LL Cool J will host the 54th Annual Grammy Awards taking place tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Diana Ross will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award and performances include: Rihanna, Tony Bennett, Carrie Underwood, Chris Brown, Adele and more.

To honor Grammy-Award winning singer Whitney Houston, who died yesterday, Jennifer Hudson is expected to sing a medley of her hits. Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt will  pay tribute to Etta James.

Kanye West has seven nominations, topping Adele, Bruno Mars and Foo Fighters who each have six. Lil Wayne and Skrillex follow with five nominations.

8:00 p.m. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open the show. Bruce asks: “America, are you alive out there?”

8:04 p.m. LL Cool J, host of this year’s Grammy Awards, begins the show by addressing Whitney Houston’s death and saying a prayer.

8:07 p.m. A clip of Whitney Houston singing her hit song “I Will Always Love You” is played.

8:11 p.m. Bruno Mars performs in the style of James Brown.

8:20 p.m. Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt sing “A Sunday Kind of Love” in tribute to Etta James.

Adele accepts her first Grammy of the night

8:24 p.m. The first award of the night for Best Pop Solo Performance goes to Adele for “Someone Like You.”

8:25 p.m. Chris Brown takes the stage performing “Turn Up the Music” and “Beautiful People.”

8:36 p.m. Fergie  and Marc Anthony announce Jay-Z and Kanye West as the winners of the Best Rap Performance category for their song “Otis.” Both rappers are not in attendance.

8:37 p.m. Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson perform “Don’t You Wanna Stay.”

8:47 p.m. Foo Fighters perform outside the Staples Center. The group has already won four Grammys tonight.

8:56 p.m. Rihanna sings “We Found Love” then joins Coldplay to sing  ”Princess of China.” Coldplay then performs their hit song “Paradise.”

9:12 p.m. The Grammy for Best Rock Performance goes to Foo Fighters for “Walk.” Lead singer Dave Grohl said they made the record in his garage with a microphone and tape recorder.

Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine joins The Beach Boys on stage

9:16 p.m. Maroon 5 leads the celebration of the Beach Boys with “Surfer Girl.” Foster the People sings the next song “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”

9:21 p.m. The Beach Boys reunite on their 50th anniversary and sing “Good Vibrations.” Maroon 5 and Foster the People join for the second half of the song.

9:30 p.m. This year’s Trustees Awards were given to Dave  Bartholomew, Steve Jobs and Rudy Van Gelder.

9:31 p.m. Stevie Wonder receives a standing ovation as he comes out to announce the next performer. Plays harmonica and sings as he introduces Paul McCartney.

9:32 p.m. Paul McCartney sings “My Valentine” sitting on a stool with an orchestra playing behind him.

9:36 p.m. Common and Taraji P. Henson honor the deceased Gil Scott-Heron and present the Grammy for Best R&B Album to Chris Brown.

9:38 p.m. The Civil Wars come out and say “We would like to thank all of our opening acts.” Jokes!

Taylor Swift plays the banjo while performing "Mean"

9:40 p.m. Taylor Swift embraces her country side while performing “Mean.” She plays a banjo and dresses like she is in “Little House on the Prairie.”

9:50 p.m. Neil Patrick Harris presents the Grammy for Best Song of the Year to Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth for “Rolling in Deep.” That was definitely one award most will agree on.

9:52 p.m. Katy Perry performs “E.T.” and dresses like a superhero for “Part of Me.”

9:57 p.m. Best Country Album is awarded to Lady Antebellum for “Own the Night.”

10:05 p.m. Adele begins her much anticipated performance singing “Rolling in the Deep.” So effortless and beautiful. We are all glad her voice is back. The show allows time for the standing ovation to go uninterrupted.

10:16 p.m. Taylor Swift announces the Glen Campbell tribute with The Band Perry and Blake Shelton.

10:21 p.m. Glen Campbell takes the stage singing “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

10:24 p.m. Glen Campbell is one of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Other recipients include: Allman Brothers Band, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Memphis Horns, George Jones and Diana Ross.

10:30 p.m. Carrie Underwood asks Tony Bennett to join her on stage to sing the duet “It Had To Be You.”

10:33 p.m.  The Grammy for Best New Artist goes to Bon Iver. He is so tall! The mic is definitely too low for him.

10:38 p.m. In Memorium video tribute honors those lost this past year including: Amy Winehouse, Nick Ashford, Steve Jobs, Heavy D, Johnny Otis, Marv Tarplin, Whitney Houston and many more.

Jennifer Hudson sings "I Will Always Love You" without crying

10:42 p.m. Jennifer Hudson sings “I Will Always Love You” in tribute to Whitney Houston. Such a sentimental performance. She ends with “Whitney, we love you.”

10:50 p.m.  Salute to today’s dance music takes place outside the Staples Center at L.A. Live with Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, David Guetta, Deadmau5 and Foo Fighters.

11:04 p.m. Drake introduces Nicki Minaj and calls her “intelligent, beautiful and driven.” Nicki titles her performance “The Exorcism of the Roman” and begins with a video parody of “The Exorcist.” She truly puts on a show while singing her song “Roman Holiday.”

11:10 p.m. Lady Antebellum presents the Grammy for Record of the Year to Adele for “Rolling in the Deep.” No surprise there!

11:18 p.m. Diana Ross joins LL Cool J to announce Album of the Year. The Grammy goes to Adele for “21.” She cries as she gives her thank you speech. Said the album was inspired by a “rubbish relationship.” Adele really cleaned up tonight but her wins were certainly well deserved.

11:23 p.m. Paul McCartney closes out the show with “Carry that Weight” and “The Love We Make.”

Whitney Houston, music legend and pop icon, has died according to a statement from Houston’s publicist to the Associated Press.

Houston’s success began in the 1980s with such hits as “How Will I Know” and “Saving All My Love For You.” Yet it wasn’t until the singer chose to cover Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” for the 1992 movie, “The Bodyguard” that her musical career hit the stratosphere as an international icon.

Unfortunately, Houston’s music would eventually be overshadowed by her public battles with drugs, and her tumultuous relationship with Bobby Brown. Her addiction would also ravage her voice, once recognized as among the best in the world.

Only 48 years old, Houston’s official cause of death has not been released, and details remain unclear at the moment.

It must be difficult for anyone making a career decision to move to another country, let alone to make the decision when you’re thirteen. Cody Simpson — a cute blonde Australian boy — posted a couple videos of himself singing and playing guitar on youtube at the tender age of 13. Before he knew it, he was contacted by record producer Shawn Campbell and moved from Australia to Los Angeles to make an album with Atlantic Records.

His accomplishments seem boundless since: he has received over 110 million youtube views and well over 2 million facebook likes. His single, “On My Mind,” off of his second e.p. “Coast to Coast” reached #1 on Radio Disney and he has been on a myriad of television shows from the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” to “Live! With Regis and Kelly.” He is quickly becoming the next digital generation phenomenon.

Now at the age of 15, Cody is continuing to work hard in order to maintain his success.

When asked if there was a girl in his life – as his music mainly discusses relationships and love – Cody replied, “No, there isn’t at the moment. If the girl you’re talking about is named ‘Music’ then sure, I’m dating her. But really I am just focusing on my career at the moment. I’m a pretty focused kid and I am definitely very self motivated. And I think once I get everything established to where I want to be, than there is time for all that.  I got a while. I love to hang out with girls, but relationships are real hard for me at the moment. I have a lot of good friends, but nothing too serious.”

Cody is mature for his age. As a rising star, he is often compared to Justin Bieber. When asked what he thinks of being compared to Justin, Cody said, “I think a lot of people like to put things in boxes and say, ‘okay, he was discovered on YouTube and he sings and he is a teenager, so that means he is a new Justin Bieber.’ What? Like hold on a second…”

But despite the comparisons, Cody revealed, “Justin and I were just in the studio, like yesterday working together. Obviously I’m still at the more beginning stages of my career. But its cool to work with Justin and people like him. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the music and the creation of that. He is working on his next album and I am working on my debut. I think that this generation is definitely doing it big.”

On being a young artist, Cody said, “I think there are many disadvantages of being young and being a teenager. There are only certain things you can say musically and certain things you can do. I’m never really going to say anything risky or explicit in my songs. I definitely am more mature for my age. But I think as my fans grew up and as I grew up with my fans, we had to just create the music for them. A lot of people definitely expect a certain thing from a teen artist. But I think with my album, with the single, and the video, and this tour that I’m doing, I think I’m going to surprise a lot of people. I am really excited for the coming year. And I will see how it goes. I am definitely doing things that no one is expecting.”

A great example of Cody’s artistic and unexpected side is his cover of Drake’s “Marvin’s Room” — a song about drunk texting lost romances. But since the song is widely inappropriate for younger audiences, Cody decided to “re-imagine” it.

“I’m a big Drake fan in general. I love that song and I wanted to re-imagine it and create a version of the song I think my fans could listen to and they could relate to,” he said. “JoJo did the female side of things of that story, and then I wanted to create a story for my younger fans.”

So what is Cody doing when he is not recording, going on tour, or making music videos?

“I go to school in the morning usually. My tutor travels with me when I’m on the road. I think it’s important to stay in school,” he said.

But what about during his time off?

“I love to go surfing. I love to play golf. Golf is always relaxing when you have a day off. I love just being out in the ocean and I love just being out on the golf course.”

Now living in Los Angeles, golf and surf is easily available to him, though the surf is better “back home in Australia,” according to Cody. When asked about his life before fame, Cody misses “that time to chill with friends. I have friends back home that I am very close to that I still talk to every single day. We don’t really get to hang out too much. I miss them and my family and my lifestyle a little bit. I love writing music and [Los Angeles] is where you have to be for that.”

The future is promising. “I am creating my own album right now,” Cody said. “My single is coming out in the next few weeks. For right now, I am focusing on the tour.”

When asked where he would like to be in five years from now, he said, “I’ll be 20 years old, hopefully still making music as a respected artist and someone that has inspired a lot of people and has made some great music. That is all I really want to do.  I want to inspire my fans. I want to do work for charity in the next five years, definitely.  There is a lot of stuff happening to me and I want to make sure I am giving back to my fans and people less fortunate than me.”

Cody is currently touring the country. His tour dates can be seen here.

In almost every article or interview of Jack’s Mannequin, two details about Andrew McMahon — Jack’s front man — are always mentioned: (1) he was in Something Corporate and (2) he has lymphoblastic leukemia. But with Jack’s Mannequin now on their third full length album and his leukemia in remission for the past six years, it is safe to say Andrew McMahon is now in a different headspace.

“People and Things” — an all-encompassing title — is Jack’s Mannequin’s third album, which was released back in October of 2011.  It debuted at number one on Billboard’s alternative rock album chart and has received warm reviews from critics. The songs on the album range from the radio-friendly “My Racing Thoughts” to the anthemic “Release Me” to the piano ballad “Platform Fire.” Andrew has stated that the album in many ways is about love, relationships, and his marriage: his goal to write songs that offered less flowery language exposing the more honest underbelly of relationships. The song, “Television,” exemplifies this idea about Andrew’s literal inability to fall asleep without a television on; but the idea is extended to explain the intimate state of uneasiness in his relationship. Jack’s Mannequin is currently on tour in support of “People and Things.”

BLAST: How is the tour going so far?

ANDREW MCMAHON:The tour has been excellent. We’re on our fifth or six show. All the shows have been, truthfully, better than I expected. It has been a fun run. I’m in Chicago tonight actually, just pacing around the House of Blues.

BLAST: How is it there?

AM: It’s great. I love Chicago. I actually spent a little bit of time growing up here when I was a kid. I certainly feel at home when I make my way out here.

BLAST: You moved around a lot as a kid?

AM: Yeah. I actually lived outside of Boston too. (Andrew chuckles)

BLAST: Are you excited to return? Do you ever feel nostalgic for the east coast?

AM: I do. A lot of my nostalgia probably comes from my early travels with Something Corporate just because I was so young when I lived out there. I was in Massachusetts for my first few years of life and then Jersey for the following three. So I don’t have tons of memories from the east coast. But I think there is a sort of feeling of home when you go to places that you’re from and have lived. I definitely feel a kinship to the east coast. No doubt.

BLAST: Are you still doing yoga on tour?

AM: Oh yes, yeah, it is a big part of my life on and off the road now. When I’m on the road, I get a good three or four days of yoga per week. But it got a little tricky with all the show days and the record coming out and doing press and things like that. So I do it every other day, including my days off. It keeps me feeling pretty good.

BLAST: What else do you do to fill your time on the road?

AM: There is not a ton of free time on the road when you’re promoting a record. A lot of it will be sneaking around to radio stations or doing phone interviews. When I do have time, I try and read. And when I am on the bus, I try and put on a good movie and get myself to sleep. But I’m pretty busy out here.

BLAST: You have said before that you are a fan of Billy Joel, so does your song “Television” have any relationship to Joel’s “Sleeping with the Television On”?

AM: It’s so funny that you should say that because truthfully there was no relationship to it. Actually, as I was finishing that song, I was going through a bunch of old vinyl and I came across the Joel album. I forgot what record it was on. So I saw on the back of it and I was like, ‘Oh my God are you kidding me?’ So it is hard to say whether or not it had any subconscious influence on me. As a kid, I don’t remember ever listening to the song. I remember listening to his Greatest Hits volume one, while I was growing up as a Joel fan.  But yeah, I was definitely surprised to see the song title when I came across it.

BLAST: What television show do you usually fall asleep to?

AM: Truthfully for me, it is usually movies. I try to put in movies that I’ve seen like a million times, so that I can kind of zone out. It is usually The Big Lebowski, Super Troopers, usually a funny movie. But that tends to be my prescription before bed.

BLAST: Jack’s Mannequin’s bio by Warner Brothers Records says that People and Things “delves into the joys and conflicts of the first years of marriage” and you have stated that the album is about love and relationships. What does your significant other think of the album?

AM: (He chuckles) I think she likes it.  Yeah I hope so. I don’t think she would tell me otherwise. But I think in a lot of ways it’s kind of our album as well. I think it’s tricky for anybody in my life who ends up being the subject of the songs that I write. In my wife’s case, we’ve been together for the better part of ten years and [she] knows that it kind of comes with the territory. But as far as I understand, this is her favorite of the Jack’s records. I think I did alright by her.

BLAST: What music do you listen to that you wouldn’t normally tell anyone about? What’s your guilty pleasure music?

AM: I don’t know. I don’t normally subscribe to like the guilty pleasures thing. I like lots of different types of music and I tend to be pretty okay with that. I can’t really think of the type of example that I wouldn’t be so proud to share. You got me stumped on that one.

BLAST: That’s okay. You have said before that you love to explore other mediums of art. What kind of other art are you working on?

AM: Personally, in a hobby sort of way, I have been taking a lot of pictures. I got a new camera over the summer that I have been experimenting with and have a lot of fun with that. I used to do that a lot with my Polaroid, but it is a little bit more difficult to get the kind of film that I need for my old camera. I also do quite a bit of writing on the side, none of which has really come out, other than in the forms of blogs.

BLAST: How many tattoos do you have? Do you have a favorite?

AM: Let me count here: one, two, three, four, five. Five! So five. You know, I am pretty close to all of them. The cool thing about my tattoos is that they all represent a different time in my life. There’s the Starry Night on my left arm, which I am very close to. So I will go with that for now.

BLAST: Who would your perfect collaboration project be with?

AM: I’ve definitely been digging Danger Mouse. I like a lot of what he has been up to, something in that vein. I like the thing he did with Broken Bells; I thought that was really cool. There is certainly a lot of great stuff that he has been attached to.

BLAST: What’s the Dear Jack Foundation?

AM: It’s something that I started after my own experience with cancer. We do our best to raise money for organizations that are fighting leukemia and young adult cancer. It’s what we have been up to for the better part of six years. We help raise money for research. We try things with initiatives for young adults like sending kids to camp who are sick.

BLAST: Anything else you want to tell the Blast Magazine readers?

AM: Thanks for listening. And I hope to see you at one of the shows in the next few weeks.

Jack’s Mannequin will be in Boston on February 3 at House of Blues. The list of tour dates can be seen here.

Amory Sivertson — a piano playing folksy pop singer-songwriter reminiscent of Sara Bareilles and Feist – recently released her third album titled “Human.” The song of the same name begins with the line, “sometimes I do things that could either win me a medal or land me in jail.” Amory stated that investing in making music is her favorite high stakes activity that could fit this dichotomy. “I think it is what could make me the happiest in life and support me. But it is also the thing that could lead me to invest a lot of money in a project that may not come to fruition, could bankrupt me, could lead me to the poor house. That fills that kind of binary, I suppose.”

Her goal is to become “a self-sustaining musician. That music is how I feed myself and clothe myself and buy Christmas presents for the people I love,” Sivertson said.

This goal is deeply entrenched within the songwriter. Her father is a drummer and music teacher. Playing music has always been a part of her upbringing. As a child, Amory’s father “would make little dorky songs on the spot all the time like when he was doing dishes.” Once Amory began playing piano, music theory became a form of communication between her and her father. “We could converse in that way, in a new shared language,” said Amory.

She continues to speak this language. “The end goal was always to be a professional musician,” said Amory. But after realizing that she didn’t have the Hollywood connections to make it into the Mickey Mouse Club, her path changed. She began playing open-mics, going on tour, and pushing beyond her comfort zone. She believed that “if you want to be a rock-star, you can’t go to college.”

So after entering Emerson College, her idea of attaining success changed again. Being around other creative types and becoming entrenched in a new audience, only “fueled the fire” for Amory. Her belief switched to getting discovered and dropping out. But now as a recent graduate, “I have had to redefine the road to getting there,” once again.

“How do I pay the loans and not completely bankrupt myself and still keep moving forward with music?” asked Amory.

The idea of financial priority makes its way into her music as well. On “Human,” the song, “Put It in the Bank,” is an upbeat romp reflecting on the value of money with a catchy hook featuring the staccato syllabic line, “p-p-p-put it in the bank,” as the title suggests. In regards to the song, Amory stated, “I hope that people know that the bank isn’t necessarily your own personal bank account. It’s putting your money where you think it can do the most good. And if that’s your bank account, than sure put it in your bank account… [But] we should become more conscious of where we are putting our dollar because the dollar you drop could earn you a medal or land you in jail.”

“We created money and we created the problems that go with the money. So we have to know what were doing with it,” according to Amory. Her ideas that run throughout the album are complex and meditative, yet succinct.

“I think the essence of Human that runs through the material is flaws and uncertainty. Learning the balance between… the tremendous potential we have as a species with our brain power and whatnot, and our very primal instincts… It’s the balance between the wonderful things we are capable of and the terrible things we are capable of. And the great potential we supposedly have and the very primal instincts that we have to just eat, sleep, have sex. That’s it.” She chuckled after deducing the human experience to three things.

