Stone Temple Pilots Reveal New Singer

Written by: Jarrett Crepeau

Neilson Barnard

Stone Temple Pilots is one of my favorite bands from the 90’s grunge era. They produced many multi-platinum albums in their time with frontman, Scott Weiland. Their debut album Core just had their 25th anniversary, celebrated through a remastered album and live song recordings. However, not everything was perfect. The band went on hiatus after 2002, resulting in the members pursuing other projects. Weiland formed Velvet Revolver with Slash of Guns and Roses. They reunited in 2008 and were together until 2013 Weiland’s long and public battle with drug addiction and creative differences with the band ultimately led to his firing. In May of that year, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington became their lead singer until he left in 2015 to focus on his original band. On December 3rd, 2015, Scott Weiland was found dead on his tour bus, shocking the band and fans alike. Now the band was on indefinite hiatus. Unsure of where to go from there, they released a contest in 2016 for auditions for a new singer.

A year had past with no public statements, but in late October, rumors started to spread saying that they had found their singer, but did not confirm who the mystery man was until November 14th, where they performed live at the Troubadour in West Hollywood with singer Jeff Gutt, wearing a sticker on his shirt that said “Hello my name is Jeff”. Gutt is a former two-time contestant of the American X-Factor, competing in season 2 in 2012. He left a notable performance of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah but was eliminated shortly after. In the next seaso, he competed again and placed second. Throughout his career he performed in many bands, most notably the nu-metal band Dry Cell, but never broke into the mainstream until now.

The fans warmed up to Gutt by the second song, “Wicked Garden” which was met with a standing ovation. Later on, they played their new song “Meadow,” and announced a new album scheduled for release in early 2018. The video (which you can check out below) of the song’s performance shot by Sirius XM now sits at over a hundred thousand views on YouTube. It’s safe to say that fans approve and are excited for STP to come back. While Jeff Gutt with never replace Scott Weiland, I think if Scott looked back at us, he would know his band is in good hands. So rest easy Scott. We miss you.

The New and Improved NBA Bigman

Writer: Caleb Akpan

Small ball is the norm for today’s basketball teams. Carmelo Anthony is about to play a full season at the 4, Kevin Love is gonna play center most of the time, and three-guard lineups aren’t at all out of the ordinary. Many would say this new normal is killing the league’s history of dominant post players, as everybody shoots 40 threes a game and maybe keeps one traditional big on the court at most, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. A renaissance is taking place for NBA bigs, and while their playstyles are definitely drifting from the eras of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and Shaquille O’Neal, it’s creating some of the most interesting players the league has ever seen.

Jesse D. Garrabrant NBAE via Getty; Jennifer Pottheiser/NBAE via Getty

Guys like Nikola Jokic and Kristaps Porzingis just shouldn’t exist, at least as basketball players. At 7’3, Porzingis can cross up centers like he’s doing the best Allen Iverson impression of all-time, which is fitting, as KP wore AI-style braids as a kid in his native Latvia to honor the now Hall of Famer. A terrible haircut choice? Maybe, but he’s easily living up to it with the moves he can make, putting the ball between his legs and pushing the pace as a ball handler with ease. What’s even crazier is that AI isn’t the only NBA legend Porzingis can emulate on the court, as his steadily progressing post game seems to be modeled after a certain thirty-thousand point scorer in Dirk Nowitzki. Yup, Kristaps Porzingis is a combo of an All-Star shooting guard and a seven-foot sharpshooting, post playing monster. After averaging 18, 7, and 2 blocks in his second season, he’s got a team all to himself to show off some more, and the craziest thing is he’s probably not the most skilled player in this article.

That honor might have to go to Denver’s Nikola Jokic, simply for the fact that he plays point center (4.9 APG in 16-17), a term that wasn’t really even a thing before the Serbian stepped onto the scene. Growing up as a point guard, Jokic has still got the magical touch he possessed in his youth, at least we assume it was always there, as you just can’t teach some of the passes Jokic makes on a nightly basis. What’s even more weird is, outside of his Steve Nash-esque passing and solid handles, Jokic is probably the closest thing to a traditional big listed. His body’s burly, his post game is patient and powerful, and he’s not exactly the fastest player in the NBA, but Jokic just makes it work. He can dish off a no-look or put up a slow hook, Jokic is a gap between the old and the new big man, showing what makes both playstyles so great.

