Music, Movies and More
Nov. 1177, 2005
Damian Marley jams at House of Blues pg. 8
MUSIC USIC:: Underoath talks to the Daily Titan, Marley rocks fans in Anaheim MOVIE: ‘Zathura,’ ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’’ giv give e something for everyone MORE ORE:: CSUF’s theatre production, plus the latest entertainment news
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The Inside Buzz Underoath Interview New Movie Reviews New Movie Reviews Flashback Favorite 06 Performance Art 07 Performance Art 08 Damian Marley Concert Review Concert Calendar
ON THE COVER: Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley performed at the House of Blues in Anaheim Friday night, bringing fans of all cultures together. The Jamaican flag was flown during the entire two hour plus concert. (Photo by Gabriel Fenoy/Daily Titan Photo Editor)
THE BUZZ
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR AMANDA PENNINGTON A ASSISTANT ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR MAHSA KHALILIFAR EXECUTIVE EDITOR NICOLE M. SMITH DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING CAN SENGEZER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING EMILY ALFORD PRODUCTION AMANDA PENNINGTON, MAHSA KHALILIFAR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES LESLEY WU, DERRICK SALATNAY, VANESSA RUMBLES, RICH BOYD, KIMBERLY LEUNG, JACKIE KIMMEL The Daily Titan 714.278.3373 T The Buzz Editorial 714.278.5426 thebuzz@dailytitan.com Editorial Fax 714.278.4473 The Buzz Advertising 714.278.3373 ads@dailytitan.com Advertising Fax 714.278.2702 The Buzz , a student publication, is a supplemental insert for the Cal State Fullerton Daily Titan. It The is printed every Thursday. The Daily Titan operates independently of Associated Students, College of Communications, CSUF administration and the CSU system. The Daily Titan has functioned as a public forum since inception. Unless implied by the advertising party or otherwise stated, advertising in the Daily Titan is inserted by commercial activities or ventures identified in the advertisements themselves and not by the university. Such printing is not to be construed as written or implied sponsorship, endorsement or investigation of such commercial enterprises. Copyright ©2004 Daily Titan
THE INSIDE BUZZ By MAHSA KHALILIFAR Daily Titan Asst. Entertainment Editor
Hollywood has its random moments and last week was no different … “Baywatch” beauty Brooke Burns had to have surgery when she broke a bone last Friday. The 27-year-old went to Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after hitting her head in her pool
Word
after attempting a dive, according to People. The actress will be released from the hospital on Tuesday … Fans in the WWE world are in mourning after 38-year-old wrestling star Eduardo “Gory” Guerrero was discovered dead on Sunday in his hotel room in Minneapolis. The UPN series “WWE Smackdown” star is survived by his wife and three children. The cause of death was not available at press time but an autopsy will be performed to find out what happened … 35-year-old Mariah Carey dominated at Saturday’s taping of the Vibe Awards. The show, which aired Tuesday on UPN, featured the songbird receiving several awards including the coveted “Artist of the Year” honor … Martha Stewart’s spin-off of The Donald’s “The Apprentice,” has been axed. “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” will not continue for a second season. Unlike Donald Trump’s success, Stewart, 64, was unable to retain
the spark of the original. The finale will air on Dec. 21 on NBC … New notable CD releases released Tuesday were superstar Madonna’s Confessions on a Dance Floor … American Idol star Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts… a live disc from Green Day, Bullet in a Bible (CD/DVD)”… Lady of rage, Alanis Morrissette’s The Collection … MySpace.com released MySpace records, Vol. II, a compilation featuring various artists … new DVD releases this week include Ben Stiller’s animated flick “Madagascar” … “Friends – The Complete Tenth Season” … Kate Hudson in “The Skeleton Key” … Celebrity sighting of the week: Dominic Monaghan, who played Merry in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, at an airport in Hawaii … Celebrity gossip of the week: Angelina Jolie, pregnant? Will there be a Brad Pitt Jr. running around soon? … Stay tuned for more news and gossip in the next Inside Buzz …
Want more Buzz? Check us out on the Web for the latest hot new music reviews. www.dailytitan.com
Quote of the Week
On The Web
“We smoked a lot of cigarettes.” – Michelle Williams to Entertainment Weekly, on how she and costar/boyfriend Heath Ledger got through grueling shoots in “Brokeback Mountain.”
