The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: Music

  • Pop-Star Weeknd is Here to Stay

    Pop-Star Weeknd is Here to Stay

    The Weeknd’s fourth album, “After Hours,” has arrived

    The R&B villain, better known as The Weeknd, has returned with his fourth studio album, “After Hours.” In this album, The Weeknd revisits the same themes of drugs, lust and heartbreak found in previous releases, but this time, with a different approach. In the past, his music has come off generally unapologetic, but “After Hours” brings a mix of emotions on his lifestyle.

    After nearly a decade of partying and coming onto the scene in 2011, The Weeknd reveals on track eight, “Faith,” that he’s spent the last year sober. Still battling the urge to return to the fast life, The Weeknd comes to terms with the choices he’s made in “After Hours” and the mental war he’s fighting to avoid making those same mistakes.

    Coming into this project, The Weeknd set the tone by dropping two pop singles at the end of November, claiming the top position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his lead single, “Heartless.” His follow up, “Blinding Lights,” is currently peaking at number two on the Hot 100 chart in the wake of the album release. He followed up in the second half of February with the title track, “After Hours,” as an unofficial single. The song is slow to build, but is equal parts patience and pop, making it clear that the pop-star style is here to stay.

    “I will always prefer his earlier stuff. It’s just a sound you couldn’t have found anywhere else at the time.”

    Alexa Noperi, HSU film major

    Alexa Noperi is a film major at Humboldt State University, and she hasn’t been happy with The Weeknd’s direction since he dropped “Starboy.”

    “I will always prefer his earlier stuff,” Noperi said. “It’s just a sound you couldn’t have found anywhere else at the time.”

    The Weeknd’s gradual transition to pop music has left some of his day-one fans behind in the darkness of his mixtapes. Made official by his 2016 album “Starboy,” the style shift can be attributed to the success of his biggest single, “Can’t Feel My Face,” along with other pop efforts on “Beauty Behind the Madness,” including “Earned It” and “Angel.”

    When he released his first EP, “My Dear Melancholy,” in 2018, the day-one fans that were left behind were delighted by the return of a dark Weeknd. With his latest release, The Weeknd is likely to disappoint hardcore fans again, as he mostly leaves behind the dark, moody atmosphere of his earlier music to make room for the pop sound that generated so much success with “Starboy.”

    “After Hours” is a rollercoaster of indecisiveness. The Weeknd’s desires constantly clash with one another on his quest for true happiness.

    The album begins with chilly instrumentals that build into their own pop section. The Weeknd flaunts his typical unremorseful attitude, claiming, “It’s too late to save our souls,” on the song “Too Late.”

    “After Hours” is the most consistently solid project The Weeknd has dropped so far.

    Track four, “Scared To Live,” marks the first shift in his approach. He begins to express remorse for his actions, as well as an authentic desire to leave the fast life behind on the stand-out track “Snowchild,” reinforced on the next song, “Escape From LA.”

    Unfortunately, The Weeknd relapses, back to the fast life on his song, “Heartless.” This marks the beginning of the pop-star section that dominated the sound of “Starboy,” this time, with a heavy ’80s electro-dance influence.

    “After Hours” then enters its final section, returning to the slower, chilly instrumentals that opened the album on the “Repeat After Me” interlude. The Weeknd concludes his fourth album, echoing a desire to leave the fast life behind and asking for one last chance at a normal life.

    Though it may be missing the unique, dark sound of The Weeknd’s early music, found on songs like “D.D.” and “The Hills,” as well as the beauty and optimism found on “True Colors” and “I Feel It Coming” from “Starboy,” “After Hours” is the most consistently solid project The Weeknd has dropped so far.

    “It’s not bad background music to try on jeans to. But I don’t think I will be playing it again.”

    Isabelle Eddisford, HSU political science and dance major

    This album marks a growth in his discipline, but also in experimentation. Following the massive success of “Starboy” and the widely-positive reception of “My Dear Melancholy,” the less-than-spectacular “After Hours” might just leave all of his fans a little disappointed.

    Isabelle Eddisford, an HSU student studying political science and dance, felt disappointed that the new songs sounded the same. She described the album as something that would be playing in an Abercrombie and Fitch store.

    “It’s not bad background music to try on jeans to,” Eddisford said. “But I don’t think I will be playing it again.”

    With predicted first-week sales of 400,000 units for “After Hours,” The Weeknd’s continued success in the pop genre may mean the death of his dark times.

  • Polish Professor Melds Magic and Music

    Polish Professor Melds Magic and Music

    A dream of illusions and piano prowess with Igor Lapinski

    I know a little about magic. And by the end of Polish pianist and magician Igor Lapinski’s Feb. 22 show, I knew I had witnessed something good.

    “Your free will,” Lapinski said in an almost-cliché line that sounded much more convincing with his Polish accent and navy suit, “is just an illusion. A dream.”

    He then pulled a signed dollar bill out of an unopened kiwi.

    Lapinski interlaced illusions with piano pieces by Frédéric François Chopin, the Polish composer. Lapinski, originally from Poland, teaches as an assistant music professor at the University of Oklahoma.

    “He’s going to do something I think we haven’t seen in Humboldt,” music Professor Daniela Mineva and former teacher of Lapinski said before he took the stage. “I’ve been waiting 18 years to bring him here.”

    Hands, he said, are capable of both the sublime and the violent.

    The crowd of mostly older locals sat in a semicircle on the Fulkerson Recital Hall stage around Lapinski and his piano. Rather than have the crowd sit in the hall seats, Lapinski had chairs arranged around him for an intimate experience.

    Lapinski fluctuated between musical pieces of chaos and pieces of order. He rapped on “a haunting desire to belong.” In a three card monte-style routine with red solo cups and a single metal spike, he noted the opposing potentials within people.

    Hands, he said, are capable of both the sublime and the violent.

    He then shrugged off the thought and smashed his and an audience member’s hands down onto the cups in a game of Russian roulette.

    Multiple effects relied on the appearance and disappearance of letters—mostly written by Lapinski, with one supposedly written by his mother. The letters framed the performance in the idea of belonging, as Lapinski brought the audience along on an imaginary plane ride and read letters from home.

    I have to confess, because I know a bit about magic, I’m not a good judge of it. I spent about two of my teenage years learning magic tricks. I know the basics, and I can recognize standard sleight-of-hand moves.

    I’m no longer what magicians call a layperson. Even when I don’t know exactly how a trick is performed, it’s conceivable. It’s rare for me to see something inexplicable. But it does happen.

    • Piano-playing magician Igor Lapinski performing his routine in the Fulkerson Recital Hall at Humboldt State University Feb. 22. Lapinski combined sporadic piano playing with audience-involved illusions. | Photo by James Wilde

    Any attendee of Lapinski’s show can expect to exit with a smile on their face, or at least, a warm feeling in their mind. I can deduce how Lapinski performed his effects—but several of them I can only grasp loosely. For a layperson, his performance may be miraculous, not just puzzling.

    Magicians ultimately seek to produce miracles. The central argument of “Designing Miracles,” a well-regarded book by magician Darwin Ortiz, is that a magician should seek to produce an effect that doesn’t make the audience ask, “How do they do it?” Instead, the goal is, “How is that possible?”

    It’s slight, but this marks the difference between a trick and a miracle. A trick is a matter of deception that can be explained by a magician’s actions. A miracle is just that: pure magic that a magician merely facilitated. In the ideal, the performance transcends trickery and becomes magic.

    In the moments after Lapinski’s show, the audience agreed on his excellence.

    “He’s totally amazing,” a woman behind me said.

    “He’s a delight,” Mineva, the professor, said.

    “He’s hilarious,” a man beside me said. “He’s great.”

    At the very least, you can escape into a dream for just over 60 minutes. Lapinski finished with one last letter and one last piece by Chopin.

    “And so with this piece,” he said, “I wish you all a good night.”

    The night, indeed, was good.

  • Feelin’ the Funk at International Education Week

    Feelin’ the Funk at International Education Week

    Breaking down the power and importance of global funk music

    A few minutes into his talk on global funk music, local DJ and Humboldt State University Communication Department Chair Maxwell Schnurer stumbled into a definition of funk.

    “If you want my definition of funk, that might be it: revolutionary praxis with a desire to get down,” he said.

    Schnurer’s talk on Feb. 10 flowed quickly. His enthusiasm for the tracks he played trickled into the audience of about 20 students, who nodded and laughed along. But Schnurer later gave a more serious definition.

    “I find global funk to be ethical, significant and real,” he said.

    Alison Holmes, associate professor and the lead of the international studies program at HSU, facilitated the event. Holmes eagerly offered context to the presentation as part of HSU’s 20th Annual International Education Week. Schnurer’s talk was just one of 45 scheduled hours of material that over 1,000 students and staff were expected to attend.

    “It’s a showcase for all the global things we do in the community,” Holmes said.

    “I think that funk has a certain feeling. It makes you move and it makes you dance and it makes you feel all of these different things, but if you actually listen to it, the things that are being said are of importance.”

    Skye Freitas, communication major and film minor

    Near the end of Schnurer’s talk, he gave the audience a take-home message. Most music artists, he said, have been historically ripped off—especially artists of color. He urged students to pay artists for their work.

    “Does that make sense? That ethically, as we move forward, we try to be aware of the politics of power,” Schnurer said. “And that often times means that we are going to have to pay up for information.”

    After the presentation, Skye Freitas, a communication major and film minor, said she loved Schnurer’s presentation—Schnurer is her adviser—and gave a surprisingly passionate explanation of the importance of music.

    “I think that funk has a certain feeling,” Freitas said. “It makes you move and it makes you dance and it makes you feel all of these different things, but if you actually listen to it, the things that are being said are of importance.”

    Schnurer skipped across the globe with audio clips to give the audience a taste of different funk styles. The first stop: Nigeria and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti’s song, “Pansa Pansa.”

    “He hexes and challenges the Nigerian government at this level while being—literally at various points—a revolutionary and also a candidate for president of Nigeria,” Schnurer said.

    “Honestly, this could be like an hour-long, three-unit course.”

    Maxwell Schnurer, local DJ and communication department chair

    The next stop on the funky foray was Brazil and the music of Tim Maia. In describing the Brazilian funk scene, Schnurer explained the underground spiritual game—or the use of funk music by artists to express their spiritual selves.

    Schnurer called Maia’s album perhaps the greatest Brazilian funk album ever, but only after noting its joint inspirations of a heavy dose of LSD and a cult pamphlet.

    “You know, those things I would maybe not be inspired by or take away from the Tim Maia story,” he said.

    Schnurer flew the room to Japan to meet Haruko Kuwana, and then to India with a soundtrack from a compilation album, Pysch Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Schnurer said many funk tracks remain hidden as instrumental movie soundtracks. He finished with a short profile video on El Rego, a funk artist from Benin in West Africa.

    Schnurer paused midway through the talk.

    “Honestly, this could be like an hour-long, three-unit course,” he said. “If I were to criticize my own lecture I would say that there is something kind of disrespectful about name-dropping dozens of interesting global musicians without giving them all musical space.”

    Rachael Thacker, another communication major, hadn’t taken any classes with Schnurer, but admitted she would attend just about anything he does for his interesting takes. Thacker knew little about funk.

    “Just my first impression was that you can groove to it, you can dance to it and you can relax to it,” she said.

    Thacker planned to ask Amazon’s Alexa to play some funk later.

    A hand sprang up when the talk ended.

    “Will you teach a class on this?” a student asked.

    The group chuckled and Schnurer hemmed and hawed. He wasn’t sure.

    While he pondered making a class out of the talk, Schnurer left the audience with an appropriately funky anecdote.

    “Let me encourage that maybe it’s time to buy the like Thai funk box set for your brother for Christmas from Mike in the attic,” he said.

  • Musician Feature: Ultramafic

    Musician Feature: Ultramafic

    HSU graduates form stoner metal band with a new ‘garage prog’ sound

    Tom Norman, Kaito Figeira and Russell Stroud make up the three piece instrumental rock band, Ultramafic. The inspiration for the name, which refers to a heavy igneous rock found in Earth’s mantle, stemmed from Norman and Figeira’s majors of art and geology.

    “We both graduated and we were like, let’s make an artsy-geological rock band,” Norman said. “Do something with our degrees a little bit.”

    In 2015, Norman and Figeira started the band. Norman plays the guitar, Figeira’s on the drums and Stroud plays the electric bass. Figeira and Norman have been in a relationship for eight years and share a home in Arcata that doubles as a space for band practice.

    Ultramafic performing a private song in their eclectic basement which doubles as jam room on Oct. 19. | Photo by Jerame Saunders

    After recording a small demo for fun, Norman and Figeira showed some friends. Under the impression the demo was from a band, they were asked to perform at a show in three weeks. Norman and Figeria agreed, but lacked a bass player. Russell Stroud was the man for the job.

    “Three weeks and a few blood blisters later we got our first gig,” Stroud said.

    Ever since, the band has acted as a cohesive unit. Producing music they call “garage prog,” it fits into the stoner and metal music categories. The added garage aspect represents their distorted, psychedelic sound accompanied by heavy, slow blues rhythms. The progressive nature of their rock is influenced by 70s and 80s progressive rock musicians such as Frank Zappa, Rush and Yes!

    “Most of our songs are five or six small songs crammed together, but there’s a flow through it and some themes,” Norman said. “We have kind of a lot of Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath comparisons.”

    Initially, the band struggled to find the right shows to play with artists that share similar music styles. But their success began in 2015; when the band found Humboldt they felt at home, becoming an immediate influence on Humboldt’s musical community.

    “We are small, but bands you would never expect to come through town, come here and play,” Figeira said. “It’s a really cool scene and it brings a lot of interesting people to this area.”

    Connections in the musical scene secured Ultramafic a six show tour across three states: Montana, Oregon and Washington.

    “Music is life man,” Stroud said. “I can’t live without music in my life. It needs to be there everyday and playing it is even better. Getting to be apart of the collective that is creating music and getting to be one of the people that not only has put in time to play, but is decent at it too.”

    The band released their newest album ‘Pyroclastic Flow’ on Oct. 31 and performed at the Siren’s Song on Nov. 2 with WitchRipper and Thundercloud.

