Frustrated Music Journalist

God must have spent a little more time on you.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Nsync - God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You

It's almost 3:30 in the morning as I sit here, taking a break from cleaning my incredibly messy room. Final exams are looming, so I'm using cleaning as a vehicle to decompress.

Going well so far...

I started off the cleaning session with Radiohead's Hail to the Thief. Everybody makes such a big deal about Okay Computer and In Rainbows (although, I'm not disputing either album's artistic value); however, my personal favorite has always been Hail to the Thief and Kid A. And I'd definitely say Kid A > Hail to the Thief.

Whatever.

Critics are often wrong. And I should know because I'm one of them.

Next, I played 'Nsync's self-titled album. I went through an intense phase with 'Nsync during my adolescent years --to an extent which I will not describe for fear of embarrassment. However, what's probably even more embarrassing is what I'm about to say:

In a world of auto-tuned, over-sexed radio pop, I find "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" as being deeply sweet and touching. It reminds of a time when every fucking song on the radio wasn't about drinking, asses, clubbing, sexing, or drinking and sexing --or, all of the above.

Anyway, I'm off to finish cleaning. Or, sleep. Whichever happens first.

Holy Shit.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:06:00 +0000

Maybe it's just because I'm still awake and it's 4 a.m., but this video just blew my mind. Misogyny without a penis??!

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And this video and song, I just plain like it:

They're actually a Christian band if you can believe it.

Born to Rock.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:21:00 +0000

Recently, I've been seriously questioned my taste and scope of music. For most people this would be something that is absolutely inane and unimportant to their everyday existence, but for me it is unsettling, so I consequently sent this e-mail to a friend:

Currently, I have about 14 GBs of music --some of which I have been replacing since Hurricane Katrina in '05. I've got about 30 more albums to go. I know that I'm severely lacking in size and variety. On the upside I have read a ton about music, so if I don't own an album I have probably at least read about it. I also have a lot of alt-rock (and its many offshoots), pop, experimental, and indie. In addition to this, I have an strange and uncanny knowledge of contemporary Christian music. Right now, I'm working to acquired a lot of older music because I am frustrated with the current state of modern rock. And I have really mixed feelings about the few indie bands that I like. Plus, I'm only 22, so I've a got a lot of music to catch up with! My catalog is small, but generally speaking, I have the most diverse selection of all my friends. Here's how it breaks down:

(Editor's Note: this is not my entire library!)

**Classic Rock: Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, The Beatles, Heart, Bob Dylan, Love, The Association, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Doors, AC/DC, Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, SRV, Yardbirds, The Animals, Cream, Derek & The Dominoes, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Donovan, Ted Nugent, Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Bowie, KISS, Pink Floyd, Syd Barret, Thin Lizzy, Televison, The Who, Yes, The Police, Living Colour, R.E.M., Talking Heads, Nico, J.J. Cale

Old School Punk/New Wave: Dead Kennedys, Devo, Blondie Sex Pistols, The Clash, Carpettes, Wire, Bad Brains, Ramones, Fear, The Stooges, The Damned, Fishbone

Boogie/Funk: Dr. John, The Meters, Parliament Funkadelic (They'd take away my citizenship in New Orleans if I didn't listen to them)

Blues: Robert Johnson, Harlem Handfats

Jazz: Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday

Soul: Marvin Gaye

Country: I don't suppose Wilco counts?

Metal: Slayer, (old school) Metallica, (old school) DragonForce, Between the Buried and Me, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Testament, Lita Ford

Dance/Techno: LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk, Fedde La Grande, MIA

Classical: Chopin

Rap: Lil' Wayne, Rhymefest, MURS, GZA, De La Soul, Beastie Boys, Eminem, Jay-Z, Tribe Called Quest, Boogiemonsters, Nas, Lupe Fiasco, Public Enemy, Soulja Slim, Tupac, Dizee Rascal

**Technically, some of these artists fall under different sub-genres and subcategories.

What do you think?

His response was that my "black music is sorely lacking." So, being the over-analytical person I am, I started examining exactly why this is. Here's what I came up with:

* * *

My musical taste is odd for a black woman. But I suspect that is due to my weird upbringing. I grew up in a mostly black middle-class area of New Orleans, and I attended a VERY small religious school grades pre-k through 12th. When I rode in the car with my mom when as a child, I listened to what she listened to...which was contemporary Christian radio. For most religious black families in South, this was a rarity because my mother –who grew up in rural Mississippi-- hardly listened to gospel. Consequently, I have never acquired a taste for it.

Outside of contemporary Christian stuff, my mom also listened to Nat King Cole and Classical. I loved it when she would play "Four Seasons." I lived in a home with a single-parent's income, so I didn't have cable televison or get much exposure to movies. This probably also explains my total lack of knowledge about film. Music was always free, and therefore, always within my reach.

Aside from my mother, any other exposure I got from music before I was in middle school was by way of my brother (whom is 13 years my senior). He was really into Boyz II Men and underground hip-hop as a teen, so we spent a lot of time together whenever would babysit me while my mom was working. I remember sitting on floor with him in front of the stereo system in our living room. I must have been about 5-years-old. We were both sitting Indian-styled and he was teaching me how to whistle and to snap my fingers --both of which were unsuccessful on my many first attempts. When I finally learned to snap it was to a Boyz II Men song. It's still to this day one of my favorite memories of my brother and I.

As I got a little older, I started poking around my brother's CDs. For me, it was kind of like that scene from Almost Famous when protagonist William Miller was thumbing through his sister's vinyl. For him it was like seeing the face of God; however for me, it wasn't quite that way. It was more of an intense curiosity. Some of the album covers are still burned into my memory. Nas, "Illmatic"; Dead Prez, "Let's Get Free"; Jurassic 5 "Quality Control"; Boogiemonsters, "Riders of the Storm"; Jamiroquai, "Return of the Space Cowboy"[1]; and a Jimi Hendrix album of a name I cannot recall. I distinctly remember finding the back cover of the Hendrix album extremely weird and fascinating because I had never seen a black man with an electric guitar. I knew I had to listen to it.

When I was 11-years-old, I went through an intense phase with Nsync (yes, 'Nsync. I still cringe at the thought that I still remember every word to their first two studio albums.) Around this time, I started listening a lot of Top 40 radio, and I began noticing my fascination with learning about musician lives and reading music press. (Although, I was reading stuff like J-14, Seventeen, and Tiger Beat.) Throughout the duration of my middle and high school years, I developed a deeper passion for reading about and learning all that I could pertaining to music. I also studied Classical music in my school choir until the eighth grade.

A turning point came when my best friend at the time, Janette, gave me a copy of Now That's What I Call Music 3. It's pretty laughable when I think back on it, but at 11 it was like seeing the face of God. It was the first time I have listened to Blink 182 (I loved the "All The Small Things" video), Garbage, Oleander, or Limp Bizkit and I gobbled it up like a fat kid gorging on box of Twinkies.

Deep down I desired to embrace the rock videos I saw; however, I felt discouraged because it wasn't what the popular kids at my school were listening to. I also did not want to get stigmatized for listening to "white music" --something that I was constantly teased for because I haven't always had really good diction. (If you're from the North that might be harder understand. Yet, I digress.) Owning that Now CD fueled my burgeoning passion for rock-n-roll. It was the devil's music and I liked it.

Fortunately, I found companionship with another black classmate, Joshua Connelly. We both liked Limp Bizkit, and we would sing their songs together during class breaks. We talked a lot about how he was learning drums and bass. It was a important relationship because at the time everyone in our class begin breaking off into respective social circles that remain throughout the duration of high school. I got the point (at the wise old age of 12, mind you lol) that I wasn't popular, and I stopped trying to be. I may have not gotten invited to many sleepovers, but I always had rock-n-roll to comfort myself. I also suspect this had something to do with not being from an affluent family, and my physical appearance was going through some awkward phases. I was always the darkest-skinned girl black in the class, and all the boys --black and white-- flocked to more attractive light-skinned girls with less Afrocentric features. The rap music the popular kids listened to could never quell the sadness I felt for feeling different and I believe it is precisely why rock music felt more at home to me than the music they listened to. It was abrasive. It was dark. It was different and it fit me perfectly. And although it was no of interest to my peers, or any other black person I knew at the time, when painted my nails black and started stabbing safety pins through the strap of my messenger bag I felt connected to something that bigger than myself.

I guess I'm just a born rock-n-roller.

* * *

[1] In 6th grade I had an assignment to give a presentation on England which including bringing in a traditional dish and sample of British music. I brought Shepard's Pie --which my mother made-- and Jamiroqaui's "Space Cowboy." No one ate it because Shepard's Pie was weird (read: non-American), and I remember feeling embarrassed --especially when the popular kids in the class snubbed it :(

Buying Shit Inspires Me.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 01:26:00 +0000

Today, I bought an iPod, and in the midst of the incredible headphone sex I've been having for the past hour I realized two (kind of) awesome things:

1. "White Walls" by Between the Buried and Me really kicks ass.

I reviewed BTAM's album, Colors, last year and even picked it as one of my year-end favorites. After I reviewed the album (see link on left side), I read other reviews to hear other critics' spin on it. An overwhelming amount reviews lauded the last song on Colors, "White Walls." When I was reviewing it I didn't give the song too much thought. It's a concept album, so all of the songs blend together from beginning to end. Consequently, if you're setting down and listening to the album at one time (as I did when I was reviewing it), it's really hard to differentiate the transitions of each song, unless you want to spend the entire time looking at your CD player. However, thanks to my new purchase, I got a chance to listen to it outside the context of the album since I have my 'Pod on shuffle. I'm not much of a metalcore fan, but I whole-heartedly enjoy BATM's uncanny balance of brutal thrashcore, prog-rock, and melody.

2. Britney + Dangermouse = ???

Next up on my shuffle was "Gimme More", Britney Spears' desperate 2007 comeback hit. While I think the song is absolutely inane, I must it has a recockulously catchy beat. I have never purchased any of her albums, but I feel like have due to constant radioplay over the year. In hearing her music I have noticed that production on her last two albums, Blackout and Circus, have been impressive. ...Well, "impressive" in the sense that it's not really about the music itself: the lyrics are meaningless, it's not even Britney's real voice, and it is solely designed for people to get their freak on. In essence, it gets people dancing and it sells. And when I think of her most danceable songs, it's usually a result of a collaboration with producers who work in hip-hop. For example, "I'm a Slave 4 u" and "Boys" (both with Pharrell of N.E.R.D). I figured if Dangermouse flawlessly seam the Fab Four's White Album with Jay-Z in six weeks, I can only imagine what he could he do working with Britney. Until then, I can only ponder...

Marc Broussard's Dark Secret???

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:12:00 +0000

Is it just me, or does the chorus of Marc Broussard's "Home" sound eerily like the riff sampled in The Beastie Boys' "Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun" (See video at 2:44)?

WTF?!?!

I need someone to validate this!!

Beasties:

Marc:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1v5trmB1E&feature=related (Apparently, he's too good for YouTube embedding codes.)

Mardi Gras? Que Pasa?

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:25:00 +0000

I'm alive. It's Mardi Gras, so please excuse my absence.

-Dominique

The Magic Magicians: Alt-Rock Mysteries

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 06:17:00 +0000

It was the summer of 2003 when I became obsessed with the short-lived ABC Family television series, The Brendan Leonard Show. It was also during this time that my love affair with a certain two-piece indie rock band began. For each of the 40 episodes, Brendan would pick a "band of the day," using each selection as the backdrop to comical antics performed by him and teen-aged comrades as they reeked havoc in their small Illinois town. Simply put, the show was Jackass for kids. Brendan's picks generally tended toward bands based in and around the Northwestern U.S., such as Minus the Bear, Built To Spill and Bangs. I religiously searched for every band he mentioned. Of the groups he chose, it was The Magic Magicians that stood out the most, although initially for their redundant moniker. For me, a sixteen-year-old audio-obsessive burgeoning into a then newly-discovered world of indie rock, discovering a band with a weird name that my friends had never heard of was not unlike finding a goldmine.

...Click here to continue reading @ Perfect Sound Forever.

My Journey to the White House

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:11:00 +0000

Excitement rose to a fever pitch as I stood among the 1.5 million spectators eagerly waiting to watch American history unfold in the nation's capital when 47-year-old Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as the first black president of the United States. MSNBC reported nearly 10,000 people had already arrived by early Monday evening, many of them choosing to wait overnight in below freezing temperatures.

I was fortunate enough to be among them.

“It's more like a Superbowl than an inauguration,” said Baltimore, Maryland native Kevin Keegan in response to the massive and enthusiastic crowds.

According to CNN, 240,000 tickets to the event were printed free-of-charge, some of them scalped for thousands of dollars. The theme of the inauguration was dubbed “A New Birth of Freedom” in commemoration to the 200th anniversary of the birth of 16th President Abraham Lincoln.

Standing in the shadow of the Washington Monument, I surveyed the gargantuan sea of humanity that stretched out before me and thought, “What has hatred and prejudice done but show us that the people of our country, despite our many differences, need to come together as a tight, cohesive and harmonious unit?”

Although correlation between Obama's election and the thrust of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's “I Have A Dream” Speech have been a constant media chorus, at the inauguration I realized that harping on this only limits him. This election mean so much more than that. As a black citizen, I feel that his election to presidency is the first step toward that goal, not because he is the first black president, but because it is undoubtedly one of the most important elections in history.

Instead of restricting Obama to the category of being a black president, he should simply be our President. That is the true sign and testament of Dr. King's dream. It is my hope that by the end of his presidency he will be seen for who he is, not what he is.

“I wish we could get away from the African-American label,” said Rose Marie O'Grady, a Suffolk, Virginia, resident who drove through frigid temperatures from her home, and paid $500 to rent a studio apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue just to catch a glimpse of the historic event. “It goes beyond being black, [Obama] is a president for the people. Labels only separate us.”

After coming to America from Mexico City in 1973, O'Grady earned a degree from Virginia Tech and found employment as a high school teacher. “I'm a naturalized American citizen, and [the inauguration] was the second best thing to being American,” O'Grady said.

“When we look around we saw the faces of Americans,” she said. “The dream Martin Luther King spoke of has been realized.”

She added, “I think it reflects that we are one people [and] uniting all of us as Americans.”

Vocalist Aretha Franklin sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," and was followed by "Air and Simple Gifts," performanced by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero, and clarinetist Anthony McGill. Pastor Rick Warren delivered the invocation, and civil rights activist Joseph Lowery delivered the benediction.

During his acceptance speech, President Obama spoke of the importance and value of unity in our country. While donning a red necktie, the Republican color, he further reiterated this message by saying America “is not a national of red and blue states, but the United States.” Additionally, former President George W. Bush wore a blue tie, the Democratic color, for the ceremony.

President Obama gave a nod to New Orlans, saying “it is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break” and that “seek[ing] a new way forward, based on mutual respect” will help unite the country. He also placed blame for the recent economic collapse not just on greed and irresponsibility “on the part of some”, but also on the inability and unwillingness of everyone to move the country past an industrial-based economy, something that called our “collective failure to make hard choices and prepared the national for a new age.”

Obama also recited to words of Thomas Paine, which were ordered by President George Washington to be read to his troops: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

Former presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and former vice presidents, along with their wives, attended the inauguration. Former Vice-President Dick Cheney was wheelchair-bound due to an accident that he incurred while moving boxes.

On the inaugural parade route, Obama and his wife, Michelle, exited a heavily-armored presidential limousine walked a few blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue, waving to the adoring crowds under the watchful eyes of the Secret Service.

According to CNN, the Washington D.C.-area police force doubled in size to 8,000 officers for added security. The Secret Service Countersniper team also stood guard on numerous rooftops and hidden locations throughout the inauguration site and its surrounding area. An additional 10,000 troops from the National Guard and 1,000 FBI agents were present. The Department of Homeland Security reported that an additional 20,000 troops from the National Guard were held in reserve in case of a major security threat.

Young, old, members of all races, and the rich and famous were all in attendance, which showed itself in an engaging blend of patriotism and pop culture. Celebrities reported to be in attendance at the inauguration included Beyonce, Jack Black, Bono, Ashley Judd, Wyclef Jean, Kanye West, Faith Hill, Steve Carrell, Will.I.Am., Ashton Kutcher, Seal, P. Diddy, Bruce Springsteen, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Demi Moore, Tom Hanks, Ben Affleck, Tiger Woods, Garth Brooks, James Taylor, and Forrest Whitaker.

Twenty one jumbotron screens, each measuring 19 feet by 30 feet, were strategically placed along the National Mall to accomodate the 1.5 million spectators occupied the 23 block area from the U.S. Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial on Inauguration Day. Warming tents and other facilities on the Mall stayed open late in order to accommodate the heavy pedestrian traffic. At one vending tent, as many as 150 people waited to buy hot chocolate. Throughout the area, other vendors sold blankets, appearel, buttons, earrings, and various novelties emblazoned with the president's image.

