I feel like having a moment of self promotion here, so I'm gonna whore myself out here.
Well, as some of you may not know, I like writing, and reading, and I also have a Mibba account to satisfy that hunger I have.
Since this message will be short and sweet--like me!-- I just wanted to tell you guys to check it out, read my stories, and if you have an account, tell me what you think! I love getting feedback and opinions on them, so once again, check out my Mibba account! If you don't have an account, you can just tell me what you think down here, 'kay?
Link: http://member.mibba.com/81277/ (or knowing me, that didn't work so copy and paste! XD) Or if you'd like to know, my username is Controlled Poison, so check it out!
Hehe, moment of whoring and promotion is now done! Everyone can get on with their lives now!
kay so i woke up like any normal day at 5 am and started getting ready. i changed my clothes, brushed my teeth, flat-ironed my hair, and put on deodorant. so far, so normal.
and as usual... at 6 am i had to wait an extra half hour for my sister even though she needs to get to school earlier for the early classes.
while waiting i realized... oh shit! i didnt put any hair ties on my wrist and whenever i forget, i get cafe duty. i told my mom my problem and she gave me hers...
finally my sister came out
traffic was typical and it was nearing 7. my iPod didnt make even half the trip though... bummer. but this was sign number 2 that my day was going bad, sign 1 being the lack of hair ties.
i got to school at 7:10 am... 40 minutes later than usual...
skipping to guidance... it was stated that my 1st period would be having cafe duty, and i called it. at that moment i felt like i could see the future.
skipping to 1st peiod...
turns out since we were going to be going out for class my teacher switched the cafe duty days... finally my day was starting to look up, or so i thought. one of my lab partners was absent today, making me stuck with an irresponsible team member.
skipping to aiea stream... we had to walk down a steep bank or the stream and i knew something bad would happen... suprisingly i didnt fall... until we came to a point with water under rocks that had grass on it.
i slipped and one pant leg got wet... great day to wear slippers huh? further ahead i slipped and sunk my other leg into the water but it no longer bothered me. marvin, a classmate slipped and stepped onto my slipper, making me fall forward... in order to balance myself, i grabbed gabriel's shirt from behind... i got mouthed off by him.
we ended up going farther than 2/3 of the rest of the class, even the teacher. going back, it was just me and ashley since the guys decided to climb the rocks up. i was behind her and at one point, she let california grass go and it slashed against my right knuckles... needless to say, it hurt like a bitch...
back at class i had a few more scratches...
skip over to period 2... my 2nd period is media and we had to finish shooting our psa or public service announcement, based on alcohal. my person gets drunk with a best friend in the dream scene, and i get angry when a friend laughs when i trip. i push her, and she pushes me back, hitting my knuckles. i fall to the floor hitting my left side hard and act k.o.
we repeat this even after school ends and we finally decide to go home. one friend decided to ask if i was ok and i couldnt help but be sarcastic with them.
at home i had to feed all the dogs and of course with one good hand i manage to drop the wet dog food spilling it. im cleaning it up and my mom comes down. all she does is walk around me, put her cup in the sink and leave, nice huh?
needless to say, i had a crap ass day, how was yours?
Singer's health scare can't silence Avenged Sevenfold
Journal Star
Posted Nov 06, 2008 @ 05:50 PM
The members of Avenged Sevenfold were barely out of high school when they recorded their debut album, "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet," in July 2001. And the Orange County, Calif., quintet has been producing consistently ever since, as shown by their steady stream of albums - 2003's "Waking the Fallen," followed by 2005's "City of Evil" and a self-titled album in 2007.
But Avenged Sevenfold's busy touring schedule caught up with them earlier this fall when the band was forced to cancel a handful of tour dates because of lead singer M. Shadows' vocal problems.
After a short period of rest, however, the band - made up of Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ and drummer The Rev - has returned to knocking out the dates on their tour schedule, including a Tuesday concert at Bloomington's U.S. Cellular Coliseum, which also includes sets by Buckcherry, Shinedown and Saving Abel.
Ahead of the show, we caught up with Synyster Gates by telephone from his tour stop in Montana.
- Danielle Hatch
• Q • Your dad is Guitar Guy, who recently came through the Peoria Civic Center as the opening act for comedian Jeff Dunham. I assume that means you grew up in a musical family.
• A • Yeah, absolutely. Before he was Guitar Guy, he was Brian Haner (laughs), and he used to play with a lot of crazy (people) like Tower of Power, a lot of '70s R&B bands like Rose Royce, a bunch of different people. So he was always gone, and when he was home he was playing guitar.
• Q • How old were you when you started playing?
• A • I don't know. I think I was maybe 9 or something like that, but didn't get serious until I was about 11.
• Q • And you were just about out of high school when you recorded your first album with Avenged Sevenfold. How has your life changed since those garage band days?
• A • It's very much the same. Well, actually, it's very much different, but it feels the same. I really pride myself that my band has not changed. We're still the same group of guys that goes home and has dinner together and gets drunk together and does the same stuff. When we bought houses, our nice, big houses, we still moved them close to Mom's house. Mentally, we're the same, it's just what we do for a living.
• Q • How do your first couple of albums differ from what you have out right now? I understand that for your current album, you incorporated elements that you liked from country music and even hip-hop.
• A • We just got way better. (Laughs). And we decided we didn't want to pigeonhole ourselves. If you regurgitate the same stuff ... you can't keep cloning something and expect it to be as good. So when you get to explore different types of music, the crazier, the better.
