by Sterling Preston<\/p>\n
BOOK REVIEW:<\/p>\n
Why is America So Fat?<\/b>
\nby Ben Kennedy<\/i><\/p>\n
Cover art aside, Why is America So Fat?<\/i> is less about the obesity epidemic in our country as it is about the corruption of modern day society. Namely, the corruption of the pharmaceutical powers-that-be. Following the premise that weight-loss drug Ephedra was deceptively targeted and outlawed in order to profit those in a position to influence legislation, author Ben Kennedy paints a picture of how the major decisions in America are made for reasons of greed and not for the well-being of our citizens.<\/p>\n
Referencing President Eisenhower\u2019s warning about the dangers of the Military Industrial Complex, Kennedy draws attention to a \u201cPharmaceutical Industrial Complex\u201d and examines how, \u201cas obesity continues, so there is a corresponding increase in prescription drugs used to treat these health problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
He presents studies that have consistently demonstrated the effectiveness of Ephedra \u2013 in herbal and synthetic forms \u2013 in helping test subjects lose weight, with no noted risk of negative side effects. He criticizes, and quotes the criticism of experts, those who drew correlations between the use of Ephedra and the deaths of several professional athletes.<\/p>\n
On an ordinary day, this book could easily be dismissed by the masses as a conspiracy theorist\u2019s soap box. But as we face an ongoing war in Iraq in which the Military Industrial Complex seems to be looming in our faces, perhaps Kennedy\u2019s theory is worth a second look. [whyisamericasofat.com] SP<\/p>\n
CD REVIEWS:
\n
\nDana Varon <\/b>
\nBack to My Roots<\/i>
\nTravel to Dana\u2019s MySpace page and fall in love. Instantly endearing, her somewhat bare-bones music offers an intimate take-me-as-I-am glimpse at her world. Not as raw as PJ Harvey, not as spacey as Hope Sandoval, the music is sometimes atmospheric in nature. In fact, Back to My Roots could be the perfect accompaniment to cooking dinner with a special someone or sitting in a darkened bar at 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon. Rocking the hidden-track remix of \u201cSwallow It Down,\u201d her debut video follows her through the streets of New York City, strumming her guitar and drawing you in. Slightly exhibitionist photos in her Pics section make you thankful she\u2019s not as wholesome as you might first think. Innocent? Yes. A prude? Thank heavens, no. Enjoy a refreshing departure from all the jaded, soiled crap you\u2019re probably listening to right now. [myspace.com\/danavaron] SP
\n
\nKariann <\/b>
\nIt\u2019s What Matters!!!<\/i>
\nThis cd embodies everything that I despise about the culture of Southern California\u2019s suburban sprawl. I think of whole neighborhoods chock full of houses that all look the same. I think of Fashion Valley mall. I think of the bubble-gum teenagers (wearing Ramones t-shirts and pumping out Avril Lavigne on the stereo) headed from those neighborhoods to that mall. To me, Kariann is a girl playing at rock star and she has the Glamour Shots-style photos on her website to prove it. She\u2019s baring her taught mid-riff in a pink cut-off \u201cPunk\u201d jersey in one picture, and then she\u2019s posing with an electric guitar and a short skirt like she thinks a rock star should in another. And get this: it\u2019s what matters!!! is supposedly a \u201cconcept album\u201d revolving around a \u201cbrief but intense relationship\u201d with a fellow named Matt in the Spring of 2005. A concept album? But hell, she\u2019s young, and the thing is, I was young once, too. So I write down all the things that piss me off about this album, and all the things that piss me off about her website, and all the things that piss me off about her MySpace page. And I do so knowing I could never submit that for publication. Because, somewhere, there\u2019s someone listening to this fucking thing on repeat while their heart bleeds. I once had a \u201cbrief yet intense relationship\u201d myself. I was probably even several years older than Kariann is now. And I spent half a year drinking wine, listening to sappy songs, filling pages of notebooks, reminiscing\u2026 feeling like quite the tortured artist. And if someone would have published the result of my agonized creativity, and some little pissant reviewer would have written a scathing piece about it, I would have been crushed. So along comes Kariann trotting into my headphones, and she puts out something that belongs on someone\u2019s stereo somewhere, and I know that I must say: K, you did a good job \u2013 it\u2019s a nice album. Just tighten up the photo sessions, will you? You don\u2019t want to look like you\u2019re trying too hard\u2026. [kariann.net] SP
\n
\nSharp Tooth Benny<\/b>
\nSilky Sounds For Reptilian Lovers<\/i>
\nMan, when I saw the cd cover on this thing I thought it was some sort of atmospheric trip. I was expecting to hear \u201cSounds to Go to Sleep By\u201d\u2026. some frogs croaking, crickets chirping\u2026 hell, I didn\u2019t know what to expect. All I knew was that I WANTED to know, which is why I grabbed it out of the big review box and gave it a spin. Instead of new-age sounds, however, I found something like deep lizard vocals and a heavy guitar groove\u2026 it was really a kick-ass surprise. As the disc plays on, I\u2019m now thinking reptiles in the form of snake-skin boots, which you wear driving your classic gas-guzzling automobile with fins so big the whole neighborhood drools when you cruise past. This is whiskey-on-the-rocks cocktail hour lounge music. It\u2019s not silky like Barry White – it\u2019s another genre altogether. Check out some sample tracks on MySpace, and if you dig it, buy the album. [myspace.com\/sharptoothbennyband] SP
\n
\nThe Chris and Joylene Show \/ Pupa\u2019s Window<\/b>
\nA Family Portrait<\/i>
\nHere is a record that perfectly suits its name. I don\u2019t think the music on this disc is the best or the worse of these two Maryland-based indie bands. It\u2019s just there, a frozen moment in time. Instead of getting dressed up and going to a photographer\u2019s studio, they practiced their songs and went into a recording studio. The Chris and Joylene show, a quartet who occupies the first part of this split record, struggle to describe their sound. I wish I had the room here to quote their \u201cSounds Like\u201d category on their MySpace page, especially since it won me over. Pupa\u2019s Window, more of a one-man-band, makes some interesting, weird music that would be more easy for me to describe if I wanted to compare the sound to other artists. But I\u2019ll pass, leaving you instead to wonder what the hell this is all about. Check out their websites and decide for yourself. [www.myspace.com\/thechrisandjoyleneshow \/ http:\/\/pw.thebeechfields.com] SP
\n
\nIn Every Breath<\/i><\/b>
\nHere we find three heavy metal-charged anthems in a sound popular enough to stand alongside radio heavies 30 Seconds to Mars and Linkin Park, yet off the path enough to compete for stadium-filled audiences of Filter and maybe even the Deftones. San Diego locals In Every Breath seem like they\u2019re on the way to something big. Perhaps we\u2019ll see them soon in the rock magazines, dressed in designer black leather suits, with songs featured on movie soundtracks and heavily requested by live nude entertainers at your local strip club. [myspace.com\/ineverybreathmusic] SP
\n
\nAri Lyon<\/b>
\nFive Steps<\/i>
\nIt breaks my heart to say anything less than complimentary about this five-song E.P., but at the same time I see so much potential here I\u2019ve got to say this. I was racking my brain trying to decide who this might appeal to when it dawned on me that I would rather recommend that Mr. Lyon consider revising the instruments he chooses to incorporate into his music. It\u2019s obvious he\u2019s extraordinarily gifted as a singer and songwriter, but some of the sounds I hear coming out of my speakers are dated. Were I not assigned to listen to this disc over and over, I wouldn\u2019t have finished the first track. Think of the genius Leonard Cohen, who had to go and fuck up some of his records with awful synthesizers that cheapened the whole experience and ruined songs that would have been otherwise beautiful. Find an edgier sound, Mr. Lyon, and you just might captivate the audience you deserve. [myspace.com\/arilyon]
\n
\nThe Lights Walk <\/b>
\nOn Razors<\/i>
\nHere\u2019s a mystery: A cd winds up in the review box straight from the New Wave 80s (and no DeLorean in sight). Its copyright notices are 1987\/2006. You go to the website they reference on the back and it points to a MySpace page for The Lights 2. If you try to play the songs on The Lights 2, you end up at The Lights 3. I have also stumbled upon a page for The Lights 1. Confused yet? I sure as hell am. The music, in case you\u2019re interested, manages to touch some real New York cool on one end of the spectrum and some mullet-style bullshit on the other. Are they a long lost band trying to make a comeback? Maybe the second track is a clue: \u201cI don\u2019t need any books to know your history\/ Don\u2019t need any clues to solve your mystery\/ On an old and dusty wall\/ Where the sunlight never falls\/ Something hasn\u2019t changed at all.\u201d [thelightsmusic.com] SP
\n
\nFransisca London <\/b>
\nNew Girl in Town<\/i>
\nPure guitar-driven pop shapes its way across your stereo with an album recorded in London by someone whose last name is also London. This may come out wrong, but do we really need any more artists who sound like they\u2019re influenced by Avril Lavigne? I think my neighbors are getting pissed; they\u2019re bumping their own music nearly every night now. Probably to drown out me trying to find something redeeming in albums like this. Someone with a voice like London\u2019s should be making club dance music. So please set the Fender down, Fansisca! You have a good voice, but you should really spare us your version of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll! Grab a club beat, grab a hip-hop beat\u2026 for the love of all that is holy\u2026 GRAB SOMETHING ELSE!!!! [fransiscalondon.com] SP
\n
\nWe Yes You No <\/b>
\nMusic For Beginners<\/i>
\nI could tell right away I was going to like this one. Music For Beginners is the perfect soundtrack for sitting in a dark room drinking directly from the wine bottle after a long day, the smoke from your cigarette wafting around you. Which is not to say that the music itself is dark. It\u2019s extraordinary, it\u2019s unusual and it\u2019s all the way from London. If you like strange music sometimes, you\u2019ll probably like this too. It\u2019s hard to be peculiar without being pretentious\u2026 odd without being foolish\u2026 experimental without being un-radio-friendly\u2026 but We Yes You No pull it off. The disc also includes a short documentary on the making of the album, and a nice movie of the boys thanking you for buying it. [myspace.com\/weyesyouno] SP
\n
\nVinyl Radio <\/b>
\nSampler<\/i>
\nThis disc found its way into the hands of my boss here at REVIEWER MAGAZINE as he was heading into the trendy Beauty Bar one night in March of this year. It\u2019s just a simple burned cd with a paper sleeve. On the front cover, the indication of its writing is written in blue permanent marker. As legend has it, a member of the band crossed the street to give it to him when he was outside the bar. Back story aside, it\u2019s good music from a now-defunct local band. These songs are bluesier than the ones I\u2019ve heard before, and they are just further proof that it\u2019s a damned travesty this band broke up. [myspace.com\/vinylradio] SP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Reviews by Sterling Preston BOOK REVIEW: Why is America So Fat? by Ben Kennedy Cover art aside, Why is America So Fat? is less about the obesity epidemic in our country as it is about the corruption of modern day society. Namely, the corruption of the pharmaceutical powers-that-be. Following the premise that weight-loss drug Ephedra was deceptively targeted and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[337],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-new-reviews-11707"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":404,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/12\/09\/13-days-the-pythagoras-conspiracy-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":0},"title":"13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy book review","author":"admin","date":"December 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"[book review]13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracynovel by L.A. Starks, paperback, www.lastarksbooks.com review by Sterling Preston The protagonist of this novel, Lynn Dayton, is an executive whose successful career has come in no small part from the determination to hoist herself out of the poverty of her childhood and to give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/pics.livejournal.com\/reviewermag\/pic\/0002237t","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":381,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/10\/23\/new-music-reviews-by-sterling-preston\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":1},"title":"NEW MUSIC REVIEWS by Sterling Preston","author":"admin","date":"October 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"NEW MUSIC REVIEWSby Sterling Preston Naked Beggars Spit It Out Presenting well-crafted rock n roll in the style of the 80s, Naked Beggars are a skilled group of musicians. Inga\u2019s vocals kick out a lot of soul - drawing comparisons to Melissa Etheridge - and traces of Lynyrd Skynrd and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2006\/06\/13\/william-h-kennedy-interviews-columbine-victim\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":2},"title":"William H. Kennedy interviews Columbine victim","author":"admin","date":"June 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sphinx Radio Interview: Mark Taylor (Columbine) Hosted By William H. Kennedy On April 20, 1999 Mark Taylor was shot by Eric Harris at Columbine High School. Mark shares his experience and points out that many of the people who claimed to help survivors -- like Michael Moore and the Red\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":377,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/10\/05\/pj-harveys-white-cchalk\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":3},"title":"PJ Harvey's White Cchalk","author":"admin","date":"October 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PJ Harvey White ChalkCD review by Sterling Preston With White Chalk, PJ Harvey sets down the rock guitar and learns to play piano. But don\u2019t be discouraged by the alleged disappearance of her usual raw electric power. Simply put, it hasn\u2019t gone anywhere. This album retains the elements of intensity\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":382,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/10\/23\/no-record-press-presents-the-red-anthology-of-hitherto-unknown-writers-book-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":4},"title":"No Record Press Presents: The Red Anthology of Hitherto Unknown Writers – book review","author":"admin","date":"October 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"[Book Review] No Record Press Presents: The Red Anthology of Hitherto Unknown WritersReviewed by Sterling Preston YOU CAN\u2019T HELP but love the idea. Think COMETBUS for the New Yorker crowd. Sort of, anyway. A group of good people up in San Francisco put their heads, funds & resources together to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":407,"url":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2007\/12\/13\/or-the-whale-and-other-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":391,"position":5},"title":"Or The Whale and other reviews","author":"admin","date":"December 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"New Reviewsby Sterling Preston BOOK REVIEW: Star-Crossed, by Linda Collison (Knopf) http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/lindacollison When Patricia Kelley stows away on a ship bound for Barbados, she plans to claim her father\u2019s estate there. Her native Britain is at war with France, and the merchant ship she hides on has been contracted by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}