Atlanta rapper Killer Mike sat down earlier this month to speak with with Olympic gold medalist and San Jose State alumnus, Tommie Smith. As an emcee, Killer Mike (née Michael Render) has made a name for himself with his aggressive, socially and politically minded style.

In recent years, Killer Mike has gained a higher profile as half of the hip-hop duo Run The Jewels. He has also begun engaging in social and political criticism outside of music. He has been invited to speak on issues of race on national cable news networks and has even interviewed the currently surging Democratic presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders.

That interview was part of a series of interviews Render has conducted with a variety of newsmakers. All of the interviews have been broadcast from the official Killer Mike YouTube channel.

Smith made headlines in 1968 after taking the gold medal in the 200 meter footrace in the Summer Olympics—held that year in Mexico City, Mexico. Both Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos (another SJSU alumnus), used their moment on the podium to make a political statement against the continued inequality suffered by African Americans in the United States, as well as the brutality that many people of color were still facing all over the world—specifically black South Africans who were legally second class citizens under that country’s system of apartheid.

The two men stood on the podium without shoes—a symbol of the many millions living in poverty around the world—and each raised one fist in the air—a symbol of the Black Power movement, which was then gaining momentum in the U.S. The statement and the images of it reverberated around the world and became a symbol of unity against discrimination and racism.

Today, a statue on the San Jose State University campus pays tribute to Smith and Carlos. Watch the video of Killer Mike and Tommie Smith below.

Watch Killer Mike’s politically charged video for the song “Reagan,” which makes reference to the Iran Contra scandal—a story that was broken by San Jose Mercury reporter, Gary Webb.

The Event Center at San Jose State welcomed Bassnectar back to the stage over the weekend for a return to his old stomping ground.

The bass music producer was raised in San Jose before becoming a fixture at Burning Man and rising to become an internationally known leader in the EDM scene.

Photos by Metro photographer Geoffrey Smith II.

San Jose-raised Bass producer Bassnectar will return for a hometown concert this fall with his “Immersive Music Tour” on September 21 at Events Center at San Jose State University.

“Our goal is to bring you the most immersive Bassnectar experience possible this fall with enhanced production, enhanced ambassador immersion and an alphabet of special effects,” the producer said in an announcement today. “We want to create the ideal atmosphere for people to lose themselves in the depths of music, like a journey to another world.”

Bassnectar last performed at the Events Center on May 5, for a show that quickly sold out.

“I think when people are at a Bassnectar show, there is an atmosphere of abandon that is also supported by an atmosphere of community,” Bassnectar told us in a Metro cover story before that show. “I don’t do drugs, I’m a very health-conscious person. I’ve got a very positive, humanistic type of personality. I’m trying to create an atmosphere where people are safe to go fucking buck wild and crazy for a couple hours. I guess I lead by example.”

Tickets for the concert at the Events Center go on sale July 19 at 10am at the Events Center box office, Ticketmaster or via phone at 800.745.3000. Tickets are $29 for San Jose State University students and $35 general admission. In addition to the San Jose date, Bassnectar performs regionally in Oakland and Reno during the tour.

Tour dates:

9/19 Oakland CA – Fox Theater
9/20 Reno, NV – Reno Events Center
9/21 San Jose, CA – Events Center at San Jose State University
9/26 Fargo, ND – Concert Hall at the Venue
9/27 Lincoln, NE – Pershing Auditorium
9/28 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
9/29 St. Louis, MO – The Pageant *
10/3 Kansas City, MO – The Midland
10/4 Bloomington, IL – US Cellular Coliseum
10/5 Grand Rapids, MI – Deltaplex
10/7 Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
10/10 State College, PA – Bryce Jordan Center
10/11 Toronto, ON – Sound Academy
10/12 Montreal, QC – Metropolis
10/24 Charleston, SC – North Charleston Coliseum #
10/25 Asheville, NC – Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit (Bassnectar only)
10/26 Birmingham, AL – Boutwell Auditorium #

* Amp Live instead of Koan Sound
# ill-esha instead of Andreilien

Students at San Jose State University might see a few familiar faces when the Rolling Stones hit stage at HP Pavilion on May 8.

For the Rolling Stones’ “50 & Counting” anniversary tour dates in New York and London last year, they tapped the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the London Youth Choir to sing the intro to “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

The experiment worked, and now the Stones have asked the San Jose State Choraliers to back them up at Oracle Arena on May 5 and HP Pavilion on May 8.

Dr. Jeffrey Benson, director of the SJSU choral program, received a call from London before the tour hit California.