I think all of our personalities in the band are pretty, I don't know, maybe eccentric, in a way - just a little bit out there. So I really like everybody's take on different genres. When we do hip-hop, it's not going to sound like hip-hop, it's going to sound like a really screwed-up version of it. But I'm definitely in love with our approach to writing country and hip-hop, whatever it is.
• Q • Are you working on any new projects right now?
• A • We're just focusing on the tour. We do our best when we're just 110 percent focused on the task at hand. And right now we're just excited about getting back to the U.S. and focusing on these shows.
• Q • You had to postpone a few shows earlier this fall because M. Shadows had some vocal problems. Is he doing better now?
• A • Yeah, he's doing wonderfully. We were just traveling a lot; it was really tough on everybody. But you can prop (other band members) up with a stick if we're too hung over or we're missing a limb or something. But it's not the same with him; he has to be in really good health. He just got a little tired - we were doing 20-hour flights with three days in between all of them, so it was very, very tough on everybody. And it really affected him.
I've never heard the man not be able to talk. We actually flew out to do the gig knowing there were some underlying problems. He made it through the first show and was a bad (expletive) about it, but woke up the next morning and couldn't physically talk. So he pushed himself way too far and went home and he was really, really rough for a couple of days. And his vocal coach and his doctors and different people prescribed him four weeks of vocal rest, so he walked around with a chalkboard - couldn't talk and couldn't do anything - and he would write letters to us.
• Q • Anything you want to say about your upcoming show?
• A • Can't wait to see everybody; it'll be fun. And we hope everybody has a good time.
Avenged Sevenfold will perform Tuesday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington along with Buckcherry, Shinedown and Saving Abel. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $38.50 the day of the show or $34.50 in advance at the Coliseum box office, by phone at 454-5500 or online at USCellularColiseum.com.
Amir Sadollah wasn’t all that concerned about being an underdog in just about all of his fights en-route to winning The Ultimate
Fighter: Team Rampage vs Team Griffin; turns out those cases were just too isolated. That’s because Sadollah prefers to think of himself as being an underdog to the entire concept of motivation. As abstract as that sounds, his reasoning is simple—if you’re hungrier than your opponent, you beat your opponent.
And so there’s a little insight into how the very likeable never-say-die kid from Richmond, Virginia sees things. It’s one of the reasons he was able to knock off Steve Byrnes, Gerard Harris, Matt Brown and C.B. Dollaway (twice) while maintaining the grin of a man in on a secret.
“I try not to put too much weight into what people think of me,” the 28-year-old Xtreme Couture fighter says of the wild world of perception. “Whether you’re me, Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva or the next guy being introduced to the sport, you’re constantly being judged. Whatever it takes to be humble about that I think is a good thing.”
That Sadollah keeps things humble is a real understatement.
Growing up with a father who owned a repair shop, he still tinkers with cars and mechanical things “as balance to my destructive side.” His MySpace page has Journey’s power ballad “Don’t Stop Believin’” playing on it (“a dare,” he says); he cites Optimus Prime as a hero (“who doesn’t want to be the leader of a pack—and turn into a truck?”), and lists among his favorite books the Berenstain Bears. There’s humble and then there’s campy eccentricity.
And then there’s Amir Sadollah, with his arm raised right in the middle.
The Brooklyn-born Muay Thai fighter began his stint on TUF 7—an experience he refers to as a “pressure-cooker situation”—without any professional fights under his belt. He was the guy with the Jersey mullet who had more facial expressions than jiu-jitsu moves—or, at least seemingly. That is, until he TKO’d the seasoned wrestler Gerard Harris with a big knee after surviving a first round onslaught.
Although his housemates were aware of his intense work ethic, that’s when the size of his heart began to show, too.
“Yeah, heart is huge,” he says. “It’s cheesy, but it’s definitely important, and it’s good for me to know that I’m not going to give up easily in a fight. I never like to think, oh, it’s been established, I’ve got a huge heart and I’ll never give up, because you may not work as hard. So it’s not something you think about, am I going to quit. I just think about staying as motivated as possible.”
Sadollah, who is of Irish and Iranian descent, says these things cautiously—the way a revisionist might approach a bit of sensationalized history. That is, he’s quick to qualify his answers and downplay any of his successes. In some ways, it’s like he doesn’t believe it’s all happening, that he might be pinched at some point and wake up with Herb Dean standing over him telling him everything’s going to be okay.
And he’s right; though his rise to becoming the Ultimate Fighter was certainly memorable, it all adds up to two official wins in the UFC—Both over Dollaway, the rematch victory coming this past June at the TUF 7 Finale in Las Vegas.
For people watching at home, this fight was sort of like déjà vu—Sadollah dittoes Dollaway by submission via armbar. But for Sadollah, any fight, especially a rematch, is actually more like jamais vu—the opposite of déjà vu, when every time you encounter a familiar person it’s like meeting them for the first time.
“It was kind of good in a way for me, knowing that I’d won the last fight, knowing that I could do it, that it was possible. You’re both familiar with each other, and that can be good and bad. I kind of had an idea [what to expect], but nobody fights the same way twice, not even if you fight a day apart.”
Now having earned and won a UFC contract, Sadollah continues to train in Las Vegas with the same guys that trained him on the show, including the calming voice of his coach and corner Forrest Griffin—the original Ultimate Fighter and the current light heavyweight champion.
It’s great company to keep for a guy who likes to get punched in the teeth from time to time, just as a reminder that he’s alive. As the old saying goes, you are who you train with—but Amir also realizes that when he looks in the mirror there isn’t going to be any periphery.
