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Show ••Mriil fe CRESTWOODS 755 Despite own high body count, band is a survivor BY A A R O N VOXI-IEIMER KRT That Body Count — founded in 1990 by rock guitarist Ernie C. and rapper/actor Ice-T — is still rapping and rocking about the 'hood is an achievement of the most basic kind. Over the last 10 years, three band members have died: drummer Beatmaster V in 1996 (leukemia), bassist Mooseman in 2001 (homicide) and guitarist D-Roc in 2004 (lymphoma). For Ernie C, who went to high school with Ice-T in Los Angeles' notorious South Central district, success has been in the survival. "I hear about how weVe been "cursed* quite a bit," says Ernie C. "Since it was me and Ice that started the band and hired everyone to be in it, other people are scared to get in position to fill in those spots. But I don't believe we've been cursed. I just believe we're black men in America and the ratio for those kinds of things is a little higher for us than it is for everyone else, you know? That's what happens." The group has overcome even more. It was 16 years ago when Body Count first shocked an unsuspecting public with its provocative — and at the time, revolutionary — amalgam of rap and thrash. But their fame was a double-edged sword. The track "Cop Killer" off their self-titled Warner Brothers Records debut inspired a massive boycott of Time Warner in 1992, which ultimately led to Body Count's defection. The controversy persists after three more albums over 15 years: "Born Dead" (1994), "Violent Demise: The Last Days" (1997) and "Murder 4 Hire" (2006). "It still lingers for us, even now," says Ernie C. of the controversy that inspired everyone from Charlton Heston to President George H.W. Bush to then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to turn Body Count into a virtual punching bag. "I'll try to book clubs and the guy I'm talking to will mention it and I'll think to myself "Man, that was 17 years ago.' But I meet a lot of bands who ask me about it too and I'm real respected by other artists for it. But it's a love/ hate thing. Ice gets it too, even though he plays a cop on TV now on 'Law & Order SVU.'" Body Count was the first to make recordings that gave to the plight of the inner cities a soundtrack of loud guitars with hardcore punk attitude. Since that time, hip-hop music went on to dominate the record industry and Body Counts brash style of rap metal went on to subtly influence artists from Rage Against the Machine to Korn to Slipknot. Body Count plays very few live dates — partly because of Ice-T's filming schedule for "Law and Order: SVU" and also because, according to Ernie C, Body Count was supposed to be a DIY band from day one. "Body Count wasn't sup- Brent wood 736 \L 000 N posed to be a big deal at all. We originally just set out to sell 50,000 records like The Ramones or the Dead Kennedys. We wanted to be a big punk band, because our first record is almost a punk record. But what happened was, we got onto Warner Brothers on the coattails of Ice's solo career and then we had "Cop Killer' happening in an election year, so it just got blown out of proportion for what the band was. "We just wanted to play small clubs for 200 people kinda like we're doing now. Last year, we played big festivals in Europe for 40,000 to 50,000 people. But right now, we're just trying to get back to playing clubs again and working with good people that I know." Lynwood 880 N 650 E Edgewood 736 L S00 N Crest •woods [kuh n-veen-yuh ns] Definition: Low summer Rates! (From $450) -Private bedroom; private bath -Expanded cable; Free High Speed Internet -Air conditioning; Covered Parking (Edgewood) -Washer and dryer in your apartment -Practically on Campus Synonyms: Summer, Social, Fun, Good Times Used in a sentence: With Crestwoods, your housing choice is made! See also: www.logancrestwoods.com • SKATEBOARDING From page 5 they were kicked off. trick. "When the police told us "Skating is really hard we couldn't skate anymore, because it's not something we asked, 'Where are we you can easily do, but when supposed to go?' We didn't you get a trick, it's pretty have a skate park to go to exciting," Veater said. back then," Pary said. Skateboarding is a sport Stevenson said skatethat has grown in popularity in the past few years. It once boarding started out as an outlet, just a way for people used to be considered an to have fun, and somewhere outcast sport, but now it's a trend amongst today's youth, along the way it turned into that rebellious stereotype. said Craig Stevenson, coowner of the Directive Skate But for him, it has always been freedom and progresshop in Logan. Jarvis Pary, who works at sion. Skateboarding isn't an Directive, said back in the day it used to be easy to rec- easy thing to learn, and there are no classes to teach ognize someone who skates, someone how to skate. but now that it has become Rather, boarding is passed so popular, some of the things skateboarding used to on between friends and siblings, and it is learned represent in his mind have through determination and changed. It was the style of plain old practice. skateboarders that enticed "Anyone can do it if they Pary to become a skater. practice enough," Stevenson "I really liked what they said. represented - it used to be kind of rebellious," he said. According to Veabell, Pary and Stevenson have learning to skate always been skating for many years comes with a few falls. "You and said they can remember just got to get over it, you the days when skate parks have to know that you are like the one in Logan didn't going to fall sooner or later," exist - those were the days he said. when the whole city was The best thing someone their skate park. They would can do, he said, is just getskateboard any place they ting right back on the board could find, like the streets, and trying using benches, stairs and —dwkoecher%cc.usu.edu railings to skate on until I Logan's Premier Apartments... across the street from campus. \ * 6 7 7 East 600 North ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER & NEXT SCHOOL YEAR dlarksburg * .Qrcslam • Stoncleigh • tyllside J^tanor For more information call Dar/a (435) 755-8525 • Pager (435) 206-1929 • darladclark@pcu.net • W I N T E R CAMPING From page 4 can't be a very effective Scoutmaster if 1 only go camping during three months of the year. This winter I traded a Klondike attendance for wisdom teeth removal. No complaints here. Tonight I get that opportunity once again to go camping in the Frozen Tundra State. Even though it is April, be assured that I will be dressed like an Eskimo. I'm not sure where we are going, except that it is near a town called Snowvilie. That's enough to make me go wash my hair. I can't wait for summer. Columnist Garrett Wheeler can be reached via e-mail at wheel@cc.usu.edu. *679 East 600 North 6dinburgh and Highlander For more information call Dennis or (435) 770-2326 or (435) 755-8525 maxd§pcu.net 1) SOON 700 N~ 700 N. • AMERICAN IDOL From page 6 Ba *675 East 600 North ducers themselves are partially to blame for the Sanjaya problem: "This is someone who shouldn't be in the contest." But she also said the situation was unavoidable. "With a show like this, it was inevitable. It is, in a way, a perfect case study of what happens when you allow the audience into the production process. "It's not the singers' contest anymore. It has become the peoples' contest: the people who love it versus the people, many who have ulterior motives, who hate it." O cm 600 N.HM S •500 N. ui 700 Media consultant Schulman disagrees. If half of Sterns listeners (his Sirius satellite radio show has 600,000 subscribers) voted 25 times, that could be as much as onequarter of each show's total. "There have been issues with the voting mechanism, which allows for multiple votes, since the get-go," Schulman says. "It lets them hype the numbers, but can you imagine what the outcome of presidential elections might be if people could vote 50 or 100 times?" 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