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lay Music For The Masses

Behind the Curtain with the Alley Cats

Top Music Venues in Austin

Going 13 floors up Give Me a Jayfive ACDC Through Time

Lending His Years

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The Playlist 3: Letter from the Editors 4: Biographies 6: Stuck on Repeat Repeat 7: Going 13 Floors Up 9: Top 5 Best Selling Bands of All Time 10: Don’t Cover Their Ears 11: Give Me a Jayfive 13: Losing Interest--In the Music of Today 14: AC-DC Through Time 16: Listen before Judging 17: Behind the Curtain with the Alley Cats 20: Top 10 Bestselling of the 21st Century 22: Live Music Venues Right At Home 23: Lending His Years

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Letter From the Editors Dear Readers, We hope that you enjoy reading our magazine, and thank you for putting in the time to do so. We hope to show you lots about music in this issue, from musical records to the stories of those directly and indirectly involved in performing. We wanted to create a magazine where everybody could share their thoughts about music, and we hope you really enjoy it!

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Biographies

Travis Duck is simply obsessed with music. He started humming before he could talk, sang from a very young age, picked up guitar, bass, and piano in elementary school, and loves to do all of those things today. He is a giant classic rock nut (especially The Beatles), but enjoys music from many genres. He loves learning to play his instruments better and spends much of his free time figuring out how to play songs on any of his instruments. He would love to learn other such instruments as the ukulele and the cello. When he is home, he almost always has a song on, whether he’s working, relaxing, or playing along.

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Noemi is into all genres of music except hardcore music which she thinks is not real music. She has no favorite genres or artists everybody is awesome. The instrument that she plays with is her voice but would like to learn how to play the piano. She’s in her high school’s wrestling team because she loves wrestling. Her most precious item is her phone because it has all her music and she can’t survive without her music.. In her free time she likes to catch up to her shows on hulu, joke around, hang out with her friends, and riding bikes even though she doesn’t have enough free time.

Aide is into any new kind of music. Her favorite band is The Script, an Irish soft rock band. She also loves Drake because “he is the sexiest man alive!” Her favorite genre would have to be a mix of pop and country . She plays the violin with Jacqueline at the same school, and would like to learn how to play the piano and would love to be in a mariachi band and be the one that makes the screaming noise. Her most precious thing is her phone because it contains everything she needs to survive. In her free time she takes care of her little brother, loves to party, riding donkeys, and has the most wild and approachable attitude that everyone will instantly love her.

Jacqueline’s favorite genre is rock, she will listen to any kind of rock ranging from classical to hardcore.

She hates almost any kind of hiphop, rap, country, and trival. Her favorite band is Maná. She plays the violin in her high schools orchestra but would like to learn how to play a variety of other instruments like the piano, cello, electric bass, drums, and either acoustic or electric guitar. She listens to music while doing her homework (or else she can’t concentrate), when she is cleaning up around the house, and when she walks her dogs. The most precious thing to her is her IPod because it has all the music she needs to survive. In her free time she likes to be with her family, hang out with her friends, and walking/playing her dogs.

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Stuck On RepeatRepeat Why is modern pop is getting to be so bad?

Is it really the music or is it something else?

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by Noemi Rocha

n a normal summer weekday when I was working with my mom, I had one escape to keep me awake and productively working-- the radio. I turned on the radio and flipped to a common ‘All of the Hits’ station, Kiss FM. It wasn’t long till I realized that I had heard Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass six times in four hours. My plan for having a productive enjoyable work day had turned into me knowing all the words to her song, plus having a headache. I have to admit, I loved Nicki Minaj’s song after hearing it a couple of times. Now it’s one of the most annoying songs played on the radio.

The radio stations are ruining ‘good’ songs, so when you listen to the radio your new favorite song could potentially be ruined. A number one hit today goes from being a, “Oh my god, that’s my favorite song!!” kind of song to “Oh my god, not that song again!” It’s bound to happen because all of the modern pop stations overplay songs way too much. I’m pretty sure I am not the only one who is irritated.

Rico Garcia in Sacramento, California explains why DJs overplay music on the radio. He says that radio stations always strive to play music for their P1 audience. A P1 audience is the group of listeners that listen to that specific radio station more than any other station. Then, a station looks at the P1 audience and the Average Quarter Hour listenership

“Shouldn’t there be more than five repeated ‘hits’ on the radio?”

(AQH). With this information the radio figures out a count of how many times their P1 audience should listen to a song.

Some programmers use the Optimum Effective Scheduling. This is a type of calculation to figure out the required frequency for a song. For example, if the station has a weekly P1 audience of 30,000. Then the P1 AQH of that station is 2, 500. Next, the P1 AQH is multiplied by 3.29 which equals 39.48. This is the number of times a song needs to be played for the P1 to hear it three times. Therefore, if the station wants all of the P1s to hear its most popular songs once a day, they take 65.8, divide by 3, and multiply that by seven, the number of days in the week. The final answer is 92 times in a week for the P1 audience to listen to that song once per

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photo by Nite_Owl

An Old Fashioned Radio A photograph by Nite_Owl on Flickr. This person is showing a picture of a ‘back in the day’ radio. It’s where the repeated music all began.

day. Where the overplayed songs come in is that people tend to jump through stations that also have the same ‘hits’ and that causes you to hear a song over and over again. Thanks Rico!

I guess you could say that a song that is played over and over again is the only real way to make a number one hit. Yes, you’ll have the number one hit, but by the end of the month your song could potentially be as annoying as Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’. Maybe that’s why parents are always asking us, “What’s that crap you’re listening to?”

