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Jolena -- Former FoXXXy Boxing Champ .... IN THE CITY PAPER!
Jolena Sterner (a.k.a. the Bloomfield Bruiser) is a fifth-year senior at Pitt who partakes in an underground female boxing competition referred to as "Foxxxy Boxing." While she's no longer officially the reigning champion, many involved in Foxxxy Boxing disregard Sterner's one loss, as it was to a fighter who clearly belonged in a different category.
"She was real tall -- like 5'8". I hit her in the stomach a lot, but she really worked my head. It was highly disputed afterwards. We decided after that, we're separating into different height classes -- you can be fat, as long as you're short and I can get at you!"
Being a local champion, we asked for Sterner's opinion of a few of the artists featured in City Paper this week -- without telling her who she was listening to at the time.
"Loves Me Like A Rock" by the Dixie Hummingbirds. From Music In The Air (House of Blues, 1999) I thought they were really good. Normally, being in Pittsburgh, the only shows I go see are rock shows -- this was really good, like a gospel-fusion rock thing. At first I thought it was a little too country, but then it becomes this big collaborative effort. I'd definitely like to go see them. Sat., Oct. 20, Carnegie Lecture Hall.
"Why You'd Want To Live Here" by Death Cab for Cutie. From The Photo Album (Barsuk, 2001) I thought, aside from the vocals, it reminded me of Luna -- but towards the bridge and the end, it was more rockin'. The vocals reminded me of what you'd hear with Sum 41, or Train, or something like that. But when the backup vocals came in, I thought that was good. But the end was just half a minute of [feedback] and I could have done without that. If that's what most of their stuff sounds like, they were pretty OK. The lyrics were really poignant; it's affected the way I think about the state of California. Wed., Oct. 24, Millvale Industrial Theater.
"Too Much Information" and "Swing Low (a cappella)" by Dr. Madd Vibe. From The Yin Yang Thang (Asian Man, 2000) I really like spoken-word stuff. His flow was really good; it got a bit shaky at the end, but mostly it was really good. Everybody's a bit, like, capitalism, commercialism, America, oh! And everybody sort of feels that way -- choking from the machine. He was talking about smog, and bar codes, the almighty dollar, being angry about the state of … here. That's really what I got out of it. Then the music, at first I thought, "'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,' I can sleep to this!" But then it got scary -- they're singing, and all of a sudden someone starts whispering "chariot," and all these voices started whispering, and it got really gloomy. Mon., Oct. 22, M.
"New Machine" by Penance. From Alpha and Omega (Martyr Music Group, 2001) I think it'd be fun to go see them if you're looking for a modern band that's stuck in '80s death metal. It made me kind of want to get loaded, get in my car and drive on a dark, windy road blaring that, going, "Urrr! I'm fuckin' mad! And I'm gonna listen to this!" Yeah, they were dark and spooky -- I bet they have the costumes and everything. Sat., Oct. 20, 31st Street Pub.
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