“I am far from figuring everything out, but one of my viewpoints is that the toughest guy you have to deal with everyday is yourself,” he says. “It’s the one guy that can always beat you. It sounds like an After School Special. But it is about will. Especially when you get to the upper echelon, the separating factor is who has their mind right, who wants it. Everyone at this level has the ability to end a fight.”
Including the guy who’ll stand opposite him at UFC 91 in Las Vegas, Nick Catone—an undefeated, bona-fide wrestler who’ll be making his UFC debut on the November 15 card. Catone is a former Division 1 conference champion, where he won numerous awards at Rider University (where he still trains), as well as a BJJ purple belt.
Not that Sadollah needs a laundry list of all the specifics; that kind of thing leads to over-analysis. He’d prefer just a vague notion of what to expect out of the debutant, so he can do some light situational visualization beforehand, and react in the moment as things occur in the Octagon.
“I like to just have a general idea, that way I’m not surprised—but at the same time I’m not unhappy that the fight’s going like I think it’s going to go. I know a little bit about Catone; from what I understand he’s a good wrestler and a good jiu-jitsu guy, a strong guy, real tough. But I’m not counting anything out. He may have worked on his stand up. He may be a K-1 level kickboxer. We’ll see.”
And you know something? It’s just that sort of fancy that floats Sadollah’s boat.
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer Jill Lawless, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 16
AP – This is a Friday, April 17, 1998 file photo of Millvina Dean, 86, a living Titanic survivor.
LONDON – Millvina Dean was only 2 months old when she was wrapped in a sack and lowered into a lifeboat from the doomed Titanic. Now 96, the last survivor of the tragic sinking is selling mementos of the disaster to help pay her nursing home fees.
Rescued from the bitterly cold Atlantic on that April 1912 night, Dean, her 2-year-old brother and her mother were taken to New York with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Before returning home to England, they were given a small wicker suitcase of donated clothing, a gift from New Yorkers to help them rebuild their lives.
Now, Dean is selling the suitcase and other Titanic mementos to help pay her nursing home fees. They are expected to go for $5,200 at an auction of Titanic memorabilia Saturday in Devizes in western England.
Among the items are rare prints of the Titanic and letters from the Titanic Relief Fund offering her mother one pound, seven shillings and sixpence a week in compensation.
But the key item in the sale is the suitcase, said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. "They would have carried their little world in this suitcase," he said Thursday.
Dean has lived at Woodlands Ridge, a private nursing home in the southern city of Southampton — Titanic's home port — since she broke her hip two years ago.
"I am not able to live in my home anymore," Dean was quoted as telling the Southern Daily Echo newspaper. "I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money."
A spokeswoman for Woodlands Ridge said Dean was too tired Thursday to speak to The Associated Press.
She said rooms at the nursing home cost between $1,000 and $1,550 a week, depending on the level of care the resident needs, but declined to discuss Dean's situation, saying it was a private matter.
Although Britain has a free health care system, private providers offer more comprehensive services for a fee. In the case of nursing homes, state-run facilities are available and cost much less than private ones. But they are more spartan and offer fewer amenities, such as shared rooms and no private TVs.
Local authorities often pay a portion of the costs of private nursing home care based on an individual's assets; anyone with more than $39,000 in assets has to pay their own fees.
In 1912, baby Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean and her family were steerage passengers emigrating to Kansas City, Mo., aboard the Titanic.
Four days out of port, on the night of April 14, 1912, it hit an iceberg and sank. Billed as "practically unsinkable" by the publicity magazines of the period, the Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all 2,200 passengers and crew.
Dean, her mother Georgetta and brother Bertram Jr. were among 706 people — mostly women and children — who were rescued by the steamship Carpathia and survived. Her father, Bertram Dean, was among more than 1,500 who died.
Dean did not know she had been aboard the Titanic until she was 8 years old, when her mother, who was about to remarry, told her about her father's death.
She has no memories of the sinking and said she preferred it that way.
"I wouldn't want to remember, really," she told The Associated Press in a 1997 interview.
Dean said she had seen the 1958 film, "A Night to Remember," with other survivors, but found it so upsetting that she declined to watch any other movies about the disaster, including the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic," starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet.
Dean began to take part in Titanic-related activities in the 1980s, and was active well into her 90s. She visited Belfast, Northern Ireland, to see where the ship was built, attended Titanic conventions around the world — where she was mobbed by autograph-seekers — and participated in radio and television documentaries about the sinking.
The last American survivor of the disaster, Lillian Asplund, died in 2006 at the age of 99. Another British survivor, Barbara Joyce West Dainton, died last November at 96.
Aldridge said the "massive interest" in Titanic memorabilia shows no signs of abating. Last year, a collection of items belonging to Asplund sold for more than $175,000.
"It's the people, the human angle," Aldridge said. "You had over 2,200 men, women and children on that ship, from John Jacob Astor, the richest person in the world at the time, to a poor Scandinavian family emigrating to the States to start a new life. There were 2,200 stories."
JOEL MADDEN - MADDEN: 'HARLOW IS GOING TO BE A ROCK STAR TOO'
Caption: Joel Madden plays a DJ set at the Trojan Evolve Party at The Roxy Boston, Massachusetts ....
