The Record that Keeps Relating

     Another new band with another debut record. New music is starting to sound all too similar. However, the mastermind behind this project is already an alternative icon. How might this have worked out? Flawless.

     In September of 2011, the debut record, Elsie, was released by a new duo, The Horrible Crowes. More of a side project than a band, The Horrible Crowes was an escape for alternative music’s favorite, Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem.

Look for this album cover at your local music store!
(http://www.amazon.com/Elsie-Horrible-Crowes/dp/B005BO2LKC)

     Ian Perkins, The Gaslight Anthem’s guitar technician and long time friend of Fallon is Fallon’s Partner in crime on Elsie. Although Elsie sounds like it could have passed for a laid back Gaslight record, Fallon stated it just wasn’t fair to Gaslight’s fans. The Horrible Crowes had to be a different project.

     Nevertheless, any fan of The Gaslight Anthem would fall in love with The Horrible Crowes.

     In three words, Elsie is relatable, moody, and unique. This is the most emotional record released in the last year.

     Fallon personally categorizes it as, “Soul music for sad kids.” Songs like “Blood Loss,” and “Sugar” are slow, easy listeners that truly hit the heart but have a hint of hope that’ll make a listener crack a smile as the end approaches.

     “Black Betty and the Moon,” and the record’s single, “Behold the Hurricane” are fun Gaslight sounding songs to twist and shout too.

     A record that demands a feeling of hope and an urge to dance is always great, but it isn’t dark soul music without making one shed a tear. And songs such “I believe Jesus brought us together”, and “Cherry Blossom” will make any cochlea cry.

     Aside from the mood and emotion, the record has several different genre styles as well.

     “I witnessed a crime” sounds like 50’s jazz, and “Marry Ann” sounds like angry blues.

     Elsie may be the most emotional record of the year, but it is most definitely the most unique record of the decade.

     It is safe to say that Fallon and Perkins are doing it right.

     

    

The Musical Midget Hater

     She sits back in her seat with a blank expression upon her face. She looks as if she is nervous about the questions I am soon to ask.

      A pale 17 year old, Logan can’t be any taller than 5’ 2’’. Slim around the waist as well she’s a tiny ball of energy, so tiny that I cackle when she tells me her short term goals, “I want to lose fifteen pounds… graduate, and get a job”.

      She clearly does not need to lose any weight, although she admits to having low self esteem.  

     A good girl with natural demons, she reveals a lot of people close to her have died in the last few years. This takes a toll on such a young person.                                               

      Faded black hair surrounds her head, and without covering her face, she speaks. She’s edgy. And she is also presentable.

     Her edge is a mix of her music influence and witty humor, and she is funny, breaking into the silliest of quotes. “Midgets!” Logan quickly cries as I bring up fears. “Every time I see one I have panic attacks. I don’t know why.”

     “My friends and I were in Hooters for my birthday last winter and there was a midget there. A girl midget. She started walking towards me and I started balling and said, ‘Is this real life right now!?.”

     “So my friends took me to the bathroom and I threw up,” she finished.

     How does one respond to this kind of story? She finishes with, “I don’t hate them or dislike midgets, they just terrify me. I don’t know…”

     In her free time, Logan enjoys spending time with her boyfriend and going to concerts.

     “Being with my boyfriend brings us closer together and going to shows widens my music variety,” She said.

     Logan has some wild concert stories.

     “I was at an I See Stars show. I was in the front row before they played ‘Common Hours’ for their music video shoot.

     “All of a sudden, I looked up and a three hundred pound man was diving off of stage and falling straight over me.

     “After he landed on my head, I was knocked onto the ground.

    “ I ended up getting a black eye but I got back up and kept dancing.”

     “But you love the music so much that it’s worth going through that kind of hell?” I confirm.

     “I wouldn’t call situations like that hell. I love it. Yeah it can be rough but that’s just part of the show. It hurt but I lived”. 

     In the furture, Logan plans on going to school at Paul Mitchell fashion school in Sterling Heights, buying her own apartment, and living with her kitten.

     After school, she will be opening her own salon in Chicago.

     In the future, I wish her the best for her in achieving her goals and in her run-ins with midgets. Laci Logan, The Musical Midget Hater!

One hot kettle!

     Yesterday, at approximately 9:34 p.m. there was an intentional fire at Kettle Lakes District High School. Seven classrooms are damaged and the school is shut down until further notice.

     The only person present at the time of the fire was Joe Smythe, the night custodian for the high school. Smythe left the school with some bumps and bruises.

Kettle Lakes District High School currently not in
session due to fire.
(http://accidental-entrepreneur.com/2011/04/meetings-hidden-agendas-and-the-fire-hose/)

      As Smythe was cleaning the basement chemistry classroom, he heard a noise around 9:30, he recalls. With his left arm now in a sling, he said he was struck in the head with something, perhaps a glass beaker.

     Smythe then hit the ground. The next thing he remembers is waking up to a fire and mecial crew.

