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Puscifer

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:21:09 GMT

With both Tool and A Perfect Circle, singer Maynard James Keenan preferred to perform in the background. He was often little more than a silhouette as the other members in those bands – both of which play a heady, aggressive form of prog rock – toiled away in the foreground. His other band Puscifer, which stopped at the Lakewood Civic Auditorium last night, Keenan comes out of his shell.

The different approach was apparent right from the start of the 90-minute show as Keenan single-handedly pulled small Airstream trailer out onto the stage and then set up a few lawn chairs and picnic tables. He made a few remarks about sustainability and the need to start thinking differently about the environment before his band mates joined him and he launched into “The Green Valley.” While Keenan then spent the majority of the show at the back of the stage, there was something about the show that was slightly more inviting (maybe that had something to do with the camping motif) about the whole thing. A mix of Southwestern imagery (Keenan owns a winery in the Arizona ghost town of Jerome) was displayed on a giant video screen behind the stage. For being a DIY affair, this show had all the trappings of an arena rock gig.

Sure, Keenan still sounded creepy as hell on “Vagina Mine” and “Rev 22:20,” but that’s to be expected. Those songs are creepy. But the often-funny skits between songs that featured video taped segments of Keenan dissing other celebs made the show a more casual affair, even though the terrific six-piece band never let up on the aural assault (that was delivered with sonic precision, by the way). After the main set, the band took the lazy way out and sat at a picnic table rather than “playing grab ass backstage,” before coming out for an encore that concluded with the walloping “Tumbleweed,” suggesting that anyone who dismisses Puscifer as a frivolous sideproject has got it all wrong.

-Jeff Niesel

Electric Flower

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:13:24 GMT

A band featuring drummer Josh Garza and singer-guitarist Imaad Wasif, Electric Flower makes psychedelic rock that hearkens back to the days of Hendrix and Blue Cheer. The duo just released a self-titled EP and made its live debut last week at the Los Angeles rock club Harvard and Stone. Speaking in a phone interview from his L.A. home, Garza recently discussed the band’s approach and responded to allegations that the group might just be as loud as My Bloody Valentine.

The two of you met when you were both trapped in an elevator at a taping of Top of the Tops in London. What was that initial meeting like?

It’s funny because when you’re on the road, you actually meet a lot of people. There are weird circumstances or parties or gigs or festivals, and you never know which one of these cats or yahoos you’re going to run into again. We ran into each other on an elevator and it’s funny that one of those stories comes back to be part of a new story. It’s funny because especially in England, we stood out. He’s Indian, and I’m Mexican-American. We were the two brown dudes. I remembered that. He made quite the impression. A few years later, I saw him with a solo project, and he had a band. I thought it was great. I was in the Secret Machines and so busy at the time that I never thought about it until I ran into him again, and I said, “Let’s jam.” At that point, he was busy. I kept insisting. I was really bored. I needed to do this.

The first song you wrote was “Circles”?

I think so, roughly. I think that was one of the first things we kind of wrote. It was weird because he had these bits. He had this part and that part and this part. When we first started jamming, it was more experimental. We didn’t want to turn it into verse/chorus/verse/guitar solo formula. I know we could. At some point, every musician is smart enough to know the formula. It was cool to be, “Let’s not do that.” Sometimes, that makes songs weak if they’re too formulaic, and there’s nothing new. With a song like “Circles,” it was like a modern rock mash-up. The song used to be longer and was closer to ten minutes and we shaved a bit off it. We did shave off the fat to make it lean. Even with that said, it’s still six minutes long.

How different is this band from your former band, Secret Machines?

On a lot of levels, it’s completely different. Immad’s a rocker and a guitar player. In Secret Machines, Brandon [Curtis] was our singer but played bass and keyboards. The angle he was coming at was from that school. Immad’s a straight up wicked guitar player. He’s coming from the Jimi Hendrix-meets-Bob Dylan school of thought. He loves to play and he loves to sing. When you combine those two things, it makes for an interesting rock approach. So far, it’s just me and him. The bullshit goes up exponentially the second you add another member. It gets really hard. Every band has their story. You talk to any band with more than five members, and they all probably wanted to kill each other at some point.

Sonically, it doesn’t sound like you guys are missing anything.

We didn’t want to be like the Black Keys or the White Stripes. We’re a two-piece, but we’re not just interested in being a two-piece. We’re just interested in playing good music. That’s why a lot of those frequencies are still there. These two instruments can be bigger because there’s no bass taking up the frequency range.

You’ve said your song “Four 16” was inspired by Nirvana. Can you explain that a bit?

It’s kind of weird. It’s less of a tribute and definitely something that just happened. For me, when we wrote the song, it was never about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. We had this song and then when we were talking, we mentioned what it was about. It was a real moment in my head. I was a big fan of Nirvana. It doesn’t matter what clique you are in, you like Nirvana. It’s a weird band that can do that. It doesn’t need to be announced. They’re just great.

And the song you reference in your song is a Leadbelly song. So it’s Nirvana channeling Leadbelly and you’re channeling Nirvana.

I feel like that’s rock ’n’ roll in a nutshell. You keep piling it on and making it your own and you go forward.

Even though you’ve only put out an EP, you have a full-length in the works, don’t you?

We have a whole record that’s 80 percent done. Our plan is to release another EP in the new year and then drop the full length in the spring. At this point, most bands would only have an EP. We have more songs that are going to make the record. We’re at a great point. We’ve written a lot of material. We’re rehearsing a lot. We’re doing the work that any band should be doing. We just keep writing and recording until further notice. I don’t want to be greedy and say we’re ahead of the curve. We’re right on schedule. The EP is almost old news for us. We’re really excited about the record we’re recording. If you liked the EP, then you’re going to be stoked. If you didn’t like the EP, give it a minute and you will like this. What we’re doing now is even more evolved.

Are you really louder than My Bloody Valentine?

Yeah, unfortunately. It’s weird. I wasn’t there in the ’60s and ’70s when bands were loud, but I did see My Bloody Valentine and Jesus and Mary Chain and the Flaming Lips and Dinosaur Jr. There was sort of this given that it was going to be loud. Now, it’s like, “Why are you guys so loud?” What happened? The PAs in these places have gotten smaller. We used to play Brownies in New York City and they had this monster PA. ow, that would be ridiculous. I think at some point, bands started playing softer and mellower. I’m old school and there’s pop music and there’s rock ’n’ roll. I’m like the rock ’n’ roll guy. It’s got to be loud and in your face. You either want to leave or you want to be in it. You’re in or you’re out.

Eva Longoria discusses the eye-opening documentary ‘The Harvest/La Cosecha’

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:25:14 GMT

Well-versed on the subject of migrant labor issues, actress Eva Longoria was shocked to realize the extent that children are used to work on U.S. farms to pick fruits and vegetables. She was introduced to the issue through director U. Roberto Romano, whose documentary The Harvest/La Cosecha, which just came out on DVD, centers on the stories of three young Hispanic children who are among the 400,000 who struggle to work long hours in the fields. She recently called in to talk about the film.

How were you introduced to the film?

I have been a long-time advocate of farm workers and so I’ve been known within the community. I have been with the UFW and a lot of organizations for over ten years. Somebody came to me and asked me to raise the funds to produce this documentary. That’s how I ended up as executive producer of this documentary which humanizes the issue of child labor in the United States.

I was surprised that the children in the film are working here in the U.S. What was your reaction when you discovered that?

The weird thing is that as involved as I am within the community, I myself didn’t realize it was that many children. I knew children were in the field, but I didn’t know that many were in the field. It was even shocking to me and I’m pretty literate on the subject, so it doesn’t surprise me that people don’t know about it. One of the most powerful things we can do as entertainers and producers is to create awareness through film. I was behind the scenes. Roberto Romano was in their homes and in their workspace and pretty much on the front line.

How did he gain people’s trust? The profiles he provides are so amazing and so personal.

It’s very dangerous for these people to come out and speak. It’s by no means an expose. It’s definitely a story told through the eyes of the children who work every day and told through their families. With that comes risk of them losing their jobs and being fired. It was a difficult task to document them because your subjects have to be authentic. He was amazing.

