MUSIC WATCH 1: Great Good Fine OK

By Connor Skidmore
PHS Contributor

This is the first week of Music Watch, the weekly article where I choose a song that I like from an extremely wide variety of music and feature it. I intend to make the selection very diverse. For example, one day I might feature Bach, with ‘Minuet in G Minor,’ and then the next week I might jump to Paolo Nutini with ‘New Shoes,’ or Feed Me with ‘Patience,’ or even Alan Fitzpatrick with ‘In the Beginning.’ But for the first week, I have chosen the band Great Good Fine OK, with the song ‘You’re The One For Me.’

Great Good Fine OK is a group from Brooklyn. Their music tends to be pop and rock-influenced, with electronic elements. The like to use retro synths and drum samples and falsetto vocals. ‘You’re The One For Me’ is my favorite of their tracks. It is mixed perfectly, with the vocals being backed by a pulsing synth and deep pads.

You can hear the track here if you have Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/3UzHyDmqpBJR2J65h0702t

If you do not have Spotify or do not want to use it, you can listen here:

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110921382&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=false&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true%22

 

POEM: A lost cause

By Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS Press staff member

 

Where are ye with eyes so bright?

Who calmed me through the night.

A lost cause are ye? Or will we prevail with might?

Shall ye come home to me? Or will ye forever be a lost child. A lost cause. 

Chester Bay Bucks trends in local music

When someone mentions they are in a local band many people immediately think of terrible garage rock and plugging your ears to make it stop. Chester Bay bucks that trend in a big way. An American Rock group that started at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, they are making waves in the Twin Cities music scene. Drawing influence from bands as diverse as Sublime, The Black Crows, The Beatles and Dispatch, they blend rock and roll with blues, reggae, ska and folk.

In the fall of 2005 Marcus Greely (drums) was on his way to try out for the UWEC hockey team when he heard lead guitarist Jake Bosben jamming in his dorm room. They started talking and Jake mentioned his brother Cory Bosben played bass. Over Christmas break Jake invited Marcus to his home in Rochester MN. A week later they played their first show. Their name, Chester Bay, comes from the names of the home towns of the band members, Rochester, MN and Green Bay, WI.

 Soon they were joined by guitarist Mike Salow. They started recording at the McNally Smith College of Music where a friend of theirs was working on a production degree. The sessions produced a demo that the band submitted to the Land Shark Lager Battle of the Bands. After winning the contest they got a record contract and a full page write up in the March 2010 issue of Rolling Stone. Marcus’s reaction to being able to go to a news stand and see their name in such an esteemed publication was “Pretty Cereal.” (sic)

Working on their second album they realized they needed more money to finish the album “how it should be.” Rather than looking for a record company’s support they went to the crowd funding site Kick Starter. The Kick Starter gained $6000 to finish the album which was released in 2013. In November of that year they recorded a show at Famous Dave’s BBQ and Blues Club in Uptown Minneapolis MN. They released the recording in May of 2014.

When asked about starting a band Marcus suggested trying to start a school group for people who play the same kind of music. His other suggestion was using Craigslist with as much care as possible. If problems were to arise you should be vocal and talk out the problem. See their Facebook page for more info and upcoming show dates or check them out on Youtube.

Dynamic Defensive Arts moves

By Nadine Sullivan-Nightengale

PHS Press staff member

Dynamic Defensive Arts is a self-defense school that uses leverage and redirection of force over an attacker’s strength.  Located in Brooklyn Park, they train real life self defense that involves many different techniques, blocks, and circles.  They also do taekwondo, which is for sport. They are hoping many people come to visit their new location. You can check out their website at www.dynamicdefensivearts.com.

Halloween Cartoon

by Ava Holsather
PHS Press staff member

How to make a Ghoul Costume

By Nadia Sullivan-Nightengale
PHS Press staff member

Supplies: One black hoody. One black skirt (or a pair of pants). White face paint  and black face paint.

Step 1. Put on the black clothing
Step 2. Spread white face paint all over your face.
Step 3. Put black face paint around your eyes.

Congratulations you are a ghoul.

QUIZ: What Halloween Creature are you?

Quiz by Emily Weinlick
PHS Press staff member

1.    What place(s) appeals to you most?
a.    Dark alleyways and rooftops
b.    Slimy swamps and sewers
c.    Your grandma's dusty catacombs
d.    An old and spooky mansion
e.    A eerie caravan in a thick forest
f.    A foggy cemetery
g.    Other

2.    Which would you rather eat/drink?
a.    Blood or animals
b.    Fish or lizards
c.    Nothing
d.    Anything from an abandoned refrigerator
e.    Children, mushrooms, or potions
f.    Brains or anything fleshy
g.    Other

3.    What would you rather wear?
a.    A tux and long flowing cape or a shredded plaid shirt and jeans
b.    Slime
c.    Dirty strips of paper
d.    Nothing, it would just go right through you!
e.    A simple black dress with a pointy hat to top it off
f.    Ragged clothes of any kind
g.    Other

4.    What would you do to spend your free time?
a.    Cower in a dark place and wait for an unlucky victim to terrorize
b.    Make your own slip n' slide out of slime!
c.    Sleep, sleep, sleep…
d.    Stroll through the hallways of your haunting home
e.    Boil a love potion to use on your next door neighbor
f.    Roam around moaning about nothing
g.    Other

5.    Which pet would you rather have?
a.    A bat or wolf
b.    A frog
c.    A mouse
d.    None, you don't really like animals anyway
e.    A cat, raven, or rat
f.    A skeletal puppy
g.    Other

Congrats on completing the quiz! If you answered mostly A's then you are a terrifying vampire or werewolf, if you answered mostly B's you are a humble swamp monster who keeps to themselves, if you answered mostly C's you are a lazy mummy, if you answered mostly D's you are a ghost or ghoul, if you answered E's you are a tricky witch, if you answered mostly F's you are a zombie, and if you answered mainly G's I seriously don't know whether this quiz was any use to you. Happy Halloween!