Thursday, November 12, 2009

Remebering DJ AM

This is an article I wrote for Major Magazine after DJ AM's Death.

Hope you enjoy it

"Find something you love doing, than get paid to do it."
-DJ AM

During the late 90’s, the idea of having a DJ as a member of a rock band was a common affair, ‘Limp Bizkit’ has DJ Lethal, ‘Sugar Ray’ has DJ Homicide, ‘Linkin Park’ has Mr. Hahn, while ‘Crazy town’ had DJ AM.
DJ AM was born on March 30, 1979 in Philadelphia, named Adam Goldstein. He started his career as a member of the aforementioned group ‘Crazy Town,’ who’s only real hit was “Butterfly.” Since a young age, AM battled drugs, particularly crack cocaine, but by his mid 20’s he kicked the habit and put all of his focus onto spinning records. It paid off, as DJ AM started to grow a following and even began growing in the public eye due to his personal relationships with Nicole Richie and Mandy Moore.
While earning his time in the spotlight, DJ AM started forming a bond with drummer Travis Baker, the drummer from famous rock band ‘Blink 182,’ which would eventually lead to one of the most unique DJ sets that featured DJ AM mixing music while Barker performed live drumming. The duo released their first mix tape in late August 2008, which became a huge success and led to them performing at the VMA’s, as well as doing commercials for the Super Bowl. DJ AM continued his resident DJing set at Rain Night club in the Palms in Las Vegas, while having monthly shows with Barker.
On September 19, 2008, disaster struck as a private plane carrying both AM and Barker crashed in South Carolina leaving Barker and AM as the only two survivors. This tragic turn of events would cause permanent damage that DJ AM never fully recovered from. Because of his work, AM is forced to constantly travel by plane which led him to take anxiety pills in order to deal with the emotional trauma he faces spawning from his accident.
Although the pair seemingly recovered from their accident, even performing at Coachella and releasing their second mix tape together, a second tragedy would soon follow. On August 28, 2009 DJ AM was found dead in his apartment with the cause of death ruled as a drug overdose. His death has come as a great shock to many of his close personal friends, seeing as his recovery had been something of a positive role model to fellow recovering addicts.
The legacy left behind by DJ AM should not be remembered for how he went but for what he left behind, his raw passion for music that can be heard in all of his sets. The two mix tapes that were made under TRVSDJAM, entitled “Fix Your Face” and “Fix Your Face Vol. 2”, are unbelievable in their flow and comparable to any great set. The blends found can see the music go from ‘Metallica’ to ‘Michael Jackson’ flawlessly, while still giving a great vibe for any music lover.
DJ AM started DJing when he was 20 years old, and while he only had 17 years to leave his mark on the music industry, he succeeded in leaving behind a legacy that sure is hard to be forgotten.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Bad TV is in the eye of the Beholder!

Growing up I have always been a huge fan of watching trash TV. I don't know what it is exactly I think when something is so bad it will reach a point where it becomes good. I believe the holy land of trash TV is most definitely MTV. MTV offers so much bad TV shows that you could literally sit on the couch for 4 hours go through so much garbage and not realize how long it has been, I would know...I've done it. The worst of my loves are the horribly acted dating shows such as 'NEXT' or 'Date My Mom'. These shows are so badly done that I am 90% certain the contestants are just actors, bad ones at that. The premises I must admit are wildly entertaining, can you imagine going on a date with ones mom? I don't know what it is but I can safely say MTV as much as I wish I could hate you, you have such golden garbage that I just can't get enough of. I don't particularly enjoy "The Hills" I just find that show mundane and dull. The characters never do anything, it's like "Entourage" except without the jokes, or likability* which makes "Entourage" enjoyable.

The show I most like on MTV is "The Real World" ever since I was about 10 years old I have been watching it every time I made my trip down to Windsor, Ontario. I can still remember the day we got MTV from Rogers at home and I spent that night watching a Real World marathon, I don't know what it is, I just loved the interactions. This new season has definitely been a good one but definitely not the best, I think the best season of "The Real World" that I can remember has got to be Austin. Austin was just so well done, everyone was likable, their job was interesting and the drama was pretty intense. The Real World is the digestive cookies of television, you eat them as a snack but you are never quite full because of them.

The last show I love and is well known fact among my friends is Maury. I don't think I have to explain this at all, Watch this quick video and you will know why!


I guess this is where I pose the question "What are your guilty Television pleasures?"


*My girlfriend is gonna hate me for that one

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

MusiCyde..The Death Of Music

When I come home every summer I try my hardest to hear as many new bands people are listening to as possible. Last year it was safe to say Lil Wayne was on everyone's playlist. This year however I haven't had as many bands stand out, but there is one artist that I have encountered that raped my ears. When I say raped my ears, I mean the amount of the noise being thumped in my ear and my ears not wanting to comprehend what is being heard, that's rape. This all started with the band "BrokenCyde". If you have not heard this band, let me at best try to describe them. Electronica beats with loud screaming of party words without being fully discernible over what is being said. For further proof this is there song "Get Crunk"



That song is a perfect example of everything wrong with music. I really wanna know is there any lyrics to this song? Is there really any point other than to yell "GET CRUNK" or "GET DRUNK?" I think this song is laughably bad, I feel anyone can get on Reason or Ableton an come up with an electronic beat and yell "PARTY ON!" over top and people will love it. I really hope people realize these guys are complete shit and should not be listen to. I am a guy who likes lyrics, who enjoys a good party song and lastly loves a well composed song. This song has pretty much none of the above, if you want a party album go grab mixtapes might I recommend "TRV$DJAM" or even the insanely popular "Girl Talk".

Monday, August 10, 2009

Signals Over Hannah Montana?

As some of you may have heard a 53 years old man was charged with stalking Miley Cyrus this past week, he alleges that he spoke to her through her TV show 'Hannah Montana'. I decided to sit down tonight and take in an episode Hannah Montana and see what it said to me. Now allow me to recap the episode as fast as possible so we can get to the break down of communications. Miley's dad went on a date with Lily(I think that's her name)'s mom. While on the date the dad wanted to pay for dinner but the mom wouldn't let him which ended the date, this was a huge blow for their friendship because they were hoping to be sister. This led to both girls taking sides and inevitably having a huge fight in the middle of a class presentation. The presentation was of Miley's country giving Lily's country some fish as a gift, but Lily's country refused to take it and insisted to pay (do you see the connection). This led to throwing and putting of fish under each other shirts and a huge fish fight where the whole class threw CGI fishes. Miley and Lily sneaked their way out and talked it over and everything ended with Miley singing as Hannah Montana.

Besides all the bad writing that comes with Hannah Montana, I would be lying if i didn't say it has become one of my guilty pleasures. I grew up on Family Channel and till today if I wake up before 11am on a Saturday I most certainly tuning into ABC's Saturday Mornings. I normally would never admit this but i think this is important for people to know, so they don't think I am just an ass making fun of a kids show. I think that this guy follows a chain of people who all believe that past celebrities have spoken to them through messages on TV, the most famous being John Lennon vs Mark David Chapman. I was so intrigued by that story, I always wished that I could see what he saw. Now we have our new age Mark David Chapman in this stalker and I wish nothing more to ask him how? How does anything in Hannah Montana speak out to you?
The writing might be something he felt spoke out to him, that's great but Miley Cyrus doesn't write the show, so that wouldn't be her doing and would be the writers.
The way she does things in the show, that would be due to instructions by the director, again not Miley Cyrus.
The objects in the room, well that would be the set designer and again not Miley Cyrus.
I find it absolutely ridiculous that people can say with a straight face they are being talk to through songs or shows, it absurd, thinking that a fish being thrown at Miley Cyrus indicates that she wants you to follow her to the coast line, so that you can jump her would be making a pretty big stretch. This begs the question, why is this guy allowed to walk around? Shouldn't there be some type of therapy or something set up and not just a restraining order. I mean you can say it's a restraining order but frankly I am not convinced, I think that is putting a bandage on a leak. I truly hope that something stronger than a restraining order is in the works.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Pranksters

Yesterday I was reading around and surfing the web when I found an article about a group of online prankster that originated in my hometown of Windsor, Ontario. They ran a website that would feature people's prank calls, which sounds remotely harmless. Sadly prank calls are not what they used to be. I can remember when growing up it was always fun to make the odd call to a buddy pretending to be someone else, or calling the random funny last name in the phonebook and just laughing. I never said I was the most mature kid. Now, it appears that these people would call up random businesses or people in hotels and pretend to be some type of government body or security team. The two instances that were discussed were when they called a hotel room and told the occupant that there was a gas leak and he had to smash his window to allow it to go out and that he should bust his television to ensure no sparks cause a fire. I would like to think that I would realize smashing my window would bring in more oxygen which could fuel the fire more, and that smashing my television could inevitably create sparks during that process, but given the circumstances who knows? I am pretty sure if someone frantically scares me enough in the heat of the moment I would probably crack under the pressure. The other event was a caller called a KFC and convinced two female works that they must pull the chemical shower, and then informed them it could be toxic so they should go outside and remove all clothing. Ridiculous as it may sound, it's a bit worse knowing that it was winter outside. The question now is how is one to charge these guys? They didn’t do it they just ran the website. I feel as if some form of justice should be served especially for the victims, but how would you justify it. Sadly no charges have been made yet, all we can do is stay informed so that when we get such calls we are smart enough to see through it.

