WagooMusic

VALDOSTA — Remember when everyone wore flannel, drank Surge soft drinks and listened to Nirvana? It’s been almost 20 years since glam rock finally died out and alternative music took over the airwaves in the early ’90s. While the alternative scene has had a few memorable acts in the last couple of decades with the Strokes, Modest Mouse or the White Stripes, for the most part popular rock has moved on. Madison Taylor, singer/songwriter of the Boston, Mass.-based band Grey Valley Ghost, is ready to give the genre a shot of some much-needed testosterone with his own take of do-it-yourself rock and roll. Born and raised in Valdosta, Taylor left the roost at the age of 18 to follow a career in music. Along with Rob Black on bass and Tim McCarthy on drums, the trio has instigated a grunge-soaked revival of sorts at a time when shoegazers, folk acts and jambands rule the day. Grey Valley Ghost has already received radio play on the major rock stations up north including WAAF, WFNX, WZBC, WZLX and the college stations. Managed by Joey Ammo of the popular post-grunge band Birdbrain, Taylor is excited about the upcoming album, which will be produced and recorded at Curve the Earth Records, the same studio where Godsmack cut its first multi-platinum album. already, Boston magazines are praising the band’s potential. Michael Marotta of the Boston Phoenix wrote, “Grey Valley Ghost might be one step ahead in their worn-out Doc Martens — the first single from the Georgia-born/Boston-based alternative rock trio screams with a hellacious fury last heard sometime around 1994.” their single, “the Way We Kill,” was featured on the website as the MP3 of  the week and provides a glimpse at the long-extinct song structure of sweet, distorted melodies that collide into those sludgy anthem choruses. Of course, the journey didn’t happen over-night and after a few discouragements from the scenes in Athens and Atlanta, he made his way up to Boston, where he currently resides and performs. he went for Athens first, thinking the home of one of his favorite bands, R.E.M., would be more receptive to his poppy approach to alt-rock. “They just wanted to hear ‘Freebird’ and were a bunch of beer-drinking rednecks,” he commented. “in Atlanta, T.I. was blowing up, so it was all rap and hip-hop and I knew there was no way it would happen there. in Boston, everyone’s piled up on top of each other and not spread out like in Atlanta.” His first album had a lot of grunge influences from Soundgarden to Silverchair, which he admits was probably not the best way to get a record deal. “It’s become crippling because grunge is dead. you can’t say that word,” said Taylor. “It’s just alternative, because that’s still OK. Anything associated with grunge doesn’t go.” So, with some advice from record labels, his new album reflects a more accessible approach. It still holds true to the influences of Sonic Youth and the Smashing Pumpkins, but with a bit of tempo and a tad less depression. “We’re taking advice we’re given from people in the business who know what they’re talking about,” said Taylor on his upcoming album. “I wouldn’t do anything that I wouldn’t have respect for but, honestly, even though these are more poppy, these are my favorite songs. I wanted to find a way where I could keep my integrity. “I’ll always love grunge, but I think it’s just a phase and I can’t let it be what I write anymore,” he added. Taylor’s sights are next set on an upcoming show at the Cleveland Music Festival, where he’s set to meet with Jeff Blue of Atlantic Records — the man responsible for a number of big-name acts, like Linkin Park, Korn and Limp Biskit. and while he admits there’s nothing to love about big corporations taking over the record and venue business, he’s not shy about his intentions of gaining more fans. “There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s taken over,” said Taylor. “there are clubs being bought up in Boston where local bands can’t even play because they’re owned by Live Nation. But there’s nothing I can do about it until there’s a fanbase and I have a voice.”

Few musicians are as well known in the field or ska or reggae music as Jamaican singer-songwriter, musician and Rastafarian Bob Marley. in addition to his unique and powerful musical style which is still popular nearly 30 years after his death, Bob Marley quotes taken from his music and from his comments resonate with many people who have experienced aspects of his living. Like many other famous people who are quoted on viewpoints they may hold, Bob Marley quotes run the gamut of emotions and philosophy from joy to pain to philosophy.

Favorite Bob Marley quotes will probably vary depending upon the life experiences of the person who listens to them. many of his quotes have to do with music, which is to be expected, but many are quotations about life in general expressed in his music. He states who are you to judge the life I live? I know I’m not perfect and I don’t live to be. but, before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean.

Finding quotes about the subject of music is not difficult. often, even the most devoted scientists and philosophers of great note recognized the importance of music in our lives. Music quotes are simply a recognition of its power and strength to impact life and to change life. You would expect music quotes from one of the music masters such as Johann Sebastian Bach, but a quotation on the subject of music coming from the likes of Albert Einstein has even more impact because it is so unexpected. Einstein stated If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. I get most joy in life out of music.

Another popular source of quotes about today’s life and culture comes from the television show Sex and the City. Sex City quotes are popular both as humor and as commentaries on the culture and social mores of today. the writers of the program began by writing about women they knew and made the show work because it was portraying real women living and working in the city. Sex City quotes have a way of describing this lifestyle in an honest and pithy way.

The viewpoints of all these people are reflected in the quotes they leave for posterity, and yet the quotes we remember and use over and over are the ones that are most like our own viewpoints. To be able to point at a quote from a famous person such as Bob Marley and realize that this famous person has expressed MY viewpoint on the specific subject tends to validate my own viewpoint to myself and to those around me. Even if their viewpoint as expressed in their quotes is different than what is currently held by oneself, it may be the avenue to a change in viewpoint, or at least a more reasoned foundation for the existing philosophy.

7:30 TONIGHT, PARAMUS

As a college student at Barnard, Suzanne Vega was a regular at Tom’s Restaurant, a Morningside Heights greasy spoon. she turned her time there into a little song you may know — “Tom’s Diner.” one of the most sampled tracks in history, her song has been remixed and covered by artists from Tupac to R.E.M. Vega, an artist-in-residence at Bergen Community College this week, is offering a master class open to the public.

TELL ME MORE: “Tom’s Diner” gave Vega another unexpected accolade: “Mother of the MP3.” the German audio engineer credited with developing digital music compression technology used a CD recording of “Tom’s Diner” to test and improve the tools.

“I feel I had a tiny role in history, which I’m proud of, I have to say,” she recently told Spinner magazine. “I’m also aware that it sort of led to the whole demise of the music industry as we know it. It was almost incidental that they used my voice.”

Vega is also legendary for another song released on the 1987 “Solitude Standing” album: “Luka,” written from the perspective of an abused boy. the song was an instant hit, and groundbreaking for examining social issues in a pop song.

The singer-songwriter will be conducting hands-on sessions with Bergen Community College students in the music and creative writing programs this week.

“We thought she was a great example of someone who crossed the boundary of music and literature,” said Andy Krikun, a professor in the music department.

At the evening program, open to the public, Vega will talk about her career and songwriting process and play some of her music.

QUOTE: “I have a photographer friend, Brian Rose, who has taken pictures of the lower East Side of Manhattan and the Berlin Wall. He told me once long ago that he felt as though he saw the world through a pane of glass. This struck me as romantic and alienated, and I wanted to write a song from this viewpoint.” — Suzanne Vega on her inspiration for “Tom’s Diner,” to the New York Times in 2008

DETAILS: Anna Maria Ciccone Theater, 400 Paramus Road. $30, seniors $20. Visit tickets.bergen.edu or call 201-447-7428.