The cover of Human features a collage of patterned textiles in the shape of an anatomical heart. When asked about the theme of humanity, Amory responded, “any album ever could be called human as that what art supposedly is… Trying to share with people a piece of what it means to be alive. Whether song, painting, poem, sculpture, autobiographical or whether its completely made up, it is all supposed to be sharing a piece of this human connection and human experience. So really any work of art can be titled human, because that is the way it is supposed to make us feel.”

“The Tour Song” represents just that. Amory stated, “the song really tells the story of Mike and I on the road. The story of two people finding happiness in what they are doing together… two people together for 40 days, 24 hours a day…enjoying each other’s company.”

The song was written before the summer tour that Mike and Amory went on together. But after closing every concert with the song, it became titled the “Tour Song.” It is loosely inspired by “Away We Go” – a film about the misadventure of a couple (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph) travelling to different cities in search of a new home. The song expresses “the idea of settling down and being satisfied as just being two people together. And then becomes what if we can’t do what we want to do together,” said Amory.

Mike is Amory’s boyfriend. A large part of the album was recorded at the Office, a recording studio in North Andover that Mike runs. “Ever since Mike and I have been together, we have been making music together,” said Amory. Their relationship is beautifully on display from the first song, “Wrap My Arms,” to the last song on Human, “The Tour Song.”

Amory’s album can be heard and purchased here.

Grammy Award-winning singers Monica and Brandy have recorded another song together. “It All Belongs to Me” will be released February 6 on RCA Records.

The single will also be available on Monica’s new album “New Life,” which goes on sale March 6 and Brandy’s forthcoming album, which becomes available in the spring.

The last duo that the two singers recorded together was the very successful single “The Boy Is Mine” in 1998. The song was #1 on the Hot 100 Chart and won a Grammy for R&B Performance by A Duo or Group.

Tony Iommi, guitarist in the legendary Black Sabbath, was diagnosed with cancer, made public as of Monday. According to a statement released on his website, he “has been diagnosed with the early stages of lymphoma,” but “Iommi is currently working with his doctors to establish the best treatment plan–the “IRON MAN” of Rock & Roll remains upbeat and determined to make a full and successful recovery.”

Iommi’s bandmates have been supportive, asking everyone to “send positive vibes to the guitarist at this time”, and are joining Iommi in the UK.

The band announced in November the plans for their summer world tour and the September release of their first album together since 1978′s “Never Say Die!”

Iommi released a message on Friday expressing his gratitude for the support he has received, adding on a positive note “Well it’s not what I wanted for Christmas, that’s for sure, but now I can’t wait for the test results to come in and get going with the treatment.”

The long-anticipated list of artists appearing at Coachella was finally released on Monday, revealing more than one hundred artists who will perform at the two-weekend festival.

The outdoor festival is headlined by the Black Keys, Radiohead, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Other artists performing include Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, Florence and the Machine, Beirut, Neon Indian, Arctic Monkeys, and Other Lives.

This is the first year the festival, which takes place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley, will occur over two weekends, April 13-15 and April 20-22.

Tickets begin selling on Friday at 10 a.m., pacific standard time.

For the full lineup, see coachella.com.

In the music video, “Till the DJs Gone,” Boston native Juma – a mysterious figure oft shaded by dark sunglasses who at first acts as a pensive observer – navigates a contemporary milieu under the spell of a corporate subconscious controller. Men and women stare at ipads and cell phones, brainwashed by the messages of greed and consumerism propagated by the digital screens set before them. Juma breaks the communication by hacking into the mass system that disseminates the pervasive messages in order to send out his own message. The song and video transform into a commentary on the state of commercial music as Juma states, “We’re being force fed radio/transmitting garbage/the corporate media monsters.” He ultimately asks us, the listener, to take control and reshape the face of music. Juma creates a meta-narrative of the independent artist rallying against a commercialized cultural system through his music.

The purpose of the song is “to heighten awareness and to help people to start thinking twice and three times about why certain things are valued,” according to Juma.

He jokingly calls himself a “conspiracy theorist.” Juma is a rather upbeat and humorous person, but he holds fast to his beliefs. “The lyrics of the song are talking about mass media and using radio as a point object. What I wanted to visually get across with the video was, the core of the song, the story of awakening. So it’s really about making people aware of agenda setting, which is a communication theory that posits that news media and media systems may not be able to tell us what to think, but certainly what to think about,” says Juma, who makes sure to fleck his statements with academic language.

“We are all being bombarded with these messages that effect who we are. And the intent of these things is to trigger a particular consumer behavior. I tend to feel like there are capitalistic forces at work in the world,” he continues. “The prospect to monetize human existence – in a sense is kind of crazy – is antithetical to why we’re here. It totally devalues who we are as human beings.”

The single, “Till the DJs Gone,” is off his upcoming sophomore album, Fall of the Giants, which is set to be released on January 31st. The title track of the forthcoming album, “Giants Fall,” had a video release during the summer of 2010. But unlike his most recent video, the “Giants Fall” full-length music video has a run time just under eight minutes. The video follows a struggling alcoholic, played by Juma, who grapples with deep seeded issues of witnessing his mother being abused by his father as a child.

“Domestic violence is the backdrop to this guys present day…. He is really in dire straits psychologically,” says Juma. The character creates an imaginary psychologist to help him sort out his twisted memories as he spirals deeper into a suicidal depression. A force emanates from a bible in the house – of which the character is reaching for – which transports him into a spirit world, “where he fights his giants in the form of these demonic smoke projectiles.”

This David and Goliath theme runs not only through the two singles, but the entirety of the album. “The whole album is about winning, overcoming, its about freedom, fear, and limitation. Whether its personal fear that holds people back from being the best that they can be. Whether it be societal limitations that keep people from coming together or keep people from excelling in society,” states Juma. His strength in his music stems from his ability to take a macro-perspective. “It speaks to overcoming any and all forms of obstacles, may it be emotional, spiritual, intellectual, societal. It speaks to the celebration of those giants falling.”

“I am a man of many giants,” states Juma. His album, though having political and cultural meanings, is rooted in a personal narrative. “What inspired me to come up with an album was my own personal giants in my own life. And that change to victory made me want to share it.”

His ideas work as thematic motifs and ubiquitous narrative arcs. The political bent on the album can also be applied to the music industry, something that Juma has a strong opinion about. “In celebrating the fall of giants, it absolutely connects to the deconstruction of the old model, institutions, and the old music industry… an institution that we now realize was in need of deconstruction, and now reconstruction.” Juma is a completely independent artist who often produces his work on his own. Furthermore, Fall of the Giants – like his first album – will be released on his own record label, Inniss Entertainment.

Juma’s opinions on the music industry are steeped in experience, as he is no newcomer to the rap game. His debut album, Blast Music, features the song “Pray 4 U” with guest vocals from Grammy winner John Legend. Juma befriended Legend back in 2001 when they were both working at a Boston management consultant firm. This was a time when Legend was still relatively unknown, slowly gaining popularity. After trading mixtapes, Legend and Juma decided to collaborate, creating a song about having faith in the face of adversity.

“Music has always been a part of my life,” explains Juma. He has opened for Fat Joe, Amanda Diva, The X-ecutioners, Kirk Franklin, and many others. When asked about why he makes music, Juma jokes, “the heavens didn’t open up, and a voice didn’t come down and say ‘Juma, do an album,’” the omniscient voice stated with a deep rumble. For him, music is just a given; it is a piece of his life.

With his upcoming release, the sister single of “Till the DJs Gone, “We Don’t Really Care,” is available as a free download on his soundcloud page. And further information about Juma can be found at facebook.com/JumaMusic.

So what’s next for Juma? After watching a TV show on the apocalyptic Mayan predictions for 2012, Juma jokingly mentioned that he is “reshaping [his] plans for the year.” But it is more likely that his future parallels his opinion on the music industry; we are moving back to “where it should be, back into the hands of the curators. With the digital age and the ability to record and release music at no cost has empowered artists.” And Juma is doing just that – exactly what his own music suggests – which is to defy the corporate music giants.

Precisely four decades after their founding in 1972, Van Halen will be hitting the road and releasing their first new album since 1998.

The band will this year consist of brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen on guitar and drums, respectively, Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen, on bass, and David Lee Roth as their vocalist.

The band announced the tour on their website through a video, adding that tickets will begin selling on January 10. However, locations and dates have not yet been released.

The traditional music business is hemorrhaging cash, so record labels are increasingly finding themselves turning to an old money-making stalwart: the box set. The latter half of 2011 saw a seemingly never-ending parade of “Special,” “Deluxe,” “Super Deluxe,” and other superlative-laden collections from a variety of artists, often including re-recordings, never-before-heard songs, behind-the-scenes supplements, and of course, vinyl. You know, the kind of features that leave diehard fans salivating as they gaze longingly through the window of a record store (remember those?!?). Here, we break down some of the best offerings for the music fan on your Christmas list*.

AC/DC — Backtracks Collectors Box Set ($189)

This updated version of the band’s 2009 box set wins the award for coolest design, hands down. Why? Its contents (including three CDs, two DVDs, one LP and a hardcover photo book) are housed in A WORKING GUITAR AMPLIFIER. No joke. The recordings capture live and/or rare versions of AC/DC’s signature hits, and the DVDs include music videos and live performances up through 2009. But let’s face it — nothing can top flipping through concert photos from the band’s earliest tour dates while you plug in and jam out to “Highway to Hell,” no assembly required.

Beach Boys — The Smile Sessions Box Set ($140)

This treasure chest of the Beach Boys’ Album That Never Was contains five CDs, two LPs, two 7″ singles, dozens of unreleased photos, a 60-page book with input from the original band members as well as members of their entourage, and more. The CDs document the recording sessions in 1966 and 1967 for Smile, the follow-up album to Pet Sounds which was never released. (Vocalist Brian Wilson put out solo versions of the songs on his 2004 record of the same name.) Though it’s available in a significantly cheaper two-disc format, the “Good Vibrations” disc alone makes the expansive box set worth the extra dough: nearly 90 minutes documenting the piece-by-piece assemblage of the band’s classic single, with Wilson’s perfectionist genius on full display.

Also Available: 2-CD Deluxe Edition ($24); 2-LP Vinyl Edition ($26)

Elvis Presley — Young Man with the Big Beat ($104)

The five discs in this collector’s must-have are loaded with live versions and alternate takes of classics like “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Hound Dog,” plus interviews with Presley and two discs of digitally remastered original recordings. An 80-page book highlights rare photos and documents, and the set even includes replicas of ’50s and ’60s memorabilia such as ticket stubs and promotional posters. It’s a box set fit for a King.

Nirvana — Nevermind Super Deluxe Edition (Price varies)

Good luck with this one. In their infinite wisdom, the marketing team at Geffen Records decided to release only 10,000 copies of the “Super Deluxe Edition” (containing four CDs, a DVD and a 90-page book) in the U.S. in October, and 30,000 for the rest of the world. So, fans who didn’t jump on it right away are out of luck (although, private sellers are currently advertising the set through Amazon for as little as $115). Those who opt for the cheaper 2-CD “Deluxe Edition” of Nevermind ($18) will get the original album, enhanced by B-sides, live versions and rehearsal takes. Vinyl enthusiasts who are willing to shell out $71 for the 4-LP “Deluxe Edition (Vinyl)” will be treated to the original album, plus alternate recordings. A word to the wise though: so far, buyer consensus on the vinyl version is that the remastered versions are less than stellar.

Pearl Jam

Not a box set per se, but grunge fans can put together their own Pearl Jam bundle in celebration of the band’s 20th anniversary. In 2011 alone, the Seattle rockers put out a coffee table book ($40), a DVD ($18) and a soundtrack ($19) to accompany the illuminating Cameron Crowe-directed documentary Pearl Jam: Twenty. In addition, completists will want to pick up the new live album Live on Ten Legs ($15), as well as a three-CD package containing deluxe editions of the band’s second and third albums, vs. and Vitalogy, as well as a live recording at Boston’s Orpheum Theater ($29).

Pink Floyd — Discovery Box Set: The Complete Studio Recordings ($180); Dark Side of the Moon: Immersion Box Set ($120); Wish You Were Here: Immersion Box Set ($120)

Zone out in your bedroom and fire up a … ahem, blacklight, as these sweet psychedelic sounds take you back to the 1960s and ’70s. The comprehensive Discovery collection includes a whopping 16 discs of remastered versions of the group’s 14 albums, complete with new packaging and lyric booklets for each. The set also includes a 60-page book of artwork. Floyd is also rolling out “Immersion Box Sets” of its most beloved albums (probably a better bet for more casual fans), which feature the original recordings, plus remixed and remastered versions, demos and live recordings. Both the Dark Side and Wish You Were Here special editions also include memorabilia such as coasters, a scarf and ticket/backstage pass replicas from the original tours. But be sure to save some money as you shop — the Immersion Box Set of The Wall is due out in February.

The Smiths – The Smiths Complete ($64); The Smiths Complete (vinyl) ($245)

The limited-edition (only 3,000 copies!) Super Deluxe box set is more or less off the market (selling for upwards of $650 by private sellers), and there’s no wonder it got snapped up so quickly. A wet dream for any diehard Morrissey/Marr fan, the set included CD and vinyl versions of all eight Smiths albums, plus 25 7″ singles, a poster, prints of the original album sleeves, and a DVD of the band’s music videos. Procrastinators will have to settle for one of two still-available but less cool versions. The $64 CD set (a steal) includes digitally remastered versions of all eight albums, while the pricier vinyl set contains the digital remasters in CD and vinyl form, as well as a booklet and poster.

U2 — Achtung Baby: Super Deluxe Edition ($140); Achtung Baby: Uber Deluxe Edition ($439)

This 10-disc (six CDs, four DVDs) set is essentially two box sets for the price of one — fans get remastered versions of the Irish quartet’s 1991 album Achtung Baby, as well as the follow-up, 1993′s Zooropa, plus B-sides and remixes. But the best inclusion is the “Kindergarten” disc, which features “baby” versions (aw) of the tracks on Achtung Baby. (“One” is a standout). The DVDs include music videos, live performances and bonus footage. The set also comes with a hardback book and 16 art prints. Uber fans may opt for the … well, “Uber Deluxe” limited edition (whose job is it to name these things?), which includes all of the above, plus five 7″ singles, badges, stickers and — wait for it — a pair of Bono’s “The Fly” sunglasses. Housed in a magnetic tile box, it’ll set you back a mere $440.

Also available: 2-CD “Deluxe Edition” ($30); Achtung Baby Vinyl Box ($132)

Opening the Doors of Perception for Open Sourcing

By Rebecca Camarda

BROOKLINE — Rock and roll has always been linked to drug culture, with notoriously strung out musicians causing anxiety and frustration for many sound engineers and producers when they bring their habit into the studio.

At David Cardona’s studio in a Brookline apartment, drugs are key to the experience.

In this studio, filled with batik tapestries, drums from India, Africa, and South America, several guitars and a keyboard, and the aroma of Nag Champa, the recording begins when the acid kicks in.

On a recent visit I was included in a circle of musicians sharing a joint.  One had a guitar in hand, the other a hang drum.

Photo Credit: Gig Masters

“We’ve already started,” David said.

Perhaps he was referring to the LSD, or the recording, or maybe both

This recording is part of a larger project entitled In Bloom, the goal of which is to create a library of music that musicians can sample and incorporate freely.

Slowly, the three musicians begin to complement each other and the cacophony of different sounds merge into one and begin to blossom into what sounds like a rock ‘n’ roll tribal hymn.  They play on until they each naturally die out, the last being David as he tinkers out the final notes of his melody.

He turns to me and says, “And that is In Bloom.”

“In Bloom is an invitation to people with musical skills, musical talents, musical interests—and generally any kind of artistic orientation—to an environment where they can explore their creative intuition by manifesting their artistic selves through music in real time,” the musician originally from Bogota, Colombia explains.

Taking a drag from the joint, he continues, “There are no instrumentalist labels implied, you choose your instrument, even non musicians.  The point is that they may not know how to play any particular instrument but they may have an inclination at that very moment to utilize a flute or something else to manifest ideas, ideas that are manifested by listening to everything else that is happening—so, in real time.”

Another goal of this experiment for David is to allow creative people to trust their own intuition, and to help facilitate this, he enlists the help of psychedelics.

“I’m on LSD right now,” he said, once again passing me a joint, which may or may not be the third he’s passed me since my arrival.  Part of an ongoing tradition of artistic projects involving hallucinogens, In Bloom will always at least involve marijuana, but the artist is open to using LSD, mushrooms, salvia, peyote, even datura, a tropical flower that is stronger than LSD.

David said, “For being able to manifest the spiritual being or at least relax and let it happen, a good catalyst is any kind of mind altering substance just because it’s new to you.”

He adds, “It’s kind of like a playground. It destroys the walls of reality and lets you revel in the fleeting moments in which we exist.  There is nothing besides the moment you are in, and if you play a ‘wrong note,’ who cares? The moment and the note are gone.”

David cleared his throat and leaned in closer to me and almost in a whisper, said “You rely on your intuition because you have nothing besides yourself at any given moment.”  It’s as if his LSD trip has made him into a neo-hippie shaman.

Hallucinogens and improvisation are not the primary motivations of this project, though.  David finds the beauty of In Bloom in the recording process.  “It isn’t so much about the aesthetics of the recording or a final outcome that is very polished and clean. The idea is just to be able to keep a record of ideas that people are expressing. Musical ideas, new musical ideas.”

David passionately speaks about his frustrations with the music industry, especially in its current state.  “I want to create a flow of musical ideas that may be utilized by musicians.  I feel we’ve gotten to a point where the material that we have has been recycled so much that everything sounds the same. I want to provide a collection of ideas coming from whoever wishes to express them.”

Everything produced during the In Bloom sessions will be posted on the internet, with no claim to ownership.  He hopes to encourage sampling by other artists and musicians.

“I’m trying to create a library of new ideas, made by anybody who feels so inclined, that anybody may listen to and will have the fucking right to use.”

Blast intern Morgan Lawrence followed the Foo Fighters from Washington, to New York, to Newark and back home to Boston. This is part four of her four-part series.

I sat on the bus from Newark to Boston, writing in my journal for the entirety of the ride even as I admired the fall scenery that passed. I listened to “Word Forward”, a bonus track from the Foos’ Greatest Hits album, for a solid 4 hours of that trip. With its lyrics of “Years that I’ve wasted/These IOU’s/They’re just fuckin’ words”, that song had been one of many that had motivated to take the leap that was this tour and dive in for all I was worth. On this occasion it felt more like I was clinging onto something, or was hoping for reassurance. Even as I headed off into another city, preparing for another show, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was leaving something behind that I wasn’t quite ready to.