JOEL MADDEN is convinced his baby daughter HARLOW is destined to follow in his musical footsteps - because she is already showing a talent for tunes at just nine months of age. The Good Charlotte rocker admits he could one day be hitting the road with Harlow - his baby with Nicole Richie - performing as father and daughter. He tells People magazine, "I have a feeling she's going to be musical because she loves instruments. "She has a little piano that I took the legs off and put on the floor. She lays there and just bangs it." But Richie is hoping Harlow becomes a dancer instead: "She's going to be a dancer. I'm going to put her in ballet (classes) when she can start walking." But they both agree on one thing - Harlow will get to choose. Madden adds, "I just want to give her the option to try whatever she wants."
Nicole Richie's Militant About Mom Duty
RAMEY PHOTO
Call it the year of the comeback: Britney cleaned up and is releasing a new album. Paris is running for prez—sort of. And Nicole now spends her time pureeing green beans and sweet potatoes for daughter Harlow, according to a new People profile.
Hollywood's gone soft, and we couldn't be happier. It's not so sexy, but there's something really sweet about the fact that Nicole obsessively chronicles her kid's every move.
"She has notebooks and notebooks full of the first time she [Harlow] rolled over, the first time she laughed...Everything she's ever done is in that book," says boyfriend Joel Madden, who claims the Good Charlotte tour bus is a no-party zone these days.
So are you on board with this new and (potentially) improved version, or do you miss the wild ways of Tinseltown's onetime terrors?
JOEL MADDEN - MADDEN TAKES ON PLANE PAPARAZZO
Caption: Joel Madden plays a DJ set at the Trojan Evolve Party at The Roxy Boston, Massachusetts ....
Rocker JOEL MADDEN recently launched into a mid-air brawl with a fellow jet passenger who tried to take photographs of his girlfriend NICOLE RICHIE and baby daughter HARLOW while they were asleep. The Good Charlotte star turned protective and scared the intrusive stranger off when he felt his family's privacy was being invaded. He tells People magazine, "There was this guy and his two teenage daughters wanted to take pictures of her. I was like, 'Hey, she's asleep now. Maybe when we get off the plane, you guys can take a picture.' "The guy just stood up, turned around and started taking pictures of her, and I kind of got into it with him. I was like, 'I can't believe you're arguing with me. This is my newborn daughter and my girlfriend.'"
Nicole Richie & Joel Madden: 'We're So Blessed'
Wellz what do YOU think or feel on all of this? Please leave a comment in the box below my text.
Okie, so, uh, I know that Halloween is super duper far away, but I still feel the neediness to ask you creative jack-o-lanterns this oh so charming question.
I wont try to make the question all flashy or word it all pretty, cause when people do that, half the time I dont even know what the hell the freakin question is! All I end up thinking is "Wow, this is such a pretty question. This dude worded it perfectly. Wowzers!"
So my question is, "What should I dress up as for Halloween?"
I know, I know! Dress up? What are you, twelve? No! I just likey dressing up for Halloween! Its fun and makes me feel like Im 5 all over again!
It could be anything! A puppy, a box, a piece of candy, you!
Just tell me and maybe a sentence or something as to why you chose that costume...
Sooo... uhh, thankies and voice your pretty opinions in the comment box below my beautiful words. Down below, folks! Thankies again!!
Most teenagers absolutely love Avenged Sevenfold -- I’m a fan myself! They deliver their messages well and it’s not like they’re about drugs. The group has sold millions of albums, their major success coming in 2005 with the album City of Evil.
They inspire many to be creative whether it’s writing music, drawing, or acting. They like to include lots of artwork whether on the CD case or in their videos. And when making a video, they tend to leave a viewer satisfied.
One group of kids enjoy Avenged Sevenfold so much, they create their own videos, using Avenged Sevenfold’s music. They lip sync, act, and use digital media to make their video’s look better. They themselves have about 2000 fans, having begun around August of 2007.
There are three main members of the group, however some of their friends and family chip in to help. Scott is the “lead vocalist” and Matt and Jake are the “background vocalists.” If you don’t find them funny, you might at least enjoy their dance moves or effort to deliver something people all across the world might enjoy. Upon making their videos, they also got a chance to meet the members of Avenged Sevenfold, as seen by the included images.
You can find them on Youtube under the jake2matt channel, or you might even come across one of their videos simply by searching for Avenged Sevenfold video's through Youtube. For easy access, here’s the link to their channel.
WHEN US metal band Avenged Sevenfold were in town last year for outdoor music festival SingFest 2007, it was best remembered as the only act which made the 7,000-strong crowd at Fort Canning Park go wild.
Really wild.
According to sources, over-enthusiastic audience members near the stage surged forward and broke barricades, causing security personnel to form a human chain to hold them back.
Several people were injured during the stampede and other artistes backstage were reportedly alarmed.
Avenged Sevenfold's bassist, Johnny Christ, remembered the incident as being 'quite crazy'.
The 24-year-old told The New Paper over the phone from his home in Huntington Beach, California: 'Obviously at such a time, we hope no one will be hurt, and I don't think anyone was.'
He added: 'We won't necessarily encourage (them to go wild). We want people to have fun and go crazy, but not at the expense of hurting anyone else.
Calm down
'Whenever we feel it's getting out of hand, like usually we'll get people falling and being trampled on in the mosh pit, then we make sure to tell them to calm down.
'Avenged Sevenfold fans are really a different breed of concertgoers, no matter which continent you go.'
The boisterous reaction at SingFest 2007 was also an unexpected surprise for the hard-rocking quintet because they were told to mind their P's and Q's when in Singapore and not do things they normally would - 'like running around with our pants down', Christ joked.
