s abuse: “I used to work as a bartender. These are the kinds of people that I threw out of bars all the time.” : AOC** In answer to MTG’s Jewish star comparison, some have started wearing “not vaccinated” stars. What the fuck is wrong with people?

*****

Could Drew Barrymore and Dylan Farrow be related? They look so much alike.

*****

Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden got together with their wives and talked of old times. Much was made of the photo of that meeting that was released. The Biden’s looked like giants.

*****

Word is that Arizona congressman Andy Biggs was one of the main organizers of the insurrection. GOP Rep from Oregon, Mike Nearman, was caught on camera letting the culprits into the capitol on Jan. 6. TREASON! When will the wheels of justice get to them?** Newt Gingrich said of the Biden administration: They are “attacking people of traditional values,” by flying the “gay flag at American embassies.”** When will this latest religious fervor die down?** Word is that Tiffany Trump and Vanessa Trump had flings with secret service.

*****

Fuck you Trump, you left us on the battlefield bloody and alone. –Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean. He explained that “We followed this guy’s lead and never questioned it.” I mean what kind of sheep are these guys? Can they not think for themselves?** There is talk that Trump’s justice department was spying on reporters. ** Hey Kimmel: Can you stop talking about Trump? Enough already!! And.. Reality is boring? What?

*****

On Trump: I imagine it is a chilling final turn of the plot. His world is coming to an end. He will never have another good day. Loser label will haunt him, the law will pursue him. Mental illness will hobble him. His properties will bankrupt him. –Peter Marks

*****

So, the terrorist GOP in the senate does not want Jan. 6 investigated. Of course they do not want to shine a light on their wrong doings. They say they love law enforcement and then they shit on them like this. The very people that were killed or injured trying to protect them mean nothing to them. ** Mitch McConnell thinks he can stop the full truth from coming out. He cannot. The House can empower a bipartisan select congressional committee to investigate the insurrection. The select committee would also have stronger subpoena power because GOP members can’t block subpoenas.

*****

Rand Paul is to medicine what Flashdance is to welding. – Rob Reiner

*****

“We birthed a nation from nothing, I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture. It was born of the people who came here, pursuing religious liberty.” –Rick Santorum** CNN has dropped him as a political contributor.** Only a fuckboy scumbag could be this clueless and wrong. –Michael Ealy

*****

The latest sexual misconduct news: Danny Masterson will stand trial on 3 rape charges.** Bill Cosby was denied parole.

*****

Trump is ignored and irrelevant on pretty much every major social media venue. –Mia Farrow

*****

The George Floyd family came to the White House on the 1 year anniversary of his death.

*****

The Kennedy Center honors have been given and will air on June 6 on CBS. This year we honor Dick Van Dyke, Joan Baez, Midori, Garth Brooks and Debbie Allen.

*****

Since 2000, the wealth of billionaires has increased by 238%. – Robert Reich

*****

The moon, in its orbit is spiraling away from Earth by about the width of 2 fingers every year. –Neil deGrasse Tyson

*****

Why is everybody surprised about the UFO revelations? Of course there are UFO’s. Nobody is saying they are filled with space aliens. Another country could be testing them. There are always things we cannot explain.** We also can’t be surprised that the Q types fight the UFO stories. Once scientific voices of reason come into play, they turn away.

*****

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has announced their class: The early influence awards go to Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott- Heron. Music excellence goes to LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads. The Ahmet Ertegun award goes to Clarence Avant. The Performers honored will be Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go’s, Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and Todd Rundgren. The 36th annual show will take place on October 30th.

*****

We are all just rapidly decaying meat bags. – Mr. Griffin on AP Bio

*****

Scientists have developed the whitest white: Ba so4

*****

John Mulaney is back on stage with the stand up.

*****

Killers of the flower moon is finally being filmed. The Scorsese film stars Leo, DeNiro, Jesse Plemons and Lily Gladstone.

*****

2 out of every 3 people in the U.S. get their drinking water from rivers. Support American Rivers.org

*****

House Dems passed the pregnant workers fairness act. Employers with more than 15 employees and public sector employees must make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers

*****

HBO has shown a first look at House of the Dragon, the prequel to Game of Thrones.

*****

Bridgerton is spinning off Queen Charlotte.

*****

Purple lipstick is a really hot item.