Although some critics have admonished Obama's rockstar-like image and branding, others see Obama as a symbol of hope in a somber time.

O'Grady said she believes Obama's mass appeal stems from his austerity.

“He is the bi-racial son of an African immigrant,” she said. “He is not for the elite, and he is educated.”

As former President George W. Bush was announced during the cermony, I heard swaths of these crowds displaying their displeasure and booing loudly. This was the voice of America, and it was crying out for change. Although I could feel the heat and kinetic energy of the crowd, but this was no angry coup. It was through witnessing a peaceful transfer of power that the true humanity of America's patchwork heritage revealed itself.

And when taking into consideration the historical and cultural significance of President Obama's inauguration, I knew I wanted to be present. Not only was it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it is a memory I will hold dear for years.

The White Bitch Cometh

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:43:00 +0000

The White Bitch

The White Bitch’s Prey Drive

(Independent)

Like most of those who are familiar with The White Bitch’s tunes, I immediately picked up on its early-Prince era influence. However, upon meeting Michael Patrick Welch, the man behind the Bitch, I learned that it was not only the Great Purple One that inspired his falsetto-heavy funk-rock, but also 90s alt-rockers, Shudder To Think. When considering the band’s propensity toward skewed and broken pop melodies, it became clear how it fits within the context of The White Bitch.

His music is equal parts alt-rock, funk, abrasive punk, indie, pop, and R&B –which he somehow manages to do without overloading your senses. His debut album, The White Bitch’s Prey Drive, opens with “hep!,” a guitar-drenched soundscape that is enhanced by Ray Bong, who adds trippy atmospherics throughout the album. Bong is a tireless nitrous oxide-loving local noise-rock purveyor who plays a toy guitar and an assortment of effect pedals. The two surprisingly have a balanced relationship; Bong’s intangible electro embellishments balance out Welch’s workman-like alt-rock. Their collaboration works particularly well on “a confectioner’s dream” and “Attn. 2,” a song which Welch dedicated to fellow redheads during his performance at this year’s Voodoo Festival, or as he puts it, “my people rise up!”

Elsewhere on Prey Drive, Welch showcases clever lyricism on “What is Natural?,” a cryptic album gem. “No, it ain’t natural that you follow me around/The way you cry when I leave and make that bleating sound/No, I’m not putting you in a cage,” he sings. Which may raise eyebrows upon first listen; however, as it turns out, it is a charming ode to his beloved pygmy goat Chauncey. While those songs, and others like them shine, “creamy daemon” and “ASSTRAkt” are lower points on album—which luckily there are few—that suffer from conflicting sonic structures and lo-fi recording quality.

* * *

For more info on The White Bitch, please visit: http://www.myspace.com/thecreamywhitebitch

w00t

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Back from D.C. !!!!

Send me love, and share your thoughts about Obama's inauguration at dminor@uno.edu

-d

A Weekend In Music

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 09:59:00 +0000

Saturday

Band: Von Iva - Girls on Film

Sounds Like: Pretentious Pitchfork-Glorified Electro Hipsters.

Verdict: When I put it in my CD player for reviewing, I literally grimaced when I heard the opening notes. Save your time, and do not listen to this band.

Sunday

Band: Morning State -Retreat!!!

Sounds Like: Indie + Hardcore + Pop Sensibility

Verdict: My favorite track is "Spectacular," and I highly recommend checking it out. If you'd like a copy, send me an e-mail.

* * *

FYI: I will be mirco-blogging about the presidential inauguration via Twitter, which you may read here

Google My Epiphany.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:35:00 +0000

You know what's totally weird?

I just Googled myself and discovered various music reviews I've posted on my blog on other websites (listed below) --all accredited, of course. Which I suppose is cool because I'm getting my name out there.

http://www.music-critic.com/rock/radiohead_inrainbows.htm
http://www.music-critic.com/rock/betweentheburiedandme_colors.htm
http://musiccorners.blogspot.com/2008/07/testament-formation-of-damnation_19.html
http://www.music-critic.com/rock/rotarydowns_chainedtothechariot.htm
http://blogs.suntimes.com/enttest/jim-derogatis/2008/11/
http://albumblog.co.uk/testament-formation-of-damnation/

Finding those links reminded me of how dedicated I used to be to with this blog, and how I've essentially neglected it. However, I've come to a sudden realization: Creative people often go through intense periods of creativity where everything spews out like a great deluge of thoughts and ideas. Conversely, it is frequent for these people to experience intense cycles of uncreativity which is coincided with angst or depression. As you can tell, I've been going through the latter, which, well, sucks. However, I'm determined to rage against the machine, if you will. And if you can't tell already I'm using the blog as a way to do it, so excuse any of my future emo-tasity.

So, readers (if you're still out there), I've got more to come, and more music-related posts as well. My first one being my thoughts on the wonderful Grip Weeds.

Aren't they pretty?

If you're a fan of the 60s, enjoy well-crafted pop songs, Beatles-inspired harmonies, brawny guitar riffs, and catchy lyrics, and have not heard to the The Grip Weeds you are in for a treat! Although, it must be noted that the Grip Weeds do not have a Wikipedia page, so if you're curious about them you may have to search high and low for a substantial review or biography. Inspired by John Lennon's role as Musketeer Gripweed in the 1967 comedy How I Won The War, the band formed over 16 years ago in Highland Park, New Jersey and began crafting a sound that can only be described as an amalgamation of British Invasion-era rockers The Byrds, The Kinks, The Who, Buffalo Springfield, and aforementioned Liverpudlians, The Beatles. In 2007, the quintet gained the attention of NYC-based deejay Little Steven (a.k.a. Steven Van Zandt of E. Street fame), who featured their music in the Top 10 of his nationally-syndicated weekly radio program, Little Steven's Underground Garage. In addition to this, their single “Salad Days” was dubbed on the Underground Garage as the "Coolest Song in the World." This subsequently led to the release of Infinite Soul: The Best of the Grip Weeds on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records in 2008.

-Dominique
A (slightly less) Frustrated Music Journalist

I've Got The Writing Blues.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:45:00 +0000

I'm gonna try something...

It's been such a pain to bring myself to write much of anything anymore. And it's not because I don't have ideas or topics --I have plenty of those. However, in many ways I've sort of given up; consequently, it has become somewhat of an overbearing mental jettison. It probably didn't help that I ended up with a total of 4 part-time jobs on top of going to school time, trying my hand at being the Entertainment Editor for my school newspaper, my impending graduation, thoughts of Grad School, and dealing with a multitude of personal problems --all within the span of 5 months. Sure, I accomplished a lot, but it has left me completely burned out and void of any inspiration. When I write in my spare-time there's no joy anymore, but guilt. Plus, it doesn't help that this blog is getting hardly any traffic and I spent a thankless semester re-writing shitty movie reviews every week. I am often wracked with fear and anxiety thinking of all the things I want to (and could very well be writing about), but I just don't do it. [Btw, Jason G. if you're reading this, I'm really sorry for my slackertude, I'm really sucking at life right now.] Something inside of me tells me that I can't. Why is it that doing something that I love is so damn difficult???

Anyone have tips for getting over this slump?

A Musical Breakdown of 2008

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:04:00 +0000

My Favorite Albums of 2008*:
Chinese Democracy -Guns N' Roses
White Bitch's Prey Drive – The White Bitch
Yeah, Indeed! - Ballzack
Rainy Dayz Remixes - AmpLive
Feed The Animals- Girl Talk
Stepfather- People Under The Stairs
Question In The Form of an Answer- People Under The Stairs
O.S.T. (Original Soundtrack)- People Under The Stairs
What's The Time Mr. Wolf? - The Noisettes
Self-Titled- LCD Soundsystem
Discovery- Daft Punk
Enchanted (Soundtrack)- Various Artists
Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables- The Dead Kennedys
Time Capsule- The B-52's

*Not all albums released in 2008

Worst Albums I Heard In 2008 (Yuck, Yuck, Yuck):
Ctrl+Alt+Del- The Diggs
Self-Titled- Vampire Weekend
Dance or Die- Family Force 5
All God's Children- Caeser Pink & The Imperial Orgy

Artists I Loved In 2008*:
People Under The Stairs (317 iTunes plays)
The White Bitch (114 iTunes plays)
Ballzack (81 iTunes plays)
The B-52's (30 iTunes plays)
Talking Heads (38 iTunes plays)
The Noisettes (2 iTunes plays)
Earl Greyhound (29 iTunes plays)
Regina Spektor (31 iTunes plays)
Daft Punk (103 iTunes plays)

*This, according to my "scrobble" (LastFm), which I use about 50% of time I'm listening to music so some of these numbers are grossly inaccurate.

