CROSSTOPIX #6: Part 2 of 2

Hey Everybody! Welcome to part 2 of 2 of this week's edition of CrossTopix. Once again, my guest this week is Tom Maher of the Know Nothing Music Show which you can listen to at (http://knownothingmusicshow.podomatic.com) After a month hiatus, an all-new episode is now up! Very interesting read, please check it out!

BTW, to get you up to speed: There will be no CrossACTION this week and it is taking a hiatus as I have plans in the future to REVAMP CrossACTION (possible name change, not decided yet.) I'll admit, a few times it's been redundant/repetitive when it's mostly agreements, but get ready!

Check out Part 1 of this week!!
http://crosstopix.blogspot.com/2010/04/crosstopix-6-part-1-of-2.html
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4. What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to? What musician or band was playing and where was the venue?

STVO: I’ve been to a total of four concerts (one being only 30 minutes): Korn, Gwar, Fear Factory, and Collective Soul (the 30-minute concert.) In high school I was a big Korn fan and it was my first real concert. It was at the All-State Arena. I liked it a lot as I enjoyed all the songs that Korn performed and witnessed my first mosh pit. Two other amusing highlights from the show were the pre-show bands of Deadsy (who the crowd really hated) and Puddle of Mudd (50-50 ratio of like and hate) had their drummer throw a drumstick to the audience and the audience member catching it both times threw it back. Fear Factory was fun but not as memorable as the next concert I’ll discuss: Gwar.

Gwar was ridiculous. They had a guy dressed like a mascot-version of Mike Tyson and one as George W. Bush. They were castrated (fake of course) on stage as fake blood and fake urine was thrown into the audience. It was a very crazy but amusing show. This show was at The Metro. As for the 30-minute Collective Soul concert, it was nice as two members of the band were at the outside of the John Hancock Center and performed many of their popular songs. It was a “Free Lunch-time Concert” from 101.9 The Mix and you just had to walk over and watch. I’d say my favorite concert was either Collective Soul or Korn because I knew their music the most.

Tom: This is a difficult question since as I stated in my intro I am a huge music fan and go to concerts whenever possible but if I had to choose I'd say Sigur Ros in 2003. If you've never heard of them don't worry most people haven't but they are from Iceland and have a song in the movie Vanilla Sky. Their music is beautiful and it was one of a very few shows were at the end I didn't want it to stop and were I actually wouldn't mind following this band for a whole tour. After the show I actually waited and got the band members’ autographs, something I haven’t done since then. Anyways this was hard to choose since as I write this I’m going to go see an artist called Bill Callahan tonight (listen to Tom discuss it here!). Who knows, this show may be great and all of the concerts I've been to have been good in some sense but Sigur Ros just stands a little above the rest.

5. Being that we’re both from the Chicagoland area… let’s talk Chicago Deep Dish Pizza! What restaurant in Chicago or the Chicagoland has the best pizza!

STVO: I love pizza! It’s so bad for you but it’s so great. It’s the ultimate reunion or party food. Anyway, I’m going to have to go with Giordano’s being the best place you can go for Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. The mozzarella cheese is loaded in it and delicious. One or two slices will fill you up but you always want to save it for more. Runners-up include Pizano’s (a place where me, Tom, and other friends met “The Chach!”), and Nancy’s Pizzeria. Also a great down-town Chicago chain that doesn’t do Deep Dish but has some great pizza is Sarpino’s Pizzeria! It is pricey, but it is very good!

D*** That is making me hungry!!!!!

Tom: Wow, this is a hard question since pizza is a food I could eat every day. But if I had to chose it would be a pizza place in Chicago called Pizano's: they have an amazing thin crust pizza that actually gave me some tears. The crust is just right and -as the perfect crunch to it and all the flavors just complement each other just right. The runner up is Rosatti's which is a chain and there is one close to where I live so really it's the convenience of the restaurant but the spice's and ingredients and taste are great so when I eat their I am always happy.

6. Where do you see the music industry going in the next couple of years with the iPhone and online music programs like Lala or any of the other ones?

STVO: Well, a few editions ago we discussed movies/music going digital and that’s definitely where I see the music industry going. We will be seeing less physical formats for music (they’ll still exist though; I mean Rihanna has her songs on vinyl records!) I can see much more competition for Zune and iPod by other companies being started, I also see MTV/VH-1/Fuse/etc. trying to create their own music services to go digital and perhaps get music artists to do time-exclusive songs for their formats (similar to video games like when Grand Theft Auto 3 had to be exclusive to PS2 for a certain amount of years.) I think we can expect a lot of innovative and new features for how we listen to music this decade with the digital format: perhaps more independent radio stations being

formed, new artists using digital to become break-out stars, etc.

Tom: This is a topic that we've talked on and off for the last year on our show about. With the constantly growing array of services like Lala or Spotify and others, it's a great time for the music lover. What my co-host Tim and I see is that in the next five or so years the music industry will start to really change and unless the major labels want to be part of history they will need to compete with the Internet and start to embrace the Internet more and not treat it as a small part of the equation. I am actually very happy for this change because more bands with the Internet can self produce and that means more music for me to listen to and perhaps love so I fully and wholeheartedly cannot wait for these next couple of years

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That is all for this week's edition of CrossTopix! Thanks once again to Tom Maher of the Know Nothing Music Show!

Effective next week, CrossTopix will become one update with four topics for an easier read for all of you! It will also be easier for me due to other life duties, but don't worry, the site should be updated once a week every Wednesday unless noted otherwise!

Tune in Wednesday as future "MULTI-OSCAR AWARD WINNING/INSTIGATOR FILM DIRECTOR" Bob Reeks joins the discussion as we discuss SNL-based movies (including the upcoming MacGruber), sequels that sink movies/video games, and more!

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