“They had asked their buddies in southern California, ‘Who’s the best choir in northern California?’ and we were highly recommended,” Benson says.

The Choraliers have long been considered on of the best in northern California and recently backed Andrea Bocelli at HP last November in front of 20,000 people.

Benson’s recently retired predecessor, Dr. Charlene Archibeque, significantly developed the program after her arrival in 1970. What started as a small group of 12 madrigal singers quickly became a larger auditioned chamber ensemble. The SJSU Choraliers went on to win Choir of the World in 1991 as well as six other first prizes at European festivals.

Those trying to see the Stones might consider joining the SJSU choir in the next couple weeks. Tuition at SJSU looks cheaper than some tickets.

Students looking for a place to anonymously air their secrets, pet peeves and crushes now have an option with a new “Confessions” Facebook page going viral at San Jose State.

The page, not officially associate with the university, was created by an anonymous San Jose State junior biology major in January, following a national trend of similar pages across the United States.

The SJSU page has grown to more than 7,000 page likes in less than three month and has an audience significantly larger than other Northern California universities with similar pages, such as UC Santa Cruz (4,700 likes), UC Davis (4,200 likes) and Stanford (3,000 likes).

So far, confessions range from “missed connections” style message to casual hookups and more serious topics like sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.

Contacted via Facebook, the student who runs the page says he prefers to remain anonymous because he is “not looking to become Internet famous.” Confessions are submitted through an online form on Survey Monkey before the identities of the parties involved are stripped and the confession goes public.

More than 4,000 confessions have been submitted and nearly 2,000 were made public on the page.  

Recent confessions:

#1970 “Every day I get ready (naked) with my blinds wide open because it’s way too dark in my room. People have yet to notice which just proves how seldom people look up when they walk.”

#1050 “I’ve been dating a guy for three months. We’re going on a trip to his family’s cabin for spring break, and I haven’t yet told him that I’m a transgender male to female. What do I do?”

#936 “I had unprotected sex with 3 [fraternity name redacted] brothers at one of their parties, and I just found out that I am 3 months pregnant…I have no idea what to do. I’m keeping the baby but how do I go about finding out who the father is without looking stupid? HELP!”

#1313 “Late at night, I like to go downstairs in the Joe West kitchen, rub oil all over myself and pretend I’m a slug.”

#1203 “My little sister goes here. Too scared to tell her I do porn. This should do.”

#1219 “I’m pregnant. Only 3 people know. I’m getting an abortion. I don’t see anything wrong with it but if my mother found out I’d be homeless.”

#1309 “The doctor told me I had an STI and then lectured me with a look of disgust like I was some slut. Truth is: I was raped and too ashamed to tell anyone. At least it’s treated and gone but the emotional pain is still there.”

In a recent interview with Tiesto, the superstar DJ spoke on how inspiring it’s been playing for American crowds in the wake of the recent electronic dance music boom. He noted that stateside, crowds aren’t pigeon-holed in one style and are incredibly enthusiastic about the emerging sound. That enthusiasm was on full display last night at his sold-out show inside the San Jose State Events Center, the latest stop on his College Invasion tour.

As has become custom, neon colors and lots of skin was the dress code—all the better to dance with. There was even a tribal headdress or two bouncing along to the four-to-the-floor bass.
Opener Alvaro elicited a decent crowd reaction from the half-full house, ending his set with a few tracks that showcased the growing trap sound (see: Harlem Shake). The crowd hit at heavy simmer at about 8pm, with Quintino dropping crowd favorites and excitement built with electro DJ Tommy Trash taking the stage to a nearly full arena before Tiesto arrived.

PHOTOS: View the Metroactive Photo Gallery the Tiesto Show

When Tiesto took the stage at 9:30pm, it was clear that this was his party to rock. While his opening acts kept the pulse with minimal tech, Tiesto’s two-hour set was enhanced with a HD video intro that made previous motion banners seem amateur in contrast and EDM favorites like smoke cannons, lasers, flashing lights and a timed mass release of thousands of white balloons.

When the balloons finally dropped near the end of his set, the vibe was transcendent, with a sea of waving hands and deep, carnal bass. Surveying the scene midway through the set, Tiesto seemed to even have the rafters engaged. His crowd came to party and he was giving them exactly what they wanted.

At 10:30, a sea of moving bodies seemed in sync with Tiesto’s musical heartbeat and that fever pitch only intensified as he neared the end of his set. Dipping back into his catalogue, 2003 classic “Adagio For Strings” made an appearance, as did a portion of Zombie Nation’s seminal arena anthem “Kernkraft 400.”

