Errin Brown
Bowie Legacy From Rock and Roll to Jazz David Bowie has done it all. David Bowie was an iconic English Rock and Roll legend. With showing interest for music when he was only thirteen, he was majorly influenced by his half brother Terry and was soon exposed to the rock and roll music industry. After graduating High school Bowie started working as a commercial artist, where he then formed the band “Davy Jones and the Lower Third”, but soon later changed his name from David Robert Jones to David Bowie. Bowie married cover girl model Angela Barnett in 1970 and had a child Duncan Jones, but divorced in 1980. Jones followed his won career and became a Hollywood producer. According to Heavy Entertainment “Angela described Bowie as cold at first” but soon warmed up to him. “I haven’t seen him in so many years I cant make a big drama about it…but I feel an era has ended, its so very say”, said Barnett. Barnett heard about Bowie’s death off camera, as she is a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother. She soon burst into tears saying that the stardust in gone. Bowie’s recent wife Iman, fashion model, actress and singer was devastated by her husbands death. Bowie’s and Iman relationship was a modern day fairytale. Each other’s hairdressers set up the two. Bowie swept Iman of her feet with many romantic gestures that soon won her over. They married each other in 1992 but had trouble trying to have a child. However in August 2000 they were blessed with Alexandria (lexie), they’re first and only daughter. “Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory,” Iman said to US Weekly. Some often refer to Bowie as a “musical chameleon” for he always changed his appearance and sound. Bowie’s first appearance was as a sci-fi character for his Ziggy Stardust album. Bowie then co wrote “fame” with John Lennon, which was his first American No. 1 single in 1965. Bowie is known best for his musical transformation. He combined rock and theatre, male and female, truth and artifice into his music. According to Aljazeera America “Bowie’s career was always defined by courage, perseverance, strangeness and absolute artistic master”. The death of David Bowie came as a shock to all. Many fans knew nothing of Bowie having cancer only a selected few that was close to him. Bowie was battling cancer for 18-months. Producer Brian Eno was last to work with Bowie who he worked with on his album “Outside”. Bowie died January 10th two days after his release of “Blackstar”. “David’s death came as a complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him. I feel a huge gap now”, said Eno. It is said that Bowie controlled his own death in an artistic way. Bowie’s latest album Blackstar was released Jan. 8th on Bowie’s 69th Birthday. Blackstar was a parting gift to his fans to which his producer Tony Visconti confirmed. Blackstar is also Bowie’s first album to not have his face on the cover and two days after his death his album hit No.1 on the Billboard 200 Chart. David Bowie has touched the hearts of many rock and roll fans. Kanye West decided to form a tribute album Star to David Bowie to continue his legendary work. On twitter west stated “ David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime”. However Peter Piranha has started a petition, “Stop Kanye West recording covers of David Bowie’s music”. Over 20,000 people have now signed the petition. “Some are straightforward covers with Kanye actually singing. On others he is rapping with his own lyrics over Bowies music”, an unmanned source told the Independent Paper. The world has lost an iconic legend. His legacy will stay alive forever. Bowie has made a huge impact, not only in the music industry but to everyone around the world and will be greatly missed.
David Bowie Reflection The first article that I am proud of was my article on David Bowie and his death and legacy. This article I put a lot of thought into because I was a fan of Bowies, and was shocked by his death so it was interesting finding out what actually happened to him so when I looked up David bowie and all he had done I was shocked as to how far he had came and how well he had done or himself. I also thought the whole layout of my article was very clear and easy to understand. I started off with a clear and evident hook that brought readers in also when I started my article I gave a brief back-story of who Bowie was and how he came to be the musician he was. Looking back at my article I would of liked to add more about who Bowie was as a person and things he did to give back to the community, other than that I was really proud of this article and just wished I could of made it longer with more information in it. I think that there was still so much to tell about Bowies life that I was not able to get in to but I would of loved to.
