By: Conner James - MSTv

Between skateboarding, a new fashion line and now with a recent seizure scare behind him, Lil Wayne doesn't intend to slow down.  At all..

With only a few days passing since his hospital release,  he's back out promoting his new album, I Am Not A Human Being II, which is being released on Tuesday the 26th. 

Lil Weezy also posted a video to his fans on TMZ assuring everyone that he's doing well, gearing up for Tuesday's release and ready to roll with his all-star summer tour.

"I just want to say thank you to all ya'll for ya'll prayers and your concerns and all that. I swear to God I felt that love when I was laid up in that motherfuckin hospital bed. I want all ya'll to know that I'm good ... more than good." ,said Wayne in the video.

"Also I'm still going on tour.  America's Most Wanted and some of my closest friends in the game," he added.

But despite all his quotes, no spokespersons for Wayne could be reached at press time to confirm the actual details of the tour.

"Kiss my fist," Wayne said as he got up to leave. "I'm more than good. But thank you for real. Thank you to all ya'll out there for your prayers. I'm more than good. I swear to God, thank you."

Reproduced from the Advocate.com

Technically, Shinedown was on a 10-day break from touring, but Kerch was doing a string of phone interviews from Jacksonville. His fellow Shinedown charter member, singer Brent Smith, was on the job in New York, also doing interviews as well as meeting with the band’s record label.

From the beginning, Smith and Kerch worked hard to make Shinedown happen.

“Yeah, I live, breathe, eat everything music,” Smith told The Advocate in 2003, the year Atlantic Records released the band’s major-label debut, Leave A Whisper.

“I don’t know how else to live,” he added. “I’d rather be dirt poor and living on the streets but still be a musician. I don’t want that to happen, but that’s how dedicated I am.”

Leave A Whisper eventually sold a million copies, but only after lots of going the extra mile on the band’s part.

“We worked that album for three years,” Kerch, the band’s drummer, said last week.

At the beginning of Shinedown, Kerch remembered, “we were shooting for the moon but we had no expectations. You don’t know what to expect. And every day something is thrown at you that changes the whole game. The record business, come on.

The past 11 years it’s changed more than it has in the past 100 years. Trying to keep up with that has been a daunting task.”

That means the work never stops.

“We just put our nose to the grindstone,” Kerch said. “We said, ‘No matter what it takes, that’s what we’re gonna do.’ And, really, this band was built on interviews and radio.

“That was a rough time,” Kerch said. “But at this point these guys (guitarist Zach Myers and bassist Eric Bass) have been here longer than the originals. It’s the best it’s ever been, much more comfortable and easier now than it was then. I have nothing but respect for Jasin and Brad, but I don’t think Shinedown would not have survived without making changes.”

Following Todd and Stewart’s exit, Smith and Kerch worked with studio musicians to make Shinedown’s third album, 2008’s million-selling The Sound of Madness.

“It was a stressful time,” Kerch recalled. “That’s why we called it The Sound of Madness. There was a lot of craziness going on.”

The band’s latest album, Amaryllis, released last year, is the first Shinedown album featuring Bass and Myers. A year in the making, the musically ambitious, world-class production features a 30-piece orchestra in six of its songs.

“The songs needed it,” Kerch said of the orchestrations. “It was not cheap, but you have to do what’s best for the song. We go for perfection and try to capture exactly what we want. Each album is a very good picture of where we were at that time.”

Shinedown’s ambition remains undimmed.

“We want to play more places for bigger and bigger crowds. We’re putting on a show, but not that kind of show. We’re not faking it. We’re up there because we love playing these songs and we believe in these songs and we believe in this band.”

By:  Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent

It's not often when you go out just to sample a little something new musically, and have yourself blown away from the experience.  And like many coincidences, the discovery was made purely by accident.

This week I found myself with no specific band to cover for the column.  So wandering downtown Baton Rouge, with a list of all the bands playing the usual haunts, I ended up at The Spanish Moon to check out a band I never heard of called Body Language.

Simply put, to say I was blown away by the experience would be an understatement.  This high energy, mufti-genre music sounding group was a welcome change to the very generic and eclectic music Spanish Moon is known for  

The beats heard from the Body Language sets were a extreme mixture of all gone before, plus styles probably evolving to come.

However, making a statement like that begs for defense.  But being an 80's baby, I'm old enough to recognize their blended styles of electronic, new jack swing, experimental pop, early 90's soul and even, God help em, disco. (ugh..) Yet despite all these different genres, the foursome called Body Language blend them expertly and manage to belt out some great fun and danceable tunes.

From first glance, this Brooklyn, NY based band of old college friends are as diverse as the music the play.

Angela Bess is the lead singer, keyboardist and strangely enough, plays the glockenspiel.  Grant Wheeler plays keyboards as well.  Matt Young is yet another keyboardist, but also multi-tasked as a vocalist.  And rounding out the group is drummer and vocalist Ian Chang.

While the group doesn't describe themselves as a dance-music band, Bass discovered their knack for movable beats might be their niche.  Plus, it hit a nerve with the other members as well. 

"When we were playing live shows and playing a lot of our dance hits, we realized that writing dance music really speaks to us. So we definitely had to pick a side, and that’s what we chose,” she said.

But first and foremost, Body Language is a group of mufti-discipline artists who love being just a little different in the music styles they blend to define their band.  Accepting this makes it easier to take risks and explore the outer limits of musical areas they want to traverse. Be it dark and somber or bouncy dance beats, Body Language intents to tackle whatever piques their varied music interests.  Then, deliver their creations to a rabid and growing fan base.

Unlike most bands, Body Language excels in delivering a great and energetic live show; something the band strives to do based on past disappointing shows they've seen from other groups.

“When you love a group's music enough to pay money to see them live, you want a show. Well, that’s something we hit the stage to do,” Bess said.

Feeling that fans deserve only the best when they pay to see their favorite bands live, Body Language promises a regular set to thrill, chill and wear you out on the dance floor. 

From the applause the foursome received after each song, they didn't disappoint their fans.  Or a BL virgin, like me.

Discover more ab at http://www.bodylanguagemusic.com/.

By:  Alex Templar - MSTv Correspondent

Earl Scioneaux lives a duo life.  By day,  he's a recording engineer for Preservation Hall in New Orleans and works with a trad-jazz ensemble. Sounds of classic New Orleans pervade his everyday life and creative reach.

However, when the call of modern music fusion reaches his senses, Scioneaux becomes techno/electro artist and producer,  Madd Wikkid - the maestro of Matrix styled music!


Though hardly a superhero of his craft, Scioneaux has combined the classic music genre of New Orleans with the fast and furious sounds of today's electronic sounds, for quite some time. 

Culminating into his 2010 album “Electronola,” the brilliant hybrid was littered with local talent, well-reviewed and actually sounded quite cool.

Brassft Punk, a relatively new creation of Scioneaux, was designed to invigorating vintage sounds with contemporary technology.

Inspired by the legendary house/trance duo, Daft Punk, Scioneaux creates music using brass instrumentation, but digitized and synthesized to a sound not produced by any instrument invented after the middle part of the nineteenth century.

Scheduled to perform at the March 8th,  Buku Music & Arts Project on Friday, March 8. Its Bassft Punk's second major foray into a more live audience appeal.  The first was a live performance, last December at Preservation Hall.

In speaking about the evolution of his "identity," Scioneaux states, “Electronola was a project that brought the sounds of N.O. musicians into the realm of electronica. Brassft Punk is a project that brings electronic music into the realm of N.O. musicians.”

Reproduced from: NOLA.com

This weekend, Soul Fest brings two days of music from local jazz, R&B and gospel performers to Audubon Park and to the Zoo. The fest also offers soul food, plus a children's culture tent and wellness info.

Want to go?  Of course you do!  With a line-up to get your heart racing and great food to water the mouth, Soulfest intends to entertain and inspire.

So, make your weekend plans set for the soul!