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Pop Rock Nation

Category: People

all-about-musicians-and-the-people-who-help-them-make-music

  • “Why Don’t You Stay?”: Does This Mean There’s Gonna Be a “House Party V”?!?

    Ha. And how many of you knew that there was a “House Party 3” or “4”?

    Anyway, I was home on Saturday evening, flipping through channels while waiting for a friend to drop by so we could go to dinner. As I flipped through the video channels (MTV2, MTV3, VH-1 Soul, Fuse and VH-1 Classic are all next to one another), I recognized a very familiar face.

    It was Christopher Reid, AKA “Kid” from Kid ‘n Play, the rap duo who scored a hit movie with “House Party” back in the day (and briefly had their own Saturday morning cartoon..I remember watching the New Kids on the Block cartoon and then flipping over to Kid ‘n Play. I think “Hammerman” started a year later).

    At any rate, while Play soldiers on in gospel plays (he’s a born-again Christian), Kid had carved out a reasonable career as a stand-up comedian. However, the music bug came calling again…

    …and lo and behold, it’s not that bad? While KNP weren’t the greatest of emcees during their heyday (even catching a couple of disses from Vanilla Ice), Kid’s sound is refreshingly old-school (which it should be…after all, the dude is 44).

    How come Full Force isn’t singing the background vocals on this?

  • The Devolution of Mimi

    OK, Mariah. We GET it. You’re hot. You like your body, and you also like showing it off. You’ve never been an artistic giant, but at least your earlier albums had some substance. Now, it’s like, damn. Your songs are lame (how many more times is that DeBarge loop gonna get jacked?) and people are kinda tired of you almost showing the vag. And why T.I.? Justin Timberlake took that boat and sailed with it two years ago, baby.

  • San Diego’s Bedford Grove

    Pat Benatar headlined a concert after this year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego, California. It was great to see the Grammy award winning rock legend, but I was just as interested in the opening act, San Diego’s own Bedford Grove. The group started out the evening with a bit of light funk that got my head noddin’ just a little bit. But that’s all it took to get me interested.

    Grove’s front man Marc Gould describes their music as fun and danceable, but with a jazzy, funky, kickin’ swing to it. When I pressed Gould to come up with influences, his answer was “Anything in that moment of inspiration.” He says that whatever provokes spontaneous emotion, be it a conversation, song, or movie, is an influence.

    Drew Grethel plays the drums, Andrew Saunders & Matt Davies are on the brass, and Ms. Lauren Paul adds the band’s female touch with background vocals. Gould says that Paul adds more color and sexiness to the music.

    Gould says that San Diego has seen a new wave of good music, but nothing that resembles the style of Bedford Grove. He calls it, “Mixing the upbeat feel of the beach with the gritty grooves of the city.” When I tried to get him to predict where he thought they’d be in several years, he says that he’s only got his mind on next month. But he also added, that I should ask him again in three years when the band is selling out Madison Square Garden. I’ll keep him to that promise.

    You can take a listen to the sounds of Bedford Grove by going to their website or on their MySpace page.