Nick Parker

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Thought Meets Ambition and Old Meets New On Roots' Latest Attempt

By Nick Parker | January 9

The Roots Phrenology 4 Stars Finally, the Roots' music has caught up with its ideas. Socially, politically and emotionally charged, the Roots have acted as the most intelligent hip-hop collaboration since their 1994 major-label premiere, Do You Want More?!!!??! However, MC Black Thought and crew have garnered only a small mix of die-hard followers and casual fans, never breaking into the highest tier of rap icons.

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Sankofa Overcomes Obstacles

By Nick Parker | November 26

Big stages, bright lights, roaring crowds, blaring speakers. The life of a hip-hop icon has its appeal. But it's not always easy, nor is it always glamorous. Sankofa, the local hip-hop group that has been growing in popularity and in talent during the past five years, recently has seen the darker side of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

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Gray Succeeds Despite Thoughtful Diversion

By Nick Parker | November 14

David Gray A New Day at Midnight 4 Stars The more that David Gray sits around thinking, the better his music gets. White Ladder, Gray's 1999 release, pulled him from the featureless soup of British rock into rock stardom. It was forceful, emotionally charged and moving -- definitive digital rock. A New Day at Midnight proves that it wasn't just a fluke.

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Game Over, Hollywood

By Nick Parker | November 14

Move over, Rocky. Step aside, 007. Take a seat, Skywalker. Your time has passed. Following the newest wave of video game consoles -- Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube -- video-game sales, which include both console and software sales, have skyrocketed. Riding a 43 percent increase over 2000, grosses for the computer and video-game industry totaled $9.4 billion, according to a report by market research group NPD.

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From Basements to Bright Lights

By Nick Parker | October 24

When Skip and Logan Matheny, brothers and founders of the local alt-country rock band Roman Candle, gave their original basement-burned CD to their "History of Rock and Roll" professor, John Covach, they didn't have any pretensions about pop stardom or dreams of big names and bright lights -- they just wanted to make music. Now, almost two years later, as Roman Candle prepares for a tour of the United Kingdom, a spotlight on MTV and a performance at the College Music Journal Music Marathon, one thing becomes starkly apparent: Nothing has changed.

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Beck Resurfaces With Slow, Spiritual Tide

By Nick Parker | October 3

Beck Sea Change 4 Stars Beck is a weary artist. Once the fresh-faced rap-rocker who fueled teenage angst with "Loser" and "Where It's At," Beck has become an aged pop-culture icon -- without selling out. Never has that been clearer than on his newest LP, Sea Change. From the genre jumble of his nearly decade-old debut Mellow Gold to the smooth blend of Mutations, Beck has always refused categorization. Odelay, his strongest musical foray, danced between instrumentation and experimentation with raw energy.

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Self-Renewal by Self-Destruction

By Nick Parker | October 2

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can." Tyler Durden, the alter ego of the nameless protagonist in "Fight Club," searched for a new identity through radical and violent change. Chuck Palahniuk, author of "Fight Club," the cult sensation that inspired the Twentieth Century Fox film by the same name, apparently lives by the same credence. "There is a great deal of joy in destroying that beautiful thing that you have created because you know that you can go back and rebuild it even better than before," he said. "After one or two drafts of whatever I was working on I would shave

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'Lullaby' Offers Readers Challenge

By Nick Parker | October 2

"Lullaby"

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CHiPs and Company Never Sleep During Show

By Nick Parker | September 26

24 Live Hamilton 100 Friday, Sept. 20-Saturday, Sept. 21 4 stars How do you stay up for more than 24 hours straight without losing your mind? You drink Red Bull. How do you weave together 24 hours of improv comedy and still remain funny? You "fire it up!" When Zach Ward and his crew of comedians from as far away as Canada decided to host a 24-hour improv-a-thon on the cluttered stage of 100 Hamilton Hall, they were aiming high.

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Selling Sankofa's Sound

By Nick Parker | September 24

On the stage, Stefan "Creem MC" Greenlee, vocalist of Sankofa, runs the show -- spinning together rhythm, rhymes and fire in a lyrical assault. But in the studio, Ian Schreier -- Sankofa's record producer -- is king. Whereas Sankofa is the heart of the effort, Schreier is the brain that brings it all together and gets the product out on the street even when the band only wants to make music. "When I am on stage, it is like I'm in a playground," Greenlee said. "Out there it is spontaneous, fun; it is all about the people and getting them hype.