'We heard Singapore is strict on everything, but when we showed up, we didn't see too-harsh laws, so it was really fun.'
So is rowdy behaviour - from frequently intoxicated fans and the band members themselves - par for the course at Avenged Sevenfold's live performances?
Only occasionally, Christ insisted.
He recalled two instances when singer Matt Shadows was swinging the mic by the wire and it hit the band's guitarist, but the latter recovered quickly and the concert 'went on great'.
Also, on Christ's birthday last year, his bandmates surprised him by getting dancers and strippers to appear on stage at a gig in Atlanta, Georgia.
As for extreme acts of fandom, he shared: 'Yeah, there are a few (female fans) out there who take kindly to us I guess.
'Girls usually talk their way through security (to get close to us), but guys charge without asking questions.
'Occasionally, there'll be some kid who finds his way up on stage, grab the members and then stage-dive.
'Sometimes we're worried (about what they might do to us) and it's at the back of our heads, but so far it's all good.'
Now that Avenged Sevenfold is returning to Singapore on 24Oct to headline its own concert and play tracks from its successful albums like City Of Evil and Avenged Sevenfold, Christ suspects the band will behave a bit more badly the second time round because it will have 'more free reign and a longer set'.
But will Shadows be in top form by then?
Avenged Sevenfold - which won Best New Artist at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards - had to cancel the remainder of its US tour because he strained his voice after being on the road for 11/2 years.
Shadows didn't require surgery but is currently resting at home and 'not yelling and screaming'.
Christ is also taking advantage of this forced vacation to relax at the beach, and is confident the five of them will be back on their feet in time for the Asian leg.
He said: 'Of course, we're bummed about it, but we were doing one show (at a time) and it came to a point where it was obvious we wouldn't be able to finish.
'But (Shadows) is taking care (of his voice) and we'll be starting rehearsals in a bit because we're excited to get back on tour.'
yeah, sorry you have to read this and get tortured but you clicked on le button, to which i am eternally gratefull!!! you guys all deserve the biggest cookies on the planet and a giant class of milk!
anywayz, i hypnotized you peeps into coming to this particular journal because i want you to add me!!
nooo!! not on here... well on here too but on my new myspace!!
yess!! i finally made one!! it took awhile cause i had to come up with that stupid url thingy mabob! but i finally did it!!
so, if you stuck with me throughout this rant, and if you love me like i know you all do, please add me!! pretty please with your favorite candy on top?
ill be your bestest friend in the entire planet, moon included!! if you want ill be your secret lover, but remember, its gotta be a secret!! i cant have a gagillion people running around saying im their secret lover!! nopes!! it dont work that way!
Lead Singer Hayley Williams Brings Women's Voice To Paramore
By KENNETH PARTRIDGE |Special to the Courant
August 28, 2008
Aug. 30: Paramore
Paramore performs with Jack's Mannequin, Phantom Planet, and Paper Route Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Chevrolet Theater, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford. Tickets are $24. Information: 203-269-8721 or www.livenation.com. (HANDOUT / August 27, 2008)
When Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams finished the lyrics to "Misery Business," her band's best-known single to date, she was a little reluctant to share what she'd written.
"I didn't want to show the guys the lyrics," Williams, the group's lone female, says in an e-mail interview. "I felt like such a girl!"
Until then, she says, Paramore's songs were "genderless" and general enough that anyone could relate. With "Misery Business," she decided to get specific and write from the perspective of a girl who's just bested the school trollop by stealing the boyfriend she never deserved.
"Whoa, I never meant to brag/ but I got him where I want him now," the chorus goes, and even if Williams' narrator means what she says, she's clearly getting a thrill out of sticking it to her rival.
"This one had a catty edge to it," Williams admits. "I'm glad I was able to say those things, though, because girls (and guys too) tell me that it's one of the most relatable songs we have. It makes me feel good that people can use the song to their advantage."
Williams might have known better than to doubt the strength of the song, which became the first single from the Tennessee quintet's 2007 sophomore smash, "RIOT!"
Comprising musicians still in or barely out of their teens — Williams is just 19 — Paramore excels at turning adolescent emotion into kinetic three-minute rock songs. While it's hardly the first band to mix pop, punk and study-hall poetry, it does so with rare conviction and songwriting flare.
After more than a year of touring in support of the album, the group is in the midst of its aptly named "Final RIOT! Tour," which stops Saturday in Wallingford. Later this year, the band will take a break from the road and focus on writing for its third album.
"We all have different influences, and I'm sure they will all come through even more on the next record," Williams says.
In past interviews, the orange-haired singer has professed her love for artists ranging from Etta James to the Cure, and though she's reluctant to speculate on what direction the next record might take, she insists the band won't alter its sound to fit any specific styles.
"We just want to sound like Paramore," she says. "I think that's what will make us and our fans the happiest."
In past interviews, the orange-haired singer has professed her love for artists ranging from Etta James to the Cure, and though she's reluctant to speculate on what direction the next record might take, she insists the band won't alter its sound to fit any specific styles.
"We just want to sound like Paramore," she says. "I think that's what will make us and our fans the happiest."
PARAMORE performs with Jack's Mannequin, Phantom Planet, and Paper Route Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Chevrolet Theater, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford. Tickets are $24. Information: 203-269-8721 or www.livenation.com
Opening for John Mayer at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Aug. 19. Tickets range from $30 to $50.50.
