Issue #2

Primus

Written by Andrew Marques

I love weird music. But how do you define weirdness? You don’t usually define it, you just know it when you hear it and Primus take weirdness to new and unusual levels. First of all, what is Primus? The answer to that is simple: Primus is a band. A trio, in fact. What kind of music do they play? That is a much more difficult question to answer. If I had to guess: Psychedelic Funk Rock with a lemon twist and a dash of Metal. They’ve had highs (Pork Soda) and lows (Antipop) and continue to stride forward, unabashedly bouncing, shredding and pounding their way through all known catastrophe and calamity. They’ve tasted popularity, been the idol of millions and yet have managed to maintain their creative soul and unique personality. This is no small feat in this age of manufactured pop and arena rock bullshit. When asked what kind of band Primus is I simply say “Primus” because that’s what they are.

They’re not a Metal band (though they’re heavier and thrashier than Metallica when called upon) and they’re not funk (but Bootsy Collins is probably green with envy at Les Claypool’s thumping bass lines.) They can play both these genres and many more, but their sound remains simply Primus.

The setup is not all that unique. A guitar, some drums and a bass with vocals splashed here and there. What’s so special about that? What’s special is the players. Tim Alexander’s drumming is fierce, precise and sharp as a tack. In terms of capability behind the kit, he’s up there with drummers like Danny Carey of TooL and Dale Crover of the Melvins, though his style is nothing like either of those two. Larry Lalonde’s guitar can go from funky tweaks to metallic crunches to Zappa-esque soloing madness in the space of a second. His style takes it’s cues from all of the aforementioned (Funk, Metal, Zappa) and combines numerous playing techniques to form his left-of-center riffage.

The center of Primus’s music, though, is, without doubt, Les Claypool’s bass. Not content to sit in the background, the sound jumps up and grabs you by the throat. It bounces, it thumps, it rumbles and it pops, once you’ve heard it you will always know it and it will always be a part of you. It is this sound that defines Primus more then anything else. Great as Lalonde and Alexander are, they will always be over shadowed by Claypool and his incredible bass work.

The music that these three men create is certainly weird, but it is Les Claypool’s nasally voice and genuinely bizarre lyrics that give Primus songs their character. And they’re filled with characters. It’s as if Claypool lives on another planet and comes by from time to time to let us all know what’s going on there. Professor Nutbutter, John The Fisherman, Tommy The Cat: All of these characters have surfaced at one time or another in Claypool’s music, each one bringing an odd tale or adventure to spice up the mix.

Primus hasn’t recorded new material since 2003 and all of their members are involved in numerous side projects. Claypool is an accomplished solo artist and performs with various ensembles of his friends and allies, Lalonde just recently finished a stint with Serj Tankian’s band, The F.C.C. (Flying Cunts of Chaos) and Alexander has his Fata Morgana project, in which things take a very dark turn.

Despite these busy schedules, Primus re-unites here and there to tour. These tours often take the structured music of their records into new and unexplored regions of jams, to great success. Primus doesn’t kick out the jams; it builds them up into colossi: mountains of music and oceans of sound that they then navigate like intrepid explorers. Is Primus weird? Definitely. Do they sound like any other band out there? Probably not. Does Les Claypool have carpal tunnel? Almost certainly. Should you listen to them? Yes, yes and yes.

Obama Closes Guantanamo Bay

Written by Jared Laird

We were all there watching Obama as he was inaugurated, and it was pretty amazing to watch history be made, except for Chief Justice John Roberts messing up. But that’s no biggie.

Since Obama’s inauguration he’s already starting to make some major changes. For example he’s signed orders to close Guantanamo Bay. When I read on CNN that Obama was closing Guantanamo Bay, it made me think, “How did we get a base there in the first place?” I did some research, and apparently way back in 1903, when the US and Cuba were allies, they signed a lease for that area. Then in 1934 the U.S. and Cuba signed a perpetual lease. The U.S. still continues to send money to Cuba. The most recent payment was $4,085. But Cuba hasn’t cashed the checks for some time. They think the lease is illegal, but they’re stuck with it because the lease can only be terminated by mutual consent, meaning both nations have to want to end it.