Did you get to meet any of the three children profiled?

I have not yet. It was hard to follow them in the documentary because they move around so much. I mean, they’re constantly migrating. The main tragedy is that they are stuck in a cycle of poverty. They can’t break that cycle because they can’t get ahead in school.

I was surprised at how smart they are.

They were very articulate. They were more comfortable in Spanish, some of them. And some of them were more comfortable speaking English. Children are very honest and very truthful and raw and that really came through in the documentary.

I feel like we’re all complicit in this because we all eat fruit and vegetables. Not buying fruits and vegetables isn’t a solution, but what kind of solutions do you see to the issue?

I know people think it doesn’t affect them because it’s an immigration issue. It’s not an immigration issue. It’s a labor issue and a humanitarian issue. If you’re a human being who consumes produce, if affects you so you should know about this and be a responsible consumer and be educated about where your fruit and produce comes from. In the small ways, you can buy organic because that means the children were not sprayed by pesticides while working. People think the pesticides are safe now but they’re not safe now. They did lower the dose amount that can be sprayed during a certain time, but that dose has been lowered to suit a 160-pound man. The children are still getting three times the amount that their bodies can tolerate. We’ve been trying to pass the CARE act, which prevents children from working in agriculture. Agriculture is the only exempt field. We want to get the children out of the fields and into the schools. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standard Act was passed for that very reason because many of the farms were owned by families but today only one percent of farms are family owned. In 1938, times were different but that law hasn’t changed. The agriculture business has huge lobbyists and is very persuasive in Washington.

To what extent do you think the film will be able to make an impact on legislation?

It’s always been the goal of the film to be used as a political tool. Hopefully, people will now feel some pressure and know that the secret is out. Many people don’t know it’s legal and that it’s happening in our own backyards. We’re hoping that we can create some noise with this film. We screened it at the Department of Labor and I physically want to go door to door in Washington and make sure every Congresswoman and Congressman sees it.

But would legislation really change things?

It would make an impact if it’s enforced. Until we get some kind of comprehension guest worker program – not immigration reform – because there are so many people living in the shadows in industry dependent on migrant workers that we have to call bullshit on the current process and the assumption that these people are taking American jobs because that’s just not true. They are jobs that no Americans want. Many farmers have listed these jobs to people on welfare and they pay minimum wage and no one wants them. What’s wrong with this work? It’s what this country was founded on. It’s the backbone of America.

By Jeff Niesel

They Might Be Giants with Jonathan Coulton

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:31:13 GMT

Friday, September 16, 2011
Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland OH

Review and Photo by Michael David Toth

For years, They Might Be Giants’ Cleveland tour stop has consistently sold out weeks in advance. Their 2011 appearance proved no exception, as fans packed in for a roughly two-hour retrospective of the cult band’s quarter-century career.

The band is now touring extensively in support of the new Join Us album, with nine tracks accounting for nearly a third of the show’s song selection. Structuring a crowd-pleasing set list is tough for a band with such a massive back catalog. Join Us is a decent album, but its forced self-promotion was disproportionately weighted at the expense of stronger TMBG classics. This concert ultimately therefore felt a smidgen less satisfying than other Cleveland TMBG appearances of recent years, despite careful attention to an otherwise diplomatic cross-section of the band’s history. Still, the show was well sustained by founding front men John Flansburgh and John Linnell and their instrumentally sharp and vocally crisp band. The two Johns still radiate an exceptional chemistry and dynamic stage presence, more than 25 years out.

The obligatory “artificial encore” began with the monumentally fun and ingeniously catchy “Mesopotamians” from The Else, and ended confusingly flat with the pedestrian “Can’t Keep Johnny Down” from Join Us. Fortunately, a second, potentially “real encore” followed, wonderfully culminating in the schizophrenically epic 1992 masterwork, “Fingertips.”

With a rockin’ guitar/bass/drums band, Jonathan Coulton served as an ideally matched national opener for the Giants’ tour. While much more straightforward and less arty than TMBG, Coulton shares some kindred creative sensibilities. His songs were similarly characterized by a clever brand of nerdy humor laced with enough earnest substance as to avoid being mere novelty. While singing “Still Alive,” Coulton subtly twitched and smiled during a later, quieter instrumental section, where he could hear how many of his fans had been singing along all along. Without drawing big attention to it, he subtly conveyed a deep, sincere mutual appreciation and affectionate rapport with his fans.

I, Alex Cross Filming in Cleveland, Ohio

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:40:47 GMT

Casually encountering the Detroit Bomb Squad truck, Detroit police cars and various strategically placed black Cadillac SUVs, one might think they were transported to Detroit, only this was Cleveland on a beautiful September day watching the filming of the James Patterson novel turned movie, "I, Alex Cross". On this day it could pass as the "windy" city with 30 MPH gusts, which would prove to be a hazard later. As with most movie shoots, there is the standard waiting many hours for the exciting parts to happen. In talking to nearby office workers on break, they tell of the excitement they witnessed the week before, with helicopters, snipers, and the actual actors, Tyler Perry and Matthew Fox, on set right outside their office building.

The closest to star sightings on this filming day were the stunt doubles, but they did look like the real deal, and there was the rumor of "explosive" action to come! This day was unseasonably hot, but the stunt-man doing the dirty work for Tyler Perry was dressed in a turtleneck (seen in the photo) and leather jacket (added later), offering a clue to the setting of the film. Rehearsals included stunt people jumping, diving and rolling on tumbling mats. For hours the only excitement is watching the police car and mats being moved forward and back, then more casual jumping and tumbling and a heavy sand bag is shot out onto the mat.

Looking up, three sniper actors could be seen on the roof, just hanging out waiting for some action. They did have the best view of what was going on down below. The director, Rob Cohen, could be heard over the loudspeaker giving a detailed safety talk for the explosions.

The winds were monitored and filming delayed. Then it gets pretty interesting, and excitement builds. The safety talk included a very structured run-through of the upcoming flaming stunt action. The director says he will instruct "fuel the stunt-men", which will take 3 minutes. Upon completion of the 3 minute fueling, he instructs that he will count down from 5 for igniting the fuel. At that time it will be the point of no return and everyone must proceed. To hear him explaining the process in detail, really punctuated the seriousness of what was about to go down.

Again, more waiting, the winds were definitely not cooperating, and the fire chief was delaying the explosions and stunt-men being lit on fire. By this time 4 hours have passed and it is announced that the shooting will resume (hopefully) in 2 hours due to the wind. Knowing that the 2 hour time estimate will probably be longer, I choose to abandon my mission for a previous engagement on the other end of town. The explosion happened in nearly double the time previously announced, but at least it was filmed by the local Channel 3 news crew so you can view it here... http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=1158222478001. All I can say is OUCH! Flames aside, the stunt-men are definitely earning their pay as they are flown through the air and slammed against a truck!

Stroh Center Rap

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:11:39 GMT

Even if you don't have an affiliation with BGSU, you'll enjoy this hilarious video! #RollAlongBGWarriors Enormous talent went into the production of this hilarious homage to the funders of the new sports complex on Bowling Green's campus, set to a catchy rap tune and full of G-rated slang and SNL-like humor.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxNJJgs08Xg]

The Young Electric

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:37:48 GMT

With influences like A Wilhelm Scream, Bright Eyes, Tom Petty, and The Cure, and musical guilty pleasures like Enya and Third Eye Blind, one would think that a band would get confused when the time came to write their own music. However, for The Young Electric, these influences have helped them sculpt their music to be focused, exciting, and just plain good. Members Riley Hamnett (vocals), Drew Hamnett (bass), Natty Coleman (drums), and Mat Deason (guitar) sat down to discuss their new sound, their struggles with the industry, and working with producer Jim Wirt to create their debut album, Machines.

Tell me a bit about The Young Electric? What’s the difference between any of the music you recorded in the past and this new music?

Riley: One of the big differences is in the song writing. We also started taking our music more seriously. It’s definitely a more mature sound. We all know what we want and I think that’s the biggest part. We all bring different styles to the table, but we’re all more focused on what we want The Young Electric to be and what we want the songs to be about. I think part of the problem with past bands was that we didn’t know what we were.