*****

Peoria and Scranton are the hub of getting an extra family. JB Smoove

*****

Yamiche Alcindor is the new moderator of Washington Week. I miss Robert Costa but if they had to move on, I had fingers crossed for Weijia Jang or Yamiche.** Costa went on Twitter for the first time since 2020 to congratulate her. I can’t wait for his book with Woodward!!!!!!!

*****

The firing squad is back in South Carolina.

*****

So, there is a worker shortage?? Perhaps if we made it easier to get hired, things would work better. Can owners and managers actually look at a person and go with their gut? Can we get rid of drug tests and long online applications and psych exams? The $ spent on administrative work for hiring is ruining this country. A normal person has to jump thru hoops just to wash dishes anymore. We are not ll cookie cutter people. Often there are no rewards for loyal employees, not to mention benefits. And the laziness of employers who will then not do anything about bad employees that disrupt the work place is astounding. C’mon, give people a chance and then hold them to account and reward the hard workers. Most everyone I know has these same complaints. Who wants to go thru that?

*****

Medina Spirit failed a drug test after the Kentucky Derby.** You know who doesn’t care about who wins the Kentucky Derby? The horses. It’s time to ban horse racing. -Larry Charles

*****

I’ve had a wonderful time, but tonight wasn’t it. –Groucho Marx

*****

If you don’t need a mask because God will protect you, why do you need a gun?- anonymous

*****

How shady is the GOP when it comes to these recounts to support the big lie? Taxpayer $ is being used for this and now there will have to be new voting machines. Since the auditors have mishandled the machines and insisted on passwords, Maricopa County will have to start over!! Can we keep reminding the public that this is costing us all a lot of $???** Even the majority of republicans say that the audits are keeping the base energized for the next election so mission accomplished

*****

Tulsa survivors spoke in front of congress as a reparations bill was introduced.

*****

Men who think they can decide for the women who carry the consequences of their ejaculations that life begins at conception, need to put their $ where their misogynist, hypocritical mouths are with laws that require instantaneous and permanent child support or shut the fuck up. –Bradley Whitford

*****

It is estimated that there are about 50 billion birds on the planet.

*****

Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton are bringing us The Protégé.

*****

There has been a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after 10 days of fighting. Well done on the Middle East, Jared!!

*****

Andrea Mitchell, a hard ass working journalist seems to be slowing down.

*****

Legos has added some LGBTQ characters.

*****

Can we put Finn Wittrock and Leo in a film together?

*****

Check out the Traveling Diary Tour.

*****

Jamie Foxx has some mega product placement in the new, Dad stop embarrassing me!

*****

Brooklyn 99 will air 2 episodes a week in this final season.

*****

Three Doctors who treated Navalny are missing.

*****

Laverne Cox will be the new host of E!’s red carpet coverage. Giuliana Rancic has left.

*****

Look for the book Bull Twit … and whatnot from George Wallace.

*****

R.I.P. Vernon Jordon, Ed Ward, Tawny Kitaen, Olympia Dukakis, Bo, the Obama’s dog, the latest mass shooting and stabbing victims, Roger Hawkins, Paul Mooney, Shock 6, Eric Carle, Charles Grodin, Diamond Girl Taylor, John Davis, Kevin Clark , Jim Clendenen, B.J. Thomas, Buddy Van Horn and Norman Lloyd.

