Clang & Clatter

Apparently Ed Roland has been brewing up something called the Sweet Tea Project for awhile now (Ha! Get it? Get it?!), but I just recently became privy to it via the Gretsch Guitars YouTube channel. The Collective Soul founder and frontman has joined up with a group of long-time friends to create music in the relaxed family atmosphere of his Atlanta home. The new album Devils ‘n Darlins has been complete for some time, but according to the Sweet Tea Project Facebook page, its release is “still on hold until the planets most surely line up,” and the band plans to announce 2012 tour dates soon. The clips I have heard have a more organic feel than Collective Soul, bordering on what all the cool kids call “roots rock,” but retains Ed’s unmistakeable voice.

Enjoy this “meet the band” playlist from project member Christopher Alan Yate’s YouTube channel.

After Adam “MCA” Yauch’s passing last week—and when a friend of mine started posting Beastie Boys videos on his blog—I started a process of digging a little deeper into the Beastie Boys’ background and music catalog.

My introduction to the Beasties was (naturally) Licensed to Ill, funnily enough through one of my younger brother’s friends who wanted to listen to the album every day on the way to school. Of course I gravitated to the heavier (and less hip-hoppy) tracks “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” and “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party),” but I was also exposed to tracks like “She’s Crafty,” “Brass Monkey” (I still haven’t recovered from that one), and “Paul Revere” that I could appreciate from a creative standpoint. It’s not that I necessarily disliked the burgeoning rap scene, it’s just not where my head was at the time, and truthfully, it was a little uncool for metalheads to actually enjoy rap, right?! Remember, this was around the time Anthrax released their rap goof “I’m the Man” and well before their “Bring the Noise” collaboration with Public Enemy that was the final signal that it was now OK to like hip hop that we metal devotees had been waiting for.

With each successive Beastie Boys release, I was exposed to less and less of their material, hearing only the tracks mainstream media or friends latched onto. So with Paul’s Boutique it was “Shake Your Rump” and “Hey Ladies,” and until recent years I had only heard “So What’cha Want” from Check Your Head and Ill Communication’s “Sabatoge.” Little did I know that the Beastie Boys could actually play instruments and had started life as a hardcore punk band—which makes sense the further into their catalog you listen—nor did I realize that their music had become more removed from traditional hip hop.

In all my research, I ran into this long-ish—and often uncomfortable—interview the Beastie Boys did with Charlie Rose. It’s apparent that in the beginning the guys—especially Ad-Rock—fully expected to conduct the entire interview in character and pull their normal stunts, but Rose was having none of it, alternately giving it back to them or giving up and changing the subject. Once things settled down a bit, it turned into quite a good conversation about their career.

All in all, it’s a great interview, and despite the occasional weirdness, it appears that a good time was had by all.

Enjoy!

Caine’s Arcade is a short film by Nirvan Mullick and produced by Interconnected about a 9-year-old boy in East Los Angeles that built his own cardboard arcade in his dad’s auto parts store.

Here’s the backstory:

Caine Monroy is a 9-year old boy who spent his summer vacation building an elaborate DIY cardboard arcade in his dad’s used auto parts store.

Caine dreamed of the day he would have lots of customers visit his arcade, and he spent months preparing everything, perfecting the game design, making displays for the prizes, designing elaborate security systems, and hand labeling paper-lunch-gift-bags. However, his dad’s autoparts store (located in an industrial part of East LA) gets almost zero foot traffic, so Caine’s chances of getting a customer were very small, and the few walk in customers that came through were always in too much of a hurry to get their auto part to play Caine’s Arcade. But Caine never gave up.

One day, by chance, I walked into Smart Parts Auto looking for a used door handle for my ’96 Corolla. What I found was an elaborate handmade cardboard arcade manned by a young boy who asked if I would like to play. I asked Caine how it worked and he told me that for $1 I could get two turns, or for $2 I could get a Fun Pass with 500 turns. I got the Fun Pass.

Nirvan was so impressed with the arcade and Caine’s dedication and determination that he organized a flashmob to visit the arcade on October 2, 2011 to make the young boy’s day. And Nirvan filmed the whole thing.

How cool is that?! I have to be honest—I very nearly teared up. Kudos to Caine’s dad George for encouraging his interest and allowing him to take over the store.

Oh, and this kid is going to rule the world one day.

SPOILER ALERT: This video is completely unrealistic, fabricated, and fanciful.

I mean, c’mon. Who actually believes that Chris Cornell is getting the guitar sound for that main riff out of that acoustic guitar?!