Category Archives: From The Archives
Ghost In The Shell Is A Visual Splendor
Twenty-two years ago, Japanese director Mamoru Oshii introduced audiences worldwide to a dystopian future, where humankind has become reliant on cyber-enhancements and virtual terrorism thrives.
Check out the full-story at Salute Magazine
Bottom line, if you enjoyed the original, you will love seeing this movie brought to life. However, a word of advice, although it has a PG-13 rating, the film and its subject matter will go over the head of some underdeveloped minds.
It’s not bloody and there is no sex or outlandish language, but the story itself is about cybernetics, the human “soul” and the evolution of our consumerist ways. It’s like telling a 9-year-old to read Nietzsche, it’s just not going to happen.
Q&A w/ Flesh-N-Bone
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their GRAMMY Award winning song, “Tha Crossroads,” Bone Thugs-N-Harmony are headed across the country for a series of live concerts and meet-and-greet events—including upcoming performances at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square, Manhattan on Feb. 24 and The Emporium in Patchogue, Long Island on Feb. 25.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony formed in 1991, but didn’t hit it big until 1993, when “the Godfather of West Coast gangsta rap” and N.W.A. co-founder Eric “Eazy-E” Wright signed five rappers from Cleveland, Ohio—”Krayzie,””Layzie,” “Bizzy,” “Wish” and “Flesh”—to his label, Ruthless Records.
According to Stanley Howse, a.k.a. Flesh-n-Bone, “Crossroads” was originally written in dedication of Wallace “Wally” Laird III—a departed friend of the group—but after Wright died, in March 1995, they decided to go back and re-record “Tha Crossroads” for their second studio album E. 1999 Eternal.
“The record was pushed back around the time Eazy-E started to fall sick,” Howse said. “So, right now, there are about three or four different versions out there.”
For more, check out the full story at Salute Magazine.
David Banner’s ‘God Box’ Is The Album You Will Need in 2017
Mississippi-born rapper/producer David Banner is on fire right now, and it has got us here at AWM pumped for his forthcoming studio album, The God Box, available May 19, from A Banner Vision.
Last year, Banner gave listeners an exclusive sneak peek at his creative process, with the release of his “Before The Box” mixtape. It’s an extremely satisfying glimpse at Banner’s creative process and shows the significant progress he made to shape a different kind of sound than we are used to hearing from the artist who brought us The Greatest Story Ever Told.
Although Banner’s seventh full-length studio album was originally expected to be released in 2016, delays in the production process led him to hold back the date until May 2017.
Lighting Up The Little North Pole
The Christmas spirit is still very much alive and well in Rockaway, where each Christmas, Neponsit resident Joe Mure puts on a show for friends, neighbors and the greater Rockaway community.
Q&A With Brendon Small
Back in 2007, I was given the opportunity to speak with Brendon Small, the creator of such hilarious late night cartoons as Metalocalypse and Home Movies.
Recently Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s late night counterpart, has announced that the cartoon band Dethklok from Metalocalypse will be doing a tour across the nation at many large venues with Solient Green and Chimaira.
For those who have never watched the show, Dethklok is cartoon band consisting of Nathan Explosion (lead vocals), Skwisgaar Skwigelf (lead guitar), Toki Wartooth (guitar), William Murderface (lead bassist) and Pickles the Drummer (he plays the drums). Of the five, Brendon voices three — Nathan, Pickles and Skwisgaar.
Before traveling across the country, on his live stage show, Dethtour, The Viking News met up with Small about the rising popularity of the show and how he plans to bring the show, from the TV to the stage.
Still Kickin’ After All These Years
Alive N’ Kickin’ couldn’t be a more appropriate name for this classic rock cover band, which has continued to perform hit music for more than 40 years.
Writer’s Roundtable: One Island, One Album
Brought up in discussions this past week, we phased ourselves with the question: If you were stuck on a deserted island, what would be the one album you would take with you?
Easier asked than answered was the revelation found by AWM, but after much thought, four brave writers have voiced their opinions on the one album they would want to have with them if they were deserted on an island.
Q&A w/ August West
Why not go a “little bit farther than you’ve gone before” on May 7, with the Grateful Dead cover band August West. Inspired by the character portrayed in Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia’s “Wharf Rat,” August West is more than just a five member cover band from Brooklyn.
Source: August West @ Thai Rock
Jazz Festival Returns To Rockaway
Despite looming threats of high winds and rain, brought on by a potential hurricane, more than a hundred beachgoers came out to Low Tide Bar at the Beach 97th Street concessions, on Saturday, Sept. 3, for the third annual Rockaway Beach Jazz Festival. Since its inception, the Jazz Festival has continued to attract world-class musicians from New York and beyond, to the shores of Rockaway Beach.
Q&A w/ Singer Songwriter Mike Benedetto
Singer-songwriter Mike Benedetto can now add “record producer” to his list of credits, with the release of The BEasy Band’s new Spring EP—the first of four to be released as part of the group’s forthcoming album, Seasoned.