  • Musician Feature: Alex Rumbel

    Musician Feature: Alex Rumbel

    Multi-instrumentalist learns to play 10 instruments in 19 years

    Science can often disprove the idea of innate abilities found in humans at birth, but a discussion with Humboldt State botany major and multi-instrumentalist, Alex Rumbel, argues against this theory.

    Rumbel’s capacity for understanding instruments has brought her to play over 10 instruments during the span of her 19 years of life and be a vital part of countless bands including Loud Neighbors Brass Band, the World-Famous Crab Grass Band, Laser Bear and Humboldt’s own Marching Lumberjacks.

    Rumbel’s first memories of music date back to when she was five years old.

    Alex Rumbel plays the trumpet after a show with her band, The Loud Neighbors Brass Band, on Sept. 7 at Outer Space Arcata. | Photo by Jerame Saunders

    “My mom has always been a vocalist, and when I was a young kid, she performed in an a cappella group that sang at renaissance fairs,” Rumbel said. “I’d say the introduction to the rowdy bunch of people that come with a renaissance fair was good for preparing me to go to Humboldt State.”

    Rumbel’s early musical ambitions sprouted from vocals but moved to guitar when she began studying music outside of school. With the extra finger dexterity from playing at such a young age, moving to a stand-up bass in middle school was a logical first step in learning to play multiple instruments.

    “Instead of continuing in strings which could have been dead-end at some point,” Rumbel said. “I decided that I wanted to be a multi-instrumentalist.

    “Humboldt County is a DIY thing, and that’s one of the things I love about being a musician here; I feel like there is less pressure to be something you’re not.”

    Alex Rumbel

    Trombone was the first brass instrument she picked up before she moved up to bass drums for the high school marching band. Rumbel’s high school music career was a flurry of new instruments and new bands. She played electric guitar, electric bass and drums for small rock bands. She also played in the drumline for a marching band, electric guitar for the advanced jazz band, percussion for a band performing in concert and advanced wind ensemble. Then, just for fun, she learned the viola for orchestra.

    Rumbel broke her foot during her senior year of high school, which pushed her into social isolation. Because of this Rumbel started college with the mentality of not wanting to be a part of the social aspect of music creation.

    “When I came up here, I brought my guitar just to play by myself and I brought my drum pad and my sticks,” Rumbel said. “But I didn’t intend to play in any bands.”

    HSU student Alex Rumbel poses with her trumpet after a show with her band, The Loud Neighbors Brass Band, on Sept. 7 at Outer Space Arcata. | Photo by Jerame Saunders

    After living in the dorms for a short amount of time, Rumbel found herself in the middle of the Marching Lumberjack’s “dorm storming” where they play around campus to recruit new musicians. She came down from her dorm and quickly found herself dragged back into band performance, learning yet another new instrument.

    “I started playing trumpet,” Rumbel said. “That was the best decision I made after deciding to come to Humboldt State. When I first started playing the trumpet, it wasn’t as expressive, and it wasn’t as in tune with how I felt, but then it started becoming perfectly in tune with how I felt.”

    It wasn’t long before Rumbel found herself ingrained in the local music scene, mainly playing trumpet for local bands. Recently, she found time to start playing bass for the Laser Bears. The local music scene is described by her as a very tight-knit group of musicians willing to collaborate, great venues with open doors to small bands, and a Do-It-Yourself/Psychedelic thread that defines Humboldt.

    “Music has been my lifeline to everything else of meaning that I can imagine.”

    Alex Rumbel

    “Humboldt County is a D.I.Y. thing,” Rumbel said. “That’s one of the things I love about being a musician here; I feel like there is less pressure to be something you’re not.”

    Rumbel’s musical journey shows how something physical like an instrument can have an undefinable effect on the musician playing it. Music has the affect of rippling through the audience as it leaves a piece of each artist in the minds of each listener, and that is one of Rumbel’s greatest connections with the art.

    “Music has been my lifeline to everything else of meaning that I can imagine,” Rumbel said. “It has been my social connection for many years being in so many bands and interacting with so many people, but it’s also introspective in the same way, and I feel like, and I know it sounds cliché, I feel like I can actually express myself with music.”

  • What Are You Listening To?

    What Are You Listening To?

    “I’ve been all about the throwbacks right now, and it slaps.”

    If you’re interested, check out the Spotify playlist of students’ current favorites so you can see what the buzz is about:

  • Hot Girl Summer is a State of Mind

    Hot Girl Summer is a State of Mind

    Seasons may change, but your confidence levels don’t have to

    Rapper Megan Thee Stallion dropped her album “Fever” back in May and it instantly went viral, marking 2019 as the year of the ‘Hot Girl Summer’.

    One of her songs, “Cash Shit,” begins with the opening lyrics, “Real hot girl shit.” This along with the album cover, which reads “She’s Thee Hot Girl and She’s Bringing Thee Heat,” sparked the catchy phrase “Hot Girl Summer” among her fans. The phrase soon went viral, trending on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram.

    What is Hot Girl Summer? Well, according to Megan Thee Stallion in an interview with The Root, “It’s just basically about women — and men — just being unapologetically them, just having a good-ass time, hyping up your friends, doing you, not giving a damn about what nobody got to say about it. You definitely have to be a person that can be the life of the party, and, y’know, just a bad bitch.”

    #HotGirlSummer started as attractive women posting photos on Instagram, but became a mental state of being or feeling to share online. Women, men and non-binary folks started using the hashtag to describe their fun summer moments with family, friends or by themselves.

    The internet took the phrase and turned it into a meme. Ironically people would use the hashtag to share not-so-great moments of summer, like staying indoors for days without seeing another living soul.

    Ultimately, the 2019 summer phrase is sage advice that should be lived by. Megan Thee Stallion, the OG hot girl, is someone to aspire to be.

    The hot girl knows she’s hot because she’s confident in who she is and knows how to enjoy herself without worrying about what others around her think. Anyone, be it man, woman or non-binary folks should embody the tenets of a hot girl.

    Whether it’s bravery, confidence, fun or just living in the moment, the phrase encourages us to enjoy times like taking naps, planning protests, laying by the beach, cuddling with your significant other or even hooking up with that one cutie from the bar last night.

    Any moment, any outfit, any body can be a part of a hot girl summer, as long as you have the mindset to go along with it.

    So be the hottie that Megan Thee Stallion knows you are and don’t forget to share the attitude, because it’s meant for everybody.

  • The man behind the music

    The man behind the music

    Football and classical romantic music, an unlikely pair of passions

    Born into a family of musical influence, Job René, grew up touring the country with his dad’s reggae band, Phase 2. Continuing the family’s musical legacy, René plays both the piano, and cello skillfully as well as pursuing a music major at HSU.

    “Music has been a part of me since childhood,” René said. “I started piano when I was six or seven and my dad’s a musician. He kind of said you’re playing music, I don’t care what you say, you’re playing.”

    René continued playing the piano up until high school, deciding a break was best for himself.

    “That’s when I said, I’m done with the piano for now,” René said. “I want to play sports, I want to do high school things.”

    After quitting music, René played basketball and a year of football. With a lack of funding, the football program closed and René was pulled back into the world of music, where he decided this time he would learn a new instrument.

    “I always wanted to continue to play music, that never went away,” René said. “What jump started it was in high school, around 10th grade I started playing the cello. A music program came to the school and I thought, I have to get back on this, this is a calling. I told myself I’m doing this and I’m learning a new instrument.”

    Even though René went back to music and started learning a new instrument, he felt discouraged to pursue music as a major.

    “There’s no money in music, I was set on broadening my horizons,” René said. “I did settle for a minor in piano because I knew I had to do something with music.”

    René explored departments and opportunities outside of music to see what else he was interested in.

    “I was undeclared for a good two and a half years,” René said. “At the end of that semester I changed my major to music and started that spring.”

    René decided to embrace the musical aspect of his life and pursue it as a career.

    “I am very happy with my music major,” René said. “I mainly play classical music, it’s what I was brought up on since I was seven. It’s really what I lean towards and I actually like it!”

    René takes pride in his passion for romantic classical music, having dealt with judgements and push back over his preferred music choice in the past.

    [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Job René” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]“My mom is my biggest supporter. She was really proud I was learning piano… It was the fact that she could see a future in it.”[/perfectpullquote]

    “Me being a black person, I get it all the time,” René said. “Like, bruh, why are you listening to classical music? “I connect with it, it was destined for me to like [classical music].”

    Regardless of the judgement, René continues. He said his biggest supporter keeps him motivated.

    “My mom is my biggest supporter,” René said. “She was really proud I was learning piano. I was doing something that a lot of other kids weren’t really doing. It was the fact that she could see a future in it.”

    Mae René, lives 13 hours south of her son in Los Angeles, but still takes time off work and drives to see every recital.

    “I try to be a supportive parent in the audience,” Mae René said. “To me, it’s not a 13 hour drive, it’s me seeing my child.”

    Mae René has trusted her son’s music abilities since a young age and saw a future for him in it early.

    “He picked up music right away,” Mae René said. “To be honest, I wanted him to be a music major from the beginning but I allowed him to step out, and now he knows, mom knows best!”

    Mae René isn’t the only supporter in the audience, fellow Brothers United members also strive to support René.

    IMG_0476.jpg
    Brandin Thomas (left) and Ronald Taylor (right) stand in front of Brothers United table in the HSU quad. | Photo by Grace Caswell

    Ronald Taylor, a third year kinesiology major, and fellow member of BU, described his first experience watching René perform.

    “I went to one recital at the end of last year,” Taylor said. “It was really nice, he did well, no mess ups.”

    Bradin Thomas, a fourth year kinesiology major and member of BU, is a fan of René’s romantic classical music interest.

    “It’s nice,” Thomas said. “I like his music, it soothes you.”

    With support from friends and family, René embraces his musical interest more seriously, and is considering sharing his interest with young kids.

    [perfectpullquote align=”left” bordertop=”false” cite=”Job René” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”19″]”If I have to stop music, it’d be like taking a piece of my soul.”[/perfectpullquote]

    “Right now, I’m taking a pedagogy class that teaches you how to start your own business,” René said. “Like how to start your piano studio and teach students how to play piano.”

    Wanting to share his musical interest, René emphasizes the impact music has had on his life.

    “If I have to stop music, it’d be like taking a piece of my soul,” René said.

  • Deven’s top seven pump up songs

    Deven’s top seven pump up songs

    Seven songs that’ll electrify your soul

    Whether you are about to go out for the night, practicing for the big game, or getting ready to ask that person out, we all have our songs that pump us up and get our blood flowing in anticipation. Here are my top 7 pump up songs:

    1. “Eye of the Tiger” – Survivor
    We start with the quintessential pump up song from Rocky III. You will always feel epic when listening to this song. Channel your inner Sylvester Stallone and take on the day!

    2. “Get on the Floor” – Michael Jackson
    Michael Jackson has a lot of pump up songs, but this one doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It’s groovy, it’s funky, and it always gets me out of my seat and onto my feet.

    3. “Learn How to Watch” – Carnage, Mac Miller, and MadeinTYO

    Whenever this song plays, I immediately feel like I am walking into a wrestling ring as someone is taking off my robe and yelling in my ear to pump me up. Nobody can mess with you when you’re playing this song

    4. “Glowed Up” – KAYTRANADA and Anderson Paak

    This is a song for when your just simply feeling yourself. You look good today and you know it. You’ve come a long way and you are killing it. Also KAYTRANADA’s house-esque hip hop beats blend amazingly with Anderson. Paak’s raspy but soothing voice.

    5. “Sabotage” – The Beastie Boys

    The Beastie Boys also have a wide catalog of pump up songs, but this one stands out the most to me. With the multiple breakdowns and build ups, chunky guitar chords and a record scratching solo, this song was destined to be one of the best pump up songs.

    6. “Good Vibrations” – Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch

    The song and video are incredibly cheesy, but every time it comes on it always lifts my mood. Part of it might be how it’s so fun to watch a young Mark Wahlberg rapping and dancing around. And to top it off, everyone who knows the song always sings along to chorus.

    7. “Final Countdown” – Europe

    Just in time for finals, this is one of the most important pump up songs in history. You could add this song to the background of anything and it immediately becomes more impressive. The opening riff that is sustained throughout a lot of the songs is one of the most instantly recognizable riffs of all time. And just like with Good Vibrations, your going to get everyone in the room singing “It’s the final countdown!”

     

  • The morals of Morla

    The morals of Morla

    Independent labeled alternative rock bands from Spain usually do not garner the attention in the U.S that say a band from California or New York tend to. Even the explanation of the band strikes as a hipster retweet but Vetusta Morla is nothing but an exception to this rule.

    Vetusta Morla has been nominated for three Latin Grammy awards this year for their recent album entitled “Mismo Sitio, Distinto Lugar.” These nominations include Mejor Album de Música Alternativa (best alternative music album), Mejor Canción Alternativa – ‘Consejo de Sabios’ (best alternative song) and Mejor Diseño de Empaque (best packaging design or best album cover art).

    Álvaro B. Baglietto has been the longtime bassist for Vetusta Morla and has seen both the highs and lows of working on an independent label.

    “We have always done what we want to do,” Baglietto said. “And we have never had to really have pressure put on us by some record [executive].”

    Baglietto and his bandmates, guitarist Juan Pedro “Pucho” Martin, drummer David Garcia, percussionist Jorge Gonzalez, guitarist Guillermo Galvan and keyboardist Juan Manuel Latorre have known each other since they were young. They grew up in the Tres Cantos neighborhood of Madrid, Spain, and formed the band in 1998.

    “We love Madrid; it’s our city, it’s our base,” Baglietto said. “And hey, maybe will move to Miami, who knows, but we love Madrid, we love the way of life here.”

    Baglietto and his bandmates said music is sacred, and since their creation, Vetusta Morla has been adamant about being independent from any record labels, media companies and celebrity management. Although this has made them into one of the most famous and acclaimed independent artists in Spain, Baglietto and the band don’t really think about themselves in the spotlight.

    “We don’t think about those things that much, we don’t even really talk about it,” Baglietto said. “In the beginning, we just wanted to do music in a honest way and the best that we could.”

    Vetusta Morla’s musical genre is generalized as alternative rock but Baglietto said that the likes and interest of the band and himself vary greatly.

    “The music that I listen to changes all the time,” Baglietto said. “I used to love rock, reggae, jazz, blues.”

    Baglietto says that the evolution of his musical tastes have led him to genres that he has never really listened to before and artists he never previously would have known.

    “Nowadays, I am listening to a lot of rap or hip-hop and it didn’t happen before,” Baglietto said. “I like Kendrick Lamar and Eminem.”

    With 20 plus years of experience under their belt, the band had a lot of time to work on different projects and album concepts. This includes everything from writing and producing the music for a video game entitled “The Rivers of Alice” all the way to writing and producing an album for an AIDs awareness program.

    “For me music is like poetry with a soundtrack and it’s so important,” Baglietto said. “We have to make people think and make people feel and not say something that others have said before.”

     

  • Thriller flashmob takes to the streets

    Thriller flashmob takes to the streets

    Downtown Arcata celebrates Halloween in style

  • Cheap beer, cheap pizza, and free tunes

    Cheap beer, cheap pizza, and free tunes

    Student shredders take first flight at Jam’s Pint Night

    Icarus & Suns, a three piece band featuring Miles Oliart on drums, Nick Redfern on bass and Rahkiv “Rah” Lewis on guitar, played their first show at the Jam in Arcata last night.

    “We’re progressing and going somewhere now,” Oliart said. “I’m super stoked about the situation.”

    The group takes influence from a number of genres; citing musicians like Jaco Pastorius, Jimi Hendrix and Django Reinhardt as some of their favorite artists.

    “I honestly get my rhythm from Gabriela Quintero,” Lewis said. “She came to campus this semester, but I missed it and was bummed!”

    The Jam has been holding shows in Arcata for more than 30 years, claiming that the Foo Fighters played their first show at the bar on Feb. 23, 1995.

    The Foo Fighters actually played their first show days before on Feb. 19, 1995 in Seattle, Washington, but you can see how the legend would help shape the Jam’s persona for eager young musicians like Icarus & Suns.

    SB.IMG_8288
    Rahkiv Lewis and Miles Oliart, of Icarus & Suns, rock The Jam’s stage during their last Thursday Pint Night show at The Jam in Arcata on Oct. 11. | Photo by Sean Bendon

    Icarus & Suns has only been practicing for a month or so, but the trio already seems to have found their rhythm, playing nearly 40 minutes of downtempo Latin-influenced songs to a packed house on Thursday night.

    “We have three hours [of songs] or something ridiculous like that,” Redfern said.

    Although the band was limited to a 30 minute set, it didn’t take long for the crowd to get in groove with them.

    “Cheap beer, cheap pizza, and free tunes,” said crowd member Connor West. “People are out here having a good time.”

    The name for Icarus & Suns comes from the myth of Icarus and Daedalus attempting to escape Minos maze in Greece with wings made of wax and feathers. Icarus gets carried away with his ability to fly and goes too close to the sun, melting away his wings and sending him to his death below.

    “I wanted to remind myself not to fly too close to the sun,” Redfern said. “Hopefully we don’t melt away.”

  • Records rule again

    Records rule again

    The tables have turned in favor of vinyl records. While CDs and cassettes reigned king in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the rise of digital downloads and online streaming services in the 2000s that inexplicably aided in the resurgence of records. Today, records are outselling digital downloads for the first time since 2011.

    “Vinyl sales were up 10 percent to $395 million — a ‘bright spot among physical formats,’ the [Recording Industry Association of America] noted [in a 2017 year-end revenue report],” Derek Hawkins of The Washington Post said. “The outlook for digital downloads is bleak. This is the third year in a row they’ve posted double-digit declines, according to the RIAA.”

    As Apple commercialized MP3 downloads in the early 2000s, CD sales began to drop. Though cassettes are making a comeback in some areas now, thanks to record labels like Burger Records, they lost their popularity more significantly by that time as well.

    Making our way into the 2010s, millennials caught on to the joys of listening to records as download and streaming services continued to revitalize the music industry. In fact, a great deal of new records these days include free download cards — a good incentive to get the best of both worlds, that is, a tangible medium and a digital download of an album.

    Record Store Day is a global event that has happened every April since 2008. Independent record shops from all over the world participate by selling limited edition records made exclusively for Record Store Day.

    “This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities,” the Record Store Day website wrote.

    While it’s slim pickings in Humboldt County, People’s Records in Arcata carries a wide selection of outstanding records year-round. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, People’s Records will offer this year’s exclusive Record Store Day selections, and they’ve made extra room for more records.

    “We will have many of the limited edition Record Store Day items, plus we have expanded and knocked down a couple walls in the store to accommodate 1,000 new records in our stacks,” People’s Records wrote on their Facebook page.

    People’s Records in Arcata. Photo by Matthew Hable.

    Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with digitalized music. The average human ear can’t detect the sample rates of professionally processed digital audio, nor can they make out the subtle differences in sound of analog waves, aside from the record’s “warmth” people commonly claim to hear in contrast to MP3s or WAV format.

    However, what sets records apart from other formats is their level of interactivity and the way they appeal to the senses. The process of taking a record out from its sleeve, placing it on a turntable, carefully dropping the needle on the record and even the smell of records makes it that more special.

  • Andrew Bird-Essence of place

    Andrew Bird-Essence of place

    By | Michelle N. Meyer

    Andrew Bird takes the audience on a journey to places far beyond the reach of the concert hall. For a night, we are here experiencing these places and their essence- in their entirety. In a dazzling and dynamic dance of sounds, film, moving topography, and light displays, Bird immerses his audience in a transcendental experience that is effortlessly nostalgic.

    Before the performance began, seats are quickly filled, and murmurs were promptly hushed. A deafening silence fell over the entire venue, no beat was to be missed. Only the sound of Andrew Bird’s footsteps were heard as Bird makes a hushed entrance onto the stage.

    Bird bent down to pick up his violin, then placed it carefully underneath the base of his chin. All the lights went black. For a moment, there was nothingness. Then the sooth, serendipitous sounds of a violin rang out.

    “I felt healthier as I was listening,” HSU student, Andrew Heise said.

    Bird began his performance with songs such as “Down Under The Hyperion Bridge” and “Gypsy Moth”, from his newest album, part of his Echolocations Solo Series- Echolocations: River, which released Oct. 6.

    Part of Bird’s Echolocations Solo Series are each recorded at an individual location and feature site specific pieces. These unique locations allow for sound quality that is not easily, or at all replaceable in a studio setting. In addition to the recordings, the works are also accompanied by film of that location.

    Bird recorded the eight track instrumental LP, Echolocations: River, while wading ankle deep in the Los Angeles River underneath the Glendale Hyperion Bridge.

    Echolocations: River:

    1 The Cormorants

    2 Ellipses

    3 Lazuli Bunting

    4 Gypsy Moth

    5 Black-Crowned Night-Heron

    6 Down Under the Hyperion Bridge

    7 Dear Killdear

    8 The Green Heron

    The second portion of the performance included songs from his first album in the Echolocations Solo Series, Echolocations: Canyon. Echolocations: Canyon is an instrumental album recorded inside Coyote Gulch in Utah.

    During the performance, film was shown of Bird as he meandered down the winding, hollow corridors of the canyon.

    Echolocations: Canyon:

    1 Sweep the Field

    2 Groping the Dark

    3 Rising Water

    4 Antrozous

    5 The Return of Yawny

    6 Before the Germans Came

    7 The Canyon Wants to Hear C Sharp

    The Illinois born, L.A. based film-score composer, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist, Andrew Bird, picked up his violin at the ripe age of four and promptly began immersing himself in classical composition. As a teen, Bird found an interest in early jazz, country blues, and gypsy music. Soon the sounds of his violin began to drift and morph into something unique to himself.

    “The Violin didn’t have to be in an orchestral setting,” Jett Hagerty, a fellow violinist and HSU student, said.

    While Birds main instrument is the violin, he also plays guitar, glockenspiel, and has supposedly refined the art of whistling.

    Before pursuing a solo career in ’97, Bird was also a member of the bands Squirrel Nut Zipper and Bowl Of Fire. Since perusing his solo career, Bird has released 12 albums.

    For the final portion of the performance, Bird was accompanied by bassist, Michael Lewis and drummer Abraham Rounds.

    Rounds is a multi-instrumentalist that hails from Sydney, Australia. He started playing drums when he was just one year old. Rounds, now 25 and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Currently, he is a member of his musical mentors Meshell Ndegeocello’s band. In addition, he has also recorded and toured with artists such as Seal, Trevor Horn, Justin Stanley, My Brightest Diamond, Susanna Hoffs, Doyle Bramhall II, and Andrew Bird.

    Rounds says he began playing with Bird last year.

    “He saw me playing with another artist called My Brightest Diamond,” Round said. “[Bird] reached out to me by email when he needed a drummer.”

    Before Rounds began playing with Bird, he said that he didn’t know any of his music. So far Round described the experience of working with Bird has been pretty.

    “It’s a good crew and a good bunch of people,” Round said.

    The Van Duzer marks the last stop on the band’s tour and they have a 600-mile drive ahead of them. Yet, in his last few moments in Humboldt County, Rounds said that he feels great to be here amidst the sounds of the redwoods.

    ANDREW BIRD LIVE

    October 12—Los Angeles, CA—Zebulon

    October 13—Mesa, AZ—Mesa Arts Center

    October 14—Santa Barbara, CA—Campbell Hall

    October 16—San Luis Obispo, CA—Christopher Cohan Center

    October 18—San Francisco, CA—SFJAZZ, Miner Auditorium

    October 19—San Francisco, CA—SFJAZZ, Miner Auditorium

    October 20—Stanford, CA—Bing Concert Hall

    October 22—Davis, CA—Mondavi Center

    October 23—Arcata, CA—Van Duzer Theatre

    December 8—Nashville, TN—Downtown Presbyterian Church*

    December 9—Nashville, TN—Downtown Presbyterian Church*

    December 11—Chicago, IL—Fourth Presbyterian Church*

    December 12—Chicago, IL—Fourth Presbyterian Church*

    December 13—Chicago, IL—Fourth Presbyterian Church*

    December 14—Chicago, IL—Fourth Presbyterian Church*

    * Gezelligheid Performance

  • Hoppy at Hoptoberfest

    Hoppy at Hoptoberfest

    By | Juan Herrera

    Drinking beer in any setting always causes for a great time, but doing it as a fundraiser causes for an even better time.

    On Saturday, Oct. 14 the Blue Lake Foundation board put on the 17th annual Hoptoberfest where over 15 local breweries were sampling their finest beer. The event cost $35 for unlimited samples from any brewery and also $5 for underage people or designated drivers. All of the proceeds that come from Hoptoberfest go to the Blue Lake Foundation to help provide music and art programs for their schools. Live music, good company, good beer, and the smell of BBQ filled Perigot Park in Blue Lake, CA at the 17th annual Hoptoberfest.

  • Humboldt Pride

    Humboldt Pride

    Humboldt Pride took place in the Arcata Plaza this year. Leading with the Pride Parade and culminating in the town square for a free open-mic, a drag lip-sync performance, live music, and other presentations. While a smaller event then previous years, it was still lively and filled the square with color.

  • Bumpin Beats

    Bumpin Beats

    By | Curran C. Daly

    The UC Quad was alive with music and dancing at noon on Tuesday as Zion I performed for students. An Associated Students Presents event, the free show featured Zion I’s Baba Zumbi, also known as MC Zion, R&B and Reggae artist Winstrong, and DJ Twelvz.

  • Tunes of HSU

    Tunes of HSU

    By Andre Hascall

    Students often walk around, to-and-from campus with headphones on and music turned up. With all of us having our own musical tastes, the thought of what others were listening to was an intriguing thought. Regardless of their tastes in music all of us students have one thing in common, and it is that our music means something to us.

    dre2.jpg
    Sophomore Wildlife Major, Tonita Johnson’s musical tastes are more underground. Her favorite artist is Nao, “She’s kind of alternative, and soulful,” Johnson said. Photo credit: Andre Hascall

    dre4.jpg
    Sophomore Biology Major, Perin Swanson can be found listening to a variety of bay area music. However, he keeps old school songs close to home. Often listening to Mac Dre and Andre Nickatina, “Their rap style really shows what the bay is about,” Swanson said.

    dre3.jpg
    Ashley Eckman, Junior Criminology Major prefers to have Kendrick Lamar in her daily playlist. “It pumps me up, it wakes me up and it cheers me up too, I guess,” Eckman said. Photo credit: Andre Hascall

    dre1.jpg
    Kai Cooper (left), Freshman International Studies Major, often will listen to Doses and Mimosas by Cherub during her day. Amanda McDonald (Right), Freshman Environmental Education Major had to narrow her song choices down to one Artist, Esbe and their album “Bloomsdale”. Photo credit: Andre Hascall

  • This week in news (April 12 to April 18)

    This week in news (April 12 to April 18)

    By Iridian Casarez

    Local

    -Collision on 299

    One person died and eight others were injured in a car collision on Highway 299 Monday afternoon.

    Source: News Channel 3

    -Myers Flat burglary and shooting

    Three people have been detained after a burglary and shooting in a Myers Flat home. Ramon Aviles, Ervin Dixon, and Alberto Garcia were arrested and transported the Humboldt County Correctional Facility. Two other suspects are still being searched for.

    Source: News Channel 3

    -Humboldt geologist

    Lori Dengler, a tsunami and earthquake expert, commemorated the 1992 Cape Mendocino Earthquake at the Clarke Museum Saturday. The earthquake was a 7.2 magnitude temblor that hit the region on April 25, 1992 and caused over $60 million in losses.

    Source: Times Standard

    U.S.

    -The Tax March on Trump

    People marched and demanded President Trump to release his tax returns all throughout the United States on Saturday. The “Tax March” was organized in more than 150 cities and wanted to call attention to Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax history.

    Source: Newsweek

    -Facebook live homicide

    A man broadcasted himself killing an old man on Facebook live Sunday afternoon. Steve Stephens, 37, shot and killed Robert Godwin, 74, as an act of revenge on his girlfriend. Authorities are still searching for Stephens and have offered a $50,000 reward for his whereabouts. On April 18, Stephens was chased by the Cleveland Police Department in Erie County in Pennsylvania. The chase culminated with Stephens killing himself in his car.

    Source: CNN

    -Arkansas Supreme Court

    The Arkansas Supreme Court cancelled eight scheduled executions on Sunday. The executions were going to be the first executions in the state in a decade. Death-row inmates and their legal teams had been fighting the courts on their executions.

    Source: The Washington Post

    World

    -Education in Chile

    As lawmakers prepared to debate planned reforms, thousands of students took the streets in various Chile cities to protest demand improvements to the nation’s higher education system.

    Source: Reuters

    -Syrian civil war

    At an evacuation point on Sunday, a deadly explosion reportedly killed at least 100 people, including dozens of children, government supporters and opposition fighters.

    Source: NBC News

    -Former south Korean president

    The former South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, was indicted for bribery and abuse of power. Park was forced from office in March amid a massive corruption scandal that engulfed not just her government but also major companies like Samsung and Lotte Groups.

    Source: CNN

  • The personality behind Burger Records

    The personality behind Burger Records

    Co-founder of Burger Records visits HSU

    By Sarahi Apaez

    The man behind Burger Records, Sean Bohrman, co-founded a record label and built a scene from the ground up.

    Bohrman graduated from HSU in 2004 with a minor in graphic design and a degree in journalism.

    Burger Records is a record label, a record shop, and a social media entity. Currently located in Fullerton, California , the record shop was an idea created by Bohrman and his bandmate and business partner Lee Rickard.

    Bohrman is from Anaheim and started the Burger Records label as a way to promote his band, Thee Makeout Party!, with his bandmate and business partner Lee Rickard.

    Once graduated from HSU, Bohrman landed a job as Art Director of a Fishing and Boating Company where he worked in a small cubicle where his coworkers had worked for 30 plus years.

    After four and a half years of working with this company, Bohrman decided to leave to pursue something bigger. By leaving his job six months early he lost out on about $12,000 since the company did not have to match his 401k.

    “But it was worth it,” Bohrman said. “It was the best decision I ever made for sure.”

    Bohrman has sacrificed his entire life for the label and the shop. For seven years he lived in the back of the Burger Records shop since it’s opening in 2009.

    There are currently 1,000 bands on the label and only five people on Burger staff working the shop, the label, publishing, and running social media.

    “We started a record label and a record store and had no idea how to run either,” Bohrman said. “I designed the website and I don’t know how to design websites.”

    Bohrman has very meticulous to do lists. His passion lies in discovering all of the music associated with Burger Records himself.

    “I’m a control freak, that’s why I do everything,” Bohrman said.

    “We never stop talking or working on Burger Records,” Bohrman said. “We put 100 percent of ourselves into this company.”

    Burger Records, for many people, will go down in history as a movement that happened. From 2009 to present day, Burger Records is a subculture for many youthful people to hold on to.

    Sean Bohrman speaking to journalism students at the Bret Harte House. | Photo by Sarahi Apaez

    What separates Burger Records from any other major record label is how they manage their social media. Every social media account is filled with content written by the character called Burger Records created by Bohrman who writes everything in all caps and three exclamation points.  

    Burger Records ventured into an untapped business in it’s time which is creating cassette tapes. The label creates cassette tapes for bands who are signed on to another label.

    ”It only takes two weeks to make a cassette tape which is convenient for when bands go on tour and need something to sell for their merch table,” Bohrman said. “It is also very inexpensive, it costs a $1.25 to make a tape and we make 250 for each band.”

    When the company started, they were first losing money because for the first two years they were supporting it with their job.

    “When we started I put 100 dollars in and Lee put 100 dollars in,” Bohrman said.

    His taste in music has also been a big help along the way.

    “I have a knack for discovering new music,” Bohrman said. “I’m going to take all of the good records here in Arcata, so don’t even try finding anything good later.”

    “Even if the store has failed I would still feel better about it than had I not ever done it and had I grown up and said ‘what if I started a record label.”

    Bohrman never saw himself as a trendsetter but that’s what he has done.

    “It’s really hard to sit and take in everything we’ve done and everything we’ve accomplished,” Bohrman

    Bohrman feels that whenever something amazing happens and it’s gone, then there’s always something on the horizon

    “Maybe later on in life I’ll get to appreciate all the really cool things that have happened,” Bohrman said.

    Bohrman and everyone who works at the shop tries to have the most fun while working long days and nights on Burger Records.

    “Everything we do is a joke,” Bohrman said. “We’re good at saying that’s so funny, let’s do that.”

    ADVICE: HOW TO START A BUSINESS by Sean Bohrman.

     

    • “It’s all about sacrifice, you’re going to have to skip meals, you’re going to have to work when other people are having fun.And if you’re out having fun there is someone else at home working to be better than you are,”
    • “You have to be working all of the time to stay ahead of everybody”
    • “It’s just total 100 percent dedicate to a cause, an idea, and following through with it, even with the stupidest ideas.”
    • “Stay true to yourself.”
  • This week in entertainment

    This week in entertainment

    By | Liam Olson

    Movies and Television

    “Venom” possibly to be a Horror/Sci-fi Film

    Sony Pictures is currently planning to film a new movie centered around one of the most famous villains in the Spiderman universe, Venom. Not much is currently known about the film. All that is known is that according to the casting website, myentertainmentworld.com, the film is listed as an action/horror/sci-fi film and that it will be filmed in the fall of 2017. It has also been confirmed by Sony that the movie will not be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which the new upcoming “Spiderman Homecoming” movie will take place. It is currently being speculated that the “Venom” will be R-rated due to the precedent of R-rated superhero movies with “Logan” and “Deadpool”. “Venom” is set to release in theaters on October 5, 2018.

    Source: ScreenRant

     

    Popular Anime Shows Returning in April

    For all those anime fans out there. Multiple popular animes are returning for their second seasons in the month of April. After three years, the long-awaited season two of the popular action, post apocalyptic anime “Attack on Titan” airs on April 1. On the same day, the successful 2016 superhero anime “My Hero Academia” airs. Two other well-known animes “Berserk” and “Eccentric Family” will air their second seasons in the second week of April.

    Source: IGN

     

    Music

    Adele might not tour ever again

    During her Auckland, New Zealand performance for her 15-month “25” tour, Adele said that she may not tour ever again. The Grammy winner told the crowd that she was not very good at touring but she tours for all of her fans. She thanked the crowd and her fans for their support but she is excited to return home to England.

    Source: TIME and The Guardian

     

    The Growlers Performing at Humboldt State

    On March 30, The Growlers will be performing in the Humboldt State University West Gym as part of their City Club Spring Tour 2017. They are going on tour after the release of their most recent album, City Club. This is not the first time The Growlers have performed at Humboldt State University. The Growlers have performed in Humboldt during the 2015-2016 school year.

    Source: AS Presents

     

    Video Games

    “Destiny 2” Announced

    Well-known video game developer Bungie confirmed that the sequel to their popular action, first person shooter game “Destiny” will release in 2017. The title of the sequel was revealed in a tweet featuring a poster/logo picture. The game, “Destiny 2”, is set to release in the fall of 2017. So far it is known that character powers and equipment from the game, “Destiny” will not transfer over to “Destiny 2” and the planets that players are able to explore will be larger than the previous game. Although “Destiny” is a console only game, it is speculated that “Destiny 2” will release on both consoles and PC.

    Source: GamesRadar

     

    “Mass Effect Andromeda” Animation Issues
    Mass Effect Andromeda released on March 21 with multiple animation issues. Developer of Mass Effect Andromeda, BioWare, is aware of the issues and are currently working on fixing the issues. Some of the issues include squad members spawning on top of players and not listening to player instructions. Not only that but audio is known to cut out and when the player runs in a zigzag pattern, there is a chance that the player can end up in an “unintended animation state”.

    Source: GameSpot

  • KRFH DJ Tana Glo on the Rise

    KRFH DJ Tana Glo on the Rise

    By | Onaja Waki

    Sharrod Richard won Best Music Show Award for the fall semester of 2016 from RadioFlag’s Radio Star Awards. In the spring of 2015 he was also awarded Golden Voice  and Best Safe Harbor Show from KRFH. His journey at HSU involved being the communication liaison for the Brother’s United Club, a member of the school’s debate team and last but not least a Defensive Back for the HSU football team. With all his extra curricular activities he still manages to do what he likes best, to deejay his show. With his various selections of hip hop and rap music, he gets the listeners going and keeps them tuned in. Going by the DJ name DJ Tana Glo, he gives us music from artists like Nipsey Hussle, Young Dolph, Young Thug, and so many more who are dominating in the rap industry right now. However, he likes to let upcoming artists get a chance to shine so you can even catch local rappers he knows from California being played on his shows. Hoping for a career in radio hosting and deejaying, Sharrod goes day by day living by his motto “Glow Up or Blow Up”.

    When did you first start Deejaying?

    I actually first started deejaying in 2015 in the spring semester. I had never used a DJ board or anything, I had took a course here at HSU.

    What was your first time going live like?

    It was kind of  nerve racking. It actually felt like the start of a football game, I had a lot of  butterflies. I didn’t know if  the community would accept my style of music being that it is hip hop.

    Richard deejaying on his DJ board for his listeners.
    Photo by Liam Olson

    Where did you come up with your radio name DJ Tana Glo?

    I actually was named DJ TeezySosa before I was named DJ Tana Glo. One of my friends had called me DJ Tana Glo and I liked it. On one of my shows, I had asked my listeners  to vote on which named they thought had the best ring to it. The phone was ringing off the hook, and the vote was DJ Tana Glo by a landslide!

    Who or what has been your inspiration in what you do?

    I have a lot of DJ friends so it was pretty natural to have a good ear for music. One of my high school friends, London on The Track, is now a producer for Young Thug and Cash Money. So I have inspirations from all over the place.

    Richard speaking to a caller on the phone.
    Photo by Liam Olson

    How did you know you were nominated for best show, how did it feel when you won?

    I didn’t know I was nominated for this award at all! I don’t remember getting a notification saying I was nominated. I remember getting an email a couple days before this Spring.

    What do you think it was in your shows that got you the award? Your music selection? Your hosting?

    I think it was mostly my charisma. I have a great sense of energy and that’s what I try to bring to each and every show. Also I would like to think my song selection would have played a great deal in me winning best Music Show. I brought a lot of new artist into  my show to interview and play their music. Two of them being King Tre and Paris Francis,  two HSU students, who have some great songs. So with a combo of those traits, it made me the best. All Smiles!

    Richard interacting with his listeners on Periscope.             Photo by Liam Olson

    Are you looking for a career in Radio Hosting? If so are there any big Radio stations you are interested in working for besides KRFH?

    Yes I do plan on graduating from Humboldt State and KRFH, and going to a major radio station. I am from Los Angeles so I would love to be on Real 92.3 with DJ Charizma and Young California. I love their style and ambition to cover all of  California, North and South.

    Where do you hope to see yourself in the next 5 years?

    In the next 5 years I see myself on tour with an artist or with the radio station. I have big concert plans that I don’t want to comment on due to privacy,  but I see myself being successful in 5 years. My motto is “Glow Up or Blow up”, meaning to enlighten yourself, better yourself, or Die!

  • This Week in Entertainment

    This Week in Entertainment

    By | Liam Olson

    Movies and Television

    Oscar’s Best Picture Mix Up

    During the 89th Academy Awards, there was a mix up for the Best Picture winner. It was falsely announced that “La La Land” won Best Picture; in actuality, the winner was “Moonlight.” A mix-up with the envelopes resulted in the mistake.

    The Academy Award Presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were accidentally handed the envelope for Best Actress that awarded Emma Stone for her performance in “La La Land.” The presenters falsely took it to mean that “La La Land” had won Best Picture.

    Resulting accepting speeches given from the “La La Land” cast were short-lived as the cast was soon informed by an onstage Oscar producer of the mistake. “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz opened up the correct envelope and showcased it to the audience that “Moonlight” had indeed won Best Picture. The cast of “Moonlight” was called onstage to give their acceptance speeches and the “La La Land” cast gave the Best Picture award to the “Moonlight” cast.

    Source: ABC News

    Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki is out of retirement

    During a pre-Oscars interview having to do with Studio Ghibli’s Oscar-nominated film, “The Red Turtle,” anime film producer Toshio Suzuki announced that Studio Ghibli director, producer, animator and screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki has officially come out of retirement.

    Miyazaki is most well-known for his Oscar award winning movie, “Spirited Away.” Suzuki said that Miyazaki has come out of retirement to make a feature movie. Miyazaki recently learned computer-generated animation techniques and hopes to make the feature film using these new skills.

    Source: Kotaku, The Verge

    Music

    Rihanna Awarded Humanitarian of the Year by Harvard University

    On Feb. 23, Harvard University announced that singer Rihanna would be named as the 2017 Humanitarian of the Year. Rihanna was recognized on Feb. 28 for her charitable work improving cancer treatment in Barbados. She also created scholarship programs that help students from Caribbean countries attend college in the United States.

    Source: Rolling Stone

    Beyoncé Cancels Coachella Performance due to Pregnancy

    Beyoncé announced that she will not be headlining the 2017 Coachella music festival. She cancelled her performance due to her doctor’s recommendation to keep a calm schedule during her pregnancy. She is currently carrying twins which could lead to complications if under a stressful schedule.  Beyoncé was supposed to be headline Coachella with Kendrick Lamar and Radiohead, but decided to postpone her performance to 2018 after the birth of her twins.

    Source: USA Today

    Video Games

    New Overwatch Character Teased by Blizzard Entertainment

    For the past week, the video game company Blizzard Entertainment has been releasing various blog posts related to the upcoming new character coming to “Overwatch.” Even though Blizzard Entertainment has made in-game changes and left clues in videos to tease the release of the long awaited character Doomfist, they released a statement saying that the new character is not who everyone thinks. In the recent blog posts, Blizzard features an 11-year-old inventor and artificial intelligence genius named Efi Oladele from a location in the game called Numbani. Although Efi is not the new character, Blizzard Entertainment said that she has connections to the new upcoming character.

    It was speculated in a community post from January featuring other leaked game content that the upcoming character is a four-legged robot spider tank from Numbani that has been seen in multiple past photos and videos. There is a possibility that Efi is the one who created this new upcoming character.

    Source: Polygon

    20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards

    The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences held its 20th annual D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Awards on Feb. 23 in Las Vegas, California. The awards ceremony was held to recognize 2016’s top video games in 24 different categories. “Overwatch” took home the award for Game of the Year, Action Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design. “Overwatch” was not the only game to win many awards. “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” won Adventure Game of the Year and three other awards. The popular indie game, “Inside,” also won three awards during the awards ceremony.

    Source: Interactive.org