     The chemicals in the chemistry room spread the fire to six other classrooms downstairs and smoked and water ended up damaging the upstairs level.

     According to Anna Kingsley, Superintendant of Kettle Lakes, is looking into temporary locations within the next week to proceed school.

     Once school is back in session, one student won’t be coming back.

     The fire took place in a Mr. Barnes classroom. There may have been chemicals, and other flammable objects that set this fire off. A four minute gap was in between the time that Smyth claimed he heard a noise coming from his room. For a fire to start that quickly, a lot of flammable objects had to have been placed in that classroom.

     It only took four minutes for Smyth to get hit with a glass object, claim he heard a noise and for the ambulance to get there. This was all a very quick process for a fire to happen.

      Repairing 7 class rooms and all the materials and supplies in them may cost Kettle Lakes hundreds and thousands of dollars.

     This will have a large affect on the students and their school work because they have to move temporarily to a different school until the high school is repaired.

     “Sometimes the band students keep a door propped in case they forget something after practice”, Smythe says.

     Hopefully the suspects will be narrowed to one in the near future.

     We can only hope that these poor children will get back to their school work as soon as possible.

 

All the way up the food chain

     “I don’t know what I do here at Lakeland,” said Kay. Fidgeting and crossing his legs constantly. Tapping his hands simultaneously on the podium.

     “Every day it changes. I had a list on my desk today and didn’t get to any of it,” he said.

     Marc Kay, Lakeland High School’s Assistant Principal, is much more than that. An accredited teacher, and an administrator that many students share a close relationships with.

     “I love the people I work with. I love working with teenagers, ” Kay said about his job.

      Ironically enough for an administrator, he also added, “I hate dealing with disciplinary issues.”

     Kay has to get sick of being at school though, right?

     Guess again.

     Kay has been at school all his life and says he’d continue to go if it didn’t take him away from his family.

The front entrance to Lakeland High School,
Kay's castle. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lakeland_High_School_White_Lake_Michigan.JPG)

     Quite the resume for such a young, dedicated man.

     “Get ready, it’s a long list,” he joked.

     “I went to Birmingham Groves for High School, then to WSU for my teacher’s certificate, MSU for my undergrad, Wayne State for my Master’s, back to U of M for my second Master’s and took some classes over the summer with The University of Phoenix.”

     But the schooling doesn’t stop there. Just the learning.

     As far as teaching goes, Kay taught at a private Jewish school in Farmington, and was a director at a nearby Synagogue.

     Lakeland has had the pleasure of learning from Kay since 1999 and has been taking orders from him on and off since 2003.

     It is great that Kay has stayed happy in the classroom for so long, but this wasn’t always his plan.

     A smart young adult, Kay had planned on being a doctor.

     “I originally was pre-med until I found out I didn’t like college,” he said.

     Though t is clear, others can see he continued to go, just with a lighter weight on his back.

     The lonely professor Kay is not. The tall, thin man with dark hair and a bit of a beer gut has a wife and two children of his own.

     Tying the knot in November of 1991, Kay has become quite the family man. He is significantly close with his father and his sister and has two daughters. An 18 year old and a 14 year old. 

     “The most exciting moment in my life…? Hmm… I gotta say sending my oldest daughter off to college this year,” Kay said.

     When Kay is not busy with school or his family, he likes riding his bike, watching t.v., and traveling. 

     “I would love to go to Australia to experience the different terrain. Besides the states I’ve been to Mexico and Europe.

     Quite the geographer this literature buff is.

     At the end of the day, whether it be learning, teaching, or administrating, Marc Kay has been at school his whole life and isn’t stopping anytime soon. When he’s not at school, he’s spending time with his family, or traveling.

     A pretty normal guy playing such a serious role at Lakeland High School.

     However, the kids enjoy his company and he enjoys theirs. Marc Kay is here to stay.

    

An eye patch in a manger (editorial)

     It’s that time of year again. The time of year when Christians, which seems to be the majority of the people in America, have every free weekend marked off their calendar for the month of December. Those of us born into families within a Christian based religion, rush to stores and rack up our credit card bills Mall store owners hire extra employees for a few weeks. People even cut down innocent trees to stand lonely in our homes for this time period.

     However, I think people forget why others do all of this; to celebrate the birthday of the invisible man people like to call Jesus Christ. Although, who really is a firm believer these days unless they have found Christ through struggles with addiction of the loss of a close one?

     I grew up forced to go to church every Sunday, and Catechism every Wednesday by a mother of 100% Italian decent, and a father of 100% Irish decent. These two religions being the epitome of Catholicism.

What are you celebrating this holiday season?
(Photo by Christopher Vandenberg)

      I came to the realization that I didn’t believe in what I couldn’t see. What’s the point? People never know their purpose until we’re dead, but isn’t it too late then? When you’re a kid, it’s difficult to worship and idolize someone who looks different in every painting you come across.

     While making my confirmation at only fourteen years old, I started to branch from the norm and think freely. I decided on my own that I would no longer believe in a higher power for the following reasons: I could not believe what I could not see, I didn’t know whether the Bible was to be returned to the fiction, or non-fiction section, and I realized I was taking my own self strength for granted.