Fittingly, I suppose, the experience of the Boston show was different in nearly every way. First of all, I had actually slept in my own bed – something that felt foreign even after a relatively short time. Second, I was already familiar with every way to get where I needed to go, and where to get coffee before setting out on our journey in the early hours of the morning. Third, I didn’t have to find someone with a car so that I could store my bag. That in itself was a whole new relief to which I was unaccustomed on this tour.

Despite the shared anxiety between my line buddy and myself about maybe, just maybe, not being first in line (we’d overslept past my ridiculously early alarm by about 45 minutes), we unquestionably were. To a frustrating extent, in fact: we found ourselves making laps around the outside of the TD Garden, and even through North Station itself, trying to make sure we were lined up in the proper place. Soon a construction crew there to repair the West entrance came up to meet us, engaging in some snarky back-and-forth before agreeing to ask security if we were in the right place. Thankfully, we were, and two other people soon came to join the short stub of a line that had begun to form.

Within about two hours – essentially nothing, for those familiar with my line sagas thus far – we were met by event staff who told us, essentially, to go home. They handed out numbered wristbands, told us to be back by 5 pm, and sent us on our way.

It was 9 am. My friend and I looked at each other in bewilderment – we’d written off the entire day, ready for the long haul. What were we supposed to do now?

As it turned out…not much of anything. It’s actually funny how it works out: you spend your entire day in line, with no idea what’s going to happen (Will they open four doors instead of one? Will people cut? Were you at the wrong entrance the entire time?) and you get nervous. Apparently, though, when you’re not going through the usual motions, sitting in your designated spot for hours on end because you’re guaranteed your spot when you return to line, that doesn’t help at all. Hell, in our case, it just made us even more nervous. We resigned ourselves to drinking copious amounts of coffee in a nearby café and wandering the North End of Boston a bit, all without straying too far from the TD Garden. We kept this resolution despite the rain and the cold, both of which increased in intensity through the day, just in case.

It did have some payoffs. We ran into a few familiar techs, even some that I’d had no idea would remember me from my tour so far. It was an interesting feeling, being recognizable as a fan rather than just a face in the crowd. Being on the other side of it, though, I understood. For every new city I traveled to not knowing exactly what to expect, and all of the thousands of anonymous people I encountered once I got there, it was really nice to see one or two familiar faces. I really enjoyed the conversation that my friend and I had with one tech in particular that evening, hiding from the rain near the venue’s back entrance. This was going to make ending tour all the more difficult, I realized: no longer seeing these people, with whom I could relate about something as amazing as the Foo Fighters, every other day (or, sometimes, every day). Everything was about to go back to normal, technically speaking, but after everything that had happened, that reality felt….different.

This theme continued throughout the entire show. Well, that is, after we’d stood in line in the cold and driving rain for about an hour, only to have to frantically explain that we were first in line and should therefore be let in before people with #50 wristbands. That was par for the course. As was, wonderfully, my right side corner spot on the barricade. Fitting, I thought, that it should end where it all began – in more ways than one.

Actually, this is something I should probably address. This show, for lack of a better phrase, felt so very different because it was all so familiar. I stood in the same place, staring at the same lights, listening to the same pre-show mix – all things that had been there through all of my travels. For everything new that I had experienced thus far, once I passed through the arena doors and made that final stretch to the barricade, it was as if I hadn’t left the previous show, the previous city, in the first place. Of course it goes without saying that every show was a totally unique and wonderful experience. I cannot stress that enough; none of it felt run-of-the-mill in the least. It had, though, come to feel familiar.

It was strange, then, watching The Joy Formidable perform with an air of finality. Being an opening band, I was accustomed to their set feeling like just the beginning of everything – starting the process of growing anticipation – the communal kind of excitement that builds to bursting before the main act walks onstage. While they took very little time away from their set to commemorate the end of the tour, that reality was still very present through it all. They took it in stride, though, and for that I give them a lot of credit. They performed with even more enthusiasm than I could remember. “Whirring” aside, drummer Matt Thomas’ intro into “Cradle” was always enough to give me pause. I may have a bit of a drummer bias, but he truly stole the show during this number – his quick, loud, and slightly syncopated rhythm taking the spotlight before the rest of the band joined in. It’s always a great feeling when a musician, or a band as a whole, is able to arrest the attention of the audience based on show of skill alone, and this was definitely one of those moments. Still, within a short time, it seemed, they walked offstage as quickly and purposefully as ever when it all came to a distortion-and-feedback-filled close.

And then, of course, was Social Distortion. As usual, guitarist/vocalist Mike Ness poked fun at the band’s longevity from the get-go, greeting the crowd with “This definitely isn’t our first time in the Boston area.” There’s a reason they’ve lasted so long: every night I’d seen them so far on tour they’d delivered a seamless performance, and this was no exception. They sailed through the set list they’d apparently settled on in Newark, Ness and guitarist Johnny “2 Bags” Wickersham trading places sidling toward the edges of the stage, leaning over as if suddenly weighed down by the guitars on their shoulders as they traded solos. Mike Ness maintained his unique rapport with the audience, all swagger and swears, as he recounted the roots of one of rock’s most famous covers: their rendition of “Ring of Fire”. “I remember in 1989 I decided that Social Distortion was gonna record a Johnny Cash song,” he began. He paused briefly, throwing out his wrist and the microphone with it, as if unable to keep still. “I remember some people were like ‘Whaaaat?’, and I said ‘That’s right, motherfucker, I’m gonna record a Johnny Cash song!’.” He tilted his head at the microphone, the smirk undoubtedly on his face evident, even, in his voice. “‘Why are you gonna do that?’ ‘Because I fuckin’ want to!’”. I doubt a single soul in the audience questioned that this was exactly how any conversation of the kind had gone.

And then it was the main attraction, the end-all-and-be-all, the crowd-hysteria-inducing Foo Fighters. “Bridge Burning” started it all off as it always did, flashing lights and a whirl of noise engulfing the arena as it did. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: the first line of this song absolutely captivated me when I first heard the album, and continues to no matter how many times I hear it. Live, of course, it’s another experience entirely, with Dave Grohl’s signature scream sounding from mere feet away. The thing is, though, that when the instruments drop out and it’s just Dave and the microphone, there is something else at work: all of the force that the crowd is feeding back to him. This occasion was no exception. As the lights went up and he rushed the edge of the stage – clutching the mic, his guitar swinging across his chest from the momentum – his voice was but one joining the thousands of others that rose up with it. It was as if all of the pent up energy of the day, of the hours spent inside the arena during set changes wondering idly when the band would come on, had finally found its release valve. I’d always thought that few forces in the world could match the raw power of Dave Grohl when he digs deep and screams a line, but this came pretty damn close.

Of course, as the leading man would soon reassure us in his own special way, there was a lot more to come. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been on tour all fuckin’ year long, playing these scorching one hour and thirty minute sets,” he teased, unable to continue as the booing of the crowd drowned him out. The Foos’ tradition of marathon sets seemed to be anything but a well-kept secret. The front man continued unaffected, though, drawing out this inside joke for as long as he could. “It’s fuckin’ killing me. BUT,” he said, holding up a hand as if to silence an entire stadium with a wave, “because this show fuckin’ sold out faster than any other show in America, I figure….” he paused dramatically, the cheers of the crowd drowning him out before he managed to deadpan “….we’ll play an hour and forty-five.” And up went the roar again. For the next few minutes he played auctioneer, daring the crowd to ask, via cheers, for more time. Two hours? Two and a half? No, this show was going to be three hours. “Why you gotta make me work so fuckin’ hard?”, he huffed.

He kind of had a point – but the clear joy on the faces of Grohl and his bandmates throughout the, as promised, 3-hour set that followed made it look like the easiest thing in the world. Let me put it this way: I hope that one day I can throw myself into my work with the same kind of energy, enthusiasm, and happiness that this band exhibited night after night, including this one. At any given moment Grohl was back to his normal antics of sprinting across the stage, dancing side to side at the microphone, or jogging down the runway that ran the length of the floor. Drummer Taylor Hawkins was never still for more than a few seconds, proving there was more than a little truth behind the running joke that drummer’s “0% body fat” was, as Hawkins himself put it, “because you [Dave] make me play for 3 hours!”. The Grohl-Shiflett solo-off was as fiery and impressive as ever, the lead guitarist hamming it up and engaging the crowd on his brief stops around the stage. As someone who had been battling a creeping exhaustion for the past few days, my own participation involving a mere fraction of the energy they were putting into their shows, I was definitely impressed. Sure, maybe they hadn’t gotten up at 5 am for days running, but they’d gone on every night to play a hell of a show. You can’t command an entire arena without putting something out there, and these guys went above and beyond.

Sheer quality aside, there were a few things that made this performance just a little different from the others. During band introductions, Dave enthusiastically noted that keyboard player Rami Jaffee finally got his first sign of the tour, held up by a fan to my right. He rushed over and grabbed it, giving it to Jaffee, who feigned being moved despite the grin on his face. In terms of the set list, as the front man had mentioned in Newark (which I had secretly hoped would turn out not to be true), the previous night’s show had been the last stop for Bob Mould. “Dear Rosemary” still held its spot, however, which gave me the unforeseen opportunity to hear the song sans Mould for the first time. I’ll first mention that I adore that song, and hearing it live is wonderful and emotional and all of that stuff. But I will say that hearing both versions (and knowing what it sounds like on the record) made me realize what a fantastic choice it was to have Mould on that track. He adds something to it that’s difficult to explain, or that perhaps doesn’t have a technical term attached to its meaning at all. At the expense of repeating myself, this version wasn’t better or worse than any other. It was just, somehow, different.

Of course, though, there are some things that never change. Perhaps that’s what was most remarkable about this show after all: you put these guys on a stage and they’re going to play a set list, jam to their hearts’ content, and make fun of each other in front of thousands of people. That’s their show, and, last show or not, that’s exactly what happened. Grohl explained, for instance, that Nate Mendel couldn’t show prove how much of a “badass” he was that night because “bass solos were outlawed, like, 10 years ago”. About the aforementioned Rami sign, he once again chided the fan who held it, saying “It’s nice to see you put so much fuckin’ effort into it, too. Obviously, Rami, you’re very appreciated here.” He followed this with “Can I keep this?….Thanks,” tossing the piece of poster board carelessly over his shoulder before he picked it up and gave it to his rightful owner. Hawkins whittled down his usually wordy introduction of the leading man, keeping his heart in it nonetheless, calling Grohl “the greatest musician of our time, and the greatest friend of my time.” The front man replied “I love you too….but I really hate the attention…being a rock star totally sucks. I want to go back to making pizza at Shaky’s, like I used to.” He effortlessly and inexplicably went on to describe how criminal it was for Shaky’s to cook fried chicken and pizza in one place (“it’s, like, a kosher rule,”) before launching the band into Hawkin’s lead-vocals track “Cold Day in the Sun”. All of this within about fifteen seconds, and before we in the audience really knew what was going on. That was kind of their style, after all.

I guess it makes sense, then, that this show seemed to pass in a whirlwind. Of course there were several moments that stick out to me – personal ones, sure, and utterly unique. During the band’s cover of Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh?”, for example – a song I’d spent a portion of my idle time that day learning – Hawkins always takes the lead vocals when the guitars drop out, and Grohl scans the audience for someone singing along and points them out. On this occasion, as Hawkins (and those of us in the crowd who knew it) sang the lyrics “If you want to find out what’s behind these cold eyes/you’ll have to claw your way through this disguise,” that person was me. Grohl walked purposely toward me, mouth open in a half-grin, half silent yell as he charged away at his guitar once more. And finally, at the end of the show, when “Everlong” had ended and the feedback of Grohl’s guitar and the screams of the audience filled the stadium to bursting, Pat Smear walked to the edge of the stage and mouthed “Australia?!”. I shook my head (regrettably), thought for a second, and shouted back “But maybe Japan?” “Japan,” he mouthed back, and laughed.

And then…it was all over. The show, my tour, everything. My friend and I hung back by the stage but were soon shooed out by security, before we could even say goodbye to the techs we’d grown to know. When we headed out into the rain and, finally, into the crowded underground T stop, I held a used Taylor Hawkins drum stick in my hand and was kind of wondering what had just happened – or, rather, what was going to happen next.

It’s hard to explain how time stretches out when you’re traveling, or when you’re living every day with a purpose. It felt like those past few days – just shy of a week – had lasted a month at least, and I knew that going back to “normal life” was going to be an incredible adjustment. Post-concert depression was surely on the horizon, as was all of the work I had to catch up on from my days spent off-campus. I was now almost thoroughly broke, and without something to look forward to months, weeks, days ahead as I had since I’d planned this journey. Yeah, it was going to be rough.

But now, with the privilege of a little time distancing me from that first night back in my dorm with “real life” just hours away, I can say that gratitude and happiness definitely override all of those things. I can turn on my computer and see a picture of the crowd at Madison Square Garden and myself in the front row, cheering and smiling under the stage lights. I can open my desk drawer and see my “general admission” bracelet from that show or any of three others. If I’m so inclined, I can open my Ticket Stub Diary and see the guitar picks that once belonged to Pat Smear, Dave Grohl, and Johnny “2 Bags” Wickersham. Perched next to my desk lamp, just below the rows of photos tacked to my wall, are Taylor Hawkins’ drum sticks. I’ve kept up with the friends I made at every stop. And most importantly, I walked away from it all with the hope that I can do this all again.

And at some point – even if it’s not this March, and even if I’m not sure when – I know that I will.

The music video for “Rain Over You”, Brandyn Burnette’s new single, has been released. The song is a mashup of Gavin Degraw’s “Not Over You” and Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain.”

The 20-year old Burnette is an artist for Warner Brothers Records, and is known for his other covers for Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper” and Lil Wayne’s “How to Love.” His debut album is set to be released next year, though the exact date is unknown. Burnette has been involved in music since he was 7-years old.

“Whatever” is an appropriate title for Hot Chelle Rae’s generic second album. The Nashville-based quartet’s style of dance-pop/wannabe-rock has been done before, and it certainly has been done better by more talented pop-punk acts. Each track is basically just a slight variation on the last, the lyrics are clichéd and often cringe-worthy, and the vocals are decent at best. Yet despite the fact that there is nothing particularly good or original about the album, these choruses will indubitably get stuck in your head. They are just so catchy. Ultimately though, it’s fluff — enjoyable enough for a tween party or getting down on the dance floor, but not an album that is going to have any sort of lasting influence.

Hot Chelle Rae released their debut (“Lovesick Electric”) in 2009, but it wasn’t until the obnoxious yet also strangely infectious “Tonight Tonight” off of “Whatever” started blowing up the radio airwaves this year that they really gained popularity. An actual sample of lyrics from this song: “I woke up with a strange tattoo / Not sure how I got it, not a dollar in my pocket / And it kinda looks just like you / Mixed with Zach Galifianakis / La la la, whatever, la la la.” You’ll probably be rolling your eyes at least a few times in every song, but then the hooks will start back up and suck you in again. It’s a vicious cycle.

Somehow, the band managed to win the New Artist of the Year Award at the American Music Awards last month. Snide comments about what this says about today’s music scene aside, Hot Chelle Rae is by no means the worst thing on the radio right now. The glossy pop is certainly a guilty pleasure, and perfect for those who don’t look much further than Katy Perry and Lady Gaga for their music collection. But if you’re looking for a creative and inspiring new record to listen to, “Whatever” is definitely not it.

Nominations for the Grammy Awards ceremony taking place on February 12, 2012 were announced on Wednesday. They are as follows.

Record of the Year:

• “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele
• “Holocene” by Bon Iver
• “Grenade” by Bruno Mars
• “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons
• “Firework” by Katie Perry

Song of the Year

• “All of the Lights” by Kanya West feat Rihanna, Kid Cudi
• “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons
• “Grenade” by Bruno Mars
• “Holocene” by Bon Iver
• “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele

Best New Artist

• The Band Perry
• Bon Iver
• J. Cole
• Nicki Minaj
• Skrillex

Album of the Year

• 21 - Adele
• Wasting Light – Foo Fighters
• Born This Way – Lady Gaga
• Doo Wops and Hooligans – Bruno Mars
• Loud – Rihanna

Best Pop Solo Performance

• Someone Like You – Adele
• Yoü And I – Lady Gaga
• Grenade – Bruno Mars
• Firework – Katy Perry
• F***in’ Perfect – Pink

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

• Body And Soul – Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse
• Dearest – The Black Keys
• Paradise – Coldplay
• Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
• Moves Like Jagger – Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera

Best Pop Instrumental Album

• Wish Upon A Star – Jenny Oaks Baker
• E Kahe Malie – Daniel Ho
• The Road From Memphis – Booker T. Jones
• Hello Tomorrow – Dave Koz
• Setzer Goes Instru-Mental! – Brian Setzer

Best Pop Vocal Album

• 21 – Adele
• The Lady Killer – Cee Lo Green
• Born This Way – Lady Gaga
• Doo-Wops & Hooligans – Bruno Mars
• Loud – Rihanna

Best Dance Recording

• Raise Your Weapon – Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech
• Barbra Streisand – Duck Sauce
• Sunshine – David Guetta & Avicii
• Call Your Girlfriend – Robyn
• Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites – Skrillex
• Save The World – Swedish House Mafia

Best Dance/Electronica Album

• Zonoscope – Cut/Copy
• 4×4=12 – Deadmau5
• Nothing But The Beat – David Guetta
• Body Talk, Pt. 3 – Robyn
• Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites – Skrillex

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

• Duets II – Tony Bennett & Various Artists
• The Gift – Susan Boyle
• In Concert On Broadway – Harry Connick Jr.
• Music Is Better Than Words – Seth MacFarlane
• What Matters Most – Barbra Streisand Sings The Lyrics Of Alan And Marilyn Bergman – Barbra Streisand

Best Rock Performance

• Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall – Coldplay
• Down By The Water – The Decemberists
• Walk – Foo Fighters
• The Cave – Mumford & Sons
• Lotus Flower – Radiohead

Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance

• On The Backs Of Angels – Dream Theater
• Foo Fighters – Track from: Wasting Light
• Curl Of The Burl – Mastodon
• Public Enemy No. 1 – Megadeth
• Blood In My Eyes – Sum 41

Best Rock Song

• The Cave – Mumford & Sons
• Down By The Water – The Decemberists
• Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall – Coldplay
• Lotus Flower – Radiohead
• Walk – Foo Fighters

Best Rock Album

• Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul – Jeff Beck
• Wasting Light – Foo Fighters
• Come Around Sundown – Kings Of Leon
• I’m With You – Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Whole Love – Wilco

