So I just now got back from watching the new Michael Moore movie, "SICKO" and let me tell you how frustrated I am at this moment. I am so ENRAGED with what I have learned about "AMERICA THE GREAT." I am outraged with how our system works. Before I continue, I just want to urge EVERYONE out there on my friends list to PLEASE go watch this movie, "SICKO." PLEASE WATCH IT! This is one movie that could make such a HUGE difference in our country and in turn could end up being a very positive domino affect, if we all decided to come together and stand up for our rights! There is poverty everywhere, yes, however that could easily be fixed if we can start with one small problem.

After watching this movie I am left feeling INFURIATED with the American Government. The United States of America is the richest country in the world so can someone please tell me why we have the WORST system for healthcare??? Why is it that we are the only country without National Healthcare? This problem could easily be fixed, and if a less enriched country such as CUBA can offer free healthcare and services for the people there.....why are we not able to do that here in America???? Why do we throw the sick and the poor out on the streets because they can't afford healthcare or do not "qualify" for it? We are talking about saving people's lives here with such a small thing. I pay taxes....we all pay taxes but where is all this tax money going? This is such a rich country yet we are the WORST at taking care of one another. Don't you find it a bit bizarre that people have to PAY to go to college to get an education???? Why do students have to pay to get a better future that will in turn lead them into giving back to our community? Instead they get caught up in years of debt, hence leaving them in the rat race cycle of neverending work in order to pay off debt....not leaving much room for leisure.

Gee, I wonder why so many Americans suffer from Anxiety Disorders, heart attacks, high blood pressure, strokes...etc..etc...well look at our environments and communities. Look at the way people have to live with all the stress of paying bills and government not doing much to help us....but what enrages me most is that we all just sit here and ignore what is happening. The fact that we all sit here and complain, yet nobody stands up and tries to get together and do something about it. Change the way things work around here. Oh that's right...there's more important things goingo n in this world like Paris Hilton getting out of jail!!! That is what truly enrages me. So I COMMEND Michael Moore for putting together such compelling documents to help open up our eyes....to kill our ignorance and I commend him for trying to make a difference in this world.
Speaking of this world.....what IS this world coming to??? Larry King.....Larry King boots off Michael Moore, a man who is actually doing something to change the world, to have Paris fucking Hilton on his interview instead????????? Asking such newsworthy questions such as "So Paris, what did you eat while you were in jail?"""

Seriously....WHO GIVES A FUCKING SHIT! Who gives a fucking shit about Paris Hilton and what she ate in jail!!!!!! There are people out there around the world starving and dying and living in poverty, and there are a million things we can do to help raise awareness about this to help heal this world....yet our society stoops as low as doing a "PARIS HILTON" interview instead??????? I am outraged and saddened by the state of our society these days. I vow to try to do as much as I can to help change this world somehow...to give back. I vow to dedicate my life to helping as many people as I can until the day that I die. My life is not worth living if I lived it in vain. I promise you....I will do a lot to give back to our world. That is what fills me up the most and that to me is living my life to the fullest.

Sincerely,
Jess

PS-Amendment II
"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Ok so this means that if the Government is corrupt, then we the people, have the RIGHT to overthrow the Government. They work FOR US....not vice versa!!! But I guess people in our generation are sadly sitting around on their asses and not taking a stand!!!!! Gone are the days of REVOLUTION! Let's bring power back to our people!

PPS-Did you know that the biggest contributor to GLOBAL WARMING is...yep...you guessed it...AMERICA!!! And I DO NOT HATE AMERICA, however I highly disagree with how the Government is run. I love America and the people here. We are the compassionate ones. Not the Government.

I've been completely obsessed with the song "The Suffering" by Aiden lately. I know those guys pretty well, and hearing this song off their album EP Rain in Hell, which was released Halloween 2006, well, it gave me chills. I've always been a fan of Aiden, and its first two albums, Our Gangs Dark Oath and Nightmare Anatomy, contain some of my favorite songs. 

Anyway, after hearing "The Suffering," it's just so apparent the band has grown to a new level. But Aiden hasn't strayed too far from its original style which catapulted it into an underground fan-following, leading up to many successful tours and album sales. I just dig this song. I'd really like you guys to listen to it and let me know what you think.  I think it'd be fun. 

+44's debut album was released Nov. 14. In my opinion, the band will most likely have a strong carryover of fans as two of the members came from the Blink 182 trio (one of my personal favorites). They got me that way at least. Hehe! When Your Heart Stops Beating is a combination of punk, pop and synth rock. I totally dig it, and recommend checking it out.

I have been waiting for the culmination of this project since Blink broke up and there was talk of Travis Barker (drummer of both bands) creating a new band with a female singer. Well, needless to say, female punk rock vocalist Carol Heller dropped off the project, and the band is now comprised of Mark Hoppus (in my opinion one of the more interesting humans on this planet), Shane Gallagher and Craig Fairbaugh (who was also the touring guitarist for Barker's other project, The Transplants). Give it a listen…

The other night a few of the guys and me were on the road in a packed-out, sweet minivan (ha). I fell asleep, my face pressed against the window, while listening to Bury Your Dead or Darkest Hour or something similar blasting through the iPod. My brother's friend, Shannon joked that I'm the only person who falls asleep listening to death metal. Haha. I told him it relaxes me for some reason, especially on a plane or car ride.

Speaking of Bury Your Dead, the singer just left the band! Just like that. They had a tour coming up with Killswitch Engage and the Haunted, and it's done. They're off the tour and the band is now auditioning new singers to take Mat's place as the front man. Maybe I should try out? Or you? Hehehe. Anyway, my favorite Darkest Hour song is "Pay Phones and Pills" off the album Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation. My fave Bury Your Dead track is probably "Mirror, Mirror" off of Beauty and the Breakdown. I dig that whole album a lot. Damn shame the kid's leaving the biz. He says he wants to go back to college, become a teacher and marry his girlfriend. Respectable goals, I suppose. 

Okay so when I was a kid, I was absolutely head-over-heels in love with Rage Against the Machine. I never missed a show in the tri-state area, and was a firm believer in everything Zack de la Rocha preached. I think I dug the band so much because there were strong political opinions in every song, and de la Rocha was so passionate about his causes. Rage always had literature of whatever cause de la Rocha was standing behind, and the band opened my wide 15-year-old eyes to the harsh realities of the hardships other people endured across the globe. I immediately fell for them and have been a lifelong fan ever since. De la Rocha allowed me to take an active political role in causes I probably wouldn't have been aware of had it not been for him.

After listening to Trivium's latest album, The Crusade, I've realized part of the reason I'm liking it so much is because I see a little bit of Rage in it. Trivium's songs have meaning and purpose, which rules. When a band has a combination of solid tunes and songs with profound lyrics, that's just what gets me. I love The Crusade and recommend you check it out. 

So Amy, an aquaintance of mine, had her farewell from Georgia in January.. And now, Amy Dumas will be the front woman of her band, The Luchagors. It's comprised of drummer Troy, guitarist Shane and bassist Jake.  So let's get to it already, Amy's first exclusive interview about The Luchagors:

Alexis: How did the idea for The Luchagors start?
Amy: Basically these friends I know called my bluff on saying I wanted to be in a band for a million years, threw me in a practice space and put a mic in front of me.

Alexis: How did you come up with the name "The Luchagors"?
Amy: Our bass player, Jake, is kinda silly, and after about 100 names that we were like, "Okay, just stop." I'd get texts randomly throughout the night until he came up with The Luchagors, with a "just kidding" afterward. I was like, "No, I like that."  It is a combination of two words: "Lucha," meaning fighting, and "gors," like horror movies, which I've been a fan of my whole life.

Alexis: What are some of your musical influences?
Amy: 7 seconds, The Misfits, Descendents, Lunachicks, Juliette and the Licks. The drummer and the guitar player are big metal fans, so that kinda creeps in there, too. Jake… we won't even talk about his music taste. Shaq has some rap CD and he likes to play it, which he thinks is funny, but it is for 30 seconds, not the whole CD.

Alexis: What's up with the makeup?
Amy: Those pictures (on our MySpace site) are from our Halloween show we played where we all dressed up as skeletons. It's not something we plan on doing every show, but it was for Halloween. Shane, our guitar player, has done special effects on horror films, so we were all victims of his that night.

Alexis: When can we catch you on tour or hear your music?
Amy: Our stuff is available now on our MySpace, which is myspace.com/theluchagors13.
I don't think Troy's ever even turned on a computer, but Shane, Jake and I are the only ones running it. We don't have anyone managing it or whatever, so you know it's us. Right now we have had two shows booked in Atlanta, one with the Bouncing Souls and the Circle Jerks. We have recorded a full length CD and  are tour with that in the later spring.

Thanks for the interview, Amy. Good luck with everything. You're gonna do great.

Well, you know I always give you one of your fave Superstar's musical tastes at the end of each Bangin' and well, I decided who better than Lita to complement her interview above so here goes…

My most listened to song in my iPod is "Luxury Problem" by Lunachicks.

My fave CD to relax to is Esquivel's Other Worlds, Other Sounds, Best of Elvis or any CD from the Ultra Lounge especially, Spacecapades.

"A CD you would not expect me to own is Outkast's Speakerboxx and The Love Below double album. (I'm a huge Andre 3000 mark.)"

So there you have it. That about wraps things up. Next time, I'll have another interview from a band that's doing awesome for themselves right now, and another look into my awesomely, weirdly, strangely, enigmatic world.

Catch ya later punks.
Xoxo,
Lexii aka Mrz.Mattitude v2.0

A-Tunes for the Day
1.     "Weight of the World" (live version) – Blue October
2.    "Tears Don't Fall" – Bullet for My Valentine (It's my ringtone right now.)
3.     "Waiting Room" – Fugazi
4.     "Tara Reid is a Whore" – Head Automatica
5.     "Take this Bottle" – Faith No More