Sound Check's Blog – June 2011 Archive (6)

Black Pole Revisits Generation X Alternative Rock - INTERVIEW

Alternative music in the early ‘90s arguably had the biggest impact on American pop culture since the Baby Boomer generation. It was an exciting time when the Do It Yourself aesthetics of the punk generation 20 years prior helped inspire hungry artists and musicians to express themselves without restraint. Within Generation X were many independent local bands that gained popularity at home, but failed to attain a larger audience. Out of the historically turbulent Berkeley, CA… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 29, 2011 at 9:00am — No Comments

Rockstar In Training: Musicians of the Roundtable

This past week I facilitated and participated in the first of several free Musician’s Roundtables at the University of Louisville. There were fewer than 13 knights… I mean, musicians, in attendance, but some of them were my friends & internet acquaintances. Among others, attendees included, Lady “Jessy B”, a rapper of a unique cloth, Sir Maxwell Mitchell of ye olden and Sir Justin Lewis, the first of his name and master of going to Bonaroo for free. Oh, and I, Lady Pam Newman,… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 28, 2011 at 5:00pm — 3 Comments

George Clinton: The King of Funk

George Clinton's name is synonymous with funk. The mastermind behind the supergroup Parliament-Funkadelic (now known as the P-Funk All Stars), Clinton released 19 albums from 1970 and 1981 that defined funk and kickstarted the Afrofuturist movement. In a career that's spanned over 50 years, he's influenced everything from NWA to the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, from Fishbone to the Big Boys, and been sampled by nearly every hip hop artist in the history of the… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 24, 2011 at 8:00pm — 7 Comments

Chuck Berry: The Prototypical Guitar God

“If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.'” - John Lennon

There are hundreds of moments you can point to as the watershed moment where rock was born. There are dozens of early singles by blues and hillbilly bands that point to where rock was headed. But before him, there was no-one who embodied the now iconic image of “guitar god” like Chuck Berry.

Words by… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 13, 2011 at 12:09pm — 12 Comments

INTERVIEW: Rebelmatic, Natural Genre-Benders

To stash AP members Rebelmatic away, in the eternally awkward, possibly dead “rock-rap” file, would be an injustice to a band that simply wants to splash some varied colors around on a canvas, and hope you get the picture. In his review of the band’s 2009 release, Prey for the Vulture, Chaz Kangas anoints the band with a four out of five star rating, and declares “genre-bending has seldom sounded so natural,”… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 8, 2011 at 5:30pm — 9 Comments

Rockstar In Training: What I’m Into

This week I was invited to be featured in a local newspaper based off of my blog! Velocity does a feature called, “What I’m Into,” which is a pop culture piece. Erin Keane, a Velocity staff writer who follows my PamNewman.Tumblr.com blog contacted me and requested an interview & photo shoot. Being a nerd is totally paying off, y’all. In order to prepare, I did what most fly women would do: I got my hair did.

Words by… Continue

Added by Sound Check on June 8, 2011 at 12:12pm — 12 Comments