When I read that Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine were creating a music academy at USC, I immediately thought about how drastically different it would be in comparison to traditional music schools. Of course, Dre’s school is going to be geared towards the music business (or “innovation in business” as they put it), but it will also have an arts program, and the first thing that comes to mind is “hip hop is not going to die anytime soon.” But music is not all that will be taught there.
Instruction will involve engineering, computer science, fine arts, graphic design, business and leadership training.
and as Dean of Fine Arts at USC Erica Muhl said in an interview,
“Academy students will have the freedom to move easily from classroom to lab, from studio to workshop individually or in groups, and blow past any academic or structural barriers to spontaneous creativity.”
While the NYTimes hopes the school will produce the next Steve Jobs, the question right now remains who will be one of the lucky 25 who manage to get in to the school on its first opening, and what should we really expect of them? Pop music has been forever cursed with echoes of regurgitated, and sometimes even stolen art, and while the donation is a beautiful contribution to the world of music education, it also carries a certain standard that could possibly alter the course of the students’ professional careers, and not necessarily in a good way. After all, half the donation is coming from a man who got that money from gloating on his records about selling drugs, treating women poorly, employing prostitutes, and killing people with guns, and while rapper Eminem said in the past that what is said on a record is much different than what is usually said in real life, that doesn’t necessarily mean that none of what has been said on a Dre record is true.
It’s also possible that this move by Dr. Dre could help to shift the discourse on rap records from violence and drugs to a more peaceful and educational movement, something we’ve recently seen from Snoop Lion (the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg), which is undoubtedly a natural progression in both the arts and in life. Violence, after all, has the power to ultimately hinder record and concert sales, especially if the listeners are in jail.
At age 91, jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck was still playing jazz clubs like Blue Note in New York City. He pioneered a style which caught everyone’s eyes and ears in such popular jazz songs as “Take Five”, “Blue Rondo A la Turk”, and others with challenging time signatures and rhythms that stand out among the finest of jazz music from the last century.
Brubeck formed The Dave Brubeck Quartet circa 1951 and was the first modern jazz musician to be pictured on the cover of Time magazine in November of ’54. As his career spanned American jazz as far back as the end of World War II, Brubeck helped define cool jazz with saxophonist Paul Desmond through the 1950s and 1960s.
Brubeck died of heart failure early Wednesday morning on his way to a cardiology appointment with his son Darius and would have had his 92nd Birthday the following Thursday.
At New York’s Global Citizen’s Festival in Central Park yesterday, Dave Grohl said to the audience, “Without making a big deal out of it, we don’t have any shows after this. This is it, man. Honestly, I don’t know when we’re gonna do it again… and this is the perfect place to do it.” The festival was put on by the Global Poverty Project, an advocacy group in the U.S. that has been working to end extreme poverty.
Although Grohl made it sound like a big change in the group’s career, he didn’t make it sound at all final when he said,”I don’t know when, but we’ll see you again.”
Could this be very long hiatus? Solo and side projects have never been stopping them — Queens of the Stone Age, Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, Them Crooked Vultures, Coheed and Cambria, and many other studio and touring groups have ceased both Grohl and Hawkins in the past and present, but there is clearly something in the works for Grohl and other members that may have be along the lines of a much-needed break from being one of the biggest rock bands of the 2000s.
At age 48, Whitney Houston is found dead at a Hilton Hotel on the night before the Grammy Award show.
At this point, I think it’s safe to say that, while we don’t officially know the cause of death yet, Houston’s self-destructive behavior has finally reached a boiling point. After a night of partying, the pop music legend passed away, leaving behind a daughter, a broken career, and millions of dollars in assets whose new ownership are yet to be determined.
Before you go and get uptight about any sort of “indecency” that critics may be showing at this time, first try to take into account the overly-irresponsible behavior of a celebrity who once showed the world an emotionally powerful and uplifting song like “The Greatest Love Of All” in contrast to probably the worst performance ever caught on camera of any pop diva after years of a reckless, drug-induced lifestyle:
The elements of both these songs are very similar. From the chord progression (mainly) to the drum beats to the overall feel, both song are rock songs with an electronic overlay at a medium hip hop RPM. But since Beck is just an all around better musician, it’s easier to hear the Beck melody over the Fatbox Slim song than the other way around. The sad truth is that Push And Shove came out a year prior to E-Pro.
The rumor is she was upset she had to sit so close to photographers.. which is ironic since she WORKS FOR POLAROID… So, instead of holding back the urge to yell profanities, say fuck you to the world with both hands, strip down to her skimpies and crash Jerry Seinfeld’s box seats, the diva decided to be herself.
Clearly, we’ve never seen Gaga like this. I mean, screw the BP oil spill and never-ending war in the Middle East, this is more than newsworthy. It’s not like we knew she would eventually crack from all the attention of being a celebrity. That never happens!
Maybe this is as good a time as any to note that TMZ clearly tries a little too hard to find a new story where there is already something right up their alley. They posted the following pic, insinuating Gaga french kissed a woman (at least that is what I was brought up to believe “first base” as) just because she was affectionate with a friend:
The more entertaining story is the one that shows what really happened, especially since Lady Gaga is hot and sexy in nothing but a gold-beaded swimsuit. We hesitated to post the photos, since obviously this is exactly what she was worried about. But, we’re sorry, she simply cannot have her cake and eat it too. She may be an American, but unfortunately for her a land of opportunity has bred a land of opportunists. And frankly, if you act like a freak in all your performances, then demand special treatment at a baseball game, then you will get treated as such. Didn’t your mama ever teach you not to egg your antagonists on?
Well, one thing is for sure. Gaga most likely will have learned a lesson here: next time act stoic or wear a mustache. Although.. we just might be expecting that..
The Widow is a song written by the Mars Volta. The song was released on their 2nd album entitled “Frances the Mute”. Mars Volta first performed the song in 5/04 and Wiltern Theatre in LA where they had a 3 night residence at the end of the tour that was supporting their debut album “De-loused in the Comatorium”.
During the concert Mars Volta dedicated “The Widow” to former member Jeremy Ward who had died of a drug overdose in 5/03. After the release of Mars Volta Widow it peaked at #95 on the US billboard charts, which made “The Widow” Mars Volta’s first single to chart. The Widow also reached #20 in the singles chart of the UK. The Widow also reached #7 on the Billboard modern rock chart.
Mars Volta’s Widow is the only pop structured song on the album “Frances the Mute”. The Widow features a trumpet cameo from Flea after the 2nd chorus of the song.
The Widow single contains the 14 minute track “Frances the Mute” which was taken off as the initial opening track to the album for unknown reasons.