Who I Saw Live 2008:
Better Than Ezra ****
Van Halen *****
Al Green *****
Santana ***
Stevie Wonder *****
The Mars Volta ***-ish
One Man Machine *****
TV On The Radio ***
Stone Temple Pilots *
R.E.M. ***
Lil' Wayne **
The Dirtbombs *****
High In One Eye *****
Fatter Than Albert ***
Earl Greyhound ******
Rotary Downs ***
Man Man ***
Ray Bong ***
The White Bitch ****
The Vettes *
The City Life ***
Three Fantastic *****
Nine Inch Nails ****
Wyclef Jean *****
Zydepunks ***
Quintron & Miss Pussycat *****

Rating System goes as follows...
***** (5 Stars): A-fucking-mazing. I would definitely see them play again.
**** (4 Stars): Pretty good. Not completely blown away, but impressed nonetheless.
*** (3 Stars): Pretty satisfactory. Don't feel like I wasted money/time.
** (2 Stars): Blah.
* (1 Stars): Why, Lord? Why?

Songs I Was Obssesed With In 2008:
Two Weeks- Earl Greyhound
Pulp Fiction- People Under The Stairs
This Is The Way- Rivers Cuomo
That's How You Know- Amy Adams
Weird Fishez- AmpLive
Panama- Van Halen
Eat Street- People Under The Stairs
Pink Elephants on Parade- Dumbo Soundtrack
My Moon, My Moon- Fiest
Lover In The Snow- Rivers Cuomo
Love Me Or Love Me Not- Soulja Slim
Little Dreamer- Van Halen
Nudez- AmpLive
Just A Song About Ping-Pong- Operator Please
All I Need- AmpLive- Joy Divison
Dancing In The Moonlight- Thin Lizzy
Oxford Comma- Vampire Weekend
Love Will Tear Us Apart
Everybody Else- Carebears On Fire
Ballad Of Beaconsfield Miners- Foo Fighters feat. Kaki King
Apres Moi- Regina Spektor
Video Tapez- AmpLive
I Don't Want Wanna Be A Playa No More- Big Pun
Speak To Me/Breathe- Pink Floyd
Aching To Pupate- Regina Spektor
DJinni Stomp- Rotary Downs
Jappy Jap- People Under The Stairs
Marigold- Nirvana
Just Kissed My Baby- The Meters
N.I.B.- Black Sabbath
The Train Kept On Rolling- The Yardbirds
Miss You- The Rolling Stones
Face To Face- Daft Punk
I WE- The Noisettes
Winter Lady- Leonard Cohen
Ballad Of A Thin Man- Bob Dylan
When Did Your Heart Go Missing- Rooney
Limosine Mouse- Ballzack
Set Myself On Fire- One Man Machine
Tom Sawyer- Mindless Self Indulgence
Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses
Wordy Rappington- Tom Tom Club
What Is Natural?- The White Bitch
Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)- Baz Lurhmann
Strawberry Fields Forever- The Beatles
Nobody- Skindred
Song For A Future Generation- The B-52's
Halloween- Siouxsie & the Banshees
In My Arms (Bimbo Jones Extended Remix)- Plumb
John The Fisherman- Primus
make it YR STREGTH- The White Bitch
Jack Ass Brigade- Fishbone
A Method- TV On The Radio
Fatter Than You!- Fatter Than Albert
Waiting Room- Fugazi
Fotune Teller- Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Mind The Gap- The Noisettes
Pussy Monster- Lil' Wayne
Diamonds On My Neck- Smitty
Code Check- People Under The Stairs
Here [In Your Arms] (Young Americans Remix)- Hellogoodbye
San Francisco Knights- People Under The Stairs
World Hold On- Bob Sinclair
Love Addict- Family Force 5
Infinite Soul- The Grip Weeds

Q & A with Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:05:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post this for awhile...

Many music fans and critics alike have lamented about the lack of true music criticism, which to a large extent is true. I find that most modern music writing is mild critique with Q & A attached. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a few music writers out there holding it down for true, abashed rock crit. One of those writers is Jim Derogatis. Jim has written several fantastic books, including Milk It!, Let It Blurt, and Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. Over the years, he's has gotten a bad rep for being brutally honest, and in particular butting heads with Rolling Stone head honcho Jann S. Wanner and Billy Corgan (which involved the lead singer calling him a "fat fuck" and banning him from shows).

And with that, I would like to extend a special thanks, again, to the wonderful Mr. Jim DeRogatis. He spent almost two hours on the phone with me this May as I asked him every question under the sun about the perils of rock criticism, R.Kelly, and why po'boys are vastly superior to McDonalds, among many other things. I love it :] Make sure to check out Jim on Sound Opinions, his weekly podcast with fellow rock critic Greg Kot.

* * *

Interview with Chicago Sun-Times Pop Critic Jim DeRogatis:

I know you just got from Austin for South By Southwest, and that's like an amalgamation of all these different bands and critics. What's that like, as far as being a gathering critics? What is everyone like basically?

There's a lot fine people doing it. And it's sort of like: where Sound Opinions came from was [Greg] Kot and would be setting together at shows watching Mary J. Blige one night, and Arcade Fire the next. It's always interesting because there's 15,000 people at the Mary J. show, and there's 3,000 at the Arcade Fire, and nobody except him and I have been to both of those concerts. That's just fascinating. So, naturally people who are obsessed by music wind up arguing: “Do you like that album?” or, “That review you wrote made no sense.” I mean, it's exactly what you do when you're with your friends. There's a bunch of people who are really cool, and that's exactly what it's like. And there are a bunch of assholes. The one thing about doing the Lester book is that, people who are the most talented, the most incredibly inspiringly talented. Like Lester [Bangs], or Nick Toches, or Richard Meltzer are the most generous, and are the least threatened by other writers. The people who are like mediocre talents are very hostile, and very they'll be very protective, and don't want to share, and don't want to talk to you. They have their own crowd of people who they're sleeping with, or went to Yale with and that's it. I think that's what I've always found. You know, there's a lot people like David Fricke –who is still afraid of me-- and run the other way. I worked at Rolling Stone with him, and it's been the worse job I've ever had. I'd be there late on a Friday night, or something like that, and he'd be playing a Husker-Du Live album. And I'd bop into his office I'd be like (speaks in frantic gibberish), and he wouldn't say anything. He just wouldn't say anything. It was like he didn't want to any conversation with me. It was like, “Wow. That's fucked up.”

Yeah, that is really rude.

There are a lot of people who are pure, and utter, assholes. But it would be like if you went an accountants convention. There would be a lot of people who are complete, an utter, assholes. (laughs) I don't think it's anything unique, necessarily. The people who are worth knowing, are the people who are worth knowing.

[Frederich] Nietzsche was a cynical motherfucker, of course, but he had some points: “What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger” and all that. He also had this notion of the “Talented Tenth”, [or] that one in every ten people are truly alive or are truly creative people; intellectually curious lust-for-life, the kind of people that are worth knowing. A lot of that's best not to be put down. (mocking) “This, is why the fascists adopted him.” However, in life, what he was saying, that you meet a lot of people who kind of just bounce along. All of the people who live in New Orleans, [I wonder] why do people [living there] eat at McDonald's? Why the fuck would you eat at McDonald's, when within a 1-block radius there are six incredible Mom-and-Pop stores that will give you the best po'boy of your life?! And you're going to McDonald's?! What's the matter with you?! (laughs) But, that's just life, you know what I mean? I think rock criticism is the same fuckin' deal. One-out-of-ten of these fuckers are worth knowin'!

Right, oh yeah. I could imagine. Well, I can't imagine really, because I've never been. I'm gonna try to go next year actually.

You should. You should. I think it would you know, it's worth saving up the money, and it's worth going... Kot, and I could offer you lots of tips about where to go, and how to get there, and how to in.

That's awesome. One of my history teachers, she's actually... I'm taking a class called the History of New Orleans Music, and she's actually a journalist herself, and she was saying I should I really go. Something with the school might be able to help me out [getting press credentials]. It would be awesome. I'm going to definitely try to go, and see for myself.

Excellent. Excellent.

I guess the next question for you is, when you review an album on the show or for the Sun-Times, do you ever find yourself reneging your initial thoughts about an album after a span of time? Like after listening to it more?

Oh yeah. I always say you should never trust any critic who doesn't admit that he or she doubles back on themselves. I think you live with an album, and your relationship with a piece of music changes over time. Then some incredibly, complicated and dense albums take some living with. Then, they're some albums that go down okay on the first listen, and then you realize, “Wow, yeah, that's a crap. That's a crap album.” Like R.E.M.'s Monsters sounded okay when it came out in '94, but I've never gone back to listen to it again. And know every time that I hear Murmur; or Reckoning or; Fables or, Automatic For The People. I mean, I love those albums still. So yeah, and I mean I wrote about that in the Lester book. There's famous thing he [writes that] Anon's E-Street is the worse album ever made, and it's a piece of shit. And the next month he wrote all about how the thing is brilliant. It is that kind of album. You don't get it at first.

And I don't think there's any shame in about that. I think it's people who don't admit that they change their mind that are people you shouldn't trust.

What have been some interesting reactions from musicians and/or other writers about your book Milk It!?

Interesting reactions?

Yeah, like good or bad? Or just interesting?

Hmm. You know, I can't say I've gotten much feedback on that book at all from musicians. Readers tend to write to me, and say, “I like that book, half of it made sense, the other half I don't agree with.” On that book I got a lot more reactions just from regular readers. I can't say that anybody I actually wrote about in the book has actually said a damn thing. (laughs) Which is not unusual. Rockstars, for lack of a better word, even the ones who are accessible and seem to be human beings –like Wayne Coyne-- they're egotistical people. I think one thing that Cameron Crowe got right in Almost Famous. I mean there are a lot of the things he got right. It was kind of a romanticized view of being a rock critic, but Cameron is prone to romanticization. [He's] the Frank Capra of our day. One of the things he got right was that you can't be friends with the rockstars. If you're setting out to do that, it's a losing battle. There are there to use you, you are there to pawn their shit.

Oh yeah. Completely.

They don't like to be asked difficult questions, and they don't like to have somebody show them in anyway that they're not in control. I heard from more a lot more artists who like the psychedelic book, and tons of artists who connected with the Lester Bangs book. It depends. Different books. I think the psychedelic people have that kind of connection because, it's rarely written about and it's always dismissed as “San Francisco 1967.” It's like god, My Bloody Valentine had nothing to do with that, and there was so much more, you know? In the Lester book it's one of those Talented Tenth things. You're either somebody who likes Lester Bangs, or you're someone I don't want to know. (laughs) You know what I mean? The magic of that book has nothing to do with me.

That's totally Lester.

I mean, you know, you can't read him at his best and tell me that is not good writing, and that that's not art on the same level of much of the music he was writing about. Well, you just don't get it.

Those are people who go to McDonald's instead of going to get the best po'boy of their life.

Right, right. If you don't like good food, and you don't like to have good sex, and you don't like wine, and you just don't...then why would I ever want to know you?

Right, yeah. Totally. And you it's funny, that mentioned Almost Famous, but I don't know why, but I've always, always, always wanted to ask a music critic: You know that scene in Almost Famous where William he's got to interview Russel Hammond, and he's like, “Fuck off! Go away!”? And he starts having a meltdown, because he has 2,000 words to write, due in five minutes, and his editor is calling him? Have you ever had one of those moments where you're like, “Oh my God! What I am going to do?”

Oh yeah. All the time. Yeah, for sure. But I have that daily newspaper training, so I cornered Perry Ferrell at Lollapalooza last year. He was doing a press conference. Which wasn't really a press conference at all. He sat a bench and sat with a bunch of journalists... It's like motherfucker, you're going to answers my questions, or I'm going tackle you and put you in corner and make you answer my questions. I mean, I think we've all done that. You see should R. Kelly run away from me. (laughs)

I would love to see that! Yeah. Tackling down a child molester. I could imagine --not to that extent, because I've never actually had to publish anything that important. But I've definitely had my moments, where I've been like, “What I am going to do?” But just like you said, you've got to fall back on that basic journalism training where you just have to make it work.

Just because you're not going to get an interview with somebody doesn't mean that you can't do the story. You're not going to get an interview with Britney Spears, but you can talk to her road crew, and her choreographer, and her videographer, and the guy who does the sound who hits play on the tape with her fake vocals. Again, it goes back thing I talked about when we first started. You're going to have to work ten times harder, but you're going to be able to do it. Because no one's going to tell you, you can't do a story. You can always do a story. You can't get an interview with George Bush about Abu Ghraib. Yeah, well, there are 500 soldiers who worked in that prison. You can get the story. You're gonna have to work harder, and you're going to have to go to Iraq. And George isn't going to tell you truth anyway.

My next question is, what do you feel are some of the biggest mistakes that music journalists make today?

Well, that's probably a 10 hour answer right there. (chuckles) I really dislike writing that's not engaging writing. It bothers me to read Robert Christgau and Greil Marcus, and it's always bothered. It bothered me when I was in college. You read one of their essays, and you don't understand what the fuck they're talking about. I used to have this kind of inferiority complex that I'm not smart enough. I had to realize, you know I went to college, I was a double major in Journalism and Sociology. I read voraciously. I've now been doing this for 15 years writing about music. It's just bad writing. It's not me. It's just very dense writing. Anybody who writes in a exclusionary way, whether it's the emo kid who takes for granted that you know all the innovations of the sub-genres of sub-genres of the emo world. Or some snobby jazz critic, or some egghead academic. I think that you could have great ideas and be an entertaining writer, and this is the argument I've had with Marcus and Christgau. Basically, they said he [Lester Bangs] was entertaining writer, and that he was a clown. He was a comedian. His writing was a lot of fun to read, but there's no ideas there. You know, Lester could say something. The number of people, who use some of his writing as the signature line for their e-mails is extraordinary. The number of people who carry quotations by him, and have him on the top of their blogs. He could say something like, “Fashion is fascism,” or “Style is originality.” And it's like, wow, that is a profound idea. But it's acceptable and understandable. I know exactly what he's talking about, and boom, it's brilliantly worded and it's a heavy idea. So, I don't like that kind of writing that doesn't invite me, or that my grandmother couldn't understand.

I totally, totally agree. For me, I guess...you know how you can read something, like a journalism textbook and you can definitely tell it was written by a journalist because it is accessible? To me, that's a sign of intelligence if you can make that point, and make it well, and that it's not dense. It's compact. I'm a fan of lean writing. That is one of the gripes I have with Robert Christgau. He's awesome, he's got some really great stuff, but like you said, it's so, so dense. It's like you, you could have gotten that 10,000 word screed across in maybe 3,000, and it could have been way better.

That's interesting. I mean, Christgau's best stuff was always in the Consumer Guide. Where each blurb that had to be 150 words, (laughs) and he had to make every single word count... That was when he was at his best. God, 10,000 words of reading Robert Christgau is like fucking torture.
That's a big thing. You know, you one the thing that's crazy about South By Southwest is that you go and have lunch, and you're sitting at the table with 10 writers. And you say, “What do you think of the new R.E.M. album?” and they go, “Ehhh.” But you were in fucking Rolling Stone and you gave it three-and-a-half stars, you know? For better or worse, one thing you could say about me is that my opinion is what I'm saying you on the phone is what I wrote in the paper. They're all the same thing. I don't have one opinion from print, and another opinion that I'm really going to confess you if you ask “Is this worth buying this record?” I think that that's interesting. A lot of writers for, they're writing for an editor, they're writing for the public, they're writing for the artist. The very bottom of the list –if at all-- is the reader. I think that every writer has in his or her head the ideal reader. Who am I writing for? In my case, it's always been that 13-year-old kid who's got $10 in his pocket, and he's going to buy one album, because that's the lifeline out of fucking Jersey City. To me, music is my whole fucking life, and I don't want to be sold a hype. It's everything to me, and you're going to tell me to go buy fucking Huey Lewis, and there's this Husker-Du album. That's really important, and I think that, you're doing a lot of these thing already. You see that, and every good writer has to read voraciously. You've got to read everything. You're going to read Christgau, and you're gonna read Klosterman. You've to read, and read, and read. You're going to read outside the stuff that's music writing. You can, and see what works for other artists, other writers, and try those tools yourself. The best journalism teacher I ever had said, “If you see something good, steal it.” By the he did not mean plagiarism. A lot of people in the class didn't understand what he was talking about. To me, those techniques that work for other writers, and you try them out. Soon, you have a toolbox full of these things, and that your style is made out of it.

Right, right. Exactly. Yeah, I mean definitely. I've seen things in all of my favorite writers. That's one thing I have to say I've gotten from you, is to be honest. Like you said, there's never inconsistency in what you put in the Chicago Sun-Times website with what you say on Sound Opinions with what you say in an interview.

