The Undergrads Are Taking Over

SACRAMENTO, Calif.-

"So you wanna be a rock superstar?

And live large, a big house, 5 cars, you're in charge"-Cypress Hill

Walk around a college campus and what do you see?  Students studying in the library, walking from one class to another, or even lounging in the grass areas eating lunch.  But The Undergrads are in the studio making music for their fellow college students.

The Undergrads, a new hip-hop group, consists of three CSU Sacramento students.  Darren Stowes, AKA Savvy, 23, is an International Business major. Julius Wellington, AKA Spiffy, 21, is a Theater Arts major with a minor in Communications.  Last, but not least, Isaiah Alexander, AKA Zayy, 20, is a Communications major with a minor in Government.  

Savvy is one of the talented lyricists in the group. "We want to make good music and make music that people can relate to", says Savvy.  Right now, Savvy is most dedicated to his schoolwork.  One of the group's principles is for all the members to achieve a 3.0 GPA or better.  He says music is more of a passion.

Zayy is also one of the lyricists in the group.  The members of the group come with their own talents and learn from one another. Zayy never wanted to be a rapped growing up, but always knew he wanted to perform.  He's participated in talent shows growing up and now is "blessed to be in a group with two other talented gentlemen." 

Spiffy is the producer, singer, rapper/lyricist and songwriter when needed in the collaborative mix.  His dream is to make this music gig his profession.  Once he's able to generate income from the littler projects, he wants to be in the entertainment industry.  He hopes to do movies and soundtracks.  Spiffy says, "I really make masterpieces than just regular beats."

This past summer the three students thought it would be a great idea to collaborate with one another and create good music for college students.  They had all been solo artists, per say, and seen each other in the studio previous, and thought this was a great way to spread their message.

GUAP Entertainment is the management team for The Undergrads.  They help with the musical process as well as book venues for the group.  GUAP's Facebook page states, "the hottest and trend-breaking company out.  We deliver entertainment for the people.  You want, we got it!"

So far they have performed at Club 916, located in downtown Sacramento twice, and every Thursday, they perform at Pangaea Two Brews Cafe, located in south Sacramento on Franklin Rd.  Pangaea is a known lounge where spoken word is performed as well as serve drinks and lunch time specials.

Their newest achievement was to make a theme song for Iphone's newest application called, Wikkit.  Wikkit is "a qr code reader, ticket scanning app and a social networking platform".  It works on Iphones as well as Droid phones.  Go to www.wikkit.com to find out more information. 

Club Dream played The Undergrads theme song on Saturday September 25, 2010, for the Wikkit premiere.  They got such a good response from the crowd, that The Undergrads will be shooting their music video for the song Tuesday, September 28 from 7:30PM to 10:30PM at Club Dream.

So far they have produced two hits, "Unstoppable" and "One of Those Nights".  To check out more of their songs, go to http://undergrads.bandcamp.com/.

Mexifornia-Two Worlds Come Together

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- CSU Sacramento hosted a lecture from Consul General Carlos Gonzalez-Gutierrez.  The lecture was held in the University Union, Ballroom I & II from 12PM to 1PM.  The entire lecture was to celebrate national Hispanic/Latino month as well as inform students of the Mexico/California relations.

When Gutierrez walked onto the stage, he first greeted the crowd in his native language, Spanish.  He then, translated it into English to thank and greet the audience for coming out to listen to his lecture.  Gutierrez was very humbled to be at CSUS and even thanked the big screen off of Highway 50 for giving him his "15 minutes of fame".

It's been 200 years since the Mexican Independence war, and Gutierrez sees this as an opportunity for California and Mexico to come together and help each other.  The Mexican Consulate in Sacramento has various programs and services for people of Mexican origin and Mexican immigrants, undocumented and documented.  Such programs consist of: English classes for free, marriage licenses, birth certificates and identification cards.  The Consulate in Sacramento has a jurisdiction from the border of Oregon to Stanislaus.

The Consulate also focuses on politics and taking a proactive approach to initiatives.  Two of these initiatives are the Cien (100) Amigos Group and Mexican Advocacy Day.  The Cien Amigos Group is an informal network, even CSUS President Alex Rodriguez is a member.  

He focused on three main points during his speech but the one that stood out the most was about organized crime in Mexico.  Organized crime seems to be an ongoing problem, centralized in six states, mostly in Sinaloa and Chihuahua.  Gutierrez said these groups are trying to take over President Calderon's administration.  Since 2006, approximately 28,000 people have died due to drug related incidents.

"This is a multinational problem", Gutierrez states.  He would like states like California and others that have a large population of Mexican immigrants to help solve the organized crime issue.

Everything the Consulate does is to help solidify a well working relationship to help the people of California and Mexico, to bring two worlds together.  

Abrakadabra

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- Remember your sixth birthday and your mom hired a magician to do magic tricks for you and your friends?  Then when it came to your turn to help the magician you started to cry and run to mommy?  Phlagleblast was just like a six year old's birthday party.  Phlagleblast was an event at CSU Sacramento, located in the University Union on Septepmber 15, 2010.  The purpose of Phlagleblast was to familiarize students with the different departments that students wouldn't normally come across on a day-to-day basis.  Some of the departments were the: ASI office, Police Station and the Information Desk.  

