…And the people snap back!
Stardum recently went to the “We The People” festival at Los Angeles Historic Park by the Union Station. The day couldn’t have been set up much better it wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too crowded, and the people were all pretty much there in the spirit of the festival. As we entered the park our first stop was the promotional tents and band merch. We came across a local smoke shop that had set up camp with all their goodies right by the main stage. There were tobacco papers, little grinders, stickers, markers, and paint pens, but something was missing. There were no pipes to be found. So I asked the guy behind the table what was up and he informed me the police on site were not allowing them to sell any pipes. This seemed odd, now I know smoking marijuana is illegal but by now its just expected that it’s going to happen at some concerts. Now I’m not saying that just because its expected, that makes it legal or alright, just that there are ways to go about handling it. Through out the night we were standing by watching the police come and escort people out of the park for puffing on a joint or hitting there pipe. That didn’t stop the crowds from filling the air with thick hazy smoke during every act. So it was right before Suicidal Tendencies went on and I’m sitting on the ground by the main stage trying to get a smoke out of my pack and as soon as I look up I see a guy jogging and smiling with his hands cuffed behind his back and following right behind him is a police officer with an “Oh I fucked up” look on his face. By the time the officers grab him the crowd catches wind of what is going on and begins to circle the sheriffs and security. They all begin screaming and chanting with there cameras out and ready as the police attempt to carry away the mystery man. So the cops are busting people for smoking marijuana, now they have a guy cuffed on the ground with a hundred or so people watching on and screaming to let him go, and this is all taking place at a politically driven event. It looked like it was about to get ugly for a minute there, especially when people began throwing there drinks at the police. By the end of this whole fiasco the crowd stayed non-violent in the spirit of the festival and the police carried the man away. Stardum was able to get a bit of video footage of the incident going down so here it is for all of you on our MySpace.

Now before I end this article I want to get one thing out in the open. The police stopped the guys from the local smoke shop from selling anything that people could smoke marijuana out of, but that didn’t solve anything. At the same time they allowed the smoke shop to sell paint pens in all colors and sizes. That decision led to a good portion of the park looking like this:
The police were walking around everywhere, was it just that they were too wrapped up with finding the people smoking pot that they totally missed the people tagging the walls and benches? They would go into a crowd and stop 2 guys from smoking a joint but tagging in a wide open space apparently didn’t matter to them.

The rumor going around town right now is that Mr. Angle has indeed signed a deal with an undisclosed MMA promotion. This info was released by Mr. Angle himself on the “Bubba The Love Sponge” Radio show. Bubba asked Angle if he happend to have signed with UFC to get a shot at Couture and Angle did not give a Yes or No.
Story By: Marc Middleton Source: www.prowrestling.com
- During an appearance on the “Bubba The Love Sponge Show” on Friday morning, former TNA World Champion Kurt Angle mentioned that he has signed a contract with an undisclosed MMA promotion and that his MMA career “could pick up in late-2009″.

Bubba, a close friend of Kurt’s, kept pressing Angle about which company he signed with and when he mentioned that Angle had signed with the UFC to take on Randy Couture sometime next year, Angle did not deny or confirm those claims. We all know how things tend to fly out of Angle’s mouth, especially on these radio interviews, so take it for what it’s worth.
Could we be seeing an un-scripted version of Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar in the near future. With a history of neck and back injuries and no MMA fights under his belt I don’t know how much you can really expect to get out of the 39 year old professional wrestler. The only thing that I know for sure is Angle is very hard headed so his fight will in no way be quick or painless. Start saving your green backs now if you want to see a public execution on PPV.

SAN JOSE, Calif. —American Top Team member and two-time New York State Metropolitan Boxing Champion, Carlos Zevallos (0-0), will fill the recent void left by Pat Barry, and make his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut against Andre “The Silencer” Walker (pictured) (2-3), in a light heavyweight (205 lb. limit) contest during Strikeforce “Payback” at Broomfield, Colorado’s Broomfield Event Center on Friday, October 3rd.

Like his opponent, Zevallos brings to the cage a rich history in the striking arts, winning back-to-back New York State Metropolitan Championships in 2005 and 2006. A student of Muay Thai since the age of 16, the Queens, New York native, now 29, captured the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) National Heavyweight Muay Thai Championship in 2004.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” said Zevallos of his upcoming MMA debut. “I’m gonna make it very far (in MMA) because I pay a lot of attention to detail. I really dissect the sport and study it to the fullest – every aspect of it. “Not only do I learn it very fast, but I get really good at it. It’s a constant never ending search for perfection that drives me to MMA.”

