On April 16th, 1971, in the small town of Lake Jackson, Texas, an angel was born. Her name was Selena Quintanilla. This angel, who was tragically taken from us at the young age of twenty-three, was a Latina superstar before JLo or Shakira or Ricky Martin. Her voice, full of love and joy and heartbreak, continues to capture the hearts of millions of fans around the world, Latinos and non-Latinos alike. So today, we celebrate what would have been her forty-second birthday by counting down her ten best songs. Feliz cumpleaños, Selena!
Longtime hip-hop fans were saddened last week to hear of the passing of Bronx rapper Tim Dog. Always brash and entertaining, his cult-classic 1991 album, Penicillin On Wax, and legendary feud with N.W.A made him one of hip-hop's all-time ballers. The world was reminded of his greatness last summer when NBC's Dateline dedicated a two-hour episode to covering the allegations of Tim Dog defrauding various women for thousands of dollars, leading to a full-fledged, hip-hop social-media explosion that was nothing short of an event.
Tim Dog leaves behind a one-of-a-kind legacy, with some of the most memorably over-the-top verses in rap history. We at the Weekly are paying our respects by looking back at some of his most disrespectful moments. Here are our choices for Tim Dog's Most Outrageous Songs.
The Weekly is sad to report that local skateboarder John Sirmon passed away on Saturday after a long battle with colon cancer.
After being diagnosed in October 2011, a large portion of OC's skateboarding community rallied around Sirmon, hosting benefit concerts and silent auctions to help fund his cancer treatment. A donation site--savesermon.com--was also created in his honor.
After more than two decades of selling guitars, amps and drums to a fiercely loyal group of customers, Rockit Music in Brea will soon close for good. Though he declined to name a specific date, owner Ian Williams said the store will likely shut its doors in two weeks.
"I think it's a fait accompli. The Internet's taking over, and it's hurt sales," says Williams. "Between Amazon and eBay it seems to be the way of the world."
Last week, we reported the tragic death of Chris Schaefer, a former European tour manager and driver for a multitude of legendary punk bands--namely OC's the Adolescents--who delivered the sad news via guitarist Steve Soto. The 46-year-old L.A. native tied unexpectedly of carbon monoxide poisoning in a home in Prague shared by him and his fiance. But this weekend, a group of West Coast bands, family and friends gather tomorrow to celebrate Schaefer's life in the only successful way possible: a punk rock pub crawl!
Tomorrow starting at 3 p.m., Schaefer's family is setting up a small memorial area and shrine at Acapulco Restaurant at 4444 Sunset Blvd. in LA, a favorite meeting ground of Schaefer's. Anyone who comes is invited to bring a favorite photo or memory of Schaefer to the memorial crawl. The event rolls on with visits and some surrounding area watering holes like Ye Rustic Inn, Good Luck Bar, the Drawing Room and Tiki Ti. Recently, a few of the bands Schaefer used to drive around Europe were kind enough to share some thoughts about their fallen friend. More »
Chris Schaefer, right, with Adolescents guitarist Dan Root
Some sad news came from one of OC's legendary punk bands yesterday when The Adolescents' guitarist Steve Soto told the Weekly the band's longtime driver and tour managerChris Schaefer was found dead in his home in Prague over the weekend. Schaefer's body was discovered on the bathroom floor
in his house by his fiance, Lou, on Saturday night. According to the local coroner's office, the cause is said to have been carbon monoxide poisoning from the water heater/heater, located in the couple's bathroom. An LA native, Schaefer, 46, moved to Prague around the late '90s and started working with the Adolescents in 2007. For the past six summers, Soto said, they'd worked with him whenever they went to Europe.
To say Huell Howser always had a song in his heart is probably an understatement. Anyone who ever sat down to watch his show California's Gold is familiar with the signature, syrupy southern drawl that made him sound like he was singing even when he wasn't. After the Weekly broke the news about the legendary broadcaster's passing last Sunday, it was hard not imagine him delivering one more sing-songy "Wooooooowww!" at the pearly gates. Some may not know this, but Howser was actually quite the music enthusiast while he was here. C'mon, have you heard his world-famous track "California Here I Come" in all of it's smilley-faced, Shatner-esque glory? Naturally, we thought we'd pay tribute to Howser by looking back at some of his best musical moments on camera, from the goofiest to the grandest. Or if you just wanna trip balls while listening to Howser's voice one last time, we recommend watching this.
Iron Butterfly with Dorman, fourth from the left, back in the day
He created one of the most infamous, easy, unforgettable bass lines in rock history. And to this day, anyone who considers themselves a fan of classic rock's most egregiously psychedelic elements will remember Lee Dorman, the Iron Butterfly bassist who gave their legendarily long-winded "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" its groove. Since he passed away last Friday, Iron Butterfly's surviving members have been dedicated to celebrating Dorman's musical contribution which echoes far beyond the span of the iconic,17-minute track. On Thursday, frontman Martin Gerschwitz and the band's surviving members will honor Dorman with a memorial show at Hennessy's in Dana Point.
A public memorial service for Jenni Rivera, the late Mexican superstar singer, entrepreneur and all-around chingona, is set to take place tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon at the Gibson Amphitheater at the Universal CityWalk.
The performer had a concert date scheduled at the venue for March of next year, but Rivera, of course, tragically died on Dec. 9 as the Learjet caring her from Monterrey, Mexico crashed into a mountainous region leaving no survivors. The 43 year-old was Long Beach native--or Playa Larga as she liked to shout it out--and the family had considered holding the service in her hometown but ultimately opted for the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City instead.
A limited number of tickets for the public memorial were made available today at noon to her loyal fan base. But will the way Live Nation has situated the process of admittance leave some mourners of La Diva de la Banda unable to even attempt to attend?
On December 11 in San Diego, the world lost a great musician, spiritual leader, and sitar player -- Ravi Shankar. Most known in the United States for his relationship with The Beatles, Shankar helped introduce Indian music to the west, opening minds and ears to new tuning systems and instruments. The Beatles, however, were not the only musicians who flocked to Shankar; John Coltrane and David Crosby, to name a few, all learned from the sitar player. The mark he left on music is immeasurable. How can someone evaluate the freedom he brought to Western composers to experiment with new sounds and instruments? How can someone measure the spread of cultural values and social understanding? Well, we sure can't. But we can share with you five of his songs -- not five of the best -- a musical eulogy of sorts.
"Within You Without You" appeared on the The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. While George Harrison played sitar on the album, it was influenced by a piece by Ravi Shankar. George Harrison learned a lot from Shankar, and his influence is obvious in this track from the fab four. "Try to realize," Harrison sings, "It's all within yourself. No one else can make you change. And to see you're really only very small, and life flows on within you and without you."
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