MUSIC
Amidst the big dollar pop glamour and throwback rock ‘n’ roll acts finding themselves payolaed right into prime time radio and TV slots, the independent music scene is thriving without marketing trickery and million dollar budgets. Washington punk band MXPX has shed its major label cocoon and emerged more collected than ever on California-based indie label, SideOne Dummy. Panic is the perfect title for the new album as each track explodes with a new sense of urgency. Taking its cue from modern society, MXPX created the album from a sense of chaos the band members saw brewing within their peers. “It seemed very appropriate for the time,” MXPX drummer Yuri Ruley said. “In the world right now it just seems like all we were seeing on the news was panic and, especially in America, it seems like the government likes to instill panic in their citizens to control them so we thought – ‘lets name it Panic.’” Ruley, along with vocalist/bassist Mike Herrera and guitarist Tom Wisniewski are currently on tour spreading the message of Panic. MXPX has been touring relent-
lessly since the album’s release in the spring. Taking on the summerlong Vans Warped Tour and now the band’s own U.S. tour, the guys aren’t looking to slow down anytime soon. Fans waited two long years for Panic and didn’t appear to be an ounce disappointed as the band hammered out three of the new tracks at a recent appearance at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. “My favorite track on the album ‘Waiting for the World to End,’ because of the melodies,” Ruley said. “It’s got a cool vibe ... We’ve actually never performed it live but we’ve been working on other songs off the album – ‘Young and Depressed’ and ‘Wrecking Hotel Rooms’. It seems like ‘Young and Depressed’ just gets the crowd nuts, they really go crazy for it.” Since the departure from the major label A&M, MXPX has found peace in a less restrictive environment. The band is able to do things its way with a label backing them that understands what the guys want to do. “On our first couple of records we would literally just get in there and make the record because we just didn’t have any money or a record budget,” Ruley said. “When we moved on to a major label it was several months in a big fancy recording studio in Los Angeles – which was cool for us at the time but now we’re in a very different place and realize that that’s not really important.” The guys actually built their own recording studio in their hometown of Bremerton, Wash., where they were able to capture the exact sound they wanted. “Our studio is in our hometown and it’s where we used to practice
so it’s very close to home. Basically we just fixed up the old garage and now it’s our studio,” Ruley said. “We planned on making this record really quickly and not spending months and months recording it so in a sense the panic comes across in the recording. There was never a loss of momentum during the recording sessions and it’s cool and we benefited greatly from that.” Being able to make performing music a profitable profession for the past 13 years, MXPX is extremely grateful for the fans. After every show the guys come out for a fan meet-and-greet and get a one-on-one feel for what their fans are going through. “There was a girl on this tour that came and saw us and said if it weren’t for us she would have killed herself,” Ruley said. “Stuff like that, that you don’t know is going on behind the scenes, it’s incredible. One fan handed me an envelope and I was like ‘oh thanks’ and if felt like there was money in it and jokingly I said ‘oh you gave us money.’ I never thought someone would actually hand us an envelope full of money so I put it in my bag and kinda forgot about it and one day I pulled it out and there was $300 in it and a note that said ‘…this is the least I can do.’ That was definitely cool. I split it up and gave Mike and Tom their $100 and I think I saved my share actually.” Since the band loves being around the fans, the three also truly enjoy touring. No matter how vigorous the schedule, MXPX is up to the challenge and prepared to play arena gigs as well as small club tours, as long as they have a few feel-at-home amenities. “I bring my cell phone,” Ruley
said. “I’ve had some bills in the past that I’m embarrassed to talk about today.” As far as the bands advice for getting out there and becoming in tune with the indie scene, Ruley suggests that one “…get out of the house and don’t watch TV.” With months of touring still to go on this new album, the band is slated to spend the next six months touring in Europe, Japan, Canada and then back to the United States by summer. Although there are no definite plans to start writing a new record while on the road, the guys are content with letting whatever may happen, happen. “I think it will become obvious to us when we need to put out a new record,” Ruley said. “We’ve put out the record and toured on it and we don’t like to let too many years go by in between records.” When it comes to playing the same songs over and over again each night – the real question is, do they ever get tired of playing their signature track “Punk Rock Show?” “The songs get new life every night,” Ruley said. “I’m up there doing what I love to do, even if it’s a song we’ve played a thousand times or more and the kids are going crazy, it’s hard to think of that as a boring moment.”