Natty: I don't write the lyrics or anything like that, I play the drums. So hearing the songs after the fact is sort of like hearing it from sort of an outside perspective, but still a part of it. So for me, I would have to say the major difference is that the music is a lot more meaningful and compelling.

Drew: It used to be a really broad scope of trying to decide what we were rather than saying, “Alright, these are our influences and this is what we want to sound like.”

This is your first album, right?

Drew: Yes it is. We have done a recording with the four of us before, but it was under a different name. Ever since Mat started playing guitar for us though, it’s been a completely different band.

Natty: The writing dynamic changed a lot with Riley just focusing on singing.

Riley: This full-length album is almost ten years in the making, it feels like. We had something like thirty songs to choose from when we came in to record, and we narrowed it down to eleven for the album.

Drew: It used to be that the dynamic was collect a group of songs, whether it be five songs or seven or ten, and then collect the money to find somebody to produce it, or even just record it, then release it. Then you write more songs, record and release those as well, with no real timeline or focus. As Riley said though, we came to the table with about thirty songs and whittled it down to the cream of the crop that we thought...

Natty: sounded good and sounded like an album.

How do you like working with a producer like Jim Wirt, who has worked with acts like Fiona Apple, Incubus, and Jack’s Mannequin?

Riley: It’s really, really good. Working with Jim is definitely not for every band though. I think he expects a lot out of us because he knows what we’re capable of. At least working with him in the way that we do, it’s definitely hard and you’ll leave some nights feeling bad about yourself, but then you come back and do better. It makes for the best work I think.

Drew: He one-ups you. You come in here thinking that you know your part, but then he rips your part apart, telling you you’re not playing tight enough; it’s the best kind of criticism, because it’s not meant to be negative at all, it’s meant to help you. When you think you’re at 100 percent, he sees you at 70 percent and pushes you to do even better.

Natty: When it’s finally recorded you realize that him tearing it apart and playing it over and over again until you get it absolutely perfect, was worth it; that’s why he is who he is.

So he pushes you to do better than your best?

Mat: Yeah, and he really makes himself a part of the team. We show up and we’re recording with Jim, and Jim’s just as much a part of it as we are.

Drew: Yeah. While we’re here we’re a five-piece band. We’ve got drums, bass, guitar, vocals, and Jim. He makes himself just as big of a part in it as you. So you want to feel like you’re contributing just as much as him. I mean, that guy spends 20 hours a day working on your band; you should at least be putting in that much effort and make sure you’re playing your part right.

Rumor has it you guys don’t swear or...

All: We swear

Drew: Like sailors

Okay, so you swear. But what about drinking and drugs?

Riley: Yeah, I think most of us have never touched alcohol or drugs.

Drew: We were all raised with a background in LDS theology, Mormon, and we were all raised in Mormon Utah. It’s something, regardless of personal beliefs, we’ve all acknowledged that one of the best ways to get a leg up on other bands is by not spending time partying, but rather spending our time focusing on what matters like songwriting or touring. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve played one off shows or two off shows with bands and they’ve either missed the next show or have been late to sound check for the next show because they had been drinking the night before.

Natty: Plus it’s expensive and we don’t have any money!

Drew: We want to do this for a career. What career can you go hung-over to or go and give a mediocre performance because you were high or drunk and you’ll still get the same paycheck? That doesn’t happen. So why is that acceptable in music?

So it has helped your career?

Riley: Actually, I’d say that it has more hindered it than helped. We’re fine with people drinking and smoking around us, but you tend to not get invited to parties if you don’t, and for a band, networking is everything. You can’t make it unless you have friends and unless you’re partying with people. So I would say that it has really, really hurt us and held us back.

Natty: I’ve been surprised actually to have fans be disappointed that we’re not drinking and smoking with them. They get pissed off sometimes.

Tell me, why should people listen to you? There are millions of bands out there that people can choose to listen to. What makes you special?

Drew: They probably shouldn’t.

Natty: It’s the devil’s music.

Drew: No, but to say what we’re doing or the influences that we have are different or better than other people is a load of crap, because there are so many bands and nothing is really original anymore. I think execution of an idea is where you can separate yourself.

Natty: In a musical sense I guess you could say that we are a rock band and we do a lot of rockin’ parts and things like that, but when we executed all of these ideas in the studio and had Jim on our team, he helped us realize the musicality of it. Like bringing in these classical chord progressions and cool guitar tones and things like that.

Riley: I don’t know if this is the best way to put it, but we take it more seriously than most bands, and we are really passionate about our music. I know that a lot of people are, but this is our job, this is what we do. We practice three or four hours a day, every day of the week. The best way to see what separates us is to come see a live show.

So your music is meant to be heard live?

Natty: In the past we have prided ourselves on the fact that our live shows are pretty good.

Drew: I don’t know…because Jim’s doing a damn good job. I’m stressed about living up to the amazing work that we’re doing!

Riley: I think that that’s definitely cool to say, but the live shows definitely don’t suffer. It’s like watching a movie compared to watching a play; like a really good play. A really awesome play.

Drew: Like Cats

Mat: Also it all comes with us just wanting to work harder. Every band will work hard to practice, but they’re just practicing old parts, not everything that comes with it. So of course we pride ourselves on our live performances because we work hard at them. We’re not just working hard to write good songs, we’re working hard to have good performances. It’s not just a cool CD, it’s a whole package.

More information on The Young Electric can be found at their website http://theyoungelectric.com/.

By Deborah Singer

“Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star” is One of Year’s Worst Movies

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:17:41 GMT

Nick Swardson is a funny guy. He had a great recurring role on Reno 911 as a smart-ass roller skating prostitute, and he’s made memorable appearances in films such as I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and 30 Minutes or Less. As outrageous as some of the characters he’s played have been, nothing will prepare you for his turn as Bucky Larson, a buck-toothed Iowa kid who picks up and heads to Hollywood with the hopes of becoming a star. But Larson doesn’t want to be just any star. Having just learned that his seemingly innocent parents were famous first-generation porn stars, he sets out to follow in their footsteps. His small penis and un-groomed crotch turn out be a real turn-off, at least for most directors. And when Miles Deep (Don Johnson) decides to let Larson do a screen test, he’s equally disappointed until Larson becomes an Internet sensation, and Deep figures he can market him as an anti-porn star. Before you can say “preposterous,” Larson is one of adult film’s biggest sensations, and he cleans up at the year-end award ceremony, pissing off rival Dick Shadow (Stephen Dorff) and alienating his well-intentioned girlfriend Kathy (Christina Ricci) along the way. Co-written by Adam Sandler, this film has little to no merit. It’s almost as if you can hear Sandler and friends snickering to themselves as they put the concept together. Too bad they never thought to wonder whether anyone else would find the script humorous. And as much Swardson tries to give the character some kind of pathos, even he can’t salvage this lame-brained flick.

Avengers Movie Filming – It's a Wrap!

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:59:05 GMT

Visiting the site of the previous destruction for the Avengers filming I found that just like all movie magic, the props were gone, the street rubble cleaned up and the destroyed cars non-existent. Gone too were the passionate movie set “bouncers” controlling the crowds. But moving further down the street we found a smaller section of streets still active with movie-making activity. One unplanned prime vantage point was from the parking garage. Surprisingly I was able to park in the lot marked “extras” and the view from the 3rd floor deck was perfect for viewing one of the side streets still filled with movie equipment. Unfortunately timing is everything and the only action taking place was by the crews moving rubble & props around. We then moved on to street level, as far as the barricades would allow, only to find it was 1:00 and except for a few crew members watching the set, they were at lunch. At least one thing is predictable with movie-making, lunchtime seems to be non-negotiable.

