5 Spins Around the Record Shop- This Week in Music

ICP: SUPER DANGEROUS GANG WITH MAKEUP ON!

According to Huffingtonpost.com, the Hip-Hop, Horrorcore duo are suing the FBI for classifying their fans as gang members! Juggalos and Juggalettes are devoted fans of bands on the Psychopathic Records label, such as ICP. The Gathering of the Juggalos is a large get-together for music, events, and Faygo showers for the fans! Apparently, according to the FBI, this is a gang-related event. On the Huff Post, they said:

The FBI maintains, however, that subsets of the Juggalos “exhibit gang-like behavior and engage in criminal activity in violence,” according to the 2011 report. The FBI classifies the Juggalos as a “loosely-organized hybrid gang.”

ICP said that they will go through the lawsuit against the FBI no matter what it takes. In the meantime, you should probably leave your clown makeup and Hatchet-man necklace at home.

NBC CAUSES OUTRAGE: CUTS OFF CLOSING CEREMONY!

NBC decided that it would be a good idea to cut off the end of the closing ceremony… bad move, NBC! Instead of the Who, Muse, and Ray Davies of the Kinks, NBC showed the world a commercial-free episode of Animal Practice. They did show the Who’s performance around midnight… but leaving out Muse?! In case you weren’t aware, Muse’s song “Survival” was the official song of the 2012 Olympics.

RIP: MARVIN HAMLISCH (1944-2012)

The composer of A Chorus Line and The Way We Were passed away August 6th in Los Angeles. The details of his death were not made public, just that he was suffering from a brief illness, and passed away. Hamlisch is one of the prestigious few to receive an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony, and a Grammy. His talents will be sorely missed.

SHERYL CROW’S “DINER” DEBUTS NEXT YEAR!

Sheryl Crow’s musical adaptation of “Diner” is debuting on Broadway April 10, 2013! Diner was originally scheduled to show at the Curran Theatre this year in San Fransisco from October 23-November 16, according to Yahoo News. Instead of the pre-broadway debut, the time will be spent putting on a four-week fully staged workshop in New York. According to Yahoo, “Diner” is set in Baltimore at the end of 1950s and centers on a group of former high school friends as they struggle to adjust to the demands of adulthood.

‘NO DOUBT’ NEWS

I have been following No Doubt’s career pretty closely since I was 12 years old. It brings me great joy to add into this article a video for “Settle Down“- a single from their new album “Push and Shove” releasing on September 25, 2012.

That’s it for this week’s music news. Join me next week for more melodic shenanigans.

Jack White + Gary Oldman = Awesome Sauce

We at Grizzly Bomb have a collected affinity for one Mr. Jack White. Creative force behind acts such as The Upholsterers, The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. He has also worked in some capacity with other musicians like Alicia Keys, The Electric Six, and Insane Clown Posse. That doesn’t even begin to describe his collaborative works industry wide such producing records for country icon Loretta Lynn. So it should come as no surprise when he teams up with someone awesome, but this one takes the cake. This time around Jack is hanging with the one and only Commissioner James Gordon.

White asked Oldman to direct his streaming concert (which happened a couple days ago) and the two seemed to really hit it off. White’s introduction to the famous JFK/Dark Knight/Dracula/Tinker Talior star wasn’t what you’d call conventional, but they both seemed in good spirits after and the result is pretty interesting. Check it out.

New Official Theme Song of GB: ICP’s ‘Leck Mich Im Arsch’

So Detroit’s modern music icon Jack White just produced a song by another group also (unfortunately) from Detroit – the unofficial Faygo spokesmen: the Insane Clown Posse.

ICP, who has maybe the worst collection of human beings on Earth as their core fanbase (the juggalos), has decided to try their hand with some Mozart, and broaden the horizons of their dear ‘hatchet-men’. So they interpreted Mozart’s ‘Leck mich im Arsch‘ to mean ‘Lick my ass‘ and a song was born.

Now, because Jack White endorsed it, I gave it a listen and…

HOLY SHIT – that bell can’t be unrung.