Somewhere on a stretch of Interstate 40 between Memphis, Tenn., and Little Rock, Ark., a Mazda 5 is zipping down the road with Zac and Josh Farro. The brothers, half of the rock band Paramore, are on their way to a gig. While they planned to take a plane with plenty of time to spare, plans changed thanks to delays in their connecting city of Chicago. So, with a friend, they rented a car and hope to make it on time.
"We took two days off in Nashville and were going to fly in this morning," Zac Farro says. "It's five-and-a-half hours ... Our friend is documenting the tour, so he's filming this part of it, too. I hope it makes it onto the DVD. It's pretty unbelievable."
The band's success up until now is pretty unbelievable, as well. Formed in 2004 when singer Hayley Williams was just 13, the band has released two albums including the platinum Riot! last year. Fueled by the first single, "Misery Business," the band found success on its own, on the Warped Tour and on the radio.
The odd part of the story is -- no one has been looking at them as kids. Unlike previous teen groups like Hanson or even Miley Cyrus, Paramore has generally won fans over and then shocked them when revealing their ages. Those numbers have always been secondary to the music.
"It gets harder sometimes, but it's really cool because all of our friends are with us on tour," Farro says. "It's four best friends on tour playing music all the time. It's a little easier for me [having my brother with me]. It's always pretty relaxed and we all stay pretty chill."
Farro notes their ages haven't been a problem while touring either -- though some club owners have sometimes hesitated to allow the band to play given their under-21 ages, it's always worked out. He says their parents have been very supportive, as well.
Currently on their own headline tour called The Final Riot! Tour, the band will also share two dates with John Mayer, one of which is in Charlotte on Aug. 19. Mayer, who once attended a Paramore show in New York, has become a fan and friend to the quartet.
"We've been talking with him for a while," Farro says. "We always thought it would be random, but fun, to play some shows together. He had two dates that no one was playing, so it worked out with us. He took us out to dinner once, which was pretty unbelievable."
Paramore is also in the process of writing for their next album, which will be released ... at some point. While Williams recently stated in an interview that the new disc would be released in the summer of 2009, Farro laughs that off as the mistake of a younger band member.
"We have no idea -- Hayley will say things on stage and in interviews that she has no idea about," Farro says. "The whole next summer thing -- we haven't talked about when we're going to record the record. It may be sooner, it may be later. We have some ideas that we practice in sound check, but nothing's been recorded. We'll probably start demoing after this tour and then start the whole process ... nothing until then."
After the current tour is over, the band plans on taking a month off before enjoying the holidays and intermittently working on their next album. Farro feels like they've all grown as musicians on the road and hopes that translates in the new songs when they're completed.
With three-and-a-half hours to go before the show, the Farro brothers are still two-and-a-half hours away from Little Rock. It may all feel like it's going by quickly, but for a band of teens and early-20-somethings that has sold more than a million copies of their sophomore album, Riot!, they should just be enjoying the ride.
Singer is in no hurry to move past 'I Kissed a Girl.'
By Mike Osegueda / The Fresno Bee
She kissed a girl -- and stardom, controversy and a No. 1 song followed.
Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" is the song of the summer, with seven straight weeks atop the Billboard charts.
And Perry, 23, is one of the big names on summer's most endearing annual tour -- the Vans Warped Tour, which, in its 14th year, stops Wednesday at Save Mart Center.
While not typical of the Warped Tour -- traditionally more punk rock than pop -- Perry is among a number of fresh faces on this year's trek.
She talks about where she fits in on Warped Tour, her huge hit single and how she's dealt with the accompanying controversy.
Question: What's the Warped Tour been like so far?
Answer: I'm having lots of fun. I can't believe I'm still standing, first of all. I have a whole set of bruises all over my legs. Every day is kind of like a fun, new day because I wake up with a bruise and I'm like "Today this one looks like Abraham Lincoln -- great!"
It's pretty intense. It's the hardest tour I think I'll ever do. But I think it's a cool thing that I get to play in a place where there are kids who don't necessarily think to go to a Katy Perry show, but they end up going, and they end up understanding why I'm on Warped Tour.
Yeah, you're not the traditional Warped Tour fare. How do you fit in?
The Warped Tour is definitely changing every year. There's such a different twist to it. They had Paramore on for a week. There's a band called Shwayze. There's Gym Class Heroes. There's myself and a couple of other bands that are very pop. You've got singer/songwriters.
There's all kinds of different flavors for anybody that wants to come who's just a big fan of live music in general -- you can see so many types of live music.
I'm trying to bounce around as much as anybody else. I know that there was a screamo band on before me and I have to keep the attention of the last fans. I'm collecting bruises, scars and scrapes, but I'm happy to do so.
Do the mohawked kids come see you?
I think that their girlfriends are dragging them to see me, and they're OK with it. They want to make their girlfriends happy.
Last night I heard your song on our hip-hop station. I'm amazed at how ubiquitous this song has become. Did you expect this?
Noooo. It's weird because I don't really feel like anything has changed for me personally because I'm on the road. I definitely see kids singing along with the song and the crowds tend to get a little bit bigger here and there, but I'm not living in Los Angeles with paparazzi at every corner or what have you.
It's totally kind of normal feeling for me. I did try to go to an amusement park the other day and it was weird.
So I know you did "The View" recently ...
Yeah, Whoopi Goldberg sideswiped me and kissed me.
Is that the thing? Does everybody want you to kiss them now? How do you handle that?
I don't mind if Whoopi Goldberg kisses me. I think that's a compliment. I wouldn't even mind if Barbara Walters kissed me. I was cool, I was open, I was ready for anything.
