Search Results for: smile like you mean it

New York – If there was an increase in the number of people who took the day off from work or stayed home from school Tuesday, it may not have been the flu that kept them at home and on the couch. “Halo 2,” the long-awaited sequel to the 2001 game that set the standard for first-person shooters, went on sale Tuesday (November 9) at midnight, and thousands of people around the country waited in line for hours, just to be among the first to get their hands on what promises to be the biggest video game of the year.… Read more »

On Jan. 6, San Francisco’s Moscone convention center pulses with all the energy of a rock concert. A crowd sprinkled with hip-hop teenagers, digerati, and aging hippies streams in to hear the annual state-of-the-Mac keynote from Apple Computer Inc. Chief Executive Steven P. Jobs. Every facet of the event bears the fingerprints of the obsessive Jobs – right down to the music that fills the air. This year, it’s the King himself, Elvis Presley. Later, Jobs rolls the tape of Apple’s famous “1984” ad that ran on Super Bowl Sunday that year – and hasn’t been broadcast since. Only this… Read more »

The Deftones aren’t doing much to dispel public opinion that they’re the metallic equivalent of an emo band. They’ve been asked about their love of droopy singers like Morrissey a million times throughout their 15-year career, to the point where it’s a virtual no-no to talk about emotions. Still, as singer Chino Moreno and keyboard/samplist Frank Delgado discuss the band’s self-titled fourth album, they can’t help but mention how feelings were an integral part of its production. “I didn’t really feel much of anything this time around… or so I thought,” says Moreno about the album. “The mood I’ve been… Read more »

Ozzy crooned, mooned and squirted his water guns, Disturbed bellowed, and Marilyn Manson vamped it up, but Ozzfest has always been just as much about the lesser-known acts, and Sunday’s show was no exception. Though bands like Kilgore, Pushmonkey and the perhaps aptly named No One have proven that Ozzfest exposure alone won’t make you famous, second-stage alumni System of a Down and Slipknot can attest that it certainly doesn’t hurt. Killswitch Engage’s potential spot in the Slipknot category seemed all but assured even before they appeared at Dallas’ Smirnoff Music Centre. Even though it was only the second show… Read more »

Jane says to stop being so selfish and do something to make someone smile. On the propulsive “Just Because,” Jane’s Addiction’s first new song in six years, frontman Perry Farrell delivers a message of hope in a time of turmoil. “It’s about people’s ability to stoke each other out for no other reason than just because,” he said. “It’s very rare when a person will just make ya a bagel just because. I wanted to plant a seed that hopefully will become kind of infectious with people doing things for each other just because.” One of many potential singles from… Read more »

The “boogeyman of rap” is busting his gun, pistol-whipping one of his cheating mate’s lovers, contemplating other grisly forms of violence and taking a leak on the White House lawn – and that’s just by the midpoint of The Eminem Show. Yes, ladies and gents, “Shady’s back,” as he proclaims in his first single, “Without Me,” and Eminem still has a lot to vent. As soon as the curtain opens on Em’s third solo album, it’s clear all of the rapper’s frustrations that have been building up over the last two years since The Marshall Mathers LP are going to… Read more »

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame welcomed its first members from the new wave and punk eras on Monday night, inducting The Ramones and Talking Heads along with classic rockers Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, soul and R&B icon Isaac Hayes, versatile vocalist Brenda Lee and singer/songwriter Gene Pitney. Legendary guitar sideman Chet Atkins was also inducted, as was Jim Stewart, founder of and driving force behind revolutionary soul music label Stax Records. The hall’s 17th annual induction ceremony got off to a rousing start with Hayes performing his Oscar-winning “Theme from ‘Shaft.”‘ Hayes, who saw eight of his… Read more »

Rocking a stadium is no mean trick. Plenty of bands do stadium tours because they’ve got the audience, but the ability to blow the roof off a 5,000-seat venue doesn’t mean you can knock ’em dead in an arena. Some have done it – get your hands on Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan and hear the decibels erupt – but many have not. Platonically, Weezer is a band fit for arena rock. Their guitars sound huge, their music is full of explosive dynamics and their choruses invite fans to sing along. At their show Monday night at the Continental Airlines… Read more »

3LW’s Kiely Williams has a big smile on her face as she sits in Manhattan’s Battery Studios listening to “I Think I Wanna Leave With You,” off the trio’s upcoming second LP, A Girl Can Mack. “I wanna leave with you/ Do you wanna leave with me?” she asks with her groupmates Adrienne Bailon and Naturi Naughton on the chorus. But the girls’ frankness as they sing about scooping up guys in the club isn’t why Kiely has a look of mischief on her grill. It’s her rhyme “I hang with big dogs/ So what’s a Lil’ Bow Wow?” “I’m… Read more »

Just a little over a year after dropping his multiplatinum third LP, My Name Is Joe, the album’s namesake is preparing to release a follow-up, Better Days, on December 4, his quickest album turnaround ever. “I’m at a good label now,” he said with a smile. “The freedom there is a lot better than it was before. I wasn’t happy where I was, which was Mercury [Records].” The strife caused by recording for Mercury was nothing compared to the anxiety he suffered in the wake of the September 11 attacks. On that unforgettable day, he was sitting in his new… Read more »