On a completely different note John Hughes directed some of my favourite movies, from The Breakfast Club to Ferris Bueller, hell even Home Alone the man really owned my childhood. It is with great sadness i must say Rest in Peace and thanks for the memories. You will be remembered as one of the best comedic directors from the 80's.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Canadian Candy Conspiracy

I am one of those people who when he notices something change it drives you nuts. I grew up being a fan of candy, most people were, but I actually had favourite companies. You named a candy and I could name the maker. I used to have 2 favourite companies, and it's safe to say they are two most people like, Wonka and Allan's confectionery. There were times where my friend and I would sit around and debate which of those two are better. Wonka had Nerds and Allan's had Fuzzy Peaches. This debate was never settled, it was just too difficult although if you ask me now-a-days, the answer is the same, they both are just too damn good. a couple of years ago probably 2007 I noticed something about Fuzzy Peaches, Sour Patch Kids and Sour Cherry Blasters, not only did they have new packaging but the bunny like Allan's logo was no more, now it was Maynard's. This bugged me, it made me wonder would the gummy now be more of a Wine Gum and less of the Fuzzy Peach? To my satisfaction the candy tasted more or less the same. I just assumed that Maynard's bought Allan and that was that. Recently on Canada Day I was in a convenience store where I noticed something cause my head to turn, Allan was back, but with their less popular but equally awesome candies. A new line of Allan was now available in new packaging offering "Watermelon slices", "Big Foot" and "Peach Slices". I was left wondering what this meant? Did they re-open? What happened to Maynard's and is the factory in Mississauga still open? As far as I can figure The Allan Company has fully separated from Cadbury and is now trying to re-establish it's name. This will be a bit of an uphill climb seeing as it lost the names of it's popular products, so I really think I will take charge and advise you all to follow suite. DO NOT BUY Fuzzy Peaches, Sour Patch Kids or Cherry Blasters instead purchase the Allan's Peach Slices, Cherry Slices and Sour Fruit Slices. That way we could help the rebirth of one of Canada's greatest candy company, and most importantly support the true creators of Fuzzy Peaches!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

For You, Mr Wu.

I used to blog, I used to blog a lot. I used Myspace as a journal, then tragedy struck and I lost interest in letting people know how I was feeling. When times are rough the last thing you want is people to know, I created this blog at first to be about things I like music, movies and clothes...primarily shoes. That didn't go according to plan, it really became a platform for reviewing albums and giving my advice on music. That was a lot of fun, but time consuming I no longer had the luxury to sit around and listen to a new album EVERYDAY...it was just not feasible. I then decided to put up videos I found and liked, that was fun, yet it really was just a cop out, it was too easy. Now I sit here about to relaunch the site, why????....simple for my friend Jiash Wu to have something to read at work. So this my first post, I will try hard to update every day but for the most part, I look forward to just typing, I love nothing more than writing. I live in Egypt most of the year and I find that if I don't practice enough my typing and grammar becomes weaker. I would hate to lose my grip on the english language and all its plentiful rules!

Last night was one of those nights you have a feeling is gonna be a good night. Mike and I just got back in town from a great weekend at Osheaga and spirits were at an all time high. We made our way to meet with Nate and Starbucks and head over to Bond's. Bond's house was a lovely little place that got hot pretty quick but got even more out of hand at the same time. Playing games, doing chin ups, playing his guitar, Mike creating abstract art by putting a garbage can in the Oven? And last but not least the mosaic of objected hurled onto his bed for no reason. It was just a night of pure fun. I must admit the night was turned a bit serious when Victoria was cut above the eye, but thanks to awesome initiative she was taken care of by friends (I believe the name is Frasier, didn't catch the other girls and Mike). The rest of the night was just filled of Rock Band and pool thanks to the QP. That said it just shows how nice being in a new place can be when the people are this nice.
I hope this blog keeps people entertained, thanks for reading!
Rams