But yes, a lot of people when I'm doing a signing, they'll ask, they want a kiss. I always have to remind them that if I kissed every single person in line who asked, I'd probably go home with something I couldn't get rid of.
When you have a song that's this big, obviously you want to embrace it and promote it, but don't you want to say, "I do more than this 'I Kissed A Girl' song?" How do you walk that line?
I'm not upset about it. It'll all happen in time. I'm not worried or anxious to get to that point. I'm excited to be riding this wave that this song has allowed me to. I knew exactly what I was doing when I decided to put out "I Kissed a Girl."
I knew I was going to have interviews that were going to be strange, funny and controversial and this and that. People would call me the "I Kissed a Girl" Girl.
That's OK, because I really do feel like I put together an album full of songs that are as strong as "I Kissed a Girl." I'm just waiting. I've got my poker face on.
You talk about the controversy of the song -- how have you dealt with all that? How does it affect you when people say you're evil or that you're messing up the youth?
Anything that has such a mainstream light on it gets to go into doctor land, where everybody plays a game of ad-libs with the song and likes to take lines out of context.
They think that I'm, like, trying to run for president and telling kids, "Do this or be this or try this." I'm not. I'm talking really just about my life.
I did kiss a girl. That was my experience. The song is really about a curiosity.
Girls, we're very touchy- feeling and sisterly. We're doing choreographed dance moves in our pajamas at a sleepover, while practicing on our arms, fearing and dreading the one day when that boy's going to kiss us and swallow us alive. It's about that.
I'm not that worried about it. The world is the way it is. I'm like, honestly, you're so worried about a little kiss but then you're gonna sing along to "Lick Like a Lollipop?"
I know, I know! I forgot yesterday and the day before that and I apologize! I was spending the night at my friends house and shit! I just finished watching UFC 87 Seek and Destroy and I was so excited that Georges St. Pierre won, though I think Jon Fitch is pretty cool. I'm a little sad that Roger Huerta lost though :( Too bad, maybe next time.
Anyway, I'm gonna make this short since my sister needs this compter now, since her's is jacked up, how I really don't know, and I'm not sure I wanna know. Oh well... poor laptop. It was her newest one too...
Okay! Moving on!
We all know that there is a HUGE and I mean HUGE possibility of there being a re-match between BJ Penn, who I adore, not only cause he's an awesome fighter, badass, and so laid back, he's also representing my state of Hawaii, and Georges St. Pierre, whom I also adore cause he's an amazing fighter, laid back, he's got class, and a cute accent so I don't know who to root for.
Probably both. Or maybe BJ cause Georges won the first fight. Wow, it's hard even now for me to decide. How sad...
My question is, if or when the re-match with GSP and BJ Penn happens, would you watch it? Who would you root for? Why?
By NANCY ARMOUR, AP National Writer Aug 6, 9:04 am EDT
BEIJING (AP)—Turns out, the perfect 10 wasn’t so perfect.
At least not in the minds of international gymnastics officials.
Four years after a series of scoring errors marred the competition at the Athens Olympics, fans who tune into gymnastics once every four years are in for a big shock Saturday. The perfect 10 is passe. Fifteens, 16s—maybe even, gasp! 17—are all the rage.
“I hate the new scoring,” said Mary Lou Retton, whose Olympic gold medal came courtesy of a 10 on vault. “The perfect 10, you don’t have to say anything to describe it. The perfect 10, you were perfect.”
Even more than the 6.0 in figure skating, the 10 was gymnastics’ brand. Think of Nadia Comaneci, and you immediately think of that mesmerizing string of seven 10s in Montreal. Somehow, seven 15s doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
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Regardless of whether you knew a pommel horse from a pony, it wasn’t hard to figure out if a routine was good or bad. Start at 10 and count backward. The closer to 10, the better the routine. The further away, the less chance somebody’s getting a medal.
“I thought they were crazy,” Bela Karolyi said of the new scoring system. “Why? Why is it needed? It attracted so much attention. The perfect 10 was something that was cherished.
“I thought it was crazy to take it out, a humongous waste. I still feel that kind of in this way, maybe selfishly.”
But the 10 returned to its pre-Comaneci mythical status after the 1992 Olympics, with none awarded afterward in international competition. That meant judges had to get creative when it came to separating the world’s best gymnasts, with only so many tenths and hundredths of points to spread around.
That flaw in the perfect 10 was glaringly apparent in Athens, when scoring errors left fans and athletes alike unhappy. The men’s high bar, vault and all-around all had issues, and the International Gymnastics Federation finally decided it had had enough.
“Something needed to be done to try and make it more fair,” Retton acknowledged.
The FIG’s solution was an open-ended scoring system. Unlike the 10-point scale, where evaluations of artistry and difficulty had to be jammed together, each now gets its own space and, theoretically at least, there is no limit on how high a gymnast can go.
The first score, the difficulty mark, measures how hard the routine is. Starting from zero, the values of the 10 hardest tricks in a routine are added together. The harder the routine, the higher the difficulty score will be.
The second mark is for execution. Starting from 10—the FIG’s way of claiming the 10 still exists—deductions are taken for errors big (wobbles) and small (bobbles).
“I’m always thinking about that. You can still strive for perfection in the B score,” Nastia Liukin said. “I’m always thinking how to get closer to a 10 on that part.”
Put the two together, and that’s the final score.
Depending on the event, scores at the Beijing Games should range from the high 14s to the high 16s. Oh sure, there’ll be some 13s thrown out there, maybe even an 11 if someone really struggles.