One of the big reasons why the previous governments wanted to keep Guantanamo Bay is because it’s not on U.S. soil. Meaning U.S. laws don’t apply there. So detainees could be tortured and not given a fair trial.

Obama also signed an order banning the, “harshest interrogation methods” meaning now all interrogations must go by the U.S. Army Field Manual, which is being renamed The Manual for Government Interrogations. Dennis Blair, Obama’s pick to oversee the nation's intelligence agencies, said that the new Manual for Government Interrogations would be reviewed for possible change. It now outlines 19 legal techniques and bans nine. This isn’t all of what Obama's done, he’s done more and we can expect more promising actions in the future.

Parenting, Pleasant or Painful?

Written by Gracie Morton

Rebecca Morton is fifty-one with three kids. Why three? She said “because I wanted to see if the second one would be better than the first, but the third wasn’t any better so I gave up”. Three kids is an exceptional amount of work, so I asked her what was the hardest thing she had experienced being a mom with three children. “Pushing out a ten pound baby with no pain medication” she replied. What is the easiest? “When they visit their grandparents,”

I questioned if she dreamed of being a parent when she was younger and she said “If only I knew what I know now I would’ve spent a little more time making that decision.” I wondered if she disciplined her kids, she nodded like I was stupid. “I tell them if they do that again they’re going to grow up to be like me”. Finally, I asked what she was going to do after her kids are out of the house. “Change the locks”, she answered with a smile and a giggle.

Keep it Simple, Stupid: There’s Nothing Wrong With Boom-Chuck

Written by Josie Olney

Most people I know can easily pick their favorite Beatle: Paul for his active and melodic bass lines and pop sensibility; John for his roughness and badassery; George for his shy presence in the band; almost nobody picks Ringo. I like to think of the Beatles as my four precious children, and all my love is spread evenly between them, but I must confess to a certain soft spot for Ringo, being the most underrated of them all. Way too many times have I heard him ridiculed, for both his personality and his drumming. I will not tolerate any such criticism, because most of the time it’s the product of ignorance and vast underestimation of Ringo’s importance to the Beatles.

First, people talk as though a basic and simple drumming style is a bad thing. There’s no arguing that basic drumming is what Ringo does, but he’s damn good at it, and there is endless creativity and variety of his beats and patterns within that simple structure. He’s not a rigid drummer, and he always played exactly the right thing to support the other band members, adapting to all three of their musical ideas and styles as they morphed and stretched the band. He was the glue that held the band together, keeping excellent time and providing a steady beat that sometimes is the only thing keeping John, Paul, and George from falling apart.

In the studio, Ringo has been reported to be the most consistent and reliable one, almost never being the cause of musical breakdowns, which the other, more glorified band members were at fault for much more often. His modesty is also often spoken of, with his less-is-more approach to drumming complimenting the music the other Beatles wrote, rather than searching for glory for himself. Drum solos were never something he wanted, and he had to be persuaded to do the only one he ever did with the Beatles (it’s on “The End,” at the end of Abbey Road, for those who are curious).

And then there’s his personality, which completes the band. People say that anybody could have taken Ringo’s place without much consequence to the Beatles, which is dead wrong. Without Ringo, the Beatles would not have been the Beatles, and Lennon stated after the band’s split that Ringo was the “underappreciated soul” of the group. His comic persona added a certain humor and affability to the group’s character, and his easygoing personality had a calming effect on the other strong personalities of the band, and often eased tensions between them in the later years.

Ringo’s influence on other drummers has been considerable, with many citing him as an influence. Among them are Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters, Orri Páll Dýrason of Sigur Rós, Max Weinberg of the E Street Band, Danny Carey of Tool, Liberty DeVitto of Billy Joel's band, Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden, Eric Carr of Kiss, Phil Rudd of AC/DC, Phil Collins, Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater.

Admittedly, Ringo’s not so hot either as a songwriter or a solo artist, but his drumming and presence takes up a huge space in the Beatles and in popular music as a whole. He is an undervalued gem of a rock icon, and is a fantastic representation of less is more.

Profile: Kellen Fujimoto

Written by Alex Kahn

Kellen Fujimoto is a student at PSCS and is planning to graduate this year. He has a deep involvement in the world of Parkour. Parkour is a fairly new martial art/sport. The easiest way to describe Parkour is an activity of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using the abilities of the human body. This proves to be harder than it seems. The art of Parkour becomes a new way of seeing the world as new challenges.

Kellen has been learning Parkour for about two and a half years. Kellen been taught by Tyson Cecka a volunteer at PSCS for multiple years, recently Kellen and Tyson have teamed up to teach Parkour together at PSCS.

Kellen helps to teach Parkour at Northwest Crossfit, and is working towards becoming a certified Parkour instructor. When he completes the certification requirements, Kellen will be one of the first certified Parkour teachers in the Northwest. He teaches ages 16-30 with varying abilities. Kellen hopes to one day make a living from teaching or practicing Parkour.

48 Hrs.

Written by Tynor Fujimoto

48 Hrs. is a cop movie with no real unusual twists. Kind of vanilla, it's about Jack Cates, a drunk cop in San Francisco who has to work with Reggie Hammond, his former partner now in jail, to stop an escaped convict who tries to get away with stealing $500,000 that’s been stashed in Reggie’s car. And there is a time limit as suggested by the title: 48 hours.

It seems like Walter Hill (the director) tried too hard to make a cop movie that would stand out. I'll admit, the movie did come out in 1982, so maybe I have an unfair perspective on cop movies (I’ve seen a lot before this one). They may have been hip and new in the early '80s. But I highly doubt it. True, it has Eddie Murphy, so it was funny. But it would be more worth your money to see another Eddie Murphy movie. I would not advise anyone to see this movie unless you are a cop movie fanatic. It did not impress me in the least

Issue #1

Editors of this issue: Alex Kahn and Gracie Morton

A Site to Remember

by Alex Kahn

PSCS has recently relocated to a new site. Students and staff alike seem to enjoy the upgrade from U-Heights. This great new change in scenery has sparked new energy within the school environment. The furnishings of the new school are much better than the previous site. Examples of this are; tables and stools in the common area, which have been great for studying. There is now a projector that has been wonderful for presentations and seminars at school. Additionally, the school's surroundings have provided a new frontier for the community to explore. This new community provides new connections including service opportunities, additional space, and maybe even chances for more fund raising.

Entering the building is a pleasant sight. When you first enter, you see a window with regular glass and milky glass contrasting to spell “PSCS” with the mission statement (turning passion into achievement) underneath. Next you see a wood bench with computers and tables called the “Commons”. This impressive area provides the proper environment to work on projects independently or as group. Surrounding the “Commons” are rooms that are usually utilized for classes. The furnishings that inhabit the site are all new sleek modern designs, which gives a pleasant vibe. All the rooms provide a much more functional space than the previous site. They are more functional because you can have a room with a closed door which is nice, multiple large rooms for hands-on work, and additional outlets make the site run much better.

The surroundings of the school have both pros and cons. One pro is that there is a community center and library located within 2 blocks of school. The community center provides us with a gym that is quite nice and provides an environment to release energy and run around. A con of the new space is that the streets surrounding the site are pretty dirty and old and don’t seem to be improving, which is unfavorable to us. There are many restaurant options, however they are heavily weighted towards one category of food.

All in all this new site is a positive move for the school. It has new options and possibilities for students and the community as a whole to grow and thrive.

Frost Nixon Goes Deep

by Jared Laird


When I first walked into the theater, it was crowded. We looked around until we found a seat up in the front that didn’t have any big people sitting in the seats ahead. As the movie started it was kind of hard to catch on to what was going on, until about 20 minutes or so into the movie when you’re introduced to a character named David Frost: a small time reporter played by Michael Sheen. Then later on you meet the man who played Nixon, Frank Langella. As the movie progressed, I started to notice subtle facial reactions from the actors. For instance, during the interview you could almost read Nixon’s thoughts by the way he reacted, and the way he moved and the look in his eyes.

Also, the way the writers portrayed Nixon was interesting. For instance, in the beginning of the movie he focuses on David Frost’s shoes, asking his advisor what kind he thought they were. He went on to say, “They were too feminine.” This attention he had to small details surprised me. Someone with so much on their mind, focusing on shoes? 


Then the interviews started, and one of my favorite scenes came up. It showed Nixon’s advisors on one side of the room, looking over at the other side where David Frost’s researchers and managers were, and they seemed to just sit there glaring at each other. It was like a showdown between teams.

Something else I liked about this movie was that whenever Frost asked a good question that pinned Nixon to answer, the camera would go to a small room where Frost’s team was and they would cheer, then it would go to Nixon’s room, and his advisers would frown at the monitor. This technique served as a guide for people who didn’t really know the facts.

As the movie went on, the climax got better and better, and so did the acting. You could see the sternness in Nixon’s face and the intent in Frost’s. It was like that scene at the beginning where the Frost and Nixon teams were staring each other down and you wonder who’s going to win. As it came to an end, I was aghast. I didn’t think Nixon was going to tell the truth or confess to anything.

And as we left the theater you could hear people talking about what happened, and how it happened. There was lots of conversation going on. Overall, I’d give this movie 4 stars out of 5, simply because it mainly focuses on the Watergate scandal. Even if it was a big deal, it would have been nice to have them focus on other things that Nixon did wrong, like attacking Cambodia, saying there’s some, “communist headquarters” there when there wasn’t. Which was something like Bush did with Iraq, except he was looking for “Weapons of Mass Destruction” but Bush never found any.

In some way, I think this movie was released at this time to relate Bush and Nixon. Neither of them thought they did anything wrong, and neither will admit to it.

The Institution of Weirdness

by Andrew Marques

Album: Nude With Boots

Artist: Melvins


Genre: Sludge Metal


Year: 2008


Label: IpecacThe Melvins are an institution of weirdness. They’ve been around forever now, since 1983, I believe, that’s forever in dog years, right? Right. The band is more or less comprised of guitarist/vocalist Buzz Osborne, drummer Dale Crover and a random third member. Over the years, the band’s membership has been in flux, the inconsistent piece being the bass player. For whatever reason, the Melvins seem incapable of holding onto one for more than a few years at a time, and they’ve got quite a few ex-members.

The most recent departure was Kevin Rutmanis, also of The Cows and Tomahawk, who was booted out of the band for drug use, supposedly. This left Buzz and Dale in a quandary: what to do next, right? Being a Sludge Metal band, it seemed important to have a bass player to provide a weighty end to the music. But as long as they’re getting a new bass player, they thought, why not get another drummer as well. So began the latest era of Melvimania, the era of the double drums of peace. The new members come in the form of Coady Willis (drums) and Jared Warren (bass) of low-end Assault Metal duo Big Business.

Incorporating Big Business into their band was the best decision that Osborne and Crover have made in years as these two young bucks decisively augmented their already impressive sound. They’ve since released two albums with this new configuration, the supremely awesome (A) Senile Animal and the supremely bizarre Nude With Boots. We’re here to talk about the second one.



Nude With Boots is the latest release by the Melvins and it shows them to still be a powerhouse of Sludgy glory, a swamp beast from deep within the bog, come to ooze it’s way out onto civilization and take us back to a time when all that mattered was that your guitar could riff and your drums could pound. There is a sort of primal simplicity to their music and it doesn’t need to be complicated to be good. The Melvins are very technically proficient though, as is evident in the dueling drums of Crover and Warren. The pounding fury they generate is dynamic and potent, each one augmenting the other with their banging battery. The Melvins are one of those bands where you can actually hear the double drum sound, especially in the bass drums, which rumble and roll like nothing else.



Besides the drumming, the most recognizable aspect of the Melvins music is Buzz Osborne’s booming vocals. Melvins lyrics rarely if never make sense but, boy, do they take up space in the mix. On this album, like the last one, Osborne’s deep, resonant bellow is backed by each other member of the band, quadrupling the effect and giving the weighty vocals even more girth.

But a Melvins album wouldn’t be complete without the raging riffage created by Osborne’s guitar. It’s grungy but not dated, hardcore with more then three chords and it solos something fierce, but not in that masturbatory, egotistical way. Without it, the Melvins wouldn’t have a prayer.

The Melvins are not a Grunge or Hardcore band though, and Nude With Boots is considerably more jammy than (A) Senile Animal was. With (A) Senile Animal, each song had a very tight structure and that was only broken for the ends of songs in which almost every track dissolved into a drum battle between Warren and Crover.

But Nude With Boots is different, looser in many circumstances and with less of the grounded feel than it’s predecessor possessed. The jammyest track is probably the upbeat “Suicide In Progress” which begins life as… well… a jam, before changing tracks and devolving into the Melvins version of haunting minimalism, complete with Osborne intoning dark remarks about “little animals floating in the air”. The whole album has a more energetic (almost weirdly happy) atmosphere that has previously been unheard in their music. It contrasts starkly when weighed against other pieces of their work, especially the dark Pigs Of The Roman Empire, which was just about as menacing as you can get with the Melvins.

The finest moment on Nude With Boots comes with the thunderous screamer “The Smiling Cobra” which contains the chorus “There is no ending! And there’s no wonder why!!” which could very well be the finest description of the Melvins I’ve ever heard. Nude With Boots is an excellent continuation of the wonderful strangeness that is the Melvins, if you’re already a fan, you’ll love it. If you’ve never heard them before, it’s an excellent blend of their straight-ahead Sludge Rock and odder more experimental fare. Regardless, you should get it. Why? Cause I said so.

Heart Beats, Light Turns

by Gracie Morton

Heart beats in the stomach, behind the eyes.
Light turns to dark, day turns to night.
Lions hunt zebras, cats hunt mice.
Black and whites are nothing like pink sunsets.
Water is ice, water is snow.
Pickles and cucumbers are greener than emeralds.
Souls are in passions not in heads.

Falling Skies

by Gracie Morton

Falling skies make stars beastly.
Solid lakes make diving difficult.
Melted faces make expression nonexistent.
Loud sounds make quiet hard to hear.
Brick pillows make sleeping unheard of.
Sharp feathers make tickling tender.
Greedy devils make people give up love.
Real and fake make no difference at all.
Just like stuffed bunnies to rabbits make a child's imagination grow.

Drink before you Think

a review of Oasis Bubble Tea by Tynor Fujimoto

Bubble Tea. Who would think of that?

"Oh, lets put black-tea-soaked tapioca into a cold drink. But what do we call it?

 Hmm, well, the tapioca kind of looks like bubbles, and we do soak it in tea. Why not Bubble Tea!?"

The name is very misleading. There are a plethora of items on the menu; very few are actually tea. Even then, it's iced. When I first heard of "Bubble Tea", I thought that it would be like tea that you have in the evening to calm down. Except with tapioca floating in it. To my surprise, when I saw it for the first time; it was not tea in front of my eyes, but rather a drink that looked like a slurpy with black spheres on the bottom. It didn't look anything like tea!



The menu is huge, just giant. It'll have you stunned for a few seconds at how many different flavors you can get. There's iced tea, snow, slush, juice, and the list goes on. When you order, they also offer to add tapioca to your drink, which is the "bubbles". I highly recommend this as it is very tasty.



Another notable feature of the drinks is what they come in; it's the most unique cup I've seen (it's very tall and is made of plastic with a thin heat-sealed plastic cover). Maybe it's just a bubble teacup? It's fairly flimsy, but it holds a lot for the price (a drink is between $2.50 and $4.00).

 Oh, and it comes with a colorful large-caliber straw, just the right diameter for sucking up the strange tapioca pearls at the bottom of your drink.

There's limited seating but most people order to go so that's normally not a problem. They also have a pool table, if you enjoy pool. Bear in mind that you have to be 18 to play. Service is very quick, there's ordinarily only two people manning the blenders so if there is a large line then it can take a while, but if it's just you then it's just a minute or two.



Oasis is very good for a quick drink on the go. Very tasty, and there's enough variety to keep you coming back for more. Don't forget to shake your bubble tea before you break the seal or you will get nothing but the tapioca sitting in the bottom for a while.