The songs we listen to are extremely catchy. Nowadays that is what is grabs our attention. Music deserves respect. It brings us together as a nation and a world. For example, Lady Gaga, who is a world-wide superstar with her edgy songs and crazy unordinary style. She knows how to bring us together, because her music is heard almost everywhere but the radio is tearing away fans every time one of her songs is played over and over again. Her songs are being perceived as annoying and tasteless yet, they are good and original.

The people who disagree with me will say that the radio plays “All the Hits.” They are required to play the top hits and that’s what they are doing. I argue, shouldn’t there be more than 5 repeated “hits” on the radio? I guess not. If that’s what is happening, then that’s great.

I’m out. Understand that I am aiming towards those stations that play pop and rap only. The type of stations that everyday teens particularly listen to. Maybe, that’s why people are leaving the everyday radio. I’m not sure what the radio can do to fix this ‘problem’ because it is their job and the DJs are doing what they’re supposed to do. If you have this ‘problem’, then maybe try to listen to the radio a little less or not at all. They are joining Spotify, Pandora, and iHeart Radio. At least somebody is coming to their senses.

Going 13 Floors Up ww Photo by: Esau Renteria

The attempt to get to the top

By Jacqueline Huerta

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e walks into the Lyndon Baines Johnson high school library wearing a white Avenged Sevenfold shirt, blue jean skinny jeans, and black and white Adidas shoes . He sits down at the table with his girlfriend Tiffany Rule, they’ve been going out for almost one year. His name is Esau Renteria, he is the bassist of 13 Floors a band he formed with his friends.

Four months ago Esau was looking for members to make his first band. At first he wasn’t so lucky, people weren’t interested in joining a band and playing instruments, and if there were people that were interested they couldn’t join because of school or something personal. Then some of his friends introduced him to the guitarist and drummer. They liked the idea of making a band and decided to go for it, because they wanted to entertain people and just have fun.

“I met Edgar about a year ago through a friend, and then we met Jacob through another friend because we needed a drummer and this friend said that Jacob could play drums,” Esau said.

They don’t just practice all the time. They have gone and played at parties, and clubs and even had to cancel a few gigs because there were problems with the members or equipment.

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The members of 13 floors from left to right: Jacob Del Valle, Edgar Castañeda, and Esau Renteria.

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“ We practice at Jacob’s they are they do have bad house at least two to three times, where they just want to times a week, he has a shed in punch each other in the face, his backyard. We’ve played at and good times when hurting a house party, and had other Photo by: Jacqueline Huerta gigs but we had to cancel those because of problems with the instruments, the guitarist was in a moped accident, and we don’t have a vocalist at the time. We used to have three vocalists but two of them quit (one of them was on probation) and the third vocalist was no good.”

Each member of the band is into hardcore rock so they decided that their band’s genre will be punk and thrash-metal. They were inspired by the bands they listen to.

“Other bands like The Esau Rentereia with his girlfriend Tiffany Rule Misfits, Avenged Sevenfold, and Asking Alexandria [inspired us as musicians]. each other is a bad idea.

They inspired us because their “We get along pretty good, music is really cool and maybe we goof around but when one day we could be as big as the guitarist wants to cover them,” Esau said. As he spoke old bands like Metallica we about his inspiration, his girlsay no. I personally don’t like old bands I’m into the new kind of music.

We do have our good times and the best ones are when we go out to eat or swim.”

And just like every other band out there they want to become famous and achieve world recognition.

“We do have hopes of being famous and we will become famous by practicing more and making more songs. If we do friend pointed to herself and become famous I won’t stay mouthed “Me.” in school,” as he says this his But like the good friends girlfriend smacks him, and you

“We used to have three vocalists but two of them quit (one of them was on probation) and the third vocalist was no good.”

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can hear the effort she put in it. “Because we might have gigs and tours during school, and we’ll become millionaires.

If we don’t make it I guess I’ll go to a small college, something like ACC (Austin Community College). I really don’t know what I want to be right now, maybe an electrician,” he said.

Esau would also like to do something instead of being in a band, something he loves doing (and something that he’s already doing).

“If I wasn’t in a band I would still like to be in a band, maybe in Estellanos band because I like playing bass it’s really cool.”

“In July we’re going to have three gigs. One of them will be the 15th at Headhunters (a bar downtown), the 27th at a lake party, and the 28th at a skate park.” His Avenged Sevenfold shirt is a reminder of how this band and many other bands inspired him to start his own band.

Top 5

by Travis Duck

Best Selling Bands of All Time

The Beatles

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So much has been said about The Beatles and their worldwide popularity from the 60’s up to now.

It is estimated that The Beatles have sold from approximately 600 million to 1 billion records, singles, and videos combined, surpassing any other artist in recorded history. They were only together for around a decade, but produced over 150 songs, many of them top of the charts for a period. It is thought that The Beatles revolutionized music in many ways during their time of being together. The Beatles Top Ten songs according to Rolling Stone Magazine are While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Come Together, Let It Be, Hey Jude, Something, In My Life, Yesterday, Strawberry Fields Forever, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and A Day In the Life.

Michael Jackson Another King of Music to make the best selling list, Michael Jackson is commonly refferred to as the King of Pop. He comes in 4th of best selling artists with an estimated number of total sold between 350 and 750 million.

His career started from a very young age with the Jackson Five. There have been obvious questions about Michael’s life, but no one can deny his incredible musical talent. Some of his most famous songs include Billy Jean, Thriller, Beat It, PYT (Pretty Young Thing), and songs with the Jackson Five such as ABC, I Want You Back, and I’ll Be There.