Best Alternative Music Album

• Bon Iver – Bon Iver
• Codes And Keys – Death Cab For Cutie
• Torches – Foster The People
• Circuital – My Morning Jacket
• The King Of Limbs – Radiohead

Best R&B Performance

• Far Away – Marsha Ambrosius
• Pieces Of Me – Ledisi
• Not My Daddy – Kelly Price & Stokley
• Is This Love – Corinne Bailey Rae
• You Are – Charlie Wilson

Best Traditional R&B Performance

• Sometimes I Cry – Eric Benét
• Fool For You – Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona
• Radio Message – R. Kelly
• Good Man – Raphael Saadiq
• Surrender – Betty Wright & The Roots

Best R&B Song

• Far Away – Marsha Ambrosius
• Fool For You – Cee Lo Green & Melanie Fiona
• Not My Daddy – Kelly Price & Stokley
• Pieces Of Me – Ledisi
• You Are – Charlie Wilson

Best R&B Album

• F.A.M.E. – Chris Brown
• Second Chance – El DeBarge
• Love Letter – R. Kelly
• Pieces Of Me – Ledisi
• Kelly – Kelly Price

Best Rap Performance

• Look At Me Now – Chris Brown, Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
• Otis – Jay-Z & Kanye West
• The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco
• Moment 4 Life – Nicki Minaj & Drake
• Black And Yellow – Wiz Khalifa

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration

• Party – Beyoncé & André 3000
• I’m On One – DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne
• I Need A Doctor – Dr. Dre, Eminem & Skylar Grey
• What’s My Name? – Rihanna & Drake
• Motivation – Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne
• All Of The Lights – Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie

Best Rap Song

• All Of The Lights – Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie
• Black And Yellow – Wiz Khalifa
• I Need A Doctor – Dr. Dre, Eminem & Skylar Grey
• Look At Me Now – Chris Brown
• Otis – Jay-Z & Kanye West
• The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco

Best Rap Album

• Watch The Throne – Jay-Z & Kanye West
• Tha Carter IV – Lil Wayne
• Lasers – Lupe Fiasco
• Pink Friday – Nicki Minaj
• My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – Kanye West

Best Country Solo Performance

• Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean
• I’m Gonna Love You Through It – Martina McBride
• Honey Bee – Blake Shelton
• Mean – Taylor Swift
• Mama’s Song – Carrie Underwood

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

• Don’t You Wanna Stay – Jason Aldean With Kelly Clarkson
• You And Tequila – Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter
• Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars
• Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not – Thompson Square

Best Country Song

• Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not – Thompson Square
• God Gave Me You – Blake Shelton
• Just Fishin’ – Trace Adkins
• Mean – Taylor Swift
• Threaten Me With Heaven – Vince Gill
• You And Tequila – Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter

Best Country Album

• My Kinda Party – Jason Aldean
• Chief – Eric Church
• Own The Night – Lady Antebellum
• Red River Blue – Blake Shelton
• Here For A Good Time – George Strait
• Speak Now – Taylor Swift

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album

• Ghosts Upon The Earth – Gungor
• Leaving Eden – Brandon Heath
• The Great Awakening – Leeland
• What If We Were Real – Mandisa
• Black & White – Royal Tailor
• And If Our God Is For Us… – Chris Tomlin

Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance

• Do Everything – Steven Curtis Chapman
• Alive (Mary Magdalene) – Natalie Grant
• Your Love – Brandon Heath
• Jesus – Le’Andria Johnson
• I Lift My Hands – Chris Tomlin

Best Gospel Song

• Hello Fear – Kirk Franklin
• Sitting With Me – Mary Mary
• Spiritual – Donald Lawrence & Co. Featuring Blanche McAllister-Dykes
• Trust Me – Richard Smallwood & Vision
• Window – Canton Jones

Best Contemporary Christian Music Song

• Blessings – Laura Story
• Hold Me – Jamie Grace Featuring Tobymac
• I Lift My Hands –Chris Tomlin
• Strong Enough – Matthew West
• Your Love – Brandon Heath

Best Gospel Album

• The Love Album – Kim Burrell
• The Journey – Andraé Crouch
• Hello Fear – Kirk Franklin
• Something Big – Mary Mary
• Angel & Chanelle Deluxe Edition – Trin-I-Tee 5:7

Best Americana Album

• Emotional Jukebox – Linda Chorney
• Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down – Ry Cooder
• Hard Bargain – Emmylou Harris
• Ramble At The Ryman – Levon Helm
• Blessed – Lucinda Williams

Best Folk Album

• Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars
• I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive – Steve Earle
• Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
• Ukulele Songs – Eddie Vedder
• The Harrow & The Harvest – Gillian Welch

Best Bluegrass Album

• Paper Airplane – Alison Krauss & Union Station
• Reason And Rhyme: Bluegrass Songs By Robert Hunter & Jim Lauderdale – Jim Lauderdale
• Rare Bird Alert – Steve Martin And The Steep Canyon Rangers
• Old Memories: The Songs Of Bill Monroe – The Del McCoury Band
• A Mother’s Prayer – Ralph Stanley
• Sleep With One Eye Open – Chris Thile & Michael Daves

Best Blues Album

• Low Country Blues – Gregg Allman
• Roadside Attractions – Marcia Ball
• Man In Motion – Warren Haynes
• The Reflection – Keb Mo
• Revelator – Tedeschi Trucks Band

Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media

• Boardwalk Empire: Volume 1 – (Various Artists)
• Burlesque – Christina Aguilera
• Glee: The Music, Volume 4 – (Glee Cast)
• Tangled – (Various Artists)
• True Blood: Volume 3 – (Various Artists)

Best New Age Album

• Northern Seas – Al Conti
• Gala – Michael Brant DeMaria
• Wind, Rock, Sea & Flame – Peter Kater
• What’s it All About – Pat Metheny
• Instrumental Oasis, Vol. 6 – Zamora

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

• All or Nothing at All – Randy Brecker, soloist
• You Are My Sunshine – Ron Carter, soloist
• 500 Miles High – Chick Corea, soloist
• Work – Fred Hersch, soloist
• Sonnymoon for Two – Sonny Rollins, soloist

Best Jazz Vocal Album

• ‘Round Midnight – Karrin Allyson
• The Mosaic Project – Terri Lyne Carrington & Various Artists
• The Gate – Kurt Elling
• American Road – Tierney Sutton (Band)
• The Music of Randy Newman – Roseanna Vitro

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

• Bond: The Paris Sessions – Gerald Clayton
• Forever – Corea, Clarke & White
• Alone at the Vanguard – Fred Hersch
• Bird Songs – Joe Lovano/Us Five
• Road Shows, Vol. 2 – Sonny Rollins
• Timeline – Yellowjackets

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

• The Jazz Ballad Song Book – Randy Brecker With DR Big Band
• The Good Feeling – Christian McBride Big Band
• 40 Acres and a Burro – Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
• Legacy – Gerald Wilson Orchestra
• Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook – Miguel Zenón

Best Latin Pop, Rock, Or Urban Album

• Entren Los Que Quieran – Calle 13
• Entre La Ciudad Y El Mar – Gustavo Galindo
• Nuestra – La Vida Bohème
• Not So Commercial – Los Amigos Invisibles
• Drama Y Luz – Maná

Best Regional Mexican Or Tejano Album

• Bicentenario – Pepe Aguilar
• Orale – Mariachi Divas De Cindy Shea
• Amore A La Musica -Mariachi Los Arrieros Del Valle
• Eres Un Farsante – Paquita La Del Barrio
• Huevos Rancheros – Joan Sebastian

Best Banda Or Norteño Album

• Estare Mejor – El Güero Y Su Banda Centenario
• Intocable 2011 – Intocable
• Los Tigres Del Norte And Friends – Los Tigres Del Norte
• El Árbol – Los Tucanes De Tijuana
• No Vengo A Ver Si Puedo… Su Por Que Puedo Vengo – Michael Salgado

Best Tropical Latin Album

• Homenaje A Los Rumberos – Edwin Bonilla
• The Last Mambo – Cachao
• Mongorama – José Rizo’s Mongorama

Best Reggae Album

• Harlem-Kingston Express Live! – Monty Alexander
• Reggae Knights – Israel Vibration
• Revelation Pt. 1: The Root of Life – Stephen Marley
• Wild and Free – Ziggy Marley
• Summer in Kingston – Shaggy

Best World Music Album

• AfroCubism – AfroCubism
• Africa for Africa – Femi Kuti
• Songs from a Zulu Farm – Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• Tassili – Tinariwen

Best Children’s Album

• All About Bullies…Big and Small – (Various Artists) James Cravero, Gloria Domina, Kevin Mackie, Steve Pullara & Patrick Robinson, producers
• Are We There Yet? – The Papa Hugs Band
• Fitness Rock & Roll – Miss Amy
• Gulfalive – The Banana Plant
• I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow – (Various Artists) Eric Brace & Peter Cooper, producers

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Story Telling)

• Bossypants – Tina Fey
• Fab Fan Memories – The Beatles Bond – (Various Artists) Nathan Burbank, Bryan Cumming, Dennis Scott & David Toledo, producers
• Hamlet (William Shakespeare) – Dan Donohue & Various Artists – Oregon Shakespeare Festival
• If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t) – Betty White
• The Mark of Zorro – Val Kilmer & Cast

Best Comedy Album

• Alpocalypse – “Weird Al” Yankovic
• Finest Hour – Patton Oswalt
• Hilarious – Louis C.K.
• Kathy Griffin: 50 & Not Pregnant – Kathy Griffin
• Turtleneck & Chain – The Lonely Island

Best Musical Theater Album

• Anything Goes – Sutton Foster & Joel Grey, principal soloists; Rob Fisher, James Lowe & Joel Moss, producers (Cole Porter, composer/lyricist) (New Broadway Cast Recording)
• The Book of Mormon – Josh Gad & Andrew Rannells, principal soloists; Anne Garefino, Robert Lopez, Stephen Oremus, Trey Parker, Scott Rudin & Matt Stone, producers; Robert Lopez, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, composers/lyricists (Original Broadway Cast)
• How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – John Larroquette & Daniel Radcliffe, principal soloists; Robert Sher, producer (Frank Loesser, composer/lyricist) (The 2011 Broadway Cast Recording)

“I just found a piece of hair in my pizza, but I am going to pretend that it was mine because I really, REALLY love this pizza.”

You can easily notice Siobhan Magnus’s laid back personality in almost every aspect in her life, even when it comes to: pizza. Siobhan’s interview took place at a restaurant of her choice, California Pizza Kitchen. It’s not difficult to understand her love for pizza

Her best friend Brittany Whittman didn’t seem surprised at all and it was almost impossible to suppress laughter. Along with her love for pizza, Siobhan’s love for music is undying.

Words such as unique, different, or even individualistic do not come close to being able to describe the personality and style of Siobhan Magnus. From her taste in music to her choice of style, this Cape Cod finalist is quite timeless.

Trying out for American Idol was something that briefly crossed Siobhan’s mind. While at lunch when I first asked her about where the initial idea to tryout came from, best friend Whittman started laughing. “I told her not to do it,” said Whittman.

To any bystander, Whittman’s comment could be completely shocking, but looking back at our lunch date I become more shocked with the idea that Siobhan was part of American Idol in the first place. That statement isn’t meant as an insult at all. After anyone has had any interaction with Siobhan, they would have a similar reaction as well.

Quite frankly, she isn’t your typical pop star. Actually, it would be completely absurd to even put her name and pop star into the same sentence.

Pop stars adapt to new trends and do whatever is necessary to get their music out on the radio. They dress how they are told to dress, and sing what is written for them to sing. Pop stars are simply sell outs. That is why Siobhan will never fit that category.

Auto tune will never replace her soulful voice. Her music takes on the rock, blues, and soul genre. But for her, it’s a lot more. “I would describe it as storytelling music,” said Siobhan.

Musical talent is something that’s run in Siobhan’s blood. “My father is a musician. Once he found out that I was actually good at music and wanted to pursue it he sat me down and said ‘If you want this, we need to find ways to make you better,” explained Siobhan. She became involved in every musical class or group available at her high school and even performed in theater.

She spoke of eventually dipping her feet into acting. Her love for music also coincides with theater. Siobhan spoke about being exposed to theater at a young age because her older siblings were involved, and they always used her as an extra.

Siobhan was accepted at Salem State College, but eventually dropped out and starting working as an apprentice glassblower. However, one of her older brother’s knew she was meant for something much bigger. He made a deal with her.

He gave her a lock box that had a slot in it. In the box was a ticket to Nashville. “He told me that if I was able to put two hundred dollars in this box then he would give me the key to it,” said Siobhan. It didn’t take too long for her to accumulate the money.

While in Nashville is when Siobhan got the call about American Idol tryouts. “My friend and I made a deal that if they ever came to Boston we would go and try out.” The call was good timing. Her grandmother was starting to get worried about her in Nashville and constantly asked when she would be back.

“I got back the night before the audition,” said Siobhan. My initial reaction was: so wait, when did you have time to prepare?

Footage of girls explaining their preparation for their American Idol audition can be found anywhere on the internet. Some spent months taking vocal lessons others spent entire days rehearsing. It’s all very extreme.

Siobhan , let’s just say, took an entirely different approach. When I asked her about her rehearsing schedule she said, “I chose my song fifteen minutes before I was going to audition.” I think that perfectly depicts her personality.

Even though she had somewhere to be after lunch, it was never rushed. There was always something new to speak about and it was always laid back with a mixture of laughter.

She could have easily sounded annoyed when she explained her miserable car ride on her way to auditions. “More than half way there we have to turn around because I forgot everything I needed,” said Siobhan. She left all her forms of identification that she needed in order to audition.

To make matters worse, she also received a speeding ticket. While reiterating this story she laughed the entire time; not one complaint.

Her new single, Black Doll, is currently available on iTunes. “Black doll is half a homage to Edward Gorey and the other half is making that connection between myself and Gorey; talking about how everyone feels out of place sometimes, but there is nothing wrong with that. My favorite thing about the song is the allusion to things only my family will get. That line about the “purple house,” is the house I grew up in, my house is the only purple one and is kind of a landmark in my neighborhood,” said Siobhan.

Edward Gorey is one of the reasons as to why Siobhan gained more publicity. She not only shows her artistic nature through her music, but also through the tattoos that she has on her body. One night on American Idol, one of her tattoos were showing. Her tattoo is a tribute to Edward Gorey. Her manager saw this while he was in a bar and instantly tried to get in contact with her.

“His people were trying to get in touch with my people,” said Siobhan.

Since American Idol, Siobhan has been working on her debut album. She has released two singles. Siobhan has also been seen on The Ellen Degeneres Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. She was part of the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2010. She has also sang the national anthem at Fenway before a Red Sox game.

Siobhan made her solo debut at the Wilbur Theatre on Oct. 30. At her show, “Hallowe’en Dreams,” she introduced her new album, “Moon baby.”

Jennifer Nettles and long-term boyfriend Justin Miller were married over Thanksgiving weekend near the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The ceremony took place at sunset and was attended by close friends of the couple, including Nettles’s bandmate, Kristian Bush.

Nettles is undoubtedly happy in her newly-found married bliss, despite the lawsuit placed against Sugarland earlier this month. During the Indiana State Fair, a stage set up for a Sugarland performance collapsed after being hit by a 60-mph gust of wind, killing 6 and injuring 40 others. The survivors have placed the lawsuit against Sugarland and the stage crew involved with the setting up for the event, saying that the accident could have been avoided. Sugarland had not taken the stage yet when the misfortune occurred.

Nettles, one half of the country music duo Sugarland, and Miller, a former model, had been dating for more than two years before Friday. Miller once said of Nettles that she is the kind of girl “you have crushes on growing up”. The couple is presumed to be delaying their honeymoon plans until after Sugarland performs at the Grammy Nomination Concert on Wednesday and hosts the CMA Christmas Special on Thursday.

Miller can be seen in an appearance he made in Sugarland’s music video for the 2006 single, “Want To.”

Blast intern Morgan Lawrence is following the Foo Fighters from Washington, to New York, to Newark and back home to Boston. This is part three of her four-part series.

NEWARK, N.J. — After a three-block walk, a train ride, and then another 15-minute trek through Brooklyn, it seemed that Jersey was all too rapidly approaching. All told, I got about 3 hours of sleep, waking up to throw my hair into a messy ponytail and don my coat to ward off the exhaustion chills. My friend, a New York resident, proved a kind and able guide through the New York subway system (as well as, I should add, the owner of the world’s most comfortable cot). She was kind enough to make sure that despite the efforts of my heavy eyelids I did not fall asleep on the subway – and, even if I did, that I wouldn’t miss my stop.

Despite the fact that my eyes fought to close without my permission and I felt slightly delirious, I will say this: the Starbucks at 42nd and 8th makes a mean pumpkin spice latte – a venti with soy and an extra shot, to be precise. I don’t know how they do it, but by the time I finished it off (in record time) I felt positively human again, actually ready to face a day of hardcore waiting and 3 hours of rocking out.

What I wasn’t ready for, though, was Newark. To be honest, the thought of showing up to a venue first was, for the first time, totally unappealing to me – mostly the fact that I’d be sitting outside a building in Newark I’d never been to before, alone. Thus, I hedged, sitting in the ‘bucks for far longer than I ever would have on the morning of a concert otherwise. Frankly I couldn’t be sure that the Canadian girls I’d met at Madison Square Garden, who would be continuing on the Northeast route as well, would be there at 9 am as they’d promised, and I couldn’t see the line in Newark competing with that of New York. I decided to head out with enough time to catch, at the latest, a 10 am light rail to Newark Penn Station.

It was a gorgeous day when I stepped off the train and started the brief walk to the venue. Gratefully it stayed that way, allowing us to sun like cats on the makeshift barricades that kept us clustered around the arena entrance for the day. The tour-traditional searches for food and bathrooms were short-lived, though, as we realized that Newark isn’t exactly somewhere you go for a healthy walk or to “explore”. The McDonald’s we found two blocks away proved to be an adventure enough – we didn’t go back. Our attempts to see the band as they went in for soundcheck proved similarly fruitless, although we did successfully chat with some very friendly crew, who recognized us from the nights before.

As time wore on, though, things got…weird. I suppose in concert lines this is bound to happen, but this was just strange. First of all, we in the front had been given a pretty wide berth, more of a semi-circle (a pen, if you will) of barricade in which to stay. Rather than protectively sitting in a single-file formation, the first twenty-five or so were milling around, out of order. This seemed to both confuse people into thinking that there was no “line” (causing them to try to hop the barricade and join us) and allow people to pretend they didn’t know it was a line. I ended up being the only one willing to tell those people that the end of the line was that way, thank you very much. Tensions were bubbling up and the formerly pleasant and casual atmosphere was starting to feel kind of threatening – there is nothing to dread so much in line for a show as disorganization, because someone is going to get burned.