We found a perfect viewing spot to eat our lunch and had a front row seat (spectator seating is rare) to what was to be the smashing of a fully operational hot dog cart by a large plate of steel, the kind used for covering construction holes in the pavement. Eventually my friend had to go back to work, but would be able to see the action from high above the street. Since it was evident that the only immediate action was from spectators waiting patiently for the slightest bit of movie-making, I decided to walk to Public Square. I wanted to see if I could catch a glimpse of the German village (Stuttgart) that had been filmed the day before. Again, quite surprising that there was not one leftover German sign, facade or discarded prop. It was as if nothing had ever happened there, except that the road was still blocked and crews were putting back up the traditional American street signs. Time to head back to 9th Street to see if anything had progressed on the hot dog cart.

Knowing from experience that the best viewing spot usually gets cleared just prior to filming, I opted for another spot at the end of the street, in full view of the smashing, but not close enough to be cleared before the action takes place. I watched as they raised up a giant lighting screen, brought the extras out to the street and gave instructions to the stunt men. There was some action with the stunt men practicing their surprised reactions at the impending smash, and a run-through of running from the scene. Then more waiting. Passing the time with fellow members of the crowd is something you learn to do waiting for the action on set to take place. I talked with a couple from Texas who happened to be in Cleveland for a week and they told of their tales of watching the filming and hearing of star sightings. Scarlett Johansson was seen at a Karaoke bar of all places. Who knew we had such things? And another star from the film was spotted at Put-in-Bay (there had been some filming in Sandusky.) They watched the extras come and go from the courthouse building on Lakeside during a night shoot and caught a glimpse through the bushes of a star in the Stuttgart scene.

Now back to the waiting...lighting was apparently a factor, you could see the light levels being tested and still photographs being taken. Then the group photos started taking place. It was apparent that this was the last scene and everyone involved in the filming was getting into photographs with the director. There was even a fake baby wrapped in a blanket as a prop in the photos. My new Texan friends speculated that the baby represented the film as their “baby” and it being wrapped as “it's a wrap”. Interesting. But still waiting for the big crash of the hot dog cart. By now it's 4:10 and I needed to be somewhere else very soon. Another lesson, the set can look like the action is about to take place any minute, but it could be hours away. Waiting until the last minute, I think it will happen just as I walk away, but, much to my disappointment, I didn't get to see the big event or even hear it as I was walking to the parking garage. I did hear from my friend, high atop the action, that it occurred at 5:00. I will have to wait for the May 4 release of the film to see the hot dog cart meet it's demise.

-Jenni Hamilton

Kid Rock

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:53:14 GMT

Imagine 8:30 pm on a Tuesday night in Northeast Ohio, motorcycles in the parking lot as far as you can see, and through the haze you're stepping over people who have already enjoyed the evening a little too much! Where would that be? A Kid Rock concert would be a good guess! There was no end to the people watching opportunities, but as soon as Kid Rock hit the stage, all eyes and ears were on him. His powerful voice, confident style, unpredictable behavior (although you can predict that it will be unpredictable) and quite physical stage presence on a fire-breathing stage kept people on the lawn of Blossom Music Center standing for his entire two hour performance. Frankly, where else can you vocalize strings of profanity with 10,000 of your closest new friends without repercussion? Kid Rock peppered in newer songs from his Platinum-selling Born Free album, but it was clear by audience participation that the fan favorites were his more raucous and often raunchy earlier songs.

I met a very young Kid Rock many years ago at a small gathering of music distribution employees who didn't know anything about him yet, and were afraid to find out! He still gives off that hard-a** vibe, only now it's louder and backed up by his ability to satisfy and grow his fan base. Say what you want about Kid Rock, based on what most people see as his public persona, he has a lot of talent in that slim, well-toned body of his. During the evening he played guitar, drums, keyboard, sang and threw in some DJ turntable scratching. He ran the gamut of rock, (southern and otherwise) country, hip-hop and even a couple of ballads, singing songs about partying or bashing responsibility, very relatable to his fans. He jumped through the air like a 20 year-old, and sang an entertaining song about turning “Frickin' 40,” making himself feel better by contrasting his age to Springsteen at 60 and The Rolling Stones nearly dead, lighting up the crowd once more. His duets with Sheryl Crow, who shared the stage with him, were enhanced by their chemistry. She even threw in a humorous ending to “Picture” where she sings of selling his clothing optional “picture” on ebay for only $3, which clearly entertained Kid Rock.

Day Three kicked off with Rival Schools, the post-hardcore act by veteran Walter Schreifels. One of the noisier bands playing the festival, these guys sounded terrific as Schreifels’s good vibrations are hard to deny. A San Diego act, Little Hurricane sounded too derivative of the White Stripes and while we were excited to see the reunited Cars, the band’s lack of enthusiasm was off-putting, even if turned in studio quality renditions of tunes such as “Let the Good Times Roll” and “Moving in Stereo.” As rain moved in, we headed out, but we heard headliners the Foo Fighters, who went up against DeadMau5, gave a strong performance that featured a guest appearance by Perry Farrell.

I'm still wondering about the out-of-place, “dressed up”, middle-aged guys in golf shirts and khakis on the Blossom Music Center lawn. Did they just wander in thinking the Cleveland Orchestra was performing that night? If that was the case, I would love to interview them! I bet now they are new Kid Rock fans for life!

-Jenni Hamilton

Avengers Filming In Cleveland, A Visit To The “Action”

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 23:16:21 GMT

NYPD cars, rubble, explosions and New York street signs, all might seem common if you were in NYC, or even a sound stage in L.A., but this is Cleveland! The props were all brought here by the Marvel Comics crew who are are in Cleveland this month shooting scenes for next year's Avengers film. It's usually the talk of the morning news... who has been there to see the filming, what they have seen, stars spotted (or lack of) and what roads are closed. For the most part, it's not like a visit to the Universal Studios lot. The action is sporadic and sometimes disguised with smoke blown by giant fans, so you have to be in the right place at the right time. We arrived at the area seeing road closed signs so we knew we were in the right place. There were several pre-smashed cars, vans and taxis amongst rubble that resembled a typical road construction project. The crosswalk was taped off to pedestrian traffic, so from our vantage point we HEARD the car flipping scene, but didn't get to actually see it. What little we might have seen between obstructions was obscured by the fake smoke blown by giant fans. Then they announced it was their lunch break, so we took the opportunity to cross where it had previously been closed to scope out a better “after lunch” vantage point. We did see a few guys walking around in padded spandex pants containing sensors which obviously have some movie-making magic powers. The downtown Cleveland East 9th street area was hopping with energy, everyone trying to get a better view of the action and taking pictures of themselves in front of the rubble and “fake traffic”. We found a perfect shady spot on the patio of a restaurant that clearly wasn't serving outside because no one was eating. There was no shortage of movie bouncers with headsets getting increasingly annoyed at people loitering on the sidewalk. It was as if they thought the same people from 5 minutes ago weren't following their instructions, but it was really new sets of people. A humorous exchange if you were an innocent observer on the safety of the approved viewing spot. We could see the crains of large diffused lighting and cameras getting into position down the street. Then just before the action started, they decided to clear the restaurant patio, so much like herding turtles, they cleared the patio and sidewalk to a spot down the street. Seeing this was going to get us nowhere but bored, we decided to move to the other end of the closed street through alleys. On the way we did see the commissary, but nothing exciting was happening there. On the other end of the street we did have a different view, but much the same as the other side, the action was far away. We did get to speak to an extra who described his experience applying to be an extra, waiting 4 ½ hours in the hot sun in a suit. He hadn't done any filming yet, but was scheduled to report in a tuxedo the following Monday, for $10 per hour. A young college freshman with a headset in charge of keeping the sidewalk clear was answering questions about working on the crew. She told the crowd they usually work 12-14 hour days, standing, and she got the job because she interned for a movie last summer. She really went the extra mile with her best bubbly customer service charm to keep the crowd entertained, in a completely different way than the bouncers on the other end of the street. After another 30 minutes in the hot sun with nothing much to see, we decided to call it a day.

After one visit, and reports from my inside source in an office building with a birds-eye view of the action, I absorbed enough of the movie-making excitement to go back for more. Especially since I heard today there were explosions! Stay tuned.