Everyone get in Formation The Queen of Hip Hop and the girl who runs the world has come back to the music industry with a big bang. That’s right: Beyoncé is back at it and is bringing a whole lot of attitude with her. Beyoncé recently released her new song “Formation” along with a politically charged music video that has viewers tearing their minds as to what it means. The hit song was released the day before she was set to perform at the Super Bowl. The video is set in New Orleans, where it begins with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a crowed street then cuts to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face on it with the title “The Truth." Later on in the video, there appears a young black boy with a hoody, dancing in front of SWAT officers. Then, the video cuts to a wall with graffiti on in saying, “stop shooting us." Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy also appears in the video multiple times with her mother present. The video was released on Tidal, a streaming service that is owned by Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z. Although Beyoncé’s new song has certainly turned the heads of many fans, others seemed to be bothered by what the video is implying. There has been a lot of controversy as to what Beyoncé is trying to say since the video came out. The video itself contains footage from “That B.E.A.T," directed by Abteen Bagheri and produced by Chris Black, about New Orleans’s bounce music and dance scenes. Including amid frenetic dance numbers and Southern cotillion-style costumes all tying back to Beyoncé’s roots in Louisiana and African-American life. According to CNN News, “the video takes on themes such as police involved violence, Hurricane Katrina and Creole Culture." After the debut of her new song, Black tweeted his disappointment as to how the video contains certain scenes such as the panning shot of a house submerged in water from his film. Black also accused the people of making the video that they were not immersing into the local culture just as how his production team did with “That B.E.A.T." “The funny thing is that our doc is lowkey iconic so the audacity to rip and pass it off like we not gonna notice. You outta tough b!” Black tweeted. On the other hand, documentary producer Bagheri's tweets reflected a different opinion. “I’m not mad. It’s the sad reality of the music business. Doesn’t affect my friends’ and my work, but not cool,” Bagheri tweeted. Black and Bagheri acknowledged Beyoncé’s team's request to the use the footage, however they never granted them permission to use it. A representative for Beyoncé, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The New York Times that the footage being used was “legally obtained." "The documentary footage was used with permission and licensed from the owner of the footage," Noel-Schure said. "They were given proper compensation. The filmmaker’s production company provided the footage to us. The filmmaker is listed in the credits for additional photography direction. We are thankful that they granted us permission." Aside from the controversy this song stirs up, it lines up at No. 2 on the Billboard and Twitter top tracks. According to Billboard, “The song becomes the superstar’s seventh top 10 entry and highestcharting title among 15 songs, besting the No. 3 peak of "7/11" the week of Dec. 4, 2013. (Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks began in May 2014)." Clearly, despite the controversy involved, Beyoncé still managed an impressive reaction, sales and just the right amount of weird. "I got hot sauce in my bag, swag," Knowles sang, and the world listened.
Beyoncé Formation Reflection My next article was the one I did on Beyoncé and her new music video “Formation”. I had never done a review on a song before and I was excited that I got to do one especially on someone as big as Beyoncé. I am very proud of the way I wrote this article because I went into depth on what the music video actually meant and how even though it was considered “offensive” in some minds I was able to put a positive perspective in my article on exactly what Beyoncé was trying to accomplish through this song and video. This article represents good journalism writing because everyone’s questions were answered. The article was mainly about how people perceived Beyoncé music video and all the criticism she got for it. I was also able to answer question in my article that many people di not know of, for instance no one seemed to notice that Beyoncé’s baby appeared multiple times in the music video which was symbolizing they way her child should grow up. I was also used an informal tone with humor towards the end just to be ironic and keep the reader interested in what I had to say.
Bring on Coachella Its that time of year again, the sun is out, the sky is blue and music is in the air. The 2016 C oachella Valley Music and Arts Festival have arrived. C oachella has been a celebrity attraction since 1999 and has only grown more famous over time. This year C oachella went off with a big bang, starting Friday April 15th to April 24 all day and all night people were lined up with their tickets making there way to the most popular attraction of the year. Not only does C oachella offer amazing performances by Sia, Jack U, ZEDD, Alessia Cara, Calvin Harris and much more, it is also know for its fashion. C elebrity icons such as Kendall Jenner and her sister Kylie Jenner sure know how to make memoires and have fun at C oachella. Jenner was seen partying it up with Justin Bieber and other friends. Also unexpected duos showed up, Paul McCartney and Adam Levine, Madonna and Drake who shocked ever yone with their viral kiss. Rihanna and Leonardo Dicaprio also made an appearance as each other’s romantic interests. As for other stars such as Katy Perr y, Fergie and Alessandra Ambrosio took on the festival with their girlfriends. Other celebrities took breaks from there performances to attend the festival. Gigi Hadid, C ody Simpson, and Patrick S chwarzenegger mingled at the H&M Loves C oachella tent. Not only were the solo celebrities going to the festival but a lot of cute couples made appearances. B ella Thorne and Gregg Sulkin, Jaden Smith and Sarah Snyder, Kylie Jenner and Tyga were just some of the hottest celebrities that made their debut at C oachella. Although with C oachella come drama, yes Kylie Jenner is back again and people were accusing her of stealing her C oachella look from another instagrammer. The outfit that people were questioning was the sequin bikini with eyes that Jenner showed of on snapchat that weekend. Fans seemed to notice how that outfit looked exactly the same as the outfit Brit Day, a New Z ealand instagrammer shared two weeks before C oachella all the way down to copying her pastel rainbow French braids. Although many fashion for ward instagrammers might have been mad about the whole situation, Day seemed thrilled to know someone like Jenner had found inspiration through her outfit. Day even posted a picture of her original outfit next to Jenner’s tagging it #whoworeitbetter and #shesababe, proving that Day is not taking the situation to heart. Apart from the little bits of drama at C oachella, people sure know to dress to impress. It was time to get those f lower headbands out, because those are the go to accessor y for C oachella. However its just not about the accessories, most people show up in a dress or shirt and crop tops, C oachella gives of a hippie and bohemian vibe that ever yone loves to follow. It the only place where super sheer tops and short denim cut offs are not only accepted, but encouraged. C elebrity icons such as Vanessa Hudgens, Julianne Hough, and Nina Dovrev are just some of the best dressed at C oachella this year. No matter the weather ,C oachella was the place to be so if you plan on going sometime in the future, you better start saving up now!