And that’s probably why my sharpie hand-numbering system got so out of control. It was never intended to be law. It was to discourage people from cutting or letting 12 friends join them in line (at least without the permission of the people behind them). In light of the news we received that we’d be entering through 4 different doors instead of the standard 1, the two guys who had shown up early that morning took charge, trying to pre-coordinate, ordering that everyone line up according to their number. I wound up second to go through the 3rd door. This technically put me behind two other guys who had claimed to want right corner. I realized I’d be lucky if I’d get second or third off the barricade, let alone my corner spot. I was the most stressed out I’d been all tour so far, sitting there and realizing that my spot – or the loss thereof – was no one’s fault but my own, and I was going to have to deal. And then, suddenly, the doors opened, and all thoughts disappeared.

I rushed forward whenever I got a break, through the ticket checkers and the wristband station (painfully slow!), until I was in the clear, finally realizing that despite their calls of “Don’t run!” they couldn’t do a damn thing to stop me. I jogged for it – only to be passed by my barricade neighbor from the past two shows. Damn it. I leaned halfway over the barricade when I finally reached it, half-relieved and half wired on adrenaline. I tried breathlessly to yell at him: “You’d outrun me? You’d outrun your friend?”. Still, at least I was in the same spot I’d been in the night before, and that was much more than I’d been able to hope for only a few short minutes ago.

The Joy Formidable was back to their full five-song set, making sure to comment that this was their second to last show and how sorry thy were to see the tour end. I do think singer Ritzy Byan, and perhaps the band in general, was more than a bit taken aback by how empty the stands were as they began their set. The former mentioned how huge the building was and, at one point, noted how quiet it became as she sang a verse with all the instruments muted. She was right – it was the quietest an arena had been all tour. While I didn’t notice any anger or bitterness in her tone, or any change in their performance as a whole, when she talked about “Whirring” — the final song that always features a 5-minute digression – she seemed to almost smirk when she said “We’re going to keep this short and sweet”. Whatever the case, as they left the stage, they left behind them once again the impression that they are a very solid band for whom this is quite probably just the beginning, not the end.

Next up, of course, was Social Distortion. Mike Ness seemed to add even more swagger to his already super-tough persona during this time around. He traded in his traditional sprays of spit at the microphone in favor of full-on loogies to the stage and bantered sarcastically with the audience all the while. “This is a happy song,” he said at one point, “It’s called ‘Machine Gun Blues’”. Later he claimed to notice a lot of crazy people in the audience, adding, “All of New Jersey is crazy”. His “crazy”, though, was dragged out with a kind of Fonz-like cool that made it evident that, coming from Mike Ness, that was a compliment. When the applause wasn’t immediate, he repeated, “Come on, motherfuckers, I said ‘all of New Jersey is crazy,’” – proving that, if nothing else, when Mike Ness gives you a compliment, you take it. This wasn’t quite the best part of their set, however. It wasn’t even when guitarist Johnny “2 Bags” Wickersham, after two shows with not so much as a glance anywhere but outward, finally raised his head and looked at us in the front row, sending picks and smiles our way during “Story of My Life”. No, it was when, toward the end of the set, a slow and familiar riff emitted from Mike’s guitar. I once again told myself it was not their ballad “Ball and Chain” (a much-lamented fact by everyone I spoke to) but something familiar-sounding that they had been playing all along. … Except it was “Ball and Chain”. I gleefully sang along and marveled at how this one song seemed to change the whole tone and pace of their set. I was almost surprised when Mike said “You know what I want to do right now? I want to sing a Johnny Cash song,” meaning their set-closing number was about to begin. Without a doubt Social D had bested themselves, and it was fun as hell to watch.

And then, of course, it was time for the Foo Fighters. I was anxiously bouncing on the balls of my feet as the band walked onstage, still partially hidden behind the huge otherworldly light fixtures. Three shows in and this hadn’t gotten old in the least- if anything, it had gotten better.

And it was about to get better still. The energy that the other performers had shown so far was only emphasized by the main attraction, and they weren’t leaving any doubt about that. “Call your boss and tell him you have irritable bowel syndrome or something,” Dave commanded, “it’s gonna be a long fuckin’ night!”. His banter with the audience, and with his band mates, continued at a remarkably high level. Some guys I’d met in line who had been determined to be noticed for their signs for Nate – “Nate is a Wizard!” “OH GOD NATE” – were in fact noticed, with Dave chiding them for their Sharpie-and-posterboard handiwork: “I can see how much work you put into it”. He shared an anecdote about Pat Smear coming to him earlier that day, hung over, and what his advice for the guitarist had been: “Champagne, motherfucker!”. Smear brandished his glass appropriately before dissolving into a fit of laughter. “How you feeling now?” Dave asked, to which Pat could only manage to respond “You’re cracking me up tonight!” At this Dave smiled and noted that if he was making Pat Smear laugh he knew he was at least doing alright.

This continued during, what else, band introductions. When an absolute wall of noise arose from the crowd in honor of Taylor Hawkins, causing him to, childlike, hide his head in his stick-thin arms in embarrassment, Dave teased him that he had quite the little fan club going in Newark. He mentioned that if he made his fan club shirtless, he’d be a “fuckin’ millionaire.” Immediately Taylor shot back “I already am a millionaire,” pausing before quickly adding “…thanks to this guy right here, Dave Grohl!” cueing the loud applause for the band’s founder, lead singer, guitarist, etc. After it finally died down, Dave took to the mic and jokingly shook his head as if disapproving. “I really hate the attention,” he said, “it bums me out.”

During “Monkey Wrench”, introducing the lights-out digression that the band always inserted just before Dave screamed his signature lines, the front man shared an anecdote about going to see Prince in concert, who had done the same thing. Apparently Prince had reasoned that the audience seemed too self-conscious, looking at one another too much. Instead of all that, Dave said, we should just sit back and listen. Despite the fact that I’d been through this two times before, I made an effort to do just that. I stopped looking at individual band members, or even the faces of the crowd around me, and simply looked up: at the light fixtures, at the waving cell phone lights and tiny flames that stood out like stars amongst the darkened stands. I closed my eyes, even, simply appreciating the wave of sound that washed over me from the speakers. Yeah, I thought, maybe Dave and Prince were on to something.

The show closed with an encore, of course, but not before Dave and Taylor goaded the audience into asking for more songs – via night vision camera footage, projected onto the screens that hovered above the stage. After working their way up from “one more song” to seven, Dave pretending all the while that he simply couldn’t play that many, the front man triumphantly emerged from backstage, acoustic guitar in hand. Smiling, he marched out to the platform at the end of the arena once again.

Despite the band’s adherence to their, admittedly powerful, same set list for the majority of the tour, Newark was an occasion on which we got something a little different, and something definitely remarkable. New York had Joan Jett, but Newark had the reintroduction of Bob Mould – not just on “Dear Rosemary” but, for the first time in my experience, “I Should Have Known,” the heavy and emotional track off the new record that at least partially references the death of Kurt Cobain. It truly speaks to the power of the performers that after a high-octane set that encourages jumping, headbanging, moshing, and, of course, screaming, a sense of gravity could immediately descend upon the arena at the drop of a hat. As if a switch had been flipped, thousands of people quieted down and were fittingly mesmerized by the presence before them. The flashing lights and dancing screens were gone; they were replaced only by solid, stationary beams in various hues of blue and green, falling over Dave Grohl and Co. as they stood (for once) in place until song’s end.

And then, of course, was “Everlong.” It was here that Dave addressed something that I’d been wondering about since my first show: their ever-expanding catalogue and an already jam-packed set. “We’ll go home, like we always do, and make another record,” he said. “And then we’ll come back. And when we do, we’ll try as hard as we fuckin’ can to play for four fuckin’ hours.” He paused, and then added, with almost startling solemnity and sincerity, “Because anything less would be not enough.”

It was at this show, and at the end of this encore, that I became convinced that I was flattering myself to think that anyone cared whether or not I was going to the next show. As such, I decided not to hold up the “See you in Boston!” sign that I’d fashioned for this occasion. So it was to my absolute surprise that Pat Smear met my eyes after the encore and mouthed “Boston?!” I grinned back full force and yelled “YES!” — as if I would miss it for the world.

Taylor Swift, winner of Artist of the Year, Favorite Country Album and Favorite Country Female Artist Awards, poses in the press room at the 2011 American Music Awards held at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE on November 20 (Jason Merritt/Getty Images via WireImage)

Pop or Rock

Favorite Male Artist:

• Winner: Bruno Mars
• Nominees: Justin Bieber, Pitbull

Blast intern Morgan Lawrence is following the Foo Fighters from Washington, to New York, to Newark and back home to Boston. This is part two of her four-part series.

NEW YORK — The city that never sleeps, except between the hours of 1 and 5 a.m. You learn that pretty quickly when you frequent the 1 am Peter Pan/Greyhound bus from Boston to the Port Authority. Despite the fact that the schedule dictates that the bus should arrive around 5:30, the complete lack of traffic in the wee hours (especially on weekdays) means that the 4.5-hour bus ride actually gets in anywhere between 3.5 and 4 hours after departure. Let me emphasize again: nothing is open during these hours, except the Tick Tock Diner on 34th and 8th. So basically if you’re not up for a big stack of pancakes and a 10-block walk that early in the morning to get them, you’re royally fucked, and will be spending a lot of quality time with the dirty bus terminal floor.

Knowing this, I nonetheless chose that bus to get me into the city for my second Foo Fighters show. My original plan was to get to the venue (every venue, in fact – yeah, I was kind of optimistic and unrealistic when I made these plans) by 6 am. I soon realized, though, that sitting outside a venue in New York City, potentially alone, in the dark, was not the best course of action. And so it was that I found myself standing outside a Starbucks on 42nd street at 5:29 a.m., waiting for 5:30 or whenever the employees felt it was appropriate to open the door. As I waited, I was passed by a friendly and well-meaning man who quite clearly thought I was some form of homeless (something that I should really be accustomed to at this point with the traveling hours I keep).

Anyway, I killed time drinking coffee (my sleep schedule being completely through the wringer, as I’d slept from 8:30 in the morning until 5 p.m. as soon as I’d gotten back to Boston from DC), writing up this bullshit, and waiting for the sun to rise before I trekked over to MSG around 7. Gratefully, although somewhat to my surprise, I found my barricade neighbor from the night before and two other people I didn’t recognize already there and waiting. Not bad at all.

The morning wait passed slowly, as they always do, as we tried to re-acclimate to the loss of feeling in our extremities and derrieres due to cold air and sidewalk. Just as we were getting settled in (read: found stuff to sit on and were honestly looking really homeless), Madison Square Garden staff approached us and told us to move to a space along the side of the building, away from the sidewalk foot traffic. It just so happens that it was in this spot we’d seen at least two homeless people sleeping not an hour earlier. As if to accentuate this point, the smell of urine was there to greet us as we got back in our line formation and were placed behind waist-high barricades that kept us along the wall. We overheard staff ask via walkie-talkie for a custodian, presumably to clean up whatever spot under our feet smelled like piss – but when said employee arrived, he inexplicably swept and mopped only the front doors of the venue and walked off. After 20 minutes of watching the mop sit there unused, frustration that none of us (set to be there for hours more) could sit down took over me. I asked security – still standing there, seemingly unconcerned about the whole lack-of-cleaning thing – if I could use the mop myself. They responded with an irritating amount of enthusiasm at the prospect, standing by and watching as I tried to bleach the smell away. I can’t make this up: one of them even went so far as to critique my mopping technique as he stood by. But I digress: at least that day, with all of our concerns, we didn’t have to worry about smelling like piss.

The day was slow, but I had good company in a group of women who had come from their home city of Quebec to, with the exception of the show in DC, do exactly as I was doing. Their second-language English prevented us from talking as much as I would have liked, as we indulged in New York’s thankfully ample selection of $1 slices of pizza, but they were still very friendly and inclusive. Best of all, they told me that they all wanted to be on the left side of the stage, meaning I was second in line who wanted the right. If not the corner, at least one spot to the right of it was mine.

I say that with conviction, but I hardly felt so certain. Soon the final hour and a half of the wait – as you’ll recall, the absolute worst period of the line time – was upon us and I was totally unconvinced I’d get my spot after all. All day, courtesy of those who had been in Madison Square Garden pits before, I’d been fed horror stories of slow ticket scanners, innumerable escalator rides before being let in, and general chaos. I knew how easy it was for venue management, always just a little clueless, to mess everything up in a second.

And they kind of made good on that, too. First we were led in (twenty of us) and kept in line at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Then we were herded to a table where our tickets were checked and marked and we were given wristbands. Then we were lined up again, single-file (they yelled at us several times) before they finally let us through….up two escalators and through a hallway, which led finally to the main door. “Don’t run!”, staff screamed at us, as per usual, intimidating us into an awkward half-brisk-walk, half-jog to the barricade. As usual again (weirdly) there weren’t as many people interested in the right side of the stage as the left, so I was one off from the corner. Perfect.

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters arrives to "Late Show With David Letterman" at the Ed Sullivan Theater on November 15 in New York. (Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage)

It all started off with the news that The Joy Formidable’s set would be shortened. This after we’d heard that the Foos had already pushed back the door-opening time to start everything earlier, all presumably to make the midnight NYC noise curfew. The group made the most of it, packing their half hour with music, including what seemed like a lengthened version of their distortion-filled, gong-pounding, guitar-throwing ending to “Whirring”. I have to say, though, that despite what I’m sure must have been disappointment about their set being cut, they seemed to be having even more fun, and showcasing more energy, than they had in DC just days before. So when “Whirring” came along, it was no-holds-barred. Bassist Rhydian Dafydd lurched forward and threw his hands back in exaggerated strokes with every note, yelling lyrics or just simply yelling off-lyric. Singer-guitarist Ritzy Bryan stomped her way across the stage and, while kneeling to adjust the effects pedals to produce as much of a swirling sonic mass as possible, headbanged on all fours, almost doing push-ups with the effort. The drummer who is not Russell Brand (but is Matt Thomas) threw his sticks against the cymbals before him, launching them toward his band mates like arsenal. I have to agree with Dave Grohl on this one: they have the musical chops to back it up, and it all came off as very rock n’ roll.

Speaking of rock n’ roll, next up was Social Distortion. Their set was not shortened, but was switched up a touch – they rotated in a seething older number that really brought up the mood and energy in the pit. As it should have – it would have brought down the house in one of their smaller gigs, where people actually know how to mosh for fun. Anyway, it seemed that despite singer/guitarist Mike Ness’s anecdote that in his previous New York experience he was beat up on H Street, “Social D” as a whole was all the more energized and confident, too. Ness strutted around the stage all the more, planting his feet and straightening himself up as he played as if readying himself for a fight – a fight that, given the signature half-sneer of an expression on his face, he was confident he would win. With his suspenders, old school tattoos, slicked back hair, and almost Elvis-like leg-shaking in time with the music, he was the picture of classic rock n’ roll. Not “classic rock”, of course, but what the genre meant at its origin and was always supposed to mean. Social Distortion represents that with pride, and they do it well.

And then, of course, was the almighty Foo. No matter how many times those extraterrestrial-esque fixtures descended onto the stage, shooting beams of light out into the stadium, I don’t think they could ever fail to give me butterflies. Without a sound, without doing much of anything, they gave the clear impression that something really important was about to happen. And the really cool part about being in the audience, let alone the front row, is that you know it will be. Even for those last few seconds where the band is still hidden, their only sign being the razor-sharp riff that starts everything, – the song “Bridge Burning”, the album, the show, the racing pulses of the audience – you can’t fucking wait. It’s almost a simultaneous thrill and relief when suddenly the stage is clear, lights are flashing, Taylor’s drums are roaring through the speakers, and then: “These are my famous last words!”

What can be said about this show? Every song, even if it was the same as the night before, seemed tinted with the reverence of where we were – a place that management itself boldly proclaims (on all signing and merchandise) is “The World’s Most Famous Arena”. Taylor put this into words at long last during band introductions, quietly expressing his disbelief that the Foos had landed there: “I can’t believe we’re playing Madison Square Garden,” he said. “…all the adolescent dreams we had about playing this kind of show…it still seems unbelievable.”

Of course, no rock band can truly be classified as “reverent” – especially not when playing in front of thousands of screaming fans. During the switch-off solo portion of one of several “jams” built into the songs, this one being “Stacked Actors”, rhythm guitarist Pat Smear betrayed his usually positive disposition by lifting his guitar off his shoulders and smashing it neck-first on the amp in front of him. When a CD launched by a member of the crowd hit lead singer Dave Grohl in the leg during his between-song banter, Dave saw no reason to be anything but blunt. “Here’s an idea”, he said, tension running as a fierce undercurrent, “if you want me to listen to your fucking band, don’t through your CD in my face!”. He punctuated this with a raised middle finger and by picking up the CD and throwing it back in the general direction of the undoubtedly embarrassed audience member. Finally, he issued his usual command to parents, telling them to buy their children actual instruments instead of Guitar Hero, before launching into “Monkey Wrench”.

Nevertheless, things got kind of somber and significant again during the acoustic set – it’s hard not to take a step back and say “wow” when a full Madison Square Garden is singing the chorus of “Wheels” back at you as loud as they can. The soaring “Oooh” bridge on “Best of You” just about overtook Dave’s efforts on his acoustic guitar, as impassioned as they were as he stood, in a halo of light, on the raised platform at the end of the arena. I like to think that this is because everyone else, like me, took it upon themselves to belt it out with all that they had in them, sending all of the emotion that the song demands, with the lyrics, out into the air. But maybe not.

Then, of course, there was the actual encore – with the full band and the feeling that you don’t really know for sure what’s coming next. Bob Mould made another guest appearance, playing on a “Dear Rosemary” that has to be my favorite version to date. Something about the energy of that show, the passion of that song, and the fact that Bob Mould was there singing one of my favorite sections of Foo music of all time – “This was no ordinary life” – had me standing on my tip-toes, fist in the air, and the biggest grin I could possibly have on my face without my jaw giving in. And, as if on cue, Pat met my eye and gave me a huge smile back. Awesome.

That’s another thing about the Foo Fighters: the band’s effort to interact with fans is something that is within itself worthy of admiration. As far as I was concerned, even in DC – when I wasn’t yet making a habit of showing up on the barricade night after night – I got more than I’d hoped for. After indulging in my normal concert shenanigans, headbanging and singing and clapping and jumping (I was really, really excited to see these guys live, okay?), Pat looked at me, pointed, and said “You rock!”, topping it all off by bending down to give me his pick. You know you’re at a good show when a band can make you feel like you’re the only person in the room, not just one of tens of thousands. I don’t take that for granted for a second.