As you approach the Union, students receive a map/puzzle piece of the Union.  At each stop they learn what the certain department does and get a stamp on the map.  Some stations of Phlagleblast were: KSSU, on campus radio station, Mellow Me Out had a massage station and a taste-testing table for Muscle Milk.  The theme for this year was Safari.  

The Union looked like you had stepped into the jungle.  It was decorated with paper monkeys and leaves hanging from the second floor and paper statues of trees.

During my excursion, I found on the second level of the Union a magician linking chains.  He made the chains into different shapes, such as: a swing, a four leaf clover and a flower.

Dennis Loomis is the name of the magician.  He's been doing magic since 1970.

Loomis has always been amazed with magic.  At a young age, Loomis received his first magic kit for a Christmas present.  Magic was a hobby at first, but as he attended the University of Michigan he knew he wanted to make magic his profession.  Loomis graduated in 1968, with a double major in Psychology and English Literature with a minor in Dramatic Arts.  

His father wanted him to become a civil engineer and join the family business, but Loomis had other plans.  Both parents were supportive of his choice in career, however his mother was concerned with the security of his choice.  

Harry Houdini was his favorite magician growing up.  Houdini died in 1926, so Loomis wasn't able to see him in action, however he read a lot of books on him.  

At the start of Loomis' career, his mentor Dick Oslund, helped him to learn tricks and how to entertain people.  Oslund was a former magician, but took some time off to work for Boy Scouts of America.  Oslund lived in near by city and heard Loomis was interested in doing magic.  Once Loomis began his professional career in magic, Oslund re-entered the realm of magic and continues to do what he loves.  

Today, David Copperfield is his favorite magician.  Loomis met Copperfield when he was only thirteen years old.  Loomis has mentored Copperfield and even created an illusion act that Copperfield has performed. "He's a hard-working guy and very talented."

When asked what his favorite part of his profession was, Loomis responded, "Working with people."  He enjoys entertaining people and he says he likes the process you have to go through to learn new tricks. 

His two favorite tricks to perform would be linking rings and a card trick, where he tells the contestant to pick a card (2 of hearts, ace of spades, etc...).  On the back of every card is a name, like: Rose, Bud, Phil, etc.  Once you have chosen a card, he will tell you the name on the back of the card.  In this case, I chose the 2 of hearts, and he told me Phil would appear.  And what do you know, Phil was on the back of the 2 of hearts.

This has been the sixth or seventh year in a row Loomis has performed at Phlagleblast for CSUS.  They have even invited him again to participate next Fall.

Tutt Your Butt Off

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- All the kids are tutting.  If you don't know what this is by now, you're behind the times. "Tutting" is the new hip-hop dance craze.  People with two left feet, this is the dance for you.  Tutting is a series of mostly arm movements creating right angles.  Some dancers even got technical with the dance, and do what they call "finger tutting".  Finger tutting is where they create a series of right angles with their fingers.  King Tut and the artwork of Egyptians originally inspired Tutting.  

Tutting is also related to popping and breaking, two dance crazes created in the 80's in New York City.  It’s also related to turfing, which is a common dance technique established in the Bay Area.

Here's a link to see what I'm talking about:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uLJLvOrPc

Hip-Hop has four elements to it.  MC’ing, which is the act of rapping.  DJ’ing, the act of spinning records and creating new beats with old ones.  Graffiti, the act of artistic expression.  Lastly, breaking, the act of dancing using big and fluid movements with the entire body.

Josh Williams, 22, former Sacramento City student turned dance instructor, has been tutting for four months now.  He describes tutting by saying, "It's all about finding creative angles in the most difficult spot."  He's been dancing since he was a little boy, but at the age of 19 he knew that dance would be his career.  He hopes that one day he will be a famous dancer who will perform all over the world and is recognized for his creative dance moves.    

Williams and Guy Holmes III, 20, who currently attends Sac City, are dance teachers at KAST Performing Arts.  They're dance class is called "Goshing".  They incorporate both tutting and popping in their choreography.  They've been teaching this class since June of 2010.  

This is what "Goshing" looks like:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXGHdWpIEQA 

Holmes has been tutting since 2009.  He's been dancing since he was 16 years old and fell in love with dance at the age  of 18.  He aspires to be a well known dancer around the world and open his own dance studio with a competitive dance team.  Holmes says, "I dance for the love of it, the money is a bonus."        

This dancing duo has performed at four dance competitions with their dance studio, winning every competition.  Their new found popularity had allowed them to perform at this past summer's California State Fair at Cal Expo.  Their dance crew is called DMC "Dance Music Creativity, formerly NSA "No Stringz Attach'd".  They started this group in 2009.   

Tutting appears in the underground dance battle world.  If you go to any dance battle, you will see tutting. 