Coachella Reflection
By far this has to be my favorite article that I have written since the beginning of the year. I have loved Coachella ever since it was introduced to me and I hope to go one year so by writing this article I was really excited to see what had happened this past year. One thing that I liked that I included in this article was my tone, I was bubbly and excited while writing this article and the more information I got such as drama wise I was able to incorporate it into the article smoothly. I hoped when readers read this article they took into consideration how light and informative it was. One thing though that I am most proud of is how invested I was in this article, I was excited from the beginning about writing this article and I put everything into it. One thing though I wish I would have included to make this article stronger would be more information in it, I could of reflected back to past years at Coachella and compared it to this years but other than that I was really proud of this article.
Personal Essay
I don’t think many kids can say they grew up in two completely different atmospheres. I grew up in a different country in which lived in for eleven years until I moved to Florida six years ago. I grew up in Northern Ireland, which is pretty far way from the U.S. In Ireland everyone knows everyone, you grew up in a same small town where houses and shops were attached and you knew your neighbors. Its funny actually because if I ever go into trouble at school my parents would know before I would even know because they grew up with my teachers and principal and they always kept in contact. It also doesn’t help when your dad is part of the round table and one of the leaders that everyone knew. My dad grew up in Northern Ireland all his life he grew up with all the people that still live their today so he earned a lot of respect form those around him, I would have people come up to me when I would be with my friends parents and they would introduce me to others and the response I would get back would be “o your Dave’s daughter” and I would have no clue who these people were. Being so close to my family has defiantly had an influence on who I am, living down the street from my cousins and going to the same school as them basically gave me my own identity. I was always known as someone’s daughter or someone’s cousin never as me, not that I minded I loved spending time with my family they were all good people and raised me to be the best I can be. Although it seemed like I was in their shadow as I grew older people started to recognize me as me, I was not just someone’s brother or sister I was Errin, the girl that has lived down the street since she was a baby and now lives in Florida. In my mind where I grew up from in Ireland is completely different from where I live now. Moving from such a small neighborhood really does not help you when you move to a bigger neighborhood where over 100 people live. When I moved to Florida I would say that my new neighborhood didn’t really change me. At first I was living in Glen Abbey, which is a suburb were mostly all the kids that went to my school lived, I remember getting ready for my first day of school and feeling so sick because I didn’t know anybody. However I didn’t know any of them and I felt left out because they had all grown up together and I was the new kind in the block. Its so different though, now that I think back upon it, many people back in Ireland would never have the guts to get up and live the only place they have ever known, they feel safe and are in their comfort zone and that’s all they need. My family and I traveled a lot. The first time we came to Florida was for my parent honeymoon and even then it was just I, but as time when by we kept coming back because we loved it so much. Soon enough we bought a vacation home in a lovely area in Debary, although we didn’t think much of it, we knew our neighbor’s and that was about it. If someone had asked me 7 years ago that I would be living in Florida I would say they are bonkers and that would never happen. Never say never though because you never know what could happen. I remember the first time my parents brought up about moving to Florida. We were just sitting in our living room and my dad say to us kids, “how would you guys feel about moving to Florida”, at first I as was a bit iffy about the whole situation but then I started warming up to it, knowing that moving would open up a lot of new opportunities for us kids. I’m like the small town country girl that moves to the big city and does not have a clue as to what is going on around her. However I was able to adapt very quickly into the American lifestyle. At first it was hard not knowing anyone but people started coming up to me and were fascinated by the way I talk especially when I was late the first day of school and I walked in to class while they were singing the start spangled banner, I had no clue what they were singling and I felt so awkward and then my teacher made me stand in front of the class and tell everyone about myself, it was the most nerve racking thing I had ever done in my life. I was a very shy person and still am till this day so I wasn’t very good at warming up to people or making new friends, I was always scared to meet new people because I thought they would make fun of me and my accent and it kind of made me feel self conscious especially when people came up to me and just said “say something” I would get so annoyed because someone new everyday would always come up to me and ask me that. I got used to if after a while, I mean there was always that someone that would make fun of my accent in a joking way but even then they still sounded so silly when they tried to do it, even till this day I still have people trying to do my accent and I’m like give it up already you cant speak the way I can. Growing up the way I did had an influence on who I am and still does, I am still learning now stuff about myself everyday especially when I am being exposed to many new things but I couldn’t of asked for a better lifestyle than the one if have now.
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