Brown Boy

  There’s more to Brown Boy, a newcomer to the world of Chicano rap, than meets the eye.  The first single from his debut album, the title track from last year’s “Livin’ Shady,” was a track about cheating with a confessional tone.  It got quite a bit of radio play on Top 40 and hip-hop stations, but his true breakthrough came with the album’s second single, “Superman,”  which shot up the Billboard charts with a meteoric quality, and continues to grow with each passing week.

  Without a doubt, the California native is turning heads, and without the resources available to artists with major record deals.  Brown Boy’s story is truly a testament to the value of a few good songs.  Fellow rapper Mr. Capone-E, in a recent interview with “Pulse,” expressed his respect for the new kid on the block.  “The thing about Brown Boy…he just popped out of nowhere.  He came with a single, and people started requesting it—where people are putting millions and billions of corporate dollars into marketing to make an artist blow up.  And Brown Boy comes with a good song, and shows that there’s a fan base for it.”

  It’s a remarkable story about a remarkable man, who, early in his career, is taking his role model status seriously.  For some artists, hip-hop is their golden ticket out of a bad situation.  It is the one basket where all of their eggs are kept.  But for Brown Boy, his new career in hip-hop is just one of his paths to success.  I caught up with him and we talked a little about the other side—the little known side—of Brown Boy.

  “I have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and I was working as a teacher for two years, and I was working voluntarily with the probation department, where I was just hanging out with the kids, talking to them, trying to get them out of trouble.  And trying to get them to stay in school and stay drug-free,” says Brown. 

  Art is a fickle venture, and is generally not one to plan your retirement around.  I was struck by Brown Boy’s grasp of this.  “You’ve definitely got to have a backup plan.  You’ve got to stay focused and you’ve got to live [in] reality.  Tomorrow’s never promised, so you live for today, enjoy today.  But just in case it doesn’t work out, you have something to fall back on,” he says. 

  As a role model, Brown Boy’s primary message is the importance of a good education.  “School is basically the way to go.  Whether you want to do make-up or whether you want to do music—I mean, you’ve definitely got to go after your dreams, but definitely have an education to fall back on.  It’s the key.  Because when music’s done, I don’t want Brown Boy to be working at McDonald’s or working construction.  I want to have some kind of a career where I can use to focus back on the children coming up these days. They’ve looked up to me [as a rapper,] at the same time they can look up to me [if I’m doing] a different profession.  It’s very, very, very important to stay in school.”

  Brown Boy will be performing at the Too Hot, Too Fast, Too Low Concert & Custom Car Show this Sunday at the El Paso County Coliseum. For my full interview with Brown Boy, log on to www.lcsun-news.com/pulse.

-From Pulse
   October 19, 2006

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Boys of Summer

  The signs of summer are everywhere: longer days, baseball on the tube, restless teens ready for a break, and the smell of your neighbor’s barbecue blowing (at 70 miles an hour) into your backyard.  Freshly cut grass, water restrictions—you’ve gotta love it. 

  As spring fever gives way to the idle excesses of summer, children and adults alike grow more and more eager for a little fun in the sun.  And nothing—I repeat, nothing—says fun in the sun like The Beach Boys.  

  This weekend, the quintessential boys of summer will be taking the stage at Aggie Memorial Stadium for a Sunday evening show that’s sure to thrill the whole family.  The Beach Boys’ music speaks to the beach bum in all of us.  It transcends generations, and appeals to the teenager in all of us—that inner teen who is perpetually on a grail hunt, our quest for the holy trifecta of teen-hood: the fastest car, the perfect wave, the prettiest girl.  

  Generations of teens who have never even seen the ocean are drawn to The Beach Boys’ unique brand of surf music—and to the dream that lurks within it.  It is that dream with its mass appeal, and the group’s undeniable ability to capture it, that has given them 36 hits on the Top 40 charts during a career that spans more than 25 years.  With the exception, perhaps, of surf-guitar legend Dick Dale, no single act has done more to popularize surf-rock than The Beach Boys.