One may say that Porzingis and Jokic do what they do thanks to the years they spent in European systems prior to joining the league, but American-born, college-playing players have proven to be just as unique. Anthony Davis came out of the Kentucky One and Dones as a defensive presence, but quickly mastered the mid-range and started taking his defenders off the dribble, finishing at the rim like the point guard he once was when he started getting recruited in high school. Karl-Anthony Towns was in the same boat when he left the Calipari crew in 2015, but he went even further and got a consistent game from behind the line (37% in 16-17) while still being able to dominate the low post and play the mid-range game to the tune of 25 and 12 last season. In limited playing time, Joel Embiid joined in on the trends, blocking LeBron James like he was former 76er and fellow African-born player Dikembe Mutombo, and hitting threes and clutch jumpers like fellow Kansas Jayhawk Paul Pierce. If Embiid can play more than the 31 games he played in last year, he could easily take over this new space of multi-talented big men the NBA is introducing to basketball.

Being a power forward or center in the NBA isn’t the same as it used to be, but that isn’t a bad thing. Big men are more skilled than ever before and are quickly filling up the lists of the best players in the NBA, and if they have the same influence as the dominant players in generations prior to them, the players that enter the NBA in the future should be taking some inspiration. The NBA can go as small as it wants to, but you can’t ignore these highly skilled fours and fives. As long as players like them continue to enter the league, the big man will never die.

IT Review

Writer: Felicity Veliz

I’m embarrassed to say I’ve always been scared of clowns. But, ironically, Stephen King’s It, I can honestly say, marked itself a place as one of my favorite movies of the year.

The movie is remarkable, considering the number of great films King’s writing has inspired; a movie that could be among the best adaptations of his work. There is a scene that is shown halfway through into unexpected gore that it’s almost impossible to not be jolted by memories of The Shining or Carrie – still, even after four decades, the best King adaptations.

The novel It is a large book that consists of 1,300 pages that are a useful source of thrills. Like most King stories, it’s a story about the innocence of childhood, and the aching loss of it; about the memories of the past and the trauma growing up.

The movie begins with a paper boat floating across the water. A young boy named Georgie chases after it, always a little too far behind. The boat then gives Georgie a slip–picking up the speed when he expects it to slow down and gets caught in the sewer. Then suddenly, we see a horifying entity appear inside the same sewer the paper boat got sucked into. After being gone for 27 years, the clown had chosen that day to return, and young Georgie, who reached into the sewers in a flailing attempt to find his boat, didn’t realize he’s staring death in the face.

It calls itself Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and with traumatic force pulls Georgie into the sewer. “We’ll all float down here,” It says, conveying the movie and books original line, “You’ll float too.”

Six months pass and brings seven kids together that call themselves The Losers. With the foolish bravery only kids in movies can have, they realize that they alone can get to the bottom of the odd events which only happen in their hometown, Derry. And because there have been other kids who have disappeared and the clown has been spotted in a variety of places around town, they conclude that the two ideas must be connected.

This is what starts the story.

The film is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a horror movie. And maybe even more. The movie has scenes and situations that happen to be very similar to JJ Abrams’ Super 8, Netflix’s Stranger Things, and any number of Steven Spielberg films. It has essentially created a genre we now associate with an entire decade.

It is at it’s best, ironically for a scary movie, when it’s not frightening kids every 15 minutes but when making the crowd laugh. Pennywise was truly frightening – every time he appeared on screen, and it’s just the right amount of time, the audience at my screening grew visibly uncomfortable. It, the movie, lives and dies with The Losers. Their carefully fleshed out stories, the bullying they endure, and the strong friendship they have helped them survive.

With It, the director, Andrés Muschietti, has made one of the greatest horror films I’ve seen. The film is heartwarming, frightening and will leave you in suspense throughout the whole movie. And having all three in one doesn’t get better than that.

It floats. You’ll float too.

Rate:10/10