The White Stripes were an absolute force of nature from 1997 to 2011. Drums and guitar and a whole lot of soul. Meg and Jack White made beautiful, crunching, slick, punchy, and essential indie rock music and they did it like no one else.
Jack eventually went off to have a hugely massive solo career, going on to headline festivals and bring noise to millions while Meg is somewhat of a recluse these days. But they’ve never reunited (not yet at least) so clips of them, in their prime, absolutely kicking ass? Yeah, we’re about it.
“Blue Orchid” is one of those songs you want in your headphones right before you go into battle against Thanos. Matter of fact, so is “Seven Nation Army,” “Icky Thump,” and about a bakers dozen more hits.
On camera, the duo never lose their charisma. The glances between the two of them, the ridiculous grit in the guitar riff and Meg’s loose and euphoric drumming, it just makes for really good TV.
As we all know, Swedish pop superstars ABBA were all set to finally reunite for an epic worldwide tour. We were finally going to see “Dancing Queen” live. But pandemics have no soul or rhythm, so they obviously can’t dance. Now we have another year to wait.
Stop, collaborate and listen. Our second favorite Franco, Dave, is set to portray one of music’s most iconic players in an upcoming biopic.
Dave Franco is planning to take on Vanilla Ice in an upcoming biopic, largely centering around the star’s massive hit “Ice, Ice, Baby” his astronomical ascent to fame, and his careening fall after the plagiarism suit against Queen left him a pop culture washout.
“We have been in development for a while but we are inching closer and closer to preproduction,” Franco says. And he’s already had a few calls with Vanilla Ice himself, real name Rob Van Winkle, to prepare for the role.
“Rob is such a sweet and intelligent guy and he’s been super helpful in the process of getting all the details correct and making us privy to information the public doesn’t know,” Franco says. “Just talking to him I can’t help but think about the rabbit holes I’m going to go down to get ready for the role.”
Music without a stage is like a park without ducks. Covid changed life as we know it, but most businesses found away to come back. Concert venues haven’t been so lucky. Now legislation is being proposed to save our stages.
Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota just introduced a new piece of legislation called the “Save Our Stages Act”. It’s part of a relief package meant to jumpstart small local businesses, including venues that haven’t seen a concert or an in-person event come through in months.
They can’t just offer takeout tunes or curbside concerts (although that is a pretty decent idea)
There’s truly no way for them to generate revenue right now. Concerts are incredibly risky places during Covid, and while some estimates are stating that shows may return in 2021, the co-founder of Lollapalooza believes that the mismanagement of the virus by the US may push that date back to 2022.
In the meantime, we can fight to keep our venues alive long enough to weather the storm.
It may seem like a lot is going on, in every aspect of life, but it’s important that we take care of the places that can’t take care of themselves. These are the same venues we danced, sang, cried, and crowdsurfed in for decades and decades, we can’t let them fall apart in front of us.
The music industry is one of the hardest fields to make it in. With young artists trying to make their voice heard every day, it can be very stressful knowing that there’s people out there, the same age as you, or younger *cough Billie Eilish cough* who are further ahead, or doing better than you. But that doesn’t stop this University of Kansas student from pursuing her dream of being a Grammy Award winning artist.
Kansas City native, Heather Jones has always had a passion for music. Growing up with three sisters who all sing, play the piano and shred it on the guitar, Heather has been around music her whole life.
“My grandpa actually used to sing in the choir at his church, and he used to force us to listen to all of his old choir tapes. He was so good at singing, so he passed that down to my mom, who in turn used to write Christian worship music when she was around my age. It just kind of runs in the family,” Jones said.
While Heathers grandpa was out rocking it in the choir, she has turned to different venues to express her voice. Heather has had live performances singing at the JazzHaus, and Live Music Tuesdays at Bullwinkles Bar in Lawrence, Kansas.
“I think I’ve done it four to six times now, but I just remember doing it and thinking this is the scariest thing in the world,” Jones said
Although Heather was scared at her first couple sets, she said the more she did, they got easier and more fun. But who’s to blame her? Can you imagine how terrified some of the best artist in the world were when they got their first gig? No pressure, no diamonds, right?
“I realized these are my peers, these are my friends who I see in class, these are people who are just having a good time, some not even paying attention to me half the time,” Jones said.
While Heather has killed it in a handful of sets, singing popular songs that everyone knows, her passion for music reaches much further than that. She also writes her own music, and hopes people can relate to them in their own way.
“I have six songs out right now. For me, I do think about what my songs are going to say to people, but I don’t know if I have any specific messages. It’s more so here’s me, here’s my vulnerabilities that nobody else really gets to see, and I hope that no matter who you are, you can connect to these feelings and emotions,” Jones said.
While Heather doesn’t necessarily have a specific message in her music, she knows where a lot of it comes from. Being a 20-year-old woman, she has found people she cares about, has had heartbreak, and has felt that excitement that everyone going through young adulthood has felt.
“In the past, I really used to focus on breakups. I went through a really hard breakup a couple years ago and a lot of my music was inspired by that. But recently I feel like it’s now about the excitement to be my own person again, and experience life in a whole different way,” Jones said.
Experiencing life in a whole different way is something that Heather does every time she writes music. To be the best, you have to believe you are the best, and picture yourself at the world’s biggest stages.
“I realize when I write my music, I’m writing it in the thought of how this would sound at a live concert. I’m picturing myself at an EDM festival blaring my music, asking myself if I would like to play this at a festival, and I’ve realized that that is my dream,” Jones said.
While it’s every young artist’s dream to make it big, perform in arenas and music festivals around the world, it doesn’t come without believing in yourself and having confidence.
When asked what message she has for other young artists, Heather said, “You need the confidence. That is the biggest thing in the world, is you really need to get the confidence to put yourself out there, to say this is me, this is my music.” And arguably more important, “If you feel proud of it, put it out there.”
Scott Aukerman and Adam Scott, aka Scott and Scott, are the perfect podcast hosts. They’re perfectionists, and are exquisite at their jobs. Together, they discuss the “the encyclopedic compendium of all things” relating to a band they love. Their first podcast, U Talkin’ U2 To Me? about U2’s discography, would often feature episodes in which they never really talked about any U2 music, more so just bouncing nonsense off of eachother. The goofiness is my favorite. The spinoff podcasts that they come up with (“Is this another episode of “‘We Love Cinema'”?) make me laugh. It’s just a really fun podcast.
The guys recently planned on venturing deep into the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ entire body of work, Are You Talking RCHP Re: Me? and after one episode, listening through the Chili Peppers’ unlistenable first 2 albums, they ditched the idea. They then decided to do the thing for real with the Talking Heads! Even better!
Imagine, if you will, you’re on a giant lilipad, in the center of a pond, staring up at the sky, surrounded by Japanese Cherry Blossoms, and as the world around you slowly dissolves into solace, and all the stress that lives deep inside your bones and muscles evaporates, and you’re just floating. Just then the Cherry Blossoms begins to slowly drift down towards you, dancing gracefully in the warm and tranquil breeze, down towards the silent water you’re floating on. It is at this moment, you are at peace, nothing can harm you here. You’re caressed by the syrupy smoothness of life’s perfect beauty. You’re free.
A popular trend on the internet right now is taking an already vibed-out song, like “Redbone” or “Ocean Eyes” and slowing them down, plus adding tons of reverb, which makes the song sound like you’re listening to it inside of a damp cave.
A little self care trick from all of us here at YCV, next time you’re stressed or anxious or just need a break from it all, put this onand be transported to that safe place, inside the music. It’s always there, waiting for you.
Seeing Kendrick Lamar is a crazy experience. This is a cat, who has never put out a bad song, who is such an important creator of modern music, and he’s just right there.
The master, Kung Fu Kenny, graced the stage at Reading & Leeds a couple years back and put on a clinic. The theatrics! Opening with “DNA”! The Brits going BRAZY to “m.A.A.d. city”! Everything about this show is fantastic.
We know that the situation on Earth is dire right now. It pains us to have to report news like this:
But watching shows like this, feeling the energy of the crowd, even if it’s at our work from home desks, or in our AirPods as we walk around, will get us through. In the eternal words of the Grateful Dead, WE WILL GET BY!
Speaking of movies… Check out that segue! 90’s classic Jurassic Park will be returning to theatres. Something about watching oppressed dinosaurs rip tourists apart sounds really good right now.
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