This gig wasn’t anywhere near over, though. It was Madison Square Garden, after all, and everyone knows that you don’t play MSG without something up your sleeve (which, when I was living in Ohio, was actually a source of more than a little resentment, but that’s beside the point). The front-row rumor mill had pretty much spoiled this for me; that didn’t make it any less exciting when – as Dave started his introduction of “the most badass motherfucker” ever who, if we wanted to learn about rock ‘n roll, would be “the best teacher” – a roadie with a “Blackheart Records” sweatshirt came on stage to set up. It was official: to quote Dave, it was “JOAN JETT!!!”.

With that, a rock and feminist icon, bestselling artist, and all-around badass casually walked out, hugging the 3 Foo boys on my side of the stage before strapping on her guitar and stepping up to the microphone. Her brief introduction went a little something like this:

Dave: “How do we start?”

Joan: “One, two, three, four?”

Dave: (pointing at drummer Taylor Hawkins) “That’s what he says!”.

Taylor took this as his cue and counted off, launching them into the song. Despite Dave’s earlier quips, which one would assume were hints that they would be playing “I Love Rock n’ Roll”, they charged into a searing version of “Bad Reputation”, Joan on lead vocals and Dave taking the “No no no” backups. Make no mistake, this version was badass rock n’ roll at its finest. It’s been a while since I rocked out so hard and shamelessly on a barricade – but then, the occasion seemed to more than call for it. I don’t regret it one bit. I mean, how could I?

And then, of course, it was “Everlong,” the emotional punch that ends every show. The emotionality and sheer quality of the performance, every time, hardly softens the blow, amazing enough to make you wish more than anything that you didn’t have to go home. Thankfully, I didn’t really have to worry about that: as I dutifully held up my “See You in Jersey!” sign, (which to my surprise got a smile and a “Fuck yes!” from Pat Smear) I tried not to think about the fact that that trip to Jersey was going to happen a lot sooner than my exhausted body would have liked…

The view from very, very close (Morgan Lawrence for Blast Magazine)

Blast intern Morgan Lawrence is following the Foo Fighters from Washington, to New York, to Newark and back home to Boston. This is part one of her four-part series.

WASHINGTON — My journey started with a 6 a.m. flight, which meant I got to the airport sometime around 5 in the morning, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I suppose it’s some kind of karmic balance that when I checked in I had a surprise upgrade waiting for me, meaning I got to skip the somehow tremendously long security line at Boston Logan.

One of my favorite parts of travel is getting surprise upgrades. Not because of the material perks, but because it places me with the middle-aged business men oozing drier starch, aftershave and inflated self-importance. I sit among them, band t-shirt and pink-hair and iPod on, drinking my complimentary coffee and orange juice and stowing the portion-sized Sun Chips in my bag for later. I stick out like a sore thumb – a comically pampered sore thumb.

Gratefully, my paranoia about getting lost between the Metro and the venue was unfounded: the Metro stop literally let out two escalator rides below the venue. I walked out onto the street and spotted a “box office” sign immediately, scanning the sidewalk for the crowd that I was sure would be waiting- it was almost 9 a.m., after all. I kept scanning – no one. Within a moment I met two girls who looked about my age, eying me with the same kind of hope mixed with suspicion that, I’m sure, was in my own gaze as well. As we all three walked slowly toward the arena door and met in the middle, I noticed that one of them had a Foo Fighters shirt on; clearly we’re there for the same reason. And, by the looks of it, we were first.

The line time passed more quickly and pleasantly than any line I’ve been in in recent memory. Every person I met was friendly and talkative, and, most importantly, clearly as dedicated to seeing this band as I was. Only two of the first 20 or so people in line were actually from Washington, DC itself, the rest having come from as far as states away. More interesting still was that while this was my first show on the tour, I was in the minority: most saw this show as the end of their own mini-tours, or had at least been to other shows not long ago in the area. As the evening wore on, they helped us fend off people who “mistook” the front of the line for the back (read: trying to take our hard-earned spots). They were even nice enough to let me put my bag in their hotel room for the day when we found out that, despite the fact that surely I wasn’t the only one relying on a backpack to carry all of my necessary possessions, bags were not permitted into the venue.

I will say this, though — regardless of how mild the line, or how organized the lining up process (which, let’s be honest, is never really organized at all; that is purely a relative and optimistic term), the last hour to ninety minutes are the worst. Or, actually, that is not worthy of a relative term – they’re just bad, really. Anxiety heightens, as does paranoia – the free time you had before, accompanied with the appropriate I-have-all-the-time-in-the-world mentality, suddenly evaporates, and even a walk to a trashcan halfway down the block becomes dangerous because what if something happens while you’re gone? It’s totally illogical. It is essentially considered a feat if anything in the music world starts on time. Early is practically unthinkable. But the worry is there just the same.

I suppose this goes to the optimism of the concert-goer: the thought that someone with connections will realize that you’re cold and tired and near-hypothermic, soaked to the bone in a nun costume made of very thin material (uhm…never mind) and that you just want to be closer to seeing your favorite band. And, knowing that, they will wave their magic wand and let you inside.

Yeah. That never happens.

I think the truth is probably closer to one of my favorite quotes, by Mr. Oscar Wilde: The basis of optimism is sheer terror. After x amount of hours in line (where x > anything socially acceptable, often, and generally ? the length of a normal day’s work shift), a spot in line becomes less something you luck into and more something earned. As someone for whom x is always an amount that, in the end, causes passersby to confuse me with a homeless person taking refuge outside a venue, I understand this feeling all too well. Losing a spot in line through someone else’s greed or rudeness is a massive breach of etiquette on their part, and is not taken lightly, but it can sometimes be repaired with enough force. But losing it to your own folly and bad timing is unforgivable, and irreparable to boot. No one wants to risk that, even with something that isn’t a risk at all. In this case, I saw a man run to a bathroom around the corner from the line an hour before doors were set to open, come back to see that nothing at all had happened, and still take it upon himself to jog to a trash can maybe 10 yards down the street. It was as if he was convinced we would sprint through the doors as soon as he was gone, all (at least) 100 of us, leaving him behind as he threw away his paper coffee cup – sucker!

As I said before, though, very little goes earlier than according to plan in the music world, except maybe a really shitty set from an opening band that they decide to pull early. This was no exception, although I do give credit to the staff for, at least, opening the doors damn near close to right on time. It’s November, after all, which means that as the sun went down all extremities began to lose feeling and an unbreakable impatience began to settle over us all like a frost.

This is why, when doors opened, we all shot into the venue like horses out of the gate. Many of us tried to be compliant with security to speed things up but, nervous, fumbled, and only served to make things more difficult.

This is why we ran down he stairs to the wristband table an tapped our feet nervously as our tickets were checked, willing the employees to go as quickly as possible so that someone with a faster ticket scanner could somehow come up from behind and put our hours of waiting to nothing.

This is why we felt kind of stupid when they stopped us in a smaller anteroom before letting us in, as we watched in semi-terror as a larger and larger line formed behind us and up the stairs. We begged the employee guarding said door to let us in gradually, lest a stampede break out and we frontrunners be trampled, so close yet so far.

This is why we ran again when that door was opened, switching to an extremely “brisk walk” under the direction of security but then running again when the free barricade spaces were in view, just the same.

I consider my right side corner barricade spot to be one of the best vantage points in the house, if not the best. It’s positioned so that you are as close as possible while still having head-turned access to the miniature catwalk that is an outcrop of the main stage itself (which Dave Grohl tends to frequent during a number of songs). The same can be said of the corner on the left side, of course, but I’ve been partial to the right (where center isn’t possible) since my Green Day days began. Right side always meant being closer to the bassist, Mike Dirnt – who, in addition to being extremely talented, is unquestionably in the running for World’s Nicest and Most Charming Man. In the Foos’ case, this means access to one Pat Smear, who, as I knew from personal experience at Lollapalooza in August, is also in competition for that award. Or maybe they both should just win it?

First up on the band roster was The Joy Formidable, a group of guitarist/singer, bassist, and a drummer who looks scarily like Russell Brand. Guitarist Ritzy Bryant, wonderfully enthusiastic in the powerful kind of way usually dominated by testosterone-overloaded male performers, took it upon herself to catch people off-guard by making wide-eyed eye contact mid-lyric. Thankfully, I am not so easily phased – I’m of the opinion that such artist-crowd interaction is essential, and I was more than happy to nod my head and clap and grin right back. I love live music in just about all of its forms, and hell if wanting to see the Foos desperately was going to keep me from enjoying myself in the moment. I mean, come on, I’d spent the last 8 hours on a sidewalk. Live music to me sounded like the best “time kill” ever.

And, really, The Joy Formidable are good. They are. And, while I was already partial to their last song, “Whirring”(I know, I know, being partial to their only single is beyond pathetic. But what can you do?) , the end of it all left me turning to the guy behind me and exclaiming “Now that is how you send a set!” Already a track that blends instruments and pedal effects together in a fierce melody, backdrop to the Bryan’s sharp, otherwise bright vocals, this live performance took that technique and ran with it far and fast. The muted roar became a full-on cacophony. Bryan held her guitar up to the face of the amp, resulting in a healthy amount of feedback, while shredding mercilessly on the neck before giving up completely and throwing it (explaining the healthy amount of duct tape that could be seen on the instrument’s front and sides). From there she seized a mallet and smashed away at a rather large gong, the presence on stage of which was finally explained. When the storm finally passed, she and her bandmates simply walked offstage. The flowery “thank-you-we’re-so-glad-to-be-here”s had already been said, leaving them to depart with expressions fixed on their faces as harsh and unforgiving as their song had proven to be. If nothing else, their set felt overwhelmingly genuine – the spectacle didn’t feel like pandering, but more their answer to the unspoken question of “How the hell do we handle arenas this big?!”.

Next up was Social Distorion, who hold an indelible place in rock history and are cited as an influence of innumerable bands as a result. Based on those facts alone, as a hardcore music geek, I would have been excited to see them. As it stands, though, they hold an important place in the formation of my own music taste, as several of their songs were in healthy rotation on my town’s only Alternative (read: good) station during my formative years of musical exploration … which is why I was so disappointed in the way the audio dropped out during the set. On the right side, we were hit full force with the sounds of rhythm guitar, bass, drums, and some lead guitar during solos, but unless you were literally watching singer/guitarist Mike Ness’ mouth move, you would have no idea he was singing at all. No amount of panache – which Mike Ness has plenty of, by the way – can make up for that kind of oversight, which really was a shame.

Above all, ending the set with ‘Ring of Fire” was a wonderful choice, as nothing gets one’s spirits up like a good crowd sing-along. And this crowd was happy to oblige. This, and the knowledge that this set change was the only thing standing between us and the Foo Fighters, led to an unquestionable lightening of the mood between us all. Even the security/bouncers’ slightly-surly commentary of “Two down, one to go” couldn’t bring us down.

And rightfully so. I don’t know what it was about the huge cube-like light fixtures that descended over the stage right before the band walked on, but it left me with a mounting sense of excitement and anticipation of something big that had me saying, simply, “Oh shit!”. And then all too suddenly we were in the thick of it, with Dave screaming my favorite line: “These are my famous last words!”

I’ve always said “What a way to open an album!” about that line, and about that track (“Bridge Burning”, off “Wasting Light”) in general. Now I can safely say “What a way to open a show!” Dave Grohl seemed to think so, too. Going back to my previous music-nomad experience, Billie Joe Armstrong, when excited, will goad the crowd into Simon-says session of “hey oh!”. Apparently, when Dave Grohl is excited, he does the same – but without the whole “using words” thing. Instead he lets out a signature roar that demands we follow suit, filling the stadium with the kind of raw power and energy that I so love about their music, even on the record. And then….

How does one even begin to describe this show? I’ve heard every song they performed innumerable times, but each one was packed with so much life and power that it was impossible not to freak out like they’d just busted out a rarity from ’95.

More importantly, though, watching the Foo Fighters play live, even the hits they’ve played for every show since the tracks were written, one thing becomes clear: these men love playing their instruments, and they are really fucking good at it. As a drummer, and as a fan of drummers, I’m constantly rooting for the drummer to get the spotlight, to really fucking steal the show. And while Dave Grohl clearly loved to dart around the stage like a kid who’s had one too many Pixie Stix, shredding off a new mini-solo or blues digression or even some interlude that sounds oddly like free-form jazz, he couldn’t overshadow Mr. Taylor Hawkins. And he very clearly had no desire too, either. For every time you thought Dave, as the lead, was taking over a song, Taylor would fire back with something truly mind-boggling on the drums that left even Dave standing by admiringly, grinning like a fool. They would segue off after or even during one off their hits and do something completely different, showing off and just enjoying playing with each other, the 19,000 other people in the room be damned.

Their onstage rapport also deserves a mention. Usually, obviously, it’s Dave, who rotates between the effortless charm of a cool guy who just happens to be a kick-your-ass rock musician and the comportment of a teenager after chugging a few Rock Star energy drinks. Case and point: band introductions. “Don’t ever move to DC, Pat – too many people here love you,” he cautioned, after a particularly loud and prolonged round of applause went up for Mr. Smear. He called Taylor “The man who needs no introduction”, but looked mock-offended when he was cut off by the roar of the crowd. Taylor waved in various directions in response, smiling like a 12-year-old kid who just did particularly well in a piano recital but doesn’t quite know why. He proceeded to introduce Dave as “the man who really needs no introduction”, to which Dave cheekily responded “Then why are you giving me one?”

Dave and Chris Shiflett, lead guitarist, at one point got in a full-on shred-off. Dave stood below us all on a constructed runway and Chris still onstage, walking – no, strolling – to and fro, mock- put off by Dave’s show and firing a mini-solo right back at him at every turn. As much as we were celebrating the music that these men had put out and its effect on all of us, it was clear that we were just as much celebrating these men as musicians – and, even, music itself. This became all too clear when Dave stepped up to the microphone and told the kids in the audience, the next generation of musicians, that if they wanted to start a band to close their computers and go buy a guitar instead. Music, real music, was what this was all about.

It made sense, then, that Dave sauntered back out to the raised platform and played “Wheels” – a song he jokingly referred to as being only popular in Germany. In almost the same breath, though, he demanded that we all yell the chorus with him, bribing us with a promised “4-hour show” at DC’s small venue, the 9:30 Club (apparently a theme of Dave’s on this tour).

He further used his vantage point, speaking to thousands of residents of his hometown, as an opportunity to bemoan the desecration of his “beloved Springfield Mall” (comparing its current state to something out of the apocalyptic film “28 Days Later”) but reasoned that he was glad things had changed since he’d lived there – he had changed, too. He noted wryly, though, that he expected every review of the show to immediately bring up the past, to which he gave an emphatic “Fuck 20 years ago!”.

This portion of the show was a totally unique and very cool concert experience, for a number of reasons. For one, as I said before, I’m a sucker for a good group singalong, especially when the “group” is 18,999 of your closest friends. But, second, the majority of the house lights were on, and this meant that nearly every damn person in the stands was visible. And, because Dave was the center of attention (the rest of the band was off on a beer break), the entire pit was now turned to face the back of the arena. From where I stood, 10 feet from the stage, a huge portion of the stands were visible. It was a fishbowl effect, in a way, or a concert setup in reverse. It was what it must feel like (in a limited way, of course) to stand on that stage and see so very many faces singing back at you. It was awesome.

I could easily bitch about Dave’s penchant for choosing 1 of 4, at least, different locations to stand and sing, in only 1 of which I could actually see his face – but I really can’t. First, it’s like he said, addressing the people in the nosebleeds at the very back of the arena – the “shitty seats” – “They’re not so shitty now, are they?”. I really respect the fact that he spreads his presence around as much as he can, even if those people didn’t wait nearly as long as I did to see him up close .Second, I really do think that this, if unintentionally, reinforced why we were there. We weren’t there to gawk at Dave’s handsome face for 2.5 hours, as wonderful (and warranted) as that would be. No, we were there to enjoy the music and to be a community. And I think this – all of us belting out the chorus to “Best of You” and “Times Like These”, just before the rest of the band triumphantly reemerged to bring it home – accomplished that in a way that nothing else could.

Of course, this wasn’t the real encore – not yet. As I said, the rest of the band rejoined the leading man, taking the main stage. Soon after, Dave brought out who else but DC native Bob Mould to join for “Dear Rosemary”, a truly gorgeous version of the track on the record to which he contributed. We also got Story Time with Dave, where he told us about his first broken heart at age 12. To that unfortunate girl who so wounded him he dedicated the next song, Tom Petty’s “Breakdown”, which was actually fantastic – and this is coming from someone who is more than critical of covers, especially those by artists I respect (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, obviously, falling into that category, because I have ears, damn it!).

They wrapped it all up with “Everlong”, which was simply too wonderful for words. The lines “And I wonder/If anything could ever feel this real forever/if anything could ever be this good again” seemed to hit full force as I stood there, feeling nothing but purely, totally happy.

I made sure to get my tour t-shirt as I left, feeling pretty much like nothing could stop me (save the absolute impossibility of getting a cab after a concert in Washington, DC on a Saturday night…but that’s another story). 1 down, 3 to go.

After touring almost non-stop for the past few years, the members of The Airborne Toxic Event are understandably worn out, but that does not stop frontman Mikel Jollett from goofing around during interviews.

“Wouldn’t it be great if I gave you a bunch of misinformation and stuck with it?” he said, before launching into an epic (and made up) tale of bonding over music in Bangladesh with drummer Daren Taylor. Then, with barely a beat in-between, he switches angles: “I was raised by wolves. We would ritualistically and tribally chant every night before bed as a way of trying to further stay in touch with our roots. My introduction to rock ‘n roll – it makes sense if you think about it.”

The Los Angeles-based quintet is in the middle of yet another tour promoting their second full-length album, “All At Once,” and there is no rest in sight. As one of the hardest working groups in the current rock scene, fans have gotten used to seeing Jollett and his band mates roll through town every few months. But despite being away from home so often, the group still manages to retain that sense of humor and passion for music, no matter what.

The real version of how the band formed is more tragic. Back in 2006, Jollett’s mom found out she had pancreatic cancer, and he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that, in Jollett’s words, “makes you look like Moby.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, he broke up with his girlfriend the same week.

“I just started playing guitar as a way of dealing, I guess,” Jollett said. “It started off almost like a joke, but I started playing every day for like four hours, and then four became five, and five became six, until all I did was play guitar, play piano, and write songs. So I thought ‘Well, looks like this thing is not just a hobby and maybe I should try and do something with it.’”