-Jenni Hamilton

A Recap of Lollapalooza’s 20th Anniversary Concert

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:08:39 GMT

Even Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell has admitted he didn’t expect Lollapalooza to get a second wind and become the three-day behemoth that it has become. Staged as a destination festival in Chicago for the past seven years, Lollapalooza celebrated its 20th anniversary this year over the weekend of August 5-7 (and during a press conference held on Day One, Farrell announced Lolla will expand to Brazil next year). Even though some fans found the anniversary line-up to be lacking, that didn’t keep a capacity crowd of 90,000 away from Grant Park.

Festival fans had plenty of good acts to choose from, too. Day One featured the Vaccines, a great Brit garage pop band that delivered spot-on renditions of its overseas hits from its stellar debut, What Did You Expect from the Vaccines? Even though Everyman singer Justin Young didn’t look or act much like a rock star, he sure sounded good. Backed by a live band, Brit rapper Tinie Tempah delivered a high energy set of hip-hop, and Electric Touch, a terrific Austin band with a well-polished classic rock/bar band sound, was the day’s real surprise. They gave a white-hot performance in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd. Hot off an appearance at President Obama’s birthday party, OK Go was a side stage smash as its matching, colorful suits added some panache to its perky power pop.

While it was a bit odd that two similar sounding acts (Coldplay and Muse) were paired up against each other as headliners, we went to see Coldplay, which was playing what singer Chris Martin said was its “first proper concert back in America.” The band sounded fantastic, and Martin was certainly animated as the group ran through hits such as “Yellow” and “In My Place.” We finished the night off at the Belve Music Lounge at the W Chicago-City Center Hotel where Fitz and the Tantrums, Grace Potter, DJ White Shadow, and Two Door Cinema Club played an after party put on by Belvedere vodka. The bands were great and the vodka cocktails were amazing but the place was so packed we grew claustrophobic and only stayed long enough to catch DJ White Shadow’s opening set and a few tracks from Two Door Cinema Club, a terrific indie pop band out of Northern Ireland. Seeing these acts in an intimate setting was a real treat.

One of Day Two’s highlights was Fitz and Tantrums, whose original material had a distinctive, retro flair to it. They also turned a cover of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” into a sing-a-long. Dapper frontman Michael Fitzgerald thanked the crowd, acknowledging the audience as “straight-up music lovers” before closing the set with “MoneyGrabber.” Another highlight included the Chain Gang of 1974, an L.A. band that owes a clear musical debt to Depeche Mode and Tears for Fears. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Singer Kamtin Mohager’s energy was infectious and he climbed into the crowd to perform one number at the center of a virtual mosh pit.

Led by Mick Jones, the recently reunited Big Audio Dynamite delivered a solid mix of rock and reggae as it revisited hits such as “Medicine Show” and the set-closing “Rush.” The ever-outrageous Cee Lo, who took the stage in an outfit that looked like something you’d wear to an S&M club or the set of a Mad Max reboot. He opened with his cover of Danzig’s “Mother” and then went into a cover of the Violent Femmes’ “Gone Daddy Gone.” The sound mix was off a little though, and his vocals were distorted or inaudible at times.

Day Two headliner Eminem, who was paired up against My Morning Jacket, was one of the festival’s biggest draws. That’s not only because he’s not touring much this summer but also because he hasn’t played in Chicago in several years. Fans secured spots close to the main stage as early as 11 a.m. to make sure they would have a good view of the show. Eminem came out strong with “Won’t’ Back Down,” but then reverted to a series of medleys that dissipated the show’s original intensity. We stuck around for most of the set (and were thrilled by his execution of “Stan,” his collaboration with Dido). On our way out, we passed Perry’s Stage, where Pretty Lights, a Colorado-based electro act, had a capacity crowd dancing the night away in a rave-like setting.

While the bands are certainly the main draw, Lollapalooza has succeeded because the festival is an experience. Perry’s Tent provides a rave-like atmosphere for anyone who is into electronic music and the various food vendors offer veggie and vegan alternatives in addition to exotic fare like lobster corndogs. An entire area is devoted to “green” vendors who sell everything from custom-made jewelry to T-shirts and shoes. Expanding the festival grounds for this year’s event meant it was a bit easier to walk from stage to stage, too. While Lollapalooza will likely never tour again, it has found a great home in Chicago (where it brings some $80 million into the local economy).

-Jeff Niesel

Sleeper Agent

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:06:49 GMT

Though only 15 at the time, singer Alex Kandel knew she wanted to join guitarist Tony Smith’s garage-pop band Sleeper Agent the minute she saw the Bowling Green, Kentucky band play live. So she pestered the heck out of the guy, and two years later when he scratched his original line-up and was looking for a new singer, he knew Kandel was his go-to gal.

The band immediately started writing new songs and then recruited Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, the Whigs) to produce its thrilling debut, Celebracion, which comes out next month. After commencing with the snappy single “Get It Daddy,” a song that makes the group sound like a Southern-fried White Stripes, the album doesn’t have a dull moment on it. Its raw energy is seductive, especially when Kandel and Smith take to harmonizing over the thrashy garage pop melodies. After high profile tours with Cage the Elephant and Manchester Orchestra, the band is ready to hit the road hard in the fall in support of Celebracion. We talked to Kandel and Smith via cell phone from Bowling Green and they filled us in on the details of the upcoming release.

How did this band come together?

Tony: We had a different line up in 2008. It was just me and Justin the drummer in that line-up and after that dissolved, we were going to be a two-piece. I’ll let Alex pick up from here.
Alex: I pestered them. My first band opened up for them when I was 15, and I was about 17 when I begged Tony to let me play with them.

What do you have in common?

Tony: Alex is just a kid, and I’m a big kid in a 24-year-old’s body. I think we have similar natures in common.

What is the Bowling Green scene like and do you fit in?

Tony: I wouldn’t say we fit into too well. We haven’t been able to play here in a long time. The premiere spot is a bar and since Alex is so young, we haven’t had a chance to play there. The music scene is like Where’s Waldo? You keep looking for it. It’s predominantly house shows. We’ve had all-ages venues in the past, but they shut down after about six months. The kids don’t buy drinks and they don’t like paying to get into a local show.
Alex: I think there definitely is one. But it’s not like when you go to Austin or Nashville where there are good shows going on every single night. It’s an event when there’s a big show here, and it’s an even bigger event when it’s a good all-ages show. The fact that it is a struggle to get a following here makes it more of a challenge but at the same time, there are kids in high school that rise to the challenge.

How did you and Cage the Elephant become musical soulmates?

Tony: When I was a teenager, I had a different band and our band houses were right next to each other. We’d play each other demos and they’d ask us to open for them before they got their big record deal and before they even started touring very much. We kept in touch and just tried to one up each other’s songwriting.

What was the recording process. Given that this was your debut, how comfortable were you in the studio?

Alex: The first day in the studio, we were super nervous but after that, everything went awesome. Our producer Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, the Whigs) is like family to us now.
Tony: We knew we didn’t have much time. We were allotted 10 days and we worked out asses off and cranked them out. It came to 14 songs.

How did Jay help you get the sound you wanted?

Alex: He records everything live and isn’t too concerned about everything being overly perfect. If it feels good, you leave it. have gotten the chance to see other bands work in the studio and I can’t imagine working like that. It doesn’t feel as natural and as real and that’s why Jay was really good about making sure our songs have that feeling you get when you hear them live.
Tony: We did every song three or four songs and would just pick the best take. We’d have an overdub here or there, but it was all organic and natural. With the old line-up there was much more pressure to be bad ass or write about dark material. Once she joined, it was anything goes.

I see that the music has been described as southern fried soul punk. Talk about your backgrounds and influences.

Tony: It’s like when you’re from Kentucky, it comes naturally. As much as you try to cover it up, you’re just surrounded by this culture of Southern rock. Most of our influences come from lo-fi punk rockers like Jay Reatard and the Black Lips and goes as far back as ’50s pop music. Our bassist and our keyboardists are into really obscure, whiny folk music.
Alex: I think we all have different backgrounds. I have younger parents and I was raised to hate classic rock. I can remember my dad listening to Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots and things like that. And mom was into pop music like the Ronnettes. Everyone else is into different things, as well. It all kind of mixes into whatever we do.

