Posts by dunno:
Cds vs. Downloading: why CDs provide a more satisfying musical experience
May 20th, 2010 The advent of the iPod and Internet has brought downloading. Hardly anybody I know actually goes to a record store, such as Dimple or The Beat to purchase music anymore.
Rather than buying CDs, people have turned to downloading, but I feel CDs offer a much better musical experience. Read the rest of this entry “
This one time at summer camp…
May 20th, 2010 Attending camps is a summer tradition for many students. They attend camps for a wide range of reasons – to stay busy, to learn something new and to satisfy pushy parents.
Granite Bay High School sophomore Kyle Pawlak and varsity tennis player, attended a Nike Tennis camp and a Johnson Ranch tennis camp in previous years. Read the rest of this entry “
Dedication and leadership pay off
May 20th, 2010
Cathy O'Brien
The team placed second in the overall sweepstakes. Nine students continued on to semi-finals, including seven of those who were honored to compete in finals.
GBHS juniors Blake Delaplane and Ashwin Subramanian were semi-finalists in Congressional Debate, ranking in the top 24 competitors.
GBHS senior and team captain Alexa Crawford placed fifth in Original Advocacy. Crawford, who argued for reform in the process of organ donation, found the tournament tiring but exciting. Read the rest of this entry “
Blast From the Past: Kick Scooters
April 24th, 2010
The kick scooter is a popular and inexpensive invetion that people of all ages enjoy to use.
Scooters have been around for at least one hundred years. The early homemade scooters were made by connecting skating wheels to a board and using pipes as the handlebars.
In the 1990s, Swedish inventor Wim Ouboter created a sleeker scooter able to fold up and fit in a backpack. His invention was then copied and made popular by Razor.
It used to be that everywhere you looked you would see kids riding kick scooters. Any channel you flipped to, there would be a commercial advertising kick scooters.
The popular appeal of the kick scooter comes from the scooter’s ability to do tricks. Plus, kick scooters are able to fold up, allowing kids to fit them in their backpacks or lockers. They are also a fun way to get around, providing exercise without polluting the air. Read the rest of this entry “
Just One More Hour a Night
April 19th, 2010 As I have moved through various grades in the Eureka School District, instruction has begun earlier and earlier.
In elementary school, my day began at 9 a.m. My old junior high, Cavitt Stallman, starts at 8:30 a.m. At Granite Bay High School, kids are expected to be in class by 7:45–a ridiculously early time for kids to have to pay attention.
Next year I will be in band, which requires students to be at school at 6:45!
I have to set my alarm to 5:45 to make myself presentable and prepared. Because of zero period next year, I will have to set my alarm back an hour to 4:45! I will be up before the newspaper is delivered to our house. Read the rest of this entry “
The importance of family dinners
April 19th, 2010
Finding time to eat as a family is often difficult with conflicting family schedules, but studies show that teens that eat with families are less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, among other things.
A survey of about 200 Granite Bay High School students showed that only 48 percent of students eat dinner with their families at least five times a week, and only 13 percent eat less than once a week together.
Vu said she doesn’t eat dinner with her family as much as she likes because her family has conflicting schedules.
“My parents work most of the day, and my sister has a job and she’s going to Sierra,” Vu said. “It’s hard for everyone to be home at the same time.”
For some students, like GBHS junior Ashby Vose, family dinners were not a routine they grew up with.
“Family dinners were never a big deal,” Vose said. “We do things together, but dinner isn’t our family time.”
Some students may not eat with their family because of a feeling of independence.
“As you get older, you want more independence,” school psychologist Heidi Linscheid said. “So you might not really see the initial value of eating with your family.”
While eating on one’s own may be convenient, eating as a family is beneficial for both the parents and children. Studies show teens who eat regular family meals do better in school than those who eat separately. Read the rest of this entry “
Faculty senate discusses a plan to cut spending
April 19th, 2010 For years, a group of 20 Granite Bay High School teachers has attended Faculty Senate meetings to discuss, among other topics, ways to improve budget matters that are not part of union negotiations.
GBHS history teacher and Faculty Senate member Brandon Dell’Orto said the relationship between Granite Bay High School and the Roseville Joint Union High School Union is like a poker match.
“The goal of the game is for the district to give us as little money as they can and still keep us happy,” Dell’Orto said. “Our job is to get as much money as we can, yet not bankrupt the district to the point of no longer having teachers.”
Recently the Faculty Senate compiled a list of potential budget cuts to present to GBHS principal Mike McGuire. Read the rest of this entry “
Cuckoo for Caffeine?
March 24th, 2010 Coffee shops are within easy walking distance from Granite Bay High School. A local Juice and Java opened only months ago, suggesting that caffeine is one popular drug in Granite Bay.