“My striking is a lot more advanced than the average MMA guy,” the fighter stressed. “ I take it for what it is and thank God that I have that edge over them but, at the same time, anyone can lose at any given moment so you always have to find whatever weaknesses you have and work on that.”

Zevallos’ experience in kickboxing and amateur boxing competition, which also includes three runs at the annual Golden Gloves Championships, has helped prepare him to fight in pressure situations like the one in Broomfield that pits him against a veteran of five MMA bouts.

“To this day, that holds a big part of my heart,” explained Zevallos of his efforts in the boxing ring. “I just remember things like fighting this guy in one of the tournaments and getting caught with a real nasty left hook. I felt my body starting to collapse while I was on the ropes. Right before I started going down, I remembered that my cousin and one of my best friends were in the audience and all I started feeling was their emotions in the back of my head and that woke me up. I came back and won the fight.”

Last year, Zevallos packed up his belongings and relocated to South Florida, the home of fearsome fight squad, American Top Team, to pursue a new challenge in the world’s fastest growing sport. He has since been taken under the wing of famed ATT head instructor and Carlson Gracie black belt, Ricardo Liborio.

“I had heard about (American Top Team) and seen them on TV a lot. I liked the fact that they were winning consistently and I wanted to train where the best people were training.”

Zevallos’ opponent, Walker, is a Denver native and former student of Sabaki Karate under martial arts legend, Clarence Thatch. In the late ‘90s, Walker utilized his striking skills to go on an unbeaten, 5-0 run in “Toughman” competition.

“The Sabaki helps my stand-up (skills) in MMA a lot,” explained Walker. “I’m able to swing my opponent and knock him off balance. It’s a matter of using his weight against him.”

Walker made his greatest impression in the fight world to date on August 11, 2001 when he stopped Carter Williams in the second round of their K-1 matchup at Las Vegas’ Bellagio Hotel and Casino. Williams went on to capture the K-1 North America tournament championship two years later.

Tickets for Strikeforce “Payback,” priced from $30, are on sale at Ticketmaster (303-830-TIXS) and Ticketmaster.com

In the main event, knockout artist and Denver native, Duane “Bang” Ludwig (16-8), will attempt to avenge a previous knockout at the hands of “The Ultimate Fighter” season three veteran, Sam “The Squeeze” Morgan (19-10).

Superstar Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg (17-6) will take on Hawaiian submission expert, Falaniko “Niko” Vitale (26-8), in a featured middleweight (185 lb. limit) contest.

Also back in action at Strikeforce “Payback” will be “The New York Badass” Phil Baroni (12-10) and “The Ultimate Fighter” season four veteran, “The Secret Weapon” Pete Spratt (18-14), who will battle Donnie Liles (11-5) in a welterweight (170 lb. limit) showdown.

Broomfield Event Center doors will open for Strikeforce “Payback” at 5:30 PM MST and the preliminary card will begin at 6:30 PM MST. The main card will commence at 8 PM MST.

Finally, Yushin Okami is ready to re-enter the Octagon. Okami, who is coming back from a hand injury, will be taking on veteran submission artist, Dean Lister. They are both coming off of injuries and are both very good fighters in the 185lb division. Okami is definitely looking for a big win over Lister to propell him back into the title fight bracket. It should be noted that Okami does hold a DQ win over Champ Anderson Silva and was also set to meet him in the Octagon before injury sidelined him. This match-up is great for both fighters as a win pushes both their careers forward. Here’s some of the official heat regarding the fight via MMAWEEKLY:
“In a pivotal match-up between two top middleweights, MMAWeekly.com has confirmed that on Dec. 27 Yushin Okami will return from a lingering hand injury to face submission wizard Dean Lister, as confirmed by Lister’s management group at Haymaker’s Empire.
“It’s a really good fight,” Lister told MMAWeekly.com in an exclusive interview. “(He’s) really skilled, I heard he’s real strong, and I believe he’s a pretty tall guy, he’s a south paw. I’m going to have to have a great gameplan for this guy.”
UFC fans better get ready for fireworks cause something tells us they’ve forgotten the fire power of Yushin Okami.

Today is the day that comic nerds and dumped dweebs rejoice all at once! The two categories of social pariahs have now been given a get out of doing chores for your momma card as these two films hit the DVD racks today. SuperNerd Tuesday, as it’s being called by jocks, tough guys, cheerleaders and Val Kilmer, is today and it’s heralding two films for the stay at home type. First we get comic icon Iron Man. The film, a sure fire blockbuster, sent Robert Downey Jr. head first into the brains of 14 to 34 year old comic fans faster then you can say, “OMFG, my server just crashed!” Iron Man is rumored to be better then most films of it’s genre and quite the entertaining evening rental. The release of Iron Man on DVD today will most likely be a precursor for it’s double disc edition to be released in like a month or two or three. Now on to the next big rental of the day: Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Rumor has it that even the brutal male full frontal nudity isn’t enough to turn away comedy fans eager to fill their visual coffers with images of British rockers screwing like animals and one man’s turle necked pecker swinging like a lost grandma at an Aerosmith orgy. Me…I’ve seen neither of the two films and will be sure to rent both for an evening rife with genitalia and robot suited heros. Geez, now if only I had friends that weren’t stuffed animals or Lord of the Rings cut-outs, I would have someone to share all this joy with. Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Iron Man are out now on DVD.

The concept was fantastic: Get a bunch of diverse musical acts together to help signify the importance of people first politics all while giving the people of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas a great outdoor concert experience. It went well….at first. Let’s be honest. We’re in Los Angeles and on the list of acts was the hardcore Venice based band, Suicidal Tendencies. Pop Quiz: Do you think a lot of Suicidal fans showed up to support “the family”? The answer is a resounding YES! So why is that of all the acts, the major sound issues and mic failures have to occur at the end of the Suicidal set? Fans were pissed off. People just trying to enjoy the vibe were pissed off. Seriously, you pay an excessive amount of cash for the tix, you drive to the damn park, you buy one $7 dollar beer and a $5 dollar pipe, and by the time you’re faded in the pit the music starts messing up. Talk about a joy killer. It seemed as if every set for every other act went just fine, maybe a small flub here and there but nothing as extensive as the all out silence that corrupted the entire last few songs of Suicidal Tendencies. Sure we sang along to lyrics we knew by heart but I don’t need to have my homie buy me a ticket for that. We could’ve just hot boxed his Chevy and blasted “Lights, Camera, Revolution” if that’s what we wanted, and we would’ve saved damn near $100 bucks to boot. Next time We the People needs to get their sound in check.

The mma world is going back and forth on the state of Andrei Arlovski versus Roy Nelson. Is this cross promotional fight the next step in progressing the mma fight game into a place where all organizations allow their fighters to take on top competition even if it’s outside the promotions lines? Or are we getting teased with the idea that Affliction and EliteXC will be marketing the next big fights in the mma world? If these two companies can continue to work amicably there is a great chance we could be seeing some very intense mma combat. Both organizations have a well-recieved stable of fighters, some more well known then others, but the fact remains that fans are eager for this cross over to continue taking place. Stardum and it’s collection of fight fans will no doubt be sitting at the edge of their collective seats waiting to see how much a good, solid fight between Roy Nelson and Andrei Arlovski will change the face of this whole “isolating great fighters to their organization” concept that is monopolizing the fight game. We want more. We want more competitive fights. This is simply the first step in getting what fight fans have always wanted: A chance to watch great fights.

Rise Against returns Oct 7th with their new release “Appeal to Reason” and from the looks of it, it’s going to be another break through success. If you’re like me and still enjoy a bit of unpredictability in your daily music selection and still listen to the radio, then I’m sure you’ve head the new single “Re-Education (Through Labor)”. And if you haven’t heard it yet then get your ass to there MySpace or YouTube and check it out. I’ve only heard 4 songs off the album so far but so far it is sounding a little heavier than their 2006 release “The Sufferer & the Witness”, but the final product still remains to be seen. To all of you have been fans of Rise Against for years, you will be happy to know that Tim McIlrath delivers once again with his liberal politically driven vocals. “Re-Education (Through Labor)” Peaked on the U.S Billboard Modern Rock charts at #5 and they just released the music video on Sept. 22nd. If you’re going to be in the L.A area on Oct 31st or Nov 1st or 2nd you can check them out at the Hollywood Palladium with Alkaline Trio, Thrice, and The Gaslight Anthem.