I like how a song like “Get It Daddy” is pretty noisy but still has a great melody. Talk about that balance.

Tony: We write these dark verses that are heavy and then go into a poppy, catchy chord. It seems to be working. I just think melody will never die.
Alex: I think we like contradictions, too.

I like the vocal melodies, too.

Tony: Our ranges are about the same, so I do most of the yelps and screams. A lot of times, I can’t hit the higher notes.
Alex: None of the vocal thing is planned. It’s just based on what I can actually do. I feel like when we’re in the studio, I come out 100 times better than when I walked in.

I take it the live show is really important. Talk about playing live and touring and how significant that is.

Alex: I love performing live. It’s the point where someone can really get it and see how we interact on stage and how fun it is. At the beginning, I was 17, and there were three of us. I was still living to perform and now I feel comfortable with stage presence. I try to push myself with it. I look up to [Cage the Elephant’s] Matt [Schultz] and how entertaining he is. Tony and I have this great opportunity to sing back and forth and interact with each other on stage.
Tony: You know how when you’re about to pass out and it gets dark around your eyes, if it gets to that point with me and I don’t pass out, I know it was a good show. It’s so non-stop, you never get a chance to breath. We feel antsy to get it all out. We’ve been toruing nationally since February but we didn’t really tour before that. This is the first real year of touring but we love being on the road.

Tour Dates

7/19 Toronto, ON Horseshoe
7/20 Montreal, QB Sala Rossa
7/22 Providence, RI Waterplace Park
7/23 Lancaster, PA Lizard Lounge
7/25 New York, NY Studio at Webster Hall
7/27 Asbury Park, NJ The Saint
7/28 Philadelphia, PA North Star Bar
7/29 Buffalo, NY Ninth Ward
7/30 Saratoga Springs, NY Putnam Den
7/31 Rochester, NY Scion’s Bonzai

-Jeff Niesel

Too much stereotypical monkey business in Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:03:09 GMT

A Planet of the Apes prequel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes gets off to a strong start. It commences as San Francisco scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) thinks he has found a cure for Alzheimer’s. But when an experiment involving a chimp called Bright Eyes goes awry, his boss pulls the plug on his entire operation. All the chimps are put down. Except for one. Will adopts a baby he calls Caesar and raises it as if it were his own child. Bright Eyes’ offspring, Caesar is unusually intelligent and quickly learns sign language. But after it bites a neighbor as it’s defending Will’s father (John Lithgow), Caesar is sent to quarantine. At this point, the mild-manner chimp becomes enraged after its caretakers prove to be rather vicious. It craftily begins to hatch an escape plan, rejecting Will’s offer to come back home. In one showdown with a guard, Caesar actually speaks and it’s this point that the movie officially jumps the shark. A human vs. chimp battle on the Golden Gate Bridge ensues and the film’s carefully crafted plot spirals out of control. To its credit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes features some of the most real looking apes you’ll ever see. The computer graphics are stunning (and for a budget of $93 million, you’d damn well better get some good-looking monkeys). But despite the fact that Will remains an ape sympathizer until the end, this movie resorts to man vs. beast clichés we’ve seen plenty of times before.

-Jeff Niesel

Keith Urban Concert...a View from the 4th Row, Unfolding Many Days Later

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:27:38 GMT

There is no marketing machine that could have accomplished what Keith Urban has in the last 14 years without what he's got. And what he's got, besides raw talent, is the unquantifiable, immeasurable “it” factor. July 21 at the Quicken Loans arena in Cleveland, Keith Urban lit up the arena for two and a half hours with his exceptional guitar playing and emotional songs, expressed by his enthusiasm for living! His well above average good looks don't hurt either. Sitting in the 4th row right smack in the middle of the stage has it's obvious advantages, but you really get a sense of what is going on up on the stage when you can see the expressions on the band's faces and the apparent inside jokes. Keith Urban's genuine hospitality shows through as if you are all personal guests who he has invited over for a foot stompin', rawkus party, and much to the chagrin of the security staff, he encouraged everyone to get up on their seats!

After being one of his 20 first fans back in 1997 when he played on his record label's suburban Cleveland patio in a band called The Ranch, I was a witness to the real deal! Keith treats all his fans like his neighbor next door and wants everyone to share in the experience as if it's his only chance to do it. Coincidentally it is a recurring theme in many of his songs, singing “It's all we've been given so you'd better start living right now”... and “These are the days we will remember so take 'em by the hand”...

He took time to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone for spending their hard-earned money to go to the show in these obvious challenging times, and he gave his band members their own chance to shine on stage. I've been back stage many times and can say Keith Urban is the same host when he is one-on-one, asking everyone's name and truly interacting, not just a quick drive-by that some artists participate in. I have traveled to several cities to catch a show, have many autographed CDs and numerous photos with him, including the autographed photo of that fateful day in 1997 when I became his first fan (in my own mind)! But it's hard to top the events that unfolded from the 4th row and after the show this year.

Keith invited four random fans up on stage to sing “Kiss a Girl” solos, the best being a 9 year old girl named Madison, dressed in her cutest country outfit, complete with guitar that she knew how to play! I took pictures of the exchange, as I did throughout the night, but didn't realize the extent of how special they were until I saw them in print. One image shows Keith helping her with a chord (hands backwards and upside down) all while he's singing at the microphone. Again, raw talent and the “it” factor that leads him go the extra mile for the experience. Other photos show the unusual duo sharing the mic like seasoned professionals, and the last photo shows Keith beaming from the interaction and crowd response, again the “it” factor. After seeing the prints, and being inspired by the “Keith Urban attitude”, I knew I had to try to find this girl's parents so they could have the once-in-a-lifetime experience captured in print. Impossible?

I thought it could be possible that Keith knew the girl and could get them to her. So since I was in the music industry for 23 years, I sent them to Keith's label, who forwarded to his management company. Another person offered to send them to the radio promotions department in case she was part of a radio promotion. Neither of these avenues turned up anything the first day. The next day brings a series of random events that were not planned and it's still hard to believe they could unfold as they did. I had my concert photos in my gym bag to show some friends at the gym. As I left the gym I saw my former boss's car in the lot of our former company, (he only goes there once a week and this was not his usual day). I stopped in to show him the concert photos, and on the way out I saw a woman I used to work with (again, this was not planned). As soon as I asked if she wanted to see my Keith Urban concert photos, she blurted out that she read on Facebook that her high school friend's daughter got to go on stage to sing with Keith Urban! Bingo, I found the girl's parents! It felt like an Oprah moment, with that whole law of attraction phenomenon! It's as if the lyrics “These are the days we will remember so take them by the hand...” were coming to life. Lesson? Nothing is impossible, live each day with positive enthusiasm and think about what you can do for others. You never know what random events might come together to make your day! Thanks, Keith, for a great show and inspiring fans everywhere!

-Jenni Hamilton

Cowboys & Aliens is a Rather Dull Shootout

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:21:48 GMT

Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) sets out to combine genres with Cowboys & Aliens, a sci-fi/Western based on a graphic novel. Taking place in a small town in the wild, wild West, the film commences with a scene in which Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wakes up to find a bracelet strapped to his arm. He quickly dispenses with a few roughneck cowboys who try to take him out, and he ends up in the town of Absolution, where he has a run-in with Percy (Paul Dano), the trouble-making son of rich cattleman Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). When Dolarhyde comes to rescue his son, the alien invasion begins and his son along with a group of townspeople are captured and whisked off to a giant spaceship that has attached itself to the base of a mountain. Jake’s bracelet, it turns out, is the key to defeating the aliens. It possesses the ability to destroy their entire colony, but Jake has to get close enough to the bad guys to make that happen. Jake and the Colonel realize they must put aside their differences and organize a posse to defeat the evil aliens. It’s at this point that that the plot begins to slow. The film will undoubtedly appeal to anyone who loves Westerns. Ford and Craig both make for good grizzled cowboys (Olivia Wilde, however, is miscast as Jake’s love interest). But once the aliens arrive, all the nuances disappear and the movie turns into a video game of sorts as heavily armed cowboys and aliens engage in one long, dull shootout.