  In 1962 and 1963, surf-rock became the biggest craze to hit America since “The Twist,” and it would remain so until The Beatles stepped off that plane at JFK in February of 1964, marking the beginning of the British Invasion.  And while it may have been songs like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Surfer Girl” that put The Beach Boys on the map, I think that their strongest music came later in their career with the 1966 album “Pet Sounds.”  That album, masterfully produced and alarmingly introspective, broke away from the pop-surf sound that fans had come to expect from the group.  It is seamlessly arranged so that the album is greater than the sum of its parts, and, in my opinion, is one of the greatest rock albums of all time.   The scene at Sunday’s concert will be a genuine summertime bash, complete with tailgating, barbecues, and cold drinks.  It’s my understanding that Burger Time’s Kevin McGrath with be grilling up free burgers for ticket-holders, and new regulations at the recently renovated stadium allow for beer sales during certain events.  When it comes to welcoming summer, what could be better than a burger from the grill, The Beach Boys and a frosty barley pop?

  Tickets for the concert are still available at the Pan-Am Box Office or online at www.ticketmaster.com.  This Sunday, there is only one way to ring in the sunny season.  After all, this could be your last chance to see one of Rock & Roll’s greatest bands in your own backyard.   

-From Pulse
   May 4, 2006

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Convention Center Blues

  Las Cruces has no medium-sized venues for live music.  And for would-be concertgoers in Las Cruces, this problem is larger than they may realize.  While it’s been a problem for several years, it seems that we’re in no hurry to do anything about it. 

  As music director for Hot 103, I receive calls almost weekly from potential concert promoters who would like to bring more concerts to town.  Invariably, the conversation goes like this:

  Fast-Talking Promoter:  “Hey, look buddy, I’m really excited.  We’ve got this great show that we wanna bring to town.  It’s gonna be big; it’s gonna be huge!  Fans’ll love it.  Listeners will love it!  LAS CRUCES WILL LOVE IT!  All we need’s a venue…

  Me: “Well, um, how many people ya lookin’ to pull?”

  FTP: “Between 1,000 and 2,000.”

  Me:  “Hmm…Well, pick a date and start praying for good weather, because it will probably have to be an outdoor show.”

  I go on to explain the nature of our problem.  Hurricane Alley would be a good venue for a smaller show, but it only holds about 300.  The Pan Am Center would be a good venue for a larger show—between 7,000 and 8,000.  And there is virtually nothing in between.

  I say “virtually” because there are a few options, none of which are ideal.  Dickerson’s Event Center is an option, but because of the poor acoustics and less-than-ideal location, it’s better suited for wedding receptions and gun shows.  And there are various hotel ballrooms, but few can accommodate a large crowd and most are opposed to hosting a noisy concert that may run late into the evening.

  A week ago, the country band Cross Canadian Ragweed played a sold-out show at Hurricane Alley.  With a little advertising and a larger venue, they probably could’ve tripled or quadrupled ticket sales.  But there’s another side to that story.  Four years ago, LL Cool J came to the Pan-Am Center, and drew fewer than 1,000 people.  The promoter lost a ton of money on that show, which was better suited for a smaller venue.

  Which brings us to the idea of the proposed convention center.  Remember?  About a year ago, there was a lot of talk about it.  In fact, it seemed imminent.  It was going to be the best thing to happen to Las Cruces in years.  It was to revitalize the economy, generate tourism, and solve all of our problems.  What ever happened to that?

  I’m not in economic development, but it seems to me that a new convention center, located downtown, would be an enormous leap in the direction of solving two of the problems we are facing locally: the aforementioned, and the “downtown revitalization” issue.  Albuquerque’s downtown is constantly cited as an example of the proposed revitalization, and the city’s convention center—located in the heart of downtown and the venue for many concerts—played a big role it that. 

  Before the plan to revitalize downtown can move forward, we ought to revitalize the conversation about the convention center that never was. 

-From Pulse
   April 13, 2006

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