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The CU Sizzler! sarcastically reports "everything you need to know" about Champaign-Urbana's gossip scene.
When I was a kid, I loved Star Wars. I had pretty much every collectible known to man. I had the movies, the soundtracks on vinyl, the action figures, bed sheets, curtains, talking Ewoks…all of it. My first word as a baby was “Yoda." I had a severe mental complex that had me thinking that I was actually Luke Skywalker bulls-eying womp rats on Tatooine for much of my childhood. I lived and breathed Star Wars.
I eventually grew out of my SW phase and moved on to more sophisticated movies like The Wizard and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but every now and then, my brain will snap and I’ll see the world in Star Wars vision again. This week, I took a hard look at the Champaign-Urbana local music scene and made stunning comparisons of people in our local universe to people in the galaxy far, far away.
It was previously reported that the likeness of Ryan Groff, frontman for local band Elsinore, had appeared in an elderly woman’s morning breakfast. Now, another story regarding Groff has surfaced.
Last week, our C-U Siz reporters have retrieved this video of Groff apparently writing new solo material while communicating with geese at a local park. He appears in the video to be taking inspiration from the friendly fellows:
Story is developing.
Since 2005, WPGU and Buzz have presented the Champaign-Urbana Local Music Awards, a festivity to celebrate excellence in the music scene. Nominees are selected and then voted on by the public in categories such as ‘Best Rock’, ‘Best Hip-Hop’ and ‘Best Singer/Songwriter’.
Each year, the nominees have become increasingly aggressive in their promotion tactics and going as far as printing so-called ‘attack ads’ on their competition to sway the vote to their advantage. Our Sizzler! reporters have uncovered a few of the smear ads sent to voters this year:
Check out the madness after the jump!
Alright folks! Now’s your chance to do some sizzling of your own! Check out the picture below and comment on it. If your caption beats mine, I’ll let you have an autographed copy of the highly-acclaimed Hedlites album, Sum Racing, Sum Stopping.
A local all-girl a capella group is under investigation by authorities today as a video has been leaked to the media containing horrific scenes of abuse and violence. The group known as The Girls Next Door has been put on indefinite suspension for the video until further notice.
The 36-year-old group has a reputation for being positive role models for today’s youth and has donated millions of dollars to countless charities and organizations. The singing troupe is popular and well-known by many for their clean, “good girl” image.
Exclusive footage after the jump!
After a long year of what seemed to be uninspired performances, poor album sales and a very public rocky romance, Mike Ingram and his band proved to be victorious at Sunday night’s Great Cover-Up performance at The Highdive.
It had been well known that Mike Ingram did not fare well when it came to playing other people's music, as proven by previous Cover-Up performances: he instigated a riot which resulted in the deaths of 15 people, including a 96-year-old woman, at a packed Highdive in 2006 by performing songs from the band Live. The infamous performance later became known as “The Day The Cover Band Died.” A similar incident the following year forced the band to end earlier than expected, due to several protestors arrested for destructive behavior while watching the Mike Ingram Band perform as Bush.
New Year's Eve proved to be a little harsh on local MC/rapper Edwin “Krukid” Ruyonga, who indisputably won the title of "Most Inebriated." Our sources say that good ol’ Eddie, much like his “Barcrawl Anthem,” had only one purpose that night — to get “f*cked up."
In an event similar to what happened to Milli Vanilli in 1989, local funk and soul group Beat Kitchen received a stunning backlash from fans at their concert earlier this month after an apparent “audio error."
Seconds into their song “People Say," lead singer Brandon T. Washington made a motion to someone off stage that he was having some type of difficulty. Moments later, there was a noticeable skip in audio while Brandon and his rhythm section continued to play, oblivious to the glitch. The audio track then proceeded to speed up and wind down in reel-to-reel tape fashion to an end. By that point, Brandon expressed discomfort, gave a waving motion indicating that there was some kind of malfunction, and signaled the end of the evening with the rest of band looking on in disbelief.
Champaign, IL – The subject of international offshore outsourcing has been widely debated by marketing experts. The idea of sending local work to cheap labor in developing countries such as Mexico, India and Malaysia is being argued as a fast way to save time, money and resources to further advance corporate companies. A new idea that has taken popularity is importing local music from these developing countries.
Popular local bands such as elsinore, Shipwreck and Darling Disarm have admitted to using such tactics of outsourcing to help them write more music for their live performances and recordings.
Elsinore frontman Ryan Groff stated, "Outsourcing is not a religion. […] It is a clue if everyone else does it that it should be something which you should consider." Groff's solo album recorded this year received much criticism due to having seven of the eight tracks written by an Indian sweatshop.
Other local musicians have remained silent on the issue.
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