INTERVIEWS
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Flashback Favorite
Flashback Favorites: American Gladiators By: Ashley Majeski Daily Titan Staff Word Count: 398 They were tough. They were strong. They were fierce. They were the American Gladiators! Kids wanted to be them and contestants wanted to beat them. The premise of the show was simple: Gutsy contestants competed head-to-head against the muscled up Gladiators. Events ranged from the Wall, Powerball and, of course, the fan favorite Atlasphere, where contestants rolled around in over-sized hamster balls and tried to score, while dodging the Gladiators. After competing in a series of events, the contestants met their final challenge in the Eliminator, a crazy obstacle course that usually decided who would win. Though the events were exhilarating to watch, it was the
Gladiators that made this show such a hit. With names like Turbo, Ice and Nitro, these muscledup challengers bordered the line between ‘roid-raging rivals and good-natured competitors and were extremely likeable. The female Gladiators were beautiful and strong, and were great role models for young girls, except for Blaze, who was often penalized for being excessively rough. Perhaps the best role model was Siren, who, although was deaf, was just as fierce as the rest of the gang. Kids enjoyed the show because they could picture themselves competing in the events. The Hang Tough event undoubtedly spurred many chicken fights on the monkey bars at schools across the nation. As the show’s popularity continued to grow, so did the sophistication of the events. In the beginning, events like Powerball, where competitors attempted to dunk balls in flimsy cylin-
ders before being squashed by a Gladiator, ruled the game. In later seasons, however, the flimsy cylinders gave way to events like Rat Race, which featured an upside-down maze where competitors raced Gladiators to the finish. The show ran for many years, but lost some of its flair when spin-offs like “International Gladiators” and “Celebrity American Gladiators” were introduced. Let’s face it, seeing Dean Cain getting slammed during Powerball by the monstrous Hawk may have been fun, but didn’t have quite the same edge as seeing real, athletic contestants competing. Because the show does not air on TV anymore, the only hope of catching some of your favorite Gladiator moments is if the show is released on DVD. Of course, fans can always suit up in the red, white and blue Spandex outfits and challenge their buddies in true Gladiator
Concert Calendar fun.
Fri. Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m. Jimmy Eat World Glass House Pomona Fri. Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m. The 88 Troubadour West Hollywood Fri. Dec. 2, 8 p.m. De LA Soul Royce Hall – UCLA Los Angeles Fri. Dec. 3, 7 p.m. Bangles House of Blues Anaheim Sat. Dec. 3, 7 p.m. The Germs Key Club Los Angeles Sun. Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m. Propagandhi Chain Reaction Anaheim Mon. Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. International Noise Conspiracy Troubadour West Hollywood Mon. Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. Kanye West UCI Bren Center Irvine Tues. Dec. 6, 6 p.m. KIIS FM Jingle Ball Shrine Auditorium Los Angeles
THEATER REVIEWS
headline By DIANIKA ABBOTT Daily Titan Copy py Editor
From graffiti Chucks to iced-out bling, hip-hop, an artistic form of music rooted in the heart of New York’s inner city, has not only transformed the art of self-expression, but has also united many races and economical classes. That’s why members of Cal State Fullerton’s chapter of the Hip Hop Congress coordinated and a show called Survival of the Fittest in the TSU Underground Pub right before the Thanksgiving break. The Hip Hop Congress is an international organization established to inspire young people to get involved in social action, civic service and cultural creativity. Eric Santa Ines, CSUF Hip Hop Congress co-chair, said that this movement arose in two different states at two different times. “Two guys in California started up a group called Hip Hop Congress,” Ines said. “At the same time there was a group in New York who had a similar organization. Ines said that the members of the organization in New York found the California groups online and decided that instead of fighting for the name they should join forces and the Hip Hop Congress movement was formed. Survival of the Fittest showcased local hip-hop group Fresh Air, Rahman Jamaal, an open-mic session for emcees and B-boy battles. Rahman Jamaal, who starred
in “The Beat,” an independent film about a young man who must choose between becoming a police officer or a rap artist, said hip-hop has endured an evolution. “When [hip-hop] first came out it felt very community-based and the vibe was very organic,” said Jamaal, a former member of USC’s Hip Hop Congress. “Since then, its popularity has spread … and the industry has really capitalized on the talent.” Jamaal said that, through organizations like the Hip Hop Congress, he feels a shift back to hip-hop’s original purpose of bringing people together, sharing knowledge, good times and music. While hip-hop has grown from the basic elementary form of the 1980s to today’s imaginative and diverse form, Khalil of Fresh Air said that hip-hop is now more lucrative. “You have kids who parents bumped hip-hop while they were in the womb,” said Khalil. “They were fully immersed in the [culture] making them better producers, d-jays and emcees.” Ines said the CSUF Hip Hop congress not only sponsors events like Survival of the Fittest, they also sponsor guest speakers, producing, d-jay and emcee workshops. While members of the CSUF and the surrounding community packed into the Pub, it was apparent that hip-hop is not just a style of music - it is a way of life. For more information on the
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