Right. Some many of these reviews repeat the same language over and over again. If put them all in the same typeface. Scan it in, put them in all Microsoft word, and took off the byline. Rolling Stone is saying the same thing, (indiscernible) is saying the same thing; Pitchfork the same thing. There's no personality, there's no style, there's no insight. You've got to try to go the extra mile. I prefer to see people do as simply as possible. I mean, life is short. If you can't you can't hit me right away with, Dominique thinks this, about this album. BAM! And make me want to read the rest of that 400-word review, then why are you wasting my time? (laughs) There's a 100,000 reviews about this goddamn album, you know?

When you were starting music writing, what are any mistakes you made, that don't now or wish someone would have told you about?

When I was really young I did a long interview with Anton Fier for Modern Drummer. He was my favorite drummer. I played drums, so I really wanted to write about him for Modern Drummer, this guy was a hero of mine. He played with The Feelies and was in the Golden Paliminos and he played with Herbie Hancock, and was the only white drummer to play with Miles Davis. He was very insecure about his own musicianship, and he wanted read the transcript before the article, and I said, “Okay, sure. Go ahead.” I mean, this guy was a hero of mine. I spent hours interviewing him, and then transcribing it and writing it up, and I was really proud of the piece. He looked at it and said, “I have nothing to say, I don't want you to publish it.” I promised that he would get to 'OK' it, that was stupid. It's like look, you're a journalist. You're a journalist, he's either going to give you the interview and trust you, or not. Other than that, not huge mistakes. That was a lesson, and a huge mistake that I've never nade again. That'd be my first Modern Drummer cover story for $300 (laughs)! I mean, Fuck! I'd given him my word, and I wasn't going to go back on it either. I think that the moral ethical things are getting more and more complex in this media age.

Do you think there is a need for more diverse voice in rock-n-roll writing. Women, African-American, minorities, et cetera?

Absolutely. I've had this fight –well, not a fight. A good-natured argument-- throughout my career with some women who came up, who are about my age. Ann Powers is now the rock critic at the Los Angeles Times.

Oh, I think she's great.

Evelyn McDonald, until recently, the rock critic at the Miami Herald. They're about my age. They wrote that female rock critics' Rock She Wrote. Have you seen that book? It's a good book.

Yeah, I have seen it.

We would always have this debate. Well, they would say there's this old boys' network that made it very hard to break through if you were a woman. And I'd say, “Look, I agree, there's a old boys network, but you guys are putting the emphasis on the wrong word.” It's not necessarily boys, it's old. That's the part. That's the key. It's old, but there is this media elite. A lot of it comes down to who you know, and who you sleep with. You could be the greatest writer in America today, and you know a snowball's chance in hell of doing the Radiohead interview for Spin, because there are fifteen people in line ahead of you –and eight of them have slept with the current editor of Spin. The other seven went to college with the editor of Spin. I ain't getting that assignment, and you ain't getting that assignment. We didn't go to college with them, and we didn't sleep with them. That's life. If you were going into politics; if you were going into computer programming, or insurance. It would be the same damn thing. That's just life, and we've got to deal with that. What does it mean for people like us? That means we have to work three times as hard.

I was this acne-ridden punk kid from New Jersey who wanted write about why Husker-Du and the Minutemen were a million times better than your fucking Bruce Springsteen. I was not going getting published in the Village Voice, or Musician magazine, or New York Rocker, or –Lord knows-- New York Times. I mean, I was boring. (laughs). I wasn't saying things that the old-guard media elite wanted to say. I mean, by old, you don't fuck with people who are 30 when you are 20, and I think that they came to see that. If fact, it was an asset for when they were hired for the Los Angeles Times or they were hired by the Miami Herald, but they were women.

Ann makes a big thing about it. If I have any gripe with Ann's writing it's that I've heard enough about your kid. I've got a daughter too, but I don't talk about her all the time, (laughs)? It's like, “Okay Ann, we know, we know.” But that's her, you know, and I respect Ann a lot. I do think that's the case. It's not easy for anybody with a different viewpoint to break in. You're ain't gonna get published at Pitchfork saying the Arcade Fire sucks either. That's the way it is.

But where you have opportunities, is the stuff that nobody else is writing about. That means you have to work ten times harder to find those stories. You're not going to get into Spin doing the Radiohead interview, like said. But it just so happens that there's some 80-year-old guy down in New Orleans who studied with Robert Moog, and is the last guy in the world who can fix analog synthesizers. And Johnny Greenwood has this great selection of vintage Moogs, and they're broke he needs to fix them so he can bring them on the road. So, he found this guy in New Orleans who can fix them. This is guy who fixes a Radiohead synthesizer; the only guy in the world who can do it, and you just know because he lives next door. And it's like: Bingo! Spin will pay you $500 to write 350-words on him, and you break in. That's a metaphorical example, but you gotta find those stories that nobody else has. And that's 10 times harder than just sitting and just having lunch with Radiohead. But, like I said, until you're sleeping with editor of Spin or going to Yale with his cousin...

Oh yeah, because that's going to happen, right.

You and I are left with finding the guy who fixes Radiohead's synths, or finding motherfucking R. Kelly videotape. That's just our life.

I'm gonna be honest, who hasn't, but I have not lived an easy life. I'm used to fighting. I know people are going to look down on me every single day or my life, because of my socio-economical status. It's kind of like, “What's new?” (laugh) Whatever, I'm so used to working really hard.

You're ready to roll up your sleeves and do it. When people say, “I'm so jealous of you, you don't deserve to be where you are.” I mean, that's the only thing people can say that gets me mad. It's like well, “Fuck you,” you have no idea how hard I've worked to get here. That's more reason why that Kelefa kind of rockist argument burns my ass. Have you sat with 18-year-old black girls who slit their wrists because R. Kelly fucked them when they were fifteen? It's like, “Fuck you!” Did somebody shoot out your front window? It's like, “Fuck you!” And you're gonna call me a rockist because I like guitars, and I say I don't understand hip-hop? [My response is,] “Fuck you!” (laughs).

And that's really close-minded, because anybody who actually took the time to actually read any of your writing, or listen to Sound Opinions --at least a few episodes-- would know that that's not true, with either you or Greg. It's just the fact that most modern hip-hop really freaking sucks. It does.

I'm not going to apologize for disliking sexist, misogynistic, homophobic... And it's also like: Look, the African-American experience in this country is really rich, and there's some small portion of people in this country who are dealing with life on the street as drug dealers. However, there's many people like Lupe Fiasco, who love fucking video games and Star Wars. And like Common, who worked at the Cultural Center [in Chicago, IL], and Kanye who worked at The Gap and didn't make enough money to catch the bus to get to The Gap. That's as valid as fucking 50 Cent (laughs).

Exactly. It's like, you know that stupid Mims song, “This Why I'm Hot”? He says: “I can make a mil singin' nothin' on a track.” I'm like, first of all, that is what you're doing. Second of all, why would you want to do that? You are totally raping rap music. That's why they have these rockist kids who say “Rap Sucks.” I'm like, “No. It doesn't. You just haven't heard any good rap.”

You could say whatever you want. I say that, and I'm a clueless white guy who doesn't understand hip-hop. Nevermind that it's 25-year-old white kids from Shawnburg who are sayin' that. I'll confess to you. I've often thought, I would like to invent a pseudonym, and every once in a while write a piece. She would be a black lesbian mute. She would be mute, because I couldn't talk on the phone and pull off this character. I would have to only communicate via e-mail. So, she's handicapped; she's a black lesbian mute, and I could say anything. I could say absolutely anything. (laughs)

That would be awesome.

You are almost there!

I just need to not speak, I need to not speak. (laughs)

Don't do that! You're such a good writer, don't do that. You're from New Orleans, so that makes up for it.

One of those clichés that absolutely true is that you don't wrestle with a pig in the mud. Nobody wins, and at the best you just get dirty. That's not the point. It's amazing to me how this happens, whether is happens in the “I-love- the-music” kind of uber-intellectual website, or the fuckin' douchebags e-mailin' me saying, “Ooh, you fat fuck!” What does the fact that I'm fat has to due with anything? It's like you're mad at me because I don't like Ryan Adams, you call me a fat fuck. It's like, “Okay, okay. Whatever.” (chuckles) “I've never noticed until I got this e-mail, I never noticed I could stand to lose a few pounds. Amazing, thank you for bringing that to my attention.” (laughs)

I think that's really dumb because at the end of the day, who's getting paid to say Ryan Adams sucks?

But, you know what I mean? You have a lot of advantages, and I think it pays to keep those in mind. It's one of those things where your prospective, is your prospective, and let it blurt. And don't worry about what people think.

