Here’s a story about Randy Pausch, a true rockstar of America.
It’s inspiring and encouraging, and I can’t help but be moved by his story and last lecture.

Courtesy of CaffeineGuy

Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch recently discovered that his battle with pancreatic cancer was lost, and that he only had several months - possibly weeks - to live. The video’s about his final lecture, which he entitled “How to Live Your Dreams.”

He begins by saying, “If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you.” And that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the lecture, which is filled with self-deprecating humor and absolutely no trace of fear or self-pity.

At the end of the lecture, he reveals that the lecture wasn’t for the audience - but his three children. As his oldest son’s just five, he’s focusing on making videos during his remaining days so his younger kids will have something to remember their father. “I find that I am completely positive. The only times I cry are when I think about the kids — and it’s not so much the ‘Gee, I’ll miss seeing their first bicycle ride’ type of stuff as it is a sense of unfulfilled duty — that I will not be there to help raise them, and that I have left a very heavy burden for my wife.”

“Lead your life the right away, the dreams will come to you…”
Well said, Professor Pausch.

Motion City Soundtrack has always been one of my favorite bands. I’ve been waiting for their new album… and the wait is over!

I picked up their third full-length, Even If It Kills Me at Best Buys on Tuesday. From the start, album just took off. Some of their songs reminded me of their first album I am the Movie (which is a great thing), but you can hear the maturity mainly due to clear-headed Justin Pierre (who recently overcame some drug and alcohol problems).

The wait was well worth it and it’s definitely one of those albums which you can listen to from start to finish. Check it out! You can listen to their full album here.

Motion City Soundtrack - Broken Heart

courtesy of: EpitaphRecords

Official Website: http://www.motioncitysoundtrack.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/motioncitysoundtrack

Wanna wake up to some good morning news and awesome music in the morning? Wake up to KTLA Morning News (Channel 5 - Los Angeles, California) every weekday morning with DJ Hapa!

Recently TEAM FR*A had the chance to follow him around and live in Hapa’s world for 3 days. Look for our exclusive interview with DJ Hapa coming next month or wake up a little early and watch him on KTLA!

Official Website: http://www.hapaworld.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/djhapa

DJ Hapa’s World

courtesy of freshkind

From barsukrecords on YouTube:

Based on more than 25 hours of never-before-heard audiotaped interviews conducted by noted journalist Michael Azerrad, the movie KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON is an intimate and moving portrait of the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, told entirely in his own voice — without celebrity soundbites, news clips, sensational or tabloid angles. It’s who he was from the man himself, with cinematic imagery shot on film of the three cities in Washington State that played a major role in his life (Aberdeen, Olympia and Seattle) and set to an evocative score by noted Northwest musician and producer Steve Fisk and Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard, as well as the music of more than 20 artists who influenced or touched Cobain during his life. Kurt Cobain About A Son opens in select markets in October.

3 seconds to ignition…
Motion City soundtrack.

Their sound is reminiscent of the catchy pop punk bands of the late 90’s with American Hi-Fi, New Found Glory, SR-71, and Sum 41; except they’ve got something else. A sentiment of maturity splash through the music, lyrically, vocally, and sonically. The combination of pop, punk, dance and rock is always infectious and Motion City Soundtrack certainly captures that well. They’ve been on the Vans Warped Tour. Their second album was helmed by former Blink 182 member and current +44 member, Mark Hoppus. Their current album, released on September 18th, is the natural and sequential step in the evolution of this band, with producers Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Eli Janney (Girls Against Boys), Rick Ocasek (The Cars) all on board molding the music on the album.

So everyone aboard…the train to Motion City is departing. Better have your iPod ready with your soundtrack.

Download Free “This is for Real” MP3 (right click, save target or link as…)

Listen to the Entire Album “Even If It Kills Me”

Check out Virginia Heffernan’s NY Times article on Funtwo (aka Jeong-Hyun Lim)…the shy guy who blew people away with his shred-metal version of Pachelbel’s Canon (5th most watched video on YouTube). He’s version of Vivaldi (below) is just as fun…

Guitar Hero (NY Times)

The October 13th, 2007 issue of the British music magazine NME (both online and on the newsstand) will feature a free CD courtesy of NME, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the group LoveMusicHateRacism. The CD will feature exclusive tracks from a number of artists including Bloc Party (full tracklist still being put together)

The issue will feature “a special LMHR-themed cover bringing together Lethal Bizzle, Babyshambles, Bloc Party, Dirty Pretty Things, The View and The Enemy, as well as feature articles about LMHR including a roundtable discussion with the artists on racism and music”.

Apparently the creation of this CD project began after the white nationalist political party BNP, a known racist organization, setup a “Great White Records” label to produce CDs of “white power” music to recruit students into the organization.

For More information check out LoveMusicHateRacism.com