Looking back now that the band is successful, the decision makes sense, but at the time, Jollett said nothing could have been more absurd.

“Now it’s like, ‘Well obviously you were going to be a musician,’ but it was like no, people thought I was fucking nuts. I went to tell my folks and it was exactly as if I was telling them I was going to join the circus,” he said. He had been accepted into Yaddo, an artists’ community in New York. “It was like, ‘Here, go become the writer you always wanted to be. Go become one of the – and this is in all caps – exciting young writers of your generation!’” But about two months before he was scheduled to go, he decided to start a rock band instead. “It was like saying, ‘I’m going to follow my dream of training elephants.’”

But somehow, everything clicked into place as one by one, Jollett connected with Taylor, viola player Anna Bulbrook, guitarist Steven Chen and bassist Noah Harmon. “We just clicked. We all had other things that we were thinking about doing but right from the first show, it was just a thing.”

Two studio albums, a live CD/DVD, and four years of touring later, and the band members are a bit drained.

“You want to be polite, and say it’s all awesome and you’re so grateful. And you are, and it is. But we are tired,” Jollett said. “It’s not like we’re not grateful for it. It’s just hard to see which way is up right now. You lose track of reality pretty easily.”

That’s not to say that the band is not enjoying touring; in fact, they are still having a blast performing every night. The Airborne Toxic Event is one of those rare bands that may be even better live than recorded, simply because everyone appears to genuinely enjoy being onstage. The live shows are not a chore or an excuse to sell overpriced merchandise to fans. Rather, the band members are having as good of a time as the audience.

“The shows themselves are just playtime, like let’s go fuck around with the crowd,” Jollett said.

Recently, Jollett uncovered a particularly rewarding experience. On this past spring’s tour, they avoided playing the acoustic “The Graveyard Near The House,” off of “All At Once.” They assumed fans wanted loud, screaming guitars, not soft songs about death and decay. But when the band was inundated with requests to play that exact song, they decided to include it on the set list this time around.

“I’m just really, really enjoying this. After four years on the road of loud guitars to have this quiet moment with the audience…it’s really cool,” Jollett said.

Songs about death are not unusual for the Airborne Toxic Event, a band which takes its name from Don DeLillo’s novel, “White Noise,” about a chemical spill and the resulting noxious cloud that forces characters to confront their mortality.

“Fear and uncertainty are my way of dealing with songwriting,” Jollett said. “For me, the ideas that are compelling are the ones about being afraid to die, the way that being afraid to die makes you more excited about being alive. And knowing that the clock is ticking has the effect of forcing you to make decisions. Having the realization that your life is short makes you make some decisions not to waste that time and that’s a good thing.”

The band is finding non-musical ways to have fun and celebrate life as well; in fact, their fascination with fireworks has gotten them into trouble with the police in multiple cities while touring. “We blew up a piano in Boise once in a big concrete parking lot,” Jollett said while mimicking the sound of fireworks going off. “We stuffed it full of explosives and exploded it. As awesome as it could be, it was literally even more awesome. The fire department, as they pulled up, they looked at it and they were laughing.”

Ultimately, The Airborne Toxic Event works so well simply because they are all actually friends.

“It’s funny, we’re out on the road and we get so sick of each other and then we’re home for a few days and we’ll sort-of sheepishly call each other. ‘Hey man. So what are you doing? Want to hang out?’” Jollett said. “You know, after hanging out with the same people, you get so sick of one another but we are actually pretty good friends. We know that our fates are entwined and we take that part pretty seriously.”

Black Sabbath, the band of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, announced on Friday during a news conference at Sunset Strip club, Whisky a Go Go, that they will be performing for the first time in several years at the Download Festival next June as an introduction to their world tour. They also plan to release an album in September.

The band, which got together in 1969, released their last album in 1978, titled “Never Say Never.”

For Leah Siegel, her musical act Firehorse and latest album, “And So They Ran Faster…” have been a long and hard-earned time coming.

As she told it, after years of working and performing in Boston and New York, she came to realize that she wasn’t being honest in her art – or with herself.

“I sort of took a step back and I thought ‘Something is wrong here. It doesn’t feel like me. I feel like I’m cutting corners so that I can fit in someone else’s kind of paradigm of belonging, of what I’m supposed to be, where I’m supposed to fit in,’” Siegel said.

Burnt out and broke, she decided to start from square one to remember what she loved about music and who, as an artist, she really wanted to be.

In this search for identity she stumbled upon a zodiac calendar, which placed her under the sign of the Horse. Researching further, she found the story of women born under a subset sign, the Fire Horse. Born just after the turn of the 20th century, they were thought to be “too gregarious, too independent, too fiery”, as Leah explains, to be suitable matches for anyone. As a result, in an era of arranged marriages, they were fated to live and die in destitution.

Feeling out of place, without real artistic identity, Leah was struck by how deeply this story of rejection and inability to express oneself resonated.

“I knew that I felt wild, and out of control, and destructive, and goal-oriented, and gregarious. And I felt all of those things, but certainly wasn’t channeling that in my music,” she said. “I listen to it now and I imagine someone holding a gun to my head.”

In taking the name Firehorse, Siegel hoped to remind herself to represent these facets of herself even if, like the Firehorse women of history, it doomed her. “The long and the short of it is that when I think about myself as a musician, (Firehorse) is what I want to be. That is who I want to inhabit.” In other words, she says, “I don’t want to make the music I think I’m supposed to make, I want to make the music that I want to make.”

It hasn’t been easy, though. Leah admits that part of adapting the Firehorse identity was embracing her own femininity, which, in the recording industry, often seemed to be an obstacle.

“It does seem that dude industry guys can take on like five boy bands, who sound exactly the same, but only take on 1 chick. Ever,” she said. “It’s like his penis compass gets so out of whack when there’s more than one woman in his life, you know what I mean? It’s just like whipping him around and he can’t get anything done … I like to think that that’s really what that’s about.”

It is little surprise that in writing “And So They Ran Faster…” Leah feels that she faced some of the darkest writing she’s ever done. It was “a battle” to complete, she said, “and I would just sit down and be like ‘I can’t take this anymore, it’s so dark. I’m gonna kill myself if I don’t do something else right now.’”

From these moments came songs “Our Hearts”, and “Machete Gang Holiday,” unquestionably the most lighthearted tracks to be found on the record.

“Those songs were sort of as I was starting to experience different feelings, ideas, and sensations in my life after many years of kind of feeling just quite bad,” she admitted.

While it’s clear she’s come a long way, even she hesitates to say what comes next. She’d love to do a tour, “because the live show is really fuckin’ awesome”, she said with a laugh.

But for a self-declared workhorse, the sky really is the limit.

“Now, as an artist,” she said, “you’ve never arrived. Because there’s always some other boundary, there’s always some other limitation you see in your artistry that you need to crash through. That’s how I feel about it, that’s always how I felt about it, that art is the only thing I can do with my life that, I don’t know, could send me down the rabbit hole…I just imagine that I’ll always be lugging boulders up the side of a rock cliff – an eternally rising rock cliff. Which sounds awesome to me.”

For now, Siegel hopes that her work resonates with listeners, but she’s willing to be candid about that, too.

“I think it’s one of those records where you either get it or you don’t,” she said, “and for the people who get it, I thank you, and I’m so honored. And for the people who don’t, I thank you too for giving it a shot. No hard feelings.”

Boston’s Mean Creek has been hard at work writing and recording their much anticipated new album.

“The songs feel more different. Dare I say more poppy and happier,” guitarist Chris Keene said. “It is not in generic way. Weare just expressing different emotions.”

For the band creating new material has been invigorating. “It’s been exciting to work on new stuff. It’s been very natural,” Keene said.

There latest single “Land of hopes and dreams” has quickly become a fan favorite. “I love the song,” Keene said. “The song expresses the feeling how it feels to live in this country to us. It’s hard to explain. The song speaks for itself.”

Keene gets equally flustered when discussing about the sound of his band. “It’s hard to describe us,” he said. “I never knew how to answer that question.”

The Improper Bostonian declared them one of the ten bands you have to hear. Paste magazine said “Mean Creek is not merely a great Boston Band; they’re a really great band period. Everyone outside the 617 should be warned Boston has birthed its next prodigious band. Be prepared.”

The beloved rock band must be doing something right. In 2009,they won Boston Music Award’s Best New Act of the Year. This year they are nominated for Artist of the Year,” “Album/EP of the Year” and Song of the Year (Sunlight)

“It’s awesome,” Keene said. “We couldn’t be happier. It feels amazing to be recognized.”

Known for being a Boston band, the band credits the New England city for shaping them as artists.

“Boston has shaped who I am as a person,” Keene said. “The city has its own attitude. It feels different than any other place.Every place has its own attitude. I think it being cold for months makes you a certain way.”

The band formed a couple of years ago. Keene knew lead vocalist Aurore Ounjjan from high school. One day, the pair decided they wanted to forma band. Time went by and they finally met bassist Erik Wormwood and drummer Mikey Holland. “It didn’t really feel like a band until we met those guys,” Keene said.

The four instantly connected. “It all just came together,” Keene said. “That’s what made Mean Creek.”

Mean Creek is revered for their vibrant live shows. “I hate watching someone who is apathetic in what they are doing,” Keene said. “I just want to watch someone who loves what they are doing. When someone loves playing music, it is obvious and contagious.”

Mean Creek will be playing Brighton Music Hall on Nov. 26.

Adele, who has been suffering from rupturing blood vessels in her throat, has undergone laser microsurgery.

The 23-year old singer had to cancel numerous concerts on her U.S. tour due to the hemorrhaging caused by the rupturing blood vessels. But, Dr. Steven M. Zeitels, the director of the Massachusetts General Voice Center where Adele was operated upon, “expects Adele to make a full recovery from her microsurgery”.

Unfortunately for fans, Adele has apparently cancelled public appearances for the remainder of the year to rest her healing throat.

Heavy D, formally known as Dwight Arrington Myers, was pronounced dead earlier today in Los Angeles. The cause of his death is unknown, but is said to be health-related.

Heavy D, born on May 24, 1967 in Jamaica, was an actor and rapper. He was known for being a part of Heavy D & the Boyz, which gained fame mostly in the late 1980s. His song “Now That We Found Love” was the backdrop of the wedding scene in the movie “Hitch.”

His most recent performance was in “Tower Heist”, in which he made a cameo appearance as a security guard.

I confess I know almost nothing about the music group Kings of Leon. The name rings a bell, as if I’ve heard it somewhere, but I couldn’t name one of their songs or even in what genre they play. No longer! The just-released documentary, “Talihina Sky is the story of Kings of Leon,” details the rise of the Grammy-winning band from roots in poor, Bible-Belt Oklahoma and Tennessee to global fame and success as progressive/alternative rockers.

In some ways, it was refreshing to be ignorant of the band and anything about them. I brought no per-conceived notions about the topic to the film, and thus my reaction was purer than it would be, say, if I were to watch a new Michael Moore (whom I believe to be a rank liar) documentary.

An old film school professor of mine divided documentaries into two camps, the “autocratic” and the “democratic.” The autocratic documentary is one in which the filmmaker manipulates and directs the viewer’s point of view to provoke a certain outcome. Michael Moore is the essence of the autocratic documentarian, for he essentially produces propaganda (can you tell I don’t like his work?). Other documentaries present a subject then take a step back, and, in democratic fashion, allow the viewer to come to his or her own conclusion. “Talihina Sky” falls securely in the democratic camp.

Appropriately enough, within this “democratic” model, I found myself viewing the film in different ways at different times. “Talihina Sky” derives its name from the town of Talihina, Okla. where a few of the members of Kings of Leon hailed from. The documentary never lets us forget the origin of these musicians: they were dirt poor and Christian. Thus, my first reaction was that the documentary was what some wags call “poverty porn.” If the tone of the movie wasn’t mainly serious, I would have thought I was watching a Jeff Foxworthy performance. “You might be a Redneck if…” could be applied at every turn in this doc: there is plenty of kitchen and bathroom appliances in the front yard, splashing in the creek, drinking and guns, shirtless men, and all sorts of kooky behavior.

However, the band members themselves are the executive producers of the documentary, so it’s not as if they were ambushed by someone wishing to mock them and their origins. Any wounds in Talihina Sky are self-inflicted, and later on in the film I came to see it more in line with the great documentary about the heavy metal band Metallica, titled Some Kind of Monster. Some Kind of Monster is intensely introspective, detailing the band’s struggles with addiction, creative conflicts, and family.

Like the Metallica doc, “Talihina Sky” shows a music group trying to come to grips with its identity. The Kings of Leon, at the same time, wish to pay homage to and escape their background. I’m not sure if this film will appeal to those who are not fans of the group, but if you do happen to see “Talihina Sky” you will be impressed by not only the technical competence of the film, but also its ability to convey the joy and the pain of rising from humble and dysfunctional origins to worldwide fame and adulation.

Travie McCoy performs in August (WireImage)

After beginning their tour together on October 9th in Dallas, Texas, it has been announced that the Gym Class Heroes will no longer be co-headlining with the Dirty Heads due to their lead vocalist, Travie McCoy, falling ill.

The Dirty Heads do not wish to cancel the tour entirely, and gave this statement in regard to the tour’s changes:

“While we hope Travie gets better soon (nothing worse than being sick on the road), the last thing we wanna do is cancel the whole tour.  So no matter what happens we wanna stay out and keep playing music and putting on the best shows we can for you guys. Whether it’s playing for 2 people, 20 people or 2000 people we are staying out. Thank you guys for your continued love and support. We love you peace!!!!  And it’s the first time we are playin’ some new songs!! Hope you enjoy.”

The tour schedule remains the same, with the exception of the planned show in Milwaukee, which has been cancelled. Wallpaper will be continuing on, as well.

DATE                       CITY                                    VENUE

Wed 11/2             Chicago, IL                         House of Blues

Sat 11/5               Columbia, MO                   The Blue Note

Sun 11/6              Kansas City, MO               Midland Theatre

Tue 11/8              Denver, CO                         Ogden Theatre

Wed 11/9             Salt Lake City, UT            The Complex/Rockwell

Thu 11/10            Boise, ID                             Knitting Factory

Fri 11/11              Seattle, WA                        The Showbox SoDo

Sat 11/12             Portland, OR                      Roseland Theatre

Mon 11/14          San Francisco, CA           Regency Ballroom

Tue 11/15**       San Luis Obispo, CA        Club Slo Brew

Wed 11/16          San Diego, CA                     House of Blues

Thu 11/17**      Tempe, AZ                          Marquee Theatre

Fri 11/18             Las Vegas, NV                   House of Blues

Sat 11/19            Anaheim, CA                     The Grove of Anaheim

Sun 11/20**     Santa Barbara, CA            UCSB – Hub

**Date did not originally include Gym Class Heroes

To say that Never Shout Never has made a few changes is an understatement.

Cristofer Drew, the lead vocalist, grew tired of his one man act and expanded Never Shout Never into a full band consisting of some of his longtime friends.

The new members include Caleb Denison who plays guitar, drums, and percussion. There is Taylor Macfee on the bass and Hayden Kasier on the guitar and along with percussion.

Kaiser describes the transition this band is undergoing as a “re-birth.”

This band not only grew in number, but matured in sound. After recording and producing their first album, Time Travel hit the shelves and internet in mid-September. If you’ve been a fan of Never Shout Never from the beginning you can agree that it is a completely different sound.

“This album we definitely wanted to go for a big sound,” said Kaiser.

He described the band’s big sound as going down the path of rock and roll. Kaiser said some of their inspirations were Muse, Queen, and Pink Floyd. However, when it comes to the bigger picture, their sound is something they can’t explain.

“It would be hard to compare our stuff to any other artist,” said Kasier. He feels as if the band fits in their own separate genre.

If there is one thing the band wants their fans to know it would to be just live life freely.

“We don’t give a fuck. We are just playing our music,” said Kasier.

Pick up a copy of their new album Time Travel and experience their new sound.

wireimage.com

A Boston-based throat surgeon has confirmed that he is treating singer Adele for a singing related injury, according to the Boston Globe.

Dr. Steven Zeitels announced on Sunday that he is seeing the soul singer regarding a common injury amongst singers.

“There have been crazy and unfortunate rumors — that she’s being treated for cancer, for example. I can tell you that is absolutely not true,” said Zeitels. “To be blunt, her throat is bleeding. It’s a common condition among singers. But it is not career-ending. It is not the most serious. And in her case it can be fixed with surgery. And I will be performing that surgery on Adele at some point in the future.  I believe she will be just fine.”

The doctor went to the press as per the request of Adele’s representatives to ensure that the public knew the truth and to refute cancer rumors.

Zeitels is the director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Eugene B. Casey Professor of Laryngeal Surgery at Harvard Medical School.

Adele recently canceled her tour, citing throat injuries as the reason.

NEW YORK — Another CMJ Music Marathon has exhaustedly stumbled to a close, and this year was absolutely brimming with wonderful acts and showcases. Here’s what stood out to us from the previous week:

Best Act: Boy & Bear

This Mumford & Sons-esque five-piece from Sydney, Australia opened for We Are Augustines at the Bowery Ballroom Wednesday night before playing their own headlining show Brooklyn’s Union Hall Friday. Huddled on the venue’s tiny stage, the band treated the sold-out crowd to an 80-minute set that felt more like a campfire gathering than a concert. Most of the songs on their debut full-length, Moonfire, which was released in August, blend a folk sensibility with aching harmonies, but lead single “Feeding Line” shows they aren’t afraid to rock out once in a while.

Honorable Mentions

We Are Augustines – Formed from the ashes of indie rock outfit Pela, We Are Augustines play Springsteen-esque rock that is nothing short of infectious. The Brooklyn-based trio played multiple shows at this year’s CMJ, and t’s a testament to the band’s excellence live that, though most of their sets relied on unreleased songs rather than material from their debut album, Rise Ye Sunken Ships,the crowds still ate it up. Frontman Billy McCarthy’s unbridled joy as he plays songs that deal even the most heart-wrenching subjects might have something to do with that.

’90s Nostalgia – Attendees well-removed from the “College” portion of the CMJ Marathon were spoiled for choice on Tuesday night. The opening night of this year’s Music Marathon and Film Festival featured (at the same time, unfortunately) a screening of Cameron Crowe’s excellent, definitive biographical film “Pearl Jam 20,” celebrating the grunge band’s 20^th anniversary, as well as a performance by Helium/Quasi/Sleater-Kinney descendants Wild Flag. Fresh off a blistering performance the previous Friday at Brooklyn’s Bell House, Wild Flag brought their raucous stage show to a packed Bowery Ballroom. The female foursome’s lineup comprises a Who’s Who of women in rock, including Mary Timony, Carrie Brownstein, Rebecca Cole and Janet Weiss. Anyone claiming rock is dead need only witness Brownstein’s ferocious windmilling on her Gibson to be proven wrong. The Crowe documentary, a bittersweet must-see for any Pearl Jam fan, is a loving tribute that is insightful, informative and touching. For those who missed the screening and the movie’s presentation as part of PBS’s “American Masters” series last Friday, not to worry — it was released on DVD today.