Review: HBO’s ‘True Blood’ Season 4, Episode 10 – “Burning Down the House”

True Blood, I have missed you!  For the first time in weeks, I feel like we’re getting back to our roots.  Drama, intrigue, HUMOR (where did THAT go?)…this episode had almost anything we could hope for in a decent HBO show, without feeling like a supernatural episode of Jerry Springer.

Tonight’s episode of True Blood picks up where last week’s left off – at the Festival of Tolerance.  Brainwashed Eric has been commissioned to kill King Bill; and during their scuffle, something miraculous happens.  Sookie is able to use her fairy light to break Antonia’s spell.  This means, of course, Eric has his memories back and Pam has a normal face once again!

This whole thing feels like a cop-out to me.  What is the limit to these fairy powers?  She can hear your thoughts, make vampires daywalk, and she can break the spells of learned witches.  If there’s a problem, yo – she’ll solve it.  Like Vanilla Ice.  And if the writers write themselves into a corner, it’s okay.  The solution is simple: just have Sookie use her flash-hands and attribute it to another unknown fairy power.  Brilliant!

Sookie also lets Eric know that she’s jonesing for both him and Bill.  Shockingly, she’s not wearing lingerie and they don’t want to have an impromptu threesome with her.  I was surprised, too.

No threesome?!!?

The Festival of Tolerance also brings some dimension to the character of Antonia and her relationship with Marnie.  Finally.  She’s been a broken record in each episode, playing her vampire hatred on repeat, it’s about time she felt something else.  Like remorse for harming innocent people.  And we hear from Marnie for the first time in ages, and discover that she is thrilled to have the spirit of a dead necromancer living in her body.  And who wouldn’t?  It was always on my Christmas list, and I always got socks.

We also learn that Antonia can create force fields that can turn Jesus into a member of Insane Clown Posse.  I’m no fashion expert, but I think I prefer this look to his jean jacket and overly spiked hair.  I half expected him to break out in a chorus of “Hangin’ Tough.”

The rest of the witches speak Latin and a wind machine appears.

The Festival also brings out my favorite side of Nan – the bitchy side.  Of course she’s going to turn a bloodbath into some political statement.  Bill has other ideas, and FINALLY stands up to her!  I love Nan as a character, but it’s time someone questioned her motives and practices.  It’s time to take action instead of turning everything into a vampire PSA.  Nan is like the angry vampire mom, who threatens true death to anyone who mouths off to her like it’s a time out, and is realizing that her kids have outgrown her guidance.

This episode also made me appreciate how funny Terry Bellefleur is, and his dysfunctional relationship with Andy was one of the most comical things that have happened this season.  Andy’s V addiction has been a yawn this season, but Terry’s attempt to “scare him straight” at Fort Bellefleur made the episode SO much better.  These are the kinds of side stories that I wish would be incorporated more into the episodes.  We need something light and funny to take the edge off.  The show is dark and heavy enough on its own without giving so much material to minor characters.

Speaking of minor characters, TOMMY IS GONE!!!!!!!!!  I wanted to feel bad about it, but I just couldn’t!  Talk about a waste of space.  I hated this kid so much, I started calling my fast forward button the “Tommy button.”  Now, his death means that Sam (and Alcide, by the look of it) will have some confrontations with the werewolves.  I can’t say this story holds much investment for me, and I can’t say I have a dog in this fight, but mindless violence is always a good idea on True Blood.  It’s on like Donkey Kong.

This was a much better episode than those prior.  I felt like a lot of this season has been filler, and not even good filler.  I’m digging the Bellefleurs.  I’m digging the relationship between Jason and Jessica (and I love that Jason has a cooler of beer next to his armchair, that’s never a bad idea).  I’m even digging the Eric/Sookie/Bill love triangle.  Eric is so much more interesting with his memories; and it’ll be interesting to see Sookie come to terms with her feelings for both. And we’ll have to wait and see where Sookie and her Scooby Gang got transported to.

You really just have to like this episode for the Bad Boys ending.  Vampires wielding weapons, walking in slow motion to music – complete with the early ’90s freeze frame before the credits.

“Now everyone remember, if there is an explosion – do NOT look back.”

Classic.

I give this episode 4/5 bears.