Though the sweating, minimally clothed crowd was greeted outside by a damp, windy night, the spell of bad weather did little to stave off the post-show euphoria.

View more photos from the show.

The biggest DJ in the world is coming to San Jose. At the forefront of a recent American musical revolution, Dutch phenom Tiesto performs at the San Jose State Event Center on March 5, his only Bay Area stop, as part of his sold-out College Invasion tour.

With Electronic Dance Music (EDM) tied to the live, dance floor experience, a DJ’s notoriety stems more from the high-profile parties they’ve rocked than the singles they’ve released. Still, Tiësto’s cover of “Adagio for Strings” is likely the song that launched him into the dance stratosphere. It’s the track that caught the ear of the Olympic Committee, leading to a literal appearance on the world’s stage when he played the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games.

He’s a three-time winner of DJ Mag’s “Top 100” DJ poll (2002-2004); last year, he finished second behind fellow Dutchman Armin Van Buuren. While David Guetta and Calvin Harris have been making significant strides stateside, crafting dance pop collaborations with artists like Usher, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, Tiësto maintains a line that straddles mainstream visibility and underground respect.

For those unaware of the clout he commands, a few facts: his weekly radio show, Tiësto’s Club Life, is the most popular music podcast on iTunes. He has garnered more than 300 million views on YouTube, 11 million likes on Facebook and one and a half million followers on Twitter.

In 2011, he performed before a crowd of over 26,000 inside LA’s Home Depot Center, the largest U.S. audience for a headline EDM gig. A few days before his San Jose gig, he’s back in LA to headline the 18,000-capacity Staples Center.

As for why Tiësto, a man who can play anywhere he pleases—he once turned down a gig at Madison Square Garden because it wouldn’t accommodate enough dancers on the floor—has chosen to tour American colleges, he explains they’re the key to EDM’s continued success.

“I think the college crowd is very important,” he says in a phone interview. “They are very energetic and into the music. That’s inspiring to play for. No matter how old you are, you always will remember your time in college. To be a part of that culture is amazing to me.”

Stateside, his crowd skews young—he says the demographic is “90 percent under 21”—but their youth offers him the opportunity to act as a gateway for newcomers. He calls the domestic EDM-obsessed crowd “very open-minded,” citing continually enthusiastic crowds despite diverse bills.

“They’re not pigeonholed into one style,” he says. “It’s very refreshing to play for [American] crowds because they are so into the music. In Europe, EDM has been there for many years so people are more used to it. It’s more new and exciting to play here.”

Though dance music was created in America, with offshoots of house and techno rising out of Chicago and Detroit, respectively, the music never grew outside of a passionate niche audience. “Electronica” had a wave of success stateside in the late 90s when the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers and Moby enjoyed radio play, but the rave explosion felt in Europe never fully crossed back over the pond.

In 2011, Spin proclaimed America had finally been conquered by EDM. Dubstep, thanks to acts like San Jose native Bassnectar and Skrillex, has become huge and crossed over into the mainstream with fan base of mostly young music listeners.

Electric Daisy Carnival, the largest dance festival in North America, drew over 300,000 people to the outskirts of Las Vegas last year. Miami’s Ultra Music Festival (165,000) and New York’s Electric Zoo (110,000) experienced similar success. With ever-growing attendance numbers, downloads and chart successes, it seems EDM has finally returned home.

Recent term “EDM,” coined as a catch-all for dance music’s countless subgenres, has helped. In the past, new listeners would grow increasingly confused wading through terms like liquid drum and bass, deep house, progressive trance and electro. Though the new tag can be similarly confusing as a qualifier for a spectrum of sound and rhythm, Tiësto thinks the simplified terminology has aided its rise, equalizing the term with similarly vague titles jazz and rock.

Yet, dance music has always come with negative baggage, specifically the scene’s ties to recreational drug use. The rave boom almost goes hand-in-hand with the prevalent recreational use of ecstasy, which continues today with pure MDMA variant “molly”—a drug also referenced in most rap radio hits these days. Tiësto has long taken issue with the connection, symbolizing his stance by banning glow sticks, a rave staple, at his shows.

“I just wanted to show my crowd that I’m not part of that,” he says. “Obviously, some people will always do it, but the image of the glow sticks at the parties was really bad, especially in Europe. In comedy movies, you would see a traditional raver, and they would always show that he’s on drugs with glow sticks in his hands and in his mouth. I think we deserve a better image than that.”