     How realistic is the bible? A book full of miracles with no cover, author’s note, or dedication page. These stories and miracles are all too farfetched and exaggerated for any free thinker. Doesn’t it seem more like a pamphlet of metaphors to remind us citizens to be good Samaritans and tell us of karma’s consequences down the road?

     The most important aspect of my epiphany was realizing that for so long, I had been taking my own self strength for granite. Before I went to bed at night, I would kneel beside my bed, close my hands, and speak my problems and concerns aloud. I did this as if someone was listening and was going to fix them. But who was I speaking to besides myself? I was only listening to my concerns so that I could realize I needed to act on them.

     This holiday season; ask yourself what you’re celebrating. Whatever your answer may be, make sure you can see it make sure it makes sense on paper, and make sure you believe in yourself enough to accept it.

     For Heaven’s sake, think about it.

Death Notice: The music man

 

      It is a sad day for alternative rock musicians and fans of the band Taking Back Sunday, as Lazzara was the singer/ front man of this world renowned band.  Due to liver failure, a dark cloud reigns upon his family, friends, and fans.



Lazzara Swings his Microphone on stage during a
show on the Projekt Revolution
tour. Quite the
 ball of energy.(http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/RnGnCkH-dsj/2007+Projekt+Revolution+Tour/R1gBTuGrZp3/Adam+Lazzara)



      Lazzara took his last footsteps from Detroit gravel on to Taking Back Sunday’s tour bus. The band played a spectacular show at St. Andrew’s Hall. He then laid down in his bed on the band’s tour bus. When the band woke up in Chicago, Lazzara didn’t.

     This singer was a heavy drinker. Many performers who are, that are offered free alcohol by the venues they’replaying at are. However, Lazzara drank too much on and off the tour bus.

     Born in Sheffield, Alabama, Lazzara was the son of Christian parents. His family moved to North Carolina when he was a teenager. It was then that he started playing bass guitar. He got in touch with the band Taking back Sunday and moved to Long Island, New,York to play bass for them. When vocalist Antonio Longo parted ways with the band, guitarist Eddie Reyes convinced Lazzara to become their lead vocalist and songwriter (TBS Union).

     Lazzara wrote and produced five full records with Taking Back Sunday and is one of the three permanent members since the band’s first full record, “Tell All Your Friends”.

     After “Tell All Your Friends,” Taking Back Sunday went through plenty of controversy and member replacing. Despite the feuding, Lazzara was the glue that held the band together. Taking back Sunday then came out with four more long playing disks titled, “Where Your Want to be,” “Louder Now,” “New Again,” and self titled, “Taking Back Sunday” in chronological order.

     On Valentine’s day 2009, Lazzara proposed to Eisley guitarist and singer, Chantelle Dupree. This relationship only lasted for one year until the two amicably parted ways. Lazzara then married his now widow, Misha. The couple was very happy and resided in Tyler, Texas, with their son, Keaton Ari Danger Lazzara.

     Lazzara will be much missed by his family. His parents, his brother Nathan, son Keaton, and mostly wife Misha. Lazzara had a tattoo on his forearm of a heart with banners across it spelling out, “Ain’t  no woman like the one I got.” Misha will always have her husband in her heart, but never again will she have him in her arms (TBS Union).

     As  a live performer, Lazzara had many tactics he was famous for. One of them was swinging his microphone. He likes to get a lot of slack in his mic and swing it around in a rotating, circular motion. He would also spin it around his neck (Alternative Press).  He once swing it so far in diameter, that he hit bass player, Mathew Rubano in the head, hospitalizing him after finishing the show.

     Also famous for his energetic and acrobatic abilities such as climbing the rafters at the 2003 Van’s Warped Tour and hanging from the rafters by his legs upside down.

     A firm believer in charity, Lazzara gave a lot of his hard earned money back to organizations such as the “Stop Global Warming Organization.” He had a good heart and a good soul.

     Being a huge part of the music world, Lazzara and the rest of Taking Back Sunday toured with fantastically popular bands such as Rise Against, Envy On The Coast, Underoath, Jimmy Eat World, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Thursday and several others. Lazzara made so many people happy. Now all those fans have left is notes and keys in memory of what they once shared with the existing world of music.

     A firm believer in real life experiences, Lazzara would tell fans to stop taking pictures and videos of him because they are “behind screens all day”, such as computers and cell phones,  and that when he is talking to a fan, they should embrace the moment instead of taking a picture or video of their experience.

     A lover and fighter of anything important and relevant to music or art, Lazzara was an activist at best.

     A phenomenal musician, hunsband, father, friend, idol, and a true man. He will be missed by many and loved by all.  Those who share the music, those who share the same views of charity and giving back to the community, and those who know that life isn’t just about doing what you want, but what s also good for others, will always miss Mr. Adam Burbank Lazzara.

     Rest in peace Mr. Lazzara. And always keep on Keepn’ on.

    

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