Voodoo Fest In Review

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:57:00 +0000

In many ways, it is what I like to call "babysteps for Bonnaroo." It is a three-day, multi-genre destination featuring many established and up-and-coming bands and artists. While Voodoo Fest doesn't offer near the amount of artists like that of larger music festivals, it packs a punch with its locale and diversity. Offering fans a festive celebration of New Orleans culture, the festival takes place each year in historic City Park, amidst lush lagoons, bayous, and one of the largest collections of live oak trees in the world. This year marked Voodoo's tenth consecutive year in New Orleans. National and local acts shared the three large stages and three smaller performance areas that constituted the festival's sprawling presence in the park.

Noted headliners included Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, R.E.M., Wilco, Lil' Wayne, TV on the Radio, and Wyclef Jean. The festival also featured some of the best names in jazz and funk including the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. In addition, local performers like Cowboy Mouth, Irvin Mayfield's New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and The New Orleans Bingo! Show speckled the line-up throughout the weekend.

Now, here's who I saw & what I saw over the three day span...

Who I Saw: One Man Machine, The Witch Bitch, Ray Bong, Zydepunks, The Dirtbombs, TV on the Radio, Wyclef Jean, Man Man, Eykah Badu (sort of). Stone Temple Pilots, My Graveyard Jaw, Ratty Scurvics Singularity, Lil' Wayne, Nine Inch Nails, Rotary Downs, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Panic! At The Disco (not by choice), and R.E.M. :)

Who I Wanted To See: Reverend Horton Heat, The Bad Off, New Orleans Bingo! Show, MC Tracheotomy, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Ballzack, Manwich, Fleur De Tease Burlesque, Bones, Shudder To Think (!), Fishbone (!), and The Knux :(

Day 1 – Friday, October 24

ATM Fee: $5. Fuck that noise.

Weirdest Festival attractions: Permanent tattoo/piercing parlour, Psychic fortune teller and tarot card reader, Planned Parenthood awareness tent, and an on-site smoker's lounge.

Most expensive beer: 16oz. can of Beck's for $7. Again, fuck that noise.

Most expensive band t-shirt: Stone Temple Pilots - $35. Last year, Smashing Pumpkins tee went for $40 –the same price of a one-day pass last year –prior to Ticketmaster's wallet-raping fees.

Peformance Letdowns: Not being an avid listener of Stone Temple Pilots, I'm not sure what I expected, but I was severely underwhelmed. I know wanted more than what Weiland and the boys gave on me Friday. Plus, the whole time I was kind of hoping they would play "Slither." Wait...opps, wrong band.

Day 2 – Saturday, October 25

The Dirtbombs: On Saturday afternoon I caught the Dirtbombs on the Playstation stage. It was interesting to watch them play, because they are also one of the most racially and instrumentally diverse bands in rock-n-roll. The lead singer is this black guy that's probably in his late-40s, two drummers that play in perfect sync, and a petite Asian woman on rhythm/lead guitar. Their tunes were relentless, loud, and brash song after song. Their 60s-style garage rock never let up, and each song melted into the next. The band drew a pretty sizable crowd too, including three members from indie-rock sensation and Voodoo Fest headliner, TV on the Radio (guitarist Kyp Malone, guitarist David Sitek, and drummer Jaleel Bunton).

For the set's finale, one of the drummers grabbed a tom drum from his set and made a mad dash for the other drummer's set before standing atop its kick drum. After tossing the loose tom drum in the air a few times, he finally came crashing down onto the other drummer, dismantling the drumset almost entirely. However, his did not stop the two from playing a synchronized drumbeat with the single drum that was left standing. I have a feeling they would have kept going, but the stage crew literally took the drums from underneath them.

Weed Fest '08?: I noticed an inordinate amount of glass pipes and bongs being sold on-site. Hmm...

Artists that made an on-stage political stance: Wyclef Jean, Nine Inch Nails, and (on Sunday) R.E.M. were among the artists who made clear their support for Barack Obama, with his "Hope" campaign poster appearing briefly on the video screen behind them during performances. During a freestyle rap, Jean worked in Obama's name numerous times, and he asserted that, if elected president, he would provide everyone with quality education, and bring the troops back from Iraq.

The Mars Volta: Saturday night Mars Volta vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala, who is renowned for his wild on-stage behavior, destroyed two stage lights, accosted a photographer with his microphone, and threw 3 micstands into the photographers' pit (--one of them he bent in half). While I can appreciate the band's psychedelic atmospherics and unpredictable stage antics, I've always found their music a little too "trippy-for-trippy's sake." When I explained this to a friend, he responded giving the most apt description for their music: "No, the Mars Volta can't be 'too trippy.' I like to imagine that they wake up in the morning, drink some coffee, drop some acid, shoot up some heroin perhaps mixed with the ground-up remains of Bolivian beetles, smoke a little crack --actually I read in an interview that they do partake of crack, not to mention that they prefer wearing girls' blue jeans because they're tighter than the male versions—and they perhaps sip the lukewarm blood of a 12-year-old virgin after which they might board a flying saucer and land on Pluto...I just hope I never find out that they're nice to their mothers or donate money to crippled children."

When the band played on Saturday, they came on about 20 minutes late and played about 20 minutes over soliciting complaints among attendees. "When the f*ck is this band going to be over? The singer sucks!" I kept hearing. None of the band members said a single word to crowd, or amongst themselves the entire set; it was very intense. Towards the end of the set, Cedric really started losing it. In addition to flailing himself around the entire time like a demon-possessed jelly-boned ragdoll, he took his belt off, and started beating the micstand, the drumset, and eventually his following bandmate Omar Rodriguez. Talk about anger-management issues.

Best costumes: Frank (Donnie Darko) and Beetlejuice.

Day 3 – Sunday, October 26

Re-defining the meaning of "Free": There was a booth advertising "Complimentary Voodoo Photos" on Friday. When I walked by on Saturday the word "Free" handwritten on a piece of paper covered the word "Complimentary." By the time Sunday rolled around, the words had been changed to "100% Free." Next year: 100% Free No-Charge Complimentary Reading Comprehension Test Give-away.

"The Ultimate Halloween Playlist"

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:56:00 +0000

I'm pretty proud of my mix this year. Last year I only had about a dozen songs (see my post from December 8, 2007), but I wasn't quite happy with the selection, variation, and flow. Being the nerd I am, I have been revising that list throughout the year, coming up with the selection I have below. I was able to compile a two-hour playlist that can be conveniently split onto 2 discs, making it great for a party :)

Halloween Playlist: CD 1
Boris The Spider- The Who
Thriller- Michael Jackson
The Boogie Monster- Gnarls Barkley
This Is Halloween (Cover)- Marilyn Manson
Yes, I'm A Witch- Yoko Ono
Shout At The Devil- Motley Crue
Hells Bells- AC/DC
Sympathy For The Devil- The Rolling Stones
Hotter Than Hell- KISS
Crossroads- Eric Clapton
Highway To Hell- AC/DC
Halloween- Aqua
We Suck Young Blood (Your Time Is Up)- Radiohed
Devil's Haircut- BeckHalloween (Cover)- AFI
Me And The Devil Blues- Robert Johnson
Runnin' With The Devil- Van Halen

Halloween Playlist: CD 2
Devil Went Down To Georgia- The Charlie Daniels Band
Necromancer- Gnarls Barkley
Little Drop of Poison- Tom Waits
Superstition- Stevie Wonder
Pet Sematery- The Ramones
Halloween- Siouxsie & The Banshees
Ghostbusters- Ray Parker Jr.
Werewolves Of London- Warren Zevon
Monster Mash- Bobby "Boris" Pickett
Halloween- Dead Kennedys
Nobody- Skindred
Demon Tied To A Chair In My Brain- Dax Riggs
If You Want Blood (You've Got It)- AC/DC
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath
Spirit In My House- Joey Ramone
Lake Of Fire- Nirvana
Jack's Song- Ad Hoc
Death Of A Salesman- People Under The Stairs
Hotel California- The Eagles

For Your Listening Pleasure...

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 06:22:00 +0000

One Man Machine

Get My Sound
One Percent Press

Bernard Pearce, the Louisiana-bred mastermind behind One Man Machine, could not have picked a more appropiate album title. While most of his music is built on jarring, broken melodies and scattered pre-programmed loops that are equal parts enthralling and transcendent, songs like "Set Myself on Fire" comes across like a jam session between Cee-Lo backed by funked-out Flaming Lips cover band. If it doesn't make you want to dance every time you hear it, then I don't know what will. Based on the album title alone you may find yourself wondering if he's daring you to understand his music, or commanding that you to listen to it –or both. However, if you listen carefully to his avant-garde mix of hypnotic textures, brass band embellishments, and racous punk rock flair you may just start to get his sound.

