Thursday, January 17, 2013
King Still King?
I don't really know anyhting about Martin Luther King Jr. I don't know much about the civil rights movement, or even the time period it happened in. I don't encounter civil rights issues on a daily basis, given that I rarely listen to or watch the news, and am now taking a history class. However, I do know that King was AND STILL IS the voice of African Americans speaking up for their rights. We have a day to celebrate him, every year. A holiday where we actually get a day off. Civil rights writings and speakers constantly base their arguments and ideas off of those of Martin Luther King Jr. He is taught about to children as early as in first grade (which is when I first heard of him) and continuously throughout their education. He is portrayed as the foundation of the movement of the oppressed, both for African and non-African Americans. As I don't as often hear other names of civil rights leaders, I say yes, King is still king.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Music Review
About four years ago, I wandered into Reckless Records and, in an exploring mood, decided to buy an album by an artist I have never heard of. My hands landed on an album called "Dealing the Death Card" by a band called Zombie Ghost Train. It cost about three bucks. I came home and, not expecting much, listened to the album; and as I expected, it didn't make much of an impression on me. But I was in 8th grade; my music education had only really began about a year before and I didn't know much about music, having a completely undeveloped taste.
Three years later I was listening to my iPod on shuffle and a song that I seemingly never heard before came on. It was a kind of gloomy rock song, with an overwhelmingly talented vocalist singing something about death and a girl and taking her down "To The River". A wonderful rediscovery, I quickly went through all the other songs and decided that I loved them. I won't go much into the lyrics of any of the songs because they're all about monsters or death or girls. Some songs are in blues style, some have a jazzy feel, some are just rock, but they all have this Halloween-y feel to them that makes me smile and want to dance with Frankenstein in a cobweb-filled mansion. Apparently the genre is called "psychobilly" or "gothabilly" or something.
I don't know.
Maybe it's the zombie makeup.
Maybe it's my love for bass voices and huge vocal ranges.
But this was one of the more interesting musical discoveries I have ever made.
Below are links to some of the songs where the lead singer displays his deeper vocal ranges, and overall just good songs.
"To The River": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRF4VNQzqg
"Trouble": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvP4g0B6NWk
"Gone": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDobjRHA2kk
Enjoy.
Three years later I was listening to my iPod on shuffle and a song that I seemingly never heard before came on. It was a kind of gloomy rock song, with an overwhelmingly talented vocalist singing something about death and a girl and taking her down "To The River". A wonderful rediscovery, I quickly went through all the other songs and decided that I loved them. I won't go much into the lyrics of any of the songs because they're all about monsters or death or girls. Some songs are in blues style, some have a jazzy feel, some are just rock, but they all have this Halloween-y feel to them that makes me smile and want to dance with Frankenstein in a cobweb-filled mansion. Apparently the genre is called "psychobilly" or "gothabilly" or something.
I don't know.
Maybe it's the zombie makeup.
Maybe it's my love for bass voices and huge vocal ranges.
But this was one of the more interesting musical discoveries I have ever made.
Below are links to some of the songs where the lead singer displays his deeper vocal ranges, and overall just good songs.
"To The River": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRF4VNQzqg
"Trouble": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvP4g0B6NWk
"Gone": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDobjRHA2kk
Enjoy.
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