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Elton John

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Elvis Presley

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Elvis Presley, often called the King of Rock and Roll, is second to the Beatles by only a small margin. It is estimated that he sold a similar range to The Beatles, anywhere from 600 million to 1 billion records. Elvis Presley revolutionized what rock and roll was in the 1950’s. Elvis hits are known around the world, and some of the most popular songs include Heartbreak Hotel, Don’t Be Cruel, Hound Dog, as well as Love Me Tender.

Madonna

Madonna is the only female artist to make the top 5 list of best selling artists.

The estimates state that Madonna has sold somewhere between 275 and 300 million combined musical songs, albums, or videos. She continues to perform to this day and to release new music, recently performing the superbowl halftime show of 2012. In her earlier career she was also viewed as quite a showwoman, with her concerts and dress both being rather wild at times. Some of Madonna’s greatest hits includes songs like Holiday, Borderline, Like A Virgin, Material Girl, and Crazy For You.

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Elton John is the ultimate piano-playingballad-singing pop artist. He comes in 5th on the list, having sold an estimated 250 to 300 million records, singles, and videos.

Elton John is an incredible singer and more incredible piano player, a dynamic song writer and terriffic showman. He continues to play music today, after reaching the peak of his career in the 1980’s. Elton John is viewed as rather eccentric at points in his dress, mainly, but this does not take away from the incredible musician that he is.

Some of his most popular hits include Your Song, Crocodile Rock, Candle in the Wind, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Rocket Man.

Sales Numbers According to Wikipedia.com

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Don’t Cover Their Ears what kids listen to

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by: Jacqueline Huerta

hen I listen to the radio I always hear a song that has some explicit content, my mom quickly changes the station to something more appropriate. This has been happening for a long time, parents think that their kids will become violent and more prone to make bad decisions.

I listen to music with cussing in it and I haven’t made bad decisions or become violent.

Radio stations put songs that are explicit but they take out the “bad”

“Kids listen to cussing and sexual things when they’re at school.” words and just put in something else.

Some parents think that this wont help because kids still guess or know what word is being blanked out. In other words, parents would much rather like the radio not to play those songs at all.

There are kids that do listen to these songs because they are mature enough to not go do anything stupid.

Some parents let their kids listen to explicit music because they trust them enough to not get in trouble and do things that are stupid. There are many parents that are oblivious to what their kids are listening to, and if they found out, they wouldn’t care. There are parents that encourage their kids to listen to--explicit music--some of them sit down with them and listen to Eminem rapping out his issues (yes I know people!)

There are theories about what happens when parents don’t let their kids listen to explicit music. One theory by Peter

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Photograph By: Jacqueline Huerta

PARENTAL

ADVISORY IS NOT NECESSARY This is what the usual explicit sticker looks like.

Christenson, and Lewis and Clark College is the forbidden fruit. Meaning that when the kids are feeling threatened that their freedom is being taken away they react by restoring their freedom. This is a proven firsthand by disgruntled parents, and the media characterization of the kids as rebellious and troubled. Kids will go and do exactly what their parents don’t want them to do-listen to explicit music.

The government has already made a organisation, to prevent kids from listening to explicit music, the parents music resource center. Many artists opposed this law stating that their music was being misinterpreted and that Tipper Gore was being melodramatic. Tipper Gore is the co founder of the parents music resource center, she became involved in this organization when she and her daughter heard “Darling Nikki” by prince.

Every artist that uses explicit material in their music is just expressing their opinion.

They also cuss to show their emotions. Eminem, the famous white rapper, cusses in his music to show his anger. Lupe Fiasco cusses in his music but he cusses to show all that’s going on in the world. Fiasco is strongly opposed to censorship in music. “If we are going to [censor things] that are offensive, then we are going to have to blind and deafen everyone. Come on, man. Let’s focus on education and literacy and poverty.”

Some artist just use cuss words to make their song rhyme and make it sound catchy.

Some of these artists are Lil Wayne, Whiz

Kalifa, and many more artists. Most hip-hop CD’S have a explicit sticker on them, yet I hear kids listening to this on the radio or they buy the CD. Kids listen to cussing and sexual things when they’re at school. There will be kids in school that already know every cuss word and how to flip the bird. I learned how to cuss from kids at school, my parents were mad when I would come home and start using the words I learned at school. Like I said parents get mad when they hear their kids saying something “bad.”

Mature kids that listen--to explicit music-wont go and embarrass their parents with their actions/language. I know this for a fact, because I haven’t embarrassed my parents in public, yet I listen to explicit content.

Give Me A JayFive!

The struggle to the top

By Aide De Leon

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tarting from the bottom is no easy story, especially more when your parents are against it, but this didn’t stop Juan Carlos, “Jayfive”, from pursuing his dream. Ever since he was 13 years old he knew what he wanted to do when he grew up, work in the music business, “All day, every day all I wanted to do was music,” he said but, this wasn’t such an easy task for him.

At a young age, Juan Carlos wanted to be a baseball player. Those dreams were gone as soon as he was exposed to music at the age of 13. Jayfive figured out this is what he wanted. Jayfive was first introduced to much of the 90’s alternative music. He recalls the many times he would miss class to sneak into the band hall, orchestra room, or choir room so he could learn how to read and write music. One night he and a couple of friends went to a concert to check out a local band named “Unloco.” At that time he was only 15. “I figured we could do that too,” said Jayfive.

Jayfive took the job of writing the lyrics, Joseph played the drums, Juan on the guitar, and Jacob on the bass. “You become as close as family,” he says, “With that said, it has its ups and downs.

The ups are great and the lows are usually like siblings fighting.

One is just too stubborn to see the other’s point of view.” In the time that the band was together, they played what is known as Screamo a form of emotional music with aggressiveness, played by bands such as “Asking Alexandria”.

