Defenestrating the Insalubrious
The Scion Rock Fest will either be the greatest free music festival that Atlanta has seen in years, or it will be a disaster of epic proportions. Ohmpark has a schedule for the show. Doors open at noon. No ins and outs. The first band (Kylesa) starts at 1pm, and the last band (Converge) ends at midnight. The weather forecast calls for highs in the 60's.
There will be 33 bands playing over the 12 hour festival to 5000 fans on four stages at the Masquerade (three indoor stages, one outdoors). Many genres of metal will be represented, including thrash, doom, stoner metal, black metal, "Viking pagan folk metal" (Tyr), and pirate metal (Alestorm)! Several Georgia bands (Baroness, Kylesa, Harvey Milk, Zoroaster, and Mastodon) will be there, plus bands from as far away as Greece, Norway, Scotland, and Japan.
On Friday 2/27, starting at 5pm, you can see Scion Rock Fest participants Withered, Skeletonwitch, Kylesa, and Wolves in the Throne Room for free at Criminal Records.
That same Friday night at 9pm, Scott Kelly of the band Neurosis will host an acoustic evening at the East Atlanta Icehouse. ($10 advance, $12 at the door).
Hardcore band Trash Talk will be performing a show on Friday at PS Warehouse (585 Wells Street in Atlanta, $8, doors at 7pm) with Phalanx, Gray Ghost, and Tiger Style. Trash Talk will appear at the Rock Fest on 2/28, and then they will head out on tour with the Bronx.
Lies and the Lying Pop Stars Who Tell Them
The new issue of Blender: 80 pages, 30 of which are ads. I lost count of the lies.
Jay Rock (a rapper) says that he would live in the projects even if he became a millionaire. If you are a millionaire, you are ineligible for subsidized housing. That would be like getting a federal bailout and then buying a private jet. If most of your income is unreported (or unreportable), you can "support" your single mother while couch surfing at her apartment (1BR, 1BA). Or you can do the right thing: buy her a house, move on up, and make room at the bottom for someone who actually needs a rent subsidy.
T.I. (another rapper) spoke about his teenage days as a drug dealer. He says that he made "thousands" per day, but "never made no hundreds of thousands of dollars". Do the math: if you made $2K per day, then you made at least $100K/yr, even if you only worked one day a week. Unless you're underreporting your income (or exaggerating your criminal past). At least Blender takes Akon to task on that.
Lily Allen says that she didn't know that Joe Strummer was famous until she attended his funeral. Sure she didn't. She was 17 years old when he died. Her parents (who chose Strummer as Lily's godfather) are media whores, and their daughter is no different. Lily Allen knew who Joe Strummer was.
Bret Michaels finesses a reader's question about his hair by saying that it is "slightly receding" and "not as long as (he'd) like it to be". Then he completely misses the point of another reader's question: "Do you ever think of how your 'candy store' mentality on the show will impact your daughters later on?" Michaels responds, "I am a kid in a candy store -- it's a dating show!"
Sir, allow me to explicate: You're an aging gigolo trying to milk a declining career by pressuring younger women to degrade themselves on camera. Your "dates" are just a new twist on the world's oldest profession. As your daughters grow up, does it occur to you that their relationship with their father, and with men in general, will be irrevocably polluted by your pathetic charade? If Flavor Flav is the Little Richard of the reality "love" shows, then Bret Michaels is Pat Boone. Discuss.
