Can rap and education exist together?

I'm a little late on this one, but I saw a blog post on Detroit Metroblogs that highlights a new music CD from a local artist. The post isn't exactly what you expect as the artist, Mr. Duey, is actually a teacher and it's an educational rap CD. There's really nothing special about the music but it does sound like it was produced semi-professionally. He has different songs about fractions, and latitude and longitude, and verbs. You can check out some of the songs on his website. What's really funny, is he has a video of the Fractions song on YouTube. You can check it out below. I guess you can't fault him for trying to get kids excited about their education.

Switchfoot and Beyonce are quite the pair

I got a chance to see Switchfoot perform at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI over the weekend. At one point during their set they broke into the beginning of Crazy In Love, a song by Beyonce. They eventually broke into another song which was in the same key, but it was quite entertaining and it even made me laugh. You just didn't expect it. What's even funnier, the group covered the song in it's entirety for a Yahoo music session a few years back. Here's the full version for your enjoyment (and laughs):

Dave and Chuck the Freak take me on a Journey

I was listening to The Morning X with Dave and Chuck the Freak this morning on 89X and they were talking about this cover band on YouTube called The Zoo. I didn't catch the entire discussion they had, but I tuned in just in time for them to play a couple of the video's on air. I didn't understand the fascination with the band until I heard the lead singer, Arnel Pineda, start belting out a song by Journey, then Bon Jovi, and then Sting. He sounded just like these guys. He could mimic most of them perfectly.

I was so interested in listening to more, so I searched around for the videos tonight. In my search, I found that a member of Journey ended up contacting the lead singer after seeing and hearing the videos. He actually wanted to bring in Pineda from the Phillipines to audition as the lead singer. As it turns out, Pineda is now touring with the group and a new album is in the works. Here's a clip from CNN Headline News that tells about the story.

I even found a video of one of their first performances together. It's kinda freaky. It's just like the movie with Mark Wahlberg in it. Usually, movies are inspired by true stories, but instead, this is a story inspired by a movie. Just plain weird.

Here's one of the cover songs the band put up:

The Cold War Kids comment on Detroit scandal, kinda...

I was reading a Detroit Free Press editorial on the current political mess here in Detroit and caught a pretty amusing comment string that followed the article. Here's the original comment by user OctopiAlley:

The whole city, region and state are being Hung Out to Dry after the Mayor has already fleeced the public, his family values and the image of Detroit... Gov Jenny needs to stand up and break ranks unless it's a united front for different reasons.

Now, the comment in and of itself isn't amusing. It's the fact that the user followed up his comment with another one 6 minutes later with the following:

Cold War Kids - "Hang Me Up To Dry"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrrGKR8Xii4

It's as if the user thought of the song right as he posted the original comment and then went out to YouTube to find the song so he could share it with everyone. That's the amusing part to me. Here's another version of the video by the Cold War Kids if you'd like to check it out:

89X and Rides Again kept me in my car

I was listening to Detroit's New Rock Alternative, 89X, on the way home from a friends house today and a new song caught my ears right before I got out of the car. I liked it enough that I stayed to listen to the entire song before going inside. It was song called Infected from a group named Rides Again, an alternative rock trio out of Ontario, Canada.

Before I started listening to XM Radio, my car radio was typically tuned to 89X. It is actually a Canadian based station that delivers modern and alternative rock to the metro Detroit area. They sometimes feature music that isn't completely mainstream yet, including more local acts like Rides Again.

The song I listened to today really reminded me of Hoobastank with some really great, driving guitar hooks and riffs. What's really funny, is when I went to look up the band, I couldn't remember the name of the group. Their name sounds a lot like Rise Against, so I was looking for the song under their name, obviously with no luck. I finally went to 89X's web site and found what they were playing. The band recently added the song to YouTube: