BANDS COMES TOGETHER FOR SECOND ANNUAL SHAWN BLAIR MEMORIAL CONCERT.
Musicians set to raise money for fallen friend’s son.

SIOUX CITY– On Saturday May 23^rd, 2009, local musicians will take the stage at Red’s Pierce Street Pub (1919 Pierce Street in Sioux City) for the Second Annual Second Annual Shawn Blair Memorial Show. The free event kicks off at 9:30 p.m. and will feature performances by The Gateway Drug, Kelly Quinn Band, Lazer Rocket Arm, Vital Hourz, Chad ”Tiny” Severson, and DJ BowLz.

Open to the 21 and over crowd, admission is free to the concert, although freewill donations will be accepted. A raffle with merchandise from local businesses will also be held. All benefits will go to Shawn’s son through the Skylar Bergin Fund. Last year the inaugural event raised over $600.

Member of Sioux City Hip-Hop group- The Gateway Drug- and show organizer Corey Brubaker noted, “[This event] is for a great cause in the name and memory of our friend Shawn. The money goes on to support his son so that his future can be bright, [and] he will always know his father was a great man.”

Shawn Blair was murdered in Sioux City in May 2007.

If you cannot attend the show but would like to contribute, please send your donations to: Skylar Bergin Fund, c/o Eric Osterholm; 80 W. Clifton Ave.; Sioux City, Iowa 51104.

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For further information about the event, please contact:
Chris DeRoin
(712) 253-1652
http://www.thegatewaydrug.com
chrisderoin@gmail.com * thegateawaydrug1@gmail.com

Remember when I said I had the inside scoop on the SITP 2nd Stage lineup?!?

Well, my hunches were correct. And I even outscooped The Heard Mentality.

The lineup was made public today. HERE!
Check out the above link for songs and bios on the bands. Or just get the bands— right here, right now…

Dead Mans Hand (Sioux City) (Metal)
The Gateway Drug (Sioux City) (Hip-Hop)
Hawn Swamp (Sioux City) (Punk Rock)
The Huxley Maxwell Exit (Des Moines) (Acoustic Rock)
Lazer Rocket Arm (Sioux City) (Hip-Hop Jazz)
Parallax (Minneapolis) (Hip-Hop Funk)
The Reminders (Denver) (Hip-Hop Soul)
Sail by the Stars (Omaha) (Pop)
The Sound Insurgent (Sioux City) {Resident DJ} (Techno)

Times have yet to be announced, so stay tuned to be when your favorite band will be hitting the stage.
Or you could, of course, stay all day and catch them all.

As a reminder: Saturday July 4th, 2009 beginning at 12 noon…be there!

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

Between all these acts on Second Stage and Lenka on the Main Stage…I’m happy.

With the RBI machine suspended for 50 games, LA Dodger fans work fast. Mannywood has officially been transformed into…

JuanPierreWood!!!
http://www.juanpierrewood.com/

He might not be the HR threat Manny is, but the fleet of foot Pierre has always been a fan favorite wherever he goes.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

With the NFL draft in the bag, some crazy people are already fiending for the gridiron (C’mon man, it’s still baseball season). Be patient, it’ll be here before you can say Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala. In the meantime, you can put your wits to test against your favorite NFL player. How you ask?  Well..

Every year before the draft, potential rookies take the Wonderlic written test amidst 40 yard dashes and bench presses. Players are given 12 minutes to answer 50 questions, accessing their skills in vocabulary, mathematics, and literal common sense. Here are some sample questions: http://espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020228test.html
 
How’d you do? 20 (out of 50) indicates average intelligence, while below 10 signifies illiteracy (and I doubt you’re reading this if you’re illiterate). We all know a lot of football players are idiots that do a lot of dumb things (i.e.- Michael Vick, Bill Romanowski, Plaxico Burress, Lawrence Phillips, Ryan Leaf, heck I could list names all day), but some scored just downright terrible.

Well…at least football players will all have great broadcast careers to fall back on like the insane Terry Bradshaw, the inarticulate Shannon Sharpe, and this guy.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.

I decided one day I was occasionally obligated to pick a band from my myspace’s friends list completely at random and review some of their tunes for YOU. (Since I don’t listen to wack music, all the bands I have ‘befriended’ are some degree of awesome and worth an ear.)

And the first winner is:
Semi-Soul
http://www.myspace.com/semisoul

They can describe themselves better than I ever could. So here we go: “Painters in the art of possibility, Semisoul’s music and the message it contains, defies what’s typical, predictable or imaginable. Fusing together larger than life instrumentation with truly soulful vocals and powerful and energetic lyrics, an innovation of sound has occurred that is both inspiring and refreshing.”

Florida-based and semi-broken up, Semi-Soul was/is an all-the-way LIVE band featuring a full rhythm and brass section in addition to an emcee and singer. With grooves for days, this gang of eight has more bounce than a Roger Troutman ounce and more boogie down than a KRS-One production. They only have live songs up on their page (a six pack from the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe recorded presumably in 2007), but live is the best way to feel the energy and good vibes. 

Rapper Marley Montano’s flow and delivery are definitely reminiscent of the early ’90’s Native Tongue style. Meanwhile, the majority of the instrumentation is driven by luscious, Bootsy-esque basslines and a phat horn section taking pages right out of the Earth Wind & Fire playbook. Overall, the Semi-Soul band is musically diverse and talented enough to way overshadow almost any vocalist…but those who use the mouth as their instrument don’t fall flat either. I have no idea how I originally found this band…but I’m glad I did.

Their myspace page is rarely maintained these days (polluted with garbage comments and flyers from other bands), but I think the bass player looks like a cross between Hank Williams Jr. and Rick Rubin. Whatever that’s worth, I needed to make mention of it. Anyway, all Semi-Soul’s top friends are members of the group and it looks like most are still active one way or another…so drop them a line and show some appreciation for the FUNK.

PeAcE,
DeRoin.