Adrienne Drake – The Brooklyn-based Adrienne Drake took to the stage at Arlene’s Grocery on Tuesday night as part of the No Pulp Music showcase and wowed the audience with a deeply melodic (though decidedly bizarre) techno-pop-explosion. The brainchild of lead singer and master mixer Paul Holmes, Adrienne Drake uses keyboards, computers, samples and obscured vocal projections to create a hypnotic arrangement suitable for an acid trip. Composed as an electronic opera, Adrienne Drake’s debut album Dullabies is available as a free download.

Brick + Mortar – This indie rock duo delivers in sound what their name indicates: solid, earthy music. Armed with only a bass, a drum kit and a handful of samples, front-man Brandon Asraf and drummer John Tacon commanded the stage at Arlene’s Grocery Tuesday night with a high-energy performance and audience engagement. A well-blended mix of rock and reggae, the band’s EP 7 Years In the Mystic Room is a worthy investment.

Gem Club – Somerville’s own Gem Club performed as part of the SubPop/Hardly Art showcase at the Mercury Lounge Thursday night, and might take the prize for the quietest act at CMJ — but certainly not the least captivating. The cello and piano duo of Christopher Barnes and Kristen Drymala, named by The Boston Phoenix as the Best New Act of 2011, record the type of music that is best listened to in a darkened room, alone. Performing at CMJ as a trio, the band’s soft, sad lullabies stunned a crowd that, remarkably, watched in hushed silence.

Zola Jesus – Anyone who can draw a sizable crowd to Manhattan’s Ace Hotel at 10am the week of CMJ is a force to be reckoned with, and Russian-American singer Zola Jesus (a.k.a. Nika Roza Danilova) is no exception. The 22-year-old performed a short set Wednesday morning as part of a live broadcast for Seattle’s KEXP Radio, before playing a full set that night at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The diminutive blond’s fixated staring, on a point only she could see, was as haunting as her operating singing. And, as the crowd learned, her gothic-industrial music, heavy on synths and percussion, goes just as well with coffee as with beer.

Papertwin - Papertwin did not disappoint on Thursday night at Lit Lounge. Though this quartet may not yet have solid footing within the New York City music scene, Papertwin has greatly honed their Radiohead-meets-New Wave sound over the last 12 months. But you don’t have to take our word for it — the band plays at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn on Nov. 13th.

The John Steel Singers – Another act that seemed to be all over the schedule at CMJ, the six-piece collective from Brisbane, Australia plays bouncy music featuring trumpets and trombones. Their discernable influences span everything from bluegrass to The Beatles. We were especially sold by their foot-stomping set at Pianos Friday afternoon as part of The Planetary Group’s day party. The group’s debut full-length, Tangalooma, was released last year.

jENNiNGS – For their CMJ debut, jENNiNGS delivered a typically masterful performance at Rockwood Music Hall Saturday. Having spent the last year searching for both a new drummer and lead guitarist, the result is the culmination of four extraordinary musicians talented enough to create a suitable sonic backdrop for frontwoman Mary Jennings’ powerful voice. As a solo act, Jennings is a captivating siren; as a full band, jENNiNGS is a wondrous singer-songwriter-indie-rock-pop-experience not to be missed. The band’s 2010 album, Collapse, Collide, is available online.

Full CMJ Gallery — Photos by Sarah Berman

NEW YORK — We’re officially in the home stretch! More than halfway through the 2011 CMJ Music Marathon, festival attendees only have two more nights to check must-sees off their lists.

Here are Blast’s picks for the marathon’s final 48 hours.

Said the Whale – Friday at Pianos, 3:20 p.m. (Planetary Group Showcase)

O Canada! This exuberant indie quintet from Vancouver is part of an all-afternoon party at Pianos in Manhattan. Think a less strange, more distorted version of The Decemberists.

We Are Augustines – Friday at Spike Hill, 8 p.m. / Saturday at Public Assembly, 1:25 p.m. (Brooklyn Vegan day party; not part of CMJ)

The Brooklyn trio is one of the most ubiquitous acts at this year’s festival, having rocked venues from the Bowery Ballroom to the lobby of the Ace Hotel. They’re finding time to squeeze in two more performances tonight and tomorrow afternoon. Not to be missed for fans of heartfelt, Bruce Springsteen-esque rock.

Dum Dum Girls – Friday at Mercury Lounge, 1 a.m. / Saturday at Bowery Ballroom, midnight

One of the bigger acts at this year’s festival, SubPop darlings Dum Dum Girls released their sophomore album, Only in Dreams, last month. The night owls who make it to these hot tickets will surely bounce along to the group’s 2010 hit, “Jail La La.”

Caveman – Saturday at Fontana’s, 5 p.m. (Reverb Day Party)

This New York-based five-piece plays melodic lo-fi, with reverb-tinged vocals and gut-punching hooks. Their debut album, CoCo Beware, isn’t out until November (though it’s available now digitally), and look for the buzz around these guys to reach a tipping point in early 2012.

An Horse – Saturday at Highline Ballroom, 7:35 p.m.

The co-ed Australian duo (Blast favorites) bring their hook-laden alt-rock to the Highline Ballroom as the opening act for singer/songwriter Kevin Devine.

En Vogue – Saturday at B.B. King’s, 9 p.m.

Yep, you read that right. ‘Nuff said.

Jacuzzi Boys – Saturday at Public Assembly, 10 p.m.

Any festival-goers who haven’t sufficiently damaged their eardrums will want to catch this silly, loud surf-rock trio from Miami. Singer Gabriel Alcala, who channels his inner Joey Ramone as he approaches performances like a kid in a candy store, looks like a cross between Wayne Campbell and The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas.

Pepper Rabbit – Friday at Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8 p.m.

The Los Angeles via New Orleans duo has toured with Ra Ra Riot, Passion Pit and Freelance Whales. Performing live as a trio, the group incorporates a smorgasbord of instruments into jovial, effects-laden pop.

jENNiNGS – Saturday at Rockwood Music Hall, 2 p.m.

Critically acclaimed siren jENNiNGS, will once again prove that the best gifts come in the smallest packages. With full band in tow, she performs a free show at this tiny space on the Lower East Side Saturday afternoon.

Be sure to check out Blast’s complete CMJ wrap-up on Monday!

It wasn’t that long ago when the infectious Hey Mama broke up, but they are back again for some boot stopping and hand clapping for two exclusive reunion shows this Friday and Saturday night in Boston and Vermont.

“We love playing together and we’ve have had a hunger to reunite with our fans. There’s a whole life that lives inside the songs and experience of Hey Mama that we wanted to revisit and share with world,” said guitarist and vocalist Avi Salloway as to why they are performing together again.

While fans are rejoicing to see the roosty rock Hey Mama back on stage together again, the group is only focusing on these two shows.

“Our energy is focused on the moment right now and that is these pair of concerts in our current and former home! This is it for now,” Salloway said.

The group members have been busy in the meantime with their own solo projects. Last winter and spring Salloweay was in Israel and Palestine working on an ethnographic music and peace project.

“I was guerrilla recruiting young Arab and Jewish artists to come across the line to collaborate on musical projects based in songwriting, recording, and performing. Building these relationships was intense, but once the artists were making music together more often than not a sense of trust was established,” Salloway said. “These artists bear the torch for peaceful progress in the region. I am continuing to work with Heartbeat Jerusalem (the organization I was working with) from stateside and we’re developing a US tour to promote their message.”

This powerful experience has inspired Salloway to form a new band called Billy Wylder.

“It’s a social bandit band which includes Paul Chase, Hey Mama’s bassists and a collection of innovative string players,” he said.

Salloway is not the only member of Hey Mama that is busy. Lead singer Celia Woodsmith has joined Della Mae, an all girl bluegrass band who recently just new record and gearing up for a tour in Germany this December.

What about drummer Jared Seabrook? “Jared’s rocking and rolling and climbing up trees!” Salloway joked.

The beginnings of the popular local band started in 2003 at University of Vermont through Salloways and Woodsmith’s mutual love of Carlos Santana.

“I was rocking out on electric guitar with Carlos Santana on ‘Live at the Fillmore’ in my forth floor dorm room. I turned around to find a sexy girl at my door, proclaiming that I had to play with her roommate (Celia), who was a great singer,” Salloway said. “The next day we met on quad and bonded over playing a collection of great American songs including a fair share of John Prine. The chemistry was palatable and we started performing and writing together, experimenting, touring, and growing together. We moved to Boston in 2007 and wanted to evolve our sonic landscape and established Hey Mama with Jared Seabrook and Ben Kogan who was later replaced with Paul Chase.”

For Hey Mama, songwriting is a collaborate process that often surprises them.

“It’s like fishing. You have the bait and throw out your line with your heart and soul and play the river. Once you’ve got a catch you reel her in, clean the fish and season it,” Salloway said. “Some of our best songs have been collaborations, where Celia and I color the song together and expand on the stories, textures and rhythms in with a ping pong approach. Then we work it out with the band and it takes on a life of its own.”

The band is looking forward to performing to their hometown crowds of Boston and Vermont again. “The synergy between the band and the audience,” Salloway said as to why he is so excited. “At our last show, the crowd was singing along as loud as we were. It was f*cking awesome!”

The band also has been inspired by the protests happening on Wall Street and around the country. “We’re enthused by America’s action to reclaim its voice and direction through the occupy rallies from Wall Street to Los Angeles. As our musical story continues together and individually we are impassioned to sing the song of justice and rock & roll. Friday’s show will be a celebration of the human spirit. Let’s roll!” Salloway said.

Hey Mama will be playing at the Middle East tonight at 8 p.m.

Due to a vocal chord hemorrhage, Grammy-award winning singer Adele has cancelled her remaining US tour dates for her album “21.”

Beginning with her October 7 show in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Adele will not be performing 10 of her sold-out US shows.

Adele already postponed some of her tour dates earlier this year as a result of vocal illness. Near the end of her Britain tour her illness reappeared and she decided to take some time off to build her voice back up.

Source: Reuters

The name NOVI comes from the Latin phrase “Homo Novus”, literally translating to “New Man”, a play on words that Carolyne Neuman, the electro-pop sensation, has crafted as a stage name for herself as she flies to the top of the music charts with her catchy new single “Blackbirds” from her EP “Now I’m Here.”

Whether fans call her Carolyne, NOVI, or the Nov, this singer and songwriter hailing from Ashland, Ore., is causing a commotion in the music industry with eight tracks that she has been working on for three years now with her best friend and producer Lee Miles. The album is due to release this fall.

As NOVI described “Blackbirds” she said, “It was totally meant to be a joke. Miles and I had been writing some heartfelt pop-rock and one night in my bedroom I was drinking some wine and screwing around on Garage Band.” She continued, “I sent it to Lee and he said he woke up singing the hook.”

The duo has also aired a music video for “Blackbirds” to supplement the single’s release.

NOVI is uncertain about releasing the EP this fall as she prefers to add more tracks and release the album as an LP.

After a few “sappy and crappy” demos, as NOVI described it, she moved to Los Angeles and made the transition from wanting to do comedy shows and acting to performing musical arts.

She said, “It was when I met Lee that I knew this was the thing I wanted to do.”

NOVI told how her surroundings in Oregon and Los Angeles seriously influence her tunes. She gets her edge from her small town upbringing and got a reality check when she realized everyone in LA has been in the industry their entire lives, making her late in the game.

“All of those things are real to me and when I sing about them they’re true,” NOVI said. “I’ll always have my hometown roots, but it’s a happy balance to have both towns in my life.”

Coming from an artist who is a big believer in music with meaning, NOVI said that each song has a different message. She described how each track represents a different moment in time and the feeling that comes along with it. “Blackbirds” ideally speaks of bringing levity into peoples’ lives while “Dominos” is an ostentatious slap in the face.

For the most part NOVI’s lyrics are all straight from her own mind, but at times she described, as she’s writing, she’ll imagine she’s someone else to discover what their perspective would be in a certain scenario.

Big names in the music industry like Imogen Heap and Adele came up in conversation as a few of NOVI’s favorite artists as of lately, but Florence + the Machine stands out as NOVI’s latest artist of choice.

Talking about the group’s music, she said, “I felt like Florence Welch just did something to me and brought me to a place. I could barely clap.”

In the future, NOVI is determined to conquer her late start in the game and stay innovative as she expands her repertoire of new music.

“It’s easy to get stuck in some sort of deal where you have to do things a certain way,” as NOVI spoke of creativity. “Don’t be afraid to make a certain song that will make people cringe.”

At this point in time she has a few things in mind for expansion including putting together live shows, creating a NOVI brand, and reviving her passion for comedy. Eventually NOVI wants to create a personal record company on her own.

Live performances remain an obstacle to overcome and a rite of passage for NOVI to reach in her career.

She said, “When it comes to singing these songs live, I get super nervous and shaky.” However, the electro-pop goddess highlighted how after she performs live she comes out feeling like the most powerful person on the planet.

“It’s just so rewarding every single day,” NOVI said. The ability to express herself creatively is one among many rewarding aspects that the singer takes away from her career in music.

Although the singer denied the idea of live performances at the moment, for more updates on NOVI and her EP “Now I’m Here”, follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or visit her homepage at iamnovi.com.

xposure

An Irish farmer who had given pop princess Rihanna permission to film her new music video shut down production after taking a glance at RiRi’s wardrobe.

“I thought it was inappropriate. I requested them to stop and they did,” Alan Graham, 61, told the BBC. “I had my conversation with Rihanna and I hope she understands where I’m coming from. We shook hands.”

Rihanna was wearing a red bandana bikini during the shoot.

The farmer admitted that he didn’t know Rihanna was such a sex symbol when he granted permission for her to film on his land in Bangor, County Down. He literally drove over in a tractor and put a stop to the filming.

Shooting for her single “We Found Love” resumed later at a different location.

“I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends,” Graham said. “Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God.”

Swedish trio Movits! makes music best described as “hip-hop-swing-jazz.” Seriously. Get ready America, because you haven’t heard anything like this before.

With song titles like “Ta På Dig Dansskorna” and “Huvudvärken,” the band did not even realize there was a market in the United States for their music until after Stephen Colbert invited them onto the Colbert Report in 2009. Even now, I have to conduct this interview through email because the band does not have a U.S. cell phone with them while touring the Midwest and West Coast. But armed with two albums worth of infectious dance material, including their latest single, “Sammy Davis Jr.,” (a song that would fit in easily with one of those old iPod commercials with silhouettes dancing against colored backgrounds), it should not be long before Movits! attracts even more attention all over the world.

Originally, the guys started out playing acoustic hip-hop and touring around Sweden. However, at an after-party in 2005, they were dancing to Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing” and realized what kind of music they really wanted to be making.

“That song started everything,” said saxophone player Joakim Nilsson. Other influences include everyone from Outkast and Lil’ Wayne to Maskinen and Lykke Li. “I think hip-hop in Sweden is a bit more experimental. It fuses a lot of different styles together.”

No doubt this atmosphere is conducive to the band’s own musical experimentation.

Taking their name from a character in old folk music songs, the band (which also includes brothers Johan and Anders Rensfeldt) released their first album, Äppelknyckarjazz (roughly translated, it means “apple stealing jazz,” and refers to street kids back in the 1930s and 40s in Sweden who wore “apple-stealing pants”). But despite the old-time appeal, the lyrics do focus on modern day issues. Many of the songs are subtly written about social matters and injustices. For example, translated from “Sammy Davis Jr.”: “This is what we in Lulea call a James Brown Moment / They call it a daydream, sayin’ it was different / But grandma, it’s alright / That I should grow up, cut my hair and get a job and not tryin’ to be James Brown / But was it not the same / For young mom and dad, when it happened.”

The first album earned Movits! more attention than they expected. “We didn’t really plan on touring at all in the U.S.,” Nilsson says. “But the Internet has made it a lot easier to discover new music from different parts of the world and I guess that people are more used to hearing languages they don’t understand.” As far as the group’s performance on the Colbert Report, Nilsson joked, “Oh, it was just another day at work,” before adding, “No, seriously, it was a groundbreaking moment for us. After that, our album came out and reached number one on the iTunes hip-hop chart in the U.S. I guess it’s true what they say about the Colbert Bump.”

In fact, according to a follow-up show, Colbert reported that before the band’s appearance, their first album was number 93,400 on the Amazon.com sales charts. After the broadcast, the album shot up to number 75.

Now, the band’s second album, Out of My Head, has been well received in Sweden, and the band has logged many miles traveling around the U.S., playing festivals like South by Southwest and the Lotus Festival. Next up, they will be touring Europe and hopefully by the end of the year, the band will be headed back to the studio. “We have some new ideas that need to come out,” Nilsson said.

Until then, Movits! is enjoying their time in the U.S., although they are still occasionally reminded how much they still have to learn.

“We had an amazing show last night at a festival in Bloomington, Indiana,” Nilsson said, “but one thing that we’ve learned on this trip is that you guys tend to give different cities the same name. Apparently there’s a Bloomington in Illinois as well and of course we booked all our train and plane tickets to that place!”

Nevermind album art

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the defining album of the 90s grunge scene. Nirvana’s “Nevermind,” turns the big 2-0 on September 24, and as a present to the public, a special reissue of the album will be released.

“Nevermind” was in the right place at the right time, and the right record,” said bassist Krist Novoselic told Billboard. “It blew the whole lid off of what was called ‘alternative music,’ which is a label I never liked. Even ‘grunge’ was way better [of a label] than ‘alternative’ music. There was no alternative; it was the new wave of rock…

The album marked a cultural paradigm shift for young people and served as an influence for many bands.

“At the time, if you kind of go back into the history of rock, there were no songs like that. It was about…’I'm on the road baby. You’re not going to see me tomorrow because I’m moving on,’ you know,” said fellow grunge band Pearl Jam’s manager Kelly Curtis to NPR about why bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were important to Rock n’ Roll.” And so here comes Eddie Vedder writing these songs about, ‘I’m still alive; your real daddy was dying.’ It’s like, it was so real and authentic that he and Cobain, and many of the other musicians that were writing so soulfully and powerfully from their hearts, you know, took over the landscape of rock.”

Nirvana showed the public a side of music that they had never seen before; the raw, unrefined, kind of fuzzy emotion pouring from singer Kurt Cobain’s vocal chords was new. Nirvana was unraveled and uncut, but they made it cool.