-Jeff Niesel

Captain America Just Isn’t a Compelling Character

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:16:39 GMT

Billed as the story of “the first Avenger,” Captain America almost serves as a prequel to films such as The Incredible Hulk and Ironman. The storyline here predates what happens in those movies, and the film version, which was originally conceived back in 1997, is a period piece of sorts that centers on the early life of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), a Brooklyn kid who wants to go to war to fight the Nazis but can’t get accepted into the military on account of his poor health and diminutive stature. He gets a break, however, when he meets Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci), a German defector who heads up a pilot program designed to produce super soldiers. Steve volunteers to be the guinea pig and after getting inoculated with Erskine’s special serum, he puts on the muscle and becomes a fighting machine. At first, he’s designate to the sidelines and takes on the Captain America persona to recruit new soldiers. But once he performs a daring rescue mission, he becomes the military’s go-to-guy as it tries to take down Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving), a mad scientist who has aspirations to destroy the United States. There’s a lot of exposition in this movie and once Captain America finally has his showdown with Schmidt, it’s all rather anticlimactic. While the film certainly captures the look of the era and is a refreshing departure from all the special effects flicks we’ve seen this summer, it doesn’t establish Captain America as a compelling character. The guy lacks Iron Man’s humor or Thor’s physique. Perhaps that’s supposed to be part of his charm, but even the romance between Steve and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) doesn’t resonate.

-Jeff Niesel

August Burns Red Hopes to Move Beyond Metalcore

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:22:26 GMT

With its new album, Leveler, which hits stores today, Manheim, Pennsylvania’s August Burns Red aspires to move beyond the metalcore tag that it has been tagged with ever since it made its debut with 2005’s Thrill Seeker. Not that the nomenclature has hurt sales. The band’s last album, 2009’s Constellations, debuted in the top 25 on Billboard’s charts, and the group has been enlisted to be one of the headliners on this year’s Warped Tour. With its distinctive time signature changes, lead single “Internal Cannon” is certainly going to raise some eyebrows. Guitarist JB Brubaker recently phoned in to discuss the new album and the pros and cons of having a Christian fanbase.

Since forming in 2003, the band has been through some line-up changes. Talk about those changes and how good you think the current line-up is.

We did Thrill Seeker with [singer] Josh [McManness] and he quit because he didn’t like touring. Getting out there was a learning curve, and we didn’t know how we would react. It just so happened that our fist two singers did not like it. We picked up [singer] Jake [Luhrs] who started playing in January of 2006 and then we lost our bassist that year; he started dating a girl and couldn’t hack it on the road either, which proves to be a common theme. We picked up Dustin Davidson and he rounded out our current line-up. We’re happy to have a steady line-up. It’s hard for me to think to how things were. We’ve done most of our touring with the same five guys. We have had the same tour manager throughout all of that, too. We are a tight group of guys. We have been able to strengthen the vocalist position. Our old bassist couldn’t scream or anything and Dustin does all of our back-ups now. Jake has a more dynamic voice. It’s better for the band. We’re excited by the current line-up and if anybody quit at this moment, it would be hard to carry forward.

Have you always been the band leader?

I assumed that position a long time ago, before we even signed to a label. I was the dude driving the business and I happened to do a lot of the writing as well. I don’t know why that happened. I probably inherited those traits from my mom, who can be controlling as well.

Constellations seemed like a real breakthrough for the band. You were able to do some significant touring and it even sold well. Talk about that album’s significance.

It represents pushing beyond breakdowns and doing more with melody. We’d been growing as musicians as best we can and the level of musicianship got to a place where we could do more things with melody instead of just chugging away at the open sea. It was just kind of the culmination of years of playing together.

You toured extensively after it came out. What was that like?

We went all over the world for the last 18 months, which is awesome. To be given the opportunity to play in exotic places is awesome. It’s cool to see some new faces for a change.

And at some point, you decided to take time off to write Leveler, is that correct?

With every record, we take a month or two to work together as a group and pull the songs together. Usually, the material is already written. Much of Leveler was written on a long break we had between a spring tour in 2010 and whatever we did in the summer of 2010. I got into a major writing phase and I was banging out riffs every day. A lot of the songs stem from what I was writing at that point.

Do you listen to lots of music when you’re writing or do you isolate yourself?

If I’m hitting a block, I might start listening to stuff that will be good for me to be inspired by. But I don’t want to be a copycat of other bands. Hopefully, we can write more unique music or at least not sound like a carbon copy. I listen to music but not necessarily metal music.

What sound were you going for?

I would like to say that we’re taking the sound people have come to know and we’re stretching it in all directions and not staying within the proverbial metalcore box. I hate the metalcore box and we’re over it at that point. I still want to play heavy and fast music but I want to accompany it with things that are less traditional for the genre and I hope that will make it fresh.

What approach did you take on the lyrics?

Everyone in the band is free to write and contribute. Everyone is in different places in their life. There’s not a main theme to our album. We shy away from love songs and songs about break up and heart ache. We do talk about relationships but not in that sense. [Drummer] Matt Greiner writes about spirituality. He’s a very spiritual person. [Guitarist] Brent [Rambler] writes about things that frustrate him. [Singer] Jake [Luhrs’] stuff is all over the place. He can be philosophical or write about a situation in his life. We try to write them in a central way so you can apply them in your life.

Some of the songs are about dark stuff. Does that ever conflict with your faith?

Definitely some of the songs, especially some of the stuff Jake wrote. He’s gone through a lot in his life, especially in the last 18 months. His parents got divorced and I don’t want to get too into his personal life, but it’s added fuel to his lyrical fire. It’s not all been positive but he wrote “The Internal Cannon,” which is about conquering addictions. That’s a positive thing. Everyone goes through dark times, and that’s not something the band wants to ignore.

Do you have a big Christian fanbase?

It would be ignorant for me to ignore that fact. I know from interacting with fans on Twitter, if I say “shit,” I catch flack for it. It’s always a real reminder for me that we have a ton of young straight-laced fans who don’t tolerate that kind of thing. Kids are also looking for us to slip up. Everyone makes mistakes. Whether you’re Christian or not, you do things that Christians would frown upon. That’s just part of being a human being.

I think it’s true that people generally like to point it out when celebrities make mistakes.

I agree with that. That’s a shame because we don’t get to be ourselves at all times. If I were drinking a beer, I would get scolded by some 14-year old who was told that if you drink a beer you can’t be Christian. That kind of stuff bothers me. That’s my choice. I have to remember that I was a 14year-old kid who grew up in a youth group. I was told the same things as these kids. I have to realize that at some point, they’ll grow up and learn to make their own decisions. At this point, they’re just regurgitating what they were taught in church. They’ll figure it out.

Talk about your summer touring schedule and aspirations for the album.

We’re doing the entire Warped Tour for the first time. We’ll be playing on the main stage, which is awesome. The record comes out three days before the tour starts, which is great. I want to know what kids’ favorite songs are. We care about that and want to play the songs that people want to hear. At this point, we’re just guessing. We’re definitely super pumped for the record to come out and hit the road for what should be a very fun summer for us.