Art by Aide De Leon

The 27 year old rapper “Jayfive”

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Once he decided to not stick around with the band and go on by himself, it was time to tell his parents. With his dad being very traditional and having a big love for Mexican music and his mom being a writer he knew it was going to be hard. He knew this wasn’t the path to go that they wanted him to go to school and work like the rest of his friends, but nothing was going to stop him. “It was a tough transition for everybody!”

Said Juan Carlos. Now that his parents have seen that everything is falling into place, “Everything is great, I have full support!”

His first concert came up as a solo artist, “It wasn’t butterflies in my stomach it was triceratops in there!”, he said as he tried to describe how anxious he felt before he walked on stage. “It wasn’t the kind of nervous like when you’re going to get on a rollercoaster, but the kind of nervous where all you want to say is that you’re ready!” His music is inspired by personal situations or what’s going on around the world. “Another source of media,” is what he considers his music to be, “If you can relate to it than it’s something real.” He is inspired by some of the big rappers from the 90’s such as Tupac and Biggie but, “Lil wayne and Jay-z are also inspirations now in a whole new level.” He said. Performing and pleasing his fans is a big deal for him, “Getting a reaction in general

is amazing!”

Juan has two simple things in mind, “Money in my pockets and some albums.” He also wants to be able to completely own his name of “Jayfive”. Right now he’s working on a project with the famous rapper Paul Wall on a song called, “Common Baby,” in which he raps in spanish, which is a first time experience for him. One of his dreams is to be able to get on a song with Jay-z “If I got on a song with that man, that’d be everything” he told me.

Another dream of his is to perform at Frank Erwin Center. “That would be my biggest accomplishment.” His final dream is to be able to help others pursue their own career, by telling them everything he went through and teaching them about the music bussiness.

This 27 year old rapper started off 12 years ago in the music business and his biggest advice to teens who wish to pursue this career is to go for it, “Keep going!” he said. He also said to never stop, “The moment you quit, everything is over!” It’s not yet over for this rapper, it’s barely starting.

“It wasn’t the kind of nervous like when your going to get on a rollercoaster, but the kind of nervous were all you want to say is that your ready.”

“If I got on a song with that man, that’d be everything! That would be my biggest accomplishment.”

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Losing Interest--In the Music of Today Modern Songs Lack the Diversity of Years Past

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by Travis Duck

listened to two Foster the People songs the other day, and I realized that I could hum the bassline from Pumped Up Kicks and it worked Helena Beat. This just proved to me that many songs by the same artist nowadays have no variability.

From one song to the next, there is nearly nothing new. The list of bands with songs that all sound the same is just increasing as the days go by--from Mumford and Sons to Phoenix, many modern bands simply seem unable to produce variety between their own songs. The main cause of this, in my opinion, is the laziness in the listeners the bands cater to, but also because no longer do bands change lead singers between songs.

Frankly, music listeners of today aren’t picky enough. The average music listener of today will hear a pop song and say, “Oh, that’s catchy.” without any real appreciation for the elements that go into crafting a good song. According to The Guardian website, 2011 was the “Year of Boring Music.” Specifically, the introduction to a song is important to keep the song interesting, with quicker being better in most occasions. The average length for song intros of the top 10 in 1971 was 10.9 seconds, yet today the average length for song intros of the current top 10 on the Billboard Hot

100 chart is 14.1 seconds. This may not seem significant, but is certainly a sign of what may be to come. With this be-

Beatles. They produced over 150 songs, the majority of which were different from one another, melodic, and musical. It is estimated that Photo by Travis Duck over one billion sales of Beatles songs have been made. This shows that the incredible can be done-over 150 brilliantly original songs can be written by the same people, and in only about a decade. I think a key part of this A Typical Bassline: This photo shows what apparently many bands today deem as success was due to the an acceptable bassline in their songs of today. participation by all of ing true, bands of today are able to get the members (John, Paul, George, and by with songs that all sound the same, sometimes Ringo) in the singing of their yet are still crowd-pleasers. For example, songs. All of them took turns at the Phoenix songs all have extremely similar mic, whether in melody or harmony, and strumming patterns, vocal style, and the results were fantastic. Bands of tooverall sound. I shouldn’t even start day would gain incredible variety in their talking about Mumford and Sons, but songs by having multiple quality singers.

I will. I like Little Lion Man, but what In bands today, that simply doesn’t hapI don’t like is that every other song I’ve pen. Lots of bands besides The Beatles heard by Mumford and Sons sounds exvaried their singers back in the old days, actly the same as Little Lion Man. This such as The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, isn’t to say that bands can’t have similar and Simon & Garfunkle (of course) elements in all their songs to among others. I don’t think that the keep an identity as a band, but music from those days has even been I find it awful that bands cater contested for all time greatness--to me, to their listeners who haven’t a lot of music stopped at the end of the listened to any variety of music.

‘70s and actually went backwards from It shows that the fans don’t have there. Now I’ll contradict myself for a a real investment in understandsecond--there is great music that sprung ing and enjoying what music’s from only one singer, my example being out there. This makes music Stevie Wonder. One man, incred ible snobs like me (yes, I will admit talent, great variety, and incredible soul to a level of pretentiousness) in every song. So you don’t have to have cringe, shake our heads, and retreat to multiple singers for a band to be an all our oldies music for comfort. time great--but you do need more talent than is present in a lot of bands today.

I hate to be cliché, but let me referIf bands would raise their standards for ence the band that according to msnbc. the music they release, then listeners com “the best and most important band could change their ideas of what quality in rock history”, The Beatles. Actually, I music is and then enjoy music more on really don’t hate to be cliché, I love The the whole, old and new.

According to The Guardian website, 2011 was the “Year of Boring Music.”

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Through Time

by Jacqueline Huerta March 1975: Mark Evans joins AC/DC as the bass player.

1964:

George Young meets Harry Vanda and Stevie Wright at Villawood migrant hostel and form the easybeats. The easybeats sign with albert productions in 1965.

1952: The scott family emigrates to Australia from scotland.

September 1974 : Bon Scott joins AC/DC as the lead singer.

December 31 1973: AC/DC featuring Dave Evans. Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Larry Van Kriedt, and Colin Burgess play their first Gig at Chequers in Sydney.

1963: The Young family emigrates to Australia from Scotland.

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January 1975: AC/DC moves to melbourne but continue on their tour the Eastern States’ pub and club circut constantly. Phil Rudd joins AC/DC from the Melbourne band Buster Brown.

April 1976: AC/DC moves to LondonUK and start club dates and European touring.

October 1978- August 1979: ‘If you want blood’ UK and US tours.

May-July 1977: Bassist Mark Evans leaves AC/DC and is immediately replaced by Cliff Williams (ex player of Home and Bandit)

28 September 1991: AC/DC plays at the Monsters in Moscow show a estimated million people attended.

May 1980: Brian Johnson is the replacement of Bon Scott as vocalist.

February 1980: Bon Scott, the vocalist of AC/DC dies in london of a Pulmonary aspiration of vomit.

April-October 1978: 65 dates on the US tour alone,opening for the Green concerts in Oakland, California.

March 2003: Close friend Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) inducted AC/ DC into the rock and roll hall of fame.

January 1985: AC/DC go to Rio de Janeiro for the Rock in Rio festival.

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Listen Before Judging Modern pop can’t be judged just because some artists aren’t great!

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by Aide De Leon dislike most modern pop out there!” Travis said, that was shocking, my face was horrifying and just like OH MY GOD! I think modern pop is excellent and worth listening to, even if there is some bad songs. Now lets take a look at the good of modern pop! Last August Katy Perry ties with Michael Jackson by having five of her songs from one album lead the Billboards! The staff of the Billboard reported that she was the first woman and second artist to in history to reach this level. How impressed are you now?

People may not encourage things like this because they’re so caught up criticizing bad music. Why not sit back with a cup of juice and enjoy good music like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Adele? At the 2012 Grammy awards the twenty-three year old singer won 6 Grammies.

What does this tell us? That their pop is exceptional. To me, Adele is one of the best singers of all time. Her best song in my opinion is “Someone Like You”. I bet a lot of teens can relate to a song about seeing their crush out with another girl, but promising that they will move on and find someone else.

Another pop song which has a lot of meaning, or at least to me, is “It will Rain” by Bruno Mars, this song speaks of a lover telling this special person to never leave or his or her, days would be stormy and dark. Yes, a lot of songs speak of the same thing, but they all use different ways of stating it or making you feel about this.

Another great thing about Modern Pop is that some songs speak off real problems in society,

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Art by: Squidoo

The Members of LMFAO DJ Redfoo and Skyblu

such as not having your parents home and what that can do to affect a child. Other songs speak of bullying in high school by the popular kids, one of those songs being “Pumped up Kicks” by Foster the People. This song talks about a kid who

and than. There is so many more songs like these that just make you feel pumped and ready to accomplish your task.

This genre is great, no matter what other people think. I know there were great artist in the past, but you

“I know there were great artist in the past” was bullied by the “popular kids” and decided to get revenge by shooting at them (Wikepedia). Maybe that’s not the way to deal with bullying, but it is describing what thousands of kids go through everyday in America.

Modern pop also has really funny songs that have made me feel so much better when I’m having a gloomy day, like I’m Sexy and I Know It. When I first heard this song I looked up the lyrics to make sure it was saying what I thought it was. This quote, “Girl look at that body, I work out!” (song meanings) just made me laugh so much, I had the song all day in my head and I would still giggle every now

should give new music a try. If you stick always to the same music you will never learn about new artist like LMFAO, Foster the People, Kelly Clarkson, Lady Gaga and more. I bet anyone of these artist will have music you like and think “Hey I want to dance!” Or, “Dang, this song describes exactly what I’m feeling right now.” So now before you sit down and trash this genre listen to it and enjoy it I’m pretty sure your going to like it.

Behind the Curtain with the Alley Cats

by Noemi Rocha Photo by Noemi Rocha

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What happens backstage to create what you end up seeing?

Photo by Noemi Rocha

Photo by Noemi Rocha Alley Cat Players The Alley Cat Players of LBJ and LASA in 2012 together posing for a picture as their usual selves.

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don’t think I have ever worked a 40 hour week, it’s always been a 60- to 80- hour week,” Melissa Alexander said, better known as Ms. A. She has been the LBJ theatre director for six years and since then, has produced five musicals. Surprisingly, every single one of them was a new thrilling, but challenging experience. Alexander couldn’t picture herself doing anything else. “I think I have the best job in the world.” she adds to her previous response.

That job is to produce a successful musical. Which has to have to be full of dedication from everyone. The cast needs to be at rehearsals. Once the cast is final, the tech crew needs to get started on the sets, lights, and sound. Even Ms. A practically lives at the theatre. It dosen’t matter if you’re a small role that appears twice on stage or a lead role that is in every scene. Everybody has a specific duty that must be followed.

“Getting to perform or getting to see your work all come together at the end of the process is really nice,” LASA senior Laura Austin said. Austin has landed many lead roles in many straight plays and musicals at LBJ. In the world of theatre, a straight play is a show that isn’t a musical. The only show she decided to not perform in after her freshman year was AVPM where she had the honor to assistant direct alongside Ms. A. The first step in being a director when constructing any musical is holding auditions for the specific roles

involved. “Auditions are all about fighting,” Alexander said. Meaning that one must give their all in order to prove worthy of the role. They must surpass their limits, and create new ones. Singing capability is not the only quality Alexander is looking for when creating her cast. She looks at how well they can hold range, what needs to be tuned up, ability to take direction, and if they have the natural talent. Once Alexander has done all that, she must decide if this singer can act the part. And if so, what type of actor they are. “Some really good actors are better at acting by themselves than with other people and then there are some actors who are brilliant in a group, but don’t act as well by themselves,” Alexander said.

“Auditioning is such a scary process,” LASA sophomore Andrea Canizares said. Canizares had the role of Cho Chang in AVPM and Lady Xenia in ‘The Legend of Sleeping Beauty’.

“The worst part of my job is cutting kids,” Alexander said.

Once the show is on rolling, everyone involved must commit immensely. Upon receiving the script, the actors need to begin learning their lines and songs, but that’s only the beginning. The challenge is learning the character, which could take months to do. There are rehearsals every day, but the only exception is Sunday and Wednesday. When beginning rehearsals the actors need to be energized and ready to go. During rehearsals there are only a few people at a time being worked with while the others are hanging out backstage. This causes new friendships to be formed and others to become stronger since the actors spend so

“I think I have the best job in the world,” Alexander says.

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How much does it take from everyone? And what does it mean to them?

Photo by Noemi Rocha Ms Alexander And Ronan Melomo Ms. A the director and teacher hanging with LASA sophmore Ronan in her ‘home’.

much time together.

“It makes a close community, because you hang out with them so much. You have to, so I’ve made tons of new friendships,” Canizares said.

Another part of the community is the extremely important technical crew. The tech crew heads to the drawing board, led by LASA senior and head technical director Dalton Ray, to design lights, set, and sound.

Then, practice running lights and sounds during rehearsls. “Creating a show is a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of fun, and a lot of stress,” Ray said. In a musical, the focus is much more on the sound and lights, but the sets keep the same amount of work. Overall, a musical takes a different type of work, but it can be a little more rigorous. “I live in the theater, quite literally,” Ray said.

He is at school seven days a week during show and is in the theater around 6: 40 AM and doesn’t leave until 8:00 PM. He took on a huge commitment, but wouldn’t do it differently. “All good things must come to an end, and I’m ready to move on,” Ray said.

Someone who works closely with the Tech crew, actors, and director is the stage manager. Kat Jones has been the stage manager for 2 years at LBJ. A stage manager keeps the actors on track with paper work, reminds them about rehearsals, gets warm ups started, and calls cues while on stage. “In some ways I feel like I have turned into a mom to some of the kids,” Kat Jones LASA senior said. A stage man-

ager has to have respect and authority within the company and be bossy or in order to get the job done. While in show a stage manager can call up to 100 cues a night.

That also means that they have to be on time so everyone else stays on time. They also have to be at rehearsals a lot more than the actors since the stage manager sets everything up and then takes it down.

“It’s fun, but it’s lot of work,” Kat Jones said.

Everyone has a place and a purpose in the Alley Cats.

The safe- feeling environment the theater provides is undeniable. “Theatre became my home after a while, it’s a place where I feel I have really grown up,” Laura Austin said.

The performances are where all the work pays off and actually shows. The actors must be right on cue, the techs must be right on cue, and the stage managers must be right on cue. Ms. A sits in the back of the theatre and sees her work unfold in front of her eyes. The actors feel amazing while acting and singing in front of everyone because that is everything they have worked so hard to do. “It was exhilarating,” LASA senior Brian Ruliffson said. Ruliffson played the lead role of Harry Potter in AVPM. What a company sees, for example the Alley Cat Players of LBJ and LASA, is the ‘final exam’. They are so well prepared for it that they blow it out of the water.

Then the audience sits back and watches a great show that engages the audience and makes them feel like they too can be a part of the story being told.

As Ms. A looks back on the musicals she has produced she sees specific challenges that came with that one production, but it also comes with the memory of how she overcame it or learned from it. She also remembers the amazing “unstoppable” singers that have crossed her path. Their names still painted across her wall in purple letters. She is sad to see her great singers leave, but more particularly worried about the tech crew. “Our tech crew is getting demolished next year,” Alexander said. The tech crew this year was made up primarily of seniors and now with graduation approaching Alexander might be left a little too short of techs.

The reviews received after a show are mostly all positive, like AVPM “It was very fun, really funny, the performers kind of engaged the audience and it was cool to feel like you were a part of the performance in some way.” Lula Villegas said when talking about AVPM. There is so much time, effort, but also passion that is involved, to put on a successful musical. The Alley Cat Players don’t regret walking in through that purple door there first day of freshman year. “This was my high school experience,” Laura Austin said.

“I live in the theatre, quite literally,” Dalton U. Ray says.

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Top 10 Best Selling Art by Bang

1.

Eminem

2.

The Beatles

3.

Tim Mcgraw

This rapper has sold a total of 3,112,700 albums since the start of his career.

This great band has sold 27,591,000 albums.

This country star has sold 24,295,000 albums in the 2000’s.

Art by Flickr

4.Toby Keith

With his hit single ‘Shock’n Y’All’ and honest, patriotic lyrics he has sold a total of 24,189,000.

5.

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Britney Spears

This female artist has sold 22,937,000 albums.

Artist of the 21st Century 6.

7.

Kenny Chesney

.

This country singer has sold a total of 21,396,000 albums.