For this tour, Tiësto has hand-selected a supporting bill that includes Australian electro DJ Tommy Trash and Dutch newcomers Alvaro and Quintino. Past tours included Avicii, Dada Life and Hardwell, whose stars all rose after gaining the Tiësto co-sign. “I think it’s something to be proud of,” he says. “It’s nice to see that I can help develop the scene.”

Asked why he’s endured over the years, Tiësto credits his steadfast belief in the scene he’s had a large hand in shaping into a global force. “I never really sold out,” he says, drawing a link to contemporaries with pop aspirations. “I’ve always stayed true to myself. People see it’s pure and it’s real.”

As for his recently-announced follow-up to 2009’s Kaleidoscope, he said he’s “probably eight tracks” into the release thanks to added studio time in the wake of a recent back injury.

“Try to make the best dance album ever—that’s my goal,” he offers before letting out a small laugh, aware of the loftiness of such a mark yet delivered with enough determination to suggest he’s not joking.

UPDATE:

The set times are out for Tiësto’s show in San Jose:

Tiësto • 9:30 – 11:30
Tommy Trash • 8:30 – 9:30
Quintino • 7:30 – 8:30
Alvaro • 6:45 – 7:30
John Beaver • 6:00 – 6:45

A list of prohibited items at the show (Is this a going a little overboard or fair for this type of event? ~ ed.):

Goodbye, “Gangnam Style.” Hello, “Harlem Shake.” The new dance based on the Baauer-produced track has gone viral with videos all over the Internet, including two shot at San Jose State University and UC Santa Cruz.

At SJSU, Sammy the Spartan leads Batman, Mario and Luigi and a crew of dancers with a cameo from the SJSU marching band.

Over the hill, the Banana Slugs at UC Santa Cruz produced their own version of the Harlem Shake in the rain.

In Mountain View, tech giant Google released its own edition of the Harlem Shake on the Google campus in the Android garden.

A few more of our favorites:

Puppy Shake:

Denny’s Shake:

UGA Men’s Swim & Dive Shake:

Firefighter Shake:

Army Shake:

Grandma Shake:

Share your favorite “Harlem Shake” videos in our comments section.

Bessnectar was greeted by a capacity crowd for his homecoming show at the Event Center at San Jose State University. The producer, who was raised in San Jose and attended UC-Santa Cruz before becoming an international figure in electronic music, brought what he calls “omnitempo maximalism” to the venue for one last bash before the campus scales down for the summer term.

Metro photographer Alex Stover caught the action. Bassnectar returns to the stage in Santa Cruz at The Catalyst for another sold out show after city officials there canceled a previously schedule performance at the last-minute due to potential noise issues.

The new Liquid Restaurant and Lounge sits between an apartment building and a parking lot near San Jose State University, occupying an ordinary orange and yellow building. The exterior looks nothing like the typical nightclub: no flashy neon signs, crystal-clear bay windows and glitzy entryways. Liquid looks more like a Bohemian art gallery than a new nightclub and restaurant.

At 9pm on a recent visit, the club was still relatively empty, allowing for a good look at the interior—a stark contrast from nondescript facade outside. Liquid has an expansive and seamless interior. A black tile dance floor stretches unobstructed to the rear of the restaurant; flanking the floor is a seating area, one long row of dining booths and white upholstered couches. Glowing, cube-shaped plastic footrests float on the floor like ice in a drink. The bar glows with same ice-blue tint as the footrests.

The bottles at the bar are arranged in two columns and lined neatly on rows of blue, LED-lit shelves. Liquid-filled pillars rise up from the center of the display while blue-and-white-striped lantern covers hang over the bar counter. Uniting the whole “liquid” theme is the mesmerizing light show; the walls shimmering and rippling like the surface of the sea.

All smiles at Liquid Lounge.

An hour later, the party begins. Old-school dance music, hip-hop and R&B thunder over the sound system. A DJ works the decks. Twenty-something year old men and women stand around the bar, fueling up for a night of dancing. The real show is the group of women that control the floor. Tipsy and a bit rowdy, they grind against each another. Even so, the atmosphere remains relaxed and festive. A good-natured security guard even gives some women piggy-back rides. Liquid’s abundance of blue is soothing and works its magic on me, too. The apprehensions I usually have about dancing are gone.

As I dance, I realize what is so special about this club. I come up with a word, Liquidity: the qualities, character and connotations of liquid. By deviating from the standard model in decor, atmosphere and music, Liquid changes form, becoming a new kind of club.

More Photos.

Liquid Restaurant and Lounge
32 S. Third St., San Jose