The Back-To-School Playlist.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:42:00 +0000

(My Life)

1. The White Stripes- We're Going To Be Friends

2. Pink Floyd- Another Brick In The Wall (Pt. 2)

3. Vampire Weekend- Campus

4. The Ramones- I Wanna Be Sedated

5. Nirvana- School

6. The Ramones- Rock 'N' Roll High School

7. The Smiths- The Headmaster Ritual

8. Tears For Fears- Everybody Wants To Rule The World

9. Motley Crue- Smoking In The Boys' Room

10. Chuck Berry- School Days

11. Daniel Johnston- Unpack Your Adjectives

12. Vampire Weekend- Oxford Comma

13. The White Stripes- Black Math

14. Thomas Dolby- She Blinded Me With Science

15. Relient K- College Kids

16. Better Than Ezra- Conjunction Junction

17. Van Halen- Hot For Teacher

"Fear Eats The Soul"

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:09:00 +0000

I feel anxious, though I'm not quite sure why. I think all this hurricane stuff is getting to me. I've never liked storms, they freak me out. It's also another reason I think I shouldn't live in New Orleans for the rest of my life. Read this blog, and you may start to understand why.

To some, it may seem "glamorous", or even "cool", that I can say I survived one of the greatest natural diasters in American history. I could even feel confident knowing how to prepare for a major storm in an hour flat. Or that I've seen people in a socioeconomically divided city ban together like brothers and sisters in the face of adversity. Or the acheivement of feeling truly connected, needed, valued, and invested in my birthplace.

You'd be wrong...

To be honest, I know why people looted things like alcohol. Or why some many people fell into crippling depression. Or why many moved away and never wanted to come back. It was simply a natural reaction to cope with everything. I was very blessed, in that, I wasn't here during Katrina. I evacuated the city 2 days before the storm came. I was scathed by looters; the only thing taken from my apartment was food.

While I will always be thankful to the family who fed me, clothed me, gave me a warm bed to sleep in, and welcomed me with open arms, I will never forget the torment of not being able to go home for 5 months, or seeing the government's complete lack of competence. I guess what I'm trying to say is, Gustav stirred up those old feelings again. I don't like packing up my things, knowing I may never see my house again. I don't like saying goodbye to co-workers and friends with the fear my life is never going to be the same again.

***
Sites that help me cope...and give me a couple of laughs:

1. Nola Fugees: "Life in New Orleans is a gamble. Know the odds."

Excellent writing from some of New Orleans' most talented young writers. I happen to have the pleasure of presently interning with this fine institution.

Summertime in New Orleans arrives long before June 21. It comes with the first wave of heat that makes it unbearable to be outside, and it’s usually marked by the murder of an innocent or two or six. During the solstice we feel it more than usual, our geographical position below sea level; the heavy air overtops our heads like water. Our neighborhood’s online forum discusses recognizing the difference between fireworks and gunshots while children roam the streets on stolen bicycles. -"This Is the Life" by Sarah K. Inman (July 2007)

2. A.D.: New Orleans After The Deluge, a non-fiction Hurricane Katrina webcomic based on the events of 6 people.

"Comic, Josh Neufeld draws upon interviews with the actual people represented in the story; newspaper, magazine, and blog accounts of the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and its effects on New Orleans; and his own experiences as a Red Cross volunteer in the weeks after the storm. A.D. Many pages and panels have links to outside sources such as audio and video clips, newspapers stories, photo essays, and the like."

The Gustav Playlist.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 05:22:00 +0000

1. Hurricane- Bob Dylan
2. Apocalypse Please- Muse
3. Riders On The Storm- The Doors
4. Rainy Day, Dream Away- The Jimi Hendrix Experience
5. And It Rained All Night- Thom Yorke
6. The Tide Is High- Blondie
7. Higher Ground- Stevie Wonder
8. Rock You Like A Hurricane- The Scorpions
9. S.O.S.- Earl Greyhound

10. We Gotta Get Out Of This Place- The Animals
11. Fury of The Storm- DragonForce
12. Storm Coming- Gnarls Barkley
13. When The Levees Break- Led Zeppelin

Damn you Gustav.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:30:00 +0000

I finally made it out of the city to a much safer location. I'm about 30 miles outside of New Orleans staying with friends at the moment. I plan to keep everyone updated; however, since I don't expect to have internet access for much longer (once the storm hits Mon. morning, I fully expect to lose power where I am), I will be updating via Twitter @ www.twitter.com/dominiqueminor.

How Music Journalists Are Born.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:14:00 +0000

Voila!

Last weekend my boyfriend and I were listening to The Grip Weeds on Little Steven's Underground Garage, when he turns to me and asks, "I don't understand why this band isn't famous? Why don't people know who they are, they're good!"

To which I responded, "This how you become a music journalist. You get pissed off about stuff like this, and decide to write a blog. After that everything snowballs out of control."

Myspace, How I Loathe Thee. Oh, Let Me Count The Ways.

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:14:00 +0000

Let's start with an example:

“Met You On MySpace” a song by pre-teen punk trio, Care Bears On Fire, is a cute, but cautionary tale about online intimacy, friendship, and being duped by a sleazy unicorn.

"You said you were 12/And lived in my nabe/But you're really 300/and you live in a cave."

Q: Aw. Sounds cute right?

A: Not in the slightest.

It is profoundly disturbing that a group of 13-year-olds are addressing, in post-rock songs(!), the realities of the empty connections that are often found on social networking websites like Myspace.com. As I've listened to the song, I realize just how the website (which I'm sure Tom started with earnest intentions), has become a place full of empty connections.

Currently, I am considering deleting my profile. I've had it for over four years. I used to love having it. It kept me up on the latest trends, turned me on to new music, and most importantly, kept me in close communication with my friends, but now I hate it. The main reason I've kept it for this long (and probably continue for awhile) is for networking purposes.

As I was looking through my Friend List this afternoon, I counted a total 9 friends I talk to on a regular basis. While it sounds like I have a healthly circle of close friends, it's pretty pathetic compared to the other 147 I don't talk to.

It also got me thinking of something I read in high school (which I will paraphrase for the context of this blog): How many hours a day do we spend in front of a television screen, or a computer screen? What are we being screened from? How much of our lives come through a screen, vicariously? Is watching things as exciting as doing things? The minutes and hours that to life? (excerpted from Revolution on Canvas)

Now, I'm starting wonder if keeping my Myspace is worth it. Instead of making me feel closer to the people I know, I feel further away than ever. I am separated by a dense wall of technology.

From The Big Easy, To The Big Apple...

dminor@uno.edu (Dominique Minor) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:23:00 +0000

I just found out I've now got the opportunity to visit New York City for a few days next month. I'm totally nerding out over it! For me, it is a lifelong dream come true. I stayed up late last night brainstorming all the things I want to see, hear, and taste in the Big Apple. Not to mention, I've been Wiki-ing the crap out of various NYC-related subjects. For instance, did you know the streets in Queens nearly all roadways oriented north-south are "streets", while east-west roadways are "avenues", beginning with the number 1 in the west for Streets and in the north for Avenues? In some parts of the borough, several consecutive streets may share numbers (for instance, 72nd Street followed by 72nd Place, or 52nd Avenue followed by 52nd Road, 52nd Drive, and 52nd Court), often causing confusion for non-residents. ...God, I am so ready to feel out of my element!

Thank you Wiki...

More importantly, this trip will include making several playlists: a NYC-themed compilation for the trip there, and New Orleans-inspired mix for the trip back. I will also be sporting this lovely t-shirt to show my NOLA pride:

(You have to grow up in Eastern New Orleans to fully appreciate this gem of a shirt)

...and this polish:

You take the girl out of New Orleans, but you can't take New Orleans out the girl :)

Anywho. So far this is what I have planned:

-See Times Square

-See a Broadway play (I'm gunning for Phantom of the Opera, Equus, or Avenue Q --I will not settle for less!!!)

-Eat true New York pizza

-Have an amazing bagel

-Ride a New York cab

-Hear someone with a real New York accent

-See Wall St.

-Have an even more amazing hot dog

-Visit F.O.A. Shwartz

-Go to Central Park

-Visit Macy's

-See Park Avenue

-Ride the Subway

-Visit Greenwich Village

-Visit the Virgin Megastore in Times Square

-Got a hold of some underground NYC indie rock CDs

-Acquire local music zines

-See the Naked Cowboy
-Eat a Black and White cookie
-Have a signature corned beef on rye sandwhich
-Visit Harlem

While I know it's impossible for all these things to happen, I am gunning for it anyway. I have always been an overachiever :p