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britishhiphop · 4 years ago

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RIP: Scott La Rock

“By age 25 Scott ‘La Rock’ Sterling had achieved what many people only dream of. As part of a duo called Boogie Down Productions, he was on the verge of signing a major recording contract and he had kept a promise that he had made to himself: He, a young man from the South Bronx who had become a high school basketball star and had earned a bachelor’s degree in business, would settle for nothing less than stardom. All that came to an end Wednesday 27th August 1987 when Mr. Sterling was fatally shot outside the Highbridge Homes on University Avenue in the South Bronx.” —Esther Iverem, The New York Times, August 31, 1987 Twenty-three years ago, New York’s adolescent rap scene was forced to grow up. Violently. The murder of Scott La Rock was much more than simply the loss of a talented up and coming DJ. In many ways, La Rock—in both his life and his death—set the stage for hip-hop as we know it today. While he was alive, La Rock drafted the aesthetic blueprint for gangsta rap with the previously unexplored street themes and shocking imagery of BDP’s classic Criminal Minded (the only album he ever recorded). On the business side, his Black-owned independent label, B Boy Records, pioneered the burgeoning genre’s rebel entrepreneurialism. “Scott would have been Puff before Puff, no question,” says Chris Lighty, a close friend of Scott’s who now runs the Violator Records empire. “But without the dancing. He approached the music as a business at a time when most people just wanted to be down and make records.” Born March 2, 1962, in South Ozone Park, Queens, Scott Monroe Sterling was raised far from the grimy scene that he would later help to mold. His parents split when he was four, and he lived with his mother, Carolyn Morant, a career municipal employee. When Scott was young, they moved from Queens to the Morisania section of the Bronx, and then to Morris Heights. Scott excelled in both academics and sports at Our Savior Lutheran High School, graduating in 1980 and heading off to Vermont’s Castleton State College. He earned a varsity letter in basketball there, but as it became clear that his talent would never take him to the NBA, Scott switched his extracurricular focus from hoops music. “Our turntables were on our desks and our books were on the floor,” said La Rock’s four-year college roommate, Lee “The Mack” Smith Jr., to the Times back in ‘87. “I would come home and hear the bass before I opened the door.” After graduating in 1984, Scott returned to New York in hopes of finding work and making in-roads to the music industry. Through a connection of his mother’s, Scott landed a jacket-and-tie nine-to-five as a social worker at the Franklin Armory Men’s Shelter on 166th St in the Bronx. At night, though, he’d lose the noose, spinning at the blossoming hip-hop hot spot, the Broadway Repertoire Theatre on 145th Street. Socially gifted, Scott quickly earned a rep for his skills on the turntables and a progressive business sense as well. “He was just a smooth, approachable brother,” remembers DJ Red Alert. “He could relate to any type of person, that’s why so many people gravitated to him.” Beyond spinning records, though, Scott aspired to create his own. He began studying the art of making beats at his Bronx buddy Ced Gee’s place and searching the city’s clubs for a worthy MC partner. (Ced would go on to form the Ultramagnetic MCs with Kool Keith Thornton.) Strangely, La Rock would find his rapping other half not among the denizens of dimly-lit nightspots like Broadway R.T., but under the bright fluorescents of the shelter where he worked his day job. One of Scott’s responsibilities at the shelter was doling out subway tokens to those who needed to travel to job interviews. Shortly after starting, though, he got wise to the fact that several of the shelter’s residents were faking interviews to score tokens, which they’d use instead to go party. When Scott confronted one of the hustlers, the situation got loud and ugly. The resident called Scott a “house Negro, one paycheck away from homelessness.” Scott countered that the homeless man was “obviously lazy, otherwise he’d have a job.” Security was called to separate the two before they came to blows, and the resident left the shelter. The homeless man was Kris “KRS-One” Parker—a cocky, 20 year-old graffiti artist and self-taught “philosopher” who preferred the street life to the mundane world of working. Three months later, Scott ran into him at Ced Gee’s apartment (coincidentally, KRS had also been putting in time on Ced’s equipment.) After their less-than-civil start, Scott extended the olive branch by inviting KRS to one of his parties. “My mind got blown clean out of my head,” remembers KRS-One of his summer 1985 introduction to the hip-hop scene at the Broadway R.T. “Just seeing Scott DJing, and then watching Mantronix walk by, and then Doug E. Fresh is in the corner grabbing a drink… It was just too much for me.” Scott took a liking to KRS, and to two of his fellow shelter residents, Joseph “Just Ice” Williams, Jr., “I.C.U.” and 15-year-old Derrick “D-Nice” Jones, a cousin of a security guard. “He’d invite us down and we’d hang out way past the nine p.m. curfew, get drunk and party,” says KRS of BDP’s prenatal period. “At the end of the night Scott would take us all out for breakfast and we’d talk about who we were gonna be and what we were gonna do.” “Scott gained a freedom hanging out with us,” KRS continues. “And being around him made us feel important.” via britishhiphop.co.uk

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britishhiphop · 5 years ago

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RIP: Scott La Rock

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britishhiphop · 6 years ago

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RIP: Scott La Rock

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britishhiphop · 7 years ago

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RIP: Scott La Rock

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