But see a 16, and you know somebody is doing something right. See a 17, and you’ll have seen something really special; there have only been a handful awarded in the three years the scoring system has been used.
“(The 10) is what you dreamed of as a kid. You were always trying to reach a 10. You dreamed you’d do a routine so awesome you’d get a 10,” said Jonathan Horton, who was fourth at worlds last year. “But I’m pretty happy with the system. I’ve gotten comfortable with it.”
That’s not to say he understands it completely. Throw all those numbers around, and it’s bound to cause a math meltdown somewhere.
“It is pretty complicated,” Horton said. “You could sit down and look at a rule book for four years and probably still won’t get it.”
Ah, but that’s what coaches are for.
Athletes may have some nostalgia for the 10, but their main focus is on winning a medal. The FIG could decide to ditch numbers altogether and the athletes would find a way to make it work.
Routines have gotten much, much harder in the last year as athletes try to jam as many tough tricks together as possible to ratchet up their start value.
Liukin looks back at the routines she did in 2005, the last year of the 10.0, and she can barely believe how easy they were. And those got her world titles on balance beam and uneven bars.
“It’s like half of my routine that I do now, and I thought it was hard,” said Liukin, the only American gymnast who has scored a 17.
“It makes it harder but, at the same time, I think it makes it more fun because it brings out the best in you and brings out the most difficult things in gymnastics,” Liukin added.
For fans who haven’t seen gymnastics since the Olympics left Athens, reading Greek or Chinese might seem easier than deciphering this new scoring system. But they’ll adjust, Liukin said.
“Honestly, I don’t even think about that because I know you can’t change it. So why even try and be like, ‘Man, I wish it was still the old code,”’ Liukin said. “I try to deal with what I’m given, try and work harder and try and get my start values up.”
Woohoo!! My newest segment of Lacey's Grand Question of the Day!! I'm so excited! I usually can't come up with ideas this quickly, people mistake that for stupid, but I don't know, whatever. I'm just so proud that I can keep this up!
Okay, I know that a lot of people would probably disagree greatly but, this is my opinion right here and we've got this little thing called 'Freedom of Speech' so don't be hatin' on me 'kay?
To many people, money can mean everything, happiness, love, life, whatever. Just everything in general. Those people think that money can buy them everything and that if they throw their money around, people will bow down to them or do their every little command. But that's cool, cause that's their opinion and I've got my own on that, but we won't go into to that alright folks?
Alright, cool!
While there are people who think that money is everything, there are also people that feel or think differently about money. A lot of other people think that money is great you know? You can buy things, you can make more of it, you can spoil your loved ones, etc. But, on the other side of the cooking plate, they feel that money cannot buy everything you want in the world. That you have to work for things or go looking for them. Things like love, friendship... although in some aspects you can bribe them, but it won't be real. They won't have your back.
Now, I know that some of you are probably wondering why the hell I would be talking or typing rather, about money. The answer to that, my friends is because, my question has to do with money! Cha-ching! Yeah, I'm retarded, but you love me! Come on, admit it!
Alrighty! My question is, if you had an unlimited supply of moeny for a whole day, what would you do with it, or what would you do I guess?
7 Things Miley Cyrus Hates About Pete Wentz
BY: Actress Archives
Teaming up with Fall Out Boy bassist and Ashlee Simpson baby-daddy, Pete Wentz, on his new show “FNMTV” this weekend, Miley Cyrus joined Wentz for a segment entitled “7 Things You Hate”, revealing, among other things, the 15 year-old Hannah Montana star’s vindictive side.
“I hate Santa Claus” Wentz begins.
“Who the heck hates Santa Claus?” replies a noticeably annoyed Cyrus.
In an apparent effort to stick up for the mythological gift-bringer, when asked by Wentz what she hates, Cyrus replies, “I hate guys that do their hair like this (pulling hair into her face to mimic Wentz)…I’m so emo…dance, dance…thanks for the memories baby, I’m Pete Wentz.”
“I hate ice cream too” Wentz continues. “Every flavor.”
“I hate everything you love” counters Cyrus. “Like emo stuff…like tattoos, like Hot Topic…I bet you paint your nails too.”
The pair then go on to compare facial hair growth, with Wentz pointing out he often gets a, “five o’clock uni-brow.”
“Me too!” says Cyrus, “I’ve never met anyone else with a five o’clock uni-brow! [Sesame Street’s] Burt and Ernie, totally!”
“I’m like the emo Burt” notes Wentz.
The shared moment of amicable revelation brought screeching to a hault, Cyrus snaps, “I hate emo guys that call themselves emo!”
“Me too” replies Wentz.
“You just did it!” says Cyrus.
Backpedaling, Wentz explains, “But I hate emo boys that deny their emo too.”
“That’s very true”, aggress Cyrus.
After pointing out her dislike of a tattoo on Wentz’s arm featuring a face with heavy eyebrows, Cyrus demonstrates the impossibility of licking one’s own elbow. Not to be outdone, Wentz demonstrates his ability to lick his own armpit.
“I hate boys that do that!” says a repulsed Cyrus.
Wrapping up the segment, the two appear on-screen, heads next to eachother, with Cyrus adopting an emo-ish, ‘I could care less’ facial expression.
“Well”, says Wentz, “that’s seven things that I hate.”
“And that’s seven things that I really hate, cause I hate life”, mocks Cyrus.
“I don’t hate you though”, says Wentz.
"I hate you" replies Cyrus, before adding, “Just kidding! I totally love you!”
Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn
