Rap & Rock Stars More likely to die Prematurely
You ever notice how everytime you open a paper or read this
AMOEBLOG that it seems that yet another famous celebrity you
grew up listening to has passed on? And how it seems like the
ratio of rockers or rappers compared to regular folk
dropping off the face of the earth is much greater? Well it
doesn't just appear that way. It is that way. According to a
newly published British based study, according to Reuters,
rap and rock music stars - "already notorious for their
so-called "crash and burn" lifestyles -really are more likely
than other (regular everyday) people to die before
reaching old age."
All of this is proven by the study of more than a thousand mainly British andAmerican artists, spanning the time from Elvis Presley's era
up until two years ago (the years 1956 to 2005) in which the
study found these musician stars were "two to three times more
likely to suffer a premature death than the general population."
The study's results showed that between
1956 and two years ago that there
were a hundred deaths among the
1,064 musicians examined by researchers
at the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool
John Moores University.
I found it surprising that, despite the $5 toll each car is charged to cross its span from Marin into San Francisco, that the Golden Gate Bridge is still financially strapped and is currently facing a projected deficit of a whopping $80 million. But even more surprising to me was the news, following an August 24th meeting, that the operators of this national landmark (one of the top five attractions in the United States) are seriously considering getting corporate sponsorship to cover the historic bridge's overwhelming bills. What this means is that like SBC Park or Pacific Bell Park or AT&T Park (or whatever name it happens to go by) that likely soon the Bay's most famous attraction may be renamed
something like the Verizon Span, or the Google Gate Bridge, or perhaps something like "the Golden Gate Bridge brought to you by Pepsi." Now according to the overseers of the bridge, who will meet again this month to make the final decision on the matter, they are assuring all concerned that they will not do anything "tacky" like the aforementioned renaming in their handling of this proposed "corporate partnership." But frankly I have my doubts and I worry that this type of proposed sponsorship may set an unhealthy precedent with US national monuments and landmarks, and that soon Mount Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and even the White House will be up for corporate partnership. (If you have any funny or ironic ideas of what sponsors might be matched with what national landmarks please add them in the COMMENTS box below. And if you wish to voice your concerns about the proposal for the GG Bridge email districtsecretary@goldengate.org).
Like a lot of longtime, old school fans of the genre I am pretty much disgusted with what passes as "hip-hop" these days. You know, that boringly predictable, cliched crap that is dumbed-down, bling & sexist heavy, lyrical fodder delivered over a carefully researched radio & club ready beat. Fortunately though there still are many good producers and emcees making new music today. It's just that you have to dig for them. And while most are from underground or indie artists just because an artist is some underground indie hip-hop loving emcee doesn't always guarantee that he or she will shine. Below are several of the recent or about to drop releases that, as a DJ, I have been really feeling and playing. All should be available at Amoeba Music. Just ask if you can't find them.
now offering many a chance to catch up on the brilliance that is the production of Madlib. For this collection he effortlessly melds Bollywood soundtracks (mostly instrumental but about 15% with vocals and spoken word soundbites mixed in usually at beginning) with hip-hop beats - mostly looped into hypnotic patterns. The 34 tracks are mostly short (2 minutes or less) in length. 
Z-Trip "All-Pro Soundtrack" (Decon)
Like most people, I will never forget this time two years ago in the days/week after Hurricane Katrina first struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. I was literally glued to the TV's non-stop news' streaming images of the devastation and tales of the horrific conditions. I was transfixed by the shocking images and I was shocked by news reports of the ridiculously delayed help getting to those who needed it so desperately - mostly the region's poor inhabitants. And yesterday, as I watched the 3-DVD set of Spike Lee's HBO documentary "When The Levees Broke," I was reminded of all the horrors of Katrina.
Meanwhile one of the many individuals involved in helping the recovery process is my former KALX Cultural Affairs Dept. buddy Rohit Gupta who is one of those wonderful, quietly humble and giving individuals who is always down to help out those in need. Rohit lives and works in Los Angeles but has been making frequent visits down to New Orleans to volunteer in the slow post-Katrina recovery process. I invited Rohit to write a report on what it is really like right now in New Orleans for this AMOEBLOG. Here is Rohit's story:
Gary Numan's 1979 gloomy & seductive synth-pop hit single "Cars" ( from the album The Pleasure Principle), which was a big hit both in his native United Kingdom upon its release and the following year in the States, is one of those classic songs that just never seems to age but always manages to sound as fresh and engaging as the first time you heard it. When Numan arrived on the charts, even though he was obviously derivative of Bowie and others, including T-Rex's Marc Bolan, it didn't really matter because he was so good at what he did. And he put his own unique stamp on things right down to the instrumentation - the synth sound was a Polymoog. With "Cars" Numan became synthesizer pop's first big star. (Human League's "Don't You Want Me" wouldn't be released for two full years later). In fact so great a hit was Cars for Numan that it had an adverse effect by overshadowing everything he did since then - even his other number one hit "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and the album it came from: Replicas. Below check out the lyrics and the video for the song Cars, which went on to become a hit again in both 1987 and 1996: