This DVD set-- this Tabla Beat Science-- is quite refreshing. The package includes two discs, with one concert on each. The featured musicians are Zakir Hussain, Bill Laswell, Ustad Sultan Khan, Karsh Kale, Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw, Midival Punditz, DJ Disk, and Fabian Asultany; not one of which is without talent.

Imagine if, one day, all the pissed-off Israelis and all the pissed-off Palestinians stopped throwing bombs at each other, and they just started hugging. That’d be pretty damn fucked-up. But, it could happen. Even the angriest people on Earth have hearts. It’s medically proven. Sure, it would shock the shit out of everyone to see the Gaza Strip become a place of peace, but I wouldn’t disapprove.

Maxeen will be that radio-friendly band I get excited about. They have a nostalgic sound from my teen years that I will always have a soft spot for, but can't seriously get into in my later years. Hopefully, they will become that exploited, overplayed band that will randomly be on the radio as I pass through the daily grind, and secretly I'll be dancing inside my own head.
Their vocals echo Saves The Day, but with a more recent Jimmy Eat World-type of sound. If you've ever been into these pop-emo bands, Maxeen will tickle you pink.

Rock 'n' roll dance bands aren't hard to come by these days. Yet I still had the desire to check out The Rapture when they came through Chicago on November 6th, because I missed seeing them in their early days at a basement show in Milwaukee.
Over the years, they seem to have turned into a one-hit wonder band. They even sold t-shirts with the lyrics to the song everyone knows printed on the side of the torso. Be that as it may, the crowd danced just as much to every song as they did to their hit, "Out Of The Races And On To The Tracks".

Player One: Staff Member #716
I confess, I’m a wrestling dork. Sure, admitting that you are a casual wrestling fan has become much more acceptable in recent years, but I’m way more into it than that. I can tell you exactly how Mick Foley lost his ear. I remember precisely where I was when I heard that Owen Hart died. I saw Highlander: Endgame because Edge was in it. I am a dork.

There are classic films within the realm of Freak Films. You know, those beautiful films that tell the tale of an innocent outcast. Those twisted, magical tales of a man/child lost in a world that is beyond their comprehension. Films like Edward Scissorhands and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. (Yeah, I know they’re both Tim Burton movies, but what can I say? He’s a genius!) Films about childlike innocence and self-discovery that just live inside of you long after the DVD stops spinning.

I have to be honest, my first experience with Tenacious D was a bad one. Everyone had been fuckin' yammering on and on about them for months; about how funny and talented they were. There is little that I hate more than people building something up for me because, usually, the actual product rarely lives up to my expectations. So it was with much trepidation that I placed their CD into my car stereo.
But when I finally heard Tenacious D, I was hooked. I had been proven wrong.

If you’ve ever heard a Depeche Mode song in your life, you have heard Martin L. Gore. Gore is the songwriter behind the electronic pioneers, and the voice on Depeche classics like "The Sweetest Perfection" (Violator) and "Somebody" (Some Great Reward).
Following the release of his second solo album, Counterfeit2 (a covers album), Gore embarked on a short tour which is captured on Loverman EP2: a CD of remixes and a DVD of five songs captured live in Milan. It will make you wonder why Gore even stays in Depeche Mode.

If you can imagine the unholy alliance that would result in a melding of Jimmy Eat World and Yes, then you are ready to imagine Yellowcard’s Ocean Avenue.
With the simple addition of violin and some intricate guitar work to the pop-punk mold of modern music, Yellowcard seems to be pushing out of the cliche-ridden world of corporate rock. Oh sure, we still get the kind of lyrics and poppiness that will land these guys on TRL. But somewhere beneath the surface, something else is at work.

Christmas time is here at last. That magical time of year when young children anxiously await the big man to deliver loads of wonderful presents,.. and the desperately lonely finish off a 48 oz. bottle of discount vodka while fashioning a homemade noose made out of frayed extension cord and broken dreams.