Tour Dates

Jun 24 - Dallas TX @ Gexa Energy Pavillion
Jun 25 - Houston TX @ The Showgrounds at Sam Houston Race Park
Jun 26 - San Antonio TX @ AT&T Center
Jun 29 - Las Cruces NM @ NMSU Practice Field
Jun 30 - Las Vegas NM @ Plaza Hotel - Parking Lot
Jul 1 - Pomona CA @ Pomona Fairplex
Jul 2 - Mountain View CA @ Shoreline Amphitheater
Jul 3 -Ventura CA @ Ventura County Fairground at Seaside Park
Jul 6 - Bonner Springs KS @ Sandstone Amphitheater
Jul 7 - Noblesville IN @ Verizon Wireless Music Center
Jul 8 - Detroit MI @ Comerica Park
Jul 9 - Tinley Park, IL @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheater
Jul 10 - Shakopee MN @ Canterbury Park
Jul 12 - Darien Center NY @ Darien Lakes Fields
Jul 13 - Mansfield MA @ Comcast Center
Jul 14 - Scranton PA @ Toyota Pavillion at Montage Mountain
Jul 15 - Mississauga ON @ The Flats at Arrow Hall
Jul 16 - Montreal QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau
Jul 17 - Hartford CT @ Comcast Theater
Jul 19 - Milwaukee WI @ Marcus Amphitheater
Jul 20 - Cleveland OH @ Blossom Music Center
Jul 21 - Camden NJ @ Susquehana Bank Center
Jul 22 - Burgettstown PA @ First Niagara Pavillion
Jul 23 - Uniondale NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Jul 24 - Oceanport NJ @ Monmouth Park Raceway
Jul 26 - Columbia MC @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
Jul 27 - Virginia Beach VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul 28 - Charlotte NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Jul 29 - Orlando FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds
Jul 30 - West Palm Beach FL @ Cruzan Amphitheater
Jul 31 - St. Petersburg FL @ Vinoy Park
Aug 1 - Atlanta GA @ Aaron's Amphitheater at Lakewood
Aug 2 - Cincinnati OH @ Riverbend Music Center
Aug 3 - St Louis MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Aug 4 - Council Bluffs IA @ Westfair Fairgrounds
Aug 5 - Denver CO @ Invesco Field at Mile High
Aug 6 - Salt Lake City UT @ Utah State Fairpark
Aug 7 - Phoenix AZ @ Ashley Furniture Homestore Pavilion
Aug 9 - San Diego CA @ Cricket Amphitheater
Aug 10 - Carson CA @ Cal State Dominguez Hills
Aug 11 - Marysville CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheater
Aug 12 - Nampa ID @ Idaho Center Amphitheater
Aug 13 - George WA @ The Gorge Amphitheater
Aug 14 - Hilsboro OR @ Washington County Fairgrounds

-Jeff Niesel

Super 8 Pays Homage to Old school Sci-Fi

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:25:03 GMT

Written and directed by J. J. Abrams (Cloverfield, Star Trek), Super 8 pays homage to the old school sci-fi flicks of the ’70s. It’s a little bit like E.T. and Close Encounters, only with more explosions and violence. Set in 1979, the film takes place in a small Ohio town. It commences with a scene depicting the funeral for the mother of Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney), a well-mannered 13-year-old who has been coddled by his departed mom. His father Jackson (Kyle Chandler) is a police officer who takes his job more seriously than parenting. While he’s not abusive, he’s so stern, you wonder if he really loves the kid. Joe, however, has a good group of friends led by the chubby Charles (Riley Griffiths), who’s trying to enter a film he’s making into a competition. One night, he and Joe and a cadre of kids head to a train station to take some footage. They’ve recruited one of their classmates, a pretty young girl named Alice (Elle Fanning), to join them, and Joe is instantly smitten.

The filming is proceeding as planned, but when a train crashes, the kids find themselves in the middle of a national crisis. It turns out the train was carrying some kind of alien creature that has gotten loose and started to wreak havoc on the small town. Townspeople are disappearing and household pets are running away. Jackson takes it upon himself to try to get to the bottom of things, even if that means pissing off Air Force Colonel Nelec (Noah Emmerich), who is leading the government’s investigation and does his best to keep the local authorities at bay. It’s not giving too much away to say that by the film’s ending, the town is trashed and Joe and the boys have to fight for their lives. The movie is certainly an effective period piece – it accurately captures the look and feel of the late ’70s. Its first half is effectively suspenseful, too. But the movie doesn’t hold up in the second hour (it’s about two hours long). Once we actually see the alien and learn its history, our disbelief can no longer be suspended.

-Jeff Niesel

Cars 2 Takes a Few Wrong Turns

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:24:13 GMT

At the onset of Cars 2, the sequel to the 2006 film about a group of talking cars who The film begins with British spycar Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) sneaking into a suspicious oil platform and finding that evil scientist Professor Zündapp (Thomas Kretschmann) is planning something, but is discovered and forced to escape before he can find more details. Meanwhile after winning the Piston Cup for the fourth time, Racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) returns to Radiator Springs and rejoins his best friend tow truck Mater (Larry The Cable Guy). While watching the announcement of the first World Grand Prix, sponsored by former oil tycoon Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) to promote his new renewable fuel Allinol, Mater gets angry when F1 car Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) starts boasting about how he is far faster than McQueen and he manages to contact the TV studio by phone to confront him. McQueen intervenes and accepts Bernoulli's challenge to race against him in the Grand Prix.

At the suggestion of McQueen's girlfriend Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), Mater travels with him to Tokyo, Japan for the first leg of the Grand Prix, but only serves to embarrass McQueen. Meanwhile, McMissile and fellow spycar Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) make contact with an American spycar (Bruce Campbell) who has information on the identity of Zündapp's superior. The agent is captured and killed by Zündapp, but he manages to slip the information to an unknowing Mater. McMissile and Holley mistake Mater for their contact. Shiftwell tries to make contact with Mater, but he believes she's flirting with him. When the race begins, McMissile and Holley move to protect Mater from Zündapp's henchmen. While obliviously evading the henchmen, Mater inadvertently gives McQueen bad advice which causes him to lose the race. Meanwhile, Zündapp uses an EM pulse to ignite the Allinol in several racecars. Angry at Mater's embarrassing behavior as well as causing his loss, McQueen has a fight with Mater who decides to return to Radiator Springs where he is picked up by McMissile (who still believes Mater is an American spycar) and drafted into foiling Zündapp's plot.

In Italy where the second leg of the Grand Prix is being held, Mater manages to infiltrate one of the criminals' meetings disguised as Ivan, another tow truck. He finds that the mysterious chain of accidents occurring during the races is part of a plan to discredit Allinol and ensure that all cars keep using conventional fuel to secure the profits of their organization which managed to secure the largest unexplored oil resources in the world. With most cars out of the race due to the explosions, McQueen and Bernoulli end up in first and second respectively. Miles Axlerod states that with the Allinol under suspicion he decides to suspend use of the fuel for the third and final leg in England, but McQueen states that he trusts Axlerod's fuel (by Fillmore's advice) and will keep using it. The criminals then decide to have McQueen killed in the next race. Mater reveals himself by accident and rushes to warn his friend, but is captured along with McMissile and Shiftwell before being able to do so.

Mater wakes up tied up inside Big Bentley along with McMissile and Shiftwell, minutes away from being crushed by its gears. The last race begins and the criminals use the EM device (disguised as a television camera) on McQueen, but surprisingly, nothing happens. Mater learns that a bomb was put into Lightning's pit crew area, set to explode when McQueen stops there and he manages to escape to warn his friends. McMissile and Shiftwell succeed in freeing themselves as well, but find that the bomb is actually inside Mater's body, swapped with his air filter. They warn him about the bomb just when he is about to rejoin the others. Mater flees to protect them with McQueen going after him unaware of the situation.

Professor Zündapp tries to detonate the bomb remotely only to find that the device is out of signal range. He then sends his henchmen to kill McQueen and Mater, but they are foiled by the combined efforts of McMissile, Shiftwell, and the Radiator Springs residents. McMissile orders Zündapp to deactivate the bomb in Mater's body, but Zündapp claims that the bomb is voice activated and only the one who installed it is able to do so. Mater then figures out that the true mastermind behind the criminals is none other than Miles Axlerod himself whose aim was to have the world relinquish the use of all alternative fuels in favor of the oil reserves in his possession. Axlerod ends up confirming Mater's suspicion when he is confronted by him and forced to deactivate the bomb. For stopping Axlerod's plans, Mater is knighted by the Queen and returns home with his friends where the cars from the Grand Prix take part into their own, unofficial Radiator Springs Grand Prix. Fillmore reveals that Sarge replaced Lightning's Allinol before the last race with Fillmore's own organic fuel mixture which is what prevented Lightning from being affected by the EM pulse. McMissile and Shiftwell pay a visit to Mater and invite him to join them in another secret mission, but he declines, claiming that he is in the place he should be.

-Jeff Niesel