DMC has participated in about five or six dance battles.  A dance battle is a competition between several dance crews for bragging rights of which crew is the best.  Individually, Williams has participated in three dance battles, and even went to the final round in one battle.  Dance battling has been made famous with shows like "America's Next Dance Crew" on MTV.

DMC has auditioned for famous television shows such as "America's Got Talent" and is about to audition for a new upcoming show that Paula Abdul is hosting.

     

Their next performance will be at CSU Sacramento for the annual Organization Night, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, held in the University Union.  This would be a great opportunity for those to come out and see a new dance in its infant stage.

Run for Cover

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Everyone run for cover.  The thugs are on the loose.  What happened this past Second Saturday was a tragedy.  Victor Hugo Perez Zavala, 24 was shot in front of Streets of London pub located on J St. and 18th St.  The gunman has not been identified and is still on the loose.

Click on the link to see what the Sac Bee had to say: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/09/13/3024285/sacramento-mayor-johnson-vows.html

The TV news coverage was one that was very vague.  They continuously played a clip of a group of African Americans standing around while police were trying to tame the crowd.  I even saw a clip of a young African American lady being held back from another young lady as if she were trying to start an altercation.  The following clip I saw was of the manager of Streets of London saying how she had never seen a crowd like this before and she was scared of what's to come of the next Second Saturday.

y question is, why did the TV media portray the event like this?  Are they implying/speculating that the gunman was an African American?

If one had not been to a Second Saturday before, one would think it was a typical Chico party night plus an overload of African American thugs.

The comments on the Sac Bee's article also does not help the situation of the underlying tone that African Americans are thugs and cause such great events to be shut down.  A comment by Hans Brix to say, "Leave it to the ghetto folk to ruin the party for everyone..."

What does it mean to be ghetto?

Another comment made by Suburbanite was, "Gold teeth and baggy clothing is all I saw on the news."

Is it not a common theme in Hip-Hop/Rap videos to see gold teeth and baggy clothing?

I'm simply saying, the news media, especially television, needs to take a second look at how they portray certain news stories.

Mid-town is not an unsafe place, and the patrons of the city who attend these types of events, go to bars/clubs or ride their bike in this neighborhood are not vigilantes.

This tragedy could have happened any other day.  It could have happened at a club after the club was letting out.  It could have happened in South Side Sacramento outside of a liquor store.  Would it have made the front cover of the paper?  Would people be talking about shutting down the liquor store because customers were scared to shop their anymore?

Take a look at the video.  Tell me what you think?

http://cbs13.com/local/sacramento.shooting.second.2.1908596.html.  Click on the video to the right of the article to view the clip.

Virgo Week

SACRAMENTO, Calif.- The first week of the last semester attending CSU Sacramento was all of what I expected.  Teachers do their usual: talk about themselves and how they ended up at CSUS.  This usually takes the entire class time, which by the end all the students are drained and distracted by the thoughts of what they’re going to do for the weekend.  The truth is students don’t really care to hear the professor’s life story.  Seniors especially.  We want to get in and get out as quick as possible.       

 Just like most seniors I’m taking the minimum of units (12), so I can obtain financial aid and still have a life outside of school.  Monday is Jour 131-Column Writing, Tuesday and Thursday is Jour 158-Minorities, Social Progress and the Media and Engl 180-African American Poetry and Friday is Mktg 125-Advertising.  I have to take the African American Poetry class for my writing intensive and the Advertising class for my major requirements.  I’m taking the two journalism classes to better my writing skills.  In the Public Relations field, you must be a good writer.  And as a graduating senior, I am determined to find a job that I will make good money.  

This is my last semester, I have to make it the best one and go out with a BANG!     

This BANG started on Wednesday, by celebrating my best friend’s 25^th birthday.  We ate at Thai Basil on J St. downtown.  The food was excellent as well as the customer service.  Then we headed back to the bestie’s house and had a 90’s karaoke night with songs from: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Coolio, Brandy, and many more.  The main attraction was a performance by the birthday girl, singing Erkyah Badu’s “Tyrone”.  It was priceless!  Coming soon in a Youtube clip near you.

Finally Friday came around.  I got out of class early, which was a shock, I didn’t have work and that night was my birthday reggae bash.  I was turning 22 years old.  The whole day was mine to get ready for the festivities of the night.  First thing on my checklist was to get my make-up done at the Mac counter of Nordstrom.  Next, all the girls met at my place to get ready.  My childhood best friend drove down from Chico just for my special day.  Lastly, we were on the road to Capitol Garage on K St. and 15^th St. downtown Sacramento.  Friday nights they play Reggae. 

As soon as we stepped inside, I felt like I was in Jamaica in a hut that resembled a club.  About hour into it, all of my friends were there and we were tearing up the dance floor doing the dutty wine and the thunderclap; imitating every reggae/dancehall music video we have ever watched.  It’s going down in the books as a night to remember.

I hope next year tops this year.  Vegas anyone?    

Now that the week is over and a new one approaches, a new adventure begins.  What will happen this week?