While teens get most of their caffeine from soft drinks and energy drink according to kidshealth.org, caffeine is also found in coffee, tea, chocolate, various nuts and some medication. Read the rest of this entry “
Grenade Jumper
March 22nd, 2010
Band members Marshall and Brett Hampson, Smith, Breining, and Parker pose
A guitar riff screams from within Robbie Lynn’s house; drums keep a beat; a bass and rhythm guitar join in, completing the sound–these instruments magically create the sound of the pop punk band, Grenade Jumper.
Grenade Jumper is a band made up of Granite Bay High School graduates Erik Parker, Brett Hampson, Matt Breining and Marshall Hampson. Drummer Craig Smith is a senior at GBHS, as is Grenade Jumper’s producer Robbie Lynn.
The band has played many shows at various places, including The Boardwalk, Club Retro, Underground, The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, One-Eighty Teen Center in Lodi and The Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles.
Grenade Jumper has shared the stage with over twenty bands, including The White Tie Affair, The Pink Spiders, and Quietdrive. Several radio stations have played the band’s music, including tracks on its CD Welcome to the Party, which can be found on Amazon and iTunes.
GJ didn’t start off playing clubs. The band members had to work their way up, starting from their high school talent show, to coffee shops, then to Club Retro and finally to clubs like the Boardwalk and Whiskey a Go Go.
“We had to e-mail the booking people for The Boardwalk like a hundred times and then eventually they just got annoyed with us and said, ‘all right, come play,’” Breining said. “We had a couple good shows there.”
Before Grenade Jumper was a band, the Hampson brothers would play with their cousin Breining. Marshall Hampson and Parker met running track together. Smith had a more comical entrance.
“Craig’s just a goofy guy we picked up and he would never leave, so he became our drummer,” Breining said.
GBHS’s Search for the Stars talent show is what inspired Grenade Jumper to start the band.
“Basically two weeks before the talent show, the original drummer said ‘Hey, we should play something,’ Breining said. “We said ‘All right – well we don’t know anything,’ so we went home and wrote a song in a night. It sucked, but we got in, and that’s what matters.”
While the band enjoys playing covers–some of its favorites being “Larger than Life” by the Backstreet Boys, “Let it Rock,” by Lil Wayne and Kevin Rudolf and “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi – the members also write a lot of their own music.
“We usually do a cover or two, and four or five of our own songs,” Smith said about a typical show.
When opening for a bigger band, Grenade Jumper tends to play one song.
“We usually play a rap-beat that leads into one of our first songs,” Smith said.
Even though it is a pop-punk band, GJ has a rap song based on the Safeway parking lot.
“We live in the most gangster area of CA, so we decided to make a satire on the SPL where people get shot,” Lynn said jokingly.
The band’s rap song, “Bounce SPL Anthem,” is played at most of the GBHS dances.
GJ have been playing together for a long time, so they know each other well.
“We have a thing called GJ car wars,” Smith said. “We mess with each other’s cars–seran wrap, window paint, posted notes and trash. It goes back and forth.”
Brett Hampson mentions that he once stuck about 1000 posted notes on Marshall Hampson’s car.
“Our singer has a car called the Ford Probe, and it’s really old and crappy,” Smith said. “We used to make fun of him a lot for it and mess with it every chance we got.”
As much fun as they have, it’s not all fun and games. The members are disciplined, putting in many hours for practice.
“It’s a lot of personal time,” Smith said, explaining how they practice. “We spend a lot of time writing stuff separate(ly). With busy schedules we can only get together for so long. But when we do get together, it’s probably every two to three weeks and we play a good couple hours.”
When they write songs, they start with the instruments. Then they send it to Erik Parker who writes the lyrics.
“Erik is now in San Francisco, so it’s tougher to get him for the songs,” Breining said. “So what we do is scratch it all out, get all the instruments done, record at Robbie’s, and send it to him.”
Grenade Jumper does not have a record label though the band is looking for one. It is currently recording and should have an EP out before the end of the school year.
The members dream of doing a world tour some day. But, just in case their music doesn’t hit the big time, they are all going to college.
“I want to go on a full US tour by the time we’re done,” Breining said. “That is my big goal.”
***
Look for the full length album Welcome to the Party on iTunes and check out their Myspace, http://www.myspace.com/grenadejumpermusic for more information.
Mixtape: 2-Tone Ska
March 19th, 2010 England’s 2-tone ska, which later came to America in the form of third-wave ska, is a combination of reggae and punk, typically with a horn section. The music is upbeat and good for dancing. The overall message of 2-tone is unity, having people of different ethnicities play together to create music instead of struggling with racial differences.
Read the rest of this entry “
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