Nelly

This artist rose to stardom at the beginning of the 2000’s and since than has sold 21,206,000 album

8.

Linkin Park

9.

Creed

Art by Flickr

The 6 members of this band who also rose to fame in the beginning of the 2000’s has sold 21,125,000 albums since then.

This band sold a total of 20,398,000 in there short career.

10. Jay-Z

Art by Flickr

This Brooklyn rapper sold 19,379,000 albums in the 2000’s.

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Live Music Venues Right at Home Austin isn’t labeled the ‘live music capital of the world’ for no reason!

Antone’s

by Noemi Rocha

Antone’s is an original part of Austin that opened for business as a Blue’s club in 1975. Now, it also play country and rock music. It is at a very central location. Best of all it is located it open for to all ages.

213 W. 5th St.

Stubb’s Bar-B-Que 801 Red River St.

Stubb’s Bar-B-Que is a great place to hear some amazing music. It has two stages, one inside and one out. Plus, it serves bar-b-que! It’s predominatly show indie and alternative rock music.

Momo’s

618 W. 6th St. #200 Located on the party street. Momo’s is a great intimate music lounge. It plays live music every night and depending on the night you’re there you’ll hear a variety of music. Such as R&B, Western swing, folk, pop rock.

Emo’s

2015 E. Riverside. Dr.

Emo’s is a great place to be. It’s a small venue was recently sold and now located on Riverside. The music Emo’s is feautured for is indie rock, hardcore, punk, alt-country and metal.

*All photos by Noemi Rocha

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Lending His Years

The Life Story of a Long Time Sound Manager

by Travis Duck

I

’ve been here since about April of 1990. They opened in March. I came here about a month or two after they opened,” said Richard Vannoy, sound manager at the Saxon Pub club. In all these 22 years of 6 or 7 nights a week that he’s been at the Saxon, he’s been providing bands with some of the best sound quality of any club in Austin, according to a number of visitors of the Saxon. During this entire time period, he hasn’t taken a single day of vacation.

“It looks like sometime in May, I’m probably going to be taking my first ever vacation from this place,” Richard said. “I wanna see the big redwoods. I want to hug a big tree.” He would love to go to the great northwest, he said, having already been to the east coast and most everywhere else in America. However, he is worried to take a vacation for any length of time, because his job is such that someone cannot stand in for him without problems occurring. After even one night of his absence, Richard said, he comes back to a messed up soundboard with nothing how he left it.

Richard works his job six nights a week, always in an untucked button up polo shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. Richard has seen the Saxon through a lot. The club originally started out performing strictly folk music, in either one or two person groups. Richard was originally hesitant about the job, having been involved in rock the rest of his life, but after hearing a person get up the first night he was working and do some Neil Young (he is a big Neil Young fan), he thought to himself, “Yeah, I can do

Ricahrd Vannoy at the Saxon: Behind Richard is a list of upcoming acts at the Saxon at the time of the interview. If you visit the Saxon, you can always find Richard casually dressed around the soundboard or drinking coffee.

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this. This is gonna be great.” The feeling hasn’t left him after twenty years.

Richard started along the track of his musical career around the age of ten, when he became interested in his brother’s band. He watched them for a number of years before becoming involved.

“When I was about 12, I was big enough to follow them around and help them,” he said. He started carrying around their gear, mostly, working as a roadie of sorts. This work led him to his decision to tour with a band starting at age 19, working to help “hump gear”, as Richard puts it.

He stressed the fact that when he began his career as such, there was no sound manager job like what he currently does at the Saxon.

“In the very beginning, that position didn’t exist. I was more equipment manager. The sound thing just came along over the years, it kind of evolved,” Richard said about his original job when touring. “Originally, I wanted to be a light man. When I was going to see my brother’s band, by the end of his music career, they had three light men. No sound men, but three light men. So that’s what I wanted to do.” According to him, the job of sound manager really grew as his career progressed as well.

As the equipment being produced became more complex, it opened up the capabilities of a sound manager.

“The job consisted of standing out at the back of the club, and after a couple songs going up to the stage and telling the guitar player to turn up or down, telling the bass player do this, that was how the job started,” Richard said. He discovered more about mixing sound as he continued to travel with bands throughout his life.

“I never traveled with a band that was just so so, every band I worked for was just great,” Richard said. He started out his career touring with a group of his friends that he had grown up with, in a band called the Electromagnets, as an equipment

manager. The guitarist for this band was Eric Johnson, an incredibly talented guitar player and the only member of the band not from Richard’s hometown of Abilene, Texas. The band did a fusion of jazz and rock, and according to Richard, the quality of the band was “unreal good”. However, no record label would sign them, simply because their music was “too different”.

Richard put in three or four years with this group until the keyboardist quit, and then proceeded to work for what today we would call a cover band.

This band did Aerosmith, Stones, and other rock classics, said Richard.

When they disbanded, Richard got an offer from Johnny Dee and the Rocket 88s before he could even go hunting for a job.

“I spent 8 years with Johnny Dee & the Rocket 88’s, and that was really when I learned most of what I know now, was those 8 years,” Richard said. He went on to say that this was his greatest period of his education because of two things; One, because he was mixing sound for five different vocal harmonies; and two, because he did perhaps 230 one night shows during the year in all kinds of different situations, forcing him to adapt to the various locations and venues. Richard says that mixing sound is “..like if you took up an instrument, and you picked it up once a week--you’d never get anywhere.”

After his eight years with Johnny Dee & The Rocket 88’s, Richard put in a year with a band called 14K, but this was to be short lived. Richard had to make the tough deci-

“In the very beginning, that position didn’t exist.

I was more equipment manager. The sound thing just came along over the years, it kind of evolved.”

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sion to retire from the traveling road life due to his health.

“By a year into that gig, my back was so screwed up,” Richard said. He continued on to say that you could ask just about anyone who had done a similar job of lugging gear around, and find similar stories with with them as well.

Richard was walking down 6th street and happened to run into a man named Sam Erwin, the current owner of a 60’s dance club called Anchovies. After talking to him, Richard was given a job offer on the spot.

“He said, ‘Man, why don’t you come work for me.’” said Richard. “Sam was a music lover and connoisseur, and he hired some really good bands to come through there. So that was a good experience.” After five years at Anchovies, Richard moved venues to another club on 6th Street called Steamboat. During this time period of about six months that Richard worked there, the Saxon opened.

“I got a call from the engineer that opened this place--He called me and said, ‘Hey man, I’m working six nights a week at the new Saxon Pub, and I don’t want to do that, so will you work three nights a week?’” said Richard. He decided to take the job, working three nights a week in the beginning. However, the sound manager who had hired Richard decided that the work of a sound engi-

“This job is the most enjoyable thing I can imagine.” said Richard.

“The music’s great, the acoustics are great, and so the two together just make for an enjoyable working experience.” neer was no longer for him, and retired.

This pushed Richard into six, then seven nights a week of managing sound at the

photo by Travis Duck The Saxon Itself: This photo shows the Saxon that sits outside of the club.

It has been there since the beginnings of the Saxon in 1990, and is a very recognizable icon of Austin.

Saxon. This trend continued on for 13 years, and would still be occurring today if it were not for a conflict between Richard and Bob Schneider.

“Had I not gotten into it with Bob Schneider one night, I might still be doing seven nights a week, but about ten years ago Bob Schneider got into it, and he said ‘Well I’m not working with that guy anymore.’” said Richard. So for the past seven or so years, Richard has worked six nights a week, with Monday’s free (Monday being Bob Schneider’s night).

This is how we find him today.

“This job is the most enjoyable thing I can imagine,” Richard said “The music’s great, the acoustics are great, and so the two together just make for an enjoyable working experience.”

As for regrets, Richard has only one about his career choice--he sometimes wishes he had done more. He commented that the money for a sound engineer at a club isn’t the best, and that in order to really make the big bucks he would’ve had to join a large sound company. However, this would also force him to leave Austin, something he certainly does not want to do.

“I tell people that as far as somebody who plays here all the time, I think Guy Forsyth is just the best. He plays here basically every month, sometimes twice a month. The total package of his singing, musicianship, repertoire, he’s just the best,” Richard said. Other favorite visitors to the Saxon of Richard’s include Patrice Pike (“Pure Genius”), Larry Joe Taylor, Bruce Hughes, Bobby Whitlock (the former keyboard player for Eric Clapton’s band Derek and the Dominoes), David Grisson, and John Evans among others (“I could go on and on,” Richard said).

photo by Travis Duck

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“Not one of the acts that I mentioned are anything alike-and that’s probably what’s so great about music and working here and getting to see so many different acts. You’re just not

[Richard] believes that if the gig is a successful one, then the band will come of the stage and tell him about how well they could hear themselves.

could hear themselves.

Richard was never much of a musician himself, playing guitar as a boy, but he does have advice for all those interested in the music career. “I would never recommend to anybody that they go into the music business,” Richard said. He frankly believes that there are a lot of musicians in the business that really shouldn’t be there. He continued to say that the people that should be in the music business should only be those that you could not keep out of it, no matter what. “That’s who you want to see on stage,” Richard said. It’s also incredibly difficult to make a living as a musician, and it requires an incredible amount of effort that very few people put in, he went on to say. But Richard is not disappointed in not being a musician up on the stage. There is one thing that he will always repeat with a fondness in his voice.

“As far as I’m concerned, there is no entertainment that beats people playing music, and watching people play music. Nothing beats this.”

gonna see the same thing twice,” Richard said. He’s one of few who have the unique opportunity to mix sound for great musicians like those.

“There’s nobody who comes in that door who wants every band to succeed the way I do,” Richard said. “I want every single act that gets The Man Behind the Booth: Richard said that he was raised up on stage to succeed, to sound the playing sports with a firm rule--as best that they can sound. And any sound long as you play for a team, you engineer that doesn’t feel that way is not don’t miss a game. He’s carried this worth a crap and should not be doing philosophy over to his work life also. it.” Richard wants to leave the audience saying, “They never sounded better!”, and apparently does so on a regular basis. But providing this great service to bands is not an easy task for Richard to perform.

“What the instruments are supposed to sound like, before you put a mic on them--if you don’t know that, you can’t do the job,” Richard said. However, he believes that compared to vocal mixing, instruments are a “piece of cake”.

Richard has a different outlook on vocals, even from other sound engineers.

At a concert with a number of other sound engineers, Richard leaned over and said to them, “Man I haven’t heard a single word that singer has said,” and apparently received an almost immediate, unanimous response of “Who cares?”.

Yet Richard still says that it’s “all about the vocals” when it comes to live music.

“If the monitors aren’t right, [the band] will suffer. To me, the monitors are the most important part of the gig.

Everything else is easy,” Richard said.

He believes that if the gig is a successful one, then the band will come of the stage and tell him about how well they

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photo by Winker Withaneye

Ibanez SR400QM Soundgear Electric Bass

Ibanez RG370DX Electric Guitar White

Only $449.99 at Plus tax, shipping and handling (if being ordered online) and pro coverage for 3 years ($89.99) or 2 years ($69.99).

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Cover photo by Travis Duck

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